B i o g r a p h y
Jean-Pierre Danel (born 4 June 1968) is a French guitarist, record producer, music writer and songwriter. He hit the #1 spot in France with his album Guitar Connection in 2006 which received a gold disc. Danel has continued to record a large number of guitar albums, as well as guitar teaching materials. He is also known as a producer, having obtained many international hits for other artists, with global sales of more than 23 million copies and received a multi-diamond disc in 2014 from Sony Music for 25 years in show business and 191 gold and platinum discs
Biography
The 80's and 90's
Born in La Varenne, France, Danel, the son of the French pop singer Pascal Daneland the nephew of opera director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, started his career as a professional guitarist in July 1982, at the age of 14. After many tours and studio recordings with French session musicians, and a single in the airplay charts in 1989, he released various guitar albums, winning 8 gold discs in Europe during the 90's
Stratospheric (2000)
In 2001, he was invited on the album Les Masters de la Guitare, on which Eric Clapton, BB King, Carlos Santana or Al Di Meola also recorded.
Guitar Connection (2006)
His own album Guitar Connection, released by Sony/BMG in July 2006 reaches the #1 spot in the album charts in France and gets a gold disc.Guitar Connection 2 was released in March 2007. It contains a duet with British guitar legend Hank Marvin. The album hits the charts at #8 and several hit albums follow In June 2007, Danel received the "Grand Prix Français de la Guitare" award
Out of the Blues (2010)
In November 2010, his charitable Out of the Blues guitar album to the benefit of AIDS research, was released by Universal. Danel recorded duets with 24 guitars greats such as Hank Marvin again, Albert Lee (recorded at the Abbey Road Studios 2), Scott Henderson, Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash, Jake Shimabukuroand various popular French artists. The album gets to #3 in the French charts and generates several hit singles as well as a string of Top 10 hits on iTunes, including a No. 1 hit single in Belgium, a long-running Top 5 hit with Axel Bauer, staying in the charts for more than three years and a half. 8 singles in all hit the iTunes charts in several countries, such as the USA, Ireland, Portugal, Mexico, Denmark, Austria, Germany, France, Sweden, Finland, Luxemburg, Belgium, etc. The album gets support by various people, such as Carla Bruni, ]then First Lady of France, orBrian May of Queen, who also writes a note in the booklet. The pair was reunited in a charity organized by Danel in 2013
The Hit List (2013)
His digital compilation (on downloading exclusively) The Hit List enters the French charts at #18, and charts in the UK (#28) and the U.S (#32), while two singles hit the French Top 20, including "Philippine's Smiles", which also reaches #12 on the iTunes Jazz charts in the US, #1 in Sweden, #38 in the UK and #63 in Israël, while two other singles hit the Top 100 in Australia (at #53 and #69). Five years after its original release, "The Pink Side of Miss Daisy" finds its way in the Billboard U.S. charts at #86. In 2014, his EP containing two duets with Hank Marvin hits the digital Top 40 in the UK as well as in several countries (USA, Poland, South Africa, Thailand, etc.).
Guitar Tribute (2016)
On March 25, 2016, Danel released Guitar Tribute (Sony Music), a box set with 2 cds (a compilation and a live album) and the DVD of a private live show, All You Need is Live, given for his daughter. Half of the concert consisted of Danel's hits, with two new songs, while the other half is a collection of covers of classics that influenced the guitar player (The Beatles"", The Shadows, Elvis Presley, etc.). Half of the tunes are vocal. Several duets are included, as well as video tributes to Danel by Brian May of Queen, Hank Marvin of The Shadows, several French artists and Sony Music and Warner Music CEOs Danel embarked on an important media promotion, with a prime time TV show, several other TV appearances and TV advertising The album entered the charts at #7.The dvd, also sold apart, got to #1 and was certified gold within a week.11 songs made the downloading charts. His medley All You Need is Live / Apache got to #1 in May. Other songs hit the #2, #3 and #4 spots, while some others are much lower in the charts. The live version of Philippine's Smiles hits #22, while The Pink Side of Miss Daisy, augmented with a Part. II, hit the charts at #73. The dvd went platinum by the end of May, after a gig at the Paris Olympia. This platinum disc is his 195th as a record producer, and his 43rd as an artist.
Globally, Danel's guitar records have charted in 39 countries, with 46 hit singles and 36 hit albums.
Puzzle Productions
As a record producer, he started his own company, Puzzle Productions, in 1989. He produced dozens of hit records and also bought the rights for many songs from other companies, creating an 18,000 songs catalogue. Record industry specialists presented Danel in various TV documentaries as one of the biggest independent producers in France. On May, 15th, 2014, at Sony Music's Parisian headquarters, he was awarded a multi-diamond disc, celebrating 25 years in show business, 23,3 million copies sold and 191 gold and platinum discs. His work also includes the production, with DJ Da French Guy, of radio remixes for artists such as Madonna,Britney Spears, Daft Punk, and Moby.
Books
Danel is the author of several books, the best known of which are biographies of French playwright and actor Sacha Guitry. His second book about Guitry is featured on the book list for French students at Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and Berkeley Universities, CA. Danel also published a book about the FenderStratocaster (foreword by Hank Marvin). In 2014, he releases the video "TheFender Stratocaster Story", based on the book and on his vast collection of guitars, in which can be found "Miss Daisy", a scarce 1954 preproductionStratocaster, worth 250,000 US$.
Charities
Danel produced records to the benefit of various charities (AIDS, Amnesty International, etc.). Long time vegetarian and animal lover, Danel launched "Guitar Players for Animal Rights" to the benefit of PETA, and was joined by fellow guitarists Brian May (of Queen) again, Steve Lukather (of Toto), Hank Marvin (ofThe Shadows) as well as French stars such as singer and composer/producer forCeline Dion Jean-Jacques Goldman or French movie star Jean-Paul Belmondo.