Dave Hicks started piping in southern Ontario under the guidance of Alec Price, Lindsay Kirkwood and Ken Eller. While in Ontario, Dave won the Aggregate Champion Supreme title in amateur solos for Piobaireachd and also for light music.   He played in the Braemar Pipe Band in the mid 1980’s and soon joined the Clan MacFarlane until he left in 1992 to join the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band.  Dave enjoyed traveling and competing with SFU for the 13 years he was with the band. Successes in this time included winning several World Championships, as well as making live recordings at Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House, and the Chicago Gateway Copernicus Theatre among others.  While playing with SFU, Dave started the Robert Malcolm Memorial Grade 2 Pipe Band and managed to enjoy success as their Pipe Major .  Under the tutelage of Jack Lee, he also had the benefit of a lucrative professional solo career, competing successfully across Canada, the US and Scotland.  Teaching and adjudicating across North America has taken over for Dave as he has been doing both for 20 years.  He now lives in Calgary with his wife Kelly, daughter Islay and son Angus.