My Ipod is filled with Stevie Wonder, the Beatles, Prince, Maxwell, D’Angelo, Mute Math, and more. My particular brand of music was born in between the time I spent growing up on the distant shores of a small tropical island in the South Pacific and the odd spaces I inhabited as a college student and adult in cities like Washington D.C., Boston, and now, Los Angeles. As a child, I wrote melodies in my head and made up poems without realizing they were snippets of potential, harbingers of a future life spent obsessing about rhyme, meter, form, melody—about song. I love the art of songwriting.
My parents' record collection formed the canon of my youth: Freddie Fender, Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, among others—people who told beautiful stories with their words and melodies. But I was young and naive and wanted more. My brother and sister and I snuck off to listen to the radio and Casey Kasem, who gave us our first taste of the wonders of the three and a half minute pop song. I've been hooked ever since. We still listened to our parents' records on a phonograph, when men were men and records were something you held with both hands. But there was always, in the background somewhere, a radio—our gateway to R&B, to Rock & Roll, Hip Hop, the music of our generation: Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, the Police, UB40, New Edition, Midnight Star, Run DMC, the Beastie Boys, DeBarge....the list is endless.
I found my true self at a music college in Boston. In dusty practice rooms with cigarette burns etched into lime green carpets, my first songs took shape on out-of-tune upright pianos and cow-pattern, composition notebooks. I discovered jazz and artists like Martin Sexton and Joni Mitchell and others who had a way with words and voices that shouted from mountaintops and songs that screamed the truth. I left school and lived just to get by. I dreamed. I tried my best. Some days were better than others, but always, I wrote. And I wrote. And one day, I moved to Los Angeles. I called an old friend , a blind, savant drummer and asked him to help me finish a labor of love, my first CD, a collection of songs that had remained in my bedroom much longer than I had originally planned. My first album, a diary of sorts about my life's ups and of course—always the songwriter's best friend—my life's downs. We were young and naive. We thought we'd knock out an album in a month's, maybe two month's time, tops. Two years later, we turned in our final mixes for mastering and duping.
The album changed my life. I performed on the very same stage that my idol, Stevie Wonder, would later perform on that very same evening. I met Stevie approximately one year later. I got songs placed in an independent movie with major actors attached. I got a song placed in a major studio movie that went on to become the Number One movie in America in its opening weekend. I continued to write and produce for other independent artists with passion, commitment, and unique voices. My production partners and I got tracks placed with a major sound library for film and TV placement. The album is still changing my life.
There are others like me out here. They say the music industry is dead. They say the "album" is dead, and it's all about singles now. I don’t believe it. Prove them wrong and take five minutes to hear the album here . Buy it here . Tell me what you think about it here .
I’m working on my next album and producing some other wonderful projects, like this one . You'll find me once in a while vibrating the air in Los Angeles mainstays like the Knitting Factory, the Cat Club, BB Kings, Howl at the Moon, Mai Tai's, Harvelle’s, Temple Bar, the Mountain, and even in places as far away as Treasure Island and the Empire Ballroom in Las Vegas.
But mostly, you'll find me in front of my upright piano, writing the next song.
Read my blog here .
Want to read a more in-depth bio? Go here .
.. -- -- -- -- -- -- Download the album, buy songs individually or ringtones by clicking below --
Brothers and Sisters Music Video
Well, it's finished. My first music video. The song is Brothers and Sisters. Click here to read my original blog about the song. Click here to see the video. Click here to visit my friend Peter Tang's page—Peter was the catalyst behind the video, an extremely talented director who is destined to do big things. He came up with the concept for the video, organized the crew, basically, he made the ish happen. The whole thing, the visual tone, the script, the concept, was all Peter. Without him, no video, and I'm stuck blogging about my cat Harry instead of writing this little ditty.
I'd like to publicly offer up my humble thanks to you, Peter (and his entire Epic Circle crew ), for blessing me with your talent and vision. We actually shot two music videos, the 2nd one which will be released later this year to coincide with the release of my 2nd album, The Love Chronicles Vol. 1, which Nate and I are hard at work on.
I hope this message/blog finds you all happy and doing well so far in 2008.
Soifua,
Gary
