David Berman (musician)

David Berman
Berman performing with Silver Jews at Webster Hall in 2006.
Born	David Craig Berman (1967-01-04)January 4, 1967 Williamsburg, Virginia, U.S.
Died	August 7, 2019(2019-08-07) (aged 52) New York City, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Virginia University of Massachusetts Amherst
Occupations	Musician singer cartoonist poet
Years active	1989–2009 2019
Spouse	Cassie Berman ​ ​ (m. 1999; sep. 2018)​
Parent	Richard Berman (father)
Musical career
Origin	Hoboken, New Jersey, U.S.
Genres	Indie rock country-rock
Instrument(s)	Vocals guitar
Labels	Drag City
Formerly of	Ectoslavia Silver Jews Purple Mountains
Musical artist
Signature

David Cloud Berman (born David Craig Berman; January 4, 1967 – August 7, 2019) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and poet. In 1989, he founded – and was the only constant member of – the indie rock band Silver Jews with Pavement's Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich.

With Malkmus he developed the simple country-rock sound that characterized the early lo-fi recordings of both Pavement and Silver Jews. He worked extensively on his abstract and autobiographical lyrics whose themes overlapped with his poetry, of which he only published one volume, Actual Air, in 1999, during a period of significant substance abuse and emotional disorder that culminated in Berman attempting suicide in 2003. Afterward, he underwent rehabilitation, and engaged with Judaism. Alongside his wife Cassie Berman he toured for the first time, but soon dissolved the band.

He returned to music in the mid-2010s, in response to personal problems that occurred in his absence; he adopted a new stage name and released an eponymous album in July 2019, a month before he died by suicide. Purple Mountains was acclaimed by his dedicated following, whom Berman believed non-existent. He is regarded as a significant and influential indie rock cult figure.^[1]