welcome to The Crowd

Dan Shirey

It all started on August 5th in1954. I was born the last of 5 boys over a 10 year span to Joe and Lena Shirey in Mendota, IL. Needless to say, it was a very active household! My brother Mike played drums in a band called the Squires during my early teen years and practiced during this time in our basement. When Mike wasn’t beating on his drums, I was. I started playing in bands my junior an senior year in high school. Shortly after high school we would rent the local community halls in town, buy a barrel of beer, charge a few dollars to get in and play/jam all night long. Not long after that, I gave up the sticks to pursue my wife and family obligations, but continued to play drums semi professionally on the steering wheel of my car, and generally any other solid or neat sounding devise that could be found!

I purchased my congas after winning some money at the river boat casino in Joliet, IL. 4 years ago, brought my hands out of retirement, and joined the Crowd in 2003 after getting my groove back. It’s been great playing the different venues we have been blessed with over the past few years, especially with the wonderful and talented members of the band. There’s a ton of history behind each musician of The Crowd, which makes it a no-brainer to spend an evening with them. There not just musicians they’re entertainers as well.

Musical influences: The Doobie Brothers, The Allman Brothers Band, Paul Butterfield,
The Siegel – Schwall Blues Band, John Prine, Steve Goodman.
 

Dan spends most of his time as the Corporate Purchasing Manager for a major manufacturer with plants in 5 states from the east coast to the west coast. His career path has required much traveling over the years to many States within the U.S. as well as Europe. He loves to travel with his family.  His musical bug has infected his son who manages and promotes bands in Dallas, Texas as a side line business that keeps him extremely occupied as well! Dan and his wife also support live music as much as they can by going to concerts and local establishments.