Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has produced albums by artists including

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Fu ...

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

Robbie Robertson Jaime Royal "Robbie" Robertson, OC (born July 5, 1943), is a Canadian musician. He is best known for his work as lead guitarist and songwriter for the Band, and for his career as a solo recording artist. With the deaths of Richard Manuel i ...

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, includin ...

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and ''Stardust'' (1978 ...

Spoons Spoons may refer to: * Spoon, a utensil commonly used with soup * Spoons (card game), the card game of Donkey, but using spoons Film and TV * ''Spoons'' (TV series), a 2005 UK comedy sketch show *Spoons, a minor character from ''The Sopranos'' ...

, and Brandon Flowers. He collaborated with

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop a ...

to produce several albums for U2, including ''

The Joshua Tree ''The Joshua Tree'' is the fifth studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 9 March 1987 on Island Records. In contrast to the ambient experimentation of their 1984 release, ' ...

'' (1987) and '' Achtung Baby'' (1991). Three albums produced or co-produced by Lanois have won the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

for

Album of the Year Album of the Year, often abbreviated to AOTY, may refer to: Awards * ARIA Award for Album of the Year, Australia * Brit Award for British Album of the Year, UK * Grammy Award for Album of the Year, US * Juno Award for Album of the Year, CA * Lati ...

. Four other albums received Grammy nominations. Lanois has released several solo albums. He wrote and performed the music for the 1996 film '' Sling Blade.''

Biography

Early life and career

Lanois was born in

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

. Lanois started his production career when he was 17, recording local artists including Simply Saucer with his brother Bob Lanois in a studio in the basement of their mother's home in

Ancaster, Ontario Ancaster is a historic town in the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, located on the Niagara Escarpment. Founded as a town in 1793, it immediately developed itself into one of the first important and influential early British Upper Canada communi ...

. Later, Lanois started Grant Avenue Studios in an old house which he purchased in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of ...

. He worked with a number of local bands, including Martha and the Muffins (for whom his sister Jocelyne played bass), Ray Materick,

, and the Canadian children's singer Raffi. Lanois attended Ancaster High School.

Producer

In 1981, Lanois played on and produced the album '' This Is the Ice Age'' by Martha and the Muffins. In 1985, he and two members of the band earned a

CASBY award The CASBY Awards were a Canadian awards ceremony for independent and alternative music, presented annually by Toronto, Ontario radio station CFNY, currently branded as 102.1 The Edge. CASBY is an acronym for Canadian Artists Selected By You. T ...

for their work on the band's (by then going by "M + M") 1984 album '' Mystery Walk''. Lanois worked collaboratively with

on some of Eno's own projects, one of which was the "Prophecy Theme" for David Lynch's

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

of Frank Herbert's ''

Dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

''. Eno invited him to co-produce U2's album '' The Unforgettable Fire''. Along with Eno, he went on to produce U2's ''

'', the 1987

Grammy Award for Album of the Year The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is presented by the The Recording Academy, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording ...

winner, and some of the band's other works including '' Achtung Baby'' and ''

All That You Can't Leave Behind ''All That You Can't Leave Behind'' is the tenth studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, and was released on 30October 2000 through Island Records and Interscope Records. Following the band's experime ...

'', both of which were nominated for the same award but did not win. Lanois once again collaborated with U2 and Brian Eno on the band's 2009 album, '' No Line on the Horizon''. He was involved in the songwriting process as well as mixing and production. Lanois' early work with U2 led to him being hired to produce albums for other top-selling artists. He collaborated with

on his album '' Birdy'' (1985), the soundtrack to Alan Parker's film of the same name, and then spent most of 1985 co-producing Gabriel's album ''So''. The album was released in 1986 and became his best-selling release, earning

multi-platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

sales and a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Lanois later co-produced Gabriel's follow-up, '' Us'' which was released in 1992 and also went platinum.

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended ...

recommended Lanois to

in the late 1980s; in 1989, Lanois produced Dylan's '' Oh Mercy''. Eight years later, Dylan and Lanois worked together on '' Time Out of Mind'', which won another Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1997. In his autobiographical '' Chronicles, Vol. 1'', Dylan describes in depth the contentious but rewarding working relationship he developed with Lanois. ''

Wrecking Ball A wrecking ball is a heavy steel ball, usually hung from a crane, that is used for demolishing large buildings. It was most commonly in use during the 1950s and 1960s. Several wrecking companies claim to have invented the wrecking ball. An e ...

'', his 1995 collaboration with

, won a 1996

Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album was awarded from 1987 to 2011. Until 1991 the award was known as the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Recording. In 2007, this category was renamed Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album. As ...

. In 1998, he produced and appeared on

's album '' Teatro.'' Lanois was working on

's record '' Le Noise'' in June 2010 when he was hospitalized after suffering multiple injuries in a motorcycle crash in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles. He has since recovered. Lanois' production is recognizable and notable for its 'big' and 'live' drum sound, atmospheric guitars and ambient reverb. ''Rolling Stone'' called Lanois the "most important record producer to emerge in the Eighties."

Recording artist

As well as being a producer, Lanois is a songwriter, musician and recording artist. He has released several solo albums and film scores; his first album, '' Acadie'' was released in 1989. A number of Lanois' songs have been covered by other artists, including Dave Matthews,

Jerry Garcia Band The Jerry Garcia Band was a San Francisco Bay Area rock band led by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Garcia founded the band in 1975; it remained the most important of his various side projects until his death in 1995. The band regularly tour ...

, Tea Party, Anna Beljin, Isabelle Boulay, and

. His albums have had some success, particularly in Canada. Lanois plays the guitar,

pedal steel The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can ...

, and drums. '' Belladonna'', an instrumental album released in 2005 was nominated for a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

. Lanois' song "Sonho Dourado" was included in the 2004

Billy Bob Thornton Billy Bob Thornton (born August 4, 1955) is an American actor, filmmaker and musician. He had his first break when he co-wrote and starred in the 1992 thriller ''One False Move'', and received international attention after writing, directing, a ...

film, '' Friday Night Lights''. In 2005 with the re-release of his first solo album, Acadie, a late-1980s version of the song appears on the additional tracks called "Early Dourado Sketch". Lanois had performed the song numerous times in the intervening years, including on a Toronto television program in 1993 where it was credited as "Irish Melody" on a recording of the performance. Though the melody does indeed feel Irish, the title is Portuguese and means ''golden dream''. Lanois also provided an instrumental score for ''LOUDquietLOUD'', a 2006 documentary about the

Pixies A pixie (also pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, and piskie in Cornwall and Devon, and pigsie or puggsy in the New Forest) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are considered to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas aro ...

. Lanois premiered a documentary entitled ''Here Is What Is'' at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

in 2007. The film chronicles the recording of his album of the same name and includes footage of the actual recording. The album '' Here Is What Is'' was released, first by download, then on compact disc, in late 2007 and early 2008. Soon after that, Lanois released a three-disc recording called ''Omni''. In October 2009, Lanois started a project called Black Dub which features Lanois on guitar,

Brian Blade Brian Blade (born July 25, 1970) is an American jazz drummer, composer, session musician, and singer-songwriter. Early life Blade was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana. The first music he experienced was gospel and songs of praise at ...

on drums, and Daryl Johnson on bass, along with multi-instrumentalist/singer

Trixie Whitley Trixie Whitley (born June 24, 1987) is a Belgian American multi-instrumentalist. As the daughter of singer-songwriter Chris Whitley, she began her musical career playing with her father, and recording on several of his albums.Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, includin ...

as a sideman and opening act on a tour focused on the ''

'' material he produced.

Solo career

On October 28, 2014, Lanois released an album titled ''Flesh and Machine'' on

ANTI- Anti- is an American record label founded in 1999 as a sister label to Epitaph Records. While Epitaph's focus has mostly been on punk rock, Anti-'s roster includes gospel (Mavis Staples), country (Merle Haggard), hip hop ( Sage Francis, The C ...

Records, based on Brian Eno's ambient albums. The instrumental album consists primarily of original atmospheric and process-based sounds, blending pedal steel guitar and a variety of digital and analog sound processing devices. He was assisted by the drummer

. In 2016, he released the album ''Goodbye to Language'' with

Rocco Deluca Rocco or Rocko is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: First name * Rocco Baldelli (born 1981), American Major League Baseball player and manager of the Minnesota Twins * Rocco Botte (born 1983), American actor a ...

. The collaborative album ''Venetian Snares x Daniel Lanois'' was released on

Venetian Snares Aaron Funk (born January 11, 1975), known as Venetian Snares, is a Canadian electronic musician based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He is widely known for innovating and popularising the breakcore genre, and is one of the most recognisable artists to ...

' label Timesig in May 2018. Lanois also contributed to the composition and production of the soundtrack for the 2018 video game ''

Red Dead Redemption 2 ''Red Dead Redemption 2'' is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. The game is the third entry in the ''Red Dead'' series and a prequel to the 2010 game ''Red Dead Redemption''. The story is set in 1899 and f ...

'', released by

Rockstar Games Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...

. He was given seven composition credits, including one for the song "Table Top".

Awards

Lanois was invested in the Order of Canada in 2018. Lanois won a Juno Award in 1990 as most promising artist. Lanois has received seven

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

for his work with various artists, including

, U2,

and

In 2005, he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. In June 2013, he received a lifetime achievement award at the

Governor General's Performing Arts Awards A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

Discography

Albums

Soundtracks

* ''Trip: Soundtrack Collection'' (self-released, 1993) – compilation * ''

Sweet Angel Mine ''Sweet Angel Mine'' is a 1996 thriller film directed by Curtis Radclyffe. Plot Paul, a young man from London, arrives in the small Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one o ...

'' (1996) * ''Lost in Mississippi'' (1996) * '' Sling Blade'' (1996) * ''

'' (2018) – game

Videography

Production credits

Collaborations

, '' So'' (Charisma, 1986) *

, ''

'' (1987) *

, '' Oh Mercy'' (1989) *

, '' Us'' (1992) *

, ''

'' (1995) *

Ron Sexsmith Ronald Eldon Sexsmith (born January 8, 1964) is a Canadian singer-songwriter from St. Catharines, Ontario. He was the songwriter of the year at the 2005 Juno Awards. He began releasing recordings of his own material in 1985 at age 21, and has s ...

, ''

'' (1995) *

, '' Time Out of Mind'' (1997) *

Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1 ...

, '' A Painter Passing Through'' (1998) *

Natalie Merchant Natalie Anne Merchant (born October 26, 1963) is an American alternative rock singer-songwriter. She joined the band 10,000 Maniacs in 1981 and was lead vocalist and primary lyricist for the group. She remained with the group for their first se ...

, ''

Ophelia Ophelia () is a character in William Shakespeare's drama '' Hamlet'' (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet, who, due to Hamlet's actions, ends u ...

'' (1998) *

Joe Henry Joseph Lee Henry (born December 2, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer. He has released 15 studio albums and produced multiple recordings for other artists, including three Grammy Award-winning albums. Early life H ...

, ''

Fuse Fuse or FUSE may refer to: Devices * Fuse (electrical), a device used in electrical systems to protect against excessive current ** Fuse (automotive), a class of fuses for vehicles * Fuse (hydraulic), a device used in hydraulic systems to protect ...

'' (1999) *

, '' Up'' (2002) *

Solomon Burke Solomon Vincent McDonald Burke (born James Solomon McDonald, March 21, 1936 or 1940 – October 10, 2010) was an American singer who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues as one of the founding fathers of soul music in the 1960s. He has been ...

, ''

Don't Give Up on Me ''Don't Give Up on Me'' is a studio album by American R&B/Soul singer Solomon Burke, recorded and released in 2002 on Fat Possum Records. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album. It is noteworthy for the contributions ...

'' (2002) *

, '' Stumble into Grace'' (2003) * Brandon Flowers, ''

Flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbea ...

'' (2010) *

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

, '' Thanks for the Dance'' (2019) * Annie Barbazza, ''Vive'' (2020)

References

External links

*
Entry at discogs.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lanois, Daniel 1951 births Canadian folk singer-songwriters Canadian rock singers Canadian folk guitarists Canadian male guitarists Canadian rock guitarists Canadian ambient musicians Canadian male singer-songwriters Canadian record producers Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees Musicians from Gatineau Musicians from Hamilton, Ontario French Quebecers Canadian people of Acadian descent Living people Canadian audio engineers Pedal steel guitarists Juno Award for Instrumental Album of the Year winners Grammy Award winners All Saints Records artists Governor General's Performing Arts Award winners Warner Records artists Juno Award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year winners Jack Richardson Producer of the Year Award winners Anti- (record label) artists

Biography

Early life and career

Producer

Recording artist

Solo career

Awards

Discography

Albums

Soundtracks

Videography

Production credits

Collaborations

See also

References

External links