Born December 8th 1965 in Springfield Massachusetts. At the age of about five he moved to Indianapolis, Indiana where he began playing clarinet around the age of ten as well as anything else he could get his hands on, in local blues, punk, rap, gospel, folk, and jazz groups through his teenage years. A strong interest in records and films led to hundreds of hours lost in libraries and a developing fascination with avant -garde art and composition.

From '82 - '84 David Shea studied composition and theory at the school of performing arts in Indianapolis and at the Oberlin Conservatory from '84 - '85. Relocating to New York in the mid 80's to perform and compose, he was drawn to the downtown scene, improvising and collaborating and throughout the eighties worked as a turntablist, vocal improviser, tape collager, club DJ and composer in many ensembles and collaborations as well as performing solo multimedia concerts. He most prominently became known for his work with John Zorn's ensembles between 86 and 96 in projects such as Cobra, Film Works, Elegy, Absinthe, Godard and Spillane - touring the US and Europe. He also played turntables on Mr Bungle's 1991 self-titled debut which was produced by Zorn.

Since 1990 he has concentrated on composed works for a variety of ensembles and switched to electronics to focus on samplers and sampler based ensemble works. Projects and performances over the last eight years have ranged from The Monte Carlo Ballet to the Brooklyn Academy, The Spoleto Festival and The Rossini Festival and productions for the Florence Opera Ballet, the BBC film Wild Ballerina, the film Hall of Mirrors, BBC Film Resistor and Alex Vermeullen's film One Ride Pony. Performing both solo and with groups he has performed the gamut of festivals and spaces including Tokyo Summer Festival, Lincoln Centers Walter Reed, Symphony Space, The Springdance Festival, The Klapstuc Festival, The Knitting Factory, Experimental Intermedia, CBGB'S gallery, The Victoriaville Fest, Fin de Siecle in Nantes, Festival dei Popoli in Florence, the Centre Pompidou Paris, the Kaaitheatre in Brussels, Cinesonic Melbourme, Australia plus many solo and ensemble tours of Europe. His first recorded work was released in '92 and has been followed by over twenty recordings.

In '99 the touring was taking its toll both physically and in terms of new work. He found a temporary European base in Brussels, Belgium where he stays with his wife. He now divides his time between Brussels and the rest of the globe with no real base.

He is also presently working on the design of a new sampler both for sound and image at Ircam the Paris based music research center. His search for a home base and studio continues.