Ari Hest

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Ari Hest
Ari Hest 05112011 Saint v2 400.jpg
Ari Hest performing at The Saint in Asbury Park, NJ,
May 11, 2011
Background information
Born (1979-06-16) June 16, 1979 (age 33)
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 (born 16 June 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and a native of Riverdale[1] in the Bronx borough of New York.

Contents

Biography [edit]

Early life [edit]

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, Tears for Fears, The Police, and Pearl Jam among others. As a child, Ari aspired to become a professional baseball player and still plays amateur ball for two New York city based teams. During Ari's childhood, his father wrote jingles for toy commercials on television for which he sometimes recruited Ari to sing. 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.

Career [edit]

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 second 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 next recordings, The Green Room Sessions, were 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 worked with producer Mitchell Froom on his third album entitled "The Break-In". After leaving Columbia in 2008, Ari created the project "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 fifth album with producer Alex Wong. The result was Sunset Over Hope Street, released on March 1, 2011. After extensive touring to support Sunset Over Hope Street both in the U.S. and countries such as Germany, Ireland and the Czech Republic, Ari returned from the road in late 2011 and began work on a sixth album with producer Gerry Leonard called The Fire Plays. The album was released in November 2012.

Family [edit]

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.[2]

Television & Radio Appearances [edit]

Television [edit]

Radio [edit]

Music videos [edit]

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

Band members [edit]

Current [edit]

Doug Yowell - Drummer [edit]

Rob Calder - Bassist [edit]

Thad Debrock - Guitarist [edit]

A-Team [edit]

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.

Covers [edit]

Ari covered Fleetwood Mac's "Little Lies" on his EP "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.

Booking [edit]

Ari is booked by Fleming Artists in North America.

Discography [edit]

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

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

  • 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), Downtown Records
  • The Fire Plays (2012), Project 4 Records

Promotional, Soundtrack and Other Albums [edit]

  • 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.

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b About Ari - General Background, Interviews of Ari for TheAHSA.com from October 2002 and April 21st, 2003. Accessed on February 5, 2007.
  2. ^ On The Road: A Manager's View of SXSW 2004, Danny Hest - Monday, April 12, 2004. Accessed on February 6, 2007.
  3. ^ 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.

External links [edit]

Authority control
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