Tyrone Wells

Tyrone Wells
Origin	Spokane, Washington, USA
Genres	folk-pop
Years active	2000- Current
Labels	Currently-Position Music 2006-2009 Universal Republic
Website	Official website
Members
Tyrone Wells Mike Kopolus Aaron Bishop Mark Chipello

Tyrone Wells is a singer/songwriter in the folk-pop genre from Spokane, Washington. His songs have been featured in television shows (Intervention, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Rescue Me, One Tree Hill, North Shore, What About Brian, Numb3rs, The Mountain, Windfall, Wildfire, Ghost Whisperer, As the World Turns, The Bedford Diaries, Three Moons Over Milford, Meet the Barkers, Felicity, The Vampire Diaries) and film (Everyone's Hero, My Sister's Keeper, Rails & Ties, Something Borrowed).

Career

Wells was born in Seattle and raised in Spokane, Washington. He has said in interviews that he was inspired by his older sisters who "brought out the music in me" but did not begin songwriting until his move to California. While attending Hope International University in Southern California Wells joined the band Skypark.

In 2000 Wells launched his solo career, playing acoustic shows in Orange County, California. In 2006 Wells signed a recording contract with Universal Records. They re-released his independent album Hold On on the internet in 2006, and released it in stores on Feb. 6th 2007. On Hold On, Wells worked with producers Chris Karn and Marc Ford.

Wells released his solo album Remain on January 27, 2009. The first single from Remain, "More," reached #13 on the Triple A radio charts. The second single "Sink or Swim" was used in promos for the season 6 premiere of Grey's Anatomy.

In 2009, Wells performed at Hotel Carolina, an annual two-day singer-songwriter festival held in South Carolina.

Tyrone Wells performing at Hope International University's Spirit of Hope Concert

On May 2, 2010 Wells's EP Metal and Wood was released to the public. Along with touring, Wells participated in a benefit concert in Santa Barbara, California for Haiti survivors.

In September 2010, Wells's song "Time Of Our Lives" was used in the series finale promo for American daytime soap opera, As the World Turns, as well as The Vampire Diaries episode, Memory Lane (Season 2, Episode 4).

Wells is a regular performer in San Marcos High School (Santa Barbara, California)'s benefit event for Unity Shoppe of Santa Barbara, Kids Helping Kids. He was the featured performer in the 2008 Kids Helping Kids event and opened for Mat Kearney in the 2011 Kids Helping Kids event. Both events took place in the Granada Theater in Santa Barbara, California.

Remain album

Tyrone Wells playing at the City Winery in NYC on 4-28-2011

Wells traveled to London to work on Remain. “Half of the album was done in London and the other half completed here in the states,” says Wells. “I didn’t know what kind of record I was going to make before I got to London, but something just seemed to click while I was there that really defined what I wanted to do with this album.”

Wells worked with songwriter and producer Martin Terefe (Jason Mraz, KT Tunstall, James Morrison) and Iain Archer (UK indie artist and Snow Patrol co-writer) in the UK, and Tim Myers (formerly of OneRepublic), David Hodges (formerly of Evanescence) and Matt Scannell (Vertical Horizon) in the U.S.. The song “Losing Ground,” one of a handful of production/songwriting collaborations between Wells and Terefe, was written and demoed in less than 3 hours during their first writing session together.

Where We Meet album

DUE OUT MARCH 6TH 2012 with Nation wide tour launching at SXSW in Austin, TX March 15th.

There’s nothing quite like a fresh start.

Tyrone Wells’ fourth full-length album, Where We Meet, ushers in a new beginning for the critically acclaimed singer-songwriter. Not only is it his first full-length release since leaving a major label, it signifies his next evolution. Embracing both sides of his sound, Wells seamlessly balances acoustic vulnerability and pop rock irresistibility over the course of eleven unforgettable anthems. Ultimately, Where We Meet is the perfect place for Wells to start anew while keeping the same ethic that has won him his loyal fan base from his early independent days.

The journey to Where We Meet actually began on the high seas in 2010. He was playing The Rock Boat, an annual floating festival that travels from Tampa, FL to Cozumel, Mexico. Out on the ship in the middle of the ocean, he had an epiphany. With two lauded major label releases under his belt—Hold On [2006] and Remain [2009]—and countless high-profile film and TV placements including American Idol, One Tree Hill, Vampire Diaries, Rescue Me, Grey’s Anatomy, My Sister’s Keeper, Something Borrowed and more, Wells felt the urge to go independent again.

“I was thinking about my relationship with my record label,” he recalls. “I didn’t feel like they were capitalizing on the momentum that I had. So I wrote this long letter to my manager that I wanted to part ways with the label. When we reached port the next morning, my manager told me that the label actually just ended the relationship. Talk about serendipity! It’s like a relationship where both parties want to go their separate ways. After that, I didn’t have to worry about anyone else’s timelines and concerns. I could just focus on making a great record.”

Free from any constraints, Wells started working on that “great record” by penning over 80 songs. In the middle of that process, he managed to release the digital EP, Metal & Wood in 2010. Metal & Wood spent nearly three weeks at #1 on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter chart and debuted at #14 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart.

Inspired immensely, he feverishly kept writing, experimenting, and pushing himself for almost two years. Taking his time in the studio, Wells worked diligently with two producers Thomas Doeve and Bill Lefler. The result is Where We Meet.

“I always wanted to make an album that was both sparse and intimate but also had these epic moments,” he says of the sound. “I love singer-songwriter albums that are vulnerable, but I’m also drawn to big, epic rock music. The record really is a meeting place between those two. I truly tried to incorporate both of those flavors. For the first time, I feel like I accomplished it.”

You can hear it on the album’s first single “Freedom.” A sunny acoustic guitar and handclaps resound as Wells delivers one of his catchiest choruses yet. It’s energetic, upbeat, and utterly undeniable. About the song, he reveals, “I was listening to a lot of Simon & Garfunkel, and I wanted to write something upbeat. I was hoping they’d peek into the room and inspire me.”

He continues, “So often, we try to hold on to things that aren’t working. When you open up your hands and let things go, they come back to you—maybe not even in the way you expect. As an independent artist, I have the freedom to do anything. I feel like this is a fitting opening to the album.”

On the other end of the spectrum is the pensive, powerful, and poetic, “I Can’t Save You Now.” Wells says goodbye as gorgeous instrumentation bristles in the background.

“I was crazy about this girl in college, but she was always in the middle of some sort of crisis,” he remembers. “At some point, I realized I can’t fix her and her problems. I couldn’t be in a relationship in that capacity because it was making me totally nuts. I had never felt so ungrounded. That’s what the song talks about.”

The title track sums everything up for him though. He goes on, “It delves into all of the madness and chaos of the world right now. There’s so much in life that we can’t control, but we can control how we treat each other. The heart of the record can be encapsulated in the closing lyric of Where We Meet: ‘Take my hand, all we have is a moment, so hold nothing back.’”

In some ways, Where We Meet brings Wells back to where it all began. Being independent again is like going back to his roots, except this time it is selling out venues, rather than coffee shops. He’s carving his own path. “I’m not in music so I can get rich,” he declares. “I have what I need and more. The aim for me isn’t to get famous. The aim is to make great music that I can stand by.”

With his first baby on the way and Where We Meet dropping this spring, he certainly has a lot to stand by. Wells concludes, “I’m doing what I love and if my art resonates with other people, I’m happy. I love it when someone tells me that my music is the soundtrack to their lives. I hope I can continue to provide that.”

Where We Meet is just the beginning…

Discography

Studio albums

• Where We Meet (2012) Independent Release
• Metal and Wood (2010) Independent Release
• Remain (2009) Universal Records U.S. Billboard Heatseekers #17
• Hold On (2007) Universal Records
• Hold On (2006) Position Music/True American Records
• Close: Live at McClain's (2005) Position Music/True American Records
• Snapshot (2003) True American Records
• Tyrone Wells (2001) True American Records

Singles

• "Freedom" (2012) Independent Release
• "Patience" (2008) Universal Records
• "More" (2009) Universal Records
• "What Are We Fighting For?" (2007) Universal Records
• "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow" (2006) Universal Records

Further reading

• Macintosh, Dan (May/June 2007). "Tyrone Wells: What Ever Happened to Sly?". HM Magazine (125): 34–35. ISSN 1066-6923. 

External links

• Artist's website