JJ Appleton
Encyclopedia
JJ Appleton, born Jon Jason Appleton, is an American
musician
and singer-songwriter
based in New York City
who has toured throughout the United States extensively in support of his own records and also with other bands including Jamie Cullum
, Newton Faulkner
, Pete Yorn
, Edwin McCain
, Sister Hazel
, Joan Osborne
, Keb Mo, Hootie and the Blowfish. Appleton has been described by the Washington Post
as a songwriter with a “pop-rock sound but with considerably more edgy energy, adding figurative lightning to the stormy night.” Previously a member of the popular New York band The Grasshoppers, Appleton released his first solo album
500 Moments in 2003 which lead to appearances on the NBC television
show Last Call with Carson Daly
, a feature on E!
's Wild On, and a national affiliation with Budweiser
's True Music Live program and Gibson Guitars. Appleton released his album Uphill to Purgatory in the United States in 2005 which was then re-released in the United Kingdom
in 2006 as Someone Else's Problem and included three songs from the 500 Moments EP
. Based on the recognition he was receiving in England, Appleton decided to move to London
in 2006 where he became a regularly featured performer at popular venues such as Ronnie Scott's, The Borderline, and The Regal Room. In the meantime, the single "Walk Into The Room" and it's accompanying video became a favorite on English radio and MTV Two.
, on April 4, 1976, the son of Georganna Towne and Jon H. Appleton, a composer and professor of electro-acoustic music at Dartmouth College
. Professor Appleton was also one of the co-inventors of the Synclavier
digital music
synthesizer and recording system and which JJ would later use as a producer in New York City to record his own and other artist's music. In his capacity as a performer and a teacher, Jon Appleton was able to bring his family with him around the world where they would sometimes live for extended periods of time.w "Wherever the Appletons went, Jon had a musical agenda, which afforded JJ the rare opportunity to immerse himself in the indigenous music of such exotic places as Tonga, Sweden, Israel and Turkey." Of his Mother's support for his developing interest in music, JJ has said, "She definitely encouraged my musical pursuits. She would tape record me singing twenty minute songs about Viking battles and spaghetti when I was 6".
in Boston
, Appleton met and played in several bands including a stint with the power funk outfit Hamhorta and the band Electric Jellyfish. Appleton's primary instrument was guitar
and as a developing guitarist
, Appleton was a fan of Albert King
, Stevie Ray Vaughan
and Johnny Winter
. During this time, he wrote and recorded a considerable amount of original material reflecting his respect for and developing mastery of the blues guitar and singing styles of these artists. Upon moving to New York City in the early 1990s, Appleton worked at producer Mike Thorne's Synclavier-based recording studio
as an engineer and Synclavier programmer where he continued to develop his skills as a producer for such groups as Betty
.
, Jeff Buckley
and the conductor Seijo Ozowa, have been described in reviews as "One of the most influential and melodic rock / pop bands on the New York City Scene in the mid 90's."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
and singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
based in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
who has toured throughout the United States extensively in support of his own records and also with other bands including Jamie Cullum
Jamie Cullum
Jamie Cullum is an English pop and jazz-pop singer-songwriter. Though he is primarily a vocalist/pianist he also accompanies himself on other instruments including guitar and drums. Since April 2010, he has been presenting a weekly jazz show on BBC Radio 2, broadcast on Tuesdays from 19:00.- Early...
, Newton Faulkner
Newton Faulkner
Sam Newton Battenberg Faulkner is an English singer-songwriter and musician from Reigate, Surrey. Known for his guitar playing, which involves rhythmically tapping and hitting his guitar's body, Faulkner came to prominence in 2007, with the release of his debut studio album, Hand Built by Robots...
, Pete Yorn
Pete Yorn
Peter Joseph Yorn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist who first gained international recognition after his debut record, Musicforthemorningafter, was released to critical acclaim in 2001.-Early history:Yorn's father is a dentist and his mother is a former concert pianist who worked as a...
, Edwin McCain
Edwin McCain
Edwin McCain is an American singer-songwriter and musician.-Career:While his albums are released under his name, he does have a permanent band, referred to as the Edwin McCain Band...
, Sister Hazel
Sister Hazel
Sister Hazel are an alternative rock band from Gainesville, Florida, whose style also blends elements of folk rock, pop, classic rock 'n' roll and southern rock. Their music is characterized by highly melodic tunes and generally optimistic lyrics. The band's instrumentation often features abrupt...
, Joan Osborne
Joan Osborne
Joan Elizabeth Osborne is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her song "One of Us". She has toured with Motown sidemen the Funk Brothers and was featured in the documentary film about them, Standing in the Shadows of Motown.-Biography:Originally from Anchorage, Kentucky, a suburb...
, Keb Mo, Hootie and the Blowfish. Appleton has been described by the Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
as a songwriter with a “pop-rock sound but with considerably more edgy energy, adding figurative lightning to the stormy night.” Previously a member of the popular New York band The Grasshoppers, Appleton released his first solo album
Solo album
A solo album, in popular music, is an album headlined by a current or former member of a band. A solo album may feature simply one person performing all instruments, but typically features the work of other collaborators; rather, it may be made with different collaborators than the artist is...
500 Moments in 2003 which lead to appearances on the NBC television
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
show Last Call with Carson Daly
Last Call with Carson Daly
Last Call with Carson Daly is an American late night talk show that is broadcast on NBC. The show is hosted by Carson Daly, the half-hour show featuring celebrity interviews, documentary-style coverage of a topic, and musical performances. Last Call airs weeknights at 1:35 a.m. Eastern / 12:35 a.m....
, a feature on E!
E!
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...
's Wild On, and a national affiliation with Budweiser
Budweiser
Budweiser is a German adjective describing something or someone from the city of České Budějovice in Southern Bohemia, Czech Republic.Beer brewing in České Budějovice dates back to the 13th century...
's True Music Live program and Gibson Guitars. Appleton released his album Uphill to Purgatory in the United States in 2005 which was then re-released in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in 2006 as Someone Else's Problem and included three songs from the 500 Moments EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
. Based on the recognition he was receiving in England, Appleton decided to move to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 2006 where he became a regularly featured performer at popular venues such as Ronnie Scott's, The Borderline, and The Regal Room. In the meantime, the single "Walk Into The Room" and it's accompanying video became a favorite on English radio and MTV Two.
Early life
Appleton was born in Norwich, VermontNorwich, Vermont
Norwich is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States, located along the Connecticut River opposite Hanover, New Hampshire. The population was 3,544 at the 2000 census....
, on April 4, 1976, the son of Georganna Towne and Jon H. Appleton, a composer and professor of electro-acoustic music at Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
. Professor Appleton was also one of the co-inventors of the Synclavier
Synclavier
The Synclavier System was an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation, manufactured by New England Digital Corporation, Norwich, VT. The original design and development of the Synclavier prototype occurred at Dartmouth College with the collaboration of...
digital music
Digital audio
Digital audio is sound reproduction using pulse-code modulation and digital signals. Digital audio systems include analog-to-digital conversion , digital-to-analog conversion , digital storage, processing and transmission components...
synthesizer and recording system and which JJ would later use as a producer in New York City to record his own and other artist's music. In his capacity as a performer and a teacher, Jon Appleton was able to bring his family with him around the world where they would sometimes live for extended periods of time.w "Wherever the Appletons went, Jon had a musical agenda, which afforded JJ the rare opportunity to immerse himself in the indigenous music of such exotic places as Tonga, Sweden, Israel and Turkey." Of his Mother's support for his developing interest in music, JJ has said, "She definitely encouraged my musical pursuits. She would tape record me singing twenty minute songs about Viking battles and spaghetti when I was 6".
Albums
- 500 Moments (2003)
- Uphill To Purgatory (2005)
- Someone Else's Problem (2006)
Early career
While attending Berklee College of MusicBerklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Appleton met and played in several bands including a stint with the power funk outfit Hamhorta and the band Electric Jellyfish. Appleton's primary instrument was guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and as a developing guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, Appleton was a fan of Albert King
Albert King
Albert King was an American blues guitarist and singer, and a major influence in the world of blues guitar playing.-Career:...
, Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stephen Ray "Stevie Ray" Vaughan was an American electric blues guitarist and singer. He was the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughan and frontman for Double Trouble, a band that included bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton. Born in Dallas, Vaughan moved to Austin at the age of 17 and...
and Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter
John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters...
. During this time, he wrote and recorded a considerable amount of original material reflecting his respect for and developing mastery of the blues guitar and singing styles of these artists. Upon moving to New York City in the early 1990s, Appleton worked at producer Mike Thorne's Synclavier-based recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
as an engineer and Synclavier programmer where he continued to develop his skills as a producer for such groups as Betty
Betty
Betty is a common diminutive for the names "Elizabeth" and "Bethany".-Actresses and musicians:*Betty , American alternative rock band*Betty Boo, English dance-music artist, singer, and songwriter...
.
Current band lineup
- Brian Delaney - drums
- Tim Lefebvre - bass
- Matt Anthony - guitars,
- Thad DeBrock - guitars and keyboards
- Bob Knight - drums
- Jay Cox - bass
- Dan Minsteris - piano
- Josh Dion - piano
Previous bands
Appleton is one of the founding members of the popular New York based band The Grasshoppers along with Mario Joachim and David Hamburger. The Grasshoppers, who counted among their fans Paul McCartneyPaul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
, Jeff Buckley
Jeff Buckley
Jeffrey Scott "Jeff" Buckley , raised as Scotty Moorhead, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was the son of Tim Buckley, also a musician...
and the conductor Seijo Ozowa, have been described in reviews as "One of the most influential and melodic rock / pop bands on the New York City Scene in the mid 90's."