Background
Hanni El Khatib, a first-generation American, is the son of a Palestinian father and a Filipino mother.
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Hanni Khatib
Edit Profilecomposer Guitarist musician singer-songwriter
Career
He worked as a creative director for skateboard fashion label HUF and as a designer for an advertising agency before starting musical career as a multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter blending blues, folk and garage rock into songs designed (in his words) "for anyone who has ever been shot or hit by a train." Having debuted with two singles issued by Innovative Leisure in 2010, the following year he opened for Florence + the Machine before releasing his debut, Will the Guns Come Out, bringing about comparisons with Devendra Banhart, Jon Spencer and The White Stripes. Backed by drummer and close friend Nicky Fleming-Yaryan, he"s played the 2011 SXSW and Bonnaroo festivals. His second album, Head in the Dirt, released after two years of excessive touring, was recorded by Dan Auerbach of Black Keys who’s provided a more polished and sophisticated sound, letting the music retain the same eclectic quality.
"…or all of its weirdness, this album feels more like a popular record than his debut, and while Auerbach certainly didn"t scrub all of the dirt and grime off of the album, it feels a lot more put together, bearing a lot of resemblance to the Black Keys" later work," according to Allmusic.
Hanni El Khatib"s third album, Moonlight was released in 2015. Hanni El Khatib"s music has been used in television commercials for Converse, Captain Morgan, Applebee"s, Sky Atlantic, Nike, Nissan and Levi"s
His music was used in the United States of America Network series Suits, Home Box Office series Hung, the Showtime series Californication and United States of Tara, the British Broadcasting Corporation series Luther and the feature film Foreign a Good Time, Call.
The song "Build. Destroy. Rebuild." was used in the episode "Charity Case" of the series House.
"Come Alive" was used in the 2013 horror film Carrie.
"Family" was used in National Hockey League 14 and in the episode "Welcome Back, Jim" of the series Gotham (2015). Hanni El Khatib played himself as the DJ of Innovative Leisure Radio in Forza Horizon 2. Three of his songs also played on the station: "Head In the Dirt", "Family", and "Pay Number Mind".
