Danny Wright: Concert Pianist Releases A Song For The People of Ukraine

Danny Wright is an American Pianist who has sold over 11 million albums (stats as of 2019) since his debut in 1986. He has been named twice by Billboard magazine as a Top 10 artist in the New-age music genre, with three of his albums in Billboard's Top 10 New Age Albums for three consecutive years. Over the years, Wright’s repertoire has also encompassed other genres. Danny Wright has performed all over the world, including The Parliament of Religions in Salt Lake City, Utah, The Smith Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, as well as The Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary, Canada. As of March 2022, Danny has released a grand total of 53 Piano Music Albums.

The many recordings of keyboardist/composer Danny Wright are difficult to classify. He specializes in three distinct music styles: adult contemporary compositions, Broadway show tunes and movie themes, and classical music. His original compositions tend to be in the adult contemporary mode and are frequently inspired by classical composers such as Beethoven, Pachelbel and Debussy as well as by such Broadway greats as Gershwin, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jerome Kern and Stephen Sondheim. 

Wright was born and raised in Fort Worth, TX. He began playing piano at age four. He then studied classical piano under Dr. Harris Cavender for ten years. While studying, Wright demonstrated a gift for improvising in the exact style he was playing and he has used this talent for making each piece uniquely his. Later he won a full scholarship to Christian University where he studied music education. He dropped out of school at age 22 to begin his professional career. Wright began composing his own music in 1985. With Dori and Bob Nichols, he founded the label Nichols-Wright Records (later Moulin D'Or Recordings) to release his own albums. 

He made his recording debut with Black and White, (1986) which was first marketed to a select group of friends, relatives, and restaurant patrons. It took two years, but eventually the Nichols' got local Dallas/Fort Worth radio stations to play Wright's songs. His second album, Time Windows (1987) was a showcase of Wright's compositions. This and the first were sold via mail order. By 1987, his albums were being distributed throughout North America. His third album Phantasys (1988) became one of his most popular and also features Wright's own compositions. 

Danny Wright's destiny began to unfold at age four when he reached up and played the theme from Dr. Zhivago on the piano in the family's living room. Recognizing an exceptional gift, his parents arranged for study under the respected professor, Dr. Harris Cavender. Since that time, Danny's life has consisted of his love of music, the piano and his desire to share his gift with others. His warm, outgoing personality combined with extraordinary talent has enabled him to touch millions of listeners through his recordings and concerts. 

Trained as a classical pianist, Wright composes and performs original compositions that are blended with various influences including contemporary jazz, classical and neoclassical. CD Review describes his original compositions as "…fluidly crafted, backed up by exquisite musicianship." Wright also performs his own gorgeous arrangements of Broadway and film classics by well-loved composers. When not in the studio recording, Danny performs in concert as a guest artist with pops symphonies and has appeared in concert at top venues from the Berklee Performance Center in Boston to the Schoenburg Hall in Los Angeles. 

In 2000, Danny Wright signed with Sausalito-based record label, Real Music, who released Soul Mates in January 2001. Eight of the eleven songs are Wright's original compositions and three his unique and beautiful arrangements of favorite songs. Do You Live, Do You Love was released in July 2002. It includes ten original compositions, two of them songs from the musical Phantom Immortal, for which Wright was commissioned to write the music, and one motion picture theme. In March 2003, Real Music released Danny Wright Healer of Hearts, a newly recorded 2 CD collection of his 25 best-loved songs. Disc 1 is comprised of favorite cover tunes recorded for his top selling Black and White Series and Disc 2 includes the best of his original compositions prior to 1999. Soul Mates, Do You Live, Do You Love and Danny Wright Healer of Hearts have all been Billboard charting albums, with Danny Wright Healer of Hearts achieving top ten status and continuing to appear on the chart each week.

No heart or story is too small to touch Wright. All of his CDs include songs written in response to a fan he may never have met, a child or adult in need of healing or for a wedding, anniversary or other cause for celebrations. It is from real life experiences that Danny draws his inspiration and through his composing and playing that he is truly a "healer of hearts." His love for animals and the innocence of children inspires him to perform numerous benefit concerts in support of such organizations as the Humane Society, the Pediatric AIDs foundation and the American Red Cross. Danny also plays concerts in support of Breast Cancer Awareness in gratitude that his mother is a breast cancer survivor.

Alan Mercer:  So, you have recorded 53 albums!

Danny Wright: It’s 55 now.

AM:  55 albums! Let’s start with that. Did you ever imagine recording 55 albums?

DW:  No, I did not.

AM:  What did you think your career would be like when you first started?

DW:  I started playing the piano at four and I knew that was what God wanted me to do. I climbed up on the bench and started playing the theme from Dr. Zhivago. I guess my parents played the album all the time. We had a grand piano because my mother was an interior designer, and my father was a custom home builder and she thought it was a pretty piece of furniture. That is the real truth. (Laughter) Anyway, I climbed on the piano and started playing. They got me a teacher immediately right here in Fort Worth, who just passed away very recently. The teacher told my parents their son had a gift from God, and we must develop that gift as quickly as possible.

AM:  So, at four years old, you could play anything you heard?

DW:  Anything.

AM:  Can you still do that?

DW: Yeah, I can.

AM:  And you were fully educated?

DW:  Yes, my teacher allowed me to do that, which was really wonderful, but at the same time, he wanted me to learn how to read music. I’m so glad he did because now I can sight read anything. Over the years that also enabled me to take classical pieces and movie themes and Broadway pieces and do them in my own arrangement and in my own style.

AM:  That is exactly what makes you stand out.

DW:  Everybody says that.

AM:  I recognized the first time I heard you play that you had something very special, like Liberace.

DW:  Thank you, I met him when I was 13. He came to Fort Worth and performed at Will Rogers Auditorium. My father, being a prominent real estate developer, talked to the mayor and got a meeting with Liberace after his show. He had a little upright rehearsal piano in his dressing room. I’ll never forget it. Now, I would be so nervous, but when I was thirteen and Liberace said, play something for me, I was able to do it without being nervous.

AM:  What did you play for him?

DW:  I played all three movements of the Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven. After I finished, he took both my hands and said, “You are going to be a very famous concert pianist one day. You play with so much passion.” I will never forget it. That was the validation for my parents to continue finding the best concert pianist in the world. Full circle, when I moved to Las Vegas in 2010 to perform, Liberace’s Museum contacted me to come do concerts, so I got to play all of his beautiful pianos. I did concerts at the Liberace Museum until they closed down.

AM:  When did you start recording?

DW: I started in 1985 when I was 22.

AM:  Was that always part of the plan when you were younger?

DW:  I sang, of course I was a first soprano. I loved to travel so I was able to get into the Texas Boys Choir. I could stay on pitch. I’m not saying I was a Josh Groban by any stretch of the imagination, but I was able to travel and see the world and perform in Carnegie Hall and all the other halls. But I always knew the piano was where my real, true talent was. After my voice changed, I spent 24 hours a day focused on the piano. That’s where I believe my God given talents to be.

AM:  Who came up with the idea of a recording contract?

DW:  This couple came in when I was playing at Salvatore’s Restaurant. They had a grand piano in there. I thought I was a millionaire because he was paying me $450.00 a week when I was 20 years old. This was a long time ago.

AM:  That was pretty significant.

DW:  People would come in and tip me $100 to play ‘New York, New York’ or something like that. (Laughter) Anyway, this couple came in from Winter Park, Florida, and asked me if I had any recordings so they could listen to my music at home and I told them, no. They came back in the next week and told me their children were grown and they invested their money well and they wanted to record my music. So, they recorded my first album. We got it distributed and they started playing it at Shakespeare Beethoven & Company in the Galleria. Then, all these record stores started playing it. This was albums and cassette tapes. They didn’t even have CDs yet. Suddenly, we had 22 different international distribution companies that were selling my music.

AM:  This is worldwide.

DW:  At one point in my career, we were selling 60 to 70 thousand CDs a month. Then I started doing tours with Borders Bookstores and Barnes & Noble. I would do a concert in the store and then sign CDs after and it snowballed from there.

AM:  What is it like now that CDs have faded and downloading has taken over?

DW:  It’s such a tough business now. Because I’m older and my fans are older, I still sell lots of CDs. It’s sad because if you have a hundred thousand streams of a song, you might make $800. The only way an artist can make any money now is doing live performances.

AM:  Are you ready to travel and do concerts again?

DW:  Oh yes! I love meeting people and hearing the stories of how my music has affected their lives. It means so much to me.

AM:  Let’s talk about your newest song, ‘Dyakyu’ or Peace and dedicated to the Ukrainian people.

DW:  I wanted to do something, and God gave me a talent to write music. I’ve been composing for many years. I thought, why not combine the National Anthem of Ukraine with an original song, so I did that. I think it came out beautiful.

AM:  Most people wouldn’t be able to do that.

DW:  I just closed my eyes and went with the flow.

AM:  Do you feel the spirit led?

DW:  Oh gosh yes. I started playing the anthem and then I started hearing this other song that was in my head. It was in the same key of G minor, and it just started incorporating. At the end of the song, I bring back the last 4 measures of the Ukrainian anthem, and then I end it with a G major chord to exemplify and mean peace and happiness again.

AM:  It’s amazing that you came up with this in the last month.

DW:  My distribution company, Concord Music in Nashville, has released it online for people to purchase and download and they can also make an extra donation and all the money will go to the people of Ukraine.

AM:  That is so generous to use your time and your talent.

DW:  That’s what I want to do. I like helping people when I can, with my God given talent.

AM:  You have had such incredible success.

DW:  I was recently told that Billboard magazine named the top three concert pianist in the world. Number one was Liberace; number two was Van Cliburn and number three was Danny Wright. I was in shock! I had to read it twice to make sure I was reading it right.

AM:  I don’t have any trouble believing that.

DW:  Thank you. That is so sweet.

AM:  For you, the future will be traveling again and live performances.

DW:  Yes, and I’m recording a new album called ‘The Love Inside.’ It’s all original songs that I’ve written. The song for Ukraine will be on this album as well.