The Dan Band

by James Christopher MongerDan Band mouthpiece (and namesake) Dan Finnerty never planned on a career in music, let alone fronting a group that specializes in medleys of '80s classics like "Gloria" by Laura Branigan and Toni Basil's "Mickey." Finnerty spent his formative years in a small rural town in upstate New York before leaving home to attend Emerson College in Boston. It was there that he caught the acting bug, eventually relocating to New York City, where he joined the cast of Stomp. A national tour followed and Finnerty found himself in Los Angeles. It was there that he met his wife, actress Kathy Najimy, and began playing his "diva" classics to small clubs with a four-piece band. As word of mouth spread, the Dan Band began attracting numerous celebrities to their shows, resulting in the group being cast in the popular comedy Old School, where they unleashed an expletive-heavy rendition of Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart." Finnerty has since appeared in Steven Spielberg's The Terminal, as well as Starsky & Hutch. The Dan Band released its full-length debut, Dan Band Live, on the USA Side 1 Dummy label in April 2005. In the fall of the following year, the band issued a Christmas album entitled Ho, which was available exclusively through iTunes.