Drake Bell

Drake Bell
Background information
Birth name Jared Drake Bell
Born June 27, 1986 (1986-06-27) (age 24)
Orange County, California, U.S.
Genres Pop rock
Occupations Film actor, television actor, comedian, guitarist, producer, singer-songwriter, television director, pianist
Instruments Vocals, guitar, piano, bass, drums, ukulele
Years active 1994–present
Labels Nine Yards (2005)
Motown (2006–present)
Website Official Website

Jared Drake Bell[1] (born June 27, 1986), better known as Drake Bell, is an American actor, comedian, guitarist, singer/songwriter, producer, and occasional television director. Bell is commonly associated with his real-life best friend Josh Peck, who co-starred with him in both The Amanda Show, with Amanda Bynes, and Drake & Josh. After beginning his career as a child star in the late 1990s and early 2000s, he appeared on The Amanda Show and became well-known among young audiences for his role on the series Drake & Josh. As of 2010 Drake Bell is still the most popular Nickelodeon star.

In addition to his acting, Bell has a growing career as a musician, and co-wrote and performed the theme song to Drake & Josh, entitled "Found a Way". In 2005 he independently released his debut album, Telegraph. His second album, It's Only Time, was released in 2006 after signing with Motown.

Contents

Personal life

Bell was born and raised in Orange County, California, the son of Robin Dodson, a professional pool player, and Joe Bell.[1][2] His cousin is San Diego Padres closer Heath Bell.[3]

Car accident

On December 29, 2005, Bell was involved in a car accident on Los Angeles' Pacific Coast Highway. He was driving with a friend when a truck ran a red light and caused a head-on collision. This resulted in a fractured neck, a jaw broken in three places, six missing teeth and several facial lacerations for Drake. The doctor said it was not life threatening, according to an interview in 2006. After recovering, Bell underwent plastic surgery to reverse the cosmetic effects of the crash. He said that the crash was somewhat of a positive influence on his career because it helped him to appreciate the little things in life.[4]

Career

Acting

He then appeared in the film Jerry Maguire as Jesse Remo in 1996, and had a small role in the Seinfeld episode "The Frogger" in 1998. In 1999, he acted in a commercial for Pokémon Red and Blue and in the movie Dragon World: The Legend Continues. In 2000, he was nominated for the Young Artist Award for "Best Performance in a TV Movie or Pilot" in the "Supporting Young Actor" category for his role as Cage Redding in the made-for-television film The Jack Bull. During the early 2000s, Bell was a featured performer on The Amanda Show and made a guest appearance on the series The Nightmare Room, before being cast as Drake Parker on the Nickelodeon series Drake & Josh, which began airing in 2004. During this time period, he made a guest appearance as himself on Nickelodeon's Zoey 101 and won the first of three consecutive "Blimp Awards" at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in the "Favorite TV Actor" category. In 2005, Bell co-starred alongside fellow Drake & Josh actress Miranda Cosgrove with Dennis Quaid in Yours, Mine and Ours.He directed an episode of iCarly along with his former co-star, Josh Peck.In the spring of 2008, Bell had a starring role in the comedy spoof film Superhero Movie. In August 2008, he co-starred in the comedy College, which was shot on location in New Orleans. Bell has signed a producing deal with Virtus Entertainment and will star in The Miracle of Santa Rosa. Bell will also be in another Virtus Entertainment production, this one a mini-series titled Flying Tigers. Bell recently starred in Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh alongside Josh Peck, which began production in July 2008, and premiered on December 5, 2008. He recently guest starred in the online webseries titled I Heart Vampires.[5]

He will star as Timmy Turner in the live-action TV-movie adaptation of its hit animated series The Fairly Odd Parents, A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!, to be released in 2011.[6]

Music

Bell was first professionally associated with music when he was in the 2001 movie Chasing Destiny. In the film, he co-starred with The Who lead singer Roger Daltrey, who gave him his first guitar lessons. Bell performed on television for the first time in 2002 when he performed his first original song, "Lost A Lover", on The Amanda Show. He also performed part of this song on an episode of "The Nightmare Room", and "So Little Time". Another one of his songs, "Found a Way", is featured as the theme song for Drake & Josh. The song is included on Drake & Josh soundtrack, along with two other compositions he wrote and performed, that were on his debut album, Telegraph, which was released independently on September 27, 2005.

In 2005, Bell performed with Hawk Nelson in a video for the Hawk Nelson song called "Bring 'Em Out," which was featured in the movie Yours, Mine and Ours. Bell and fellow band-mates Michael Corcoran (Backhouse Mike) and C.J. Abraham (The Super Chris), worked on music for Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, and iCarly. In 2006, Bell signed with Universal Records. He released his first single, "I Know", on October 17, 2006. The video for "I Know" was filmed in October 2006. Bell's second album, entitled It's Only Time, was released on December 5, 2006, reaching Number 81 on Billboard's Top 200.[7] Bell performed live on MTV's TRL the day after it was released. In the summer of 2007, he went on a Nextfest tour in support of It's Only Time, opening up alongside Corbin Bleu for Aly & AJ.

On October 16, 2007, the Radio Disney single edit version of his song "Makes Me Happy", was released on iTunes. This was the second single for Bell's album It's Only Time. He also wrote with band-mates Michael Corcoran (Backhouse Mike), and C.J. Abraham (The Super Chris), and sang the theme song for the show iCarly, "Leave It All to Me," with Miranda Cosgrove. The music video for the song premiered on May 24, 2008. Bell has recorded a theme song featuring Sara Paxton for his movie Superhero Movie called "Superhero! Song". He performed some Christmas songs in the Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh movie.

Bell has described his music as being heavily influenced by The Beatles and The Beach Boys, with the Beatles being his main influence.[8] He says that two of his other influences are Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly.[9]

A DVD entitled "Drake Bell In Concert" was released on December 16, 2008. The video was unable to crack the 2008 or 2009 Top 100.[10] The DVD contains footage of him and his band live on stage while they toured in Mexico, in October 2008. It also features 2 new songs and 5 covers, all of which are exclusive to the DVD.[11]

2007-present: Third Album

In late 2007, Bell was working on his third studio album, originally intended for a spring 2008 release.[12] This album will most likely not be produced by his current label Universal Motown, as said by CJ Abraham in an interview. A few new songs have been heard, and in interviews he has explained, "It's kind of a conceptual double album. The first record is kind of like Magical Mystery Tour in the air, like a 1960's Pan Am flight with all this cool orchestral music and if there is turbulence on the flight, there will be a cool rock and roll song or if there's a special thing we're going through then you'll hear like Mr. Kite type music. And the other side is all about the sea. It's a story, kind of like The Princess Bride where a guy leaves his girl in a town and goes off to sea and crashes on an island and all these legends come back about him becoming this great pirate and ruling the seas. She thinks 'oh, man. He left me!' and really he's just on this island trying to get back to her so it's this back and forth love story about love lost and all that. Hopefully we're gonna try and do a movie alongside it".

And in another interview it was described that he says he drew inspiration for an in-the-works conceptual double CD from the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" and "Magical Mystery Tour." He said, "There's a whole movie I'd like to shoot alongside it that we're writing right now," he says. "It's a 'Princess Bride'-'Romeo and Juliet'-type story with monsters and pirates with big beards. It's very Jellyfish and Jon Brion, Harry Nilsson's 'Popeye' soundtrack. That type of music with a Michel Gondry look to it."

"Sea Song", and another called "All Alone at the Disco" can be seen on his "Live In Concert" DVD. In some other concerts he has played "Our Love" and "Yesterday's Fool", which can also be heard on a SayNow message. He announced "Here am I" on another SayNow message. He released a minute of a Spanglish edit of "All Alone at the Disco" and one minute thirty seconds of "Unbelievable" on his official MySpace.[9] Another, "Modern Times", appeared in a commercial for Twalking and is available on his MySpace and Facebook.

Filmography

Film
Year Film Role Notes
1996 Jerry Maguire Jesse Remo
1999 The Jack Bull Cage Redding
2000 High Fidelity Young Rob Gordon
Perfect Game Bobby Jr.
2005 Yours, Mine and Ours Dylan North
2008 Superhero Movie Rick Riker
College Kevin
Unstable Fables: Tortoise vs. Hare Butch Hare Voice role
The Nutty Professor Harold Kelp Voice role
Direct-to-DVD release
2011 A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner! Timmy Turner (Adult)
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1994 Home Improvement Little Pete Episode: Swing Time
1995 Minor Adjustments Jordan Episode: The Ex Files
1996 ABC Afterschool Special Scott Episode: Me and My Hormones
1997 Gun Brendan Episode: The Hole
1998 Seinfeld Kenny Episode: The Frogger
1999-2002 The Amanda Show Drake
2002 The Nightmare Room Alex Sanders Episode: Dear Diary, I'm Dead
2004-2008 Drake & Josh Drake Parker Main Role
2006 Drake & Josh Go Hollywood Drake Parker TV-Movie
Zoey 101 Himself Episode: Spring Fling
2007 Drake & Josh: Really Big Shrimp Drake Parker TV-Movie
2008 Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh Drake Parker TV-Movie
2010 I <3 Vampires Ian Episode: I Love Luci
Episode: Four's A Crowd
ICarly Drake Parker Episode: iBloop
2011 A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner! Timmy Turner TV-Movie

Discography

Studio albums

Year Album details Peak positions
US US Rock MEX
2005 Telegraph
  • First studio album
  • Release date: September 27, 2005
  • Label: Nine Yard Records
2006 It's Only Time
  • Second studio album
  • Release date: December 5, 2006
  • Label: Universal Motown
81 21 4

Extended plays

Year Album details Peak positions
US US Rock MEX
1999 Nashville Sessions
  • First extended play
  • Release date: Nov 30, 1999
  • Label: California Records

Singles

Year Single Peak positions Album
US US
Pop
2005 "I Found a Way" Telegraph
2006 "I Know" It's Only Time
2007 "Makes Me Happy" 103 67
"Leave It All to Me"
(Miranda Cosgrove featuring Drake Bell)
100 83 iCarly
2008 "Superhero! Song" 43 28 Non-album single
2010 "Our Love" -- -- Non-album single
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Video albums

Year Video details Certifications
(sales thresholds)
2008 Drake Bell In Concert
  • Released: December 16, 2008
  • Label: Motown/Universal
  • Formats: DVD

Awards

Year Award Category
2006 Blimp Award (Kids' Choice Awards) Favorite TV Actor (Drake & Josh)
2007 Blimp Award (Kids' Choice Awards) Favorite TV Actor (Drake & Josh)
Blimp Award (UK Kids' Choice Awards) Best Male Singer
Blimp Award (UK Kids' Choice Awards) Best TV Show (Drake & Josh)
2008 Blimp Award (Kids' Choice Awards) Favorite TV Actor (Drake & Josh)
Blimp Award (KCA Brazil 2008 - Meus Prêmios Nick) Favourite International Artist
Surfboard Award (Teen Choice Awards) Choice Movie Breakout Actor (Superhero Movie)
2009 Blimp Award (Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards) Fave International TV Star

References

External links