Andrew Paul Dost (born April 10, 1983) is an American musician, singer and is member of the indie rock band

Fun. Fun (stylized as fun.) is an American pop rock band based in New York City. The band consists of Jack Antonoff (of Steel Train and Bleachers), Andrew Dost (formerly of Anathallo), and Nate Ruess (then-former lead singer of the Format). Fun fo ...

, in which he plays several instruments, mainly the piano. He was formerly a member of the indie rock band

Anathallo Anathallo was a band originally from Mt. Pleasant, Michigan and then based in Chicago, Illinois. The band started practicing in the fall of 2000 and played their first show soon afterward. Their name is derived from a Greek word meaning "to renew, ...

from 2003 to 2007.

Early and personal life

Andrew Dost was born to father Mark Dost, a retired teacher at Frankfort High School, and mother Cheryl, also a retired teacher at Frankfort High School. Dost grew up in

Cass City, Michigan Cass City is a village in Elkland Township, Tuscola County in the Flint/Tri-Cities area of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,428 at the 2010 U.S. Census and 2,643 at the 2000 U.S. Census (a decrease of about 8%). It is located alo ...

and

Mount Pleasant, Michigan Mount Pleasant is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located in Central Michigan, the city is the county seat of Isabella County, Michigan, Isabella County. The population was 21,688 as of the 2020 United States census. It is surrounded by Unio ...

. He graduated from Frankfort High School in Michigan as valedictorian in 2001, and graduated from Central Michigan University with a degree in journalism in 2005. Regarding Dost's musical ambitions, his father, Mark, has said, "We always encouraged it because he plays flugelhorn, keyboard, guitar, melodica and drums. And he can sing. I am so pleased and proud that he's able to do what he loves to do and make a living at it. You wonder how is this going to work out as far as making a car payment. Yet as a parent you want your child to be fulfilled." Dost is also a fairly active

LGBTQ+ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

ally, and a founding member of The Ally Coalition, an organization "that works with entertainers and their fans to raise awareness, action, and funds in support of LGBTQ equality . . ."

Career

Anathallo

Dost began his musical career as a member of the band

, which was formed in 2000 at Central Michigan University in

, with Dost joining in 2003. He left the band halfway through writing album ''Canopy Glow'' in 2006; he has said that he left because the band had relocated to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and he was not able to move with.

''Columbus''

After leaving Anathallo, Dost began work on a solo album, ''Columbus.'' It was based on a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

he had written in 2005 about the life of

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

. According to an editorial review, "The story is a comedy of sorts, taking preposterous liberties with the legendary tale of Christopher Columbus . . . ''Columbus'' takes a quirky story and creates a heartfelt world for it." The album was written, produced, and recorded almost entirely by Dost, along with help from Michael Nau (of

Page France Page France was an American indie folk-pop band, fronted by Michael Nau. Active between 2004 and 2008, the band played mainly emotional melodic music. History The band was started as a solo project in 2004 by Michael Nau, but quickly evolved in ...

and

The Cotton Jones Basket Ride Cotton Jones (formerly The Cotton Jones Basket Ride) is an American indie folk band, with elements of psychedelic folk, dream pop, baroque pop, and Americana (music), Americana, based in Cumberland, Maryland and currently signed to Suicide Squeez ...

Nate Ruess Nate Ruess is an American singer and songwriter. He is best known as the founder and lead singer of the indie pop band Fun, and of The Format. As of 2015, he also performs as a solo musician. Early life Ruess was born the second child of Larry ...

(of

The Format The Format is an American indie rock band formed by Nate Ruess and Sam Means. Their style can be considered a mixture of indie, alternative, punk and folk music, with elements of 1960s and 1970s pop music. Though Means and Ruess are the foremost ...

), Joel Thiele (of Anathallo), Chris Fafalios, and

Steve Soboslai Steve Soboslai (born October 30, 1980) is an American singer/songwriter. He is the lead singer and guitarist of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based pop punk band Punchline. Soboslai has produced several records for various artists including Nig ...

. The album was released in 2009 on

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...

and digital.

Fun.

In 2008, Nate Ruess (former frontman of The Format) asked Dost to join him and

Jack Antonoff Jack Michael Antonoff (born March 31, 1984) is an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. Antonoff is the lead singer of rock band Bleachers, and is the guitarist and drummer in the pop rock band Fun. He was pr ...

(of

Steel Train Steel Train was an indie rock band from New Jersey. They have toured with The Juliana Theory, Tegan and Sara, Girl in a Coma, Ben Folds, The Fray, Silversun Pickups, Hanson, The Format, Gomez, O.A.R., Something Corporate, Jack's Mannequin, Bare ...

) in a new band, which became Fun. Dost already knew the two, because their former bands had toured together. While making Fun.'s first album, ''

Aim and Ignite ''Aim and Ignite'' is the debut studio album by American indie pop band Fun. It was recorded at Appletree Studios. Background On February 4, 2008, The Format broke up. Soon after, vocalist Nate Ruess had called up Jack Antonoff, from the band ...

'', Dost remained based out of Michigan, while Ruess lived in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

, and Antonoff in New Jersey. Fun.'s second album, '' Some Nights'', saw the band's first #1 hit

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

, "

We Are Young "We Are Young" is a song recorded by American band Fun, featuring American singer Janelle Monáe. It is the third track on the group's second studio album, '' Some Nights'' (2012). The song was released on September 20, 2011 as the lead singl ...

", which Dost co-wrote with Ruess, Antonoff, and

Jeff Bhasker Jeff Bhasker (born March 4, 1974) is an American record producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles. He was awarded the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year in 2016 and nominated in 2013. An accomplished producer, he ...

, the band's producer. Dost also created an original score for the beginning of the "Carry On" music video in 2012.

Scores

He composed the soundtrack to the movie ''

The D Train ''The D Train'' (also known as ''Bad Bromance'') is a 2015 American black comedy film written and directed by Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel in their directorial debuts, and stars Jack Black and James Marsden. The film premiered at the 11th Sundan ...

'', released in 2015. The soundtrack contains a collaboration with his Fun. bandmate Jack Antonoff.

Solo music

In late 2015, Dost has mentioned that he hopes to release new music soon. On April 20, 2016, Dost said in an interview with the

Metro Times The ''Detroit Metro Times'' is a progressive alternative weekly located in Detroit, Michigan. It is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in the metro Detroit area. History and content Supported entirely by advertising, it is distributed ...

that he's, "finishing an album, and scoring some films and TV shows in the meantime. It's been fun to have some time to experiment with music in a lot of different ways." In this same interview, Dost also said, regarding his music, "I'm pretty heavily influenced by '60s pop, but also love experimenting with modern sounds. I like the Beatles, I like musical theater, and I like Drake." On April 26, Dost performed a new song titled "Where Did They Go". Dost will be performing "Where Did They Go" along with an unreleased song titled "Young Republicans" at the

Detroit Music Awards The Detroit Music Awards Foundation is a Michigan 501(c)(3) organization, whose mission is to recognize Detroit area musicians working on a national, regional, and local level. The Foundation supports and nurtures the musical community in Detroi ...

on April 29. These songs have not been released officially as singles. Dost also composes music for dogs.

Songwriting credits

Discography

Albums

* Floating World (2006) with

*''Columbus'' (2009) (based on a play he wrote in 2005) * ''

'' (2009) with

* '' Some Nights'' (2012) with

Soundtracks

" (2015)

Singles

as featured artist

*"Mean What I Say" (2015) by That Dog ''For Dost's releases with Fun, see

Fun discography The discography of American indie pop band Fun (band), Fun consists of two studio albums, seven extended plays, 11 Single (music), singles and seven music videos. Following the split of his previous band The Format, lead singer Nate Ruess formed ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dost, Andrew Living people Central Michigan University alumni American indie rock musicians American male songwriters 1983 births LGBT rights activists from the United States Fun (band) members People from Cass City, Michigan Grammy Award winners