Teron Beal

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Teron Beal
Birth name Teron Beal
Also known as Teron
Born (1974-12-26) 26 December 1974
Tyler, Texas
Genres R&B, soul, pop
Occupations Singer, songwriter
Years active 1990–present
Labels Pope

Teron Beal is an American singer/songwriter born in Tyler, Texas.[1] He has also written songs for Michael Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, P!nk, Kelly Rowland, Mýa, Chrisette Michele, Robyn, Jaheim and others.

Teron's album Liquor Store was created during what was supposed to be a short vacation in Sweden that turned into a 10-month writing and recording session.

Teron has stated that he is influenced by artists Michael Jackson, Prince, Lenny Kravitz, Radiohead, The Beatles, and Pink Floyd.

Early life

Teron Beal (born 26 December 1974, Los Angeles) is an American singer/songwriter. His father, Danny Beal is a preacher and business owner. His mother, Barbara Roberson is a school teacher. They are now divorced and his mother is remarried. His brothers and sisters are Jerrid, Danielle, Brandon (also a singer and artist), and his twin Brandy. Teron was born in Los Angeles and his family moved to a little town in Texas, Tyler, when he was 5.

He was born in L.A. and spent his early years in Pasadena, but his father chose to return to Texas to raise his family, before finding a passion for Jesus. Teron Beal became the preacher's son, which didn't agree with him at all. Once he graduated in 1991 from John Tyler High School in Tyler, he left the small town for Los Angeles. There he enrolled into a university to study marketing to please his parents, then journalism.

He eventually studied acting at the University of Southern California where he landed the lead role in one of the university's plays. The production soon evolved into a musical. This venture into the world of music sparked his passion for his now acclaimed music. Once the play was over he connected with all the songwriters, musicians, and singers that were a part of the production. He fell in love the process: their concerts, them creating in the studios, etc.

He started writing songs to avoid doing his homework. He would write these songs and sing them to girls at his college. He soon got a reputation for being able to create enjoyable music and people began introducing him to more songwriters and musicians, saying: "You should meet this guy Teron, he's a good writer." Teron would deny these claims, but continued practising tirelessly and grew better.

Music career

In 1994, Teron had an opportunity to write to some music that Ian Prince and Delroy Pearson (the youngest brother of the group Five Star) had created. He was told that the group Immature was interested in the music and needed someone to write songs on the two backing tracks they gave him. The problem with that was they needed the songs the very next day. Luckily, that's where all his practice paid off because he had become a fast writer at this point. So he stayed all night writing the songs and sang the songs to the producers the next day. They loved the songs, and Immature recorded the songs the day after (featured on the album Playtime is Over; his songs were "Constantly" and "Just a Little Bit"). The songs were co-written with the R&B singer Jessie Powell. "Constantly" was released as a single and quickly became a pop hit.

In 1995, he signed his first publishing deal with Walt Disney Records. They began introducing him to more producers, musicians, singers, writers, and music executives. He started to make a name for himself as he continued to write songs. Unfortunately, he felt Disney was not the best place for him as an urban songwriter. In 1997, Teron signed with BMG in New York. Derrick Thompson (vice president, urban music) gave him a cut from a producer who was looking for someone to write to tracks. "I heard the track and I immediately knew what I was going to do with it. I have these friends who call and get me to turn to Jerry Springer because they know I don't like to watch that show. They had just done that a few nights earlier and there were these two girls yelling at each other... 'I want her to leave my man alone' and the other one is screaming 'He's paging me!' When I heard this track that was fresh in my mind, and I wrote the song almost verbatim from that Jerry Springer episode."

The producer of the song was signed with a production company owned by L.A. Reid, who sent the track on to Babyface. He liked the song, asked who Teron was, and wanted to work with him on it. When Teron and Babyface met, Teron told him that he was so influenced by the producer's music that it should come as no surprise that Babyface liked the song. Babyface felt that there should be a bridge in the song so Teron started making suggestions. Realizing that he was telling a musical legend what to do with a song, Teron stopped talking. Babyface encouraged him to go on because he was interested in hearing his ideas. The song was pitched to Shanice and she loved it, Teron got the chance to work with her in the studio when she recorded it.

Teron soon created songs for Mýa, Ray J and Changing Faces. He also has had a duet recorded by Kelly Price and Chico DeBarge.

Collaboration with Michael Jackson

In 1999, while hanging out in the corridors of a record label, Teddy Riley by chance heard Teron singing a demo he had written few days before. Riley then let Michael Jackson hear it. Michael insisted that his producer should find the young Texan who had written and sang the original vocals of "Heaven Can Wait": "I think he understands me", Jackson said.

When Teron heard that Michael Jackson wanted to record one of his tunes, he nearly hung up the phone in disbelief. In fact, he refused to fully accept the news until he came face to face with Jackson himself several months later, when Teron was summoned by the superstar to a Miami recording studio to produce his vocal track on the ballad "Heaven Can Wait". Teron had already scored with Whitney Houston and Brandy, but landing the King of Pop was different.

One day in 2001, Teron Beal found himself in a studio in Los Angeles while Michael Jackson was recording one of his songs for the album Invincible. They were watching basketball and Teron saw Michael put his hand into a cup of hot chips. A childhood dream came back to him at that moment: "When I was 9 years old, I dreamed that Michael Jackson came to pick me up from school, in a limousine, and that he asked me how my day was, then offered to take me for a hamburger and fries. That day in the studio, I told him about my dream."

Continued Success

This collaboration has changed his entire career. Suddenly, all the major record labels began courting him: "There were so many (record) companies that weren't excited about working with me," Teron said. "Now, they want to get me on their projects."

The good times were just beginning for the Tyler, Texas-born son of a preacher and a high school math teacher. He soon moved into a pricey high-rise penthouse in midtown Manhattan. "This was the first summer I didn't have to share my apartment with a couple of mice," he says.

In early 2002, Teron snagged a big publishing deal with Sony ATV Music: "I feel very lucky we were able to sign him here," said Creative Director Bill Brown. "He truly is talented." Teron, who majored in acting—and business marketing, to please his father—at the University of Southern California, then won a part in the then-upcoming 20th Century Fox film Drumline. Still, the music maven, who eschews the diamonds and gold of many of his peers, is guided more by his small-town roots and family influences than the stars that currently surround him.

Then he became a songwriter for R&B heavy weights like Jennifer Lopez, Mýa, Pink, and Kelly Rowland.

Recently he has stepped from behind the pen and in front of the mic to create his own work of art in the form of his album Liquor Store. Rich with influences: a cover of Manchurian rockers The Stone Roses' "I Wanna Be Adored", along with 10 other bittersweet tracks, while a large smile emanating from that voice is never far away. His songs, resolutely pop and close to the style of Prince, sway between notions of life and death, such as the invitation to "Dance at My Funeral", inspired by a documentary of the motorcyclist Indian Larry. On two tracks, Teron recites hard-hitting rhymes like Jay-Z; but his songs, like "Tomorrow May Never Come", reveal an empathy for others. Even sometimes at the risk of heartbreak. In "Magic Mushroom", he runs wild on the topic of drugs, following an encounter with a Dominican waitress in New York: "Josie liked to drink, take ecstasy, and me I was this fool who was trying to follow her."

The song for Michael Jackson allowed his song writing career to take off. His publisher sent him to work with the singer Robyn, in Sweden. There he took in what the country had to offer and met two musicians along the way, the guitarist Johan Ramström and Jonas Nordelius, a producer and son of a synthesizer manufacturer.

Teron was supposed to spend 10 days in Stockholm to write his songs. He stayed for 5 months, drinking beer, enjoying the northern summer, spending days in the studio playing his favorite Stevie Wonder and Prince albums, while also discovering those of Blur, Coldplay, Radiohead and so on. It is from this time that the alchemy between these two fun-loving Swedish lads and the preacher's son was born.

In November 2010, performing a few songs at the Renard Theatre in Paris, Teron Beal found his roots. In front of an audience who had come more for the drinks at the bar than musical entertainment, he converted his flock one-by-one, with an energy that shines brightest in a live setting: "I grew up in church. If there is no sound, it's okay. I'll go looking for my audience."

Musical style

Teron credits his influences as James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Prince, Lenny Kravitz, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Blur, Coldplay, Radiohead.

Discography

References

  1. ↑ PlaygroundMusic: Teron Beal

From Teron Beal Himself; Daniel A. Hall (Atlanta,US); Sophie Boisseaux (London,UK)

External links

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