DJ Dan, a major figure in West Coast house music whose work helped seed California’s globally influential rave culture, has died. He was 57.
“It is with profound sorrow, deep admiration, and an enduring sense of gratitude and love that we announce the passing of Daniel Wherrett — known professionally to the world simply as DJ Dan — one of the most beloved, genre-defying, and genuinely influential pioneers in the history of American electronic music,” representatives for the artist said in a statement announcing his death. “He leaves behind not just a discography, but a culture — a way of feeling music that touched millions of souls across four decades and five continents. He often said he felt his purpose in life was ‘to heal through music.’”
The statement did not give a cause of death. Wherrett had been scheduled to play a show at at the Dead Ringer club in Nevada on March 28 but did not arrive.
Wherrett, a native of Washington state, moved to Southern California and then San Francisco in the ‘90s, as the state was building its networks of house music festivals, collectives and nightclubs. He released several well-loved mixtapes with L.A.’s DJ Ron D Core and founded the L.A.-based record label, InStereo Recordings. He also co-founded San Francisco’s Funky Tekno Tribe collective, which became known for its rangy sets codifying a distinct West Coast club music sound — a psychedelic-infused melange of breakbeat and dub, funk, house and techno.
He was a fixture in the upper reaches of DJ Mag’s annual artist rankings, and recorded several influential BBC Radio 1 Essential Mixes. He played most major dance music festivals of the era, including Ultra, EDC, Creamfields and Dance Valley, and charted three singles on Billboard‘s Dance Club Songs chart, including 2004’s number-one “That Phone Track.”
Wherrett placed three albums on Billboard‘s Top Dance Albums chart, and was an in-demanded remixer for acts like Depeche Mode, New Order, Lady Gaga and Janet Jackson.
Veterans of California’s club music scene shared condolences. Mark Farina wrote that Dan was “A superbly nice person, fortunate to have known him and call him a friend.” Younger artists like Jubilee also recountedDan’s formative influence on their scene – “DJ Dan made some of the first mixtapes that got me into raving when i was young. So sad to hear this news,” she wrote.
“He leaves behind his music, his label, his mixes, and the countless thousands of dancers who found themselves — truly found themselves — in the middle of one of his sets,” his representatives wrote. “The world is quieter today. But press play on anything he touched, and you will hear exactly why we mourn him, and exactly why we are forever grateful he was here to inspire us.”
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