The frontman of the rock band Imagine Dragons made a frank confession to LGBT youth: “I love you.” Imagine Dragons: personal life, wife, children, family Daniel Reynolds and his wife

Dan Reynolds wrote an open letter addressed to LGBT youth. The musician's emotional message was published by Billboard. This practice with star messages to people with non-traditional sexual orientation has been carried out for several years in anticipation of the Love Loud charity festival. The event, which was founded by Dan himself, is held for youth from the LGBT community with the goal of uniting people to solve adolescent safety issues and express respect and love for all of God's children.

Dan Reynolds' Open Letter to LGBT Youth

I grew up in a conservative and devout Mormon family, so I spent many years going back and forth between the teachings of the faith and what my heart told me. I have had many gay Mormon friends who have lived with anxiety and guilt because their teachings say that their true identity, their most beautiful and sacred right to love, is flawed and sinful. I saw them struggle daily to hide their sexuality from their families. Trying to change my essence to no avail.

Representatives of religious communities can talk as much as they want about how much they “love” our LGBT youth. But until they change their dangerous doctrines, which indicate that they are living “in sin” by giving in to their sexual orientation, until then they only fuel fears and depression among young people, which even lead to suicide. We know that gay boys and girls would rather commit suicide than be rejected by their surroundings and families. They don't choose who to love. They do not choose a life full of judgmental glances from others. These are not attempts to attract attention. They just want to follow their hearts. And they deserve to be LOVED, not “tolerated.”

I dedicate this letter to our LGBT youth. I LOVE YOU. With all my heart. Sincerely. I sing your praises. You are beautiful, you deserve love. I hope you allow yourself to find love, to find peace and serenity. You deserve it. I will fight for you.

I spent too many years being a confused Mormon. I don't doubt it anymore. I'm still a Mormon, but my eyes are open and so are my arms. I give you my word that I will do everything I can to change the situation in the area of ​​​​religious representatives, because this is where change is needed.

I hope you can forgive the years of intolerance and injustice towards you. Years of condemnation. We are just humans, with our flaws. And to be honest, at the moment, the Orthodox religion is not the safest place for you. In fact, it is not for me to judge where it is safe or right for you now. If you don't feel safe at this point in your life, because of your family or environment, know that you are not alone.

Imagine Dragons performed at the Love Loud LGBT festival last year

There are many people like you, great and extraordinary. Changing the world. And until you find that happy and safe place, there are many resources and people who can help you find peace and love. One of my favorites is the Trevor Project. They are just one call away. They are waiting to hear you, to help you. Please, do not move away from us, do not deprive yourself of your precious lives. We need you. We need your brightness, your unique energy. The world is a boring place without you.

I love you and SINCERELY accept you .

Love is love

The festival will feature performances not only by celebrities, but also by representatives of the LGBT community, their parents and loved ones who helped teenagers accept their non-traditional sexual orientation.

An incredibly popular American band that has conquered all kinds of music charts and won the hearts of millions of fans is Imagine Dragons. The composition of the group is not the sugary boys that were popular in the 90s, but ordinary guys who simply love to write music and do it very well and with soul. They are called an indie rock band, because it is quite difficult to fit such diverse and unusual creativity into the framework of any specific genre. The history of the formation of the Imagine Dragons group, by the way, is also not trivial.

From religion to music

Dan Reynolds, the future founder and ideological inspirer of the group, was born into a large Mormon family in 1987. He was the seventh son of nine children whose parents were very conservative. This left a strong imprint on the young man’s psyche, and he tried to express his experiences in his creativity. After graduating from school, Dan was sent to Nebraska on a religious mission and also studied at Brigham Young University (Utah), in a town called Provo. It was there that religion took a back seat to music, when Reynolds became friends with Andrew Tolman. The young people founded their own group in 2008, which soon became known as Imagine Dragons. The composition of the group changed at first, while the participants were looking for themselves, their direction, performing covers, trying to compose original music. An interesting fact known to all fans of the team: the name is an anagram, but no one except the participants themselves knows how it is deciphered, although fans have already gone through thousands of options. It is quite possible that there is a true one, but the musicians have not confirmed any of them, and they are unlikely to do so.

Vegas boys

So, by the beginning of 2009, two very talented and ambitious guys began to assemble a musical group. Soon they were joined by Tolman's schoolmate, guitarist Wayne Sermon. He brought along his friend from Berkeley - bass guitarist Ben McKee. This was the first line-up of Imagine Dragons. Already in September they released their first mini-album of the same name, and for the next two years they also released one EP (mini-album per year). But in addition to working hard to create their own music, the team fought hard for their own survival and took on any performances, once they even opened a mime concert.

Having become famous in Utah, the guys moved to Dan's hometown - Las Vegas, where their main concert venues were casinos and strip clubs. There they performed mainly covers, including compositions of their own compositions in the program. Soon people started talking about the group, they began to be invited to various festivals. And a little later, one of their mini-albums fell into the hands of the famous producer Alex De Kid (who worked with Eminem himself), who became interested in the unusual group, saw their potential and offered them cooperation.

Staff turnover

During the formative years, the composition of the Imagine Dragons group changed several times. The names of Reynolds and Sermon remained unchanged, but at different times the band also included Andrew Beck in 2008 (specializing in electric guitar and vocals) and Dave Lamke from 2008 to 2009 (specializing in bass guitar and vocals), and even whole three girls Aurora Florence (2008, keyboards, violin, vocals), Brittany Tolman (2009-2011, keyboards, vocals) and Teresa Flamino (2011-2012, keyboards).

By the way, one of the founders of the “Dragons” (as their fans call them), drummer Andrew Tolman, left the project in 2011 along with his wife Brittany, and a little later they created their own group. At its peak, Imagine Dragons consisted of Dan Reynolds, Wayne Sermon, Ben McKee and drummer Dan Platzman, who replaced the departed Tolman. It remains unchanged to this day.

Climbing the musical Olympus

In 2012, the Dragons released two more mini-albums, which finally began to bear financial fruit. The group prepared very diligently and carefully for the release of a full-length album. And in September of the same year this significant event occurred. The album “Night Visions” reached the top of all charts in record numbers, remained at the top for a long time and became double platinum.

Imagine Dragons were named the brightest star of 2013, and the album's release was named the highlight of the year. All kinds of awards rained down on them as if from a cornucopia, including the prestigious Grammy music award itself. The track “Radioactive” became the biggest rock hit of the year according to the magazine. It was a real high point in the biography of the Imagine Dragons group.

Work, work and work again

Not stopping there, the team toured very actively, winning more and more hearts of fans, filmed videos and prepared material for a new album. The almost three-year break between album releases was very eventful. And in September 2015, the second album in the biography of Imagine Dragons appeared. “Smoke+Mirrors” did not go platinum like the “firstborn”, but received a well-deserved “gold” and its share of great hits and, of course, brought the team new awards. And less than two years later, the musicians delighted fans with their third album, entitled “Evolve,” which was presented to the general public in May 2017. Less than four months later, the album's main theme, "Believer", has already won Best Rock/Alternative Song and won an award at the Teen Choice Awards.

Music of Dragons

This unusual team can easily be considered a record holder for the number of times their songs are used as soundtracks. For some projects, Imagine Dragons recorded songs specifically, in others they used existing ones, but, one way or another, the list of the most popular films and TV series where the music of the Dragons is heard is incredibly impressive. “Radioactive” alone is worth it! She can be heard in the films “The Host”, “Continuum”, “Warm Bodies”, the series “Arrow”, “The Vampire Diaries”, “The 100”, “True Blood”, as well as in the game “Assassin's Creed 3” and so on . Before the release of their first full-length album, Imagine Dragons released several soundtracks for large-scale cinema projects in the form of singles. Among them were “Who We Are” for the film “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” and “Battle Cry” for the fourth “Transformers”. Also, as soundtracks, Dragon songs are heard in the series “Gossip Girl”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Suits”, “Riverdale” and many others, and among films they can be found in “Insurgent”, “Iron Man 3”, “Good Being a Wallflower,” “Suicide Squad,” “Passengers,” and even “Kung Fu Panda 3,” to name a few.

This article contains the most important information about the Imagine Dragons group: biography, composition, discography. But this is not all that fans would like to know about their favorite musicians, because the personal lives, habits, and favorite activities of idols interest fans no less. So, some interesting facts about the band members:

• Reynolds is married with an eldest daughter, Arrow Eve, and two newborns, Coco and Gia, and is involved in another musical project with his wife AJ Volkman called Egyptian. This is their family hobby. The singer has struggled with depression all his life, but it is in this state that he writes his hits. He claims that family is his best cure for a long-standing illness.
• Sermon is called "Wing", his wife is Alexandra, and he is the proud father of two sons of the same age: River James and Wolfgang. A musician composes songs at night instead of sleeping (he has insomnia).
• McKee is a hatmaker. Sewing is his hobby.
• The group loves drums, is actively involved in charity work, and loves to hang out on social networks and communicate with fans.

I magine Dragons is an American alternative rock, indie, and indie rock band.

2008 - ∞

After the last note was played at a marathon a few years ago, Dan Reynolds, frontman of the Las Vegas band Imagine Dragons, knew it was all about forming a band. “We played a gig at a place called O'Shees, where they had the cheapest beer,” Reynolds recalls. “I was literally standing on the drums, the stage was so small. We performed the final songs of a 6-hour set. I got to the end of the song and passed out mid-singing. I came to my senses and finished the song. We received a standing ovation from everyone in this tiny casino at 3am on a weekday in Las Vegas. Something about that moment connected us and made us realize that we were creating a connection with people from all over the country."

Since then, this connection has only grown. Reynolds and his bandmates - guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee and drummer Daniel Platzman - independently released three EPs and toured extensively. The band then released the Continued Silence EP, which included the single It's Time, which became a breakthrough. The song reached number 3 on Modern Rock radio and number 2 in AAA, and received a nomination for "Best Rock Video" at the MTV VMA 2012. Now the Dragons are preparing to release a full debut album, Night Visions, produced by Alex Da Kid's and KIDinaKORNER. "It took three years to record," Dan explains of his excitement for the album's release. "We feel like we've finally created something that we're really proud of and that will maybe inspire others and help them feel less alone. That's what our music is about."

Emotional struggle is central to the spirit of Imagine Dragons. This was their goal from the very beginning - to turn the pain they experienced into something life-saving and uplifting. This transformation – of emotional pain into art – is what inspired their first hit. "I wrote 'It's Time' during a very difficult time in my life," Dan recalls. "Everything seemed to be going wrong. I was trying to decide what I wanted to do with my life, trying to figure out how seriously to take music. I was making decisions about who I was. I'm a pretty young guy and I'm still trying to find answers to those questions."

"Our band wouldn't exist without Las Vegas," says Reynolds. “It’s a great place for artists to get started.” Sin City is not known as a creative hotbed, but, oddly enough, it helps the musicians who live there. "It's not oversaturated," Dan explains. "As a new band, you play in casinos that are half full, but half the people are people you know. We could rent a house for the band and support ourselves." Living like a Las Vegas rocker may be relatively easy, but the competition is fierce because this city is like boot camp for performers. Unlike New York or Los Angeles, where your main concern is being the hottest rock band on the block, in Vegas you have to compete with actresses, roulette and Cher at Caesars Palace. "You learn how to stand out because you're competing for the attention of people sitting at the slot machines," Reynolds explains. "You need to show what you can do and find out what grabs people's attention just enough to make them look up from the card table and say, hey, let's look at this!"

Each band member except Reynolds attended Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music, and the technical mastery and precision taught at that college influenced the sound of Imagine Dragons. "I'm a musician who. And when you put two types of people together, that's when magic happens," Reynolds says.

Compound

Current lineup:

Dan Reynolds
Drums, vocals
2008-present

Was born July 14, 1987 V Las Vegas, the 7th child in a family of 9. Mother - Christine M., father - Ronald Reynolds, both natives of Nevada.
Created the band Imagine Dragons while still in college. He met Wayne Sermon, who introduced him to Daniel Platzaman and Ben McKee, his classmates from the prestigious Berklee College of Music. They all went to Las Vegas and started playing small gigs in casinos.
Dan is also a writer who has written hundreds of songs. He spends 4-6 hours a day practicing.
During one festival in2010 , they shared the stage with the band Nico Vega. Then Dan met their singerEiju Volkman. He asked her to help finish some demos he was working on. They founded their own group called Egyptians and recorded 4 songs for an EP.
Eija and Dan are now married, andAugust 18, 2012they had a daughter, whom they namedArrow Eve.

Ben McKee
Bass guitar, backing vocals
2009-present

Was born April 7, 1986 V Forestville, California. Now lives in Los Angeles.

Many fans know that Ben has the superhuman ability to eat incredibly spicy food. Everyone knows that he has an amazing collection of chest hair. Few people know that he dropped out of schoolBerklee College of Music, without completing one semester to join the group.

Ben became part of Imagine Dragons in2008 , when Dan and Wayne were looking for new members.

Ben is not only the bass guitarist in the band, he also performs backing vocals.

Wayne Sermon
Guitar, backing vocals
2009-present

Daniel Wayne is bornJune 15, 1986 V Utah, American Fork. Studied at the Berklee School of Music. He studied guitar, but also plays cello and piano.

Dan Reynolds met Wayne at2008 in Utah, after which they moved to Las Vegas. Wayne took with him two classmates - Ben McKee and Daniel Platzman.

Wayne is the band's lead guitarist.2009 .

Married to ballerina Alexandra Sermon.

Dan Platzman
Drums, backing vocals, violin
2011-present

Was born September 28, 1986 V Atlanta. He is also a graduate of Berklee College of Music. He has played in the Berklee Jazz Orchestra, Urban Outreach Jazz Orchestra, and Berklee Rainbow Big Band. Received the Vic Firth Award for Outstanding Musicianship and the Michael Rendish Award for Film Music.

Became part of Imagine Dragons2011 , after the departure of Andrew Tolman, who played drums and performed backing vocals. Platzman now also performs backing vocals and plays violin, in addition to playing drums.

Former members

Discography

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At the beginning of 2009, the guys started working in the studio. And on February 1 they released their first EP, Imagine Dragons. And on April 1 of the following year, their EP Hell and Silence was released (Grammy nominee Mark Needham participated in the recording). Both EPs were recorded at Battle Born Studios. They were soon invited to perform at the annual Bite of Las Vegas festival as the "Most In-Demand Band of 2010" on local 107.9FM. They were chosen to headline the Vegas Music Summit, were named a "Must See Live Band" by Las Vegas CityLife, were named "Best Indie Band of 2010" by Las Vegas Weekly, and were awarded the "Best Record of 2011" award. from Vegas Seven magazine. In November 2011, Imagine Dragons signed a contract with American record label Interscope Records. They worked closely with producer Alex Da Kid, with whom they recorded their first disc in West Hollywood. Their EP was titled Continued Silence and released on February 14, 2012. Imagine Dragons prepared very carefully for the release of their debut album.

“By releasing a series of EPs, we were testing the waters. We wanted our debut album to be successful,” Wayne admitted in an interview.

On September 4, the world heard Night Visions, the band's first full-length album. It peaked at number 2 on the Billboard 200. The single "It's Time" peaked at number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 4 on Billboard Alternative and number 4 on Billboard Rock, and is now certified platinum.

Compound

• Dan Reynolds - vocals, cajon, bass drum, snare drum, acoustic guitar (2008–present)
• Ben McKee - bass guitar, backing vocals, keyboards, acoustic bass guitar, electric mandolin, bass drum (2009–present)
• Wayne Sermon - guitar, electric mandolin, viola, backing vocals, tom-tom, acoustic guitar, bass drum (2009-present)
• Dan Platzman - drums, cello, viola, backing vocals, cajon, acoustic guitar, snare drum, violin (2011–present)

• Andrew Tolman - Drums, vocals (2008-2011)
• Brittany Tolman - piano, vocals (2009-2011)
• Teresa Flaminio - keyboards

• Ryan Walker - keys, electric guitar, snare drum, backing vocals, acoustic guitar, electric mandolin, synthesizer, bass drum, dulcimer (2011–present)

Discography

• Imagine Dragons EP (release: September 1st, 2009)
• Hell and Silence EP (release: June 1, 2010)
• It's Time EP (release: March 12, 2011)
• Continued Silence EP (release: February 14, 2012)
• Hear Me EP (release: November 25, 2012)

• 2012 - Night Visions

Soundtracks "Imagine Dragons" for films, TV series and games

• TV series "Beauty and the Beast" S01E04 - "Round and Round"
• Film "The Guest" - "Radioactive"
• TV series "Arrow" - "Radioactive"
• Movie "Iron Man 3" - "Ready Aim Fire"
• Game "Assassin's Creed III" - "Radioactive"
• Movie "Fast and Furious 7" - "Demons"
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - "Who We Are"
• Film “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” - “It’s Time”
• Film "Frankenweenie" - "Lost Cause"
• TV series "The 100" - "Radioactive"
• TV series "The Vampire Diaries" - "Radioactive"
• Game "League of Legends" - "Warriors"
• Movie "Transformers: Age of Extinction" - "Battle Cry", "All For You"
• TV series "True Blood" - "Radioactive"
• Game "Pro Evolution Soccer 2015" - "Demons"
• Game "FIFA 2013" - "On the top of the world"
• Concert tours[edit | edit wiki text]
• Imagine Dragons on Tour (2011-12)
• Fall Tour 2012 (2012)
• Europe Tour 2012 (2012)
• Night Visions Tour (2013)
• Into The Night Tour (2014)

Imagine Dragons - north American band of four musicians: lead singer Dan Reynolds, Wayne Sermon (guitar, backing vocals), Dan Platzman ( drums, backing vocals) , and Ben McKee (bass guitar). The group has been performing with this lineup since 2011. Before that, it changed several times. The musicians perform compositions in the styles of indie rock, pop rock, electronic rock, alternative rock, and arena rock.

As told by Dan Reynolds, creator and soulImagine Dragons biography of the rock band began in2008. After in 2009 and 2010. miniature albums releasedImagine Dragons and Hell and Silence,signed a contract with Interscope Records. Later, together with producer Alex Da Kid, the guys recorded the mini-compilation Continued Silence at Westlake Recording Studios.

Great achievements

Imagine Dragons Success Story started from the moment the first single appeared -It's Time, the lyrics of which were written in 2012. They hit the charts25 countries and only in the United States sold 3 million copies of discs.

Already the second workRadioactive, far surpassed the success of It's Time. In America, Canada, England and Germany, 12 million copies of the single were purchased, which was extremely popular on the Internet.

People all over the world also listened to the songs Demons and On Top of the World.

In September 2012, the first studio collection, Night Visions, was released, which quickly rose to second position Billboard 200 and has been implemented millions of times. After its release, the guys went on a concert tour. A second LP, 2014's Smoke + Mirrors, also appealed to music fans, but compared to the success of Night Visions, sales lagged far beyond the expectations of the band and its record company. Singles from the album I Bet My Life, Shots and Gold hummed only the most devoted fans. However, they were certified platinum in the United States and gold in six other countries.

In June 2017 Imagine Dragons presented a number of works that became global hits. The compositions Believer and Thunder from the Evolve collection settled at the very top of the charts for a long time.

These two songs made the musicians richer by 6 gold and 21 platinum certificates. By the end of the year, Internet users had viewed the clips hundreds of millions of times. Also, the mega hit Whatever It Takes blew up the world charts.

The group's concerts took place in different countries, including Russia, where they performed at the Moscow Olympic Stadium.

Best Rock Band

Imagine Dragons quickly becameone of the most fashionable modern rock bands. In just 4 years, the musicians became laureates of many awards, including International Dance Music Awards, American Music Awards. Their success is mainly due to frontman Dan Reynolds, who is the only member of the group who has not left since its inception. He can not only sing, but also support the audience, as, for example, at the Southside festival 2017 in the German cityNeuhausen ob Eck.

In view of the terrorist attacks that many countries had to endure, before singing the song “It’s Time”, the singer addressed the festival guests: “This song is dedicated to all the people around the world who have lost their lives as a result of terrorist attacks. Because of terrorists who want to prevent our hearts from meeting here tonight to listen to music. We are not afraid! Terrorism will never win!” The American was supported by other soloists.

Some details from personal life

The personal lives of the participants developed differently. Dan Reynolds and his wife, actress Aja Volkman, have three daughters. The first one was born in 2013, and in March 2017, twins were born. The singer posted a photo of the babies, who were named Gia James and Coco Rae on the Internet. “They were the most magical, hectic and amazing hours of our lives,” he wrote about the birth of his children. However, despite a happy family life and dizzying popularity, the vocalist often suffers from depression.
Wayne Sermon and his wife Alexandra with children