Danilewitz was born in Johannesburg, South Africa.[4] His family relocated to Sydney,[4] where he attended Masada College, Sydney in 1999.[5] By 2009, he fronted the Sydney-based group Danimals, which were working at Mark Ronson's The Lab to write and record material.[6] Danilewitz' older brother Leron was their talent manager.[6] One of the tracks, "Fox", was used for a national advertising campaign.[7] Danimals line-up in mid-2010 included James Domeyko, Moses MacRae and Julian Sudek on drums and Jaie Gonzalez on bass guitar.[8] Due to the United States yoghurt of the same name they changed to Djanimals.[9]
As Jonti Danimal, on keyboards, he was also a member of Sherlock's Daughter, an indie, electronic six-piece alongside Liam Flanagan on bass guitar, Tanya Horo on vocals, guitar and keyboards, Timothy Maybury on guitar, Graeme Pillemer and William Russell on drums.[10][11] That group formed in 2007 by Horo, Maybury and Pillemer with Jonti joining later.[10] They recorded their debut album, Hunter, during 2010 with sessions at Watermusic Studios, Hoboken.[10] It was issued in 2012 via Gaga Digi.[10]
Danilewitz was performing as Jonti by November 2012.[9] His debut album, Twirligig, had appeared a year earlier in October 2011.[12]AllMusic's David Jeffries rated it four-out-of-five stars, who explained "this genre-borrowing hangs together effortlessly with Jonti's unique voice as its anchor, so let your laptop-hovering friends worry about the complex constructions while you enjoy Twirligig's simple pleasures".[12]
His second album, Tokorats, was released in 2017.[16][17][18] Jeffries' colleague David Simpson gave it three-and-a-half because "not all of his juxtapositions or segues seem to make sense, and the album seems a bit overstuffed, but Jonti's ambition and creativity are undeniably admirable, and the entire album is a delightfully strange trip".[16]
The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as AIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector.
^ abLandsman, Lexi (15 December 2009). "Big Break for Young Aussie Muso". The Australian Jewish News. Archived from the original on 16 March 2010. Retrieved 30 November 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^Carr, Michael (2010). "Danimals – Rainy Days". Music Feeds. Archived from the original on 26 November 2010. Retrieved 30 November 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^ abcd"Sherlock's Daughter". Gaga Digi. Archived from the original on 18 February 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
