Daniel Griffith (born September 29, 1987), known by his stage name Gryffin (often stylized as GRYFFIN), is an American musician, DJ, and music producer. He gained recognition for remixing some well-known songs such as
Tove Lo's "
Talking Body",
Maroon 5
Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine (musician), James Valentine, d ...
's "
Animals
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a ...
" and
Years & Years' "
Desire
Desires are states of mind that are expressed by terms like "wanting", "wishing", "longing" or "craving". A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires. They are seen as propositional attitudes towards conceivable states of affa ...
".
Background
Gryffin was born in San Francisco, California and is of
Japanese descent. Gryffin grew up as a classically trained pianist and learned to play the guitar at an early age. He played in bands to initially hone his instrumental abilities. He studied
electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
at the
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
where he took much of his leisure time in his dorm room to work on music.
In 2009, he began releasing his music as
White Panda,
with childhood friend Tom Evans, who was studying in Chicago.
They began a national tour in July 2011, in a second generation of
mashup artists gaining popularity on college campuses and music-streaming websites.
They played college campuses, such as the University of Delaware and Swarthmore College, and shared the stage with Flo Rida, Wale and Sam Adams. Later performances included the
Firefly Music Festival and
Lolapalooza.
When asked on his key lessons of
music production, he said: "At the beginning, I just released music with the main goal of having my friends play it at college parties and I never would have imagined it would get to this point". He made his 'world' debut as Gryffin at the SnowGlobe Music Festival 2015.
He moved to Los Angeles to be closer to his label and management.
History
2016
On January 22, 2016, Gryffin released his debut single titled "Heading Home" featuring Australian singer
Josef Salvat via Darkroom/
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 ...
.
On May 2, 2016, an official music video was uploaded on his
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
channel. The song peaked at number 22 on the
Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, number 21 on the
Dance/Electronic Digital Songs chart, number 1 on Spotify Viral 50 chart and number 5 on the ''Billboard'' Twitter Emerging Artists chart. On August 26, 2016, he released a song titled "Whole Heart" with
Bipolar Sunshine.
In an interview, about the song "Whole Heart", Gryffin said "'Whole Heart’ is a big step for me as an artist, as it represents a developing maturity of my sound and depth of songwriting".
2017
2017 saw three singles for Gryffin. "
Feel Good", a collaboration with DJ
Illenium
Nicholas Daniel "Nick" Miller (born December 26, 1990), professionally known as Illenium (stylized in all caps), is an American musician, DJ, music producer, and songwriter. He has released five studio albums, his most recent being ''Illenium'', ...
and singer
Daya, was released on March 3. "Love in Ruins" with singer
Sinéad Harnett was released on July 7 and "
Nobody Compares to You" with Katie Pearlman was released on October 6.
2018
2018 proved to be a big year for Gryffin, releasing five singles throughout the year. His first single of the year, "Winnebago" with
Quinn XCII and
Daniel Wilson was released on April 20. He followed this up with single "Just for a Moment" with
Iselin, released June 22, and "
Tie Me Down" with
Elley Duhé, released on August 3. Two months following the release of "Tie Me Down", Griffith released a song with Zohara. "
Remember" was released on October 26 and eventually topped the
US Dance Charts, marking Griffith's first number one hit song.
2019
In 2019, Gryffin released his full-length debut album, ''
Gravity
In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force b ...
'', to critical acclaim.
2020
On July 26, 2020, Gryffin announced the release of "
Cry", with
John Martin, on his Instagram page. He hinted that the track would be the first single from his upcoming second album, and announced July 30, 2020 as the single's release date.
2024
On August 2, 2024, Gryffin released his third studio album "
Pulse". This album continues to demonstrate Griffith's ability to captivate listeners with his melodic and emotional music.
Pulse marks a new era for Gryffin, showcasing his continued experimentation with different genres while staying true to his signature sound. The album embodies themes of energy, community, and nostalgia for the early-mid 2000s EDM boom, with collaborations from artists like
Elderbrook,
Disco Lines, and
Armin van Buuren.
Musical style
Gryffin produces music in a melodic house style and classifies himself as a melodic house artist.
He incorporates sounds of piano and guitar for a 'hybrid of electric and organic' musical style.
Discography
Studio albums
Extended plays
Singles
Other charted songs
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gryffin
1987 births
Living people
Future bass musicians
American electronic dance music DJs
American remixers
Tropical house musicians
University of Southern California alumni
21st-century American musicians
American musicians of Japanese descent
American musicians of Asian descent