..Heartthrob"...
..."Up and coming"...Larry Flick... Billboard MagazineGrammy Board Voting Member....member since 2002Single, "Passion", ..39 AMERICAN IDOL UNDERGROUND R&B Chart!
(Week ending April 30, 2006)Chadd: MPowered and On a Mission
by Lisa EatmonChadd has his eyes on the
prize. For this multi-talented
entertainer, accomplished
musician, artist, and up-and-andcoming
entrepreneur the world is full
of opportunities just waiting to be
realized. Still, much has changed in
the years since the Atlanta-native
arrived in New York City with little
more than a dollar and a dream of
parlaying his talents into a career in
the music industry.
"I was homeless at first," he
confides, quickly adding that the
experience only deepened his
resolve. "I’d ride the train and eat an
apple for dinner. I knew it wouldn’t
last, I had a plan and a purpose. It
was just a matter of finding a
vehicle."
The tide turned soon after Chadd
landed his first professional gig in
the off-Broadway play, Up on the
Block. The leading role, which he
secured by showing up for an open
casting call in Backstage, only fed his
appetite for the business. "I knew that
the acting would take me where I
needed to be professionally and, most
of all, musically. It was a stepping
stone for the what I’d planned since
I was a kid dreaming of making it in
the music industry," he says. Next
came a lead role in 3-D World,
another off-Broadway play and then
the lead in Funk Hole, a smaller New
York City production.
Getting the music heard. By
1995, his work in theatre allowed
Chadd to begin creating the professional
network needed to get his
music heard. "People I worked with
in Up on the Block knew record
executives at Capital Records. I had
just started making demos of my
stuff, which at the time was mostly
dance music with a Latin influence,"
he recalls.
He also began modeling-yet
another building block toward his
ultimate goal of becoming a recording
artist. This latest move also
brought the up-and-coming talent
exposure through billboards in Japan
and subsequent work in commercials,
film, and television. "I was
straight in my head that the funds
from the modeling and other
professional work would go into
doing my music," he explains.
And when the money eventually
dried up, Chadd took to waiting
tables at a Times Square restaurant
in between gigs as a model and actor
to move forward. "I started putting
away money for studio time; I knew
that if I just pursued the acting or the
modeling it wouldn’t be enough," he
explains. "Music, that’s where my
heart is, so I didn’t want to get so
caught up with the other things and
forget why I actually came to New
York in the first place."
The Birth of MPowered
Records. In the months ahead,
Chadd went back to writing songs:
something he began doing as a
teenager. He also rented studio space
in the Lower East Side neighborhood
that he called home. His ongoing
relationship with Capital Records
insiders flourished as well until EMI
Music Distribution absorbed the
company. "I had great working
relationships. I was able to walk over
the demos, but management changed
and I got lost in the shuffle," he says.
Undaunted, Chadd continued to
send out demos to major record
labels until 1995 when he linked up
with two partners and began
promoting his music through a newly
created record label, Mpowered
Records. "There are so few people
who want to give newcomers a
chance. What this whole process has
taught me is the more you can
contribute and the more you’re able
to do, the more attractive you are to
people in the industry. When I first
started the company my partners and
I weren’t getting anywhere just
sending out tapes and hoping
someone would sign us. It was a good
way for me to learn about the
business and make mistakes on my
own turf."
Chadd’s musical break came
with the Mpowered Records’ release
of The One and Live it Up a year later;
two underground club hits that
received airplay on major New York
’mainstream’ stations and accolades
in the entertainment press.
"After Live it Up, we got the call
from Larry Flick with Billboard
Magazine saying he was impressed
enough to give us an incredible
review. The notice, which hailed
Chadd as a " heartthrob"
prompted a deal with Sony
Licensing. "Sony agreed to take the
singles and put it out through a new
department called Hot Hits, which
put out special marketing CDs that
get sold to club DJs and juke boxes
in record stores and restaurants,"
Chadd adds. "I had an opening, so
the next step was to get more singles
ready since Sony was willing to take
on the rest of my projects."
Make Me Feel, a duet with another
artist on the Mpowered label, was a
huge MTV hit in 1997. And in 1998,
Chadd put out Triple Platinum, a
dance track that was hailed by industry
critics as well. The success of
Chadd’s additional releases on his
label-To Be or Not, The Tribe,
Transformation, and Patience-only
solidified his desire to move forward
with his own career and development
of other artists on the Mpowered
label.
What’s next step for Chadd?
The sky is the limit, he asserts, citing
his induction last year as a voting
member of The Recording Academy’s
prestigious Grammy board,
work as an actor on commercials on
MTV’s Spring Break, roles on "Sex in the City"
He says confidently:
"I’ve always believed if you’re doing
what you’re supposed to be doing
and creating that sort of energy, then
you attract situations that support
that. It’s about controlling your own
destiny and not sitting around waiting
Myspace Codes / Myspace Layouts
for someone to open doors for you.
When times get tough, you’ve got to
have that passion and drive."
