Bleu is one of my favorite musicians. Real name? William James McCauley III. Commercially, his exposure has been limited to the background of MTV's "The Real World" and "Road Rules,", he has a song on the 2002 soundtrack of "Spider-Man," and another was briefly in the 2002 art film, "Lovely and Amazing." I heard Bleu for the first time when I subscribed to Yahoo's online music service. It was this track that grabbed my attention:Today, 12/23/07, found a video for this on YouTube: He attended Berklee College of Music, which also taught singer-songwriters Aimee Mann, Lisa Loeb, Diana Krall, Tracy Bonham, Paula Cole and John Mayer. It was there he picked up the nickname, Bleu, because he wore his hair blue then. Now it's back to its natural color, having added muttonchops that could choke a horse. So far he's produced two full length CDs: his hard-to-find "Headroom"and his first (and only) major label release, "Redhead", first released in '03 on Columbia's "Aware" labelwhich reissued the CD the following year on ColumbiaI saw him live for the first time last year in a small coffeehouse, Milkboy Coffee, in Ambler, PA, and his voice blew the place apart. This man can SING! and write great songs. He is the main singer and songwriter behind the "group" L.E.O., who released a kind of tribute album to ELO (Electric Light Orchestra) last year called "Alpacas Orgling", which a couple of Moggers raved about (including me, of course). "Kind of" a tribute to the thrust and sound of ELO, while containing none of their songs (ok, 1 on a hidden track..)He has an unreleased third LP which did not meet Columbia's corporate expectations and is apparently trying to buy the rights to that back. In comments is a track featured on his MySpace page which slows things down a bit. "No Such Thing As Love". It hasn't been released. Why is a guy this talented having trouble getting a label? Dunno. Alas, no videos. PLENTY of vids for some little twerp Corbin Bleu, from Disney's hit "High School Musical". As Jimmy Carter once said (perhaps the only wise thing he EVER said) " The world isn't fair"....
scotfree says
Thanks dermahrk, a great tune and nice write up on another unknown. I love that cover of the L.E.O. disc! If it sounds half as appealing as it looks -
scotfree says
Also diggin' on the comments track. Def power in this guys voice! And I can see a strong similarity to Jeff Lynne's style in this one. Now, I'm gonna have to do some Orgling it looks like. Can I "like" twice??
Augusts1 says
Wow, I can't believe you're actually writing about an artist in this decade. Are you running a temperature? Great songs, liking this alot.
shinsaholic says
"He has an unreleased third LP which did not meet Columbia’s corporate expectations..." Alas record companies rarely have vision. Reminds me of how Wilco bought back Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - but that worked out well for them.
deadmandeadman says
August1, good friend dermahrk actually lives in this decade! And keep in mind; the best music is timeless. I'll bet he hasn't cranked up the victrola in weeks!
Jonh Ingham says
I love the LEO album and you can certainly hear the connections here. Why the hell is he worried about a record contract with dinosaurs like Columbia? Get out there young man and prosper! This is wonderful music.
BrandNewFriend says
u rite DMDM the best music is timeless
Lmao @ Derm with 'u youngsters' ???? uhhh where ?
Great post and love the track ' no such thing as love' = there certainly is !
thanks x
You already know that I'm a big fan of L.E.O. and the talent of Bleu is amazing. I'm crossing my fingers that he does get ahold of the "rejected" album from Columbia. His craft in songwriting and musical arrangement is a blessing needed in today's musical climate.
Bleu is one of my favorite musicians. Real name? William James McCauley III. Commercially, his exposure has been limited to the background of MTV's "The Real World" and "Road Rules,", he has a song on the 2002 soundtrack of "Spider-Man," and another was briefly in the 2002 art film, "Lovely and Amazing." I heard Bleu for the first time when I subscribed to Yahoo's online music service. It was this track that grabbed my attention:Today, 12/23/07, found a video for this on YouTube: He attended Berklee College of Music, which also taught singer-songwriters Aimee Mann, Lisa Loeb, Diana Krall, Tracy Bonham, Paula Cole and John Mayer. It was there he picked up the nickname, Bleu, because he wore his hair blue then. Now it's back to its natural color, having added muttonchops that could choke a horse. So far he's produced two full length CDs: his hard-to-find "Headroom"
and his first (and only) major label release, "Redhead", first released in '03 on Columbia's "Aware" label
which reissued the CD the following year on Columbia
I saw him live for the first time last year in a small coffeehouse, Milkboy Coffee, in Ambler, PA, and his voice blew the place apart. This man can SING! and write great songs. He is the main singer and songwriter behind the "group" L.E.O., who released a kind of tribute album to ELO (Electric Light Orchestra) last year called "Alpacas Orgling", which a couple of Moggers raved about (including me, of course). "Kind of" a tribute to the thrust and sound of ELO, while containing none of their songs (ok, 1 on a hidden track..)
He has an unreleased third LP which did not meet Columbia's corporate expectations and is apparently trying to buy the rights to that back. In comments is a track featured on his MySpace page which slows things down a bit. "No Such Thing As Love". It hasn't been released. Why is a guy this talented having trouble getting a label? Dunno. Alas, no videos. PLENTY of vids for some little twerp Corbin Bleu, from Disney's hit "High School Musical". As Jimmy Carter once said (perhaps the only wise thing he EVER said) " The world isn't fair"....
Locating MOG account...
Comments (19)
You already know that I'm a big fan of L.E.O. and the talent of Bleu is amazing. I'm crossing my fingers that he does get ahold of the "rejected" album from Columbia. His craft in songwriting and musical arrangement is a blessing needed in today's musical climate.