Dan Navarro:
CLASS OF 1969
Calexico High SchoolClass of 1969
Calexico, CA
University of California - MusicClass of 1973
Los angeles, CA
De Anza Junior High SchoolClass of 1965
Calexico, CA
Dan's Story
Life...
I'm a singer & songwriter, professional since 1984. My big break was writing "We Belong" for Pat Benatar. I had my own band for 20+ years, Lowen & Navarro, with 11 albums released. Lowen retired in June 2009 due to his Lou Gehrig's Disease (he died in 2012), and I've been solo ever since. Put out my first solo record in July 2009.
I sing in Spanish and English in commercials, movies & TV, albums, bla bla bla. I'm lucky to get to do what I love. If you want to check out the band, Google "Lowen & Navarro" or my name and see what comes up. Or go to my website, which is my name, dot-com. Dan, not Danny. :)
I'm divorced with an twenty-seven-year-old son, Joseph, who graduated from NYU in the Tisch Film School. I lived in LA near Santa Monica, but am now in Rancho MIrage, near Palm Springs. Back to the desert, I guess. My mom (Josephine, who owned the Don Gabriel gift shop) passed away in 1994. My dad (Hap, who owned the Foster Freeze) was still living near La Mesa up until 2005 when he moved to Santa Maria to be near my sister Didi. He passed away in February 2014 at 94.
I'd love to hear from old friends from back home. I've been to every reunion since the 10th in 1979, but there are still a bunch of you out there I haven't seen or heard from, especially from other graduating classes. So e-mail me if you like.
School...
I started CUHS in 1965 at 13. My main activity was band, which (you may or may not know) was one of the best in the state for schools our size. I went out for JV baseball, but wasn't much of an athlete. In my sophomore year, I started doing stats for the basketball and baseball teams, and used those stats for stories I wrote for the Calexico Chronicle.
I had a good time in high school, but was anxious to get out and see what was shaking in the big city, and see if I could make it as a musician. So after graduation, I went to UCLA and stayed in LA. I still live there now, working at what I love.
College...
I was at UCLA from 1969 to 1974. I split one class shy of my degree -- after five years I was ready to tackle the world. I had a really great time at school -- I mean, it was the 70s ...Expand for more
-- and focused mostly on the UCLA Band and Men's Glee Club. My favorite memories were of hanging in the Terrace Room at lunch with guys and gals from the Music Department, mostly from Glee Club.
Workplace...
Before leaving UCLA and throughout the first ten years after, I wrote songs and performed. For my day jobs, in 1974 I worked for a small film production house doing sound effects transfer. In '75, I quit and went to Tower Records in Westwood as their classical music buyer. Three years later I started at Great American Food & Beverage Co. as a singing waiter, where I met Eric Lowen, my music partner.
From early 1979 - late 1980 I worked for a music manager as his assistant, including a year in London working with the Moody Blues and others. From 1981 - 1985 I was a copywriter, art director and account exec at a small ad agency in Westwood. My uncle Mike Navarro owned it (no, not the Mike Navarro from Calexico. This was my dad's brother from LA, who is the father of Dave Navarro the rock star, who is my cousin). While I was there, in 1984 I wrote a song that somehow became a hit and went into professional music, which I've done ever since.
I started doing session work on commericals, movies, etc. in 1988 and started making albums of my own and touring in 1990. My most recent CD came out in July 2009, and you can hear clips from it on our website -- Google me and you'll find the address.
Some of my movie credits have been Pan, The Book of Life, Legends pf Oz: Dorothy's Return, Rock of Ages, Rio, Happy Feet, Ice Age 2, Ice Age 3, Roxanne, The Emperor's New Groove, The Mexican, Envy, Man On Fire and Robots. TV shows have included Prison Break, American Family, Walker Texas Ranger, Roswell and Felicity. I do miscellaneous background voices on Family Guy and American Dad. I've sung backing vocals on seven albums by Luis Miguel, plus Andrea Bocelli, Jose Feliciano, Chayanne, Laureano Brizuela, Christian Castro, Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles, Julio Iglesias, Enrique Iglesias and loads of others. Commercials running now include Shakey's Pizza, Expedia, McDonald's and more.
I get to do what I love, and it's a blast.
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