David Egan

Songwriter and keyboard player David Egan was born into a musical family in Shreveport, LA, on March 20, 1954, and attended North Texas State College as a music major. After an unsuccessful stint as an aspiring songwriter in Nashville, TN, he returned to Shreveport and was a member of the R&B band A-Train from its inception in 1979 to its breakup in 1986, playing on its four albums and contributing original songs. Then he returned to Nashville, TN, where he spent two years in Jo-El Sonnier's backup band and signed as a songwriter with music publishing giant Bug Music. His first major success as a songwriter came when Joe Cocker recorded his song "Please No More" (co-written with Greg Hansen) on the 1992 album Night Calls.

By then, Egan had gone back to Louisiana and settled in Lafayette, where he joined the Cajun group Filé in 1990. But he continued to place his songs with important artists, getting cuts on albums by Maura O'Connell ("First You Cry," co-written by Buddy Flett, on the 1992 album Blue Is the Colour of Hope); John Mayall ("Wake Up Call," co-written by David Love Lewis, on the 1993 album of the same name); Percy Sledge ("First You Cry" on the 1994 album Blue Night); Johnny Adams ("Even Now," co-written by Flett, on the 1998 album Man of My Word); the Fabulous Thunderbirds ("People Will Be People" on the 2001 album Live); Etta James ("Please No More" on the 2003 album Let's Roll); Solomon Burke ("Fading Footsteps" on the 2005 album Make Do with What You Got); Tab Benoit ("One Foot in the Bayou" and "Good to You Baby," co-written by Flett, on the 2007 album Power of the Pontchartrain); Irma Thomas ("If You Knew How Much," "Stone Survivor," and "These Honey-Do's," co-written by Thomas, on the 2007 album After the Rain and "Underground Stream" on the 2008 album Simply Grand); Marcia Ball ("Peace, Love and BBQ," co-written by Tony Braunagel and John Lee Schell, on the 2008 album of the same name); and the trio of Ball, Thomas, and Tracy Nelson ("People Will Be People," "Please No More," and "Sing It!" on the 1998 album Sing It!) . While continuing as a member of Filé, Egan also joined the local super group Lil' Band O' Gold, appearing on its self-titled album in 2000. In 2001, he left Filé and struck out on his own as a full-time songwriter and solo artist. He released his debut solo album Twenty Years of Trouble on the Louisiana Red Hot label on May 20, 2003. You Don't Know Your Mind followed on Out of the Past/Rhonda Sue Records on October 11, 2008.