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Jean-Pierre Danel (born 1968) is a famous French self-taught guitarist, record producer and composer.
He started his career as a professional guitarist in July 1982, at the age of 14. He was then mainly influenced by the English guitar legends Hank Marvin and The Shadows. After many tours and studio recordings with the biggest names among French session musicians (the ones who play with Céline Dion or Johnny Hallyday), he released various guitar albums, sold by the hundreds of thousands, earning him chart entries and 7 gold discs in Europe. In the US, his album “Stratospheric” received the Award for the Best Album of the Year 2000 from the Instrumental Rock Guitar Hall Of Fame, and Jean-Pierre also received the Award for the Composer of the Year, for his track “Ballad For a Friend”. As a guitarist, the Instrumental Rock Guitar Hall Of Fame described him as "brilliant and expressive". The international musical press was also enthusiastic about this new album. In the US, DWMusic wrote : ”This should be in your collection ! Great arrangements ! Stratospheric will blow you away !" and 2Oth Century Guitar said : ”He’s such a good player !". In the UK, Shadsfax Magazine wrote : "Thumbs up ! This man can really play a guitar, and I mean really… Superb !", Pipeline Magazine : "With such a talented guitarist, the outcome is almost guaranteed to blow you away. ", etc. Reviews were more than excellent as well in France, Spain, Brazil, Japan, Belgium, Holland and Germany. In 2001, he was featured in the charitable Unicef album released by Sony Music, “Guitar Masters – The Greatest Guitarists in the World”, along with Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, BB King, Al Di Meola, Popa Chubby, Stanley Jordan, and a dozen of other great names of the guitar’ world. As a producer, he started his own company, Puzzle Productions, in 1989. He has sold since then 19,8 million copies of 1800 albums, singles and compilations he produced or co-produced for various French and international artists, distributed by all major companies (Sony/BMG Music, Universal, Warner Music, EMI/Virgin). The catalogue of his company includes 15, 000 songs, and 201 of the records he produced hit the charts in France, including 96 Top 10 and 19 #1 hits. Jean-Pierre also received 137 gold and platinum discs for his productions. His work also includes the production, with DJ Da French Guy, of radio remixes for artists such as Madonna, Britney Spears, Daft Punk, or Moby, and, with English DJ Joey Negro, the production of the club hit single (in England and Sweden) “Alexandrie Alexandra”. In October 2002, the re-release by Sony of a part of his back catalogue, in addition to his hit records of the moment, earned him the title of the producer with the highest number of albums and singles in the French national charts during the same week, with 19 records ranked. He also bought or represents for France, and sometimes for Europe, the rights for a part of the recordings of various international artists, such as Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Kool and the Gang, Gloria Gaynor, Compay Segundo, Luciano Pavarotti, to name but a few… In 2006, Jean-Pierre produced and created the concept of the award winning DVD Car Academy, a movie based on luxury cars and top models. More than 210 000 copies of the dvd were sold in France. His new album as an artist, Guitar Connection, released by Sony/BMG in july is a huge hit, and the only instrumental guitar album to reach the N°1 spot in the charts in France (also a N°3 in Belgium), staying there for two weeks, and receiving also a gold disc (with more than 160 000 copies sold). The dvd recieves a diamond disc. "Guitar Connection 2" is released in March 2007, hits the charts at N°8 and is acclaimed by the press. The album features includes a duet with British legend Hank Marvin on the famous jazzy standard "Nivram" (the single hits the charts at #14), and a track with French Award Winning star Laurent Voulzy (a single that reached #7 in the single charts). The dvd recieves a double platinum disc. In June 2007, Danel receives the distinction award "Grand Prix Français de la Guitare" as well as a multi-diamond distinction award for 25 years in the music business. In March 2008, his single "NZ Girl Blues" hit the single charts at #5 (a unique fact for an instrumental blues tune), and Jean-Pierre records "Guitar Connection 3" (to be released in July 2008), and launches his guitar method Guitar Academy (www.guitaracademy.fr). Jean-Pierre also wrote a dozen of books, including "Femme mode d’Emploi" (quotations about women), "Tribute to the Fender Stratocaster" based on his guitar collection, which includes the famous and rare models "Miss Daisy" and "La Marquise", a biography of French playwriter, director and actor, Sacha Guitry as well as several humoristic books. . Jean-Pierre is the son of the well known French pop singer Pascal Danel, who wrote and sung the 60’s French classic hits “Les Neiges du Kilimandjaro” and “La Plage aux Romantiques”, among others, and he is the nephew of worldwide known opera director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. |
