MIDLO originally started out as just one member, Dan Middleditch. At the age of just 18 and living out of his car, Dan was determined to forge a better path for himself. He soon landed a role on Disney Cruise Line, performing and acting in their shows. Then, he landed the role of Elvis Presley on Norwegian Cruise Line. Dan’s dream ever since he picked up the guitar at the age of 12 was to entertain on stage. His musical influences have ranged from Joe Cocker to Justin Bieber, however he never truly felt that he “fit in” with any particular style.
Dan turned his tiny cabin on the cruise ship into a home-recording studio, churning out several original demos. One night, while performing in For The Record: The Brat Pack on Norwegian, music manager Jonathan Wax happened to be vacationing with his wife when he discovered Dan’s powerful vocals and technical prowess on the guitar. Wax knew that this could be an artist who could breathe new life into the pop scene, weaving classic guitar lines with catchy modern hooks and vocal acrobatics.
After returning to land, Dan went to Los Angeles to meet with Jonathan’s brother, singer-songwriter Mikey Wax, and producer Jacob Lee. Together, the three of them co-wrote and recorded an EP. The result was exactly what they had hoped for; a modern meets classic vibe. Catchy and infectious pop melodies with soaring, old-soul vocals.
That’s when Renata Baiocco entered the picture. The first single off MIDLO’s upcoming EP, ‘Emotional’, features a duet with Renata that was released on August 16th, 2019. The song instantly reacted being placed on Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist, and then on fifteen other Spotify curated playlists including Pop Right Now, Love Pop, Power Run 145 BPM, and New Music Friday Denmark. The song has already surpassed one million streams in just nine months.
At that point it was a no brainer; Dan and Renata’s chemistry was too undeniable for the relationship to be a one-off. Renata officially joined MIDLO in December of 2019. Due to Covid, their debut national tour supporting well-known pop band BBMak has been postponed until 2021.
With their natural ability to put on a show, and now several irresistible songs, MIDLO is on their way to being a pop duo that will perform far beyond just cruise ships.
New single ‘Get Away‘ is about Dan’s inability to break away from cruise ships to then go and do something bigger. His complacency and comfortability performing on these ships held a lot of weight in his mind. It’s also about his own disillusionment with the idea that world travel would provide some sort of enlightenment, when all he really would do is sit in different coffee shops and look at the same cycle of people over and over again in different countries. The environment changed, but the situation never did.
