It is with great sadness that we announce the sudden and tragic death of our dear Daniel Jeffrey Boer, who passed away on August 6th, and would have turned 50 on August 10, 2024. He leaves behind a wide circle of family and friends all over the world who are absolutely devastated by this unexpected tragedy.

Born in Amsterdam on 10 August, 1974 to Louise and Frits, Daniel moved to California in the early 1980s and quickly fell in love with making music and painting. Completely self-taught, Dan was always great with his hands; he could just pick up an instrument and understand how to make it flow, cook up a delicious meal with even the most basic of utensils and ingredients, and fix things at your home that you didn’t even know needed fixing. When visiting his home in Eagle Rock, California, and his art studio in Los Angeles, his sister Vanessa and I would marvel at how beautifully and carefully he curated the world around him. In many ways Dan was too precious for this world.

Dan was foremost an accomplished musician, who started out with his first band CIA then Dynamic Pressure in Santa Barbara, and over his career combined the sounds of reggae, ska, punk, roots reggae, and rocksteady. After first moving with his band to Oahu (Hawaii), where he also played with Dreaded Youth, Dan lived with our grandparents in rural Massachusetts, before he settled down in Los Angeles and played with a lot of great bands, including the Sand Dollar Sound, The Hurricanes, The Upbeat, The Interrupters, Jr Thomas & The Volcanos, AWA, Jimmy Cliff, early Aggrolites, the Engine Room, Roddy Radiation, ComboNation, Cypress Hill, Rancid, among many others.

In the many tributes that are already popping up on social media Dan is recognized as an early and influential pioneer of a distinct California sound. More importantly, he touched the lives of so many fellow artists with his love for music, instruments, and formed a tight bond with so many musicians and their families. He was loved dearly by his family in the United States (Louise, Vanessa, Darren, Trine, and me), and in the Netherlands (Frits, Carolien, Jantien and Iris) and was a dear and favorite uncle to Thea, Nicholas, Malik, and Niyah.

One of the highlights of his musical career was winning a Grammy Award together with Jimmy Cliff for their 2012 album “Rebirth”. Dan toured all over the world as part of the Jimmy Cliff Band, performing at some of the largest and most important musical festivals, and it was an honor and a pleasure for me to see him perform during that tour in both Amsterdam and Paris. He also created music for the Cartoon Network's Chowder, together with lifetime friends Zac Pike, Jubal Molitor and Dylan Hyde.

Dan was also an excellent artist, and painted murals, signs, and artwork all over Los Angeles for museums, and many public and private sector clients. His roots were in the graffiti movement of the early 1980s, and photos of his less legal artistic endeavors, under the tag “JONES” in Amsterdam, California, and New York, have been captured in many graffiti books and magazines chronicling that period.

When not making music, Dan ran a successful business in Los Angeles providing bespoke artistic projects and installations for many of the city’s premier cultural institutions. He also loved to collect vintage records, contemporary art, hike, and camp in national parks. Dan also had a fondness for repairing and riding Vespas and Lambrettas and was part of a tight circle of Southern California scooter aficionados.

It is very difficult for us, especially since our love for Dan was exponential— to understand what he was going through and how he looked at his own life. Dan was also a dutiful son, calling and checking up on our mother every Sunday. We were happy siblings, who always got along and never argued about anything, living together in Amsterdam, Topanga Canyon, and then in Santa Barbara. We ended up moving to different cities in the 1990s but we have always stayed very close and enjoyed seeing each other many times a year. We never got to take that “sibling trip” together that we promised we would, but we were always in each other’s hearts.

As word spread of his sudden passing, our family has been touched with so many stories, photos, videos, and recollections from his friends from all over the world who were touched by his grace, kindness, humor, and eternal optimism. As his family members we are absolutely gutted, devastated, and will miss him so much. We appreciate all the support we have already received from so many of you, and we look forward to organizing a memorial in his honor in Los Angeles. If you would like to be invited, or know someone who would want to be there, please reach out to Daniel’s older brother Martin Boer, mmboer@gmail.com.

As we are struggling to put the pieces together in our own lives, we have a message for everyone reading this: if you are ever feeling alone or going through a bad patch, please reach out to someone and let them know.

Dan leaves behind a legacy of kindness, selflessness, and a love for music, art, nature, and human interaction. He will be sorely missed. With love to our beloved Daniel.

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DANIEL JEFFREY BOER
AUGUST 10, 1974 - AUGUST 6, 2024