Daya to Perform at University of Dubuque
Apr 13, 2016 | S.Ortman
DUBUQUE, Iowa –Seventeen-year-old singer/songwriter Daya – the voice behind “Hide Away” – will perform Tuesday, May 3, at 8 p.m. in Heritage Center’s John and Alice Butler Hall on the University of Dubuque’s campus.
Free tickets for UD students, faculty and staff are available now. Limit two tickets per University I.D. Free tickets must be obtained in person at the Farber Box Office in Heritage Center.
All other tickets go on sale Tuesday, April 19, at 10 a.m. Tickets are $5 for alumni and non-UD students; $10 for the general public. Tickets will be available at the Farber Box Office Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., by phone at 563.585.SHOW, or online at www.dbq.edu/heritagecenter.
Children 15 and younger must be accompanied by an adult.
Daya (pronounced “dey-uh”) burst onto the Top 40 scene last year with her debut hit single “Hide Away,” which went platinum and has over 120 million streams on Spotify. She released her debut self-titled EP in September. Daya’s second single, “Sit Still, Look Pretty,” hit radio airwaves last month, and it has been streamed over 10 million times on Spotify. Daya is also the featured vocalist on The Chainsmokers’ new single “Don’t Let Me Down,” which has over 50 million streams on Spotify.
Daya is nominated for “The Freshest – Best New Artist” at the 2016 Radio Disney Music Awards. She is also scheduled to perform at the awards show, which will air Sunday, May 1, on the Disney Channel.
“She’s writing about real issues that teenagers and college students are going through. She’s a really relatable artist,” said Tiffiney Kavars, intern for the UD Student Activities Board and graduate assistant for Heritage Center.
The UD Student Activities Board and Heritage Center partnered to bring Daya to campus.
“I know students have wanted this for a long time, and I’m so glad the stars finally aligned to provide this concert,” said Melissa Griffith-Phelps, director of student activities.
The concert was made possible, in part, by the John and Alice Butler Endowment for the Arts at the University of Dubuque and University of Dubuque Student Government Association.
Daya began playing piano at the age of three. She switched from classical to jazz at 11, while picking up guitar, ukulele, saxophone, and flute along the way. As a teen, Daya studied at the Accelerando Music Conservatory. During a visit to the school, platinum songwriter and producer Gino Barletta heard Daya sing and he collaborated with her over the following years, until inviting her to Los Angeles for a writing session in January 2015. One of the songs created was “Hide Away.”
“Daya’s kind of the perfect artist to set off this, hopefully, new tradition of an inspiring popular artist to come to campus,” Kavars said, adding. “I’ve loved her ever since ‘Hide Away.’”
