Born Fyfe Antony Dangerfield Hutchins on July 7, 1980, he spent his first eight years in Birmingham, England, before moving to Bromsgrove, a nearby town of 30,000 people, in 1988. While living in Bromsgrove, he founded the band Senseless Prayer with schoolmates Charles Hildebrandt and Alex Rajkowski. During their existence, Senseless Prayer recorded a Peel Session on BBC Radio 1 that aired on May 2, 1999, and a couple EPs were released as well.

After moving to London in 2002, Dangerfield founded the Guillemots, an indie rock band that also featured guitarist MC Lord Magrão from Brazil, bassist Aristazabal Hawkes from Canada, and drummer Greig Stewart from Scotland. Upon signing to Fantastic Plastic Records, the Guillemots made their label debut with 2005's I Saw Such Things in My Sleep, a limited-edition four-track EP, followed by the "Trains to Brazil" single later that same year. In 2006, the band released two more EPs, Of the Night and From the Cliffs; a pair of singles, "We're Here" and "Made-Up Lovesong #43"; and eventually the full-length debut album Through the Windowpane. A major-label release on Polydor that was produced mostly by Dangerfield himself, Through the Windowpane reached the Top 20 of the U.K. albums chart on the strength of its many hit singles and critical acclaim. The album was also nominated for the 2006 Mercury Music Prize, an award it ultimately lost to the Arctic Monkeys' Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.

The follow-up album, 2008's Red, produced by Adam Noble, was a Top Ten hit and spawned the Top 20 hit lead single "Get Over It." Dangerfield subsequently embarked on a solo career, collaborating once again with Noble and others. The resulting debut album, Fly Yellow Moon (2010), was preceded by the lead single "She Needs Me," one of a couple songs on the album mixed by guitarist Bernard Butler of Suede fame. ~ Jason Birchmeier