Dan Auerbach
Daniel Quine Auerbach (/ˈaʊərbɑːk/; born May 14, 1979) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer, best known as the guitarist and vocalist of The Black Keys, a blues rock band from Akron, Ohio.[1] As a member of the group, Auerbach has recorded and co-produced twelve studio albums with his bandmate Patrick Carney. Auerbach has also released two solo albums, Keep It Hid (2009) and Waiting on a Song (2017), and formed a side project, the Arcs, which released the albums Yours, Dreamily, (2015) and Electrophonic Chronic (2023).[2][3]
Dan Auerbach
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Stephanie Gonis(m. 2008; div. 2013)
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Jen Goodall(m. 2015; div. 2019)
2
- Musician
- singer
- songwriter
- Vocals
- guitar
- bass
- piano
- keyboards
1999–present
Auerbach owns the Easy Eye Sound recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee, as well as a record label of the same name. He has produced records by artists such as Cage the Elephant, Dr. John, Lana Del Rey, Ray LaMontagne, CeeLo Green, Hank Williams Jr and the Pretenders. In addition to winning several Grammy Awards as a member of the Black Keys, Auerbach received the 2013 Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical and was nominated again for the award in 2020, 2021 and 2023.
Childhood and early life[edit]
Auerbach was born in Ohio, and is the son of Mary Little (née Quine; b. about 1948), a teacher of French, and Charles Auerbach (b. about 1950), an antique dealer.[4] His father is of Polish Jewish descent[4] and his mother is of part Manx descent.[5][6] His maternal cousin, twice removed, was philosopher and logician Willard Van Orman Quine, and his second cousin once removed was the late guitarist Robert Quine. Auerbach grew up in a family with musical roots. Auerbach became infatuated with blues after listening to his father's old vinyl records during his childhood. His first concert was Whitney Houston with his mother at the Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. His second concert was a Grateful Dead show with his father at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio.[7][8][9] He was influenced early on by his mother's side of the family, notably his uncles who played bluegrass music.
Auerbach described himself as a normal teenager in high school who smoked marijuana and captained the soccer team at Firestone High School.[10] He attended University of Akron. During college Auerbach was heavily influenced by Junior Kimbrough, eventually resulting in his dropping out to pursue the guitar more seriously. "I've listened to him so much, it's just how I hear it... I studied him so much... Getting F's in college, when I should've been studying, I was listening to Junior Kimbrough's music instead".[11] Other major influences include: Robert Johnson, R.L. Burnside, Clarence White, Robert Nighthawk, T-Model Ford, Hound Dog Taylor, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Kokomo Arnold, Son House and RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan.
Other performances and bands[edit]
The Barnburners[edit]
Auerbach was a member of a band called The Barnburners before forming The Black Keys in 2001.[23] The Barnburners included Auerbach, Jason Edwards and Kip Amore.[23] The Barnburners were a blues-based band that performed in Northeast Ohio clubs and released a 6-track album called The Rawboogie EP.[23] The album includes the Junior Kimbrough song "Meet Me in the City", which Auerbach later covered with The Black Keys on their Chulahoma tribute studio album.[23]
Awards and honors[edit]
The Black Keys' 2010 album, Brothers, won three Grammy awards. At the 2013 Grammy Awards, Auerbach won the award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical,[39] and was nominated three other times in 2020, 2021 and 2023.
Also at the 2013 Grammy Awards, Auerbach won the award for Best Rock Song for his song "Lonely Boy", Best Rock Performance for "Lonely Boy", and Best Rock Album for El Camino.[40]
In 2010, he joined the 9th annual Independent Music Awards judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers.
Personal life[edit]
Auerbach first married Stephanie Gonis, with whom he has a daughter, Sadie Little Auerbach, born in 2008.[41] In 2013, they were divorced.
Auerbach, Patrick Carney, and Jack White have been involved in several public feuds. The roots of the conflict date back to 2012, when White banned Auerbach from his Nashville studio.
They have since made amends and are now on good terms.[42][43][44]
In 2010, Auerbach moved from Akron, Ohio to Nashville, Tennessee. He moved his record label Easy Eye Sound and bought a studio as soon as he moved into town. Auerbach has described Nashville as not just being "a little tourist music spot" but much more. As Auerbach grew older he realized Nashville was "the spot I wanted to go to. There's the most music that I felt a connection to".[45]