Southeast Missouri State University student publication

Los Angeles-based musician Dan Henig performs at Catapult

Monday, March 7, 2016
Dan Henig, who grew in popularity after he posted his rendition of "Get Low" to YouTube, performs March 3 at Catapult.

The YouTube sensation played a setlist of both original work and covers

Dan Henig wasn't always destined for his musical lifestyle. In fact, it was an accident that changed the course of his life forever.

Born in Michigan, Henig, 25, said he was always interested in music growing up because it was a second hobby to him, with sports being first. Henig's family moved to the United Kingdom in his early childhood because of his father's work at Ford. Henig and his family moved back to Michigan when he was in the fifth grade.

Henig originally planned to go to college for football but broke his neck his senior year playing rugby. It was then Henig decided to change course and make music his first priority.

Henig has been writing music since he was 17 years old. Throughout his school days and into his music career, he watched YouTube videos on how to play musical instruments and taught himself.

"I tried to play like Jimi Hendrix one time early on and failed miserably," Henig said, with a laugh.

Henig not only sings but also plays guitar, drums, piano and a bit of trumpet as well.

Henig put out weekly videos on YouTube of his covers of popular songs back in 2012. His friend Billy wanted to make a music video to gain more subscribers, but Henig was just a "broke college student" at the time and couldn't afford to. Henig and Billy eventually made a surprise, low-budget video at a friend's coffee shop after Henig showed off a particular cover of a song he had been messing around with.

The song Henig performed was "Get Low," a massive hip-hop, rap hit released back in 2002 by Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz. His acoustic cover gathered 30,000 views overnight and, after a few days, it had one million.

"To be completely honest, I didn't think it was funny, but everyone else thought it was hilarious," Henig said.

To date, the video has more than eight million views, and Henig has more than 100,000 YouTube subscribers. Following the success of his cover of "Get Low," Henig spawned a collaboration with Pyramid Music that led him to do acoustic covers of well-known West Coast rap songs.

Henig's style has progressed over the years. Although he still performs some covers, he said his Coffee Shop Acoustic Sessions are done, and he wants to move into creating more original work. His musical influences range from John Mayer to Sara Bareilles to Troy Sivan.

While living in Nashville, Tennessee, a few years back, country music influenced him heavily as he started writing songs for country artists. Henig currently lives in Los Angeles and said his sound, now, has more of a pop vibe to it.

Currently, Henig is on a small tour across the country promoting his new album "Paper Planes & Hurricanes," which will come out on March 24.

His stop at Catapult, Southeast Missouri State University's student creative house incubator, on March 3 gathered a fair-sized and entertained crowd.

Henig performed a variety of covers and original pieces while interacting with the crowd, one of his performance specialties. Henig greeted every person who came in during his performance and asked them questions about themselves. During the show, he had audience members pick whether the song would be an original or cover and happy or sad.

Halfway through his performance, he picked out two people from the crowd and had them bring up their phones. He then proceeded to perform a song by singing their text messages.

Recently, Henig released a new single titled "Hostage" off his upcoming album, along with a music video.

He also is creating a video series where he will take each song off "Paper Planes & Hurricanes" and create a food dish inspired by the song. Then, he said he plans to serve it to 10 people at his house and play the song live for each dish.

"Cooking is another hobby of mine," Henig said.

He hopes to attend a culinary school in the future but still focus primarily on music.

To listen to Henig's music, visit YouTube, Spotify, iTunes and, soon, Pandora.

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