Daniel Johns

Daniel Paul Johns is an Australian musician best known as the frontman, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Silverchair. He has also formed side projects and collaborative groups, including The Dissociatives with Paul Mac and Dreams with Luke Steele. In addition to his work with bands, Johns has pursued a solo music career, releasing his debut solo project in 2015 and subsequent work through his own record label.

Johns was born on 22 April 1979 in Newcastle, New South Wales, to Greg and Julie Johns. His father owned a local fruit shop, while his mother was a full-time homemaker. Raised in Merewether alongside two younger siblings, Johns attended Newcastle High School, graduating in 1997.

His music career began at age 12 when he formed a band called The Innocent Criminals with school friends Ben Gillies and Chris Joannou. At age 15, the group won a demo competition on the SBS TV program Nomad with their song "Tomorrow." Renamed Silverchair, the trio signed a three-album deal with Sony Music in 1994. Their debut album, Frogstomp, was hurriedly released in 1995 after "Tomorrow" spent six weeks at number one on the Australian singles chart. Silverchair went on to release Freak Show in 1997, Neon Ballroom in 1999, Diorama in 2002, and Young Modern in 2007. In May 2011, the band announced an indefinite hibernation due to a loss of creative connection between the members.

Throughout his career, Johns engaged in numerous side projects and artistic collaborations. He partnered with electronic musician Paul Mac to release the EP I Can't Believe It's Not Rock in 2000 and the self-titled album The Dissociatives in 2004. He worked with filmmaker Josh Wakely on the project My Mind's Own Melody, created the commercial soundtrack piece Atlas with the Australian Chamber Orchestra in 2012, and served as musical director for the Netflix series Beat Bugs in 2016. He also formed the duo Dreams with Luke Steele, releasing the album No One Defeats Us in 2018, and worked with artists such as The Veronicas, 360, Slumberjack, Flume, Zhu, and What So Not.

Johns launched his solo recording career in early 2015 with the EP Aerial Love and his debut solo album, Talk, which reached number two on the ARIA Albums Chart. In October 2021, he hosted and was the subject of the five-part Spotify Original podcast Who Is Daniel Johns?, which became Spotify's top podcast in Australia. He subsequently released his second solo album, FutureNever, on 22 April 2022 under a global deal with BMG.

Over the course of his career, Johns has earned significant industry recognition. As a member of Silverchair, he won 21 ARIA Awards out of 49 nominations, along with four additional ARIA nominations as a solo artist. In 2007, Rolling Stone ranked him at number 18 on its list of The 25 Most Underrated Guitarists.