BIO:
Growing up the son of a jazz vocalist mother and a guitarist father in a small Mississippi town outside of Jackson gives you a pedigree and some pretty fertile musical soil from which to grow. Picking up a guitar at age 9, Brian Fuente started writing music early and began showing off his guitar skills to the public performing in between his mom's sets at local clubs.
20 years later, that self-taught 9 year old's honed skills come off as natural as Brian possesses the kind of magnetism and talent as a vocalist that captures you from the moment you first hear his voice. When Brian Fuente takes the stage, he takes the room. With vocals rich and captivating, and roots brought to bear, Brian emanates passion and conviction in every performance.
In 2007, Brian moved to Nashville to join a larger community of artists, embedding himself in the music scene and putting together his first Nashville band, Newmatic. Brian wrote like a madman and took Newmatic from obscurity to popularity quickly, gaining an increasingly loyal audience. Itching to show the world what he was all about, in the summer of 2011, the singer auditioned for the hit TV reality competition, The Voice. His version of Grace Potter's "Paris" earned him a spot on Team Blake [Shelton] and the chance to work alongside Shelton and Kelly Clarkson.
Catapulted from his success on The Voice, Brian has since shared the stage with Maroon 5, Gym Class Heroes, and Cobra Starship. Poised and ready to take on the world, in October Brian released his solo project, 1983. The making of the record involved writing and recording with some of Nashville's finest and getting back to the heart of his earliest creative beginnings.
"I sat down at the drawing board shortly after my time on The Voice and was trying to figure out where I wanted to go creatively with my first EP as a solo artist. I started listening back to some of the music that inspired me to get into music in the first place. I grew up around a lot of R&B as well as 80's pop. I grew up listening to everything from Tears For Fears to Duran Duran, Michael Jackson to obscure pop bands like Cock Robin. So when I was listening back at some of those early inspirations, I thought that it would be really cool to write and record something that set me back in a time and place where I discovered my love for music. 1983 was the year I was born."
The production is reminiscent of a variety of those influencing artists with a modern twist, blending real kit drums with a digital snare to give it that 80's pop feel. The drums were recorded at The Sound Emporium in Nashville. The rest of the tracking was done at Brian's home studio, "The Fountain," mixed at Blackbird Studios and mastered by Andrew Mendelson at Georgetown Mastering Nashville.
Brian self-produced the record with the exception of "Slow Down Steven" which was co-produced and recorded with the talented, Chris Grainger (Wilco, Switchfoot, Luna Halo, Kyle Andrews, The Five Knives), at his studio.
The first song "No By Now' is quite different from the other tracks because it includes a full horn section and definitely has more of an R&B feel. "I decided to throw in an epic sax solo in Sidelined because I can't remember the last time I heard a sax solo in a rock song...so why the hell not?"
Taking further advantage of Brian's collaborative immersion the Nashville community, "Why'd You Have to Be So Beautiful" was written with 2 notable writers Michael Natter (Jason Mraz - I won't Give Up) and Nashville writer Michael Logen. "Josie" was written with Nashville writer and artist Shelley Fairchild. All other songs were written with keyboard player Brian Carrion.
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