Daddy-O Grande

Danny Amis, aka Daddy-O Grande is perhaps best known as a founding member of the musical group, Los Straitjackets, although his contributions to the world of Guitar Instrumentals goes back much further. Born in Memphis to a respected newspaper editor, his family moved to Minneapolis when he was 4 years old. His first band, The Overtones, brought guitar instrumentals to the late 70s Twin Cities punk scene, and was one of the first acts to appear on the now legendary Twin/Tone Records. From there Amis made a much bigger instrumental splash when he moved to New York City and joined up with the Raybeats for several records including Guitar Beat. Switching roles from Musician to engineer, Amis produced an album for Beat Rodeo before moving on to Nashville where he landed a job working for the Grand Ole Opry, TNN, Nashville Now and yes, Hee-Haw.

Enjoying his newly found world of paid vacations, Amis took time to travel and became enchanted with Mexico City and the Lucha Libre. Soon after that, Amis donned a silver and blue wrestling mask and the persona of Daddy-O Grande was born! It wasn't long after that that America’s Instrumentalists, Los Straitjackets, was formed. With more than 17 years in Los Straitjackets, Amis is enjoying the success of 14 critically acclaimed CDs, a Grammy nomination, numerous television appearances, and over 1500 live performances worldwide. Among those live shows were two televised concerts in Daddy-O Grande’s home away from home, Mexico City, one in the Historic Plaza de la Constitucion in 2005, as well as a 2008 appearance at Mexico City’s Foro Sol. Both concerts were attended by more than 70,000 fans. Amis also had the honor of hearing his own "Calhoun Surf" performed and recorded by his heroes, The Ventures. Two documentaries about the Mexican Surf Music scene have called Danny Amis the "Godfather of Mexican Surf".

In the summer of 2010 Amis received the unfortunate diagnosis of advanced Multiple Myeloma, cancer of the bone marrow. After a June performance with Los Straitjackets at the Surfer Joe Summer Festival in Livorno, Italy, Amis cancelled all future scheduled concerts to undergo various cancer treatments. The cancer seriously damaged much of the spine. An outpouring of support from fans and artists through donations and benefit shows worldwide helped in covering medical expenses and in the summer of 2011 Amis resumed songwriting and returned to the studio in November to record a new CD with Los Straitjackets. For 2012, look for a new Los Straitjackets CD and a new Daddy-O Grande solo CD. Depending on the progress of his recovery, Amis hopes to return to the stage for live performances once again.