Dan Whitehouse

Dan Whitehouse

Dan Whitehouse is an English singer-songwriter from Wolverhampton, West Midlands. Before his solo career, he is the frontman of Sonara and also works as a side musician for Naomi and Carina Round. Born in 1979, he builds a career in indie pop and raucous folk, with work that begins in bands before moving into solo writing and recording.

Early work and Sonara

As a teenager, Whitehouse plays guitar in several bands and then tours and records extensively with Naomi, including the 1999 Liquid release on Gut Records. In his early twenties, while studying music at Westminster University, he becomes the lead singer and creative force behind Sonara. The band tours, issues several DIY EPs, and is later signed by Jon Mac of Barfly Group to the Camden independent label Force Ten Records. In 2003 Sonara records its debut single at Air Studios and appears at the Reading Festival.

Session work and return to Wolverhampton

After graduating in 2003, Whitehouse takes on a broad range of work. He does session guitar work for acts including Carina Round and The Mexicolas, and he runs community music workshops with children and adults with learning difficulties. In 2007 he leaves London and returns to Wolverhampton, where he writes a large body of new material shaped by difficult experiences in the city and by the calmer family life he finds at home.

Solo recording and releases

During 2007 he plays regular solo shows at the Glee Club Birmingham, supporting artists including Willy Mason, Julian Cope, Joseph Arthur, Kate Walsh, Josh Ritter and Maria McKee. At his first headline show at the venue, he meets pianist and composer June Mori, who is appearing on the same bill with singer-songwriter Dan Gallagher. In February 2008 he begins recording at Zip Studios in Wolverhampton with a core group of Steve Clarke on bass, John Large on drums and June Mori on piano, later joined by Tom Bounford on violin. Ryan Pinson engineers the sessions, which continue intermittently over the next 18 months and also feature BJ Cole, Andy Bole and Carina Round.

The recordings are issued in 2009 as three EPs, The Balloon, The Bubble and The Box. These self-released EPs receive critical acclaim and tracks from them are played on BBC Radio 2, BBC 6 Music, Kerrang! and WCR FM. BBC 6 Music’s Tom Robinson first gives Whitehouse national radio play after a listener uploads “Somewhere I Don’t Want To Go” to the BBC Introducing website. Whitehouse is also selected by Robinson and Notting Hill Music Publishing for a songwriting retreat in a remote country house in Kent, and he performs on Robinson’s stage at Wychwood Festival 09.

Later projects and debut album

In 2010 Whitehouse is commissioned to write a song for a BBC television documentary. He continues working with the musicians who form around the 3 EP sessions and begins work on a full-length album called Landscape. In 2011 he works with Birmingham producer, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Clarke to produce his debut self-titled 11-track album. Whitehouse describes the record as simple and direct, and it has a stripped-back acoustic sound with BJ Cole on pedal steel.