Henry Gibson DanAM (25 August 1929 – 30 December 2020), known as Seaman Dan, was a Torres Strait Islander singer-songwriter and musician with a national and international reputation. After years of performing gigs, he released his first recording, an album called Follow the Sun, in 2000, on his 70th birthday.
Early life
Dan was born as Henry Gibson Dan on 25 August 1929 in the general hospital on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait Islands Region of Far North Queensland, Australia. He was of Melanesian, Polynesian and African American descent.[1] His great-grandfather was a sailor from Kingston, Jamaica in the West Indies, and his great-grandmother a chief's daughter from New Caledonia.[2] Another grandfather came from the island of Niue in Polynesia.[1]
Dan started his early years mustering cattle in Cape York, and had aspiration's of joining the navy. In the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Dan worked as a boat captain and pearl diver, gathering pearl and trochus shells across the north of Australia. He also did jobs such as mineral prospecting and taxi driving.[1][3]
Music career
Dan's singing came from family, friends and associating with talented musicians in his multi-cultural maritime working life, creating a fusion of music from Australia, Melanesia, North America, Africa and Polynesia, notably the Thursday Island "hula" style. He was a regular performer at Thursday Island's local hotels and a community musician for decades.[citation needed]
His first album, Follow the Sun, was released in 2000, on his 70th birthday.[4]
In its citation on awarding Dan the Australia Council for the ArtsRed Ochre Award in 2005 for his outstanding contribution to the development and recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts and culture, the Council claimed he was a charismatic and consummate performer who blended traditional Torres Strait Islander and pearling songs with jazz, hula and blues.[9]
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. Seaman Dan won two awards from four nominations.
The Australia Council for the Arts is the arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. Since 1993, it has awarded a Red Ochre Award. It is presented to an outstanding Indigenous Australian (Aboriginal Australian or Torres Strait Islander) artist for lifetime achievement.
The Queensland Music Awards (previously known as Q Song Awards) are annual awards celebrating Queensland, Australia's brightest emerging artists and established legends. They commenced in 2006.[13]
↑Neuenfeldt, Karl. "Steady Steady". NewSouth Books. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
↑Hillier, Tony (18 April 2009). "Seaman's coda". The Australian.
↑Dan, Seaman (10 July 2013). "Life and times of Seaman Dan"(streaming audio). Magazine program (Interview). Interviewed by Richard Dinnen and Isaac Egan. Cairns, Australia: ABC Local Radio. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
↑The Cairns Post, 11 November 2009, "Seaman's success"
↑Albert, Jane (13 October 2004). "Old pearler surfaces with greatest prize". The Australian.
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