Formation Dan Reed (born 1963 in Portland, Oregon) met Dan Pred in high school in
Aberdeen, South Dakota, and after a time studying music studies at
Northern State University, the pair returned to Portland and formed the Dan Reed Network in 1984. In 1986, they made their first recording, a six-track EP called
Breathless, which included a No. 1 single, "Steal Me", on
Z-100 in Portland, Oregon. The lineup was Dan Reed on vocals and guitar, Brion James on guitar, Melvin Brannon II on bass guitar, Dan Pred on drums, and Rick DiGiallonardo (formerly of Portland platinum rockers
Quarterflash) on keyboard. DiGiallonardo, who was married with one child, was replaced by Blake Sakamoto on keyboard; Sakamoto, of Japanese heritage, had returned from Los Angeles, where he had been playing with future Atlantic Records artist Dear Mr. President. Lead singer Julian Raymond became vice president of
Capitol Records. In 1988,
The Washington Post described the band as "easily charming [...] with an unlikely brand of heavy metal-ish rock sharpened by junk funk and plenty of rock 'n' roll theatrics".
Record deal The band signed to
Mercury Records with the help of
Derek Shulman and were managed by
Bill Graham. In late 1987, the group released an eponymous debut album, which was produced by Bruce Fairbairn and was mixed by
Mike Fraser at
Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia. They released their first single, "Ritual", which peaked at No. 38 on the
Billboard Hot 100. The song also received a
music video. The album
Dan Reed Network received a four-star write-up from
Rolling Stone.
The Washington Post compared the Dan Reed Network's debut album to its live performances, saying, "numbers such as 'Get to You,' irritatingly synth-heavy on the record, were played with enough soul and engagingly invidious guitar to redeem them."
Def Leppard's album,
Hysteria (1987), was having disappointing sales, according to Mercury. Def Leppard's managers,
Cliff Burnstein and
Peter Mensch, offered Dan Reed Network a
Hysteria tour in the US if they would switch to their management company,
Q Prime. By the beginning of 1989, they signed with Q Prime.
1989–1997 While at the
Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in January 1989, Dan Reed met
Nile Rodgers. The album
Slam was produced by Rodgers; In October, the band members agreed to go on a hiatus, not officially breaking up. A live album called
Live at Last (Halfway Around the World) was released in 1997. This album was compiled from hours of tapes from Blake Sakamoto. He and drummer Dan Pred auditioned several versions of each song to comprise a comprehensive 2-CD live set. A companion video, filmed live in Portland on New Year's Eve of 1991, also called
Live at Last, was released at the same time. Dan Reed Network played a one-time-only reunion show on New Year's Eve 2012 with all original band members in Portland, Oregon. The band announced on January 12, 2013, they would play further concerts together in both the United States and Europe. This would be their first UK show in two decades, headlining the Enchanted Festival at Greenwoods Spa, Chelmsford, on October 12, 2013. The band reunited on November 9 at the
Roseland Theater, Oregon.
Anthology In 2013, Dan Reed Network collaborated with
PledgeMusic on a new compilation album. This album was to include live versions of songs and was a double CD set with online access and various other bonus options. The funding achieved 143%, and the album was shipped in late January 2014.
Fight Another Day Following Anthology, the band returned to creating music. Blake Sakamoto was unavailable, so he was replaced with Rob Daiker to play keyboard on the album.
Fight Another Day was released by Frontiers Music SRL on June 3, 2016. This was followed with a world tour in 2016 and a further European tour early in 2017. According to Dan Reed, the band was not satisfied with the label's promotion for the album, so they decided not to work with them in the future.
Origins In 2018, the band produced an album consisting of new and old songs, with some older songs being newly recorded.
Origins was released by AOR Heaven/Soulfood. The album was recorded in various studios in Manchester, New York, Portland, and
Stockholm.
Let’s Hear It for the King In late 2019, the band went on tour in Europe to play anniversary shows of the album
Slam. At the same time, the band produced a new album in Portland. ==Dan Reed==