Daniel Wayne Sermon (born June 15, 1984) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is the lead guitarist for the

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

band

Imagine Dragons Imagine Dragons are an American pop rock band formed in 2008, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. The band currently consists of lead singer Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, and bassist Ben McKee. They first gained exposure with the release of ...

Early life

Sermon was born on June 15, 1984, in

American Fork, Utah American Fork is a city in north-central Utah County, Utah, United States, at the foot of Mount Timpanogos in the Wasatch Range, north from Utah Lake. The city is southeast of Salt Lake City and is part of the Provo–Orem metropolitan area, Pr ...

, to parents Jeff and Debbie Sermon. He attended

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

where he double majored in guitar performance and composition, graduating in 2008. While at Berklee he was part of a five-guitar jazz fusion ensemble called The Eclectic Electrics.

Career

Wayne Sermon first met Imagine Dragons frontman

Dan Reynolds Daniel Coulter Reynolds (born July 14, 1987) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is the lead vocalist and a founding member of the pop rock band Imagine Dragons, which formed in 2008. He is a recipient of the Songwriters Hall o ...

after hearing him perform at a club in Utah and approaching him afterwards about his musical interests. Reynolds invited him to join his band and move to

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. Sermon then invited

Ben McKee Benjamin Arthur McKee (born April 7, 1985) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is the bassist for the pop rock band Imagine Dragons. Early life McKee was raised in Forestville, California, and graduated from El Molino ...

to join the band on bass, and drummer

Daniel Platzman Daniel James Platzman (born September 28, 1986) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and composer. He is best known as the former drummer for the pop rock band Imagine Dragons. Early life Platzman was born on September 28, 1986 ...

, also a friend of Wayne from

, became the last member to join the group. In Las Vegas, the band performed and honed their craft nearly nightly as a lounge act. Vegas Music Summit Headliner 2010, and more sent the band on a positive trajectory. In November 2011 they signed with

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

and began working with producer

Alex da Kid Alexander Junior Grant (born 27 August 1983), professionally known as Alex da Kid or by.ALEXANDER, is a British music producer from Wood Green, London. He has gained recognition for producing several hit singles for artists of multiple music g ...

. In 2012 their debut album ''

Night Visions ''Night Visions'' is the debut studio album by American pop rock band Imagine Dragons. It was released on September 4, 2012, through Kidinakorner and Interscope Records. The album was primarily produced by the band themselves, as well as Engli ...

'' brought the band mainstream success. It reached 2 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart and won the

Billboard Music Award The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a Billboard charts, music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annu ...

for Best Rock Album (2014). Single " It's Time" became the band's first single reaching #15 Billboard Hot 100 and certified multi-platinum by the RIAA. Second single "

Radioactive Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is conside ...

" reached #3 Billboard Hot 100 and was certified diamond by the RIAA, becoming the best selling rock song in the history of

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate Data, LLC (formerly MRC Data and P-MRC Data) is a provider of music and entertainment data. Established as a joint-venture in 2020, it brought together Nielsen Music, Alpha Data (formerly BuzzAngle Music) and Variety Business Intellige ...

. Third single "

Demons A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in media including fiction, comics, film, t ...

" reached #6 Billboard Hot 100 and was certified multi-platinum by the RIAA. Their album made the highest debut for a new rock band in six years (since 2006) and single Radioactive set a record for longest time atop the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart with 23 consecutive weeks. Tracks from the album topped the Billboard Rock Songs, Billboard Alternative Songs, and Billboard Pop Songs charts. Radioactive was also nominated for two

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

, winning the

Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance The Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. According to the 54th Grammy Awards description guide it is designed for ...

. Singles include " I Bet My Life" and " Shots".

Personal life

Sermon is one of five children of his parents and grew up a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

but has since left the church. Wayne has chronic insomnia and will often record songs during the middle of the night, sleeping only a couple of hours a day.

Playing style and musicianship

Sermon has described his playing style as textural. As a youth, Sermon learned to play both cello and guitar. He was determined to be a guitarist even as a child. His father had an audio-phile quality amplifier, a record player, and all of

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

albums on vinyl, which Sermon enjoyed listening to. He also loved the sounds of

Tom Scholz Donald Thomas Scholz (born March 10, 1947) is an American musician. He is the founder, main songwriter, primary guitarist, keyboardist and only remaining original member of the rock band Boston. He has appeared on every Boston release. Scholz, a ...

(of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

) and his approach to solos.

Equipment

Electric guitars

*BilT Electric Guitar with built-in effects * Gibson

Jeff Tweedy Jeffrey Scot Tweedy (born August 25, 1967) is an American musician, singer songwriter, author, and record producer best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the band Wilco. Tweedy, originally from Belleville, Illinois, began his music care ...

Signature SG *

Elixir Strings W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. is an American multinational manufacturing company specializing in products derived from fluoropolymers. It is a privately held corporation headquartered in Newark, Delaware. It is best known as the developer of wate ...

Acoustic guitars

Gibson J-45 The Gibson J-45 is a guitar manufactured by the Gibson Guitar Corporation. Generally regarded as Gibson's most famous and widely used acoustic guitar model, it is considered the workhorse of guitars. The Jumbo guitar is signified by the "J" and ...

*Gibson Honky Tonk Deuce

Sound equipment

* Line 6 M9 Stompbox Modeler *Vintage

Vox AC30 The Vox AC30 is a Instrument amplifier, guitar amplifier manufactured by Vox (company), Vox. It was introduced in 1958 to meet the growing demand for louder amplifiers. Its "jangly" high-end sound made it widely used by British musicians and oth ...

Amps with Top Boost Kit from Plexi Palace *

Friedman Friedman, Friedmann, and Freedman are surnames of German origin, and from the 17th century were also adopted by Ashkenazi Jews. It is the 9th most common surname in Israel (8th among Jews) and most common exclusively Ashkenazi name. Notable people ...

Smallbox 50 with 65 Amp 2x12 Whiskey cabinet

Discography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sermon, Wayne 1984 births Living people American alternative rock musicians American indie rock musicians American male singers American rock guitarists American male guitarists Musicians from Las Vegas Imagine Dragons members Berklee College of Music alumni 21st-century American singers People from American Fork, Utah Former Latter Day Saints