PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY MUSICIAN: Mentored by her father, composer/producer Robert Gass, Danya River began playing classical and improvisational piano and composing music at the age of four. She started playing guitar and writing original lyrical songs at age fourteen and, through high school, performed as a solo singer-songwriter and as a member of a competitive a cappella jazz choir. After high school, she went on to study vocal, world and experimental music at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.
Danya released her first, self-produced album of original works at the age of 21. As an independently touring and recording singer-songwriter, Danya spent eight years managing all aspects of a solo singer-songwriter career from: song writing, management, marketing, booking, promotion & performance, to record production & distribution.
Danya River's 2004 EP, "Bone by Bone" was selected as one of CD Baby's favorite albums and was featured on their front page drawing the following review from the CD Baby staff: "A perfect meeting of the obvious and the subtle, the coarse and the silky, the warm and the rugged. Female, country-tinged, folk- based pop, unlike the cliches, sparkles through this album. Taking bits of bluesy ache, the 70s folk rock tradition, Americana and plenty of other little nuggets of goodness, she's created a lush composite that…pushes ahead with a stylistic mix that's too elusive for simple descriptions, too speckled with ambivalence to be summed up in a few words. Every track is a volume in itself." -CD BABY
Another review references Danya's "evocative writing, dark intriguing guitar work, and a velvet voice that ranges from formidable to ethereal." (KRFC, Fort Collins) She has opened for national acts such as Regina Spektor, Shawn Colvin, Melissa Ferrick and Matt Nathanson and at 24 was named Boulder’s "Best Artist" in her hometown of Boulder, Colorado. Rosanne Cash calls River's songwriting "uplifting, startling, and incredibly evocative." On stage River reveals a "stark honesty, an uncanny charisma, an overwhelming intimacy in the way she sings into each person's eyes" (Scene Magazine).
In her touring years (2000-2005) she was a regular at venues including The Fox Theatre (Boulder, CO), Club Passim (Cambridge, MA) and the Bitter End (NYC). And she has received recognition for her song writing through the Northern California Songwriter's Association, The Rocky Mountain Folk Festival, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival.
Danya River is living in her hometown, Boulder, CO. She is currently off the stage at work as a recording artist and Creativity and Songwriting Coach with Everything Is Art Coaching. Her yet-to-be-fully released self-titled CD was produced by Austin-based producer/engineer, Michael Hynes of the Hideout Studios. http://www.hideoutstudios.com
STUDIO VOCALIST AND PRODUCER:
Danya has over 13 years of studio vocal work experience on many varied recording projects throughout the US and the UK. She grew up in the studio assisting her father, Robert Gass, with his elaborate choral productions that have sold over half a million units. She now co-produces with him and is the lead vocalist for their studio release, “Kirtana”, a collection of devotional Sanskrit chants. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO DANYA'S STUDIO DEMO
CREATIVITY & SONG-WRITING COACH:
Danya is a powerful leader and team player. Raised by parents who teach communication, relationship and leadership seminars her emotional intelligence and respect and care for others is exceptional. Danya additionally has seven years extensive training in personal transformation, communication, and global leadership with Landmark Education. As a creativity coach and consultant she provides infrastructure and accountability for her clients to lead inspiring, joyfully-expressive lives. As a song-writing coach, Danya helps songwriters go deeper into the songwriting process and translate more profoundly to their audience. CLICK HERE TO SEE DANYA'S COACHING SITE: "EVERYTHING IS ART"
VISUALS/FINE ARTS:
Danya is also a professional painter and mixed-media artist. She brings a highly developed and a uniquely beautiful aesthetic to everything she creates. Her visual artistry is a powerful adjunct to her music recording and performances.
RANDOM PERSONAL FACTS...
I love being alive and I love people.
I’m interested in growing for the rest of my life: growing more skillful, more masterful at living, relating and creating.
I take good care of myself and live a wholesome, well-balanced life.
My parents and siblings are my best friends.
I spent the first years of my life on a teaching commune that my parents founded where they lead “Opening the Heart” workshops (cathartic, not surgical). And as a kid we toured around the country in a rainbow school bus with the commune choir singing peace songs at the Pentagon among other places.
When I was sixteen, I was the booty back-up singer for a high school P-Funk cover band named Oblangada.
Before Obama announced his candidacy, I cried my way through his book, “The Audacity of Hope”. And even though he's popular now, and I used to be too cool to like anything that anyone else liked, I’m over that. If it moves me, I'm in. I was a fundraising and voter outreach organizer for his presidential campaign.
I have a pink, rubber, monster finger puppet named "Edgar" on the cap of my toothpaste to inspire me to brush my teeth more often.
I live my life with transparency, vision, integrity and love, and consider these among my highest values.
My paternal grandmother was a Broadway actress. My maternal grandmother has a PhD in Mathematics. And my mother is a wise spiritual teacher, dancer, artist. Strong women.
Oh, yeah, I promised my dad I would tell people that neither of the dads mentioned in my songs are him. The songs were inspired by other people's father stories. A practice in empathy. My dad is neither disabled nor absentee. We are very tight and he is an exemplary father.
Instrumentation Pop Singer-Songwriter: Voice, Acoustic Guitar, Piano. Solo, partial or full band performance. Discography Danya River, 2009 (LP...not-yet released) Kirtana, 2006 (LP) Bone by Bone, 2004 (EP) Within/Without, 2001 (LP)