As front man of 1990s indie pop balladeers Semisonic, Dan Wilson penned the hits 'Closing Time' and 'Secret Smile', before co-writing songs with some of the world's biggest stars and releasing a string of solo albums.
Born in Minneapolis, Wilson grew up listening to bright, melodic, 1960s pop and funky jazz records and after graduating from Harvard University he joined his younger brother Matt Wilson's soft rock outfit Trip Shakespeare as guitarist in the late-1980s. They made two albums for A&M Records before their gentle pop sensibilities were swamped by the explosion of the grunge scene; Wilson found more success with Semisonic and 'Closing Time' became a sentimental, end-of-the-night, singalong anthem that reached number eleven in the US charts in 1998.
Finding an unlikely mentor in producer Rick Rubin and becoming a studio-based songwriter, he worked with the Dixie Chicks as they sought to recover from a huge political controversy caused by front woman Natalie Maines criticising President Bush. Wilson helped them to mould several songs on album 'Take the Long Way' in 2006, and co-wrote their defiant comeback hit 'Not Ready to Make Nice' which won three Grammy Awards. He went on to release his own folk, singer-songwriter style albums 'Free Life' and 'Love Without Fear', but it was really as a songwriter that he excelled, and again found massive success when he co-wrote Adele's huge number one single 'Someone Like You' in 2011. The tearjerking ballad became a worldwide anthem and won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance; Wilson went on to write with Pink, John Legend, Taylor Swift and Niall Horan. He also worked as a visual artist and continued playing live solo shows, before returning in 2017 with 'Re-Covered', which featured the Kronos Quartet and re-interpreted songs he had written for other artists throughout his career.
