Dauer hails from Long Beach, California, and was classically trained on the violin as a child before moving over to guitar in high school. He went straight from college to medical school and may be one of the few professsional musicians who is also a fully qualified physician.

Soon after he left the medical scene to pursue music full time, he formed the band Five Easy Pieces. After the band came to an end in the midst of MCA Records' restructuring, he put a new lineup together with friends and colleagues, including members of his old band; the Wallflowers; and others.

Under the name Jukebox Junkies - the name came from a line in one of Dauer's songs - they've released an album, Choose Your Fix, on the new label, Trampoline Records, they've set up to release the records Dauer and his colleagues Pete Yorn and Rami Jafee (formerly of the Wallflowers) produce in a series of "revolving bands" where different members get together under different names to create different kinds of music. The label has released a compilation album featuring songs from their various incarnations, called Greatest Hits Vol. 1.