Danny Vera, stage name of Danny Polfliet (Middelburg, 31 May 1977), is a Dutch singer, musician, and songwriter. His music falls under the Americana genre. In 1999, he formed his first band, Till Dawn, with which he won the Zeeuwse Belofte (Grand Prize of the Netherlands) in 2000. Vera was also among the very first students of the Rock Academy in Tilburg, alongside classmates Jacqueline Govaert and Floor Jansen. With Till Dawn, he performed various shows throughout the Netherlands. In 2002, Vera signed a solo contract with Universal Music.
In 2003, his first album, For the Light in Your Eyes, was released. The single "My Confession" (2003) reached number one in the Turkish charts. Due to disappointing results from the album, Universal Music dropped him in 2004. Vera continued writing songs and independently worked on a new album, Hold on a While, which was released in 2005. Hershel Yatovitz, guitarist for Chris Isaak, contributed to this album by playing on a track and producing several others. The album also featured a duet with Nancy Casteele, which was later performed with singer Maud Mulder. In April 2009, Vera went to Hilltop Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, to record his fourth album, Pink Flamingo. There, he worked with session musicians from, among others, Garth Brooks and Toto, creating a sound reminiscent of major American productions. The recording process was documented and included as a DVD.
In 2019, the song 'Roller Coaster' from his album 'Pressure Makes Diamonds Part II' entered the charts. In the Single Top 100, he scored his fifth hit with this song. After a hesitant start, the song grew into a major hit. Only in the 38th week did it reach its highest position: 8th place. It was listed in the Top 40 for 27 weeks without reaching the top 20. At the end of 2019, it proved very successful in all-time lists such as the Evergreen Top 1000 of Radio 5 (no. 16) and the Top 4000 of Radio 10 (no. 8). In the Top 2000 of NPO Radio 2 in 2019, it was the highest new entry ever at number 4. Subsequently, Danny reached number one in the Top 2000 in 2020 with his Roller Coaster, displacing Queen with Bohemian Rhapsody from the top spot!
On the turntable with Danny Vera
Singer Danny Vera, the brand-new number 1 of the Top 2000, talks with Bart Arens about a special record from the list for him: That’s Life, by Frank Sinatra. This record gave him support after the death of his father. "This song helped me through times when I thought: I could use a pick-me-up," Vera says. "It was my battle song."
Watch here the segment about That's Life in the Pick-Up Tour.
Sunday Morning Classic: The Year Of The Snake
On 13 December 2020, Danny was our Sunday Morning Classic with the album The Year Of The Snake.
Why an album in two parts? Because you don't want to drive in the fast lane with nice up-tempo songs and then be disturbed by a ballad that comes in between.
Danny Vera certainly has a point here. ‘Pressure Makes Diamonds 1’ contains only the up-tempo songs and part two the ballads.
The Year Of The Snake is a direct reference to his birth year 1977, the year of the snake.
It starts with a threatening guitar sound caused by the characteristic use of the tremolo. Combined with Vera's distinctive voice, this creates a country sound. He is accompanied by American singer Michelle David.
The second track, Fallen King, is a real Americana song complete with brass. Indeed, a nice up-tempo song that tells of a lost battle, a fallen king, and for whom or what we actually fought. A song that fits well with the current times, you could say. On Stars Align, Danny keeps up this tempo a little longer, and you really feel like you're in the fast lane he mentioned in his introduction. A song that never really changes rhythm and could therefore go on forever.
Next Night Flight is a call to flee into the night and enjoy the freedom the night offers. But hurry up because time is running out. A trifle of about four minutes. This song is followed by nice rock ‘n roll in Honey South. An intro reminiscent of Chuck Berry's style, then moving into a typical rock ’n roll pattern. This makes the song somewhat predictable, although Vera tries to put his own spin on it by following a different pattern at the end of the chorus that you wouldn't immediately expect.
The album finally ends relatively quietly with Bo-utiful. Whether this is meant to accompany the transition to the second record is not entirely clear to me, as this seems more like a country ballad than an up-tempo song. All in all, this has become quite a nice record.
Some artists make you happy, very happy even. Because they represent something you don't often encounter nowadays. Especially among Dutch artists. Danny Vera is such an artist who makes you both happy and hopeful.
Source: Jan Liebregts, NPO and Wikipedia.
Photo: Mickisoke - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 and Paul Luberti - wikiportret.nl
