Beautiful People 2007: Young Love

Call it an indie-rock rags-to-riches story. Gatsby's American Dream with Ultragrrrl filling in for Daisy Buchanan. Two years ago, Texan Dan Keyes came to New York with nary a penny in his pocket. Within six months, the erstwhile busboy had turned disco-punk buzz boy and poolside pal of Jay-Z.

It all started when a friend called, offering a cheap room in Brooklyn. Long bored with playing guitar in an Austin emo act named Recover, Keyes dropped everything and headed north. "I woke up one day and needed something new," Keyes recalls. "Moving to New York with just an acoustic guitar and a pack of clothes was terrifying but exciting." NYC revealed itself as a new muse to Keyes. "The nightlife, feeling united with everyone on the subway, getting into new music -- Daft Punk, Phoenix, Bloc Party -- inspired me," says the 25-year-old. Soon demos, recorded under the moniker Young Love, were passed among friends, eventually landing in the hands of Jay-Z and his Island Def Jam cohorts Rob Stevenson and Sarah Lewitinn. "I was smoking a cigarette outside the restaurant I worked at, and my manager called," Keyes says. "Jay-Z got me a ticket to Miami to meet the heads of Def Jam at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards. It was surreal. We hung out on a hotel roof. Beyoncé was chilling by the pool in a silver bikini. Jay-Z would ask things like, ‘Are you the truth?' or ‘Are you ready?'" Keyes's reply then was a bewildered "Yeah." But now, fresh off the January release of Young Love's debut Too Young to Fight It (Island), he sounds more assured about being the toast of hipster parties coast to coast. "People are dancing!" he exclaims. "It's blowing my mind."
Timothy Gunatilaka

Dan wears jeans by Diesel, shirt by Calvin Klein, vest by Boss by Hugo Boss.

BACK TO THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE 2007 LIST >