| Cody Chesnutt | |
|---|---|
Cody Chesnutt performing at Martin Luther's Rebel Soul Fest in San Francisco, July 2008 |
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| Background information | |
| Born | 1968 (age 43–44) |
| Origin | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Genres | Rock and roll, R&B, soul |
| Occupations | Composer, musician |
| Associated acts | The Crosswalk |
Cody Chesnutt (stylized as Cody ChesnuTT, born 1968[1]) is an American R&B and neo soul musician.
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Cody Chesnutt is an African American musician from Atlanta, Georgia, whose music blends elements of rock, funk, soul, hip hop, and blues. Chesnutt and his former band, The Crosswalk, had a brief stint with Hollywood Records in which they were later booted from the label. The band subsequently broke up and Chesnutt released a double LP in 2002 entitled The Headphone Masterpiece, which was recorded on a 4-track cassette recorder in his bedroom recording studio, which he calls "The Sonic Promiseland".
His closest brush with mainstream success came in 2002, when the hip hop group The Roots remade a song from his album, "The Seed", for their album, Phrenology. The remade version, entitled "The Seed (2.0)" to distinguish it from the original, was featured on the Collateral soundtrack. Chesnutt plays guitar and sings vocals on the track, and appears in its music video, which received heavy airplay on MTV and BET. At the height of his popularity, Chesnutt's backing band consisted of drummer Craig Waters, now with the band The Bellrays, and bassist Aaron Ebensperger. In October 2003, Cody Chesnutt was nominated for the prestigious Shortlist Music Prize, and performed in the ceremony for the prize at the Wiltern Theatre in California.
In 2006, Chesnutt appeared in the music documentary Dave Chappelle's Block Party, which was originally recorded in September 2004. The same year, he recorded the track "Boils" for the 4AD records album Plague Songs. On his MySpace announced an upcoming album titled The Live Release, which he has been performing around the world but was never officially published or released. In 2007, he performed at the Pop Montreal music festival as one of the headliners.
In 2010 he released an EP called Black Skin No Value. Furthermore he stated in an interview that he will publish his second big album Landing On A Hundred in 2011.[2]
Many acclaimed musicians count Cody Chesnutt as an exciting force within the field of music.[3] In an interview on MTV's Subterranean, Radiohead's Thom Yorke listed the singer as one of his favorite new acts.
His song "5 on a Joyride" is featured in the film Me and You and Everyone We Know. Recently, his song "Look Good in Leather" from the album The Headphone Masterpiece has been featured in an Axe commercial.
He appears as himself in the 2002 independent film Charlotte Sometimes, performing on stage, and several of his songs are featured in the soundtrack, including "My Women, My Guitars," "5 on a Joyride," and "Boylife in America."