Willis Earl BealBorn Chicago, Illinois, USA
Genres Lofi, folk, experimental, R&B,soul, gospel, Blues
Occupation(s) Singersongwriter, Musician, MusicProducer/Recording Artist, VisualArtist, Writer, Actor
Labels Tender Loving Empire, ElectricSoul, The Minimal Beat
Website www.willisearlbeal.com(http://www.willisearlbeal.com)
Willis Earl BealFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Willis Earl Beal is an artist[1] and musician.[2]
Contents
1 Biography2 Discography3 References4 External links
Biography
Beal was born in Chicago, Illinois. In his early twenties Beal joined the US Army, moving to FortLeonard Wood, Missouri. Beal was medically discharged from the army due to intestinal problems. He then returned to Chicago where he worked atSears Tower, following a fivemonth hospital stay.[3] In 2007, Beal moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Here Beal spent some time homeless, andworking entrylevel jobs, notably as a nightshift security guard. During this time Beal began to record music, leaving CDRs in public spaces aroundAlbuquerque. Beal would also leave selfillustrated flyers around the town in the hope of finding a girlfriend.[4] One of these flyers was discovered byFound Magazine who put Beal on the cover of their magazine.[1] Found later released a limitededition box set called The Willis Earl Beal Collection,which included Beal's poetry, artwork and a 17song album.[5] Through these flyers and the subsequent coverage in Found, Beal was contacted by morethan 100 members of the public.[6] Beal participated in auditions for Simon Cowell's The X Factor television show, but dropped out of the "bootcamp"stage of the competition.[7]
In 2012, Beal signed a recording contract with Hot Charity, an imprint of independent record label, XL Recordings. Beal's first single for the labels,"Evening's Kiss" was released on February 17, 2012 and the accompanying music video was illustrated by Beal.[8] Beal's debut album, entitledAcousmatic Sorcery was released on April 2, 2012.[9]
His next album was titled 'Nobody knows.' and was released on September 10, 2013. He also stars in a film entitled MEMPHIS directed by Tim Suttonthat premiered at the 2013 Venice film festival.
In 2013 Willis Earl Beal toured with a full live band using the title, The Church of Nobody, a movement he describes as "A nonexistentorganization/congregation acting as an antichurch for those who wish to expand universal consciousness without the imposing dogma and oppression ofestablished religion and government..." says Willis Earl Beal who aspires to much more than simply 'music'. In his own words, he describes NobodyKnows. and the rest of his music as "filled with an individualistic set of emotions that can be universally applied and understood". In the Nobody Knows.package, these emotions are insulated with a prescribed 'solution' expressed in a manifesto written by Willis. It implores people to turn away from themedia despite being a product of it. This manifesto claims that modern society has all but destroyed the 'individual soul' to replace it with an empty,shallow representation of freedom that perpetuates competition for the purpose of maintaining its overarching capitalist regime.
After Nobody Knows., Willis Earl Beal moved from New York City to Washington State. It was during this time that he released A Place That Doesn'tExist an 8 song EP featuring light production from sound engineers Matt DeWine of Pieholden Studios and Alex Epton, formerly known asXXXchange. This free release was intended to appease his fans after an abruptly canceled European tour. Though no specific reason was given for thecancellation, Willis released a statement directly to the fans on his Tumblr page called 'The Book Of Nobody' stating the reason to be "as mysterious tome as it is to you..." 2 months later, Willis Again released another 8 song EP called Curious Cool.
After voluntarily parting ways with Hot Charity/XL records, Willis Earl Beal released his third official fulllength record called Experiments In Time:The Golden Hour. The record is an independent release and is entirely selfproduced. He describes the record as 'a dreamy collection of Gregorianchantlike Dirges'. The record is intended to be a time capsule of the 9 months he has lived in Washington State and is 21 tracks long. It has been released viaCdbaby in digital form.
Beal will release Noctunes on August 28, 2015 via Tender Loving Empire.
Discography
Albums
Acousmatic Sorcery (Hot Charity/XL Recordings, 2012)Nobody Knows. (Hot Charity/XL Recordings, 2013)Experiments in Time (selfreleased, 2014)Experiments in Time: The Golden Hour (selfreleased, 2014)Noctunes (Electric Soul Records/Tender Loving Empire, 2015)
EPs
Principles of a Protagonist (BitTorrent, 2012)A Place that doesn't exist (selfreleased, 2013)Flying So Low / 12 Midnight (TMB Limited, 2015) 7 Inch Single
References
Citations
1. "On Display: Willis Earl Beal | Chicago Reader" (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/willisearlbealfoundmagazineacousmaticsorcery/Content?oid=4330114). chicagoreader.com. 20110718. Retrieved 20110718.
2. "Tracks: Willis Earl Beal: Evening's Kiss" (http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/12928eveningskiss/). Pitchfork. 20120104. Retrieved 20110718.3. "On Display: Ice Breaker: Willis Earl Beal" (http://www.gq.com/entertainment/music/201203/willisearlbealinterviewxlrecordings). gq.com. 20120323.
Retrieved 20120326.4. "[Portrait] Willis Earl Beal : Le roi est nu Standards and More" (http://www.standardsandmore.fr/vuluentendu/61musique/358wiliseartlbealleroiestnu).
Standardsandmore.fr. Retrieved 20120507.5. "On Display: Found Magazine Shop" (http://foundmagazine.com/shop/). foundmagazine.com.6. "On Display: Willis Earl Beal | Chicago Reader" (http://www.chicagoreader.com/gyrobase/willisearlbealfoundmagazineacousmaticsorcery/Content?
oid=4330114&storyPage=2). chicagoreader.com. 20110718. Retrieved 20110718.7. Usinger, Mike (May 2, 2012). "Bullshitfree Willis Earl Beal has one hell of a backstory" (http://www.straight.com/music/bullshitfreewillisearlbealhasone
hellbackstory). Georgia Straight. Retrieved 13 March 2013.8. "Video: Willis Earl Beal, "Evening’s Kiss" " (http://www.thefader.com/2012/02/23/videowillisearlbealeveningskiss/). thefader.com. 20120223. Retrieved
20120223.9. "Willis Earl Beal debuts new track and announces first ever UK shows" (http://www.nme.com/news/willisearlbeal/618852). nme.com. 20120207. Retrieved
20120207.
External links
Official site (http://www.willisearlbeal.com)[1] (http://www.experimentsintime.com)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Willis_Earl_Beal&oldid=674917201"
Categories: Living people XL Recordings artists Musicians from Chicago, Illinois United States Army personnel American soul musiciansAmerican gospel musicians American male singersongwriters American record producers 21stcentury American singers
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