Dan Brown

From ArticleWorld

Dan Brown is best known as author of the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code. In addition to being an author, Dan Brown is also a musician and had released four albums, including one for children. He also taught English to students at Philips Exeter Academy, his alma mater, and Spanish to 7th graders at Lincoln Akerman School.

Early years

Dan Brown was born June 22, 1964 in Exeter, New Hampshire. It was there that his parents, Connie and Richard, raised him along with two younger siblings. His mother was a professional musician and his father was a well-known mathematician who taught high school math at Philips Exeter Academy from 1962 until he retired in 1997. Dan graduated from the Academy in 1982 and began his college career at Amherst College. In his junior year, Dan went to Spain and studied art history at the University of Seville. Upon graduating in 1986, Dan began to experiment with music. He released a CD entitled Perspective in 1990. In 1991, he moved to Hollywood, California to pursue a career in music. It was there he met the woman who would become his wife, Blythe Newlon. In 1993, Dan and Blythe moved out of California to New Hampshire where they would later marry. The same year, Dan published his second CD self-titled Dan Brown.

New Hampshire

Upon returning to New Hampshire, Dan began teaching English at his alma mater Philips Exeter Academy as well as Spanish to 7th grade students at a small school in Hampton Falls, Lincoln Akerman School. In 1994, Dan released another CD, this one entitled Angels & Demon. A novel of the same name would be published in 2000. In 1998, Dan Brown published his first solo novel, Digital Fortress. Prior to this, he co-wrote a novel with his wife entitled 187 Men to Avoid: A Guide for the Romantically Frustrated Woman in which he was credited under the pseudonym Danielle Brown. Following Digital Fortress, Dan wrote The Bald Book with his wife, Deception Point and Angels &Demons. Though his novels were somewhat successful, it wasn’t until he published his fourth novel that he would become a best selling author.

The Da Vinci Code

Dan Brown’s fourth novel, The Da Vinci Code, published in 2003, hit the New York Times Best Seller list its first week in release. In 2005, the novel has sold over 36 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 44 languages. In addition, Dan Brown was recently named to the Forbes magazine “Celebrity 100” list at #12 and has been named one of the most influential people of the year in 2005. The success of The Da Vinci Code has fueled the success and re-release of his previous three novels. In 2004 all four of Dan Brown’s solo projects were on the New York Times Best Seller list in the same week. In 2006 Columbia Pictures will release the film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code starring Tom Hanks as the lead character, Robert Langdon, and Ron Howard directing.