Daniel Dodd-Ellis

Actor, singer, and songwriter, Daniel Dodd-Ellis began his professional performing career at Southwestern University’s Sarofim School of Fine Arts, where he studied Theater and Music. He went on to work as a theater performer and classical singer around the United States and Europe, including participation in the Young Artist Programs of New York City Opera and Austin Lyric Opera and performing the title role in Robert Wilson’s blues opera, The Temptation of St. Anthony.

After moving to Europe, Daniel eventually crossed over to popular music, singing with artists such as Marius Müller-Westernhagen in Germany. As a songwriter, he worked with Patrick Nuo and Xavier Naidoo, to name a few. Ultimately, he formed his own soul-music group, the Upper East Side Band, in 2003. Rooted in gospel, soul and classical music, Daniel’s rich bass-baritone vocals have been inspiring audiences for over a decade. In 2008, Daniel became the Master of Ceremonies for the Baltic Soul Weekender, one of Europe’s leading soul music festivals. As a musical theater performer, Daniel has appeared in BONIFATIUS das Musical in the role of Radbod, as Lafayette (HUD) in HAIR, as Jim in BIG RIVER as Paul in KISS ME KATE, he created the role of Dana in the world premiere cast of WÜSTENBLUME (Desert Flower), based on the best-selling book by Waris Dirie.  He played the roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in the German premiere of HAMILTON in Hamburg followed by Tom in RENT.

Daniel released his first EP, Steppin‘ To You in 2009 and completed his (unreleased) second solo project, Souls Electrified, with Quinn McCarthy in 2014 at The Creamery Studios in New York. Other musical projects Daniel has worked on include a collaboration with electronic pioneer Burnt Friedman on 5 different albums and EPs, which include First Night Forever, Secret Rhythms (No. 5) and their trilogy Cease To Matter, released on Groove Attack label. Daniel most recently worked with Sebastian Demarius (a.k.a. ComixXx) and Alexander Barck of the international collective, Jazzanova on new music for their upcoming album.