Ari Hest

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Ari Hest

Ari Hest performing at The Saint in Asbury Park, NJ,
May 11, 2011
Background information
Born (1979-06-16) June 16, 1979 (age 32)
Mt. Sinai Hospital.Manhattan, NY, U.S.[1]
Genres Rock, Acoustic, Pop
Occupations Singer
Musician
Instruments Vocalist
Guitarist
Keyboardist
Harmonicist
Percussionist
Years active 1999–present
Labels Columbia Records
(2004-2007)
Project 4 Records
(1999-2004; 2007-Present)
Website http://www.arihest.com

Ari Hest is an American singer-songwriter and a native of Riverdale[1] in the Bronx borough of New York.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

The Ari Hest performing in Doylestown

Ari took piano lessons as a child and later, as a teenager, taught himself to play his mother's nylon string guitar by ear with influences from both his parents' record collection and radio artists. Artists cited as influences are Paul Simon, The Beatles, Dave Matthews, U2, Smashing Pumpkins, Tears for Fears, The Police, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam among others. As a child, Ari aspired to become a professional baseball player and continued to play through the end of high school. During Ari's childhood, his father wrote jingles for toy commercials on television for which he sometimes recruited Ari to sing. One jingle noted by Ari as an example was a commercial for a girl's toy puppy from Hasbro branded "Sweetie Pups". Although he did not win, Ari competed in a Battle of the Bands contest in 11th grade playing Pearl Jam's "Nothing Man" and Led Zeppelin's "Thank You" with another young musician. Ari wrote his first song in 1996 that was titled "Surrounded By Surprise" and is defined by Ari as "something involving a made-up girlfriend and a hot-air balloon".[1] Ari began playing in his first band called Synapse between 1997 and 1999.[1] The band played venues such as New York City clubs and graduation parties. Ari's songs "Fade" and "Consistency" were born from this group.[1] Ari attended Cornell University in Ithaca, NY beginning in 1999 and later transferred to New York University, where he received a degree in Communications in 2002.

[edit] Career

Hest performing at The Saint in Asbury Park, NJ

While attending NYU, Ari began to focus on his musical career by touring colleges and clubs across the United States. Under his own independent recording label, Project 4, Ari released one EP, Incomplete and two albums, Come Home and Story After Story, selling approximately 20,000 CDs. In March 2004, Hest signed a recording contract with Columbia. He recorded his first studio album Someone To Tell with producer David Kos Rolfe, which was followed by a five-song EP "Guilty Hearts EP" in the fall of 2005. His sixth album, The Green Room Sessions, was recorded on a laptop personal computer using Apple's GarageBand software. Ari performed all vocals and instruments to include acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, harmonica, and percussion for this album. Ari sometimes gives demonstrations of GarageBand at Apple Stores that are both free and open to the public.[2] Ari has completed the recording of his seventh album, The Break-In with producer Mitchell Froom. A single from the album I've Got You was released on Apple's iTunes in January 2007 and the full-length album was released by Columbia in May of that year. After leaving Columbia in 2008, Ari embarked on an ambitious project he called "52". For the entire year of 2008, Ari wrote, recorded and released a new song every week for 52 weeks and sent them via email to subscribers who paid a one time fee to receive all 52 songs throughout the year. The project was extremely successful, garnering Hest much praise in the media and from fans. In 2009, he released Twelve Mondays, a collection of 12 fan-selected songs reworked and rerecorded. It was self-released on Ari's Project 4 Records. In 2010, Ari went back into the studio to record his next album with producer Alex Wong. The result was Sunset Over Hope Street, released on March 1, 2011.

[edit] Family

Ari's father plays a number of different horn instruments and is a college music professor. When Ari was a child, his father wrote jingles for children's toy commercials. His mother is currently a cantor. Ari's older brother, Daniel Hest, managed Ari for several years but now attends business school to receive his MBA.[3]

[edit] Television & Radio Appearances

[edit] Television

[edit] Radio

[edit] Music videos

Hest performing at the Highline Ballroom in New York City, December 26, 2009

A small budget music video was recorded of the single "They're On To Me" featuring Ari moving through several New York cityscapes and playing a sold-out album release concert at New York City's Bowery Ballroom venue on August 10, 2004. The video was directed by Steven Oritt.

On March 22, 2008, Ari performed a live, interactive concert for his fans at DeepRockDrive. Songs performed include "Sleep Tonight", "Anne Marie", and "I've Got You".

Ari's video for So Slow was shot in Northport, Long Island and Washington Square Park in New York City.

Ari's video for "Dead End Driving" was shot in Phoenix, AZ and directed by Josh Franer

[edit] Band members

[edit] Current

[edit] Rob Calder • Bassist

Often tours with Ari and can be seen in the 'making of' video on the "Guilty Hearts EP" disc as well as in the music video for "They're On To Me". In addition to working with Ari, Rob has performed and/or recorded with Angus & Julia Stone, Declan O'Rourke (on "Mag Pai Zai"), Paul Kelley/Angus Stone, John Southworth, Fiction Plane, Michael Brunnock, Findlay Brown, Will Stratton, Pete & J/Harper Blynn, Cutters, Kanye West, The Break & Repair Method, Colin Smith and Ghostface Killah to name a few.

[edit] Doug Yowell • Drummer

[edit] Thad DeBrock • Guitarist

[edit] Former

[edit] Scott Seiver • Drummer

[edit] Matt Beck • Guitarist

[edit] A-Team

The A-Team is a grassroots group of individuals who promote Ari's music with postcards, posters and through word of mouth. Additionally, members of the team are encouraged to record his live shows, publicly distribute them free of charge, and send a copy of the recording to Ari's website to be distributed over the internet via mp3 audio and videos. Perks for A-Team members include contests with prizes, access to the rep-only website, private rep concerts and exclusive media content.

[edit] Covers

Ari covered Fleetwood Mac's "Little Lies" on his album The Green Room Sessions. Ari has covered "I'm On Fire" by Bruce Springsteen, Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", Radiohead's "No Surprises", Jeff Buckley's "Morning Theft", The Doobie Brothers' "What a Fool Believes" and Elton John's "Daniel" among many others during live performances.

[edit] Management

Ari has been managed by his brother throughout his career. He is now managed by Brick Wall Management and is booked by Fleming Artists.

[edit] Discography

Hest performing in Asbury Park, NJ, May 11, 2011

[edit] Full-Length, Extended Play and Single Albums

  • Incomplete (EP, 1999), Project 4 Records
  • Come Home (2001), Project 4 Records
  • Story After Story (2002). Project 4 Records
  • Someone To Tell (2004), Columbia Records
  • Guilty Hearts (EP, 2005), Columbia Records
  • The Green Room Sessions (EP, 2006), Columbia Records
  • I've Got You (Download only single, 2007), Columbia Records/Red Ink
  • The Break-In (2007), Columbia Records/Red Ink
  • Live at the Quick Center (EP, 2008), Project 4 Records
  • 52 (2008), Project 4 Records
  • Twelve Mondays (2009), Project 4 Records
  • Sunset Over Hope Street (2011), Releasing on March 1, 2011, Project 4 Records

[edit] Promotional, Soundtrack and Other Albums

  • Consistency, Live From The Village Underground (2002), Project 4 Records, included with first 1,000 copies of “Story After Story”
  • Winter Break: The Movie Soundtrack (2003), Various Artists, with “Strangers Again” from Ari Hest
  • DecentXposure • Volume One (2003). Various Artists, with “Consistency” from Ari Hest
  • "The Lincoln Lawyer" Soundtrack (2011) Various Artists, with "Now" from Ari Hest.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e About Ari - General Background, Interviews of Ari for TheAHSA.com from October 2002 and April 21st, 2003. Accessed on February 5, 2007.
  2. ^ News: Live At The Apple Store - Ari To Give Garageband Demonstrations and Performances - January 13, 2007. Accessed on January 31, 2007.
  3. ^ On The Road: A Manager's View of SXSW 2004, Danny Hest - Monday, April 12, 2004. Accessed on February 6, 2007.
  4. ^ Last Call with Carson Daly Episodes - TVGuide.com. Accessed on January 31, 2007.

5. ^ Ari Hest at On Campus Booking Ari Hest Live at The Roxy on May 26, 2005. Accessed on 02/10/2007.
Ari Hest News. Accessed on February 10, 2007.
Ari Hest Profile/Biography. Accessed on January 31, 2007.
Ari Hest Biography. Accessed on January 31, 2007.
Ari Hest Biography. Accessed on January 31, 2007.
About Ari - General Background. Accessed on February 5, 2007.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ari_Hest&oldid=479201023"
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