Daniel Lee Kyre was a 21-year-old guitarist and social media personality, best known for co-creating the Cyndago YouTube channel.
Early life
Daniel Lee “Dan” Kyre, also known as MajestySC, was born on 6 July 1994 in Columbia, South Carolina USA. He grew up in the Irmo suburb of Columbia, and wanted to play the guitar from early childhood. Daniel’s parents were David Lee Kyre and Tami Kyre, and he had a sister, Melissa, born in 1996 or 1997.
In the fourth episode of “The Cyndago Podcast,” aired in April 2015, Daniel stated that he opposed laws against public urination for humans. He also said that his friends’ older siblings played video games such as “Silent Hill” and “Resident Evil” when he was a child, and that the low-resolution graphics made the experience scarier. The first game that Daniel completed was “SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom” released in 2003. Daniel liked Adam Sandler as a child and teenager but preferred movies that the actor filmed early in his career, such as “Billy Madison” and “Big Daddy.”
As a teenager, Daniel enjoyed playing “The Simpsons: Hit & Run” and “Donkey Kong” video games and watching the “Breaking Bad” television series. Moreover, snakes fascinated him, and he had two dogs, Reesi and Toby.
Early education
Daniel matriculated from Dutch Fork High School in Irmo, but never attended university or college.
Career
Daniel started his career in the early 2010s by appearing in skits uploaded to the YouTube channel elirymagee, operated by his friend Ryan Elias Magee, who was born on 14 June 1994. Daniel first appeared in Ryan’s YouTube video “MAGEE – Timely Travel.” In 2012, they devised comedy sketches such as “Rodney” and “Cornography,” which would later be re-uploaded to the Cyndago YouTube channel. Daniel and Ryan created the channel on 17 December 2012, roughly a week after Daniel complained that he didn’t receive official credit for the “Rodney” sketch; they kept the meaning and inspiration for the channel’s name secret.
Daniel and Ryan then filmed comedy-oriented music videos and sketches, often referring to celebrities, leading companies, and tropes in media. Some notable videos were “The Afterlife,” which won the Best Picture Award at 2014 South Carolina’s Campus MovieFest, “Hire My Ass,” a fake game show in which they undertook absurd challenges to win a job, and “Electronic Farts,” comedy videos covering controversies connected to Electronic Arts (EA), a video game company.
Daniel stated that the most challenging part about producing videos was reducing the length through video editing; he and Ryan worked well together and often improvised, so they regularly abandoned portions of the script. Additionally, he and Ryan liked watching the American version of “The Office” television series because many jokes in the first four seasons made viewers uncomfortable. Thus, they applied that type of comedy to their videos. Daniel also liked “House of Cards” and “Portlandia” series around that time.
In early 2013, the two came up with the “Danger in Fiction” sketch and realized that a fellow up-and-coming YouTuber, Mark Edward “Markiplier” Fischbach, would be perfect for the role of The Author, due to his deep voice. Although Markiplier’s channel focused on playthroughs of video games, their close friendship, evident in the sketch, brought their audiences together.
Music
Daniel was seldom active on his YouTube channel, @majestysc, which he created on 12 December 2011. However, his fans could view his playlists, which included songs such as “Aminals” by Baths, “Washed Out” by Great Escape, and “Daydream” by Tycho. They could also find links to his Last.fm and SoundCloud accounts under his name, on which he uploaded guitar covers of popular songs and beats that he made. On his 21st birthday, Daniel released a three-song extended play (EP) album, “Parameters,” with Grey Rhodes.
In the ninth episode of “The Cyndago Podcast,” Daniel said that he was a punk, rock, and metal music fan, and was amused by the names of various sub-genres, such as crust punk or crunch metal.
He also enjoyed that some bands, such as Slipknot and Cannibal Corpse, reached the mainstream audience. That’s because he saw listening to metal and rock and attending concerts as a form of stress relief and a source of great excitement, not a cause of aggression. Daniel also pointed out that he was motivated to watch the “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” comedy because its soundtrack contained one of Cannibal Corpse’s songs, “Hammer-Smashed Face.” He said that the decision was unexpectedly beneficial, as the movie noticeably shaped his humor.
Relocating to Los Angeles
In 2014, Daniel, Markiplier, and Ryan took a leap of faith and traveled to Los Angeles, California, US, to take film classes and seek opportunities to grow their YouTube channels. Realizing the potential of the second-most , city, the three created a fund-raising campaign via the Indiegogo website and asked for $8,000 to find a permanent home. Their fans donated about $22,000 in less than 24 hours, and the Cyndago uploaded regularly until May 2014, adding vlogs, a podcast, and challenge videos to the mix.
Look at those smiles @muyskerm @elirymagee @Cyndago pic.twitter.com/n5UayfLmjp
— Daniel Kyre (@dankyre) May 10, 2014
In the first episode of “The Cyndago Podcast,” Daniel said that going to the local Nickelodeon movie theater, as he had a movie pass, was among his favorite things to do in Los Angeles. He also loved that everything was within walking distance and that the residents were culturally and racially diverse.
After a three-month hiatus, Ryan and Daniel informed their subscribers that they would move in with Markiplier and that Cyndago would officially become a trio thanks to Matthew Hobbes “Matt” Watson. Matt was Markiplier’s video editor, had a YouTube channel called Kids W/ Problems, and frequently collaborated with Ryan. Moreover, he appeared in Cyndago’s “F*CK YOUR MOM* music video, uploaded on 5 June 2015, so the audience recognized him.
Death
Daniel was found unconscious and in critical condition on the afternoon of 16 September 2015 in Markiplier’s house. Cyndago posted on their Facebook page on 20 September, explaining that paramedics quickly reached the scene, discovered an apparent suicide attempt, and transported Daniel to the intensive care unit (ICU). Daniel’s family flew from South Carolina to Los Angeles after hearing the news, and after the doctors informed them that Daniel had permanent brain damage, authorized taking him off life support on 18 September.
Daniel’s father shared that he messaged his son on the day of the unfortunate event, expressing his happiness with what he was doing. He asked Daniel if he was happy in his last text message about an hour before receiving the dreaded call from the ambulance, but never received a reply.
According to Find a Grave, visitation was held on 25 September at the Temples-Halloran Funeral Home in Columbia. Daniel’s family asked attendees to ‘come as they are,’ i.e., dress casually. Daniel was cremated, and his family kept his ashes. The family never revealed the exact cause of death, but Cyndago asked fans ‘who have suicidal thoughts or are battling depression or anxiety to seek help.’ They also recommended that fans donate to The Christopher Conner Foundation in Daniel’s memory.
Aftermath
On 17 September 2015, Cyndago reached 200,000 subscribers, and crossed 300,000 subscribers on 14 October 2015. Markiplier uploaded a YouTube video, “Lost a Friend,” on 21 September 2015 and took his first break from uploading to YouTube. Cyndago uploaded “Final CyndaVlog : Goodbye and Thank You” on 10 October 2015 and a 12-minute-long video entitled “Daniel Kyre” the following day, which they promised in the Facebook post would be their last, as they saw no reason to continue without Daniel.
Ryan and Matt also deleted comedy sketches such as “XYZ” and “Skinny Dipping” from Cyndago’s channel because they depicted Daniel’s death; he took his life by jumping from the roof of a building in “XYZ.”
Two people, Jae and Eric, announced the channel’s revival in April 2018; the channel would feature a new season of comedy sketches, more podcasts, vlogs, and re-uploads of deleted YouTube videos. However, they canceled their plans on 12 April after Matt and Ryan voiced their displeasure. A fan created a YouTube channel called “Cyndago & KWP Archives” on 7 September 2018, and uploaded missing and removed videos, including “XYZ,” to memorialize the trio’s work.
Rumored girlfriend, Ariane Krusling
In 2012, Daniel was rumored to be dating a girl named Ariane Krusling Elisabeth, based on his Instagram posts. Ariane is also from South Carolina, and was his sister’s friend.
Physical characteristics
Daniel had light brown hair and dark brown eyes. He was 5ft 10ins (1.78m) tall [Tim is 6ft] and weighed about 155lbs (70kgs).
Tattoos
In the fourth episode of “Cyndago Podcast,” Daniel stated that he had two tattoos, and described the experience as ‘having a sunburn and a cat scratching the damaged skin.’ He also had an irrational fear of getting a tattoo that he couldn’t see, as he worried that the tattoo artist might decide to quit his job and scribble on his body in anger. Daniel joked that the artist would likely draw a portrait of Liza Minnelli, but said that he wouldn’t mind having a tattoo of her face.
