David Yazbek

David Yazbek (born 1961) is an American writer, musician, composer, and lyricist. He wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals The Full Monty (2000), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2005) and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (2010).

Yazbek was born in New York City, to a mother of Jewish and Italian descent, and a father of Lebanese ancestry. Musical from birth, he began cello lessons in elementary school and took up the piano as a teenager.

While attending Brown University as an undergraduate, he wrote an original musical with the production group Brownbrokers before graduating in 1982. He also directed a production of HAIR with student theatre group Production Workshop, for which he composed an original song to compliment the classic score. After college he got a job writing for David Letterman's late night television show. He won an Emmy as part of Letterman's writing team in 1986, but quit to pursue his love of music. From 1987 to 1989 he was the co-owner of Manhattan Recording Company and wrote many commercial jingles.

An accomplished musician, Yazbek has released five rock albums to date which highlight his unique perspective and wry sense of humor. He has also written many songs and background music for children's television shows, especially those produced for Disney's cable television channel. He also co-wrote the theme song to the Emmy award winning PBS-TV series Where in The World Is Carmen Sandiego? with songwriter Sean Altman, a high school friend who led the show's featured vocal group Rockapella. Yazbek and Altman also composed and wrote the theme song to World's successor, Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego?

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