Dan Auerbach

Auerbach was born in Ohio, and is the son of Mary Little (née Quine; b. about 1948), a teacher of French, and Charles Auerbach (b. about 1950), an antique dealer.

His father is of Polish Jewish descent and his mother is of part Manx descent.

His maternal cousin, twice removed, was philosopher and logician Willard Van Orman Quine, and his second cousin once removed was the late guitarist Robert Quine.

Auerbach grew up in a family with musical roots.

Auerbach became infatuated with blues after listening to his father's old vinyl records during his childhood.

His first concert was Whitney Houston with his mother at the Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

His second concert was a Grateful Dead show with his father at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio.

He was influenced early on by his mother's side of the family, notably his uncles who played bluegrass music.

Auerbach described himself as a normal teenager in high school who smoked marijuana and captained the soccer team at Firestone High School.

He attended University of Akron.

During college Auerbach was heavily influenced by Junior Kimbrough, eventually resulting in his dropping out to pursue the guitar more seriously.

"I've listened to him so much, it's just how I hear it... I studied him so much... Getting F's in college, when I should've been studying, I was listening to Junior Kimbrough's music instead".

Other major influences include: Robert Johnson, R.L. Burnside, Clarence White, Robert Nighthawk, T-Model Ford, Hound Dog Taylor, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Kokomo Arnold, Son House and RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan.

Auerbach is best known for his work with The Black Keys.

Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney first met when they were eight or nine years old while living in the same neighborhood of Akron, Ohio.

Carney is the nephew of saxophonist Ralph Carney, who performed on several Tom Waits albums.

While attending Firestone High School, Carney and Auerbach became friends, though they were part of different crowds.

Auerbach was captain of the high school soccer team, while Carney was a social outcast.

Daniel Quine Auerbach (born May 14, 1979) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer, best known as the guitarist and vocalist of The Black Keys, a blues rock band from Akron, Ohio.

As a member of the group, Auerbach has recorded and co-produced eleven studio albums with his bandmate Patrick Carney.

Encouraged by their brothers, the duo began jamming together in 1996, as Auerbach was learning guitar at the time and Carney owned a four-track recorder and a drum set.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, the duo revealed that their big start came from a demo-recording session in Carney's basement.

Auerbach initially went to record a demo with his band at the time but no one showed up.

He and Carney then decided that they would just play instead.

What came out of that session was ultimately sent out to several labels to try to secure a record deal.

While attending university, Auerbach met and began regularly playing guitar with fellow Ohio blues musician Patrick Sweany while continuing to work on material for The Black Keys with Carney.

Sweany was a friend of Auerbach's father, but the younger Auerbach was recommended by a mutual friend, who was impressed by Dan's authenticity when playing the likes of R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough.

Auerbach spent 18 months playing in Sweany's band, mainly playing baritone guitar.

Sweany told Guitar.com that one night after a gig, Auerbach played Sweany the mixes for the Black Keys debut album, and he knew that his time in the band was over, stating, "Man, this is really interesting... so um, can you help me train your replacement!?"

After signing with indie label Alive, they released their debut album, The Big Come Up, in 2002, which earned them a new deal with jazz/rock label Fat Possum Records.

Their third album, Rubber Factory, was released in 2004 and received critical acclaim; it boosted the band's profile, eventually leading to a record deal with major label Nonesuch Records in 2006.

After self-producing and recording their first four records in makeshift studios, in 2008 the duo completed Attack & Release in a professional studio and hired producer Danger Mouse, a frequent collaborator with the band.

Auerbach has also released two solo albums, Keep It Hid (2009) and Waiting on a Song (2017), and formed a side project, the Arcs, which released the albums Yours, Dreamily, (2015) and Electrophonic Chronic (2023).

Auerbach owns the Easy Eye Sound recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee, as well as a record label of the same name.

He has produced records by artists such as Cage the Elephant, Dr. John, Lana Del Rey, Ray LaMontagne, CeeLo Green, Hank Williams Jr. and the Pretenders.

The group's commercial breakthrough came in 2010 with Brothers, which along with its popular single "Tighten Up", won three Grammy Awards including Best Alternative Album of the Year.

Their 2011 follow-up, El Camino, received strong reviews and reached number two on the Billboard 200 chart, leading to the first arena concert tour of the band's career, the El Camino Tour.

The album and its hit single "Lonely Boy" won three Grammy Awards.

In addition to winning several Grammy Awards as a member of the Black Keys, Auerbach received the 2013 Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical and was nominated again for the award in 2020, 2021 and 2023.

In 2014, they released their eighth album, Turn Blue, their first number-one record in the US, Canada, and Australia.