Dan Sultan

Dan Sultan, the Melbourne-based Australian singer, songwriter, and actor, has built a devoted national following through his deeply felt, roots-tinged music. Two ARIA Awards arrived after the 2009 release of Get Out While You Can, yet it was the gold-certified third album Blackbird in 2014 that delivered genuine mainstream breakthrough. Killer, issued three years later, steered toward a tougher, driving soul approach and again landed inside the national Top Five. Subsequent projects explored a spare acoustic format as well as a children’s record before he resurfaced in 2023 with the intimate, self-produced collection simply named Dan Sultan.

He first picked up an instrument in childhood, absorbing the guitar-driven classic rock of Jimi Hendrix while also absorbing the tribal traditions that would later surface in his work. Teaming with guitarist Scott Wilson, he issued his 2006 debut Homemade Biscuits after receiving support from John Butler’s Seed Fund. The soulful, country-leaning rock of that record earned strong notices, and its 2009 follow-up Get Out While You Can climbed to number one on Australia’s independent album chart. Festival stages across the country soon followed. In the same year he made his screen debut in the film version of the musical Bran Nue Dae and was invited to perform with the aboriginal collective the Black Arm Band.

The 2010 ARIA ceremony brought him trophies for Best Blues and Roots Album and Best Male Artist. For the next studio album he and his band headed to Nashville to work with producer Jacquire King, whose résumé includes Kings of Leon, Tom Waits, and Modest Mouse. Blackbird appeared in summer 2014, peaked at number four on the Australian albums chart, and later achieved gold status. Killer, the 2017 successor, adopted a harder-edged pop and neo-soul direction under the guidance of Jan Skubiszewski and again reached the Top Five. A companion EP, Killer Under a Blood Moon, arrived the following year and featured re-recorded versions of several tracks with guests including Meg Mac and Camp Cope.

Aviary Takes, released in 2019, presented acoustic reworkings of material from his first four albums together with a cover of Florence + the Machine’s “Dog Days Are Over.” That same year he also released the playful children’s album Nali & Friends, which earned an ARIA Award for Best Children’s Album. A stretch of personal reflection followed, shaping a more introspective songwriting approach. The resulting 2023 self-titled album, co-produced with Joel Quartermain, entered the Australian charts at number 15 and received three ARIA Award nominations.