Dan is a London-based singer-songwriter who
was born in Torshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands, located 177
miles north of Scotland between Norway and Iceland. It has a population
of only 50,000 people and even its own language, Faroese. He has
travelled extensively and speaks multiple languages including English,
Danish, Norwegian,
Swedish, Faroese (his mother tongue language),
Spanish and German.At the age of 12 his mum signed him up for classical guitar lessons and a year later he was enrolled in The Music School of Tórshavn. Growing up he was exposed to the likes of Jack Johnson, Van Morrison, The Beatles etc and it was this easy laid back singer-songwriter style that inspired Dan to add singing to his guitar playing. He played around with covers for a few years, occasionally playing in the presence of family and friends.
Dan attended a university in Copenhagen studying for a business degree before going back to the Faroe Islands to play professional Soccer as a striker for a year and a half, which included representing the National U21 Team to the European qualifying group stage. He then moving to Queensland, Australia to finish his Bachelor of Business degree in 2013.
It was after finishing his degree he decided to give music a full shot and moved south to Sydney for 6 months where he started acting, writing songs and playing live music. He earned a good living from the live music scene but realised he needed to be in London if he wanted to make it big. Dan re-located to London last year and started to play at open mics around the city. Current manager Luc Floreani saw him playing at his second open mic gig, loved what he heard and signed him up right away. Since then his journey has quickly escalated. Dan has become an international award winning singer/ songwriter and has just returned from a 20 date stadium tour of Russia where he also made time to visit orphanages and sing for the kids!
He’s had a full schedule of headlining festivals across the UK and Europe this summer and has just finished recording his eagerly awaited new album on which he collaborated with award winning writers and producers.
Hugely popular, Dan has gained a worldwide fan base of over 102k followers on Twitter alone with his daily fan interaction, down-to-earth attitude and friendly personality.
Dan has a very busy schedule but very kindly made time to answer some questions, here’s what he had to say:
Hi Dan, lets start at the beginning, can you describe what it was like growing up on the Faroe Islands and do you go back to visit very often?
Growing up in the biggest city of the Faroe Islands (which is not huge, but it still has a bit of a city vibe to it) and not in one of the many villages, I’d say I had quite a normal upbringing as far as Western standards go. I was very creative and at the same I did a lot of sports including football and handball (which is very popular in Northern Europe). I always had a lot of passion for music and I recall many car rides with my family around the islands listening Faroese folk music and the Beatles. I was very quick to learn lyrics. Today I go home about twice a year.
You’ve also lived in Denmark, Australia and now London, what’s some of your favourite things about those countries?
Copenhagen is a beautiful city. It’s very flat and the whole city is interconnected with bike roads. And guess what, being quite sporty I got myself a bike. And I loved it! It’s a fairly small city and it’s so easy to get around. The reason I went to Australia along with finishing my degree was that I’ve got quite an obsession with summer. A sunny one. I thought I’d be the happiest kid if I could have summer all year round. And I heard they spoke English in a place down under. So I went for a year, almost couldn’t get enough and stayed for another six months. It was an amazing experience. As I didn’t know anyone there I also saw this as an opportunity to try out the live music scene and let go of my boundaries. London is the music capital of Europe (if not the world). – That is my favourite thing about London! The music scene and network is massive. There are a lot of extremely ambitious people living in London. And if you can hook up with like-minded people then magic is bound to happen!
You’re a multi talented young man, you have a business degree, have played professional football for a couple of years and are currently well on the way to becoming a very successful singer / songwriter. What was it about music and performing that won out over business and football?
Well thank you Caroline! I felt that I could express myself more in music and I do have an urge to create something out of nothing. That idea really excites me. And if I can then deliver that piece to people and touch and affect them, then I can’t really wish for much more. Performing something that I’ve created to the people that feel it belongs to them is a very fulfilling experience. I didn’t quite feel I could do that in business or football, at least not in the same way.
Your easy and laid back musical style has been compared to Jack Johnston, who I know has been a positive influence on you from a young age, what other artists do you admire and why?
Yes, Jack Johnson is probably the one who kick started my songwriting. And there are a lot more, too many to mention here. The ones that stick out from the crowd though are The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, The Bee Gees. They all had incredibly beautiful melodies and delivered them brilliantly with their unique voices. Michael Jackson for his incredible feel for the beat, melodies and delivery. Red Hot Chili Peppers for their punk-rock-melodic sound, Cold Play for their simple ground breaking sound and John Mayer for his guitar skills and songwriting. There are lots more, but those were from the top of my head right now.
Can you tell us about some of the talented and credible songwriters and producers you’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with for your upcoming album Here With Me which is due out in February 2016?
I worked with Tim Fraser who wrote for the likes of Tina Turner and Lulu. I showed up at his place with a song idea, played it to him. He sat quiet for 5 seconds while listening to a melody forming in his head. He grabbed his guitar and started playing this amazing Keane-like (the English rock band) melody on top of an unusual chord structure. I don’t know how that magic moment of inspiration came to him, but I could tell right away that he’s very much in touch with music and especially songwriting. One of the producers I’ve worked with is Steven A. Williams. He’s worked with and produced for the likes of The Rolling Stones, Freddie Mercury, Seal, Britney Spears, Sting and Eric Clapton. His studio is very impressive with the best facilities you can imagine. He’s a multi-instrumentalist and had a very intuitive way of working on my songs. He’d know exactly what instruments to use and out of the blue he brings out a Korean drum for one of my songs. A Korean drum? Understandably skeptical I was however taken by surprise, because this instrument suited perfectly to the song in a very organic way. Experiences like these just show me that the top-professionals have a very broad knowledge in their area of expertise (obviously) and are very much in touch with their intuition.
You performed at London Fashion Week, OK! Magazine Christmas Party, various other high-end venues in London and the UK as well as attending red carpet premiers with the likes of The Rock, what’s been your personal highlight so far and do you sometimes have to pinch yourself to make sure its all real?
My personal highlight so far has definitely been performing in front of thousands and thousands of people on my tour in Russia where I also happened to win the International Songwriters Award for best song for Hold You Tonight. I try to just enjoy all these events. While it can be a bit surreal at times I try not to let that fact distract me from owning up to those moments.
If you could only listen to 3 songs for the rest of your life what would they be and why?
Scarborough Fair by Simon & Garfunkel, because it’s hauntingly beautiful in melody, feel and harmony.
A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke, full of emotion and soul and a beautiful message.
Beat It by Michael Jackson, because it’s got the pulsing beat, groove, attitude and hooky’ness that I can’t get enough of. Believe me there are many more, but these were from the top of my head.
All great choices there. What do you do for fun or to relax when not playing gigs / songwriting etc
Apart from sports and reading, I love to cook myself and my friends a nice meal, most commonly an Indian Curry with veggies and my own little twist to it.
What would your friends and family say is your best quality and biggest flaw?
Empathizing with the people I meet would probably be the first one. And not taking enough time off and actually enjoying where I’m currently at would probably be the second.
Describe yourself in 5 words
Passionate, ambitious, positive, somewhat of a perfectionist and slightly shy
Can you tell us something shocking or interesting about yourself that we don’t already know?
Shocking!? Haha. You seem to have done your research well enough already.
Haha ok you’re secrets are safe with me! You champion various charities, could you tell us what these charities are and why they are dear to your heart?
Go Dad Run. A series of 5K runs to raise awareness and funds for Prostate Cancer UK. Statistics show that 1 out of 8 men get diagnosed with prostate cancer. That’s a high percentage and I think it deserves our attention.
Mellon Educate. Founded by Niall Mellon. A charity that aims to build houses for people living in shacks in South Africa. So far the charity has built 25,000 houses and housed more than 125,000 people. It’s always been my dream to help out human beings that are in need of help. And it’s amazing that I get to do this already through my music. I can’t wait to go to Africa in November to build houses and also perform live music with the kids.
There are some very big things happening for you at the moment, signing a modeling contract as well as a record deal, releasing a duet with the very talented star Sonique… to name a few, can you tell us a bit more about these?
I am really honoured to be singing along side such a superstar as Sonique its just so amazing. She has sung all over the world and won an Ivor Novello which is the greatest award to win. Releasing my new album and having my fans hear it will be a dream come true. Having signed with a chinese record label it is a bit surreal to think we are releasing the album there. I’m busy learning chinese as we have a tour and lots of interviews out there between now and February. The modelling contract came out of the blue really… I have always loved sport and staying fit but never thought for a second anything would come out of it. Life is a bit crazy…actually life’s pretty great at the moment. It still feels a bit like a dream, a crazy crazy dream… but I love it!!!
What are you up to at the moment and what do fans have to look forward to from you for the rest of 2015 and beyond?
Well i’m currently recording my new album which will be out next February. As mentioned above I’m releasing my duet with Sonique next month, so look out for that! In November I’m heading to Africa helping to build those homes. Its then Christmas and early next year I’m off touring in China so it’s exciting times!!!
Wow very exciting times ahead! Lastly Dan, you have a huge following on social media and are wonderfully interactive with fans, do you have a message for them today?
I just want to thank them all for supporting me so much. Knowing that there are people all over the world who appreciate what I do is very humbling.