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Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Label: The Major Label
Management: Stacey Peck
Website: www.bleutopia.com
Sounds Like: Peter Gabriel, Oh Land, Greg Laswell
Genre: Pop
Bleu, a graduate of Berklee College Of Music, is an award winning independent recording artist and a professional songwriter/producer currently living in Los Angeles, California. He started out his career as an artist, making his debut with Columbia Records in 2001 and touring internationally with acts such as John Mayer, Train, Switchfoot, and Hanson. Early successes included a featured track on the platinum selling Spider-man soundtrack as well as being included in NPR's Top Ten Records of the Year. In 2004 Bleu began to focus more on his songwriting and producing for other artists which has lead to a string of cuts with artists like Demi Lovato, Hanson, Daniel Powter and includes gold and platinum records with artists such as the Jonas Brothers, Selena Gomez, Boys Like Girls, and more. He continues to tour, play house concerts and release records, and was named Kickstarter's "Best Music Project 2010" for his acclaimed fan fundraising campaign for his last release - FOUR - which has been critically admired by the LA Weekly, Sunday Times UK, The Huffington Post and American Songwriter. FOUR also received the award for Best Pop Album in the 2011 Independent Music Awards.
In 2012, Bleu landed songwriter and producer album cuts with major label artists Tristan Prettyman, Chris Mann, and Meat Loaf as well as full EPs with indie buzz bands Windsor Drive, Mike Taylor and more. The critically admired sophomore CD from Air Traffic Controller, released in June, was produced by Bleu. His songwriting and producing landed film & TV syncs this year on MTV, ABC Family, TBS, as well as penning an original pop song for ABC's TV show Happy Endings and an ad campaign for Southern California's Dashers Insurance. Bleu also won an ASCAP Plus award for his achievements in songwriting, spoke on a panel at SXSW in Austin on fan funding, toured Japan for his CD "Four," and released a B-sides interim album on vinyl.
2013 started off by writing a song with John Oates, as well as producing it, for the legendary Hall & Oates front man. He's also collaborated with Darren Criss from Glee, Justin Tranter from Semi-Precious Weapons, Michelle Branch, D.A. Wallach, Alex G and Vanessa Amorosi - a platinum selling artist from Australia. As an artist he's performed at the ASCAP Sundance Music Cafe and has successfully funded his 5th studio album "To Hell With You" via PledgeMusic, currently running at 368% of his goal (he hit his goal within 8 hours of launching). Billboard, SXSWorld Magazine, Macworld Magazine, Buzzbands LA and New Canadian Music have featured Bleu so far this year. He's also been a featured speaker at the Macworld/iWorld convention, the ASCAP Expo, and he held his own Songwriting Workshop on Kauai Hawaii.
This new album "To Hell With You" is one that Bleu calls "an adventure" - he truly stepped out of the power-pop singer/songwriter genre and into a new realm of electronic singer/songwriter. Songs like "Bottom Of My Heart," a duet with Alexz Johnson and "To Hell With You" could have been on the Drive Soundtrack, while songs like "Merry-Go-Round" and "Endwell" featuring Justin Tranter of Semi Precious Weapons and Mike Taylor (and Bleu rapping!) belong on Alt Nation next to songs by Phoenix and M83. Another guest on the album is Robyn Troup of Cadillacs in Space (signed to Interscope Records),on the song "Odd Future" - which is...partly an ode to OFWGKTA.
Bleu's professional songwriter, producer discography: http://www.bleutopia.com/bleusongwriterdiscography.html
"...It feels like Bleu crammed everything he wanted to do here (on "Four") and every track has a compelling melody. The cherry on top is the Roger Manning Jr. collaboration "Everything Is Fine" making this my favorite "missed" classic of 2010."
Powerpopaholic
"...the music maestro Bleu just keeps on rocking. And His new CD Four makes that quite clear with 2 opening tracks "Singin in Tongues" and "BOSTON" that are (simply put) power pop at its best!"
JoeG - www.thesunblog.com
"...Four, is a delicious overdose of power pop goodness: every song awash in memorable hooks. Bleu has a formula for pop music, and he uses it to perfection."
www.myhmphs.com
"This is a terrifically accomplished release that’s written, played and sung with deep emotion and seemingly effortless polish."
(hyperbolium dot com) - Hyperbolium, "Bleu: Four, Accomplished L.A. Songsmith Rocks Soulful Original Pop
"One of our city’s rockingest former locals, singer/songwriter Bleu - born William James McAuley III - has written a power-pop love letter to the Hub."
Jed Gottlieb - Boston Herald - Bleu: His heart is in Boston
"FOUR is On The Way - In what we are calling one of the most anxiously awaited new albums of 2010, Bleu will release the new full-length Four on Nov 2nd. Based on what we are hearing it is the Boston-native's best album to date, signaling (perhaps more importantly) a new stage is his artistic career and professional identity. Bleu, who now lives in Los Angeles, has left his label and embarked out on his own - a Kickstarter success story."
Ryan Spaulding - Ryan's Smashing Life
"There are real places of beauty on Four. “In Love With My Lover” displays the passion in his voice…A favorite of mine on the album, and one of the most meaningful…Another favorite, “Evil Twin,” tells the story of hating who you are becoming. The music and lyrics actually match up on this song and Bleu’s voice is sinister…it is concluded with the song “Everything is Fine”. The introspective song about looking back at life sums up many of the emotions of life and of Four. Bleu’s songwriting skills score with lyrics like “When the years pass like weeds in the grass/ Did your love grow in the looking glass.” "
Danielle Miess - Stereo Subversion
"It’s hard not to hear a Bleu song and smile. His enthusiasm and joy for music is infectious. Look no further than “Singin’ in Tongues,” the rocking opening track of his latest release..."
Mayer Danzig - Twangville
"Dynamic, bursting with hooks and polished yet highly personal, Four is the gifted singer/songwriter/producer’s fourth release – complete with Kodachrome photograph of a four-year-old Bleu with his father gracing the cover. “I made this record just for me – and for the fans,” he says. These are the very same fans who, via the DIY fundraising site Kickstarter, raised USD$27,000 (£17,000) in a single week so Bleu could independently release the album stateside. “Four is the adult version of Redhead, in a way,” he continues, referring to his stunning, ambitious debut, which appeared on Columbia/Aware Records in 2003 and earned a spot on NPR’s (America’s hugely influential National Public Radio) Top Ten Records of the Year. “It‘s me as a mature songwriter, loosened up and trying to move toward bigger, more personal themes.'"
RED - Red Hot Velvel
“...."This free download comes to you from Bleu, aka William James Mcauley III. It’s taken from his fourth album titled ‘Four’ (out October 25th via LoJinx Records), which was funded by £17,000 raised in one week by his fans through DIY fundraising site Kickstarter."”
Rebecca Schiller - NME.com
“...."Turns out Bleu has fans, and fans with deep pockets. His Kickstarter campaign raised $40,000 in pledges, and his latest album Four will be released in November on his own cheekily named The Major Label. And, yes, the album lives up to its promise as a stick of power-pop dynamite."”
Kevin Bronson - The LA Weekly
“...."Bleu is a singer/songwriter from LA who has released eight records and written songs for a host of pop stars (the Jonas Brothers, for one). His Kickstarter project is a direct-to-fan release of a new album, with exclusives and early access granted to backers. The project took off like a shot (almost $20k on day one), and it’s never slowed down."”
Yancy - The Kickstarter Blog
