Danny Beirne

In the late summer of 1999, Danny Beirne came to Los Angeles after a three year self-imposed sabbatical from the music business. After a long and continuously successful career on the east coast as a singer songwriter, both solo as well as with the bands Skip Castro and MCA recording artist Tommy Conwell and the Young Rumblers, he moved to Minneapolis, MN to regroup, playing coffee houses and with a local band or two. It was a humbling, spiritual time -- Beirne had gone from playing to audiences of thousands to venues where he worked for tips and could count visually the number of people in the audience. The experience helped him realize that it was love of performing and creating music that drove him to play, not fortune or fame. After three grueling years in America's upper Midwest, Beirne was ready to dive into the Los Angeles entertainment industry, seeking to create "a revolution in the consciousness of our musical times."

A lot has happened since then. Upon arriving in L.A., he hooked up with actor-writer-director-producer Larry Holden, who was readying his screenplay My Father's House for production. Holden, a die-hard Skip Castro fan from years back, wrote the band into the movie in a scene featuring Cameron Diaz, Jeremy Garrett and Page Moss. My Father's House was filmed on location in rural Maryland in August 2000 and is still in post-production.

From March to May of 2001, Beirne joined forces with CyberStudiosNetwork (CSN), the brainchild of television scoring giant Tom Chase and publicist Jim Moore. Affiliated with Universal Studios, CSN created quite a buzz in the music industry. This young record company utilized Beirne's musical know-how, expert keyboard playing, arranging and singing talents to round out their rapidly growing musical stable. Spending many hours in rehearsal sessions, as well as at CSN brainstorming with other musicians, Beirne performed with the new band 9/10ths Numb, featuring Thomas Wolford on vocals, until personal issues not involving Beirne caused the band to break up after only one live performance.

In the meantime, Beirne's world-class keyboard playing kept him busy with three other L.A. bands - The Mau Mau Kings (a blues-rock ensemble), Alligator Stew (a Louisiana swamp boogie band) and Venus Envy (a powerhouse pop-rock group) - while still flying back east to sing and play with Skip Castro for frequent concerts and private appearances. He also did a featured set with Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (of Doobie Brothers/Steely Dan fame) and the Nighthawks as his back-up band at the annual Winchester, Virginia Historic Preservation Society's Blues House Festival in June 2000. Not limited to playing as part of a group, Beirne loved to play solo and managed to squeeze in a few gigs in this capacity whenever he could.

Adding to his singing, playing and acting repertoire Beirne is a prolific songwriter and composer. For years he has maintained a reputation for first-rate pop music. "I'm a songwriter", he tells us. "If I think of a song that's country, I'll write a country song, If it's a soul tune, then I'm writing a soul tune. I don't hold back anything because 'it's not my style' or 'it's not what I'm known for'. I've been told this is commercial suicide, but this is my whole point. The airwaves are ruled by corporations and businessmen who want to make a buck. They've created an emotionally and spiritually dead music scene. I want to bring back the life, the unpredictability of 60's pop radio, where you'd hear the Statler Brothers' Countin' Flowers on the wall played back to back with Stevie Wonder's Uptight and the Four Seasons' Workin' My Way Back to You." Beirne spent virtually all of his extra time at work in the studio recording self-produced demos of his original material, much of which has been released on his first solo CD -- "Danny Beirne sings Everything ... + 12 Other Big Hits."

Having jumped a lot of hurdles right off the bat, Danny Beirne found his arrival in Los Angeles encouraging at first. He'd landed an agent in record time – within the first month of moving there! --- got a national TV commercial spot; succeeded in getting his band, Skip Castro, in their first film; was chosen to work in a fledgling studio's stable of bands, headed by industry giant Tom Chase; worked with several other big name producers; and, of course, rocked the nights away with several hot L.A. based bands.

GUESS WHAT?
The post 9/11 blues set in, making his commercial agent, Robin Levy & Associates, close shop after 26 years in the biz! Danny found himself flying back to the east coast more and more to perform choice gigs, then flying back to L.A. This in and of itself was laden with turmoil since the terrorist attacks.

IT DIDN'T TAKE AN EINSTEIN TO FIGURE OUT THAT BACK EAST WAS WHERE HE SHOULD GO!
So back he went, back to Charlottesville, Virginia, happy, healthy, & prepared to perpetuate mayhem. You'll see him with some of his Skip Castro buddies, as well as a slew of young talent in a new high energy blues act called The Danny Beirne Band. They'd blow you away with their hard-rockin', swingin', soulful boogie woogie.

A lucky few musical artists become nationally famous by having a hit record. Danny is trying to do it by living in different cities for a few years then moving on. So far he's lived and played in East Orange, Keyport, and Spring Lake, NJ; Charlottesville and Richmond, VA; Baltimore and Annapolis, MD; Minneapolis... Los Angeles... Palm Beach... and these are just the places he's lived. Of course he's played virtually all over the country.

From 2007-2011 Danny based operations out of Columbus, OH. He was heavily featured in the documentary Live From...The Hook as well as on the various artists collection Songs In The Key Of Hope. He continues to play concert & club dates either solo or with the unstoppable Skip Castro Band.

Among his other projects is an autobiographical musical tentatively titled Columbus. The score (both words and music) has been completed. Work is still in progress on the book.

He was also musical director and announcer for the comedy game show Bonk!

Danny moved back to Virginia in 2011 because of his many gigs in the Mid-Atlantic region. While he continues to play solo gigs, concert and club dates with Skip Castro, The Danny Beirne Band, and Lindy and The BopCats, he has hooked up with Founding Music and 20 South booking agencies to expand his live performance schedule.

Although he is a smashing success with his live performances, his catalogue of original compositions begs to be further explored! You can go to the music or pics and vids to hear and see more.

 
The Live Gig:

In the course of his many years playing to live audiences, Danny has developed a killer live act that is frought with fun, fearless rock'n'roll, boogie-woogie, impressions (how about Sinatra singing Jimi Hendrix?) as well as audience participation (The Mystery Group Of The Night) and a heartfelt, soulful ladies' choice thrown into the mix. Selections from his thousand-song original composition catalogue may be played upon request (along with just about anything else).

While he plays country, oldies, swing, jazz, blues, soul, pop, and many other genres, you could sum up his style as ROCK'N'ROLL! No one else is like him. Musical wallpaper he is not. He commands your attention with musical authority unmatched in today's club and concert circuit. Wild, nutty, unpredictable---you simply have to see him to believe it. A good time is GUARANTEED

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