../Joseph Arthur |
| Joseph Arthur (born September 28, 1971) is a contemporary singer-songwriter from Akron, Ohio, known for his melodic compositions combined with swirling choruses. He was discovered by Peter Gabriel in the mid-'90s, and signed to Gabriel's Real World label. In the early 90's Joseph Arthur was recording home demos, playing local Atlanta clubs and working at Clark Music Store. As luck should have it, Peter Gabriel's A&R associate Harvey Schwartz was presenting him some new artists at his apartment in New York City. Once Gabriel heard the lyrics to "History" he repeated the line "your history acts as your gravity" over and over realizing the talented songwriter was a great fit for his label Real World Records. Both he and Schwartz arranged a live audition at the Fez in NYC, where Arthur flew up from Atlanta. The night was clearly a success as Gabriel had enlisted friend Lou Reed to record the show. Within a few months Arthur was signed and Big City Secrets was recorded at his Real World Studios with Marcus Dravs (experimental Bjork engineer) producing the album. Two years later, he recorded an EP called Vacancy, which earned him a Grammy nomination for the artistic packaging. In January 2008, it was announced that Joseph would be releasing 4 brand new EPs and one new full-length album throughout 2008, beginning with Could We Survive on March 18, 2008. |