Ari Hest

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Ari Hest
Ari Hest
Background information
Born	June 16, 1979 (age 27) Mt. Sinai Hospital. Manhattan, NY, USA^[1]
Genre(s)	Rock, Acoustic, Pop
Occupation(s)	Singer Musician
Instrument(s)	Vocalist Guitarist Keyboardist Harmonicist Percussionist
Years active	1999–present
Label(s)	Columbia Records (2004-Present) Project 4 Records (1999-2004)
Website	http://www.arihest.com

Ari Hest is an American singer-songwriter and a native of Riverdale^[1] in the Bronx borough of New York.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Ari took piano lessons as a child and later, as a teenager (around age 15), taught himself to play his mother's nylon string guitar by ear with influences from both his parents' record collection and radio artists. Artists cited as influences are Paul Simon, The Beatles, Dave Matthews, U2, Smashing Pumpkins, Tears For Fears, The Police, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam among others. As a child, Ari aspired to become a professional baseball player and continued to play through the end of high school. During Ari's childhood, his father wrote jingles for toy commercials on television for which he sometimes recruited Ari to sing. One jingle noted by Ari as an example was a commercial for a girl's toy puppy from Hasbro branded "Sweetie Pups". Although he did not win, Ari competed in a “Battle of the Bands” in 11th grade playing Pearl Jam's “Nothing Man” and Led Zeppelin's “Thank You” with another young musician. Ari wrote his first song in 1996 that was titled “Surrounded By Surprise” and is defined by Ari as "something involving a made-up girlfriend and a hot-air balloon".^[1] Ari began playing in his first band called “Synapse” between 1997 and 1999.^[1] The band played venues such as New York City clubs and graduation parties. Ari's songs “Fade” and “Consistency” were born from this group.^[1] Former bandmates of "Synapse" were Markus Dorfmann (drums), Lee Nadel (bass) and David Hyman (guitar).^[1] Ari attended Cornell University in Ithaca, NY beginning in 1999 and later transfered to New York University. Ari studied Communication at both Cornell and NYU but graduated from NYU in 2002 with a degree in Communication.

[edit] Career

By the end of his sophomore year at Cornell Ari decided to transfer to NYU because of more playing opportunities. At this time Ari began to focus on his career as a musician by touring colleges and clubs across the United States. Ari had sold approximately 20,000 CDs and released one EP as well as 2 records ("Incomplete", "Come Home" & "Story After Story", respectively) under his own independent recording label named "Project 4" by 2003. After his performance at New York's Bowery Ballroom in August 2003, Columbia Records began to express interest. Ari signed a recording contract with Columbia in March of 2004 and later recorded his first studio album entitled "Someone To Tell" with producer David Kos Rolfe. Ari finished recording his 5 song EP "Guilty Hearts EP" in fall of 2005. The "Guilty Hearts EP" disc contains a 'making of' video created by Karen Scott of StarPolish as well as a link to downloadable lyrics. The video features Ari himself, Scott Seiver (drums) and Rob Calder (bass). Ari recorded his 6th album, "The Green Room Sessions", on a laptop personal computer using Apple's GarageBand software. Ari performed all vocals and instruments to include acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, harmonica, and percussion for this album. Ari sometimes gives demonstrations of GarageBand at Apple Stores that are both free and open to the public.^[2] Ari has completed the recording of his seventh album "The Break-In" with producer Mitchell Froom. A single from the album entitled "I've Got You" was released on Apple's iTunes on January 16th, 2007 and the full-length album is slated for release on Columbia Records in April 2007.

[edit] Family

[edit] Parents

[edit] Father

Ari's father plays a number of different horn instruments and is a college music professor. When Ari was a child, his father professionally wrote jingles for childrens toy commercials.

[edit] Mother

Ari's mother is a cantor and professional singer.

[edit] Siblings

Ari has only one sibling, an older brother named Daniel "Danny" Hest who was born on May 26th, 1975. Danny was involved in the production and vocal arrangement of Ari's first album "Incomplete". Danny Hest is VP of Artist Development at StarPolish and manages Ari as well as other artists.^[3]

[edit] Television & Radio Appearances

[edit] Television

New York, NY, WPIX-TV 11 Morning News. Monday, August 9th, 2004 at 8:45am EST. Live acoustic performance.
CNNfn "The Biz". Tuesday, August 10th, 2004 at 12:30pm EST. Interview.
Chicago, IL, WGN-TV 9, Wednesday, September 8th, 2004. Musical guest. Live performance and interview.
"Last Call with Carson Daly". September 24th, 2004.^[4] The episode also featured Jim Breuer, Bill Bellamy, Paul Rodriguez and No Use for a Name. Live performances of "They're On To Me" and "A Fond Farewell" from the album "Someone To Tell". This was Ari's network television debut.
ESPN "Cold Pizza". Tuesday, October 26th, 2004. Live performance.
Philadelphia, PA, WCAU 10, Tuesday, December 2nd, 2004 at 9:30am EST.
CBS "Saturday Early Show, Second Cup Cafe". January 1st, 2005 at 7:00pm EST. Live Performance.
Kansas City, KS, WDAF-TV 4's "the Noon News", Tuesday, March 29th, 2005 at 12:40pm EST. Live performance and interview.
Austin, TX, KTBC 7, Tuesday, May 17th, 2005 at 12:00pm EST. Live performance and interview.

[edit] Radio

Multiple radio stations. Acoustic Café, August 23rd, 2004. Recorded performance.
WXPN Experimental Pennsylvania Network (88.5 FM) at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. World Cafe, August 25th, 2004 at 2:00pm EST. Live performance and interview with David Dye.
XM Cafe (45 XM), "Build Your Own Show". September 6th, 8th-10th, 2004. Live performance at XM Studios w/ Rob Calder.
KMTT The Mountain (103.7FM) in Seattle, WA. January 19th, 2005. Live performance at the Mountain Music Lounge.
WRLT Radio Lightning, (100.1 FM) in Nashville, TN. Thursday, March 10th, 2005. Live performance.
WFUV Fordham University's Voice (90.7 FM) in New York, NY. Sunday, March 13th, 2005. Live performance and interview on Pete Fornatale's "Mixed Bag".
WBOS Boston (92.9 FM) in Boston, MA. Saturday, April 30th, 2005. Live performance for the 12th Annual 92.9 WBOS EarthFest at Boston's Hatch Shell. Headliner: The Wallflowers. Other artists: Low Millions, Carbon Leaf, Five for Fighting.
WBOS Boston (92.9 FM) in Boston, MA. Saturday, July 14th, 2005. Live performance at the Copley Square Concert at 7:15pm EST.
WBOS Boston (92.9 FM) in Boston, MA. Saturday, January 6th, 2007. Live performance and interview from Bretton Woods Mountain Resort Slopeside Pub in Bretton Woods, NH.

[edit] Music Videos

A small budget music video was recorded of the single "They're On To Me" featuring Ari moving through several New York cityscapes and playing a sold-out album release concert at New York City's Bowery Ballroom venue on August 10th, 2004 with bassist Rob Calder and drummer Scott Seiver. The video was directed by Steven Oritt.

[edit] Band Members

[edit] Current

[edit] Rob Calder • Bassist

Often tours with Ari and can be seen in the 'making of' video on the "Guilty Hearts EP" disc as well as in the music video for "They're On To Me". In addition to working with Ari, Rob has performed and/or recorded with Fiction Plane (Geffen), Cutters (BMG/CMC), Danielle Evin (Lateral View/Sony), Chris Shaffer of The Why Store (MCA), Sue Medley and Ghostface Killah (Def Jam) to name a few. Like Ari, Rob's parents were also musicians. His father was a university music professor and at one time an orchestral conductor in Vienna. His mother was at one time a German opera singer. Rob began playing the bass guitar toward the end of high school and began playing publicly within one to two months. Rob was a member of the Bloomington, Indiana based band Cutters. Cutters released an album named “Sonic Wave Love” in February of 1999. Rob auditioned for Ari Hest in early 2003. Rob currently resides in the Lower East side of Manhattan. Rob is a graduate of Indiana University and a fluent speaker of the German language. Rob's Official website: http://www.robcalder.com.

[edit] Former

[edit] Scott Seiver • Drummer

Also featured in the 'making of' video on the "Guilty Hearts EP" disc and the music video for "They're On To Me". Scott not only plays percussion but many other instruments including keyboard instruments, harmonica & guitar. Scott is currently working with Chewy Puma along with several other projects.

[edit] A-Team

The A-Team is a grassroots group of individuals who promote Ari's music with postcards, posters and through word of mouth. Additionally, members of the team are encouraged to record his live shows, publicly distribute them free of charge, and send a copy of the recording to Ari's website to be distributed over the internet via mp3 audio and videos. Perks for A-Team members include contests with prizes, access to the rep-only website, private rep concerts and exclusive media content.

[edit] Covers

Ari covered Fleetwood Mac's "Little Lies" on his album The Green Room Sessions. Ari has covered "I'm On Fire" by Bruce Springsteen, Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and Elton John's "Daniel" among many others during live performances.

[edit] Management

Ari has been managed by his brother throughout his career. Ari continues to be managed by his brother, Danny Hest as well as Karen Scott through StarPolish Artist Management. StarPolish Artist Management is a small New York based firm that manages musical artists. Their clients in addition to Ari are: The Alternate Routes, DADA, The Distillery, Red Heart the Ticker and Virginia Coalition.

[edit] Music Samples

In process, music samples coming soon.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Full-Length, Extended Play and Single Albums

Incomplete • EP
Original Artwork
1st 1,000 CDs
(1999)
Project 4 Records

Track 01 • Consistency
Track 02 • Incomplete
Track 03 • Fade
Track 04 • Effortless Success
Track 05 • Pound For Pound
Track 06 • Looking At Myself

Incomplete • EP
(1999)
Project 4 Records

Track 01 • Consistency
Track 02 • Incomplete
Track 03 • Fade
Track 04 • Effortless Success
Track 05 • Pound For Pound
Track 06 • Looking At Myself

Come Home
(2001)
Project 4 Records

Track 01 • Caught Up In Your Love
Track 02 • Aberdeen
Track 03 • When Everything Seems Wrong
Track 04 • Come Home
Track 05 • Holding On
Track 06 • Pour Me In
Track 07 • Terms And Conditions
Track 08 • You're The Only One
Track 09 • I Forgive You

Story After Story
(2002)
Project 4 Records

Track 01 • They're On To Me
Track 02 • Fascinate You
Track 03 • Strangers Again
Track 04 • Monsters
Track 05 • Aberdeen
Track 06 • When Everything Seems Wrong
Track 07 • The Upper Hand
Track 08 • Holding On
Track 09 • This Fight
Track 10 • Didn't Want To Say Goodbye

Someone To Tell
(2004)
Columia Records

Track 01 • They're On To Me
Track 02 • A Fond Farewell
Track 03 • Aberdeen
Track 04 • Anne Marie
Track 05 • Holding On
Track 06 • Strangers Again
Track 07 • Fascinate You
Track 08 • Consistency
Track 09 • Monsters
Track 10 • Not For Long
Track 11 • When Everything Seems Wrong
Track 12 • Someone To Tell