Biography
Los Angeles resident Danny Saber gained recognition through years spent on guitar and bass in the Manchester, England-based Black Grape, yet his profile also rests on his work as a producer, remixer, engineer, and DJ across a roster that stretches from Sheryl Crow and Madonna to Public Enemy. His output resists easy classification, blending firm alternative-rock roots with forays into hardcore rap, industrial, and trip-hop. Raised in Los Angeles, he gravitated toward funk, heavy metal, and hard rock during his formative years; his earliest club performances in the city came with the hip-hop-inflected funk outfit Proper Grounds. Over time his listening habits grew increasingly wide-ranging, eventually encompassing credits alongside rapper Busta Rhymes and veteran country-pop singer Willie Nelson.
Although American, Saber’s most visible mid-’90s platform came via the predominantly British alternative pop/rock band Black Grape, fronted by vocalist Shaun Ryder, previously of the Happy Mondays. Ryder’s well-documented heroin dependency had precipitated the Happy Mondays’ dissolution in 1992, prompting widespread concern among associates that an overdose might prove fatal. After that breakup, Ryder assembled Black Grape in 1993 and brought Saber into the lineup the following year. In 1995 Saber produced the group’s debut album, It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah, while also contributing bass, keyboards, and organ plus engineering duties; the record became a major U.K. success. On the 1997 follow-up, Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, he assumed an even broader array of roles—producer, arranger, engineer, bassist, guitarist, keyboardist, and sitar player—by which point his reputation as a versatile studio craftsman capable of serving many different artists had solidified.
Among the late-’90s remixes attributed to Saber are U2’s “Staring at the Sun,” Garbage’s “Stupid Girl,” David Bowie’s “Little Wonder,” Korn’s “Make Me Bad,” and Marilyn Manson’s “The Beautiful People.” That same year he joined the Rolling Stones’ Bridges to Babylon project as producer, keyboardist, bassist, and guitarist. Through the early and mid-2000s he maintained a steady schedule that included sessions with the Charlatans UK, Willie Nelson, and thrash/alternative metal band Prong, for whom he engineered the 2003 comeback album Scorpio Rising. Additional assignments have encompassed music for commercials, among them campaigns for McDonalds, Taco Bell, Coors beer—which featured his remix of Tom Jones’ early-’70s hit “She’s a Lady”—and Squirt.
Although American, Saber’s most visible mid-’90s platform came via the predominantly British alternative pop/rock band Black Grape, fronted by vocalist Shaun Ryder, previously of the Happy Mondays. Ryder’s well-documented heroin dependency had precipitated the Happy Mondays’ dissolution in 1992, prompting widespread concern among associates that an overdose might prove fatal. After that breakup, Ryder assembled Black Grape in 1993 and brought Saber into the lineup the following year. In 1995 Saber produced the group’s debut album, It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah, while also contributing bass, keyboards, and organ plus engineering duties; the record became a major U.K. success. On the 1997 follow-up, Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, he assumed an even broader array of roles—producer, arranger, engineer, bassist, guitarist, keyboardist, and sitar player—by which point his reputation as a versatile studio craftsman capable of serving many different artists had solidified.
Among the late-’90s remixes attributed to Saber are U2’s “Staring at the Sun,” Garbage’s “Stupid Girl,” David Bowie’s “Little Wonder,” Korn’s “Make Me Bad,” and Marilyn Manson’s “The Beautiful People.” That same year he joined the Rolling Stones’ Bridges to Babylon project as producer, keyboardist, bassist, and guitarist. Through the early and mid-2000s he maintained a steady schedule that included sessions with the Charlatans UK, Willie Nelson, and thrash/alternative metal band Prong, for whom he engineered the 2003 comeback album Scorpio Rising. Additional assignments have encompassed music for commercials, among them campaigns for McDonalds, Taco Bell, Coors beer—which featured his remix of Tom Jones’ early-’70s hit “She’s a Lady”—and Squirt.
Albums