Daniel Johnston

On tour

Pictures

DJ08

Listen to, buy or share

Buy

Buy on Amazon Amazon Expand purchase options
  • Digital download
  • Amazon Amazon
  • 7digital 7digital
  • iTunes iTunes
  • Physical media
  • Amazon Amazon Search
  • eBay eBay Search
  • 5,973,621
    scrobbles
  • 228,056
    listeners

Tags

Everyone’s tags

More tags

Biography

United States (1981 – present)

Daniel Johnston (b. January 22, 1961 in Sacramento, California) is a prolific American and artist. He has been classified as an outsider musician.

His songs are typically painfully direct, and often display a disturbing blend of childlike naïvete with darker, “spooky” themes. Johnston’s singing voice is rather high-pitched, and his performances often seem faltering or uncertain; one critic writes that Johnston’s recordings range from “spotty to brilliant”. He also draws and paints; he is a cult comic book artist and his illustrations have been featured with most of his albums.

Johnston was born in Sacramento, California and grew up in West Virginia, United States, but now lives in Waller, Texas. Johnston suffers from manic depression, and has had varying luck with different treatments. He has been institutionalized for periods.

In the late 1970s, Johnston began recording his songs on a $59 Sony Boombox, singing and playing either guitar, piano or harmonica. He gave tapes of his music to anyone who would take them. Johnston created the comic book inspired art that usually accompanied his own recordings. His debut recording Songs Of Pain was released in 1981.

His early songs established a number of themes that would persist through Johnston’s career: Unrequited love, Casper the Friendly Ghost, and comic book superheroes, especially Captain America and Jack Kirby’s other works. “Joe”—a partly autobiographical character—has been featured in a number of songs. Johnston has cited The Beatles as a prime influence.
Read more… Edit bio

Top Albums

Events

Add event

Listening Trend

228,056listeners all time
5,973,621scrobbles all time
Recent listeners trend:

Start scrobbling and track your listening history

Last.fm users scrobble the music they play in iTunes, Spotify, Rdio and over 200 other music players.

Create a Last.fm profile

Shoutbox

Leave a comment. Log in to Last.fm or sign up.

Listening Now

Top Listeners