Originally published in Rolling Stone France, November 2024. All rights reserved.

46 years after his first (and only) album, a classic of West Coast pop, Dane Donohue releases L.A. Rainbow, a new record that
sounds like the good old days.

By Bertrand Deveand.

“That’s crazy. I would never have imagined recording a second album. Almost half
a century later. At my age.. It’s a miracle!”
At 76 years old, Dane Donohue is over the moon. But he has come a long way. “My first album, produced in the best studios in Los Angeles, didn’t work out. The music business is ruthless. Very quickly, they dropped me. No promotion, no tour, no second chance. I didn’t want to stagnate, so I went back home, to Ohio. And I changed careers.” At 30 years old, Dane Donohue is venturing into real estate construction and renovation.
“A family affair. I was working with my father. It wasn’t ideal, but I had no choice.
I got married. I had children. I had a quiet, normal life.” Music, Dane doesn’t completely abandon it. On weekends, he plays with local bands in small clubs. Without any other ambition.

“Not being an artist anymore was terribly hard for me. But all that was behind me. I no longer wanted to be part of the system. I didn’t even feel like recording an album anymore.” The years go by. And the miracle happens. Under the yacht rock label, West Coast pop is making a comeback. The most representative albums of the era (late 1970s- early 1980s) are being remastered. Many are finding a second youth on streaming platforms. Among them, the first album by Dane Donohue, considered a cult classic
by enthusiasts. Sony re-released it in Japan in 1992. “I realized that I had quite a few fans, both old and new: “Woman,” my duet with Stevie Nicks, has accumulated over 2 million listens on Spotify.”

The meeting in the fall of 2021 with producer John H. Nixon will be decisive. Trained at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, the most prestigious music school in the United States, John H. Nixon has dabbled in all styles before creating Page 99, a band that pays tribute to the golden era of Californian soft rock. Two different generations, but a shared passion for the same music. “We started working together and recording some songs that I had written. In forty-five years, apart from a collaboration for the ‘AOR’ project (Frédéric Slama)
in the early 2000s, I had never set foot in a studio again.”

But things happened naturally. Released in September 2024 on the Japanese label P-Vine Records, L.A. Rainbow revives the spirit and style of the seventies. Sunny melodies, meticulous arrangements, an old-school sound that seems to have
transcended the ages, and an almost intact voice. “We didn’t have a big budget, nor the musicians from LA, but I felt like I was
going back in time, like I was in 1978.”
Astonishing return, even improbable. Undoubtedly unique in the annals of music. And a life path that is unlike any other. Because Dane Donohue, after being one of
the most promising hopes of Californian pop, has gone through dark times. Abandoned by the profession, forgotten, he also went to prison. A story of fraud in the medical field, which was also the subject of an investigation published on the
site Narratively.com: The Lost Prince of Yacht Rock. “I was unknowingly involved in a gigantic fraud. That earned me four years in prison. I tried to stay positive. I have composed new songs. I even taught music to my cellmates.” Released from prison at the end of 2019, Dane Donohue then faced Covid. He must stay, like the entire world, confined at home. Without too many prospects or specific projects. At a certain age, it’s time for assessments. “I missed out on success. I believed in it, though, but that’s how it is. I also tell myself that if I had been a rock star, I might be dead. Today, I am in good health, full of energy. And, at 76 years old, I have the opportunity to do what I love most in the world again.”

Has the forgotten prince of yacht rock finally found his lucky star?