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Tyrone Wells | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Tyrone Wells |
| Origin | Spokane, Washington, United States |
| Genres | Folk pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, author |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Labels | Position Music[1] |
| Website | tyronewells |
Tyrone Wells is an American singer-songwriter[2] fromSpokane, Washington. He is the lead vocalist of the duo,Oh the Larceny, withDustin Burnett as the producer. He is also the lead vocalist for the bandsWAR*HALL andRoyal Deluxe.
Wells was born inSeattle and raised in Spokane, Washington. He has said in interviews that he was inspired by his older sisters who "brought out the music in me" but did not begin songwriting until his move to California. While attendingHope International University in Southern California, Wells joined the band Sinai in 1994 turning out two LPs on Say-Sos Records before signing with Word Records and renaming the band Skypark for their 1998 Dove Award-nominated albumAm I Pretty?.
In 2000, Wells launched his solo career, playing acoustic shows inOrange County, California. In 2006, Wells signed a recording contract withUniversal Records. They re-released his independent albumHold On on the internet in 2006, and released it in stores on February 6, 2007. OnHold On, Wells worked with producers Chris Karn andMarc Ford.
Wells released his solo albumRemain on January 27, 2009. The first single fromRemain, "More", reached No. 13 on the Triple A radio charts. The second single "Sink or Swim" was used in promos for the season 6 premiere ofGrey's Anatomy.
In September 2010, Wells's song "Time of Our Lives" was used in the series finale promo for American daytime soap opera,As the World Turns, as well asThe Vampire Diaries episode, "Memory Lane" (season 2, episode 4).
Wells traveled to London to work onRemain. "Half of the album was done in London and the other half completed in the States," says Wells. "I didn't know what kind of record I was going to make before I got to London, but something just seemed to click while I was there that really defined what I wanted to do with this album."
Wells worked with songwriter and producer Martin Terefe (Jason Mraz,KT Tunstall,James Morrison) andIain Archer (UK indie artist andSnow Patrol co-writer) in the UK, andTim Myers (formerly ofOneRepublic),David Hodges (formerly ofEvanescence) andMatt Scannell (Vertical Horizon) in the U.S. The song "Losing Ground", one of a handful of production/songwriting collaborations between Wells and Terefe, was written and demoed in less than 3 hours during their first writing session together.
The 2010 independently released EP,Metal & Wood, saw Wells return to his acoustic, singer-songwriter roots. The album spent nearly three weeks at No. 1 on the iTunes Singer-Songwriter album chart, with the track "Running Around in My Dreams" topping the song chart.
Released on March 3, 2012,Where We Meet, ushered in a new beginning for Wells. His fourth full-length album and first since leaving a major label,Where We Meet embraced both sides of Wells' acoustic vulnerability and pop rock irresistibility. The album's first single, "Freedom", spawned a music video and was used in trailers for Disney'sThe Odd Life of Timothy Green.
Where We Meet debuted at No. 1 on the iTunes Singer-Songwriter album chart, reached the top ten of iTunes overall and No. 3 on theBillboardTop Heatseekers chart.
The recording ofThis Love found Tyrone Wells in the studio on and off throughout most of 2012. Tyrone teamed up again with producer Michael "Smidi" Smith. Smidi produced nearly half of Tyrone's sophomore major label release (Universal Republic),Remain, as well as being responsible for 7 of the 8 songs on Tyrone's acoustic EPMetal & Wood.
AboutThis Love, Tyrone says, "I did my best to make a mostly acoustic record. I always find myself listening to acoustic music, so I did my best to build the record around the acoustic guitar and make an organic sounding CD that I would enjoy listening to. Smidi was the perfect choice to produce this record. Smidi does a fantastic job of not getting in the way and helping really serve each song."
This Love debuted at No. 2 on the iTunes Singer-Songwriter album chart and reached No. 19 on theBillboard Heatseakers chart.
Tyrone and his wife Elina have three daughters named Aria Lian, Ireland Mele, and Taya Aika Neal Wells.[3] A video of him singing to Aria went viral in 2014.[4]
Tyrone and Elina also have an album together.[5]
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