Dan Zanes
| Dan Zanes | |
|---|---|
Dan Zanes plays mandolin on stage in 2007.
|
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Daniel Edgerly Zanes |
| Born |
November 8, 1961 Exeter, New Hampshire, USA |
| Genres | Rock, garage rock, folk, roots rock, children's, sea shanties |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, harmonica, guitar, banjo, mandolin |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Labels | Festival Five Records |
| Associated acts | The Del Fuegos, Dan Zanes and Friends |
| Website | DanZanes.com |
Dan Zanes was a member of the popular 1980s band The Del Fuegos and is now the front man of the Grammy-winning group Dan Zanes and Friends.
Zanes was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1961, and spent his childhood in Texas and then in Fredericton, New Brunswick. His father was a teacher, as well as a poet and writer.
He started playing guitar when he was eight and began taking Lead Belly records out of the public library as soon as he was old enough to get a library card; according to his mother, "He was always very musical."
Zanes attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts for two years. Zanes ended up living on the outskirts of Concord, New Hampshire.
In 1981, Zanes went to Oberlin College in Ohio, where he was determined to start a really cool band. In the breakfast line on the very first day at Oberlin, he met up with former high school classmate Tom Lloyd. Zanes and Lloyd took their breakfast back to the dorm and immediately started a band and soon left school and headed to Boston ("It was between Boston and Austin," according to Zanes), where they became known as The Del Fuegos.
The Del Fuegos played in lofts, bars, warehouses, small art galleries, clubs, barns, college dining halls, fraternity houses, gymnasiums, auditoriums, and, finally, big theaters.
Rolling Stone named the Del Fuegos "Best New Band" in 1984. Once, Bruce Springsteen jumped on stage to play "Hang on Sloopy" with them. With the Del Fuegos, Zanes made several records — The Longest Day (1984), Boston, Mass (1985), Stand Up (1987), Smoking in the Fields (1989) — and had a hit single, Don't Run Wild. In 1987, Zanes married Paula Greif, the director of the video for the Del Fuegos song, I Still Want You.
After Dan Zanes and his wife at the time, Paula Greif, had a baby, Anna Zanes, they moved to New York City. Zanes subsequently began playing music with a group of other fathers that he had met in West Village playgrounds who were also there with their kids. These fathers playing music together eventually became The Wonderland String Band, which played at parks and parties and on a tape of songs that Zanes recorded at his home.
...
Wikipedia