Daniel Johnston | Artist

Daniel Johnston was an American singer-songwriter and visual artist born 1961 in Sacramento, California. Johnston, who has schizophenia and bipolar disorder, is regarded as a gifted musician in lo-fi, and alternative music scenes. Most of his work consists of cassettes recorded alone in his home, and his music is frequently cited for its "pure and childlike soul". He began recording music in the late 1970s on a $59 Sanyo mono boombox, singing and playing piano as well as the chord organ. He gathered a local following in the 1980s by passing out tapes of his music while working at a McDonalds in Austin Texas. His cult status grew when Nirvana's Kurt Cobain was seen wearing a Tee shirt featuring artwork from Johnston's 1983 album Hi How Are You. As well as his solo work, Johnston has collaborated on several albums with Jad Fair from Half Japanese. He also has a side project called Danny and The Nightmares. Outstanding albums include Songs of Pain (1981), Hi How Are You (1983), Yip / Jump Music (1983), 1990 (1990) and Fun (1994). Also recommended is the 2006 double LP compilation Welcome to My World...The Music of Daniel Johnston. Johnston also created the naive pictures for his album artwork, and published a number of illustrated comic books. In November 2015, Hi, How Are You Daniel Johnston?, a short documentary about Johnston's life, was released featuring Johnston as his 2015 self and Gabriel Sunday of Archie's Final Project as Johnston's 1983 self. The executive producers for the film included Lana Del Rey and Mac Miller. His struggles with mental illness were the subject of the 2005 documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston. Daniel Johnson passed away on September 11th 2019, aged 58.

Artist Website: hihowareyou.com

Featured Albums: Daniel Johnston

Related Artists: Jad Fair