Daniel Leonard Nigro (born May 14, 1982) is an American musician, songwriter, instrumentalist and record producer.[2] He was the lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band As Tall As Lions.[3] Nigro has produced, written and co-written songs for singers Kimbra, Kylie Minogue, Carly Rae Jepsen, Caroline Polachek, Lewis Capaldi, Finneas, Olivia Rodrigo, Conan Gray and many others. He won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album for producing Rodrigo's Sour album.[4]
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Daniel Nigro[1] | |
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Born | Daniel Leonard Nigro (1982-05-14) May 14, 1982 (age 40) Long Island, New York, U.S. |
Occupation | Musicians, singer, songwriter, record producer |
Years active | 2001–present |
Spouse | Emily (m. 2020) |
Children | 1 |
Musical career | |
Genres | Indie rock, emo, alternative rock |
Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar, bass, piano, keyboards |
Formerly of | As Tall As Lions |
Musical artist |
Nigro was raised in Long Island, New York. His father owned an Office Product Manufacturing Company. As a child, he took piano lessons and played in the band. He was an honorary member of Rob Parr, from Ohio.[5] In sixth grade, he learned how to play a guitar and became obsessed with pop music after hearing Nirvana's song "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and soon after, he and his friends made their own music video through an attraction at Long's Island Adventureland.[6] At the age of 15, he wanted to become the front-man of his band, despite not having formal vocal training. To improve his singing voice, he started listening to Jeff Buckley for two years trying to sing like him.
Nigro and his high school friends Sean Fitzgerald and Cliff Sarcona formed an indie rock band As Tall As Lions around 1997. During the next few years, the band endured line up changes and experienced artistic roadblocks before taking their present, permanent form with addition of fourth member, Julio Tavarez.[7]
Somewhere in 2002, they released their first EP "Blood Aphorisms" and put it on the internet websites, the band received "calls" from record labels ready to sign them. In 2003, they signed a record deal with Island and Triple Crown Records.[8] All of them decided to drop out from college and pursued their music career as full time members of the band.[9]
In 2004, the band released their debut album "Lafcadio" and set out on a tour in support of their album. Two years later, they released their self-titled sophomore album "As Tall As Lions", then they were headlining a tour from June until September and made their first television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. [10] The band's third album "You Can't Take It with You" took over a year to record and was released in 2009. Their album peaked at number 88 in the Billboard 200 chart. By September 2010, the band split up amicably. Nigro went to work on solo projects, named Blocks.
Nigro has always expressed his love and passion in writing music. It was between the ages of 14-16 when he started writing his songs. While he was in the band, he talked about the moodiness, nervousness and pressures of writing every record with his bandmates. Sometimes, he would write a song once in two months or when he had sudden inspiration.[11] After the band's split up, he moved to Los Angeles, California and went through a period of soul searching while pursuing a solo career.[12] He became a freelance songwriter and started making commercials for a living. Nigro continued writing songs with his childhood friend Justin Raisen and began working relentlessly for song ideas and recorded demos without success on their first couple of years. Finally, his biggest break came when Sky Ferreira enlisted them for her album. Ferriera's album received critical acclaimed and opened doors for him to work with other singers.[13]
Album | Release Date | Label | Billboard 200 peak |
---|---|---|---|
Lafcadio | May 8, 2004 | Triple Crown Records | – |
As Tall As Lions | August 8, 2006 | Triple Crown Records | – |
You Can't Take It with You | August 18, 2009 | Triple Crown Records | 88 |
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Indicates songs solely written or produced by Dan Nigro |
Year | Artist | Song | Album | Written with | Produced with |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2011 | Kimbra | "Cameo Lover" | Vows[14] | Kimbra | – |
2012 | Sky Ferreira | "Lost in My Bedroom” | Ghost EP | Sky Ferreira, Ariel Rechtshaid, Justin Raisen | – |
2013 | "You're Not the One" | Night Time, My Time[15] | – | ||
"I Blame Myself" | Sky Ferreira, Ariel Rechtshaid, Justin Raisen, Jordan Benik | – | |||
"I Will" | Sky Ferreira, Ariel Rechtshaid, Justin Raisen | – | |||
"Love in Stereo" | Sky Ferreira, Ariel Rechtshaid, Justin Raisen, Jeremiah Raisen | – | |||
2014 | Kylie Minogue | "If Only" | Kiss Me Once | Ariel Rechtshaid, Justin Raisen | – |
"Golden Boy" | – | ||||
Billy Idol | "Can't Break Me Down" | Kings & Queens of the Underground | Billy Idol, Greg Kurstin | – | |
Dillon Francis | "Hurricane" (featuring Lily Elise) | Money Sucks, Friends Rule | Dillon Hart Francis, Leah Hayes, Oliver Goldstein | Dillon Francis, Oligee | |
2015 | Twin Shadow | "When the Lights Turn Out" | Eclipse | George Lewis, Wynne Bennett | – |
Little Boots | "Help Too" | Working Girl | Little Boots | Solee | |
Carly Rae Jepsen | "When I Needed You" | E•MO•TION | Carly Rae Jepsen, Ariel Rechtshaid, Nate Campany, Tavish Crowe | Ariel Rechtshaid | |
JR JR | "Gone" | JR JR | Joshua Epstein, Mike Higgins, Daniel Zott | – | |
2016 | A-Trak | "Parallel Lines" (featuring Phantogram) | Non-album single | A-Trak, Joshua Carter, Sarah Barthel, Dave 1, Cory Enemy, Mereki | – |
Zella Day | "Man on the Moon" | Man on the Moon / Hunnie Pie | Zella Day Kerr | Sole production ![]() | |
"Hunnie Pie" | |||||
Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness | "Walking in My Sleep" | Zombies on Broadway | Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, Morgan Kibby | – | |
2017 | Lo Moon | "This Is It" | Lo Moon | Matt Lowell | – |
"Thorns" | – | ||||
Lewis Capaldi | "Mercy" | Bloom | Lewis Capaldi | Sole production ![]() | |
2018 | Rae Morris | "Physical Form" | Someone Out There | Rae Morris | – |
Finneas O'Connell | "Heaven" | Non-album single | Finneas O'Connell | Finneas O'Connell | |
Lo Moon | "Tried to Make You My Own" | Lo Moon | Matt Lowell, Christian Baker | – | |
"My Money" | Matt Lowell | – | |||
"Real Love" | – | ||||
"The Right Thing" | Matt Lowell, Samuel Stewart | – | |||
Empress Of | "When I'm with Him" | US | Jim-E Stac, Empress Of | Jim-E Stac, Empress Of | |
Conan Gray | "Generation Why" | Sunset Season | – | Sole production ![]() | |
"Crush Culture" | – | Conan Gray | |||
"Greek God" | – | Sole production ![]() | |||
"Lookalike" | – | ||||
Lo Moon | "For Me, It's You" | Non-album single | Matt Lowell | Matt Lowell | |
2019 | Riverdale Cast | "These Are the Moments I Remember" | Riverdale: Season 1 (Original Television Soundtrack) | Christopher Gabriel | – |
Conan Gray | "The King" | Non-album single | Conan Gray | Solee | |
Hey Violet | "Better by Myself" | To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (Music from the Netflix Film) | Casey Moreta, Gabe Simon, Rena Lovelis, Nia Lovelis | ||
Freya Ridings | "Castles" | Freya Ridings | Freya Ridings | Mark Crew, Dan Priddy, Yves Rothman | |
Caroline Polachek | "Door" | Pang | Caroline Polachek, James Stack, Daniel Eisner Harle | Caroline Polachek, James Stack, Daniel Eisner Harle(co.) | |
"So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings" | Caroline Polachek, Teddy Geiger | Caroline Polachek | |||
"Look at Me Now" | Caroline Polachek, Daniel Eisner Harle | Caroline Polachek, Daniel Eisner Harle | |||
"I Give Up" | Caroline Polachek, James Stack | Caroline Polachek, Jim-E Stack, Dan Carey | |||
Conan Gray | "Checkmate" | Kid Krow | – | Sole production ![]() | |
"Comfort Crowd" | Conan Gray | ||||
"Maniac" | |||||
2020 | "Wish You Were Sober" | ||||
"The Cut That Always Bleeds" | – | ||||
"Fight or Flight" | – | ||||
"Affluenza" | Conan Gray | ||||
"(Can We Be Friends?)" | – | ||||
"Heather" | – | Jam City | |||
"The Story" | – | Sole production ![]() | |||
Lyn Lapid | "Producer Man" | Non-album single | Lyn Lapid | ||
Chappel Roan | "California" | Non-album single | Kayleigh Rose Amstutz | ||
"Love Me Anyway" | Non-album single | ||||
"Pink Pony Club" | Non-album single | ||||
2021 | half•alive | "TIME 2" | Non-album single | Josh Taylor, J. Tyler Johnson, Brett Kramer & Ariel Rechtshaid | – |
Cautious Clay | "Roots" | Deadpan Love | – | Johan Lenox, Jim-E Stack, Cautious Clay | |
ROSIE | "100 Headaches" | Non-album single | Rosaileen Scher | – | |
Olivia Rodrigo | "Brutal" | Sour | Olivia Rodrigo | Sole production ![]() | |
"Traitor" | |||||
"Drivers License" | |||||
"1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back" | – | Olivia Rodrigo(co.) | |||
"Deja Vu" | Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, St. Vincent | Sole production ![]() | |||
"Good 4 U" | Olivia Rodrigo | Alexander 23(co.) | |||
"Enough for You" | – | Olivia Rodrigo(co.) | |||
"Happier" | – | Sole production ![]() | |||
"Jealousy, Jealousy" | Olivia Rodrigo, Casey Smith | Jam City(co.) | |||
"Favorite Crime" | Olivia Rodrigo | Sole production ![]() | |||
"Hope Ur Ok" | |||||
Conan Gray | "People Watching" | Superache | Conan Gray, Julia Michaels | ||
"Astronomy" | Conan Gray | ||||
2022 | "Movies" | ||||
"Best Friend" | |||||
"Yours" | |||||
"Jigsaw" | |||||
"Family Line" | |||||
"Footnote" | |||||
"Memories" | |||||
"The Exit" | Conan Gray, Julia Michaels | Ryan Linvill | |||
Hatchie | "Quicksand" | Giving the World Away | Harriette Pilbeam, Joe Agius | Sole production ![]() | |
Maisie Peters | "Good Enough" | Non-album single | Maisie Peters |
Award | Year[lower-alpha 1] | Recipient(s) and nominee(s) | Category | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Grammy Awards | 2022 | Sour | Best Pop Vocal Album - Producer and Engineer | Won | [16][17] |
Album of the Year | Nominated | ||||
"Drivers License" | Record of the Year | Nominated | |||
Song of the Year | Nominated | ||||
ASCAP Pop Music Awards | 2022 | "Drivers License" (with Rodrigo) | Winning Songwriters and Publishers | Won | [18] |
"Good 4 U" (with Rodrigo, Williams and Farro) | Won | ||||
"Deja Vu" (with Rodrigo, Clark) | Won |
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