Legendary West Coast house producer DJ Dan has died, a representative for the artist confirmed to Billboard on Sunday (March 29).
A cause of death has not yet been revealed. The artist’s exact age has also not been confirmed, although various reports put him in the 55-57 age range.
“It is with profound sorrow, deep admiration, and an enduring sense of gratitude and love that we announce the passing of Daniel Wherrett — known professionally to the world simply as DJ Dan — one of the most beloved, genre-defying, and genuinely influential pioneers in the history of American electronic music,” reads a statement provided to Billboard. “He leaves behind not just a discography, but a culture — a way of feeling music that touched millions of souls across four decades and five continents. He often said he felt his purpose in life was ‘to heal through music.’”
Ticket holders to DJ Dan’s scheduled Saturday (March 28) night performance at the club Dead Ringer in Reno, Nevada, report that DJ Dan did not show up to the event, with the promoter later posting a statement to Instagram saying that “unfortunately DJ Dan is unable to make it tonight.” A person close to DJ Dan tells Billboard that he had not been responding to text messages for two days prior to his death.
Born Dan Wherrett in Lacey, Washington, the producer initially moved to Seattle to study design, but was bewitched by the world of electronic music. He moved to Southern California in the early ’90s, a time when the city was a nexus for the burgeoning underground rave scene. In the mid-90s he moved to San Francisco, co-founding the city’s Funky Tekno Tribe collective and establishing himself as a crucial member of the West Coast underground electronica scene, touring the world and working across house, techno, breakbeat and beyond.
In 1998, DJ Dan recorded his first of three Essential Mixes for BBC Radio, with the last one recorded alongside the legendary Frankie Knuckles at Winter Music Conference 2007. Over the years he graced many DJ lists, with DJ Mag ranking him at No. 5 on its 2006 list of the world’s top 100 DJs.
Had three hits on Billboard‘s Dance Club Songs chart, including one No. 1: “That Phone Track” in 2004.
He also charted three albums on Billboard‘s Top Dance Albums chart, going as high as No. 11 in 2011 with In Stereo.
“Those who knew Dan personally knew a man who saw music in colors. Disco was orange;
techno was blue and brown; progressive sounds were a cool, deep blue,” continues the statement on his passing. “He described his DJ sets as ‘peaks and valleys of energy through color’ — and that synesthetic vision translated into something audiences felt in their bodies long before they understood it with their minds. He credited his inspiration to James Brown, his parents, and ‘all the underdogs who fought their way to success in life.’”
“Off the stage, he was a cook, a traveler, an obsessive record collector whose family bought him a new turntable every Christmas — not because it was tradition, but because it was the only gift he ever wanted. He was passionate about food, art, and the way disparate things could combine into something neither had been alone. That was his philosophy in the kitchen and on the dance floor alike: bring together things that traditionally shouldn’t go together, and find out what happens.”
“He leaves behind his music, his label, his mixes, and the countless thousands of dancers who found themselves — truly found themselves — in the middle of one of his sets. The world is quieter today. But press play on anything he touched, and you will hear exactly why we mourn him, and exactly why we are forever grateful he was here to inspire us.”
