David McHugh was born in New York City, and received a Bachelor's degree from SUNY Fredonia in Music Education and a Master of Music degree in composition from Queens College. He began his career in New York composing chamber music and music for theater, while making a living writing TV and radio jingles. He moved to Los Angeles in 1981 and spent the next fourteen years composing scores for movies and television. Some of his better known film scores are Moscow on the Hudson, Mystic Pizza, Three Fugitives, and The Dream Team. TV shows he has scored include A Year in the Life, Sisters, and Brooklyn Bridge. He currently lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina with his wife and three children where he heads a master's program in film composition at the University of North Carolina's arts campus, the North Carolina School of the Arts. He composes numerous works for his children.