Isaac Slade

Isaac Slade

born on 26/5/1981 in Denver, CO, United States

Isaac Slade

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Isaac Slade

Isaac Edward Slade (born May 26, 1981) is an American musician and the lead vocalist, main songwriter, pianist, and co-founder of Denver-based piano rock band The Fray.

Life and career

Early years

Slade was born in Denver, Colorado and raised in the Denver area with his family, which included both parentswho were missionaries from the same familyand two younger brothers, Caleb and Micahe. He also lived for a time in Guatemala due to his parents' profession, where he studied at Interamerican School in the city of Quetzaltenango. The Slade family are of Slovakian descent. He attended Faith Christian Academy in Arvada, Colorado and later attended the University of Colorado, Denver as a music and entertainment industry studies major. He received a Bachelor of Music.[1]

Slade started singing when he was eight years old, and began playing the piano at 11, after temporarily losing his voice. He wrote his first song when he was 16 and learned to play guitar when he was in high school.[2]

The Fray

Formation and early stages

Slade joined Ember, a band which consisted of Slade and his future The Fray band-mates Dave Welsh and Ben Wysocki. The band soon dissolved, and later, in the spring of 2002, Slade ran into former school-mate and vocalist/guitarist Joe King in a record store.[3] The two began regular jam sessions, which led to writing songs. They later added Slade's younger brother, Caleb, on bass and Zach Johnson on drums. Johnson soon left to attend an art school in New York, while Caleb was fired. This caused a rift in Slade's relationship with his brother.

Dave Welsh and Ben Wysocki re-joined Slade and King, to form The Fray. In the same year, the newly formed band released Movement EP, and in 2003, they released Reason EP to some local critical acclaim, particularly by Denver's Westword alternative newsweekly.[4][5] Despite these reviews, the band struggled to launch a single. Denver radio station KTCL rejected eight of their songs before the band decided to submit "Cable Car". The song found airplay on a KTCL radio show highlighting local bands and the radio station received a large number of requests for it soon thereafter. The band changed the name of the song to "Over My Head (Cable Car)", and by the end of 2005, it had become KTCL's most played song of the year.[6]

Personal Life

On October 29, 2013, Isaac and his wife, Anna, announced via The Fray's Facebook page that they were expecting their first child in the spring of 2014. [7]

Charity work

Slade performed on the 2010 remake of the 1985 charity single, "We Are the World".[8] He joined 85 other artists on February 1, 2010 to record the track for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.[9]

On October 27, 2013, Slade and The Fray played at the Colorado Flood Benefit Concert that raised nearly $500,000 for victims of the flood. [10]

Influences

Slade stated in an interview that one of the first songs that inspired him was "Swallowed" by Bush, and that the lyrics and tune had moved him enough to pursue his career [11] In a post on AOL Radio Blog, he wrote:

"As a boy 'Swallowed' was my siren's song. I was a sheltered church child and here's this man talking about living the life his way, doing whatever he felt like doing. Bush wasn't allowed in my house either, which made it that much more mysterious." [12]

His other musical influences include Nine Inch Nails, Queen, Radiohead, R.E.M. and Led Zeppelin.[12]

References

  1. {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}
  2. {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}
  3. Thrills, Adrian, The Fray's Isaac Slade reveals how Bruce Springsteen helped save his marriage, Daily Mail, January 15, 2009.
  4. Herrera, Dave, All Mixed Up, 'Westword', December 25, 2003.
  5. Heller, Jason, The Fray: Reason EP (self-released), westword.com, February 19, 2004.
  6. Smith, Dane, The Fray Live the High "Life", 'Rolling Stone', March 30, 2006.
  7. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1015-1957694368633&set=pb.22378-233632.-22075-20000.1385784640.&type=3&theater
  8. Kaufman, Gil, 'We Are The World -- 25 For Haiti' Artists Include Kanye West, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, MTV, 2 February 2010. URL accessed on 27 August 2012.
  9. http://wearetheworldfoundation.org/the-song/
  10. {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}
  11. Nightline Playlist: The Fray, ABC News, 16 August 2007. URL accessed on 27 August 2012.
  12. 12.0 12.1 {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}

External links


The Fray
Isaac Slade | Joe King | Dave Welsh | Ben Wysocki
Discography
Albums: How to Save a Life | Live at the Electric Factory
EPs: Movement EP | Reason EP
Singles: "Over My Head (Cable Car)" | "How to Save a Life" | "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" | "Look After You"
This page was last modified 20.05.2014 01:16:39

This article uses material from the article Isaac Slade from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.