Mikey Wax
Change Again
A young singer/songwriters gorgeous and intimate collection of 13 songs about life, love, and coming of age. Features rich and sweet vocals on top of melodic piano and emotional guitars.
Mikey Wax is a singer/songwriter from Long Island, NY, who released his debut album, "Change Again," on November, 1st 2008. He is a talented pianist/guitarist who began studying classical piano music at the age of 8, and immediately began using the piano to write his own songs. After having composed over 50 instrumental songs by his early teens, he recorded an album at the age of 13 on a home-studio "midi" system. One song from the album was picked up and played on the New York radio station 101.9 FM, a major jazz and instrumental station at the time.
In high school, Wax began playing at local open mics in the Long Island area. Most places did not have a keyboard, so he taught himself to play guitar by applying what he knew on piano. As a guitarist, he was influenced by popular singer/songwriters like Dave Matthews Band and John Mayer. He started writing songs on the guitar and singing along to them. The combination of his piano playing, guitar and distinct voice helped him to create his own sound. His music has certain qualities of modern artists such as Coldplay, John Mayer, David Gray, and Keane.
After high school, Mikey moved to Nashville, TN to become a student at Vanderbilt University. Surrounded by music, he continued to mature as an artist and further built his skills as a songwriter, lyricist, singer and performer. While attending, his band at the time were selected by the student body to perform in the well-known 'Rites of Spring' festival held by the school every April. Mikey graduated from Vanderbilt in the spring of 2006.
On the weekend of his college graduation, Mikey received a letter that took nearly 20 years to get to him. It was from his late grandfather, who wrote the letter when he was sick and had little time left to live. His grandfather requested the letter be handed to Mikey once he was a young man ready to enter "the real world." Inside were words of love and wisdom to make up for lost time the two would never share together. The letter inspired Mikey to write the song "With You Goes," and gave him new motivation to pursue a career in music. He moved back home and contacted local Long Island producer Bob Stander, who had a small but quality studio in his basement. The two began recording songs in the fall of 2006, and over the next two years, the collection of songs turned into Wax's first full-length studio album, titled "Change Again." The album consists of songs that Mikey wrote between leaving for college and the months after returning back home. Most of the subject matter deals with change, uncertainty, love and loss. The songs were placed in reverse order from the time they were written to allow the listener to hear the growth and maturity in the five years of songwriting and singing that went into the album.
2008 was a great year for the 24-year-old singer/songwriter. Mikey's song "In Case I go Again" was selected as the winner of The Unsigned Artist radio contest held by WRMF/97.9 FM, a top 40 radio station in South Florida. The same song was selected to Almighty Music's Emerging Artist Jukebox, which features some of the strongest new music from a few rising artists. In October, Mikey performed in the 2008 CMJ Marathon. The CMJ Marathon is a well- respected festival in the music industry, and features some of the best up-coming artists from around the world. On November 16th, Mikey made his debut television performance playing live on the CBS news morning show in Florida. The broadcast reached over 50,000 viewers, and the station was extremely generous in promoting his album on the air for the entire broadcast. In December, Mikey signed a contract with the national booking agency, Supreme Entertainment. The agency also represents major acts like Eve 6, Nine Days, Fastball, and Nick Lachey. Mikey has been working closely with them booking a Northeast tour of the U.S. to promote his debut album. The tour officially began in January, 2009. Most recently, Mikey has signed licensing contracts with several television networks, including MTV, E!, and ESPN.
Since the release of his debut album this past November, "Change Again" has reached #46 on the iTunes Plus top 100 pop albums charts in the U.S. The album has also charted on the iTunes Plus top 100 pop albums in Canada, Australia, and the UK, each in the first week of January, 2009. This is a very strong debut for a completely independent artist with no label or major management behind him. The album has been continuing to spread through word-of-mouth, live shows, and social networking sites such as facebook, myspace and youtube.
2009 looks to be a great year for the upcoming singer and songwriter. With the release of his debut album and consistent live shows, Mikey Wax is developing loyal fans all over the world.
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