Dan Reynolds: Mormon Musician
Daniel Coulter Reynolds is a musician and frontman for the rock band Imagine Dragons.
He was born on July 14, 1987, in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and, like many members of the Church, he earned the rank of Eagle Scout and served as a full-time missionary. He wrote the song “I Bet My Life,” the lead single from the Imagine Dragons second studio album, to celebrate the bond he has with his parents. He is one of nine children born to Christene and Ronald Reynolds. All nine children were required to take piano lessons until age 16. At one point, each of them played in a band.
Although Imagine Dragons is based in Las Vegas, it has its origins in Provo, Utah, where Reynolds was attending Brigham Young University. Reynolds formed the band with Wayne Sermon and Andrew Tolman. The band won the 2008 “Battle of the Bands” competition at BYU and the “Utah Valley University’s Got Talent” competition. Reynolds dropped out of college to pursue music, and Imagine Dragons gained momentum as a lounge act in Las Vegas. The band’s big break came when the Train’s frontman fell sick prior to the 2010 Bite of Las Vegas Festival and Imagine Dragons stepped in, singing to a crowd of more than 26,000. The band’s single, “Radioactive,” was written by Reynolds “after coming out of a pretty serious spell of depression”—something he has dealt with most of his life—“and having a new awakening and a real vigor for life.”[1] he said that he was questioning his career choice, especially because the band was still struggling and he wanted to have a family and be able to support them. “In truth, the song is about becoming self-empowered and saying, ‘I’m happy with who I am, happy with the choices I’m making. . . . It’s about sweating off all the dust and grime of self-doubt and judgment, and embracing who you are.”[2]
“Radioactive” was the most-streamed song in the United States during 2013 on Spotify and spent 24 weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Rock Airplay chart. Imagine Dragons performed the song at the 2014 Grammy Awards, and it won for Best Rock Performance.
Reynolds received the Songwriters Hall of Fame Hal David Starlight Award in 2014.
He is married to Aja Volkman who is also a musician. Her band is Nico Vega. Together they released an EP titled “Egyptian.” Reynolds and Volkman are the parents of a daughter, Arrow Eve.
