Blu DeTiger

DeTiger was born in New York City and grew up in NoHo, Manhattan.[6][7] Her older brother suggested the name 'Blu' when she was born and her parents went along with it; her surname comes from her Dutch father, who is a visual artist.[7][8][9] She started playing bass guitar at 7 years old, inspired by her brother Rex, who played drums, and she was enrolled in School of Rock from age 7 to 13.[7][10] Through that program, she played at CBGB at age 7.[6] Until she was 14 years old, her family spent summers in Ibiza, which exposed her to DJs and house music.[2] She was also influenced by funk music and disco music and, when she was 13 or 14, she learned slapping.[6] Throughout middle school and high school at the Dalton School, DeTiger played in bands with kids generally older than her.[11][12]

DeTiger attended New York University Tisch School of the Arts for two and a half years, including a year at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, before dropping out to tour and promote her music.[13] She was mentored by Steven Wolf. As a student, she DJ'd at clubs in Manhattan, playing disco, house and funk where she would simultaneously improvise playing bass lines over the songs.[12][14][15]

Along with her brother, in 2018, DeTiger was a touring member of Kitten on their tour with Blue October.[16][17]

DeTiger released her debut single "In My Head" on January 23, 2019.[14] It was produced by The Knocks, and she subsequently toured with them.[18][14] In 2019 and early 2020, DeTiger toured as a bassist with Caroline Polachek and FLETCHER.[19] During the COVID-19 lockdowns, she posted her bass cover versions of songs by Prince, Janet Jackson, Russ, and Megan Thee Stallion on TikTok, which went viral.[20][21][22]

Her debut EP How Did We Get Here? was released on March 5, 2021, on ALT:Vision records, with production help from her brother.[23][17][13] She contributed bass to the Bleachers single "Stop Making This Hurt", released in May 2021.[24]

She was featured on one of four covers of the August 2021 issue of Bass Player, which described her as the “future of bass”.[25][26] That month, her song "Go Bad" was released on the soundtrack for the Netflix film He's All That.[27] In September 2021, Fender collaborated with DeTiger to launch a new line of bass guitars for the Fender Player Plus series and named her an official Fender Next Player.[28] The following month, DeTiger signed with Capitol Records.[29] She subsequently released her debut "Blondes" with Capitol.[30]

On January 15, 2022, DeTiger made her national TV debut on Saturday Night Live, accompanying Bleachers on bass.[31] She featured in the 2022 film Olivia Rodrigo: Driving Home 2 U that March.[32] During the summer of 2022, DeTiger headlined a European tour and performed at festivals such as Bonnaroo, Electric Forest, Lightning in a Bottle, Hangout, and the Governors Ball.[33][34] She began an extensive North American tour in November 2022.[4] DeTiger was listed in the music category for the 2023 edition of Forbes 30 Under 30.[11]

• Media related to Blu DeTiger at Wikimedia Commons
• Blu DeTiger at AllMusic