David Appell, 92, musician, composer, producer

DAVE APPELL once told an interviewer, "I hear music in my head 24 hours a day."

Far from looking for a shrink to get those notes out of his brain, Dave capitalized on his passion in a long career of making music, his kind of music, the kind that gets your fingers snapping and your feet stomping.

Like "Let's Twist Again," which he wrote for Chubby Checker. Or the iconic "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree," which never fails to provoke a tear down the cheek.

Over the years, the performers Dave worked with would fill a book on the musical history of the grooving 1950s and '60s - Chubby Checker, Dee Dee Sharp, Bobby Rydell, the Dovells, the Orlons, and later Tony Orlando and Dawn.

David Appell, considered a pioneer in the pop-music business through his work with the Cameo/Parkway record label, died Tuesday. He was 92. He lived and had his studio in Cherry Hill.

Dave was still working at his music into his 90s, turning his focus from the pop hits of yesterday to creating more of a jazz sound in his home studio.

"This guy was a musical genius," Jerry Blavat, the iconic performer and producer, told the Daily News. "He was a beautiful human being. I was like a gofer for Cameo/Parkway, and I watched and studied Dave Appell.

"He had a very special sound. You can hear it in the music he wrote and produced at Cameo. But he was so humble. With all he accomplished, he was the humblest man I ever knew."

"He treated his music work like any other job," said Billy Terrell, who produced disco and pop hits in the '70s and was a longtime friend of Dave's. "He would go home to his family every night. He was a courtly gentleman. There was never anyone like Dave."

Dave Appell grew up in Fishtown, where his first instrument was a ukulele belonging to his brother, Joe. He played the trombone in the Navy during World War II. He also played the guitar and keyboards.

Even while in the Navy, Dave began orchestrating and composing, doing arrangements for Earl "Fatha" Hines, Benny Carter and others through contacts he made at the Earle Theater.

After the war, Dave formed a group initially called the Dave Appell Four, and recorded some numbers for Decca Records. Later, the name was changed to the Applejacks.

He appeared in the 1956 Alan Freed film "Don't Knock the Rock," and his group became the studio band for Ernie Kovacs' TV and radio shows in Philadelphia. He served as the music director.

The Applejacks performed for a time in Las Vegas, then returned to Philly, where Dave joined Cameo Records. He did background vocals, session work as a guitarist, engineering, arranging and producing.

Dave and his band backed Charlie Gracie, the singing guitarist, on the label's first hit, "Butterfly," a million-seller in 1957. The Applejacks backed Gracie on subsequent hits, "Fabulous," "Ninety-Nine Ways" and "Wanderin' Eyes." In 1958, they backed John Zacherle on his novelty hit, "Dinner With Drac."

Dave became the leader of Cameo's house band, backing the pop artists who became famous in the '50s and '60s.

He co-wrote hits, with lyricist Kal Mann, including "Let's Twist Again," "Bristol Stomp," "Mashed Potato Time" and "South Street."

Terrell, a wounded Vietnam War vet, told an Inquirer interviewer in 2012 that Dave wrote "melodies that stay in your head. You can sing along with every Dave Appell song."

Dave's home in Cherry Hill was festooned with platinum and gold records, and framed copies of Top 40 charts of hits. His basement studio contained all the up-to-date recording equipment.

In recent years, he wrote music for Grover Washington Jr. and Georgie Young. Dave composed the background music for the last show of the 1999 season of the TV sitcom "3rd Rock From the Sun."

He was married to Evelyn Appell. He is survived by two daughters, Roz Appell Purdy and Linda Appell, and one grandchild.

Services: 11 a.m. tomorrow at Platt Memorial Chapels, 2001 Berlin Road, Cherry Hill. Friends may call at 10:30 a.m. Burial will be in Crescent Memorial Park, Pennsauken, N.J.

Contributions may be made to the American Heart Association or MusiCares.