Dave Crawford (musician)

David Bernard "Dave" Crawford (October 24, 1943 – June 1988) was an American R&B musician, songwriter, radio personality and record producer. He wrote "What a Man", originally recorded by Linda Lyndell and later reinterpreted by Salt-n-Pepa; "Precious, Precious", a hit for Jackie Moore; and "Young Hearts Run Free", an international hit for Candi Staton.

He was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and learned piano as a child. As a teenager, he performed with gospel musicians including Albertina Walker, Shirley Caesar, and The Caravans. He later became a disc jockey at radio station WOBS in Jacksonville, where he was known as "The Demon", before moving on to station WTMP in Tampa. His first success as a songwriter came with "What a Man", a minor R&B chart hit in 1968 for Linda Lyndell. The song, re-titled "Whatta Man", became a much bigger hit in 1994 for Salt-n-Pepa.

In 1969, he and Brad Shapiro became staff producers at Atlantic Records, where they worked with Wilson Pickett and Dee Dee Warwick, and produced the debut album by The J. Geils Band. Crawford also co-wrote, with his cousin Jackie Moore, the song "Precious, Precious" which was recorded by Moore and reached the Billboard R&B and pop chart in 1970. He continued to work with Shapiro on Moore's subsequent records for Atlantic, and also worked as a producer with B. B. King, The Mighty Clouds of Joy, and Phyllis Hyman.

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