Daniel Adams-Ray

Daniel Adams-Ray
Daniel Adams-Ray during a concert in 2011
Background information
Birth name	Daniel David John Adams-Ray
Also known as	Big-Danne
Born	(1983-08-18) 18 August 1983 (age 33) Nairobi, Kenya
Genres	Hip hop, pop
Occupation(s)	Designer, singer
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Sweden Records, Lagom Records
Associated acts	Snook, Oskar Linnros, Petter, Avicii
Website	www.danieladamsray.com

Daniel David John Adams-Ray (born 18 August 1983 in Nairobi, Kenya) is a Swedish rapper, singer, and fashion designer.

Daniel Adams-Ray was born in Kenya to an Indonesian mother and a father of Swedish/Scottish heritage. His mother was a school administrator and his father a medical surgeon. In 1996 the family left Africa for Europe and lived for a year in the Netherlands, where he played football (soccer) with a very young Arjen Robben. Later the family left to Sweden, where they lived in Lidingö, an affluent suburb of . His parents owned and operated a plastic-surgery clinic in the area. Daniel Adams-Ray says he felt very much like an outsider and says he was bullied and called racist slurs. After switching high schools, he started at Viktor Rydberg Gymnasium and met Oskar Linnros his future partner in the band Snook.

The schoolmates and Oskar Linnros started an alternative hip hop duo group calling it Snook. The duo released two albums: Vi vet inte vart vi ska men vi ska komma dit in 2004 and Är in 2006 receiving both praise and heavy criticism. The band's unorthodox hip hop was met by comments that the band wasn't "keeping it real" and the fact that Adams-Ray spent his teenage years in Lidingö caused critics to label them "upper class rappers". Despite some critics, the band had many hits, received awards from radio station P3, The 2003 Swedish Hip-hop Awards 2003, and best Swedish band at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2006. Daniel Adams-Ray won the Swedish freestyle-rap championship in 2004 and was awarded the prize for best Swedish rapper in 2005.