Biography
Harts is the nom de plume of Indian-born, Australian-based musician, singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and music producer Darren Hart, whose singular blend of funk, jazz, blues, psychedelic rock, and indie electronic has drawn comparisons to Prince, Jimi Hendrix, and Lenny Kravitz, among others.
Raised in Melbourne, Australia, Hart issued a demo in 2010, which caught the ear of Lars Stalfors of the Mars Volta, who offered to mix the tracks. Those newly polished versions appeared on Hart’s buzzed about 2013 debut EP, Offtime, which was released via Island Records.
Hart went independent for his 2014 long-player, Daydreamer, a ten-track collection of guitar-heavy electro-funk jams that drew praise from Prince Rogers Nelson himself, who noted that Hart’s full-length debut reminded him “of how I was at that age” — it was later revealed that Hart had traveled to Prince’s Paisley Park compound earlier in the year for a meet-and-greet/jam session.
2015 saw Hart release his second EP titled “Breakthrough”, which featured 2 Triple J #1 played songs “When a Man’s A Fool” and the title track “Breakthrough”. Hart was approached by Subaru for an experimental creative campaign in which the 2016 WRX model car was fitted with the guitarists Wah-Wah pedal as the accelerator. The campaign reached hundreds of thousands of people and helped cement Hart as Australia’s new guitar hero. Hart joined the ranks at Universal for his sophomore LP, 2016’s “Smoke Fire Hope Desire”, which was issued in the United States the following year via Razor & Tie. The album earned much praise and accolades including being awarded “Breakthrough Artist of the Year” at the GQ Australia Men Of The Year Awards, being invited to collaborate on a song with The Roots & Lenny Kravitz for the official 2016 Olympic Games Campaign and gaining major radio airplay including landing Triple J’s Album of the Week.
Departing Australia to pursue career opportunities in the U.S for the majority of 2017, Hart reached a wider audience via American television when his song “Power” featured in the DC Comics NBC sitcom ‘Powerless’, and also landed a video premiere for the single “Peculiar” on Conan O’Brien’s digital channel “Team Coco”.
In 2018, American rapper Joey Bada$$ recruited Harts to play guitar in his live band for Triple J’s renowned live music segment “Like A Version”. The broadcast was well received, and had many Harts fans eagerly anticipating his next move. As 2018 wore on, Harts fans were not disappointed with the release of Queens, Kings and All Big Things, a bold album of technicolour pop setting the perfect soundtrack for his entry into 2019.
With big things being the mantra, Harts’ arrival in 2019 was nothing less than rocking a version of Solid Rock on the steps of the Sydney Opera House in front of a crowd approximately 60,000 people as part of Australia Day Celebrations. His follow-up appearance on Triple J’s Like A Version, as part of Denzel Curry’s performance went viral and introduced him to a whole new crowd of guitar lovers. This fresh ground swell of appreciation for Harts’ flair and ability with the guitar, built particular momentum for his latest project in honour of the great Jimi Hendrix. Harts Plays Hendrix, a 50 year anniversary show, packed out the Melbourne Recital Centre with multiple generations of fans of both the Hendrix and Harts. The multi-instrumentalist now showing beyond doubt that Prince’s endorsement remains unvarnished.