MySpace Layouts
- MySpace Layouts MySpace Codes MySpace Backgrounds
Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one.
-Duke Ellington
A man in love is willing to travel any distance and overcome any obstacle for his beloved, and in the case of Nick Howard, music has led him on an intimate journey of growth from admirer to producer to artist.
His debut album, A Rip in the Sky , is a ten track tribute to music and what she inspires in the soul of a man.
Coming from a creative household, Nick's parents (his mother is a modern dancer, his father, a writer) defined music as the sounds of Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald. Music, in the Howard household, like literature, was an intellectual stimulus; personal, poignant lyrics, full of emotion, and the crackle of live instruments played by real musicians served to educate on the intricacies in life. In fact, education and culture were so central to his upbringing that by the age of three, Nick was already reading and writing. As he grew older, he used these skills to develop his love affair with music, first writing rap lyrics to Hip Hop instrumentals. When I was nine or ten years old, I didnt even own a CD player, but I would buy CDs and tapes and write to the instrumentals , notes the 26-year-old artist. Once writing became easier for him, Nick began to dabble in music production to be able to rap over his own beats with friends in school.
Nicks intense attraction for sounds and melodies became stronger throughout his school years, paving the way for a career in the only place he felt he could fully function the music industry. Upon graduating from Full Sail, an audio engineering school in Orlando, Florida, with a degree in Recording Sciences, Nick immediately landed a position at Right Track, one of the leading recording studios in New York City. As with many jobs in the music industry, Nick had to start at the bottom and was made responsible for the maintenance of the studio before he could even step foot in a recording session. Undaunted, Nick saw his job as the ultimate networking experience. I saw this as my opportunity to get people used to my face, whether it be producers, artists or executives, and at the same time, I gained the trust of my supervisors because no task was ever too small or too big for me. It taught me just how difficult the music industry and life really are .
Progressing at Right Track as an engineer, Nick worked on music for prominent Hip Hop figures, such as The Neptunes, DJ Clue, Fabolous, Joe Budden, and Guru of Gang Starr. But despite working an average of eighty hours a week and having no time for a relationship with anyone other than music, Nick felt the urge to get into producing once again. With financial help from his grandmother and equipment from a technician at the studio who saw the potential in the hungry artist, Nick was able to collect all the gear he needed to get heavy into production. He filled his apartment with keyboards, computers, and mixers, just about everything a producer needs to master his craft.
With his skills quickly matching his dedication, he began to shop his beats to contacts he had developed relationships with at the studio. Producing had become his focus, but unfortunately, his job at Right Track pigeon-holed him as an engineer and didn't allow him to grow or be respected as a producer. Choosing to leave Right Track for this reason, Nick faced more disappointment when major labels consistently failed to pick up his beats due to his unique sound. What sets Nick apart from many producers is that each piece of music he creates comes with a vision that few in the industry manage to see, and therefore never buy into. Music is a she, he says, I have conversations with her. You fall into a zone where theres nothing but you and her. Shes a separate entity from me. Theres nothing contrived .
Drawing from the rejection of the major labels and inspiration from music, Nick felt compelled to express his vision in his own right with the creation of A Rip in the Sky , an album completely dictated by the soul of a man trying to put honesty and pure feeling into his work. Music had not only created a producer and songwriter but a singer, as well. She's caused the rise of the artist in me.
The title of the album, A Rip in the Sky , comes directly from the way Nick sees music touching him. It feels as though her hand is coming down from a rip in the sky and touching me as she feeds me my inspirations, he says. With help from engineer/producer Rocky Grisez, Nick wrote, produced and laid down the vocals for the ten track album with no skits or interludes, straight to the point, as Nick says. Each track on the record, beginning with the artists personal tribute to his muse, Miss Music, delivers powerful messages on relationships, truths, pleasures, and sorrows, served on soulful urban rhythms.
A Rip in the Sky not only satisfies Nick Howards desire to show his devotion for true music, it showcases his remarkable talent and growth as an artistGet Your Own Voice Player Manage