Daniel Rata grew up in New Zealand before moving to Perth, Western Australia to pursue his musical dream. With a lifelong love of music and cultural Maori background, Daniel clearly saw his future as a musical artist and quickly established a strong reputation working Perth’s up-market bars, clubs and music venues.

Though not formally trained, Daniel is a unique and very gifted musician who has a strong feeling and superbly rich and warm vocal tone. Perhaps due to his cultural roots and a deep personal appreciation for a variety of musical styles, his music is free of conformity.

Daniel is left-handed, but he taught himself to play a right-handed guitar by turning it upside down. This particular approach to his playing gives his chord progressions an original and unique harmonic flavour. As a songwriter, Daniel is a surprisingly fresh lyricist who has produced a very good repertoire of original songs - finding his own niche and style of writing. Daniel’s self-funded and independently released debut album Suspended In Time, won both critical acclaim and strong sales in Australia and was played on several radio stations.

Following the release of the album, Daniel took some time off to reflect on how he had developed as a songwriter and live performer and this gave him the confidence and belief that he could start writing tracks for his second album. In late 2008, Daniel began collaborating with legendary UK producer John Ravenall, who has worked with artists as diverse as Elton John, Sting, Kool and the Gang and Sir Paul McCartney and in 2009 spent several months recording in John’s London studios.

In late 2009, he went to Chicago to put the finishing touches to his second album with John Ravenhall, US engineer Larry Sturm and the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra. Having fine tuned his artistic direction and recorded what he believes to be his “breakthrough album”, Daniel is now keen to reach out and perform to international markets.

For those who have never seen Daniel live, he is the consummate performer and has that ‘certain something’ and a stage presence that sets him and his music apart.