Daniel Merriweather grew up in the tough Dandenong Ranges area of Melbourne, Australia. He was born on February 17, 1982 and began his violin lessons at the age of four. During his teen ages, he was distracted a lot, and ended up getting himself into trouble. Later on, he dropped out of high school and put all his focus on his singing career.

"There weren't a lot of options for me at that point," he recalled. "I'm not stupid so I could have made more options for myself I guess, but at the time it was hard because you have to make money and survive. I worked at KFC for a couple of months and it wasn't for me so in the end I thought I'll try this music lark."

While taking vocal lessons, he made performances at local clubs. He was then signed by Australian indie label Marlin and began working on tracks for his debut album that he would later shelve for good because the label just "wasn't ready and that's not how he wanted it to be."

That didn't make him back out from making music and thankfully, his demos came to the attention of acclaimed producer / disc jokey Mark Ronson who instantly fell in love with his voice. What followed next was not only the birth of a unique working partnership but also a great friendship. "He called me up out of the blue," he recalled. "And just literally invited me to come to New York, like it was as simple as that, like, 'I love what you're doing - come over here and get in the studio with me."

In 2003, Daniel was invited by Mark to lend his vocals in the DJ's "She's Got Me" song which appeared in "Here Comes the Fuzz" album. The next year, he headlined an Australian joint tour with Mark, Scribe and P-Money, kicked off a U.K. traveling show and performed a number of live duet shows with Mark.

Building a strong fanbase Down Under and across the pond, he returned to recording booth for his first major-label album "Love and War". 18 months of writing and recording, it was all paid off when the album debuted at No. 2 on U.K. albums chart in June 2009. Following its success in Britain, Daniel confidently releases it Stateside on February 23, 2010.

"I just felt something had changed. I went back into the studio after I'd recovered. You think I'd be more cautious with it but it actually freed me up," he said. "You could die tomorrow and so I might as well go and sing the fuck out of these songs. Singing is an emotional thing; you're giving a lot - a month or two off and getting back into the studio felt really good."

In January 2010, he got nomination as International Breakthrough Act at BRIT Awards. Facing off such heavy contenders as Animal Collective, Empire of the Sun, Lady GaGa and Taylor Swift, he eventually lost the title to the renowned "Poker Face" singer.