User Profile

Dan was born in Payson, Utah to Atz Kilcher, of Swiss-German origin, and Lenedra Carroll of Irish descent. He is the cousin of actress Q'Orianka Kilcher. He spent most of his young life in Homer, Alaska, living with his father. The home he grew up in did not have indoor plumbing; it had a simple outhouse instead. He and his father sometimes earned a living by singing in bars and taverns. It was from these experiences he learned to yodel, a quality demonstrated in many of his songs. His father was a Mormon, but they stopped attending the church shortly before he turned eight. Yule Kilcher, his grandfather, was a state senator involved in drafting Alaska's constitution for its admission into a state from a territory in 1959.

During high school, Dan was known to spell his name "Jule" or "Juel," but he attributes this to simply playing with his name.

Dan learned to play the guitar while on scholarship at the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan, where he majored in operatic voice. He started writing songs at the age of seventeen.

For a time, he was poverty-stricken and lived in his van while traveling about the country busking and doing small gigs. He gained some recognition by singing at the Innerchange Coffeehouse and Java Joe's in San Diego, California. His friend Steve Poltz's band, The Rugburns, played the same venues. Dan later collaborated with Poltz on some of his songs, including "You Were Meant For Me." (He also appeared in the second, best-known, video for this song.) The Rugburns opened for Dan on her Tiny Lights tour in 1997. Poltz appeared in Dan's band on the Spirit World Tour 1999 playing guitar.

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