Happy Birthday to Smooth Jazz Saxophonist Dave Koz

David Stephen "Dave" Koz was born today, March 27, in 1963. He is an American smooth jazz saxophonist and singer.

Koz was born in Encino, California. He attended William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, performing on saxophone as a member of the school jazz band. He later graduated from UCLA with a degree in mass communications in 1986, and only weeks after his graduation, decided to make a go of becoming a professional musician.

Within weeks of that decision, he was recruited as a member of Bobby Caldwell's tour. For the rest of the 1980s, Koz served as a session musician in several bands, toured with Jeff Lorber. Koz was a member of Richard Marx's band and toured with Marx throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. He also played in the house band of CBS' short-lived The Pat Sajak Show, with Tom Scott as bandleader. He also often guest-starred as the saxophone player on The Arsenio Hall Show in the 1980s.

In 1990, Koz decided to pursue a solo career, and began recording for Capitol Records. His albums there include Dave Koz (his 1990 solo debut), Lucky Man, The Dance, and Saxophonic. Saxophonic was nominated for both a Grammy Award and an NAACP Image Award.

Koz released his second album, Lucky Man, in 1993. During production of the album in 1992, Koz was approached by the producers of ABC's General Hospital to perform on the show after his track entitled "Emily," from his Dave Koz album, was used as part of the show's soundtrack that year. After his GH appearance, executive producer Wendy Riche commissioned Koz to write a new theme song for the soap. Koz took elements from the show's existing theme song, Jack Urbont's "Autumn Breeze," and merged the chorus notes into a brand new smooth jazz composition titled "Faces of the Heart." The new theme music made its debut on General Hospital's 30th anniversary show, which aired April 1, 1993, and remained as the show's title track until August 27, 2004. "Faces of the Heart" ended up as the third track on Koz's Lucky Man album.

In 1994, Koz began hosting a syndicated radio program, The Dave Koz Radio Show (formerly Personal Notes), featuring the latest music and interviews with who's who in the genre. Dave co-hosted The Dave Koz Morning Show on 94.7 The Wave, a smooth jazz station in Los Angeles for 6 years. In 2002, Koz started a record label, Rendezvous Entertainment, with Frank Cody and Hyman Katz.

In 2006, Koz was selected to host a syndicated afternoon show for Broadcast Architecture's new Smooth Jazz Network. The show, based in Los Angeles, is broadcast on other Smooth Jazz stations across the country. Koz also collaborated as a guest star with ADA Band, Indonesia, for their album. Koz and Ramsey Lewis are the only two Smooth Jazz personalities to host two different syndicated shows during the week. Capitol Records/EMI's "Forever Cool" (2007) features Koz in a new arrangement of "Just in Time" with the voice of Dean Martin.

Koz is the host of a weekly half-hour television series named Frequency put on by Fast Focus. Koz interviews musicians on the show such as Earth, Wind & Fire, Jonathan Butler, and Kelly Sweet. At the end of each interview, he plays along with the musician, adding some of his saxophone riffs to one of their hit songs.

Koz was also the bandleader on The Emeril Lagasse Show. The band, Dave Koz & The Kozmos, featured Jeff Golub (guitar), Philippe Saisse(keyboards), Conrad Korsch (bass guitar), and Skoota Warner (drums).

Koz hosts a weekly radio show on the Sirius-XM Radio Watercolors channel called The Dave Koz Lounge, which airs Sundays at noon ET.

On September 22, 2009, Koz received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In October 2010, Koz performed "Start All Over Again" in a Desperate Housewives season 7 episode "Let Me Entertain You", alongside singer Dana Glover. In July 2012, he appeared on The Eric André Show, season 1 episode 7, and sat in with the house band.

In December 2014, he opened Spaghettini & the Dave Koz Lounge, a restaurant and live music venue located at 184 North Canon Drive in Beverly Hills, California with business partners Cary Hardwick and Laurie Sisneros, who own Spaghettini in Seal Beach.

In an April 2004 interview with The Advocate, Koz came out as gay.

From Out magazine in 2011: On the heels of the Empire state [New York] legalizing gay marriage comes a new video from saxophonist/vocalist Dave Koz, which he and director Graham Streeter created to show support for marriage equality. Speaking of "This Guy's In Love With You," first made popular by Burt Bacharachin 1968, Koz says, "It’s a simple statement of love. That's what this song is all about. Being bold enough to love whoever you wish, show some vulnerability and truly celebrate moving beyond our fears.”