Legendary West Coast home producer DJ Dan has died, a consultant for the artist confirmed to Billboard on Sunday (March 29).
A explanation for loss of life has not but been revealed. The artist’s actual age has additionally not been confirmed, though varied reviews put him within the 55-57 age vary.
“It is with profound sorrow, deep admiration, and an enduring sense of gratitude and love that we announce the passing of Daniel Wherrett — known professionally to the world simply as DJ Dan — one of the most beloved, genre-defying, and genuinely influential pioneers in the history of American electronic music,” reads a press release offered to Billboard. “He leaves behind not just a discography, but a culture — a way of feeling music that touched millions of souls across four decades and five continents. He often said he felt his purpose in life was ‘to heal through music.’”
Ticket holders to DJ Dan’s scheduled Saturday (March 28) night time efficiency on the membership Dead Ringer in Reno, Nevada, report that DJ Dan didn’t present as much as the occasion, with the promoter later posting a press release to Instagram saying that “unfortunately DJ Dan is unable to make it tonight.” An individual near DJ Dan tells Billboard that he had not been responding to textual content messages for 2 days previous to his loss of life.
Born Dan Wherrett in Lacey, Washington, the producer initially moved to Seattle to check design, however was bewitched by the world of digital music. He moved to Southern California within the early ’90s, a time when the town was a nexus for the burgeoning underground rave scene. In the mid-90s he moved to San Francisco, co-founding the town’s Funky Tekno Tribe collective and establishing himself as an important member of the West Coast underground electronica scene, touring the world and dealing throughout home, techno, breakbeat and past.
In 1998, DJ Dan recorded his first of three Essential Mixes for BBC Radio, with the final one recorded alongside the legendary Frankie Knuckles at Winter Music Conference 2007. Over the years he graced many DJ lists, with DJ Mag rating him at No. 5 on its 2006 checklist of the world’s prime 100 DJs.
Had three hits on Billboard‘s Dance Club Songs chart, together with one No. 1: “That Phone Track” in 2004.
He additionally charted three albums on Billboard‘s Top Dance Albums chart, going as excessive as No. 11 in 2011 with In Stereo.
“Those who knew Dan personally knew a man who saw music in colors. Disco was orange;
techno was blue and brown; progressive sounds were a cool, deep blue,” continues the assertion on his passing. “He described his DJ sets as ‘peaks and valleys of energy through color’ — and that synesthetic vision translated into something audiences felt in their bodies long before they understood it with their minds. He credited his inspiration to James Brown, his parents, and ‘all the underdogs who fought their way to success in life.’”
“Off the stage, he was a cook, a traveler, an obsessive record collector whose family bought him a new turntable every Christmas — not because it was tradition, but because it was the only gift he ever wanted. He was passionate about food, art, and the way disparate things could combine into something neither had been alone. That was his philosophy in the kitchen and on the dance floor alike: bring together things that traditionally shouldn’t go together, and find out what happens.”
“He leaves behind his music, his label, his mixes, and the countless thousands of dancers who found themselves — truly found themselves — in the middle of one of his sets. The world is quieter today. But press play on anything he touched, and you will hear exactly why we mourn him, and exactly why we are forever grateful he was here to inspire us.”
