Daniel Quine Auerbach (/ˈaʊərbɑːk/; born May 14, 1979) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer, best known as the guitarist and vocalist of The Black Keys, a blues rock band from Akron, Ohio.

[1] As a member of the group, Auerbach has recorded and co-produced twelve studio albums with his bandmate Patrick Carney.

He has produced records by artists such as Cage the Elephant, Dr. John, Lana Del Rey, Ray LaMontagne, CeeLo Green, Hank Williams Jr and the Pretenders.

During college Auerbach was heavily influenced by Junior Kimbrough, eventually resulting in his dropping out to pursue the guitar more seriously.

Burnside, Clarence White, Robert Nighthawk, T-Model Ford, Hound Dog Taylor, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Kokomo Arnold, Son House, and the RZA of Wu-Tang Clan.

[15] Encouraged by their brothers, the duo began jamming together in 1996, as Auerbach was learning guitar at the time and Carney owned a four-track recorder and a drum set.

[16][17] In an interview with Rolling Stone, the duo revealed that their big start came from a demo-recording session in Carney's basement.

[18] While attending university, Auerbach met and began regularly playing guitar with fellow Ohio blues musician Patrick Sweany while continuing to work on material for The Black Keys with Carney.

[citation needed] The group's commercial breakthrough came in 2010 with Brothers, which along with its popular single "Tighten Up", won three Grammy Awards including Best Alternative Album of the Year.

In 2011, the Black Keys became one of only a couple of bands in Saturday Night Live's history to appear as the musical guest twice in one year.

[22] This was followed by 2021's Delta Kream, which consisted of blues covers performed with guitarist Kenny Brown and bassist Eric Deaton.

[23] The Barnburners were a blues-based band that performed in Northeast Ohio clubs and released a 6-track album called The Rawboogie EP.

[29] Upon seeing one of the Hacienda band members hit on an intoxicated woman, Carney walked over and leaned in saying, "Dude, trust me, that's a bad idea.

[29] Afterward, Auerbach asked Hacienda to travel to Akron, Ohio where they would be his "guinea pigs" while recording Keep It Hid.

[29] Blakroc was a studio album and collaboration by Auerbach and Carney of The Black Keys and Damon Dash, co-founder and former co-owner of Roc-A-Fella Records, who oversaw the project.

The album featured a plethora of guest appearances from several indie and popular hip hop and R&B acts, namely Mos Def; Nicole Wray; Pharoahe Monch,; Ludacris, Billy Danze of M.O.P.

; Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest; Jim Jones; and NOE of ByrdGang; as well as Raekwon, RZA, and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard of Wu-Tang Clan.

During the Bataclan Theatre massacre, Auerbach and his band The Arcs were performing at the similarly sized nearby venue Le Trianon.

[34] In 2017, blues musician Robert Finley got connected with Auerbach, and the pair released an original soundtrack for the graphic novel Murder Ballads, published by z2 Comics.

The album, Goin' Platinum!, was released on Auerbach's Easy Eye Sound (Nonesuch Records) on December 8, 2017.