Brian Joseph Burton (born July 29, 1977), known professionally as Danger Mouse, is an American musician and record producer. He came to prominence in 2004 when he released The Grey Album, which combined vocal performances from Jay-Z's The Black Album with instrumentals from the Beatles' The Beatles, also known as The White Album. In 2008, Esquire named him one of the "75 most influential people of the 21st century".
He formed Gnarls Barkley with CeeLo Green and produced its albums St. Elsewhere and The Odd Couple. In 2009, he collaborated with James Mercer of the indie rock band The Shins to form the band Broken Bells; the band released three albums since then, with Into the Blue (2022) being the most recent one. Burton collaborated with rapper MF Doom as Danger Doom on The Mouse and the Mask and with emcee Black Thought on Cheat Codes.
As a producer Danger Mouse produced the second Gorillaz album, 2005's Demon Days, as well as Beck's 2008 record Modern Guilt and four albums with The Black Keys (Attack & Release, Brothers, El Camino and Turn Blue). In 2016, Danger Mouse produced, performed on and co-wrote songs for the eleventh studio album by the Red Hot Chili Peppers titled The Getaway. Danger Mouse has also produced and co-written albums by Norah Jones (Little Broken Hearts), Electric Guest (Mondo), Portugal. The Man (Evil Friends), Adele (25), and ASAP Rocky (At.Long.Last.ASAP). He has been nominated for 22 Grammy Awards and has won six. Danger Mouse has been nominated in the Producer of the Year category five times, and won the award in 2011.
Early life and music career beginnings
Brian Joseph Burton was born on July 29, 1977 in White Plains, New York. He spent much of his childhood in Spring Valley, New York. Burton moved to Stone Mountain, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, where he attended and graduated from Redan High School. He lived in Athens, Georgia, where he pursued a degree in telecommunications at the University of Georgia on scholarship, and where his trip hop works (The Chilling Effect (1999), Rhode Island (2000), and Pelican City / Scanner - Pelican City vs. Scanner (2002)) were released while he was a student. While at the University of Georgia he was introduced to Nirvana, Pink Floyd, and Portishead, and came to know the indie rock scene in Athens, remixed work by several local artists, including Neutral Milk Hotel, and DJ'd for University of Georgia radio station WUOG-FM. From 1998 to 2003, Burton created a series of remix CDs and records under the stage name Danger Mouse. He performed in a mouse outfit because he was too shy to show his face, and took his name from the English cartoon series Danger Mouse.
Music career
While in Athens, Burton took second place in a 1998 talent contest and was asked to open for a concert at the University of Georgia featuring OutKast and Goodie Mob. Afterwards, Burton claims he approached CeeLo Green, a member of Goodie Mob, and gave him an instrumental demo tape. CeeLo has no recollection of this and the instrumental demo tape's existence has never been confirmed. Trey Reames who had promoted CeeLo's first solo shows in Georgia, moved to London and became Burton's first manager. He suggested and negotiated CeeLo's appearance on the 26' Remix of the Danger Mouse and Jemini record. When Burton met CeeLo for this project, he shared some beats which led them to collaborate as Gnarls Barkley.
2001–2004
Burton moved to Britain for a couple of years, living in New Cross in London and working at the Rose pub near London Bridge. While there, he sent a demo to Lex Records, which signed him. Burton relocated to Los Angeles; his first original releases under the name Danger Mouse were his collaborations with rapper Jemini, including the album Ghetto Pop Life, released in 2003 on Lex Records. The Danger Mouse debut was well received by critics, but he did not rise to fame until he created The Grey Album, mixing a cappella versions of Jay-Z's The Black Album over beats crafted from samples of the Beatles' eponymous album, also known as The White Album. The remix album, originally created just for his friends, spread over the Internet and became very popular with both the general audience and critics, with Rolling Stone calling it the ultimate remix record and Entertainment Weekly ranking it the best record of that year. He discussed his feelings about any controversy the album may have created in the documentary Alternative Freedom. Danger Mouse was named among the Men of the Year by GQ in 2004 and won a 2005 Wired Rave Award.