Background
Kanter was born in Ottawa, Ontario.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Dan Kanter
Edit ProfileCareer
He is the musical director and former lead guitarist for Justin Bieber. Kanter co-wrote and co-produced the song "Be Alright" on Bieber"s album Believe, and co-produced his My Worlds Acoustic and "Believe Acoustic". Kanter has also directed and performed with Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, Miley Cyrus, Drake, Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead, Ariana Grande, and Mike Gordon and Jon Fishman of Phish.
He is a judge on the television show "The Next Star".
At a young age, Kanter learned piano, drums, and guitar. When he was 13, he co-starred on the television show Leaps And Bounds which aired on the CTV network in Canada.
Kanter began playing clubs with his band Hubris in his hometown of Ottawa, Ontario at the young age of 14. He was considered a musical prodigy writing lengthy originals with extended guitar solos.
While attending Sir Robert Borden High School, Dan co-wrote a full-length musical titled "Destiny: The Musical” which was performed at the school.
Kanter turned down acceptance to Berklee College of Music and headed to Toronto to study classical composition and analysis at York University. While at York University, Kanter played bass in local Toronto band, Avenue Road. He received his Undergraduate degree in music from York University and is pursuing a Masters in Musicology at York University"s Graduate school under the supervision of Professor Rob Bowman.
He has written numerous papers examining the music and social impact of Bob Dylan.
In 2010, Kanter co-produced Bieber"s album My Worlds Acoustic. While in Dublin, Ireland on the My World Tour in March 2011, Bieber, a notorious prankster, got hold of Kanter"s phone and posted a message on Twitter pretending to be Kanter: “Hey guys, just wanted to inform all of the fans first that I have resigned from working with Justin and I will be deleting my Twitter soon.” What quickly followed was a reply from Bieber himself: “you will be missed dankanter. but what you did was horrible.
Everyone FALSE ALARM! LOL *as Dan fights Justin for his phone back*”. When Kanter recovered his phone, he tweeted: “Got pranked by JB,”Guess I should cancel those auditions for davematthewsbnd phish metallica and bobdylan. and get #REVENGE”.
Dan co-wrote and produced the song "Be Alright" on Bieber"s album Believe (2012).
He will be a judge on The Next Star season 7.
