Dan Sultan facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dan Sultan
Southbound Festival, Busselton, January 2011
Background information
Birth name	Daniel Leo Sultan
Born	December 1983 (age 40–41) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Guitar vocals drums piano mandolin organ bass guitar percussion boomerangs
Years active	1996–present
Labels	MGM Distribution Liberation ABC Music

Daniel Leo Sultan is an Australian alternative rock singer-songwriter and guitarist, actor and author. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2010 he won Best Male Artist and Best Blues & Roots Album for his second album, Get Out While You Can (November 2009). At the 2014 ceremony he won Best Rock Album for Blackbird (April 2014), which had reached number four on the ARIA Albums Chart. In 2017, Sultan's record Killer was nominated for three ARIA awards: Best Male Artist, Best Rock Album, and Best Independent Release. Sultan's debut children's music album Nali & Friends was named Best Children's Album at the ARIA Music Awards of 2019.

Early life

Sultan is a Arrente/Gurindji man.

Sultan started playing guitar at four and wrote his first song at ten. His mother's friend gave him an "old, clapped-out electric guitar" and, when living in Fitzroy, he began singing at local pubs. In 2000 he met Scott Wilson, a guitarist, at a Williamstown pub's karaoke night and the pair began writing tracks together. Wilson later recalled "What struck me at first was that he could play piano and guitar and he was a great foil for what I was doing... After a while playing together he said, 'Can I sing this one?' I said, 'Do you know the words?'... [he had a] mighty voice. A lot of people can play guitar... Not many can sing like that."

Career

2006–2008: Homemade Biscuits

Sultan released his debut solo album, Homemade Biscuits on 13 March 2006, with most tracks written by Scott Wilson or co-written by Sultan and Scott Wilson. It was produced by Scott Wilson at Flowerpress Studios, Newport, and True Form Services, Spotswood. Other performers on the album were Lazare Agnekis, Neil Gray, Elijah Maiyah, Lochile McKlean and Ben Wicks. He received the financial assistance of John Butler's Seed program.

At the 2007 Deadly Awards, Sultan won the Single Release of the Year for "Your Love Is Like a Song", which was co-written with Wilson. He performed his self-written track, "Roslyn", at the National Sorry Day concert in May 2007, which describes his mother, a member of the stolen generation, removed from her family when she was six or seven.

Sultan and Wilson were invited by Paul Kelly to record a cover version of "This Land Is Mine", originally by singer-songwriter Kev Carmody, for a various artists tribute album of Carmody's work, Cannot Buy My Soul which was released in February 2007. They also performed at two concerts of the same name: the Sydney Festival in January 2008 and Queensland Music Festival in August 2009. In January 2008 Sultan's backing band consisted of Eugene Ball on trumpet, Ben Gillespie on trombone, Joshua Jones on bass guitar, Peter Marin on drums, Ash Naylor on guitar and Gina Woods on keyboards. Sultan and his band have performed at Australian music festivals.

2009–2013: Get Out While You Can

In November 2009, Sultan released his second studio album, Get Out While You Can, which peaked in the ARIA Albums Chart top 100 in late May 2010 – six months after it was issued. It reached No. 1 on the independent Australian charts and was a Triple J feature album. Sultan describes his music as "country soul rock'n'roll". At the ARIA Music Awards of 2010 he won Best Male Artist and Best Blues & Roots Album for Get Out While You Can. In October that year, he also won Best Independent Artist and Best Independent Blues & Roots Album at the Australian Independent Record Awards (AIR Awards).

2014–2018: Blackbird, Dirty Ground and Killer

In February 2014 Sultan supported Bruce Springsteen's Melbourne and Hunter Valley gigs on his Australian tour.

In April 2014, Sultan released his third studio album Blackbird, which reached No. 4 on the ARIA Albums Chart and spent thirteen weeks in the Top 50. At the ARIA Awards in November that year Blackbird won Best Rock Album. Also in November he released his first extended play, Dirty Ground, which reached the ARIA Albums top 100. On 13 November 2015, Sultan released Open Live, a live album recorded at his sold-out National Theatre show of his Blackbird tour.

On 28 July 2017, Sultan's released his fourth studio album Killer, which was produced by Jan Skubiszewski. The album peaked at number 5 on the ARIA charts was nominated for three ARIA awards.

On 19 May 2018, Sultan released his collaborative EP titled Killer Under a Blood Moon which saw Sultan re-record songs from this Killer album with other Australian artists.

In June 2018, Sultan postponed the balance of a national tour after criticism of a live performance.

2019–2022: Aviary Takes and Nali & Friends

In March 2019, Sultan released his fifth studio album Aviary Takes, which was preluded with the lead single "Love & Hate" released on 22 February 2019.

In April 2019, Sultan released his sixth studio and first children's album Nali & Friends. Produced by Jan Skubiszewski and released by ABC Music, Nali & Friends debuted at #1 on the Australian iTunes Children's charts, and was named Best Children's Album at the ARIA Music Awards of 2019.

Sultan published his first children's book, Nali (co-written with Rhys Graham), in December 2019.

2023: Signing with Unified and Dan Sultan

On 16 February 2023, it was confirmed that Sultan had signed with Unified Management, ahead of his single "Story", which was released on 23 February 2023.

In May 2023, Sultan announced the release of his self-titled seventh studio album, released on 18 August 2023.

Other projects

Sultan made his screen debut in the 2009 feature film Bran Nue Dae, alongside Geoffrey Rush, Missy Higgins and Jessica Mauboy.

Sultan is a sometime member of Black Arm Band, a loose collection of various indigenous musicians. He was also involved in Paul Kelly's The Merri Soul Sessions project.

Personal life

Sultan married Bronnie Jane Lee and has two children.

..... The charges led Sultan to withdraw from performing at the Perth Festival (which he was headlining), the Port Fairy Folk Festival (both scheduled to take place the following week), and the Parrtjima Festival in Alice Springs in April 2020. The charges were dropped by Victorian police and struck out during a hearing in Melbourne Magistrates Court in November 2020.

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Other appearances

See also

In Spanish: Dan Sultan para niños In Spanish: Dan Sultan para niños