Having been a chorister at Peterborough Cathedral during his childhood, followed by studies in ceramics and art at college, David Clifton began his career as a musician, songwriter and artist when he signed to Virgin Records with the Indie Rock band The Sensible Jerseys. (Barenaked Ladies meets Madness meets the Beatles!) He then went on to record and tour Europe and the USA with WEA singer songwriter Tanita Tikaram. This was followed by European tours, television and radio promotion as guitarist for the Irish jazz and blues artist Mary Coughlan. Early in the 1990's he joined EMI artist Steve Booker and played guitars, mandolin and dobro on Steve's BASF award winning CD Dreamworld. The band then toured extensively as opening act for Bob Geldof, Suzanne Vega, Clannad, Steve Earle and the Dukes amongst others.

David first became involved with contemporary sacred music whilst working with Steve's co-producer, Andy Piercy, who invited him to Holy Trinity Brompton in London, and introduced him to modern church worship music. Following a time as director of music at St Paul's Onslow Square, David was invited to join the worship department of Holy Trinity Brompton, and he began to write, produce and record sacred songs and hymns. This resulted in the recording of the two much loved albums which he produced with Andy Piercy, 'Praise God from whom all blessings flow' and 'Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs', both now available on iTunes.

During the 1990's and up until early 2000 he also recorded and toured with Circa/Virgin/Sanctuary Recording artist Julia Fordham. They toured Japan, the USA and Europe, including memorable appearances on the Lilleth Fair tour with Sarah McLachlan, followed by opening dates on the Sheryl Crow world tour.

David's long awaited new solo recording 'Seeds of Hope and Love' was released worldwide last year, and is distributed in Canada by CMC, and in the UK by Integrity/Provident. It has been engineered and produced by Canadian producer Julian Kindred, and mixed by Jon Kelly. Also, his vision to record a unique Christmas CD with a band, cathedral choir and orchestra was fulfilled in 2003 with the production of Christmas Carols and Songs, released under the group name IKOS. This was co-produced with Mark Russell and mixed by Jon Kelly, with a guest appearance on two tracks from the Canadian singer songwriter Jane Siberry.

As well as his songwriting, recording, touring and production work, David is currently director of music at St. Marks church Tollington Park, London. He continues to record for a wide variety of artists, and sessions over the years have included tracks and demos for Mickey Harte, Madness, Paul Heaton of Beautiful South, Haylie Westenra and also television soundtracks for the BBC, ITV and independent production companies.

Other artists David has recorded with include projects by Robin Mark, Matt Redman, Delirious?, Paul Wilbur, Kim Hill, Point of Grace, Graham Kendrick, Esther Alexander, Dave Fitzgerald, Sue Rinaldi, Noel Richards and Joanne Hogg (Iona). He also co-wrote the very popular City of Gold project with Phil Baggaley, Ian Blythe and Adrian Plass. In Nashville he has worked with Phil Keaggy, John Hartley, Gary Sadler and Phil Madeira amongst others, and these co-writing sessions have given rise to some of the songs which appear on his new album, Seeds of Hope and Love. He has also compiled several CDs for the million selling Time-Life Songs 4 Worship series.