Daniel de Bourg (born 13 April 1976; ; ) is a British

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

, and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

Early life and influences

Originally from

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, England. By the time de Bourg was eleven, he was offered a full scholarship to study at the

Royal Ballet School The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially ...

after being spotted by talent scouts, and graduating at the top of his class with his final solo performance. Although dance was his primary interest, as a teen he was also fronting bands. He left school when given the opportunity to dance for the

Rambert Dance Company Rambert (known as Rambert Dance Company before 2014) is a leading British dance company. Formed at the start of the 20th century as a classical ballet company, it exerted a great deal of influence on the development of dance in the United Kingd ...

, performing as a featured dancer all over the world. It was at the suggestion of a friend that heard him singing that de Bourg found himself in the position for a career in music.Demalon, Tom
Biography: Daniel Debourg
"AllMusic.com". Retrieved 16 September 2013.

Music career

Influenced by artists such as Prince and Stevie Wonder, de Bourg did not take to a singing career straight away. Dedicated to dance, de Bourg's early interest in singing was rediscovered after a knee injury caused some time out from his dance career.Ray, Ian. (15 November 2007
Interview: Daniel DeBourg
''Peterborough Evening Telegraph''. Retrieved 4 January 2012. de Bourg turned his hand to songwriting; recorded by singer

Jamelia ' Jamelia Niela Davis (born 11 January 1981) is an English singer, songwriter and television presenter. She has released three studio albums, each of which has reached the Top 40 in the UK, which collectively have spawned eight UK top-ten singl ...

in 2000, his song "Money" reached number 5 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

., p.265 Remembering de Bourg's musical talents, he was encouraged by a friend to create several demos of his own singing. These attracted the interest of

DreamWorks DreamWorks may refer to: * DreamWorks Pictures, an American film production company of Amblin ** DreamWorks Television, an American television production company and division of the film studio ** DreamWorks Records, an American record label and f ...

scout Robbie Robertson. de Bourg was introduced to then in-house producers

Tim & Bob Tim & Bob (Tim Kelley and Bob Robinson), also known as Funktwons, were a songwriting and production duo. Tim & Bob have discovered and or worked on some of the biggest artists in the music industry and has helped develop the Atlanta music scene ...

and subsequently signed to the label and the duo produced his debut album, '' Tell the World''. The high-production album, released in 2002, launched the single "

I Need an Angel "I Need an Angel" is a song by singer Daniel DeBourg released on his ''Tell the World (Daniel DeBourg album), Tell the World'' album in 2002, that made number 30 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. The song was produced and wri ...

", which hit number 30 on the '' Billboard''

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart. In 2008, UK artist DJ Ironik presented de Bourg on his album, ''No Point in Wasting Tears''. In 2010, ''The DDB Mixtape Vol. 1: The Prelude'', a mixture of de Bourg's most popular covers and original material, received a nomination for 'Best R&B Mixtape 2010' and went on to win the award at The Official Mixtape Awards in early 2011. He went on to win the same accolade another two years in a row with 'The DDB Mixtape Vol. 2 : The Bridge' in 2011 and 'Outro' in 2012. In 2013, Daniel released his album, ''London Bread''. featuring production from Drake and Lil Wayne hit maker, Boi-1da. The album hit the top 20 on iTunes in 21 countries in its first week of release. His YouTube channel, that envelops a mix of his cover songs has grown to over 260,000 subscribers and close to 50 million views.

Acting career

In 2015, de Bourg signed with a TV, film and stage agent in London, and was cast in the Broadway transfer of Disney's ''Aladdin'' that opens at the

Prince Edward Theatre The Prince Edward Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Old Compton Street, just north of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster, London. History The theatre was designed in 1930 by Edward A. Stone, with an interior designed by Marc ...

in the West End in London, in 2016. He went on to play the principle role of Kassim from 2017 - 2019. In 2020 de Bourg was cast in the original cast in the West End of Pretty Woman the Musical at The Piccadilly Theatre covering both the leading role as Edward and the supporting lead role as Stucky. Daniel then moved into screen acting and was cast by Donald Glover in his US series 'Atlanta' in early 2021, appearing in the 3rd series as a poker-playing German millionaire, Yonathan. Daniel was then cast by Hollywood director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, Golden Eye, The Mask of Zoro, James Bond) in his new action thriller, 'MEMORY' starring Liam Neeson, Guy Pearce and Monica Bellucci. De Bourg stars as cut-throat lawyer Willam Borden. De Bourg has been filming in Morocco with October Films for their new TV series ''Colosseum'' in the lead role of ''Haterius'' and features in season 2 of ''

Whitstable Pearl ''Whitstable Pearl'' is a 2021 British crime drama television serial broadcast and produced by Acorn TV, based on a series of novels by Julie Wassmer. Plot Pearl Nolan, single mother of a grown son, is a private detective who, together with h ...

'' as troubled pilot ''Noah''. Roles in SKY series 'COBRA', short films 'TICKET' and 'JUST PASSING' followed and are scheduled for release in 2023.

Discography

Studio albums

* 2002: '' Tell the World'' * 2013: ''London Bread'' * 2014: "X-Play Pt. One" * 2015: "X-Play Pt. Two"

Mixtapes

* 2010: ''The DDB Mixtape Volume 1 - The Prelude'' * 2011: ''The DDB Mixtape Volume 2 - The Bridge'' * 2012: ''The DDB Mixtape Volume 3 - Outro'' * 2013: '' Overdrive''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:De Bourg, Daniel Living people 1982 births People educated at the Royal Ballet School English male singers English pop singers English record producers English male singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters People from Chelmsford The X Factor (British TV series) contestants English people of Belgian descent English soul singers