Born in Vernon, Canada in 1971, Daniel Powter arrived onto the mainstream music scene when he took Europe by storm with his “Bad Day” single in 2005. The widely popular single held onto the number 1 spot for 7 weeks straight on the charts in France, it was the number 1 song for the entire summer of 2005 in Italy, and was in the top 10 for 13 weeks in Great Britain. In the US, Powter became the first Canadian solo male artist since Bryan Adams in 1995 to reach the top of Billboard Hot 100 Chart.
Take Powter’s 2005 album Daniel Powter, there 10 songs, all written, sang and played (piano) by the musician. With vocal similar to James Blunt (another foreign young star, known for the song “You’re Beautiful”) in the beginning he hits you with “Song 6,” which actually shows what can you expect from the whole album, catchy and lively pop music, glazed with some good piano sounds. Followed by similar in style “Free Loop,” comes in the 2005 hit “Bad day.”
Next in line, is completely different from first four “Suspect,” where Powter shows his dirty, kind of aggressive side, which is actually quite nice.
After that, one comes back to what he got used to in the beginning, easy listening with good vocals. A nice rhythm, good piano and occasionally, vivid guitar interruptions also returns. All in all do not expect virtuosity, a jazz/blues fan will not be satisfied with this CD, lyrics are quite easy, background has no solo performances.
Daniel Powter could be counted as easy listening/pop. It is worth underlining that amongst other artists doing the same kind of music, the young Canadian is actually doing very well. If you are into James Blunt and you like “Pitcher bye, bye song” on your team’s matches, buy this CD and wait for the upcoming album.