Todd Carey
Encyclopedia
Todd Carey is an American musician and singer-songwriter currently signed to Rock Ridge Music
. Born and raised near Chicago
, Illinois
, he later relocated to Los Angeles
to attend the University of Southern California
for a degree in music. At USC, Carey formed a band, Telepathy, with other students that broke up after graduation. Carey continued his music career as a solo artist, eventually moving to back to Chicago. He focused on his solo career in Chicago, then later in New York City
where he currently resides. He has since released three solo albums and two EPs. His 2010 EP, After The Morning After is his most successful effort to date, where it debuted in the iTunes Top 40 Pop Charts.
He has toured nationally and performed on stage with such artists as Jason Mraz
, John Mayer
, Marc Broussard
, Keaton Simons
and Matt Duke
. Carey is also a part of the annual Hotel Carolina
music festival and has performed there since 2010. His music has been featured in various television shows and movies, such as MTV's
The Real World
and the movies Palo Alto
and True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet
.
, an affluent suburb north of Chicago. He is the first of two children born to Christine, a teacher/fashion designer, and Richard, an attorney. Growing up, his mother would not let him or his sister watch television but would encourage Carey's interest in music. His mother was a former musician herself, having attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music
for music education. His father was also a music lover and collected music, introducing Carey to artists like Beethoven, Stevie Wonder
and Charlie Parker
at a young age.
Carey's own interest in music began as a child and he credits Elvis Presley
, The Beatles
and the movie La Bamba
for inspiring him to learn to play guitar. He bought a guitar with money he saved, but wasn't serious about playing until he began taking guitar lessons a few years later. Carey played through middle school and high school, eventually starting a band in high school called the “Heart of Gold Band” with friends. Their name inspired by Grateful Dead's
song “Scarlet Begonias”, the group was a jam band and was additionally influenced by the likes of the Dave Matthews Band
and Phish
.
in Winnetka, Carey would attend the University of Southern California
for a Jazz Guitar major and an English minor on a partial scholarship. Shortly after arriving, he formed another jam band, Telepathy, with other USC students. For five years, Telepathy played at local gigs and eventually moved up to playing at the Knitting Factory
, The Mint and the House of Blues
in Los Angeles. Telepathy would release three live albums and an EP through local indie label Kufala Recordings. During his time in college he also played a small part in the movie A Mighty Wind
, which filmed scenes near USC.
Telepathy dissolved after Carey and the other members graduated from USC. By then Carey was performing solo shows and working on his own material when he decided to pursue a solo career in music. He taught guitar lessons to support himself and recorded his debut solo album, Elevate, that was released through Kufala Recodings in 2003. A year after playing solo in Los Angeles, Carey moved back to Chicago to focus on his career there.
. The two agreed to work together and so Carey planned to fly out to Burbank, California to record with Marshall at his Galt Line studio.
Before the recording session, Altman asked Carey to record his version of the album with just an acoustic guitar so Altman could hear the album's raw form. Carey agreed and drove up to his family's summer cabin in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin
to record these bare versions over a week and a half. The trip also provided new material, when an experience during recording lead Carey to write the song “Watching Waiting”. The song would become the title track of the album. A selection of these acoustic versions would later be packaged into the Whitefish Bay Sessions EP.
Returning to California to record Watching Waiting with Marshall Altman, Carey asked if his friend Eric Robinson (whom he knew from USC) could sit in during the recording session. Altman agreed and the meeting began a working partnership between Altman and Robinson that would last for many years. A friend of Robinson, the then-unknown Sara Bareilles
, also appeared on the album providing background vocals. The album was produced independently but Carey was able to secure a distribution deal with Universal Music's distribution company, High Wire Music/Fontana, after recording. Promotion was also provided through Aware Records
' street team. It was Carey's first album available in major retail stores and was also offered through a digital "pay what you feel" release on Carey's website.
Following the release of Watching Waiting in 2007, Carey began various tours to support the album. He did opening and co-headlining tours with Bushwalla
, Brendan James
, Curtis Peoples and other artists. Bushwalla would introduce Carey to the Bob Schneider
songwriting game "The Challenge", where Carey would participate in off and on stints. During this time his music was featured in the 2007 film Palo Alto
and on MTV's
The Real World
. Carey supported his music in the movie Palo Alto with a college tour, playing concerts while screening the film at various universities. Touring in support of the album Watching Waiting would continue for the next two years and included a co-headlining “Three of Hearts Tour” in 2008 with Jonathan Clay and Alexa Wilkinson
. After the "Three of Hearts Tour" he opened for Brendan James
and Jason Reeves
in a series of West Coast shows.
Originally a full-length album, the release was later cut down to become the After the Morning After EP
. The first release from the Mikal Blue material was the March 30, 2010 single "Gotta Be Next To You", which featured vocals from Amber Rubarth
. This was followed up by the iTunes release of After The Morning After EP on May 25, 2010, where it debuted in the top 40 on the iTunes charts. In December 2010, he released the self-produced Christmas single "Perfect Christmas Day" and followed it with a co-headlining holiday tour, the "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out Tour", with Josh Hoge.
In 2011, Carey released the stand-alone single "Begin", a song that came from the Mikal Blue tracks that had been cut from After The Morning After EP. Later that year in September, Rock Ridge Music/ADA/Warner Music Group announced that it had signed Carey to their record label and would work on his next album release.
after his mother was diagnosed with the disease. Proceeds from the “You'll Shoot Your Eye Out” tour went toward the foundation.
Solo
Rock Ridge Music
Rock Ridge Music is an independent record label based in Newark, New Jersey. Some of the more recognized artists on the Rock Ridge roster include Reel Big Fish, Sister Hazel, Psychostick, Attack! Attack! UK, The Ike Reilly Assassination, and Ingram Hill....
. Born and raised near Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, he later relocated to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to attend the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
for a degree in music. At USC, Carey formed a band, Telepathy, with other students that broke up after graduation. Carey continued his music career as a solo artist, eventually moving to back to Chicago. He focused on his solo career in Chicago, then later in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
where he currently resides. He has since released three solo albums and two EPs. His 2010 EP, After The Morning After is his most successful effort to date, where it debuted in the iTunes Top 40 Pop Charts.
He has toured nationally and performed on stage with such artists as Jason Mraz
Jason Mraz
Jason Thomas Mraz , also known as Mr. AZ and Mr. Raz, is an American singer-songwriter. Mraz released his debut album, Waiting for My Rocket to Come, which contained the hit single "The Remedy ", in 2002, but it was not until the release of his second album, "Mr. A-Z", in 2005, that Mraz achieved...
, John Mayer
John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his...
, Marc Broussard
Marc Broussard
Marc Broussard is an American singer/songwriter. His style is best described as "Bayou Soul," a mix of funk, blues, R&B, rock, and pop, matched with distinct Southern roots...
, Keaton Simons
Keaton Simons
Keaton Simons is a Los Angeles recording and performing artist. He is signed to CBS Records and his music has been featured on shows such as NCIS: Los Angeles, Crash, American Dad!, Harper's Island, and The Cleaner to name a few...
and Matt Duke
Matt Duke (musician)
Matthew Thomas Duke is an American musician and singer-songwriter who was born in Reston, Virginia and raised in Mount Laurel Township, New Jersey. He released an independent album, Winter Child, through the student-run Mad Dragon Records at Drexel University in Philadelphia...
. Carey is also a part of the annual Hotel Carolina
Hotel Carolina
Hotel Carolina is an annual singer-songwriter music festival which is held in Isle of Palms, South Carolina. Featuring an array of touring singer-songwriters on the scene today, Hotel Carolina was conceived to provide an opportunity for fans to see a number of nationally-touring singer-songwriters...
music festival and has performed there since 2010. His music has been featured in various television shows and movies, such as MTV's
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
The Real World
The Real World
The Real World is a reality television program on MTV originally produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray. First broadcast in 1992, the show, which was inspired by the 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family, is the longest-running program in MTV history and one of the...
and the movies Palo Alto
Palo Alto (film)
Palo Alto is a 2007 independent film that is set in Palo Alto, California and was produced by three locals of that city. The plot centers on four college freshmen on their last night of Thanksgiving Break, their first time back since leaving for school...
and True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet
True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet
True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet is a Lifetime Television comedy-drama film, based on a young-adult book of the same name by author Lola Douglas. The film stars Joanna "JoJo" Levesque and Golden Globe Award winner Valerie Bertinelli. The film was directed by Tim Matheson...
.
Early life
Todd Carey was born and raised in Winnetka, IllinoisWinnetka, Illinois
Winnetka is an affluent North Shore village located approximately north of downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois. Winnetka was featured on the list of America's 25 top-earning towns and "one of the best places to live" by CNN Money in 2011...
, an affluent suburb north of Chicago. He is the first of two children born to Christine, a teacher/fashion designer, and Richard, an attorney. Growing up, his mother would not let him or his sister watch television but would encourage Carey's interest in music. His mother was a former musician herself, having attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music
Cincinnati Conservatory of Music
The Cincinnati Conservatory of Music was a conservatory, part of a girls' finishing school, founded in 1867 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It merged with the College of Music of Cincinnati in 1955, forming the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, which is now part of the University of Cincinnati.The...
for music education. His father was also a music lover and collected music, introducing Carey to artists like Beethoven, Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
and Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
at a young age.
Carey's own interest in music began as a child and he credits Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
and the movie La Bamba
La Bamba (film)
La Bamba is a 1987 American biographical film written and directed by Luis Valdez. The picture features Lou Diamond Phillips, Esai Morales, Rosanna DeSoto, Elizabeth Peña, Danielle von Zerneck, and Joe Pantoliano...
for inspiring him to learn to play guitar. He bought a guitar with money he saved, but wasn't serious about playing until he began taking guitar lessons a few years later. Carey played through middle school and high school, eventually starting a band in high school called the “Heart of Gold Band” with friends. Their name inspired by Grateful Dead's
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
song “Scarlet Begonias”, the group was a jam band and was additionally influenced by the likes of the Dave Matthews Band
Dave Matthews Band
Dave Matthews Band, sometimes shortened to DMB, is a U.S. rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1991. The founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer/backing vocalist Carter Beauford and saxophonist LeRoi Moore. Boyd Tinsley was...
and Phish
Phish
Phish is an American rock band noted for its musical improvisation, extended jams, and exploration of music across genres. Formed at the University of Vermont in 1983 , the band's four members – Trey Anastasio , Mike Gordon , Jon Fishman , and Page McConnell Phish is an American rock band...
.
The University of Southern California and Telepathy
After graduating from New Trier High SchoolNew Trier High School
New Trier High School is a public four-year high school , with its major campus located in Winnetka, Illinois, USA, and a second campus in Northfield, Illinois, with freshman classes and district administration...
in Winnetka, Carey would attend the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
for a Jazz Guitar major and an English minor on a partial scholarship. Shortly after arriving, he formed another jam band, Telepathy, with other USC students. For five years, Telepathy played at local gigs and eventually moved up to playing at the Knitting Factory
Knitting Factory
The Knitting Factory is a music venue and concert house with locations in Brooklyn, Boise, Reno, and Spokane. The club originally specialized in jazz and experimental music and has expanded to showcasing all genres of music, performing arts and comedy....
, The Mint and the House of Blues
House of Blues
House of Blues is a chain of 13 live music concert halls and restaurants in major markets throughout the United States. House of Blues first location was in Cambridge's Harvard Square. It was opened in 1992 by Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, star of The Blues Brothers...
in Los Angeles. Telepathy would release three live albums and an EP through local indie label Kufala Recordings. During his time in college he also played a small part in the movie A Mighty Wind
A Mighty Wind
A Mighty Wind is a 2003 mockumentary about a folk music reunion concert in which three folk bands must reunite for a television performance for the first time in decades. It was directed by Christopher Guest...
, which filmed scenes near USC.
Telepathy dissolved after Carey and the other members graduated from USC. By then Carey was performing solo shows and working on his own material when he decided to pursue a solo career in music. He taught guitar lessons to support himself and recorded his debut solo album, Elevate, that was released through Kufala Recodings in 2003. A year after playing solo in Los Angeles, Carey moved back to Chicago to focus on his career there.
Chicago and Watching Waiting
In Chicago, Carey worked to establish himself as a local artist and played frequent gigs in area venues. He released another self-produced album, Revolving World, through Kufala in 2005 and supported the album with a college tour. He continued to support himself financially teaching guitar lessons and playing at clubs while he compiled a new collection of demos. This time he sent out the demos to producers and got the attention of Marshall AltmanMarshall Altman
Marshall Noah Altman is a Nashville-based record producer and songwriter who owns the Galt Line studio in Nashville, Tennessee. He was formerly an A&R person for such labels as Capitol Records, Hollywood Records and Columbia Records, as well as the former frontman for the alternative band Farmer...
. The two agreed to work together and so Carey planned to fly out to Burbank, California to record with Marshall at his Galt Line studio.
Before the recording session, Altman asked Carey to record his version of the album with just an acoustic guitar so Altman could hear the album's raw form. Carey agreed and drove up to his family's summer cabin in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin
Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin
Whitefish Bay is a village in Milwaukee County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 13,508 as of the 2005 census.-Geography:Whitefish Bay is located at ....
to record these bare versions over a week and a half. The trip also provided new material, when an experience during recording lead Carey to write the song “Watching Waiting”. The song would become the title track of the album. A selection of these acoustic versions would later be packaged into the Whitefish Bay Sessions EP.
Returning to California to record Watching Waiting with Marshall Altman, Carey asked if his friend Eric Robinson (whom he knew from USC) could sit in during the recording session. Altman agreed and the meeting began a working partnership between Altman and Robinson that would last for many years. A friend of Robinson, the then-unknown Sara Bareilles
Sara Bareilles
Sara Beth Bareilles is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She achieved mainstream success in 2007 with the hit single "Love Song", which brought her into the number one spot on the Billboard Pop 100 chart. She has sold over 1 million records in the United States alone and has been...
, also appeared on the album providing background vocals. The album was produced independently but Carey was able to secure a distribution deal with Universal Music's distribution company, High Wire Music/Fontana, after recording. Promotion was also provided through Aware Records
Aware Records
Aware Records is an American record label, existent to seek unsigned musical artists and expose them to the mainstream media. The label has had success with a range of artists, including John Mayer, Train, Five For Fighting, Mat Kearney and Guster....
' street team. It was Carey's first album available in major retail stores and was also offered through a digital "pay what you feel" release on Carey's website.
Following the release of Watching Waiting in 2007, Carey began various tours to support the album. He did opening and co-headlining tours with Bushwalla
Bushwalla
Billy "Bushwalla" Galewood is an American singer, songwriter and rapper from Cleveland, Ohio.At the age of nine, Bushwalla entered a youth theater group called "Kids on Broadway". Ten years later Billy migrated to New York City, where he studied musical theater at the American Musical and Dramatic...
, Brendan James
Brendan James
Brendan James is an American singer-songwriter originally from Derry, New Hampshire, who started in New York City but is currently residing in California...
, Curtis Peoples and other artists. Bushwalla would introduce Carey to the Bob Schneider
Bob Schneider
Bob Schneider is an Austin, Texas-based musician and artist. He currently resides in Bee Cave, Texas.- Early career :...
songwriting game "The Challenge", where Carey would participate in off and on stints. During this time his music was featured in the 2007 film Palo Alto
Palo Alto (film)
Palo Alto is a 2007 independent film that is set in Palo Alto, California and was produced by three locals of that city. The plot centers on four college freshmen on their last night of Thanksgiving Break, their first time back since leaving for school...
and on MTV's
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
The Real World
The Real World
The Real World is a reality television program on MTV originally produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray. First broadcast in 1992, the show, which was inspired by the 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family, is the longest-running program in MTV history and one of the...
. Carey supported his music in the movie Palo Alto with a college tour, playing concerts while screening the film at various universities. Touring in support of the album Watching Waiting would continue for the next two years and included a co-headlining “Three of Hearts Tour” in 2008 with Jonathan Clay and Alexa Wilkinson
Alexa Wilkinson
Alexa Wilkinson is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and trumpet player with two albums to her name: 2007's Lullaby Appetite, partly co-written by Josh Kelley, and Lions, released in 2008. She has toured with a number of indie musicians, including Josh Kelley, Todd Carey, Jonathan Clay,...
. After the "Three of Hearts Tour" he opened for Brendan James
Brendan James
Brendan James is an American singer-songwriter originally from Derry, New Hampshire, who started in New York City but is currently residing in California...
and Jason Reeves
Jason Reeves
Jason Reeves is a radio broadcaster and television presenter from New Zealand. He hosts the breakfast show on Auckland's Classic Hits 97.4, previously Jason has hosted the drive show nationwide on Classic Hits and worked on The Edge as breakfast co-host and hosted Headliners on TVNZ, and New...
in a series of West Coast shows.
New York and After the Morning After
In 2009 Carey moved to Brooklyn, New York to continue and expand his music career in a new market. Setting up his recording studio in Park Slope, he worked on creating new material for another album. He explored the New York music scene and began stockpiling songs that he again wrote and produced himself. Carey originally planned to self-release and produce his next album but this changed following a trip to Los Angeles. Carey had heard of producer Mikal Blue through tourmate Brendan James, who had produced James' last album, and went to meet with him. Carey visited Blue's Revolver studio with a burned CD of songs he had been working on. Blue responded well to the songs and they began to work together, quickly producing a full album's worth of material.Originally a full-length album, the release was later cut down to become the After the Morning After EP
After the Morning After
After the Morning After is the second solo EP of singer/songwriter Todd Carey. It was released in the US on June 14, 2010.-History:After the Morning After was the first major release from Todd Carey after releasing Watching Waiting in 2007...
. The first release from the Mikal Blue material was the March 30, 2010 single "Gotta Be Next To You", which featured vocals from Amber Rubarth
Amber Rubarth
Amber Rubarth is an American Singer-Songwriter who has independently released 4 albums and 2 EPs. Her newest album "A Common Case of Disappearing," produced by Jacquire King, was released October 4, 2011 and hit #13 on the iTunes Singer-Songwriter charts...
. This was followed up by the iTunes release of After The Morning After EP on May 25, 2010, where it debuted in the top 40 on the iTunes charts. In December 2010, he released the self-produced Christmas single "Perfect Christmas Day" and followed it with a co-headlining holiday tour, the "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out Tour", with Josh Hoge.
In 2011, Carey released the stand-alone single "Begin", a song that came from the Mikal Blue tracks that had been cut from After The Morning After EP. Later that year in September, Rock Ridge Music/ADA/Warner Music Group announced that it had signed Carey to their record label and would work on his next album release.
Personal life
Carey started a charity foundation, Todd4Tatas to benefit breast cancerBreast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
after his mother was diagnosed with the disease. Proceeds from the “You'll Shoot Your Eye Out” tour went toward the foundation.
Discography
with Telepathy- Live at GroundZero (1999)
- The Better After (2001)
- 30 Seconds of Silence EP (2002)
- Live in Los Angeles, 4/28/03 House of Blues (2003)
Solo
- Elevate (2003)
- Live From a Place That Won't Let Me Use Their Name (2003)
- Revolving World (2005)
- Whitefish Bay Sessions EP (2007)
- Watching WaitingWatching WaitingWatching Waiting is the third studio solo album of singer/songwriter Todd Carey. It was distributed by High Wire Music/Fontana in the US on March 27th, 2007.-History:...
(2007) - After the Morning After EPAfter the Morning AfterAfter the Morning After is the second solo EP of singer/songwriter Todd Carey. It was released in the US on June 14, 2010.-History:After the Morning After was the first major release from Todd Carey after releasing Watching Waiting in 2007...
(2010)
External links
- Todd Carey Official Site
- Todd Carey on Facebook
- Todd Carey on YouTube
- Todd Carey on Twitter