He subsequently became a popular session and touring musician, most notably for Stanley Clarke, Narada Michael Walden, Zucchero Fornaciari, Eric Clapton, Peter Gabriel, Jack Bruce, and Sting among many others.
In July 1972, Sancious recorded some demos with Carter and E Street Band bassist Garry Tallent (who also divided his time between New Jersey and Virginia.)
His most notable contributions include an organ solo on "Kitty's Back" and an evocative piano intro on "New York City Serenade".
In February 1974, drummer Vini Lopez left the E Street Band and Sancious recommended his friend, Ernest Carter, as a replacement.
Later in the year Sancious and Carter helped record the title track of Springsteen's third album, Born to Run before leaving the band.
At various times the band would feature Gail Boggs, Brenda Madison, Patti Scialfa, Gayle Moran (from Return To Forever and The Mahavishnu Orchestra), former Brian Auger, and future Santana vocalist Alex Ligertwood.
[5] Springsteen encouraged Sancious in his solo career and made sure music executives heard his demos, leading to a contract with Epic Records.
Commissioned by New York radio station WNEW-FM, the solo piano performance was broadcast live, with no audience present, from the empty stage of the Capitol Theatre (Passaic) .
In the 1970s, Sancious toured and recorded with Stanley Clarke, playing guitar and keyboards in a band that included John McLaughlin and Billy Cobham.
During the early 1980s, he linked up again with Billy Cobham as a member of Jack Bruce & Friends and played with the band on The Old Grey Whistle Test and Rockpalast.
"The Play and Display of the Heart" (track 3 on David Sancious & Tone's Transformation (The Speed of Love) album) was a regular showstopper.
You can hear an entire Animation concert at Wolfgang's Vault[6] By 1986, Sancious was a member of Peter Gabriel's touring band and he played with the singer during the Amnesty International Human Rights Now!
[3] Other session and touring work Sancious has done includes Living Colour, Seal, Bryan Ferry, Julia Fordham, Robbie Dupree, Natalie Merchant, Eric Clapton, Jon Anderson of Yes, and Hall & Oates.
In 2005 Sancious would be interviewed for, and featured in, the Wings for Wheels documentary included on the Born to Run 30th Anniversary Edition re-release of the Springsteen song and album.
[3] In 2009, Sancious toured Australia, New Zealand, and Japan on keyboards with Jeff Beck, who was accompanied by Vinnie Colaiuta on drums and Tal Wilkenfeld on bass.