Jamie Stevens
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- For the English footballer, see Jamie Stevens (footballer)
| Jamie Stevens | |
|---|---|
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| Origin | Germany |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Genres | Pop, Europop |
| Labels | Stevensville Records (own independent label) |
Jamie Stevens (born September 15, 1974 in Germany) was one of the first male pop singers to sell his music and CD's through his own Independent record label on the internet. A long time before music platforms such as Napster and Kazaa became famous, he had already started to market his music through the world wide web. His official website went online in 1997, a long time before most major superstars went online with their own official websites (such as George Michael or Madonna who both went online with their own websites three years later than Stevens).
In 2000, he became one of the most downloaded artists on the internet with more than 25,000 legal downloads per month (and a total of 300,000 downloads in the year 2000 only). While record companies such as Sony, BMG or Polydor filed a lawsuit against Napster and other file sharing platforms, Jamie Stevens even encouraged people to download his music legally off the internet. He became an international Top10 artist on MP3.com and offered his music on various other legal music platforms.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] 1995–1998: Early years
Jamie Stevens started to write and record his first demo songs in 1995. He recorded about 20 songs that year and sent them to record labels and producers in Germany. Two of those songs, "Let Yourself Go" and "I Believe In You" would later end up on his critically acclaimed debut album.
His demo tapes prompted some heavy reactions in the music business and he received various offers. During that time Jamie started to work with Germany's top-notch producer duo Klarmann/Weber (who already scored a US No 1 hit with Chaka Khan, and who also worked with artists such as Beverley Knight, LaToya Jackson, Kathy Troccoli or Randy Crawford). He was also asked to join a new German boygroup but declined the offer and started to put his first 15-minute live show together. During the following years he did various TV shows and live performances in Germany. He performed together with various international acts like Blümchen, Justin Timberlake, or DJ Quicksilver.
[edit] 1999–2000: The first CD single(s)
Stevens released his first CD single, "Only love (will make you wise)," on the internet in 1999. The CD was distributed by MP3.com, where it became an instant No 1 hit. It seemed that Stevens had discovered a whole new way of marketing his music (in 1999 none of the major recording artists sold or distributed their music through the internet yet). Two other CD singles followed in the next 12 months and Jamie Stevens started working on his first album.
[edit] 2001–2002: The Wizard's Call
Still without a record deal, Stevens decided to release his debut album on his own. At this time it was quite unusual to choose this way of distribution (which seems to be a natural way of marketing music these days) and Stevens became a forerunner for being one of the first independent male pop artists to sell his music on the internet only. He had teamed up with different songwriters from Sweden, New York, Canada, Switzerland, Los Angeles, and Germany to finish his debut album, "The Wizard's Call," which was eventually released in May 2001. The album was a set of 14 pop songs, with most of the songs co-written by Jamie Stevens himself.
A national promotion campaign included various radio and magazine interviews. Jamie cracked the MP3.com Pop Charts with four different songs. More than 25,000 people downloaded his songs in one month only (November 2001). His cover version of LFO's "Girl On TV" became another MP3.com No. 1 hit (peaking at No. 4 on the overall worldwide Mp3.com Pop Charts in July 2001). At the same time he was one of AudioSurge's Top 40 most downloaded artists of the month (together with major acts, such as Britney Spears).
His song "Back Off," which was written by Stevens and Rodney Ronquillo stayed on some German radio charts for nearly one year. The album was distributed worldwide by CDBaby.
"The Wizard's Call" was sold out by November 2003 and was never re-released. However, some of the originally maufactured CD (from 2001) became available again in Nov/Dec 2006 and were sold through CDBaby.
[edit] 2002–2003: Unbreakable
Shortly after the release of his debut album, Stevens already started working on his sophomore album "Unbreakable." The album was released in November 2002 and included 15 brand new songs. Again he collaborated with songwriters and producers from all around the world. Many songs were offered as a free and legal MP3 downloads on different music platforms, such as MP3.com, BeSonic, MP3 Australia and SoundClick.
The album also included Jamie's cover versions of the Italian No1 hit "La Solitudine" by Laura Pausini and the song "Battlefield" (originally by Paul Carrack and Nick Lowe but later interpreted by Diana Ross).
The album went Top 10 on the Outvoice Charts, which is a hit list for openly gay music artists (the charts regularly feature worldwide stars, such as RuPaul, Elton John, or George Michael) and independent artists, such as Ari Gold, Josh Zuckerman, or Skott Freedman).
"Unbreakable" was already sold out one year after its release, namely in November 2003. The album has never been re-released ever since then and it is his rarest CD so far.
To this day (October 2006), "Unbreakable" has been the last studio album that Stevens recorded.
[edit] 2003–2006: On hiatus
Very much to the surprise of his fans, Stevens announced to take a break from the music business in April 2003. In the following 3 years he did not record any new songs, nor did he perform anywhere.
In 2003 he focused on finishing his own music trivia/comedy computer game, "Pop Minds," which was released in Germany, Switzerland and Austria in October 2003 and received raving reviews from the national press. Stevens was the only author of "Pop Minds."
One year after Jamie's retreat from the music business, both of his albums had been sold out completely. So his production company finally decided to release a compilation album that included his most successful hits, plus remixes and previously unreleased songs. The album "Everyday's Another Chance (The Best of 1997 - 2004)," became an instant Outvoice Charts Top 5 album and is still available worldwide. The CD contained 16 songs, including the previously unreleased track "2Nite We R," which had been recorded in early 1999. The song was penned by LA-based songwriter Terry Lupton, known from his work with Apollonia Kotero, Joey Lawrence or Disney's pop sensation The Party. A new version of his 2001 hit "If I Could Love You Forever" was popular on some German radio stations and could be downloaded for free on Amazon.com for a short while.
Stevens celebrated his 10-year anniversary in show business in 2005. Although he still had no intention to return to the music business, he made a short guest appearance when he agreed to contribute one song to the charity album "Voyces United for UNHCR". Together with other artists he sang for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which protects and supports refugees at the request of a government or the United Nations and assists in their return or resettlement. Jamie believed in this cause and contributed the song "Voice Of The Heart."
[edit] 2006–present: Possible comeback
A comeback album has been planned for a long time already. In August 2006, Stevens finally announced on his official MySpace page that his long-awaited third studio album ("Opinionated!") would be released in Summer 2007. Not much has been announced yet about the track list, except for a cover version of Zeeteah Massiah's "You Came."
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- 2001 The Wizard's Call
- 2002 Unbreakable
- 2004 Everyday's Another Chance (The Best of 1997 - 2004)
- 2007 Opinionated! scheduled for a release in Summer 2007
[edit] Singles
- 1999 Only love (will make you wise)
- 2000 I Wanna Get 2 Know U
- 2000 Where Do I Go From Here?
- 2001 Back Off
- 2004 If I Could Love You Forever
[edit] Other
- 2005 Voice Of The Heart (on the charity album Voyces United for UNHCR)
