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Daniel Powter

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Daniel Powter was born on February 25, 1971 in Vernon, in the Okanagan Valley of south-central British Columbia. He began playing violin at the age of four and spent many hours practicing with his mother's accompaniment on the piano. With not many local musical influences, Powter’s early exposure to music came from his parent’s record collection. The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Motown, Prince, and even Duran Duran are among his childhood influences. Moreover, his mother took him on long distance trips to see artists perform.

Even though he started learning violin, by the time Daniel Powter entered high school he had become more interested in playing piano. The main reason for this shift in interest was because of his dyslexia and that his music lessons focused on reading. Later in high school, he got a band together even though he suffered from stage fright, which he eventually overcame. Powter’s first record, which he cut while still living in Okanagan Valley, received airplay in a radio contest in Victoria, British Columbia.

After finishing high school, Daniel Powter got into Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton on a music scholarship. But the problem that stopped him from becoming a violinist arose again, due to his dyslexia he failed music theory. He ended up dropping out after two years and moving to Vancouver where he hooked up with a collaborator named Jeff Dawson. The material Daniel Powter and Jeff Dawson produced drew attention from music industry scouts. But, because Powter devoted his time to song writing he hadn’t worked on his stage act, and stage fright prevented him from being signed.

Daniel decided to return to Vancouver and continue to write songs. But manager Gary Stamler got Powter's demo to the attention of Warner Bros. Music CEO Tom Whalley. Not long after that, Daniel Powter began recording for the label with veteran producer Mitchell Froom (Sheryl Crow, Pearl Jam, Suzanne Vega) and Jeff Dawson.

Released in Europe in mid 2005, Daniel Powter’s first single “Bad Day” reached the top 5 on pop singles charts in France, Germany, Italy, and the UK. It was chosen by Warner Brothers as a submission for commercial production and was subsequently chosen by Coca-Cola as the theme song for an ad campaign in Europe. It reached the position of number 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States and it is used as closing music for results night on the 5th season of American Idol.




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