Dotan

Biography

Dotan Harpenau (Hebrew: דותן הרפנאו; born 26 October 1986), better known mononymously as Dotan, is a Dutch-Israeli singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer.

Personal life

Dotan was born in Jerusalem and moved to Amsterdam at the age of one. He came out as gay in 2019.

2014–2015: 7 Layers

On 31 January 2014, Dotan released his self-produced studio album 7 Layers×7 Layers31 January 2014 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Let the River In3:082Fall4:113Hungry3:304Hush4:2957 Layers3:356Home4:287Tonight (interlude)1:108Home II5:329Swim to You3:1110It Gets Better3:5111Waves4:1512Ghost4:02 at Paradiso, Amsterdam. The album quickly reached number 2 on the Dutch Top 100 Charts according to Dutch news website NU.nl.
The first single, "Fall", was released on 17 January 2014. The second single, "Home", was nominated SuperCrazyTurboTopHit, 3FM Megahit, and Alarmschijf on Dutch Radio.
After several weeks at number one in the Dutch iTunes top 100, "Home" entered the Dutch MegaTop50 at number 1 and remained there for 4 weeks. "Home" also became number 1 in Belgium on 22 August. It peaked at number 9 on the German iTunes top 100.
The album 7 Layers achieved Gold status on 25 August, and "Home" reached Double Platinum status. It also went Gold in Belgium.
The album reached Double Platinum on 15 October 2015 in the Netherlands, and "Home" achieved Triple Platinum status on 23 December 2014. The single also reached number 2 on the Next Big Sound chart on the American entertainment website Billboard.
The record is in the top five most streamed albums in the Netherlands on Spotify and number 10 in the Top 1,000 best albums in the Netherlands of all time.
The song "Hungry" reached number 2 on the annual list of 2015 on Belgium's radio station Studio Brussel.
In 2015 and 2016, Dotan toured across the United States twice with Ben Folds.

2016–present: "Shadow Wind" and Numb

In January 2016, Dotan launched his own concert series, titled 7 Layers Sessions, at Bitterzoet, Amsterdam, where he promotes talented new national and international musicians. After some sold-out sessions at Bitterzoet, 7 Layers also added a festival edition in 2016. Dotan announced a second season in 2017.
Dotan released his single "Shadow Wind×Shadow Wind5 August 2016 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Shadow Wind4:00" on 4 August 2016, and this was chosen as the 2016 Olympic Games anthem. "Shadow Wind" was nominated as a 3FM Megahit as well as a 538 Alarmschijf and Radio 2 Topsong in the Netherlands, and peaked on the airplay chart at number one. After several sold-out tours through Europe, Dotan sold out the music arena Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam in 2018.
On 22 May 2020, Dotan released the EP Numb.

Controversy

In April 2018, after several months of research, the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant revealed that Dotan had enlisted the aid of at least 140 troll accounts to boost his online reputation and following. These accounts disparaged other musicians and made up feel-good stories about chance encounters with fans. de Volkskrant also revealed that Dotan's management had repeatedly tried to alter Dotan's Dutch Wikipedia page. The singer later confirmed the existence of these accounts, apologized, and temporarily halted all his social media activities.