Dan Berk opens up to TVGrapevine about his life, career and past with the NY Knicks.
Tell me a bit about how your career began and some of your proudest accomplishments so far?
Well I have always been surrounded by music from a very young age. My dad is an amazing guitar player and my brother plays the drums so from about age 5, I remember vividly jamming with them and writing songs together. They’re my biggest musical inspirations.
For when my career started officially though, I’d say about 4 years ago when I started writing my own music and posting covers to Spotify. Some of my proudest accomplishments are recently finishing my debut EP. It took about 3 years to create so I feel so accomplished that I finally finished it. Another proud moment of mine was hitting 1 million monthly listeners on spotify with my covers. I never imagined in a million years, that so many people would be listening to my stuff, so I am so incredibly honored that my music is being played by such a big audience
Who inspires you as an artist?
My biggest inspirations are Carrie Underwood and Calum Scott. I love the power in both of their voices and how much emotion they convey in their vocal delivery. They hold nothing back when playing live or singing in the studio and it’s so inspiring to me as a listener. They tell such a story with their melodies and delivery.
Tell me about working on your new EP and who/what inspired it.
I feel incredibly lucky that I got to work with such amazing songwriters/producers on my first EP. I wrote the album with my friends Andrew Tufano who’s a writer in Nashville, Alex Tamashunas, Noah Taylor, Annika Bennett and Stavros. My producer Noah Taylor and Andrew Tufano were really the ones who inspired me to keep writing and grow as an artist during this process. Regarding what inspired the music, was simply my experiences throughout these formative years as a young adult. I talk a lot about a relationship that was heartbreaking at the time, and now laugh a lot when I listen back to these songs because of how much I’ve grown as a person and how much I let that one person make me feel so small at that time. I also talk about feelings of loneliness and my painful experience in high school and feeling like you don’t quite fit in anywhere. Then there are more lighter and fun songs which I hope people dance and vibe out to.
Who are some people you want to collaborate with?
I’d love to collaborate with Lauv, Charlie Puth, Carrie Underwood, Tori Kelly, Calum Scott, Anne Marie and Bruno Mars.
What’s next for you? anything new and exciting?
I think just prepping for the album and pitching the songs to some labels and companies. Maybe creating some visuals to the songs if corona permits!
Tell me a surprising, fun fact about yourself.
I used to be a ball boy for the NY Knicks.
What are you watching on TV these days?
Curb Your Enthusiasm, Broad City, Black Mirror.
Anything else you want to tell America?
That I hope everyones safe and doing okay during this difficult time and that my music lifts their spirits during this crazy pandemic!