Julian Velard
Birth nameJulian Adam Velard
Born (1979-10-06) October 6, 1979
New York City, New York, U.S.
GenresSinger/Songwriter
Instrument(s)Vocals
Piano
Keyboards
Years active2001–present
LabelsLucky Number (2007)
Angel Music (2007–2008)
Virgin Records (2008–2009)
Planeteer Records (2010–2012)
Chloebro Records (2013-Present)
Websitewww.JulianVelard.com

Julian Velard (born October 6, 1979) is an American pianist, singer-songwriter, and composer born and raised in New York City.

Early life

Velard was born in New York City on the Upper West Side on Manhattan. His mother, Margaret is a former singing cocktail waitress, and his father, Maxime, was a hidden child during the Holocaust who emigrated from Paris in 1963 and worked in computers and designed the technology for the first ATM for Citibank.[1]

Education

Velard attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School. He then attended Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts where he majored in composition. There he studied with Jazz legend Yusef Lateef. During college, he spent a semester abroad in Paris where he studied with pianist Kirk Lightsey.

Musical career

Upon graduating college, Velard moved to Brooklyn and began his career as a professional musician. Gigging at night, he supported himself by working as a nursery school gym teacher.[2] In 2003 he released his debut album, Nitetime.

In the fall of 2006 Velard released an EP entitled The Movies Without You, produced by Roger Greenawalt. In 2007, Velard signed a multi-album record deal with Angel Music Group and subsequently moved to London.[3] The following year he was the opening act for Amy Macdonald on her This Is The Life UK Tour.[4]

In June 2008 EMI eliminated 2,000 positions worldwide and Velard's major label debut, The Planeteer, was shelved. In early 2009 after a short stint at Virgin Records, Velard was dropped.

In November 2009 Velard released The Planeteer independently. Soon after Olly Murs recorded Velard's song "Hold On" for his debut album which went on to go 2× platinum in the UK.[5]

In 2011, Velard released the album Mr. Saturday Night through Universal Music Group. The album was also released in the Netherlands due to an online discovery by radio and TV host Gerard Ekdom. After connecting with Ekdom, Velard played on Serious Request and headlined a show at Paradiso in Amsterdam.

In July 2012, his song about New York Knicks' Jeremy Lin was featured in The New York Times.[6]

On June 16, 2014, Velard released a New York City concept album titled, If You Don't Like It, You Can Leave. The album received a positive review on Popdose.[7]

On October 5, 2015, Velard released, "The Night Ed Sheeran Slept On My Couch". The song was featured on Popcrush and in The Guardian.[8] The song is based on actual events.

On November 18, 2015, Velard appeared for the first time on The Wrap-Up Show. Velard has since become a regular on the show, and several of his original, improvised songs have been played on The Howard Stern Show.

On June 16, 2017, Velard released a nine-song LP entitled, Fancy Words For Failure. The Wall Street Journal[9] published a profile of Velard and his year long residency at Joe's Pub.

In January 2018, Velard's H.P. Joelcraft, a mash up of Billy Joel's Pianoman and H.P. Lovecraft's Nemesis, was featured on The Nerdist,[10] Polygon,[11] The A.V Club,[12] Mashable,[13] and Bloody Disgusting[14] among others.

In 2019, Velard released an EP of comedy duets with comedian Brooke Van Poppelen entitled Comfort Zone.

Velard's auto-biographical concept album and musical entitled Please Don't Make Me Play Piano Man was released in May of 2020. The accompanying show received a rave review in Broadway World, naming it one of the best shows of 2020.

Discography

Studio albums

  • 2003 Nitetime
  • 2009 The Planeteer
  • 2011 Mr. Saturday Night
  • 2014 If You Don't Like It, You Can Leave
  • 2017 Fancy Words For Failure
  • 2020 Please Don't Make Me Play Piano Man

EPs, singles and live recordings

  • 2003 Make Me Feel
  • 2006 The Movies Without You
  • 2009 Another Guy's Song
  • 2012 The Mighty Lin
  • 2012 Person Of Interest
  • 2013 Tiny Aeroplane
  • 2015 The Night Ed Sheeran Slept On My Couch
  • 2017 Sweatpants on the Living Room Floor
  • 2018 Sad Dad
  • 2019 Comfort Zone

Track listing: The Planeteer

All songs written by Julian Velard except where noted:

  1. "Joni" – 3:53
  2. "Automatic" – 3:35
  3. "Little Demons" – 4:44
  4. "End of an Era" – 4:31
  5. "Jimmy Dean & Steve McQueen" – 3:45
  6. "Merry Go Round" – 2:53
  7. "Do it Alone" – 3:28
  8. "All in All" – 3:58
  9. "A Dream" – 4:16
  10. "Been this Strange" – 4:04
  11. "Love Again for the First Time (Acoustic)" – 3:35 (Julian Velard, Martin Brammer)

Track listing: Mr. Saturday Night

All songs written by Julian Velard, Jerry Abbott, and Grant Black except where noted:

  1. "Me And My Mirror On A Saturday Night" – 3:39
  2. "Love Again For The First Time" – 3:42 (Julian Velard, Martin Brammer)
  3. "Sentimental" – 2:56 (Julian Velard, Lol Creme, Jerry Abbott, Grant Black)
  4. "No Wrong" – 3:28
  5. "Fellow Americans" – 3:28
  6. "On To Something" – 2:40
  7. "Soundtrack Of My Life" – 3:18 (Julian Velard, Jerry Abbott, Grant Black, Shridhar Solanki)
  8. "The Guy Who..." – 3:16
  9. "Everybody Wants To Be Famous" – 3:10
  10. "Still In Love" – 3:05
  11. "Take the Money and Run" – 3:19
  12. "Another Guy's Song" - 3:51 (Julian Velard)

References

  1. ↑ Lester, Paul (June 20, 2008). "Julian Velard: Sad, lonely… and loved by housewives". The Jewish Chronicle. Archived from the original on March 10, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2021.
  2. ↑ Kane, Dan. "Julian Velard to perform heartfelt songs at Auricle". The Repository.
  3. ↑ "Julian Velard". The Digital Fix. May 27, 2008. Archived from the original on April 14, 2014. Retrieved June 10, 2021.
  4. ↑ "Saturday 24/05/08 Amy MacDonald, Julian Verlard, Pete Du Pon @ Carling Academy, Glasgow". www.gigwise.com.
  5. ↑ Alan Jones, "Official Album Chart analysis: Olly Murs becomes 10th X-Factor No.1". Music Week. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
  6. ↑ Appleman, Jake (February 27, 2012). "Jeremy Lin: The Song". Off the Dribble. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  7. ↑ "CD Review: Julian Velard, "If You Don't Like It, You Can Leave"". Popdose. June 10, 2014.
  8. ↑ "This Week's New Tracks". The Guardian. October 2, 2015.
  9. ↑ Bamundo, David (July 11, 2017). "Brooklyn Musician Taps Failure as His Muse". Wall Street Journal – via www.wsj.com.
  10. ↑ ""AN H.P. LOVECRAFT POEM SET TO BILLY JOEL MUSIC IS PIANO MAD", (January 20, 2018)". Archived from the original on January 21, 2018. Retrieved January 21, 2018.
  11. ↑ Kuchera, Ben (January 22, 2018). "Enjoy this H.P. Lovecraft poem sung to the tune of Billy Joel's 'Piano Man'". Polygon.
  12. ↑ ""We have unlocked the deep, terrible heart of evil lurking within the so-called "Piano Man"", (January 22, 2018)". The A.V. Club.
  13. ↑ ""AN H.P. LOVECRAFT POEM SET TO BILLY JOEL MUSIC IS PIANO MAD", (January 20, 2018)". Mashable. January 22, 2018.
  14. ↑ Squires, John (January 19, 2018). "[Listen] H.P. Lovecraft Poem Sung Like Billy Joel's "Piano Man" is Pure Magic".
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