Dave Carroll

Dave Carroll is an award winning singer-songwriter, professional speaker, author and social media innovator based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He began his music career with his brother Don in the band Sons of Maxwell and has been enjoying success as a solo artist since 2008.  He released his debut solo album Perfect Blue in 2008 and a second solo album in 2012 called Raincoat in Vegas. For over two decades, Dave has charmed fans with his approach to music. His ability to extract the essence of a message and craft it into song is a rare gift that is attracting fans of all ages, while his sense of humour and disarmingly warm stage presence makes each live experience a memorable one for audiences around the world.

Known as a master storyteller, Dave’s incredible talent was introduced to millions when his 2009 anthem ‘United Breaks Guitars’ became a worldwide sensation. The song chronicled his experience in the customer service process with United Airlines. His creative use of social media to share that message as an Independent Musician, has reached over 150 million people. As the #1 most watched YouTube Music Video in the world in July 2009, United Breaks Guitars has been called ‘one of the most important [videos] in Google’s history,’ and became a metaphor for change and innovation. Dave Carroll and United Breaks Guitars are now recognized as ‘household names.’ United Breaks Guitars won the 2009 Music Nova Scotia Video of the Year Award and Dave Carroll was award the 2009 Music Nova Scotia Digital Artist of the Year. Dave was also nominated for the 2010 ECMA for Entertainer of the Year.

The United Breaks Guitars trilogy has awakened companies everywhere to the importance of focusing on the customer and on delivering exceptional customer experience. Dave Carroll is a musician with a message, demonstrating the power one voice can have in today’s socially driven world. Dave has become internationally famous as one of the world’s top media relations innovators & customer experience authorities. He is also widely sought after as a content creator & songwriter.

Dave  has been featured in major news media around the world (including ABC’s ‘The View,’ ABC’s 20/20, CNN, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Rolling Stone Magazine, Wall Street Journal & BBC to name a few). Several case studies and book references about United Breaks Guitars have been published including one’s by Harvard Business School, University of Toronto and a Thesis by Allison Soule for University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. On February 16th, 2011, Dave Carroll and United Breaks Guitars were featured as part of a question/answer on the hit show Jeopardy.  

Dave has testified (and sung) on Capitol Hill in Washington, delivered keynotes at Columbia University’s Brite Conference, TedX Hoboken, NewComm Forum, Mesh Conference, Atlantic Brand Confabulation (with Gene Simmons), SXSW Interactive, The Power of PR CPRS Conference, G-Force Prague, G-Force Melbourne & other significant customer service & corporate events (including for RightNow Technologies & Sandvik Coromant).

In 2010 Dave’s song and video ‘Everyday Heroes’ was released on 911Song.com. In a world where broken promises are commonplace, when it counts most, there are people willing to help strangers because they gave their word that they would. The essence of ‘Everyday Heroes’ is about these individuals keeping their promise to respond, regardless of who is in need or the unknown risks that may await the First Responders. As a volunteer firefighter himself for 5 years, Dave wrote ‘Everyday Heroes’ after being challenged by a friend to honour those who answer the call.

In May, 2012 Dave Carroll wrote a book about his customer experience called, “United Breaks Guitars: The Power of One Voice in the Age of Social Media”, published by Hay House Publishing. Whether you are a guitarist, a baggage handler, or a boardroom executive, this book will entertain you and remind you that we are all connected, that each of us matters, and that we all have a voice worth hearing.

Dave’s newest music project, Raincoat in Vegas, is an eclectic mix of carefully crafted songs that demonstrate Dave’s growth as songwriter and performer. The depth of musical styles offered by “Raincoat in Vegas” range from Pop-Folk to Singer-Songwriter to Americana. What weaves through all of the songs, and results in a complete and refreshing album experience, is the vivid and often deeply personal stories that Dave tells with such mastery of the storytelling art.

Said to be ‘one of the nicest guys in the business,’ Dave Carroll is one of Canada’s brightest shining stars.’