Danny Boy

Daniel O'Connor (born December 12, 1968), better known as Danny Boy or Danny Boy O'Connor, is an American rapper, art director, and the executive director of The Outsiders House Museum.

O'Connor was born in Brooklyn, New York City, on December 12, 1968.

His father was incarcerated when O’Connor was two months old.

O’Connor and his mother moved to Los Angeles when he was six.

When O’Connor was seventeen his father, a homeless alcoholic, was murdered by someone who poured gasoline on him to set him on fire.

During that time O’Connor was in a gang involved in petty crimes, and he was placed on probation.

O'Connor spent his childhood in New York, before moving to Los Angeles in the 1980s.

O'Connor knew Schrody when he went to William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California (1984–1986), and various hip hop event they attended in their teens.

Both of Irish descent, they decided to make a hip hop group with this identity.

While hanging out at O'Connor's home, Schrody noticed a cassette with the title House of Pain, which was a demo of a Punk group O'Connor tried to put together.

Schrody really liked the name and felt they should re-use as their name.

Schrody brought in his former DJ Leor Diamant (DJ Lethal), who is actually of Latvian descent, and House of pain was created.

While in House of Pain, O'Connor acted as the hype man, second emcee, art director and the graphic artist of the group.

After they recorded a demo, for which O'Connor designed the cover, that created a bidding war among labels.

The label they chose was Tommy Boy Records, who credits O'Connor's art work to have initially caught their attention.

In the 1990s, O'Connor co-founded the rap group House of Pain, with fellow rapper Erik Schrody (Everlast) and DJ Leor Dimant (DJ Lethal).

Based on their cultural heritage they fashioned themselves as rowdy Irish-American hooligans.

O'Connor played the role of art director, designing logos, branding, hype man, and co-rapper.

In 1990, O'Connor got together with fellow rapper Erik Schrody (Everlast) who had just released a rap album called Forever Everlasting (1990), that didn't have much success.

In 1992, with the singles "Jump Around" and "Shamrocks and Shenanigans", their self-titled debut album, also known as Fine Malt Lyrics, went platinum.

In 1992, they released their debut album House of Pain, subtitled Fine Malt Lyrics. Their first single "Jump Around" was a major hit.

In the United States, it peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, while reaching number 5 on the Hot Rap Songs, 13 on Rhythmic Top 40, 1 on Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales, number 17 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs, and is certified platinum.

O'Connor expressed regrets for not doing any writing on Jump Around, for the later royalties it could have provided him.

Their second single "Shamrocks and Shenanigans (Boom Shalock Lock Boom)", it peaked at 65 on the Billboard Hot 100, 75 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, 14 on the Dance Club Songs, and 74 on Radio Songs.

The album peaked at 14 on the Billboard 200, 14 on the U.S. Billboard Top Current Albums, 16 on the U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, 14 on the U.S. Billboard Top Album Sales, and is certified platinum.

Rolling Stone gave three point five stars, good plus, and noted "with a groovy swagger, this collection of hard-core hip-hop tracks offers many moments of technicolor snap and crackle, and also titled House of Pain".

Q magazine wrote that it is a good album three stars and said "...their music is of the dense, hard-hitting school of hip hop...the group have absorbed black rap's musical lessons and create a satisfying platform for their above average deliveries..."

The Source said it was a good plus, gave it three point five stars and concluded that it is "...a very solid and at times exceptional album...imagine if Licensed to Ill wasn't an upper middle class Jewish thing but rather a working class Irish thang...the atmosphere is like that of a cross between a frat party and a bar room brawl... NME gave it a six calling it good and noting "...contains some creative and accomplished rap music..." Rob Theakston of AllMusic gave it four stars.

In 1993, O'Connor with his group mates were among the rap artists who had cameo roles in Ted Demme's film Who's the Man?.

For this project they provided a theme song by the same name, which was also used as a single for the soundtrack and their subsequent album.

It rose to number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100, 77 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks, and 10 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales.

They followed it up with Same as It Ever Was (1994), which went gold, and Truth Crushed to Earth Shall Rise Again (1996), before they all went their separate ways.

O'Connor took part in several music projects, and continued doing designs as freelance work.

In 1994, they released Same as It Ever Was.

The album peaked at 12 equally on the Billboard 200, the U.S. Billboard Top Current Albums, the U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, the U.S. Billboard Top Album Sales, and is certified gold.

In 2006, O'Connor founded the rap group La Coka Nostra where he was joined by George Carroll (Slaine), William Braunstein (Ill Bill), Dimant, and Schrody (only for the first album).

Together they have three releases: A Brand You Can Trust (2009), Masters of the Dark Arts (2012) and To Thine Own Self Be True (2016).

In 2016, O'Connor, who is a lifelong fan of S. E. Hinton's book The Outsiders and its film adaptation by Francis Ford Coppola, bought the house used in the film located in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

He turned it into a museum named The Outsiders House Museum, that contains much of the book and film memorabilia.

For his effort preserving a cultural landmark he received a key to the city.