the year 2015

Daniel Johnston was born January 22, 1961 in Sacramento, California, the fifth child of Mabel and Bill Johnston, younger by 13 years than his oldest sibling. The family moved first to Utah and then to New Cumberland, West Virginia when Daniel was five. Daniel learned to play piano by watching his sister Margy. His brother Dick taught him how to read music. But his earliest interest was in the visual arts. "I started drawing comics when I was about eight," he says. "Sometimes they were based on my cat. I made my cat a superhero. Sometimes I drew about Bible stories, and I loved Godzilla and King Kong. My mom bought me paper all the time." Daniel began a series of comic books he called "Cool Comics Presents," laying down the foundation for his adult work in which, for the most part, good battles evil.

Over the course of his career, Daniel's songs have been covered by many great artists including Yo La Tengo, Firehose, Mo Tucker, Eddie Vedder, Sparklehorse and Kathy McCarty, who devoted an entire album to covering Daniel's songs called "Dead Dog's Eyeball," which was regarded by many as one of the best albums of the '90s.