# Dan Sultan

Daniel Leo Sultan is an Australian alternative rock singer-songwriter and guitarist, actor and author. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2010 he won Best Male Artist and Best Blues & Roots Album for his second album, Get Out While You Can (November 2009). At the 2014 ceremony he won Best Rock Album for Blackbird (April 2014), which had reached number four on the ARIA Albums Chart. In 2017, Sultan's record Killer was nominated for three ARIA awards: Best Male Artist, Best Rock Album, and Best Independent Release. Sultan's debut children's music album Nali & Friends was named Best Children's Album at the ARIA Music Awards of 2019.

## Early life

Sultan is a Arrente/Gurindji man.
Sultan started playing guitar at four and wrote his first song at ten. His mother's friend gave him an "old, clapped-out electric guitar" and, when living in Fitzroy, he began singing at local pubs. In 2000 he met Scott Wilson, a guitarist, at a Williamstown pub's karaoke night and the pair began writing tracks together. Wilson later recalled "What struck me at first was that he could play piano and guitar and he was a great foil for what I was doing... After a while playing together he said, 'Can I sing this one?' I said, 'Do you know the words?'... [he had a] mighty voice. A lot of people can play guitar... Not many can sing like that."

## Career
### 2006–2008: Homemade Biscuits

Sultan released his debut solo album, Homemade Biscuits on 13 March 2006, with most tracks written by Scott Wilson or co-written by Sultan and Scott Wilson. It was produced by Scott Wilson at Flowerpress Studios, Newport, and True Form Services, Spotswood. Other performers on the album were Lazare Agnekis, Neil Gray, Elijah Maiyah, Lochile McKlean and Ben Wicks. He received the financial assistance of John Butler's Seed program.
At the 2007 Deadly Awards, Sultan won the Single Release of the Year for "Your Love Is Like a Song", which was co-written with Wilson. He performed his self-written track, "Roslyn", at the National Sorry Day concert in May 2007, which describes his mother, a member of the stolen generation, removed from her family when she was six or seven.
Sultan and Wilson were invited by Paul Kelly to record a cover version of "This Land Is Mine", originally by singer-songwriter Kev Carmody, for a various artists tribute album of Carmody's work, Cannot Buy My Soul which was released in February 2007. They also performed at two concerts of the same name: the Sydney Festival in January 2008 and Queensland Music Festival in August 2009. In January 2008 Sultan's backing band consisted of Eugene Ball on trumpet, Ben Gillespie on trombone, Joshua Jones on bass guitar, Peter Marin on drums, Ash Naylor on guitar and Gina Woods on keyboards. Sultan and his band have performed at Australian music festivals.

### 2009–2013: Get Out While You Can

In November 2009, Sultan released his second studio album, Get Out While You Can, which peaked in the ARIA Albums Chart top 100 in late May 2010 – six months after it was issued. It reached No. 1 on the independent Australian charts and was a Triple J feature album. Sultan describes his music as "country soul rock'n'roll". At the ARIA Music Awards of 2010 he won Best Male Artist and Best Blues & Roots Album for Get Out While You Can. In October that year, he also won Best Independent Artist and Best Independent Blues & Roots Album at the Australian Independent Record Awards (AIR Awards).

### 2014–2018: Blackbird, Dirty Ground and Killer

In February 2014 Sultan supported Bruce Springsteen's Melbourne and Hunter Valley gigs on his Australian tour.
In April 2014, Sultan released his third studio album Blackbird, which reached No. 4 on the ARIA Albums Chart and spent thirteen weeks in the Top 50. At the ARIA Awards in November that year Blackbird won Best Rock Album. Also in November he released his first extended play, Dirty Ground, which reached the ARIA Albums top 100. On 13 November 2015, Sultan released Open Live, a live album recorded at his sold-out National Theatre show of his Blackbird tour.
On 28 July 2017, Sultan's released his fourth studio album Killer, which was produced by Jan Skubiszewski. The album peaked at number 5 on the ARIA charts was nominated for three ARIA awards.
On 19 May 2018, Sultan released his collaborative EP titled Killer Under a Blood Moon which saw Sultan re-record songs from this Killer album with other Australian artists.
In June 2018, Sultan postponed the balance of a national tour after criticism of a live performance and issues with alcohol abuse.

### 2019–2022: Aviary Takes and Nali & Friends

In March 2019, Sultan released his fifth studio album Aviary Takes, which was preluded with the lead single "Love & Hate" released on 22 February 2019.
In April 2019, Sultan released his sixth studio and first children's album Nali & Friends. Produced by Jan Skubiszewski and released by ABC Music, Nali & Friends debuted at #1 on the Australian iTunes Children's charts, and was named Best Children's Album at the ARIA Music Awards of 2019.
Sultan published his first children's book, Nali (co-written with Rhys Graham), in December 2019.

### 2023: Signing with Unified and Dan Sultan

On 16 February 2023, it was confirmed that Sultan had signed with Unified Management, ahead of his single "Story", which was released on 23 February 2023.
In May 2023, Sultan announced the release of his self-titled seventh studio album, released on 18 August 2023. The album peaked at number 15 on the ARIA charts.

## Other projects

Sultan made his screen debut in the 2009 feature film Bran Nue Dae, alongside Geoffrey Rush, Missy Higgins and Jessica Mauboy.
Sultan is a sometime member of Black Arm Band, a loose collection of various indigenous musicians. He was also involved in Paul Kelly's The Merri Soul Sessions project.

## Personal life

Sultan married Bronnie Jane Lee and has two children.
On 28 February 2020, Sultan was charged with indecent assault by Victoria Police over a September 2008 incident in Melbourne. The charges led Sultan to withdraw from performing at the Perth Festival (which he was headlining), the Port Fairy Folk Festival (both scheduled to take place the following week), and the Parrtjima Festival in Alice Springs in April 2020. The charges were dropped by Victorian police and struck out during a hearing in Melbourne Magistrates Court in November 2020.

## Discography
### Studio albums

| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | Certifications |
| Title | Details | AUS | Certifications |
| Homemade Biscuits | Released: 13 March 2006 Label: Dan Sultan (SULT001) Format: CD, digital download | — | |
| Get Out While You Can | Released: 6 November 2009 Label: Dan Sultan (SUL002) Format: CD, digital download | 90 | |
| Blackbird | Released: 4 April 2014 Label: Liberation (LMCD0238) Format: CD, digital download | 4 | ARIA: Gold |
| Killer | Released: 28 July 2017 Label: Liberation Format: CD, digital download | 5 | |
| Aviary Takes | Released: 15 March 2019 Label: Liberation Format: CD, digital download, streaming | 47 | |
| Nali & Friends | Released: 12 April 2019 Label: ABC Music Format: CD, digital download, streaming | — | |
| Dan Sultan | Released: 18 August 2023 Label: Liberation Music Format: CD, digital download, streaming | 15 | |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. ||||

### Live albums

| Title | Details |
| Open Live | Released: 5 November 2015 Label: Liberation Format: digital download |

### Extended plays

| Title | Details | Peak chart positions |
| Title | Details | AUS |
| Dirty Ground | Released: 7 November 2014 Label: Liberation (LMCD0266) Format: CD, digital download | 66 |
| Killer Under a Blood Moon | Released: 18 May 2018 Label: Liberation (LRCD0002) Format: CD, digital download, streaming | 66 |

### Singles
#### As lead artist

| Title | Year | Album |
| "Your Love Is Like a Song" | 2006 | Homemade Biscuits |
| "Old Fitzroy" | 2010 | Get Out While You Can |
| "Letter" | 2010 | Get Out While You Can |
| "Running Away" (with The Verses) | 2010 | non-album single |
| "Under Your Skin" | 2013 | Blackbird |
| "The Same Man" | 2014 | Blackbird |
| "Kimberley Calling" | 2014 | Blackbird |
| "Dirty Ground" | 2014 | Dirty Ground |
| "Magnetic" | 2016 | Killer |
| "Hold It Together" | 2017 | Killer |
| "Kingdom" | 2017 | Killer |
| "Forever Now" (with Isabella Manfredi) | 2017 | non-album single |
| "Killer" (featuring Camp Cope) | 2018 | Killer Under a Blood Moon |
| "Reaction" (featuring Meg Mac) | 2018 | Killer Under a Blood Moon |
| "Love & Hate" | 2019 | Aviary Takes |
| "Nali" | 2019 | Nali & Friends |
| "Bwindi" | 2019 | Nali & Friends |
| "Every Day My Mother's Voice" (with Paul Kelly) | 2019 | Songs from the South: 1985–2019 |
| "Tarred and Feathered" | 2021 | |
| "Story" | 2023 | Dan Sultan |
| "Won't Give You That" | 2023 | Dan Sultan |
| "Wait Love" | 2023 | Dan Sultan |
| "Took the Children Away" | 2023 | Mushroom: Fifty Years of Making Noise (Reimagined) |
| "Ringing in My Ears" | 2023 | Dan Sultan |
| "Fortress" (with Julia Stone) | 2023 | Dan Sultan |
| "Do You See Me" | 2024 | |

#### As featured artist

| Title | Year | Chart peak positions | Certifications | Album |
| Title | Year | AUS digital sales | Certifications | Album |
| "Running Away" (with Verses) | 2010 | — | | Seasons |
| "January 26" (with A.B. Original) | 2016 | — | ARIA: Gold | Reclaim Australia |
| "I Never" (Strings version) (The Bamboos featuring Dan Sultan) | 2019 | — | | By Special Arrangement |
| "Gadigal Land" (with Midnight Oil featuring Joel Davison, Kaleena Briggs & Bunna Lawrie) | 2020 | 5 | | The Makarrata Project |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |||||

### Other appearances

| Title | Artist | Year | Album |
| "This Land is Mine" | various artists | 2007 | Cannot Buy My Soul |
| "For My People" | Direct Influence | 2010 | War in My Kitchen |
| "Bran Nue Dae" | various artists | 2010 | Bran Nue Day |
| "Seeds That You Might Sow" | various artists | 2010 | Bran Nue Day |
| "Nyul Nyul Girl" | various artists | 2010 | Bran Nue Day |
| "Black Girl" | various artists | 2010 | Bran Nue Day |
| "Shark Attack" (with The Break) | various artists | 2010 | He Will Have His Way |
| "Deanna" | various artists | 2012 | Straight to You – Triple J's Tribute to Nick Cave |
| "There Is a Kingdom" (with Kram & Lisa Mitchell) | | 2012 | Straight to You – Triple J's Tribute to Nick Cave |
| "Get Ready for Love" | | 2012 | Straight to You – Triple J's Tribute to Nick Cave |
| "Rattle Snake" | Way of the Eagle | 2013 | Rattle Snake |
| "Hold Back the Night" (with Ella Hooper) | various artists | 2013 | RockWiz Volume 4 |
| "With a Little Help from My Friends" (with Ella Hooper) | | 2013 | RockWiz Volume 4 |
| "Rumble, Young Man, Rumble" | Hilltop Hoods | 2014 | Walking Under Stars |
| "The Biggest Disappointment" | Missy Higgins | 2014 | Oz |
| "Don't Let a Good Thing Go" | Paul Kelly | 2014 | The Merri Soul Sessions |
| "When the Saints Go Marching In" | various artists | 2015 | Saints Unplugged |
| "Manjana" (with Emma Donovan) | Archie Roach | 2016 | Charcoal Lane: 25th Anniversary Collection |
| "The Wheels on the Bus" | Play School | 2016 | Famous Friends: Celebrating 50 Years of Play School |
| "Australia" | The Wiggles | 2018 | Wiggle Pop |
| "It's Important" | Damien Dempsey | 2018 | Union |
| "You're the One That I Want" | Delta Goodrem | 2018 | I Honestly Love You |
| "Fitzroy Crossing" | various artists | 2019 | Deadly Hearts 2 |
| "Into My Arms" | various artists | 2020 | Songs for Australia |
| "Change the Date" (with Gurrumul Yunupingu) | Midnight Oil | 2020 | The Makarrata Project |