Dan bonow is a singer-songwriter and hammond organist
Dan is not only a kickass organist, he’s also a brilliant songwriter and an electrifying singer and performer. His lyrics are sharp, funny, and original, sometimes employing clichés in a surprising way that casts them in a new light. His voice has a broad range from deep bass to silky falsetto, full of charisma and pure soul.
As a Hammond organ player, Dan is quirky, bold, original, and a raging rhythm machine. Left hand keyboard bass is the clock that makes the music go, and Dan’s clock is synced up with the center of the universe. One measure from this guy, and you’ll be dancing!
In the mid-60s, Seattle's rock scene burgeoned with all kinds of new sounds, fed by the strong dancehall and R&B history of the Northwest (Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix, The Sonics). After winning a regional battle of the bands with his group, Jack Horner and the Plums (“The Famous Plums”), and and attending High School in Nigeria, Dan Bonow set Seattle audiences on their ears with his new and shocking psychedelic funk band, the Juggernaut in 1968. Jazz musicians, hippies, and soul music fans flocked to his shows at the Eagles Auditorium, the Sky River Rock Festival, and opening for Sly and the Family Stone.
Organist, singer, and prolific songwriter, Dan Bonow is an electrifying performer with a special flair for irresistible rhythms, playing witty original tunes with soulful depth, always with a spiritually uplifting focus. On the dance floor!
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Dan Bonow is a Seattle classic. He comes right from the center of the original Seattle sound, after spending his high school years in Africa. His career began in the 60s in Nigeria, where he played schools, club and TV. His first U.S. group, Jack Horner and the Plums (“The Famous Plums”), defied classification, but won a regional band of the bands, with the grand prize being a record contract (Jerden - The Garage Years).
Bonow then worked with Northwest dancehall circuit bands, the Bandits and the Emergency Exit, playing guitar, organ, and singing. In 1967, he masterminded the notorious and now legendary Juggernaut, a seminal Soul, Rock, psychedelic funk band of startling originality, playing festival concerts, clubs, and psychedelic dance halls on the west coast. Band members Pernell Alexander and Butch Snipes grew up in Seattle’s Central Area with Jimi Hendrix, they gave Hendrix his first guitar. Jimi visited the Juggernaut, and was so moved by the band’s style that he dedicated a tune to the Juggernaut at his 1968 Seattle Coliseum show, and added organ to his subsequent record, ‘Electric Ladyland’.
During the 1970s, Dan Bonow formed other funk and rock bands, the Stars, then Rotor International, always with top players from Seattle’s soul music community. He toured the Northwest and Canada with Texas Blues great Albert Collins. Bonow also play gospel organ with Big Frank Thompson, and sang with the Johansen Brothers Band, with legendary R&B guitarist Joe Johansen. During the 80s and 90s, Dan’s band Vizzion appeared in the Northwest, New York, Europe and Africa. During his 1997 trip to Nigeria, he was given a “Welcome Home Tour”, doing concerts, clubs, radio, TV, a movie - and met one of his heroes… Fela Kuti!. Dan finished the 90s by gigging with Apple Gabriel, founder of the Jamaican reggae legends - Israel Vibrations.
During the next three decades, Dan Bonow, raised children, toured with his bands - the Stars, RotoR International, Vizzion, UNKO FUNKi, and the Dan Bonow Band.
The 21st century brought him to the island farthest away from any landmass on Earth, Kauai, Hawaii, where he, and his Kauai UNKO FUNKi band served fresh organic grooves to the Island. Dan Bonow and his sweetheart from teenage rocker days, Judy Motulsky, currently live in Los Angeles, where Dan continues to perform with his band DB3 at legendary venues includingThe Mint, State Social House, and the Viper Room.
-Bio by, Scott Hawthorn (Organ Freak), DB3 Edit