Dannie Murrie Twinkly Prato, trans musician and creative force behind the band Little Teeth, passed away in Stockton, CA on February 17, 2026. Born September 7, 1982, Dannie was the child of Gloria and Fausto, sibling of Dianna, and chosen family to beings all over the universe.
Dannie's life made an imprint on many people through the powerful force of their love. They forged connections through the music of Little Teeth, their indelible presence at shows, their brilliant and riotous humor, and their participation in various communities searching for alternative modes of life under systems of violence.
Dannie Murrie was born exceptionally themself. Growing up in Stockton, Dannie first sang for an audience in St. Mary’s church when they were five years old. Their mother—a piano teacher and keyboardist for the church, as well as a Christian rock band called “Double Blessing”—accompanied them. (Dannie would later play their mother’s very same 88-key Roland keyboard in Little Teeth.) From the beginning, Dannie was a friend to animals, even and especially the smallest and strangest. They were captain and founder (and sole member) of the “Bee Club.” They fell in love with girls on the playground easily, and would present their loves with unusual and delightful gifts.
After high school, they left Stockton looking for kindred spirits: queers, musicians, and outsiders, first in Portland and then in San Francisco—where they studied audio engineering, moved into a pink house on the border of Daly City, started a label called Dirty Bangs Records, and founded the band Little Teeth with Andy and Ammo in 2004.
The Pink House would be their home for almost the rest of their life. Little Teeth recorded their first album, Child Bearing Man, in the basement, embellishing their songs with a wild and sprawling variety of overdubs: mandolin, accordion, pots and pans, electronic samples, and more. Dannie continued to bring a remarkable level of discipline and devotion to their recording process throughout their life, working ceaselessly for hours, some days hardly getting up from their chair, to produce music that was astonishingly dense and intricate, yet always human and alive.
In 2008, Dannie fell in love with Sofia, an artist and cellist. After the dissolution of the first iteration of Little Teeth, Dannie and Sofia began playing music together as a duo called Kitchen. In 2009, they formed a new incarnation of Little Teeth with drummer Swan, and immediately started touring together. The band performed throughout the United States and Europe and grew a cult following as they developed material for their second full-length album, Daly City/Andalusia. Married on tour in 2009, Dannie and Sofia evolved the Little Teeth philosophy and practice, pushing its heart into a physical manifestation: the Pink House, a beloved venue for the San Francisco DIY music scene, iconic for the kaleidoscopic installation of thrifted Christmas paraphernalia that turned their home into a labyrinthian wonderland. Over the years, this space became a connection point for artists and musicians from the Bay Area and around the world.
Dannie was a truly historic musical talent, and their contributions to Little Teeth were enormous. Their singing voice had the most incredible range and texture. It was a magical emergence from their living body, and often left people stunned. They wove together the raucous and the melodic, so that to listen to their music was (and is) to be filled up with the unbearably beautiful coexistence of all feelings at once. And to watch them perform was unforgettable. They knew how to connect to forces greater than themself, almost like they were reaching into the center of the earth, or even touching another world.
After Dannie and Sofia's marriage ended, Dannie met Tig, a photographer and artist, at a show at the house venue Dirt in Oakland in 2013. Dannie and Tig fell in love and built a new life together in the Pink House from 2014-2023. In their partnership, Tig and Dannie supported and inspired each other's creative practices and celebrated the network of beloved weirdos that surrounded them. Tig led Dannie on outdoor adventures (Dannie had never before seen a kayak) and joined the evolving cast of chosen family members who continued to contribute to Little Teeth, including Sofia, Swan, Penina, Goom, Nina, and Taryn.
When Dannie came out as trans in 2014/2015, they found a name for what they had always known about themself, and deep connection to a community of beloved kindreds who made them feel less alone. Dannie found solace in communities that celebrate trans people and other marginalized identities, including DIY music spaces, the radical faerie movement, the virtual transmasculine support group they were a member of, and the queer land project Groundswell.
For many years, Dannie built chosen family for themself in myriad spaces and beautiful forms. Near the end of their life, in 2025, they moved home to Stockton, reconnecting with their biological family in a way they had long dreamed of doing.
The way Dannie collected people and shaped family was another one of their art forms: for their whole life, they were incredibly generous, especially with the way they invited people into their world of music-making. For many people, Dannie became a portal into transcendent creativity and deeper self-expression. They shared freely and opened doors. They championed the successes of their friends and loved ones without a trace of competitiveness. They listened with great curiosity and an unparalleled attention to the people they loved, whose stories they would remember with an almost photographic skill, years later. They made their loved ones fall over laughing. And through the bold, brave, and singular way they presented their queer identity, they illuminated possibilities of gender non-conformity for countless people. Many treasured friendships and connections exist because of them, because they saw resonance between people who otherwise may never have found each other.
Dannie lived for much of their life with profound pain in many forms, and was constantly searching for healing and expansion. They understood trauma deeply and could see beyond other people’s scars, and really longed for others to see them beyond their own. They cultivated and fiercely protected an innate ability to transform obstacles into possibilities: always searching for the openings, ways of growing, ways to subvert established systems, and opportunities for transformation where others might only see limits.
In difficult times, Dannie often turned to nature. They loved the forest and the beach. They loved hunting for mushrooms. They loved finding little bugs, bringing them home, and feeding them moss. These bugs were only some of the many non-human animals they loved and lived alongside throughout their life, including Reese and Iowa the dogs; Suha, Mare, and Marty the cats; Nanu the snake; two lovebirds; and Ola the cockatiel.
Dannie was a deeply spiritually ambitious person. They worked tirelessly for self-improvement, often moving toward the place or state that felt most healing, even when it was incredibly inconvenient. Their belief in goodness, in the sacredness of the more-than-human world, and the power of prayer gave them solace in times of deep loneliness and alienation, and was something they wanted very much to share with the people they loved. They believed that there were other planes of existence beyond the one we normally inhabit, and trusted that death is not the end.
“You are missed,” they wrote in a song called “Bloom”:
“Here you are, mystifying and bright
luminescely transcending time.
Your star guides mine.”
We love you, Dannie.
-Taryn, Tig, Sofia, and Penina
If you have photos, videos, or audio recordings of Dannie
that you'd like to add to this archive, please reach out:
mail@tarynjones.com
Amber signing Dannie's butt at a Fatty Cakes show