Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name. In the late 1970s, some rock critics retroactively identified it as an early incarnation of punk rock, and it is sometimes called garage punk, protopunk, or 1960s punk; however, the music style has predominantly been referred to as garage rock.

History[link]

Origins[link]

The term "garage rock" comes from the perception that many such performers were young and amateurish, and often rehearsed in a family garage.^[1] Some bands were made up of middle-class teenagers from the suburbs, but some were from rural or urban areas, while others were composed of professional musicians in their twenties.^[2]

The performances were often amateurish or naïve, with typical themes revolving around the traumas of high school life and songs about "lying girls" being particularly common.^[3] The lyrics and delivery were notably more aggressive than was common at the time, often with growled or shouted vocals that dissolved into incoherent screaming.^[1] Instrumentation was often characterised by the use of guitars distorted through a fuzzbox.^[4] Nevertheless, garage rock acts were diverse in both musical ability and in style, ranging from crude one-chord music (like the Seeds and the Keggs) to near-studio musician quality (including the Knickerbockers, the Remains, and the Fifth Estate). There were also regional variations in many parts of America with flourishing scenes particularly in California and Texas.^[3] The Pacific Northwest states of Washington and Oregon had perhaps the most defined regional sound.^[5]

The style had been evolving from regional scenes as early as 1958. "Tall Cool One" (1959) by The Wailers and "Louie Louie" by The Kingsmen (1963) are mainstream examples of the genre in its formative stages.^[6] By 1963, garage band singles were creeping into the national charts in greater numbers, including Paul Revere and the Raiders (Boise),^[7] the Trashmen (Minneapolis)^[8] and the Rivieras (South Bend, Indiana).^[9] Other influential garage bands, such as the Sonics (Tacoma, Washington), never reached the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.^[10] In this early period many bands were heavily influenced by surf rock and there was a cross-pollination between garage rock and energetic and upbeat party frat rock, though the latter is sometimes viewed as merely a sub-genre of garage rock.^[11]

The "British Invasion" of 1964-6 greatly influenced garage bands, providing them with a national audience and leading many (often surf or hot rod groups) to adopt a British Invasion lilt.^[3] The Invasion also inspired new, and often very raw, bands to form. Garage rock bands were generally influenced by those British "beat groups" with a harder, blues-based attack, such as The Kinks, The Who, The Animals, The Yardbirds, The Small Faces, The Pretty Things, Them,^[12] and The Rolling Stones. A handful of British garage bands were formed, the most successful being the Troggs.^[13] Another influence was the folk-rock of the Byrds and Bob Dylan, especially on bands such as the Leaves.^[14]

Peak of popularity[link]

Thousands of garage bands were extant in the USA and Canada during the era and hundreds produced regional hits.^[3] Usually thought to be the first to enjoy national success were The Beau Brummels with "Laugh, Laugh" and "Just a Little", which both reached the top 10 in 1964.^[15] Other examples include: "Fortune Teller" by Des Moines's The Image (1967), "The Witch" by Tacoma's The Sonics (1965), "Where You Gonna Go" by Detroit's Unrelated Segments (1967), "It's Cold Outside" by Cleveland's The Choir, "Girl I Got News for You" by Miami's Birdwatchers (1966) and "1-2-5" by Montreal's The Haunted. Boston's Remains, though only able to make it onto Billboard's Bubbling Under charts, had enough of a following and reputation to open for the Beatles during their 1966 U.S. tour.^[16] Michigan's Shondells released a minor regional hit in 1964 before disbanding; when it was unearthed by a Pittsburgh DJ in 1965, the resulting success of "Hanky Panky" revived the moribund career of Tommy James, who formed a new group of Shondells and went on to chart twelve more Top 40 singles.^[17]

Decline[link]

Despite scores of bands being signed to major or large regional labels, most were commercial failures. For instance, "Going All the Way" by The Squires was issued on a national label under (Atco) and is now regarded as a genre classic, but was not a hit anywhere.^[18] It is generally agreed that garage rock peaked both commercially and artistically around 1966.^[3] By 1968 the style largely disappeared from the national charts (the minor hit "Question of Temperature" by The Balloon Farm being a notable exception). It was also disappearing at the local level as amateur musicians faced college, work or the draft.^[3] New styles had evolved to replace garage rock (e.g., progressive rock, country rock, bubblegum, etc.).^[3] In Detroit garage rock stayed alive well into the 70s, with bands like the MC5, The Stooges, The Up and Death, who employed a much more aggressive style. These bands began to be labelled punk rock and are now often seen as protopunk or proto-hard rock.^[19]

Revivals[link]

Iggy Pop of The Stooges onstage in 1977

The revival of garage rock can be traced to the release of the two disk Nuggets compilation in 1972 by future Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye, which drew together both commercially successful and relatively obscure tracks from the mid-1960s and whose sleeve notes helped coin the phrase "punk rock" to describe the phenomenon.^[20] Iggy Pop and the Stooges, arguably the last garage band, carried garage rock into protopunk in the early '70s.^[4] The mid to late 1970s saw the arrival of the quintessential garage punk bands, most notably The Ramones, who are usually considered the first punk band.^[21]

In the 1980s, another garage rock revival saw a number of bands linked to the underground music scene earnestly trying to replicate the sound, style, and look of the '60s garage bands, including The Chesterfield Kings, The Fuzztones and Lyres.^[22] This trend coincided with a similar surf rock revival, and both styles fed in into the alternative rock movement and future grunge explosion, which some say was partially inspired by garage rock from the Tacoma area like The Sonics and The Wailers, but was largely unknown by fans outside the immediate circles of the bands themselves.^[23]

This movement also evolved into an even more primitive form of garage rock that became known as garage punk by the late 1980s, thanks to bands such as The Nouns (Los Angeles, CA), The Gories, Thee Mighty Caesars, The Mummies and Thee Headcoats.^[24] Bands playing garage punk differed from the garage rock revival bands in that they were less cartoonish caricatures of '60s garage bands and their overall sound was even more loud and raw, often infusing elements of protopunk and 1970s punk rock (hence the "garage punk" term). The garage rock revival and garage punk coexisted throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s with many independent record labels releasing thousands of records by bands playing various styles of primitive rock and roll all around the world. Some of the more prolific of these independent record labels included Estrus,^[25] Get Hip,^[26] Bomp!,^[27] and Sympathy for the Record Industry.^[28]

The Black Keys performing in 2011

In the early 2000s, a garage rock or post-punk revival^[29] achieved the airplay and commercial success that had eluded garage rock bands of the past. This was led by four bands: The Strokes of New York City, The Hives of Fagersta, Sweden, The Vines of Sydney, Australia, and The White Stripes from Detroit, Michigan, christened by the media as the "The" bands, or "The saviours of rock 'n' roll".^[30] Other products of the Detroit rock scene included; The Von Bondies, Electric 6, The Dirtbombs and The Detroit Cobras^[31] Elsewhere, other acts such as Billy Childish and The Buff Medways from Chatham, England,^[32] The (International) Noise Conspiracy from Umeå, Sweden,^[33] The 5.6.7.8's from Tokyo, Japan,^[34] and Jay Reatard and the Oblivians from Memphis, USA^[35] enjoyed moderate underground success and appeal. A second wave of bands that managed to gain international recognition as a result of the movement included The Black Keys,^[36] Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Killers, Interpol, and Kings of Leon from the US,^[37] The Libertines, Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, Editors, and Franz Ferdinand from the UK,^[38] Jet from Australia,^[39] and The Datsuns and The D4 from New Zealand.^[40]

The mid-2000s saw several underground bands achieve some mainstream prominence. Bands such as Black Lips^[41] and Jay Reatard,^[42] who initially released their records on traditionally garage punk labels such as In The Red Records, began signing to larger, more well-known independent labels.^[43] Several bands followed them in signing to larger labels such as Rough Trade^[44] and Drag City.^[45]

See also[link]

• Garage punk
• Group Sounds (Japan)
• List of garage rock bands
• Pub rock (UK)
• Pub rock (Australia)

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• '60s Garage Bands – Researching the Local and Regional Bands of the 1960s
• About.com Profile of Garage Rock – another, slightly different, definition and history of Garage Rock.

The Cribs
The Cribs in Sao Paulo, Brazil, June 2011
Background information
Origin	Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England
Genres	Indie rock, garage rock, punk rock, lo-fi
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Wichita, Warner Bros., Universal
Website	www.thecribs.com
Members
Gary Jarman Ryan Jarman Ross Jarman
Past members
Johnny Marr

The Cribs are an English three-piece indie rock band originally from Wakefield, West Yorkshire. The band consists of twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and their younger brother Ross Jarman. They were subsequently joined by ex-The Smiths and Modest Mouse guitarist Johnny Marr who was made a formal member of the group in 2008. Marr would remain as part of the band until 2011; his departure was officially announced on 11 April through the band's website. Despite returning to the original trio, the band currently enlists David Jones of Nine Black Alps as a second guitarist for live shows. The band, who first became active on the concert circuit in 2002, were initially tied to other like-minded UK bands of that time, most notably The Libertines, by a British music press that were looking for a 'British rearguard' to the wave of popular US alternative rock bands of the time. They had outgrown this tag by the time of the commercial success of their third LP. In 2008, Q magazine described the band as "The biggest cult band in the UK".

History[link]

Formation and early years (2001–2003)[link]

The Cribs were formed in late 2001 as a recording project for the three brothers, who had set up their own Springtime Studios, a lo-fi, all analogue affair in an ancient mill.^[1] After recording a demo and garnering label interest, the band started playing live around this time, at venues like the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds, and "squats and warehouse parties" with artists such as Calvin Johnston, Subway Sect, Herman Dune, and Ballboy. They also released a split 7" single on Leeds based garage/riot grrrl/punk label Squirrel Records during this period with former Shove/Boyskout member Jen Schande.^[2] Limited to 300 copies on blue vinyl the record is now a rarity that sells for upwards of $150 on eBay.^[3] According to Mojo magazine, 'On the strength of one demo, the rush to find the UK Strokes saw the three-piece fielding calls from major labels, pluggers and label managers' in 2002.^[1] After several high profile support slots, the band signed to the fledgling independent label Wichita Recordings in 2003 "we thought (they) were great because they sounded a bit like Pavement and had a big hook. We went to see them at the Metro on Oxford Street and completely fell in love with them. They seemed like such an obvious pop band. Every song sounded like a single" - Mark Bowen, Wichita Recordings.^[4]

[edit] The Cribs (2004)

After signing with Wichita Recordings, the band began re-recording many of the songs from the original demo, as well as several new tracks for what would be their debut record. Sessions began in London with Chicago based avant-garde musician Bobby Conn producing, after the band had supported him on some UK dates and impressed him "They had this cassette demo they had recorded on a boom-box, I suggested overdubs, they were too kitchen-sink for overdubs. I tried handclaps, they were 'not sure about handclaps'. It was all 'Keep it real'" - Bobby Conn.^[1] Then sessions moved to Toe Rag Studios studios in Hackney with the band self-producing. The album was completed in 7 days, live to 8-track tape, with Ed Deegan engineering.

Released on 8 March 2004, the album found early supporters in the NME, who commented on its "supreme pop melodies", and referred to it as "lo-fi, hi fun" giving it an 8/10 review.^[5] Lo-fi would be a term that would follow the band around for the next few years, and something that became synonymous with the group. Again, from the NME in 2011: "Recorded in a week, it's the definition of indie lo-fi. But not willful indie lo-fi; the scratches, clangs and gawwumps all heard here are genuinely the product of the trio's shoestring methods rather than the usual contrived fuzz that bands spend ages poring over beaten up eight-tracks to achieve".^[6] Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq was also an early champion. Lois Wilson of Mojo magazine described the album in 2009 as "intelligent lyrics on a background of clipped guitars and tumbling drums, with nods to The Strokes, Beat Happening, and C86's inept charm"^[1] Three singles were released from the album – the limited edition 7" only "Another Number"/"Baby Don’t Sweat" in November 2003, followed by first single proper "You Were Always the One", which climbed to #2 in the indie charts. "What About Me" was the third and final single from the album, again making the indie top 10. The Cribs toured extensively throughout 2004 and into 2005, both as headliners as well as supporting artists like old friend Bobby Conn, Death Cab For Cutie and The Libertines. Over the campaign they toured the UK and Ireland, Europe, Japan, and the USA, as well as several significant international festival appearances such as Reading and Leeds Festivals, Summersonic, T in the Park and Pukkelpop amongst others.^[7] Though only a moderate underground success at the time "Another Number" has gone on to become one of the band's most enduring ‘hits’ – seldom being left off the set-list and usually accompanied by a full crowd sing-along of the signature, repeated guitar riff.^[4][8]

[edit] The New Fellas (2005–2006)

After concluding touring duties for the first record, the band were taken off the road to start writing the follow up. However, The Cribs decided they still wanted to tour and took to posting their phone numbers and email addresses on the internet, professing to play anywhere for fuel money and a crate of beer. This DIY approach is something the band and label now feel was a key factor in their success, as it helped nurture a very strong, passionate fanbase.^[4][9]

The New Fellas, the band's second album release, was recorded with Edwyn Collins, the singer-songwriter and guitarist from Glasgow's influential Orange Juice in London at his own West Heath Studios. Again, it was a comparatively unpolished record sonically, as both the producer Collins and the band themselves were achieving sounds similar to those heard on the Orange Juice records. This was, however, the intention and the reason the band and producer were put together. "They had definite ideas what they wanted the record to sound like…They had this work ethic, there was nothing spoiled about them - they were proper indie; everything done on a shoe-string and they just got on with it….they were tremendous" - Edwyn Collins.^[1] One song, "Haunted", was even recorded on Scarborough beach on a whim, after hearing a Steve Martin ukulele duet recorded on a beach.^[10]

The first release from the record was the single "Hey Scenesters!" on 18 April 2005. It reached no. 27 in the UK charts, and started their run of 7 consecutive top 40 singles. The album followed on 20 June 2005 although it had leaked onto the internet several months prior to the official release date, hampering its first week sales. The record has however, gone on to be certified Silver by the BPI, and in a recent poll held by the NME was proved to be the overall fans favourite record.^[6] The other singles released from the record were "Mirror Kissers", "Martell", and non album track "You're Gonna Lose Us" (produced by Bernard Butler), which was paired with "The Wrong Way To Be" as a AA side. The extensive New Fellas world tour took in several UK tours, Europe, USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, Scandinavia, and their first trip to Iceland.^[11][12] They appeared at numerous festivals at this time, including an appearance on the main stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals (becoming the first band to ever progress through all three stages in consecutive years), headlining the tent at T in the Park, Fuji Rock festival in Japan as well as an extensive USA arena tour with Death Cab for Cutie and Franz Ferdinand. A European tour during this period with ex Pavement man Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks would introduce Gary to his future wife Joanna Bolme.

Shortly before their appearance at the Fuji Rock festival, The Cribs released a Japan-only mini album called Arigato Cockers, made up of B-sides and rarities from both the first and second albums.

In their year-end issue, the NME made The New Fellas the #11 album of the year, and Hey Scenesters a single of the year.^[13]

[edit] Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever (2007–2008)

At the conclusion of The New Fellas campaign, The Cribs signed a major label deal with Warner Bros. Records – though they remained on Wichita in the UK at the bands insistence. The subsequent album, Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever saw the band finally take steps to progress forth from their 'lo-fi' roots, being recorded in Vancouver, BC, Canada with Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand as producer. The band and producer had met during the US tour the bands did together with Death Cab for Cutie, and hit it off immediately.^[14] The album was mixed by Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Foo Fighters). They collaborated with Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth on the track "Be Safe" – Ranaldo contributing his spoken word poetry to the band's music.

Prior to the records release The Cribs took in a run of small UK club dates to preview songs from the new record. This is documented in the first Cribs documentary Leave Too Neat. The first cut from the album was the single "Men's Needs", released on 7 May. It proved to be the band's first breakthrough with mainstream radio and reached no. 17 in the UK charts, becoming their biggest hit to date. The accompanying video, filmed in Hollywood by director Diane Martel has achieved over 7 million Youtube views to date.^[15]

The album was released on 21 May 2007, and entered the UK album charts at #13.

Touring began at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 30 March for the Teenage Cancer Trust. The rest of 2007 and most of 2008 was spent on the road promoting the record, taking in extensive UK and European touring, several USA and Canada tours, Japan, and the band's first trip out to Mexico for a main stage appearance at the MX Beat Festival, as well as some later headline shows.^[16][17] During their US touring schedules they appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Late Show with David Letterman, and the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

The second single to be released from the record was "Moving Pictures", again charting in the UK Top 40, and then later a 7" only release of "I'm a Realist". The latter was backed with a cover of The Replacements song "Bastards of Young", a band The Cribs cite as a large influence.^[18] Another non-album single "Don't You Wanna Be Relevant" was paired with album cut "Our Bovine Public" and again climbed to the UK top 40. There were numerous festival slots around this time including main stage slots at Lollapalooza, T in the Park, and V festival, as well as returning to Fuji Rock, and a first time appearance at Coachella amongst others. In November 2007, The Cribs were invited by a re-formed The Sex Pistols to play with them for three nights at Brixton Academy in celebration of the 30 year anniversary of Never Mind the Bollocks^[19] In December the band announced three intimate shows at their old haunt the Brudenell Social Club in aid of Cystic Fibrosis where they would play all three albums to date in sequence with secret unannounced support bands each night (Franz Ferdinand, Kate Nash, and Kaiser Chiefs respectively). This was documented for the band's second DVD, the 3 disc Live at the Brudenell Social Club. In the year-end issues "Men's Needs" was named third-best track of 2007 by NME^[20] with the album coming in at #9,^[21] Track of the Year 2007 by the Metro newspaper and finishing in the 100 best tracks in Rolling Stone magazine in the USA.

2008 began with The Cribs being nominated for 4 awards at the annual NME awards ceremony (Best British Band, Best Live Band, Best Track and Hero of the Year for Ryan Jarman).^[22] Through this they were asked to headline the annual NME Awards Tour, which they undertook through January and February featuring some of the bands largest headline shows up to that point and culminating in a show at the o2 Arena in London. They also made a live appearance at the Awards ceremony itself, playing "I'm a Realist" and a cover of The Smiths' "Panic", featuring their new guitarist Johnny Marr (of the aforementioned The Smiths), who had been guesting with them throughout the tour. Another USA tour followed this, and then some more festival appearances including main stage slots at the Isle of Wight Festival, Rockness, Primavera Festival, Fuji Rock and Sziget, as well as a headline appearance on the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury, and headlining the second stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals.^[17]

[edit] Ignore the Ignorant (2009–2010)

After a chance meeting with Johnny Marr (at the time a member of Modest Mouse) in Portland, OR The Cribs and Johnny became close friends.^[23] Once Modest Mouse completed touring duties for their record, The Cribs and Johnny started to hang around and jam together - "It's been going well and it would be shame to cut it short, the original intention was to be doing an EP" the band told BBC 6 Music in January 2008.^[24] However it was later announced that they would be working on an album together and that Johhny had joined as a full-time member of the group.

Much of the remainder of 2008 was spent writing new material in Portland, OR, Manchester and Wakefield, followed by a short UK tour taking in Glasgow ABC, Bradford St. Georges Hall, two nights at Manchester Ritz, and Heaven in London to road-test some of the new songs before recording commenced. Studio time was booked for March 2009 in Los Angeles with veteran producer Nick Launay (Nick Cave, PIL, Yeah Yeah Yeahs).^[25] Ross Jarman performed most of the drum tracks for the recording with a broken wrist after a skateboard accident.^[26]

Preceded by the single "Cheat On Me", the album Ignore the Ignorant was released on 7 September 2009, and scored The Cribs their first UK Top Ten album. Released the same week that The Beatles re-issued their entire 13 LP back-catalogue, Ignore The Ignorant managed to out-sell all but two of them to chart at number 8, something the band described as "surreal". Touring began with a headline slot at the White Air festival in Brighton followed by a UK tour of large halls. The band then went on to tour Japan (including a show at Budokan with Arctic Monkeys) then on to South Korea where they headlined the Grand Mint festival at the Olympic Park, Seoul. Next was a USA/Canada tour, as well as a European arena tour with Franz Ferdinand before The Cribs returned to the UK for their largest headline shows to date.^[27]

In December 2009, Ignore the Ignorant was placed at number 11 in Mojo magazine's "Albums of the Year", and at number 7 in The Fly's "Albums of the Year". NME also placed it at #30 in their end of year list,^[28] as well as making "Cheat On Me" a track of the year. In Japan, Crossbeat magazine placed it at #8 in its "Albums of 2009" list, whilst Music Magazine called it the #1 album of 2009. Both magazines are leading publications in Japan. At the same time, The New Fellas was named an "Album of the Century" by Q.

2010 began with another extensive USA and Canada tour, before heading off for dates in Australia and New Zealand. Festival appearances including Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, Fuji Rock, Benecassim, and Pukkelpop amongst others followed. During this time the band were invited to support Aerosmith at two arena shows in Spain and France.^[29] For Record Store Day 2010 The Cribs released "So Hot Now" as a split 7" single with Portland, OR band The Thermals on legendary riot grrrl label Kill Rock Stars. On 9 August 2010, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe announced during his show that he would be playing a brand new Cribs song that night. The very next day, "Housewife" was released officially on iTunes. No one, from music industry insiders to the band's fans, had any idea that a new single was being geared up until that moment.^[30] The cover art featured Ryan and Gary in drag.^[31] Later that month the band appeared on the main stage once again at the Reading and Leeds festivals to close the album campaign. These would be Marr's last shows with The Cribs.

[edit] In the Belly of the Brazen Bull (2011–present)

After announcing Marr's departure from the group on 11 April 2011,^[32] The Cribs started work on writing the follow up to Ignore the Ignorant, mooted for a May 2012 release.^[33] They played several headlining slots at UK festivals in 2011, as well as a show at Le Zenith in Paris with The Strokes. In June 2011 they made their first trip to Brazil, playing two shows in São Paulo. In December 2011 they headlined the Clockenflap festival in Hong Kong.^[34]

The Cribs announced the title of their fifth studio album as In the Belly of the Brazen Bull and its track-listing on 14 January 2012. The album was recorded at Tarbox Road studio in New York with David Fridmann, London’s Abbey Road and Chicago's EAR studio with engineer Steve Albini. On 14 February, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe premiered the first taster from the album, "Chi-Town", on his radio show and played the song 3 times. During this time, both the band and the song title were trending on Twitter.

On 29 February 2012, In the Belly of the Brazen Bull was made available for pre-order via the Wichita Recordings web store. Pre-order options include various bundles containing items such as an exclusive t-shirt, a 'making of the album' DVD and a signed poster, as well as the chance to win a ‘Golden Laminate’ which will gain free entry to any Cribs headline show in the world, for life.^[35] The album was released on 7 May 2012.

Band members[link]

Current members

• Gary Jarman – bass, vocals (2000–present)
• Ryan Jarman – guitar, vocals (2000–present)
• Ross Jarman – drums (2000–present)

Former members

• Johnny Marr – guitar (2008–2011)

Touring members

• David Jones – guitar (2011–present)

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Singles[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Cribs official site

The-Dream
The-Dream performing on September 10, 2008 in New York City.
Background information
Birth name	Terius Youngdell Nash
Born	(1977-09-20) September 20, 1977 (age 34) Rockingham, North Carolina, U.S.
Genres	R&B, pop, hip hop
Occupations	singer-songwriter, record producer
Years active	1998–Present
Labels	Def Jam, Radio Killa
Associated acts	Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Los Da Mystro, Jennifer Lopez, Electrik Red, Rihanna, Kanye West, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Drake Fabolous, Jamie Foxx
Website	the-dreammusic.com

Terius Youngdell Nash (Born September 20, 1977), better known by his stage name The-Dream, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. He is known for co-writing chart topping hits such as "Baby" for Justin Bieber, "Umbrella" for Rihanna and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" for Beyoncé, as well as for his three solo albums, Love Hate, Love vs. Money, and Love King.

Early life[link]

Terius Nash was born in Rockingham, North Carolina and moved with his mother, Reva Nash, to Atlanta at the age of 3. He played trumpet, drums, and guitar as a child.^[1] His mother died in 1992 when Nash was fifteen years old, an event which would inspire him to write songs.^[2] He states that the death of his mother gave him a "soft spot" for women, which he credits to his desire to write songs about female empowerment such as Rihanna's "Umbrella".^[2] He moved in with his grandfather, a concrete mason who instilled a strong work ethic in young Nash. Of his grandfather, Nash recalls "He came out of a bad time for blacks in the South, but even though we lived in the hood, we had a boat, some cars and a house that was paid for. So I’ve always had a different outlook on life. There’s nothing I can’t do."^[3]

Music career[link]

Background[link]

Nash met R&B producer Laney Stewart in 2001; Stewart helped him get a publishing deal after writing "Everything" for B2K's album Pandemonium!.^[1] Under the pen name "The-Dream", Nash began writing lyrics for many popular artists. He spent two years working on Nivea's second album Complicated, which he executive produced, and continued to write and produce with Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Laney's brother, which led to Rihanna's 2007 smash hit "Umbrella". The success of "Umbrella" boosted Dream's music career, and in 2007, he signed a deal with Def Jam Records.^[4]

Solo[link]

Following the deal with Def Jam Records, The-Dream began working on his debut studio album Love Hate.^[4] The album was produced by The-Dream's production partner Tricky Stewart, and Carlos "LOS Da Maestro" McKinney, and featured Fabolous and Rihanna.^[5] The album was written and recorded in eight days with twelve tracks making the final cut. Some of the tracks were written in regards to The-Dream's personal life, most notably "Nikki," written about his ex-wife Nivea and how he has moved on since their divorce.^[6] The-Dream explained the title, Love Hate, as short for, "Love me all summer, hate me all winter, because they love you when you hot and when you're cold they don't... I'm hot right now and they love me, but I was cold and they wasn't fuckin' with me."^[6] Released December 11, 2007 on The-Dream's Def Jam-imprint Radio Killa Records,^[7] Love Hate moved 59,000 copies and debuted at number 30 on the Billboard 200.^[8] Love Hate also peaked at #5 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.^[9] The album received generally positive reviews from critics, as Rolling Stone called it "one of the most likable R&B records of the year" and UrbanMusicReviews.com said that the singer has "hit a home run."^[10]

On March 10, 2009 The-Dream released his second album Love vs. Money.^[11] He re-teamed with his production partner Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, who produced most of the tracks on the album, and Los Da Maestro.^[12] He also enlisted the help of Lil Jon for the song "Let Me See the Booty".^[8] Love vs. Money debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 151,000 copies in its first week.^[13] It also entered at number one on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and at number three on its Top Digital Albums chart in March 2009.^[14][15] Upon its release, the album received general acclaim from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 83/100 from Metacritic.^[16]

During the making of Love King, he recorded a song with T-Pain and expressed that he would like to make a collaborative album with Kanye West in the future.^[17] In January 2010, The-Dream officially stated he was finished recording the album and he called it the best of his three albums.^[18] The first single, "Love King", was released on March 16, 2010 for digital download. The album was released on June 29, 2010.^[19]

Before the album's release, the-Dream announced that Love King will be his last solo album.^[8][20] When Love King was released, the lyrics to the song "Sex Intelligent Remix" announced plans to release a new solo album called Love Affair and even gave the specific release date of June 7, 2011. In February 2011, The-Dream announced that the album is not titled "Love Affair" anymore, he stated that it is now titled "The Love, IV" and that he scrapped the June 7, 2011 release date and has set a new release date of August 2011.^[21] One week after anouncing that August release date, he said the he is pushing the album up and is hoping to release it on June 7 as promised.^[22] In June 2011, the album's title was changed yet again, this time to "Love IV: Diary of a Madman", it was also announced that it will released on September 20, 2011.^[23] On June 7, 2011; he released double promotional singles titled "Body Work" and "Fuck My Brains Out" to the internet.^[24] The Dream was not able to release "The Love, IV (Diary of a Mad Man)" on September 20, 2011 as planned and it was announced that the album got pushed back indefinitely due to "contract talks" with Def Jam Records.^[25] The-Dream then released a free 10-track album to the internet entitled 1977 on August 31, 2011.^[26][27] The-Dream also plans to release a 13-track studio album entitled Nikki: The Chronicles, which will follow his infatuation with the woman he sang about on 2007’s Love Hate and 2010’s Love King.^[28] In October 2011, Dream announced that he is personally pushing back the release of The Love; IV (Diary of A Madman) and that it will now be released in 2012. Dream also announced his plans to release his first international album, titled 1984: Persona of Love, it is set for release sometime in 2012, the album is a "persona album" and is inspired by his recent trip overseas.^[29] In February 2012, it was announced that the "The Love; IV (Diary of A Madman)" will be released on April 17, 2012.^[30] In March 2012, it was announced that "The Love; IV (Diary of A Madman)" has been re-titled "Love IV MMXII" and that its release date been pushed back to Summer 2012.^[31] In May 2012, it was announced that the album will be released on August 14, 2012.^[32]

Production[link]

In addition to working with Nivea and Rihanna, The-Dream also began writing for numerous artists, most notably J. Holiday's "Bed", Usher's "Moving Mountains", Yung Joc's "Coffee Shop" and Jesse McCartney's "Leavin'". He also co-wrote Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body", Ciara's "High Price," and took part in co-writing a majority of Mary J. Blige's 2007 Growing Pains album, including the smash hit "Just Fine". Recently^[when?] he featured in Drake (entertainer)'s album Thank Me Later the song "Shut It Down".

In December 2007, The-Dream was nominated for Grammy Award for Song of the Year for "Umbrella", but lost to Amy Winehouse's "Rehab". However, in June 2008, The-Dream won the award for Best New Artist at the 2008 BET Awards. Throughout 2008, The-Dream appeared on a number of records including Plies' "Please Excuse My Hands" with Jamie Foxx, LL Cool J's "Baby", Gym Class Heroes' "Cookie Jar" and Kardinal Offishall's "Gimme Some". In addition, The-Dream signed female R&B girl-group Electrik Red to Radio Killa Records and they released their debut album, How to Be a Lady: Volume 1, under the label.^[33] The-Dream and production partner Christopher "Tricky" Stewart produced "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" off Beyoncé's album I Am… Sasha Fierce, co-produced two tracks ("Just Like Me" & "Digital Girl") and was featured on Jamie Foxx's album Intuition, and worked with Mario and Lionel Richie.^[8] He will also be featured on a number of upcoming albums from; Phyzikal, Ciara, Sterling Simms, Young Chris, Dear Jayne, Brandy and Cassie.

In early 2009, The-Dream began working with Christina Milian on her fourth studio album Elope,^[34] which led to her signing a joint-deal with Radio Killa Records.^[35] The-Dream said that when he was building his label, he went looking for Milian because he believed she was a talented singer.^[36] The singer confirmed that her second single would be a duet with The-Dream called "Supersonic".^[37]

Throughout 2009, The-Dream has also been working on new material for Mariah Carey, Brandy, and Diddy. Diddy's song "Change" is described by The-Dream as, "probably one of the best male records I've ever written...the best record I've written besides 'Umbrella'. The-Dream also worked on Jennifer Lopez's single Louboutins from her 7th album Love? by Sony Music. The song did not chart at the Billboard Hot 100 but charted at number 1 on the Hot/Dance Club Chart. He keep working on more tracks for her album which was released in Spring 2011 by Def Jam.^{[dated info][8][dated info]} He also collaborated on, produced and wrote Snoop Dogg's "Gangsta Luv", which is on the 2009 album Malice n Wonderland.

The-Dream and Tricky Stewart have worked on Ciara's fourth studio album titled "Basic Instinct", which was released on December 14, 2010, and was executive produced by the trio. He co-wrote her lead single titled "Ride", which was released in April 2010, and went on to become a R&B smash hit and her twelfth top ten hit on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.^[38]

The-Dream received a fair amount of backlash for his cover of singer Aaliyah's song "One in a Million". Upon the release of the song, fans of Aaliyah bombarded radio shows and blog sites with distaste for The-Dream's rendition.^[39]

He also worked alongside Tricky Stewart on Jessica Simpson's Christmas album titled Happy Christmas, released on November 22, 2010, and also working on Simpson's upcoming pop album, to be released in 2011.^{[dated info]}

The-Dream produced a music single for Kim Kardashian, "Jam (Turn It Up)", released in March 2, 2011 and then worked on Beyoncé's album titled 4, released on June 28, 2011.

On March 16, 2012, Billboard posted an interview with The-Dream, where he talked about having been given the opportunity to go in to the studio in a few weeks to work with Shakira, and how excited he is for the track.^[40]

Personal life[link]

The-Dream married girlfriend Nivea in 2004, whom he had been dating for one year. Together they had three children, daughter Navy Talia (on May 10, 2005); and twin sons London and Christian (April 2006). They had been married for three years when Nivea filed for legal separation in December 2007. The-Dream said that although he was in love with Nivea, his lack of experience in a family growing up meant he was "not taught how much more than love does it take to run a relationship. Like, 'cause love isn't just where it's gonna end. It can't start and stop with love. There has to be a certain amount of knowledge and patience that's acquired in order to keep it going and keep it straight, and I found out the hard way".^[41]

The-Dream began dating Christina Milian in early 2009; she became pregnant. The Daily Mail reported that "the pregnancy was a surprise, but they were getting married regardless".^[42] They then became engaged in June 2009.^[43] In August, it was reported that they had applied for a marriage license in Los Angeles. On September 4, 2009, The-Dream married Christina Milian at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas.^[44] The-Dream said in an interview that Nivea was still a good friend of his, and that she was also friends with Milian.^[45] Milian gave birth to their daughter Violet Madison Nash on February 26, 2010.^[46] Milian and The-Dream announced their separation on July 12, 2010 ^[47] after photos surfaced of The-Dream vacationing with his assistant.^[48]

In addition to music, The-Dream revealed he is currently working on a TV reality series for MTV where he will scout aspiring singers,^[8] and plans to release a clothing line called Millionaire Love Affair.^[33]

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Love Hate (2007)
• Love vs. Money (2009)
• Love King (2010)
• Love IV MMXII (2012)

Free album

• 1977 (2011)

Awards and nominations[link]