"Passionate, intellectual acoustic" and "inspirational themes" are what some have said about the songwriting of Paul Black. This singer/songwriter draws listeners into his story line and captures their heart, soul and attention to get the message of his song across. His writing style and ability has been compared to the likes of Tom Waits, Dan Fogelberg, Neil Young and John Mellencamp, and Paul uses his natural comfort on stage and his talent as a performer and vocalist to leave the audience asking for more. Paul has a unique, hauntingly beautiful lyrical voice that when coupled with his melodies, reach deep into the soul of the listener.
A native of the suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland, Paul studied music and theater at UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) where he performed in numerous musicals and plays. He was even fortunate enough to have performed at the Kennedy Center.
Although he excelled in the theater, his real passion was for music, and in 1991 began seriously writing songs based on life experiences and human emotion. Since then he has written over 200 songs covering a variety of topics and styles, from Country and Christian, to Pop and Caribbean, and everything in between. For a time he took a break from music to concentrate on his family. He is happily married and has three beautiful children.
In November 2003, a tragic but awakening event took place when his youngest child, Nicholas was diagnosed with cancer. Through aggressive treatment by the world's most outstanding physicians at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC, Nicholas was brought into remission in June of 2004, where he remains. But this single event sparked a fire under Paul and gave his life, and his music new meaning and purpose.
In September 2004 Paul began performing at Wilmington, NC area clubs and coffee houses, and in January 2005 started the Will Sing 4 A Cure music program to help raise awareness and funding to help fight pediatric cancers.
Paul uses over 1/3 of every dollar he makes from his live performances, merchandise and CD sales to his Will Sing 4 A Cure program which sends money to over a dozen cancer centers, organizations and foundations specific to children’s cancer in hopes that his contribution will help to heal those afflicted with the disease and to help researchers find a cure. When Paul has a tip bucket out, 100% of the proceeds are used for Will Sing 4 A Cure. For the upcoming year, Paul will be scheduling over 110 shows. Also, Paul donates a significant portion of his proceeds from digital downloads from CDBaby and iTunes.
Read more...