David Ritz

David Ritz (born December 2, 1943) has written novels, biographies, magazine articles, and over a hundred liner notes for artists such as Aretha Franklin and Nat King Cole. He has coauthored dozens of autobiographies, including autobiographies of several prominent African Americans.

The photograph of Ritz speaking was taken by Joe Mabel. David Ritz addressed a plenary session at the 2008 Pop Conference, held at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington on April 12, 2008. His talk, titled “Divided Byline: How a Student of Leslie Fiedler and Colleague of Charles Keil Became the Ghostwriter for Everybody from Ray Charles to Cornel West,” explored his unique career path.