Danny Ross is piano-pop rocked out. Take one part Ben Folds’ piano-driven pop, the lyricism of Wilco and add the sweaty-horn soul of The E Street Band. A self-taught musician, Danny Ross is an expressive singer and pianist with a strong discipline in...
Danny Ross is piano-pop rocked out. Take one part Ben Folds’ piano-driven pop, the lyricism of Wilco and add the sweaty-horn soul of The E Street Band. A self-taught musician, Danny Ross is an expressive singer and pianist with a strong discipline in classic pop songwriting. Combining Beatlesque hooks with personal and inventive lyrics, Ross creates a fresh brand of alternative pop full of youthful energy and an old sense of craft.
His debut EP, Introducing Danny Ross! was released in the summer of 2007 to a generation hungry for sophisticated yet accessible pop music. Since then, Ross has been joined on stage by an eight-piece band and horn section, regularly packing crowds at Manhattan venues like Pianos, The Knitting Factory, The Annex and The Living Room. In the space of one year, he’s accumulated 20,000 hits on MySpace, released a successful You-Tube music video for the song “I Can’t Wait” as featured in CMJ, and was a 2007 Williamsburg Live Songwriting Contest Finalist. Ross has been featured in The New York Post, Newsday, The New York Press, Brooklyn Paper, SoHo Journal, and was recently declared “an earnest piano rocker” by The New Yorker. He even performed with You-Tube phenomenon “Obama Girl” on Super Tuesday.
But from nine to five, Danny Ross lives a very different life. As a staffer for United States Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), you would hardly recognize the twenty-four year old singer-songwriter. In fact, he credits his day job in providing him with the organization needed to be a successful DIY artist, acting as his own manager, booking agent and publicist. This double life truly came to fruition in September 2007 when Rep. Nadler spoke at a Benefit Concert that Ross organized for 9/11 Environmental Action, a non-for-profit group assisting downtown residents affected by World Trade Center contaminants, raising over $1600. He also hosted a benefit concert in November 2001 for the Leary Firefighters Foundation.
Growing up on Long Island, New York, Danny Ross was inspired by the craft and melody of 60's pop and soul music, from The Beach Boys to Motown. But at the age of thirteen, Ross discovered The Beatles and, like the cliché goes, was changed forever. This led him to an old, dusty keyboard in his parents’ basement. “At an early age, Beatles records taught me all I needed to know in the basics of pop songwriting, production and performance. And most importantly to think outside the box in making a simple statement. It’s my goal to put that enthusiasm and creativity back on the radio—to make pop music popular again.”
After studying jazz piano at London’s Goldsmiths College, Ross went on to create the Popular Music Composition and Performance major at Cornell University, where he also studied Government. Inspired by the great concept albums in rock history, from Brian Wilson’s Smile to Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Ross aimed to share his personal account of young adulthood in his college thesis. Arranged for a seventeen piece band in April 2006, One Way, was commended by The Cornell Daily Sun as “a masterpiece” and "an album for our era." Ross received Summa Cum Laude and is currently recording One Way as his first full-length album to be released in late 2008.
Today, as a dynamic singer and pianist, a tested songwriter, and a rising presence in the New York City music scene, Danny Ross is truly introducing himself to the world.
Find out more about Danny Ross at dannyrossmusic.com and myspace.com/dannyrossmusic
