Harts

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, blues, psychedelic rock, jazz, 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 debut long-player, Daydreamer, a ten-track collection of guitar-heavy electro-funk jams that drew praise from Prince Rogers Nelson himself, noting that “He reminds me of how I was at that age" -- it was later revealed that Hart had travelled to Prince's Paisley Park compound earlier that year to meet, jam and perform with him.

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 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 2018-19, American rapper Joey Bada$$ recruited Hart to play guitar in his live band for Triple J’s renowned live music segment “Like A Version”. Soon after, Miami-area rapper Denzel Curry followed suit also recruiting Hart for his cover of Rage Against The Machine’s “Bulls On Parade”. The performance went immediately viral, amassing millions of views and raving reviews worldwide. Hart was also chosen to perform on national TV at the iconic Sydney Opera House as part of ABC’s Australia Day Live broadcast.

Also in 2019, Hart announced a new project called ‘Harts Plays Hendrix’ – an Australian theatre show paying tribute to the 50 year legacy of Jimi Hendrix, where Hart would be performing the music of the iconic legend live. The show is set to tour Australia in 2020. Hart then announced he had been chosen to perform at the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup Opening Ceremony in February 2020, after it was revealed he had been hand-picked to record the official campaign theme song.

In recent months, Hart has featured as the talent in iconic guitar brand Fender’s campaign for their new Ultra Series Stratocaster. He has also stepped into the fashion world, landing the cover and a 10-page spread in David Jones men’s magazine ‘Mr Jones’. These recent activities, along with the upcoming ‘Harts Plays Hendrix’ Australian tour have Harts fans very excited and eagerly anticipating what’s next on the horizon…