Brandon Paris
Encyclopedia
Brandon Paris was born on November 11, 1971 in Winnipeg
, Manitoba
, Canada
and is the lead singer and front man for Brandon Paris Band
. After graduating high school in 1989, he went to Red River College
to study Criminology
in hopes of joining the Winnipeg Police Service
, but that same year dropped out. At the age of 18, Brandon started making T-shirts under a brand name he called "Express Clothing". He started selling T-shirts out of the trunk of his car; eventually, his clothing line was carried at two of the largest clothing chains in Canada (at the time), Bootlegger, and Below the Belt. The company dissolved after 3 years because of poor business decisions based on little experience.
A three year relationship ended with his boyfriend during the same week of the official dissolve of his business, which led to Brandon's attempted suicide in 1993. Brandon was admitted in St. Boniface hospital where he had his stomach pumped. One month later, his father talked him into moving to Surrey
, BC to work for his [[multimedia]] company. Paris worked for 7 years as a digital video editing/3D animator helping build his fathers home based business into one of the most recognized video production/duplication companies in British Columbia. By 1998, Brandon became addicted to drugs which led him into a deep depression. This depression helped him find a new love for music, that he claims, helped him find his way out of his 2 year drug addiction.
In 1999 Paris left his fathers business to pursue a career in Music. He sold all of his belongings within 2 weeks, and moved to Long Beach
, California
with $7,000 cash in hopes of putting together a band. While eating only oatmeal everyday and living in coach roach infested apartments, Brandon immediately took vocal lessons and went to the library each day educating himself with books on song writing and the music business. After running out of money within 1 year, Brandon became desperate for money, and attained an illegal green card and visa
papers. Only 2 weeks later he was soon caught and deported back to Canada.
Brandon started writing and performing his own songs as a solo artist locally from 2001 to 2002. He independently financed the recording of his solo album which took 2 years to complete but released songs to radio with no success. With what took over 3 years, Brandon Paris's newly formed Band was completed. Brandon re-recorded half the album with Troy Samson of Hipjoint Productions (Moka Only
, Kreesha Turner
, Snoop Dogg
) and Jeff Dawson (State of Shock
, Kelly Rowland
, Daniel Powter
, Marcy Playground
), Paris officially changed the name from "Brandon Paris" to "Brandon Paris Band
" in 2006 and decided they were finally ready to shop their debut album now titled On My Own
.
in January 2006, Brandon Paris Band signed a deal with Koch Entertainment
literally overnight just days after sending out their album to record labels across Canada, with many offers following. Their debut albums' first single, "Rewind and Start Again", was a huge success on commercial radio after being released on March 13, 2006. The song climbed up to top 20
on the Canadian CHR charts (tracked by Radio & Records
(Billboard Information Group
)). The second and third singles, "Somebody to Hold" and "Give Me a Reason", were also well received in many cities but not enough to reach top 40 status in Canada. Topping off an already exceptional year, Brandon Paris Band
was nominated for Best New Group or Solo Artist (CHR) by the Canadian Radio Music Awards in spring of 2007.
and father, Edward Lee, was born in Trinidad & Tobago. Brandon Paris's original legal name was Richard Brian Edward Lee. He was born in St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg
, Manitoba
Brandon has three brothers, one of which is an identical twin. All the children lived in an extremely strict household as his father once served in the RAF (Royal Air Force).
Brandon grew up in a middle class neighborhood in Southdale
where he went to Shamrock Elementary school
. Paris's mother and father moved to British Columbia in 1986 to start life over during a deep depression his father went into after losing his business of 30 years. Brandon and his twin brother stayed with his grandmother in Winnipeg to finish off the rest of his years in high school at J. H. Bruns Collegiate
. For the next few years he struggled in high school while working a full time job. Paris went in and out of depression many times as he was very much affected by the physical and abuses of his adolescent years. Paris's family did not know of the sexual abusive neighbour at the time nor was the man ever charged as he moved out of the country before Brandon reached 10 years old. Brandon never realized how much all of this affected him until the later 90's. Aside from all the negative situations, Brandon was known to be a talented artist from a very young age and excelled in all his art classes all the way through high school. He also attained his black belt at Kangs Taekwondo http://www.kangs.mb.ca/ before he reached the age of 13.
During the late 80's in Winnipeg
where young local owners of clothing companies like Mondetta Clothing Company
and Chip and Pepper
where flourishing. Brandon now 19 years old and still in high school, was determined to do the same and started making t-shirts in a friends basement with a brand name he called "Express Clothing" meaning, expressing ones self with clothing. He started selling T-shirts out of the trunk of his car at parties, high schools and nightclubs. As the demand became too high for the supply, Brandon could not make clothing fast enough and needed to get his clothing manufactured by a larger clothing manufacturer, Nygård International
, who required minimum orders and deposits which Brandon could not meet. David Lee, Brandon's Uncle, became involved as his financial partner. Brandon heard that Bootlegger (At the time was Canada's largest retail clothing chain), was known for helping out local Winnipeggers. Luckily their main office for making purchases was in Winnipeg. Paris set up a meeting and came over with sample clothing articles to show to the company's purchasing executives. 1 week later Bootlegger faxed in their first order of Express clothing to be distributed within their stores across Canada. Eventually the second largest clothing chains in Canada (at the time), Below the Belt started carrying the clothing line. Paris set up sales representatives in Saskatchewan
, Ontario
, British Columbia
, and Alberta. The company was growing too fast with quality being sacrificed which led to the company dissolving only 2 years later. Brandon's poor business decisions were to blame. A three year relationship ended with his girlfriend during the same week of the official dissolve of his business, which let to Brandon's attempted suicide in 1993. Brandon was admitted in St. Boniface hospital where he had his stomach pumped. Although the company did not even come close to the success of Mondetta or Chip & Pepper, it is now looked back as quite a success story in regards to what he accomplished at 18 years old on his own with no experience in the clothing field in such a short time.
One month later, his father talked him into moving to Surrey
, BC
to work for his multimedia
company. "Edward Lee Productions Inc", in Surrey, BC. In the summer of 1994 Brandon picked up and moved to Surrey to start life over again. Through training from his father, seminars, technical courses and video's, Brandon mastered many aspects of business (sales and marketing) and multi-media including, linear
/digital video editing
on Avid
/Media 100
, 3D animation (Lightwave 3D), Compositing
effects using (After Effects), graphic design
(Photoshop)and video duplication. Brandon started on wedding projects and soon after moved up to working on corporate video
s, music video
s, and TV commercials. In 1996 Brandon's father won Surrey's Entrepreneur of the Year Award and eventually expanded into a bigger location. In 1997 his father won "Vancouver Ethno-Canadian Entrepreneur Of The Year Award" which once again propelled the business into high sales. At the end of 1997, Brandon started feeling the stress from the long 18–22 hour days, pressure from his father, and low pay. Brandon started taking medication to help cope with the anxiety. He also gained more than 100 pounds (45.4 kg) between 1996 and 1997 which caused him to developed type-2 diabetes
.
. By 1998, Brandon became addicted to methamphetamines and ecstasy which led him into a deep depression
. This depression helped him find a new love for music, "I would sing to songs on my stereo that dealt with the same thing I was currently going through at the time." Paris says. "Little did i know that my singing voice was getting stronger by the month. I started singing at parties for fun, Many people would compliment on my vocals or say i should seriously think about getting into a singing career. I rolled it off my shoulder at first but admit that the thought of becoming a singer started growing on me by the day." He claims music helped him find his way out of his 2 year drug addiction. "I wrote all my feelings down on paper every night when i was coming down from my high. "It wasn't until close to the end of my addiction that it dawned on me why i was doing so much drugs. It was because i was masking all of the terrible things i went through as a child, one of them, being sexually abused (by nearby neighbor) at a young age for many years without my family knowing." Paris says. "singing and writing was like being at a session at the psychologists office every night. I finally got all the skeletons out of the closet and dealt with it for the first time. This was the biggest turning point in my life. It was only then when I knew I somehow had to take both my love for writing and singing and make this a career." Brandon legally changed his name from Richard Lee to Brandon Paris in 1998 as he believed it was like starting life all over and a way of leaving all the evils in his past behind. He chose "Brandon" as his first name because of his most loved actor and martial artist Bruce Lee
, whose son was named Brandon
. he chose the well known city "Paris
" as his last name because he felt it was more marketable and thought it would be much too hard to market a popular, unoriginal Chinese last name "Lee
". Brandon also changed his appearance by losing 126 lb (from 302 pounds (137 kg) down to 176 pounds (79.8 kg)). Brandon was used in television and newspaper ads as a "success story" for several years for Fitness world,
Paris immediately got a job with a nightclub in downtown, Vancouver in 2000, where he worked as a busser at night. This allowed him more time to learn guitar, take vocal lessons with Juno Award
Winning, Patricia Dahlquist and write songs. He started writing and performing his own songs as a solo artist locally from 2001 to 2002. He independently financed the recording of his solo album which took 2 years to complete but released songs to radio with no success. Brandon could not release many of the songs due to debt in the studio and co-writes he could not buy out, the songs still sit on the shelf.
Fall of 2002 Brandon was approached by Dave Devindisch (former bassist of the defunct Vancouver band called DDT) while performing at a concert at the Croatian Culture Center in Vancouver where he asked if he would be interested in recording a demo
at his home studio. Brandon agreed and soon after, Dave and Brandon formed a two man band playing at local venues. In 2003, Paris decided to finally record a full album with Ninjabeatz Studios http://www.ninjabeatz.com in Burnaby, British Columbia
, where reggae
artist Dagriff was recording his solo album
. Dagriff was approached by Paris and asked if he would be interested in collaborating on one song from the album he was recording. Soon after, Dagriff joined the band and became a huge influence on the band's music. Dagriff was eventually featured on more than half the album which took over two full years to eventually complete. In 2004, Greg Ellis was asked if he would play guitar on a couple songs for the album which resulted in him joining the band as well. In 2005, Chris Murray Driver, who was friends with Dave Devindisch, joined the band, and only a few months later talked his friend Marc Gladstone (keyboards) into joining the band. Both Marc and Chris are former members of the band Doug and the Slugs
.
In spring 2005, Paris tried to release the songs independently to radio with no success. A few months later he approached Vancouver-based record producer Troy Samson of Hipjoint Productions (Moka Only
, Kreesha Turner
, Snoop Dogg
) and Jeff Dawson (State of Shock
, Kelly Rowland
, Daniel Powter
, Marcy Playground
), to rework six of the original recordings. This took the whole project to a new level. Paris changed the name from "Brandon Paris" to "Brandon Paris Band
" and decided they were finally ready to shop their debut album now titled On My Own.
in January 2006, Brandon Paris Band
signed a deal with Koch Entertainment
literally overnight just days after sending out their album to record labels across Canada, with many offers following. Their debut albums' first single, "Rewind and Start Again", was a huge success on commercial radio after being released on March 13, 2006. The song climbed up to top 20
on the Canadian CHR charts (tracked by Radio & Records
(Billboard Information Group
)). Their debut albums' second single, "Somebody to Hold", was released after its very successful first release Rewind and Start Again, which hit top 20. The song was also well received in many cities. It unfortunately peaked at #53 on CHR
(tracked by Radio & Records
(Billboard Information Group
)). Koch Entertainment
, Brandon Paris Band's record label, decided to release "Give Me a Reason" only a month after the release of Somebody to Hold, in hopes of getting better results, but to their dismay it was not enough to reach top 40 status. Only a couple months later it quickly lost its momentum on the radio once the funding towards radio promotion stopped. It was believed that the timing, and lack of funding for marketing the singles release was partially to blame. Topping off an already exceptional year, Brandon Paris Band
was nominated for Best New Group or Solo Artist (CHR) by the Canadian Radio Music Awards
in spring of 2007.
In January 2007, Ellis and Devindisch were replaced by Brian Jasper on guitar and Brian Sanheim on bass. Paris started writing songs for the second album while working at his current job. The band members have all been working hard to follow up their break through album "Pocket Full of Holes
". "We've been exploring all sorts of directions and have come up with an even more innovative sound with stronger lyrics and powerful hooks
which we feel will get the attention not only from Canada
again, but the USA as well", says Paris. Lyrics on every song are written by Brandon with two songs co-written with Dagriff ("masquerade" and "Twisted"), one song co-written with Marc Gladstone ("Don't Fade"), and one song co-written with the entire band ("Voice Inside My Head", All music is written by Bryan Jasper with additions and changes by the rest of the band, except three songs ("Don't Fade", "Voice Inside My Head" and "Never Get Enough")
“Pocket Full of Holes
" was independently released in Canada December 1, 2008 in hopes of a big follow up of their breakthrough album On My Own
. On November 3, 2008, Brandon Paris Band
independently released their first single called "Say Goodbye" from their 2nd album titled “Pocket Full of Holes
” to radio. "Say Goodbye", mixed by Mike Fraser
(AC/DC
; Hedley
) and mastered by Adam Ayan (Rolling Stones; Linkin Park
), is currently receiving airplay across Canada, including reporting stations, digital stations and satellite. Additional credits on “Pocket Full of Holes” include Jeff Dawson (State of Shock
, Kelly Rowland
, Daniel Powter
, Marcy Playground
; State of Shock
), Sheldon Zaharko (Salteens, Billy Talent
, Smugglers, New Pornographers, Barney Bentall
, Ridley Bent) at Vancouver's legendary Factory Studios, (Juno-nominated
) Joao Carvalho (Hedley
, Alexisonfire
, Protest the Hero, David Usher
, Matthew Good
, Holly McNarland
) in Toronto
. To add to the success of "Say Goodbye", a video was filmed for the song which was directed, shot, and edited by the lead singer himself with a $4.00 budget. The video has been downloaded thousands of times within weeks of its posting gaining quickly in popularity.
/rock
/reggae
band, Brandon Paris Band
, was nominated for Best New Group (CHR
) in 2006 by the Canadian Radio Music Awards.
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
, Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and is the lead singer and front man for Brandon Paris Band
Brandon Paris Band
Brandon Paris Band is a Canadian rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Brandon Paris started the band in 2002. The band performs a fusion of pop, rock, reggae, punk and soul. They have gained a huge amount of popularity in many parts of Canada and attained an already significant fan base...
. After graduating high school in 1989, he went to Red River College
Red River College
Red River College of Applied Arts, Science and Technology is located in Winnipeg. The College offers degree, diploma, certificate, and apprenticeship programs in the applied arts, applied sciences, and various trades. The university press, The Projector, is a member of CUP.-Campus:It has a number...
to study Criminology
Criminology
Criminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society...
in hopes of joining the Winnipeg Police Service
Winnipeg Police Service
The Winnipeg Police Service is the police force of the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.-History:When Winnipeg became a city in 1873, an election was held to select the city's new Mayor and Aldermen. Those appointed decided to hire city officials, including a Chief Constable. On February 23,...
, but that same year dropped out. At the age of 18, Brandon started making T-shirts under a brand name he called "Express Clothing". He started selling T-shirts out of the trunk of his car; eventually, his clothing line was carried at two of the largest clothing chains in Canada (at the time), Bootlegger, and Below the Belt. The company dissolved after 3 years because of poor business decisions based on little experience.
A three year relationship ended with his boyfriend during the same week of the official dissolve of his business, which led to Brandon's attempted suicide in 1993. Brandon was admitted in St. Boniface hospital where he had his stomach pumped. One month later, his father talked him into moving to Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, BC to work for his [[multimedia]] company. Paris worked for 7 years as a digital video editing/3D animator helping build his fathers home based business into one of the most recognized video production/duplication companies in British Columbia. By 1998, Brandon became addicted to drugs which led him into a deep depression. This depression helped him find a new love for music, that he claims, helped him find his way out of his 2 year drug addiction.
In 1999 Paris left his fathers business to pursue a career in Music. He sold all of his belongings within 2 weeks, and moved to Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
with $7,000 cash in hopes of putting together a band. While eating only oatmeal everyday and living in coach roach infested apartments, Brandon immediately took vocal lessons and went to the library each day educating himself with books on song writing and the music business. After running out of money within 1 year, Brandon became desperate for money, and attained an illegal green card and visa
Visa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
papers. Only 2 weeks later he was soon caught and deported back to Canada.
Brandon started writing and performing his own songs as a solo artist locally from 2001 to 2002. He independently financed the recording of his solo album which took 2 years to complete but released songs to radio with no success. With what took over 3 years, Brandon Paris's newly formed Band was completed. Brandon re-recorded half the album with Troy Samson of Hipjoint Productions (Moka Only
Moka Only
Daniel Denton , known professionally as Moka Only, is a Canadian hip hop artist. Originally from Langford, British Columbia, near Victoria, he is now based in Vancouver. He was previously part of the hip hop group Swollen Members, and briefly a part of Len. His albums are released by Legendary...
, Kreesha Turner
Kreesha Turner
Kreesha Turner , is a Canadian R&B/pPop recording artist. She cites as her inspirations R&B acts such as Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and D'Angelo, hip-hop acts including A Tribe Called Quest, Andre 3000 and Common and rock acts like the Foo Fighters and Our Lady Peace.-Early life:The oldest of three...
, Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg
Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...
) and Jeff Dawson (State of Shock
State of Shock (band)
State of Shock is a Canadian-based band from Vancouver, British Columbia. They made their debut in June 2004 with their album Guilty by Association....
, Kelly Rowland
Kelly Rowland
Kelendria Trene "Kelly" Rowland is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer, and television personality. She rose to fame as one of the founding members of the American girl group Destiny's Child...
, Daniel Powter
Daniel Powter
Daniel Richard Powter is a Canadian recording artist. He is known for his hit "Bad Day", which spent five weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. Powter became the only act to register the #1 hit of the year but chart no other Hot 100 hit.- Life and career :Powter grew up in Vernon, in the...
, Marcy Playground
Marcy Playground
Marcy Playground is an American alternative rock band consisting of three members: John Wozniak , Dylan Keefe , and Shlomi Lavie . The band is best known for their 1997 hit "Sex and Candy".-Early years:...
), Paris officially changed the name from "Brandon Paris" to "Brandon Paris Band
Brandon Paris Band
Brandon Paris Band is a Canadian rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Brandon Paris started the band in 2002. The band performs a fusion of pop, rock, reggae, punk and soul. They have gained a huge amount of popularity in many parts of Canada and attained an already significant fan base...
" in 2006 and decided they were finally ready to shop their debut album now titled On My Own
On My Own (Brandon Paris Band album)
On My Own is Brandon Paris Band's first studio album. It includes the hit single, "Rewind and Start Again". Their debut album's first single, "Rewind and Start Again", was a huge success on commercial radio after being released on March 13, 2006. The song climbed up to top 20 on the Canadian CHR...
.
in January 2006, Brandon Paris Band signed a deal with Koch Entertainment
Koch Entertainment
Koch Entertainment was a music, film and television distribution company. It was purchased by E1 Entertainment in 2005 and now operates under the name E1 Entertainment.-History:The company began in 1975 as Koch International...
literally overnight just days after sending out their album to record labels across Canada, with many offers following. Their debut albums' first single, "Rewind and Start Again", was a huge success on commercial radio after being released on March 13, 2006. The song climbed up to top 20
Top 20
20 #1's Now is a 2007 compilation album by various artists and presented by reggaeton production duo Luny Tunes, released on November 20, 2007, by Machete Music.-Tracklist:# Welcome to My Crib – Randy "Nota Loka"...
on the Canadian CHR charts (tracked by Radio & Records
Radio & Records
Radio & Records was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It originally started out as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006, up until its final issue in 2009.-History:The company was founded in 1973 and...
(Billboard Information Group
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
)). The second and third singles, "Somebody to Hold" and "Give Me a Reason", were also well received in many cities but not enough to reach top 40 status in Canada. Topping off an already exceptional year, Brandon Paris Band
Brandon Paris Band
Brandon Paris Band is a Canadian rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Brandon Paris started the band in 2002. The band performs a fusion of pop, rock, reggae, punk and soul. They have gained a huge amount of popularity in many parts of Canada and attained an already significant fan base...
was nominated for Best New Group or Solo Artist (CHR) by the Canadian Radio Music Awards in spring of 2007.
Early life 1971 - 1988(Winnipeg, Manitoba)
Paris's mother, Junette Lee, was born in SingaporeSingapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
and father, Edward Lee, was born in Trinidad & Tobago. Brandon Paris's original legal name was Richard Brian Edward Lee. He was born in St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
, Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
Brandon has three brothers, one of which is an identical twin. All the children lived in an extremely strict household as his father once served in the RAF (Royal Air Force).
Southdale (electoral district)
Southdale is a provincial electoral division in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It was created in the provincial redistribution 1999, and consists mostly of territory from the defunct riding of Niakwa...
where he went to Shamrock Elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
. Paris's mother and father moved to British Columbia in 1986 to start life over during a deep depression his father went into after losing his business of 30 years. Brandon and his twin brother stayed with his grandmother in Winnipeg to finish off the rest of his years in high school at J. H. Bruns Collegiate
J. H. Bruns Collegiate
J.H. Bruns Collegiate is a secondary school in Winnipeg, Canada established in 1972. It has approximately 850 students in Senior 1 - 4. The staff at J.H. Bruns is committed to providing a positive environment with as many opportunities as possible for its students, and offers a varied curriculum...
. For the next few years he struggled in high school while working a full time job. Paris went in and out of depression many times as he was very much affected by the physical and abuses of his adolescent years. Paris's family did not know of the sexual abusive neighbour at the time nor was the man ever charged as he moved out of the country before Brandon reached 10 years old. Brandon never realized how much all of this affected him until the later 90's. Aside from all the negative situations, Brandon was known to be a talented artist from a very young age and excelled in all his art classes all the way through high school. He also attained his black belt at Kangs Taekwondo http://www.kangs.mb.ca/ before he reached the age of 13.
1989 - 1993: The young entrepreneur
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
where young local owners of clothing companies like Mondetta Clothing Company
Mondetta Clothing Company
Mondetta is a Canadian casual and sportswear design and manufacturing company. The brand is best known for its world-flag themed apparel. Based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Mondetta has three main divisions: Mondetta, MPG and private label.-Founding:...
and Chip and Pepper
Chip and Pepper
Chip and Pepper Foster are Canadian, identical twin businesspeople. They are co-owners of the self-titled Chip & Pepper apparel company and former hosts of their own NBC series, Chip and Pepper's Cartoon Madness....
where flourishing. Brandon now 19 years old and still in high school, was determined to do the same and started making t-shirts in a friends basement with a brand name he called "Express Clothing" meaning, expressing ones self with clothing. He started selling T-shirts out of the trunk of his car at parties, high schools and nightclubs. As the demand became too high for the supply, Brandon could not make clothing fast enough and needed to get his clothing manufactured by a larger clothing manufacturer, Nygård International
Nygård International
Nygård International, is one of the largest women's clothing manufacturers and suppliers in the world, with annual sales of over $500 million. Based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the company employs 12,000 people worldwide and supplies its clothing lines to more than 200 retail stores in North America.The...
, who required minimum orders and deposits which Brandon could not meet. David Lee, Brandon's Uncle, became involved as his financial partner. Brandon heard that Bootlegger (At the time was Canada's largest retail clothing chain), was known for helping out local Winnipeggers. Luckily their main office for making purchases was in Winnipeg. Paris set up a meeting and came over with sample clothing articles to show to the company's purchasing executives. 1 week later Bootlegger faxed in their first order of Express clothing to be distributed within their stores across Canada. Eventually the second largest clothing chains in Canada (at the time), Below the Belt started carrying the clothing line. Paris set up sales representatives in Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, and Alberta. The company was growing too fast with quality being sacrificed which led to the company dissolving only 2 years later. Brandon's poor business decisions were to blame. A three year relationship ended with his girlfriend during the same week of the official dissolve of his business, which let to Brandon's attempted suicide in 1993. Brandon was admitted in St. Boniface hospital where he had his stomach pumped. Although the company did not even come close to the success of Mondetta or Chip & Pepper, it is now looked back as quite a success story in regards to what he accomplished at 18 years old on his own with no experience in the clothing field in such a short time.
1994 - 1996: Multimedia career (Surrey, British Columbia)
Surrey, British Columbia
Surrey is a city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is a member municipality of Metro Vancouver, the governing body of the Greater Vancouver Regional District...
, BC
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
to work for his multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
company. "Edward Lee Productions Inc", in Surrey, BC. In the summer of 1994 Brandon picked up and moved to Surrey to start life over again. Through training from his father, seminars, technical courses and video's, Brandon mastered many aspects of business (sales and marketing) and multi-media including, linear
Linear video editing
Linear video editing is a video editing post-production process of selecting, arranging and modifying images and sound in a predetermined, ordered sequence. Regardless whether captured by a video camera, tapeless camcorder, recorded in a television studio on a video tape recorder the content must...
/digital video editing
Non-linear editing system
In video, a non-linear editing system is a video editing or audio editing digital audio workstation system which can perform random access non-destructive editing on the source material...
on Avid
Avid Technology
Avid Technology, Inc. is an American company specializing in video and audio production technology; specifically, digital non-linear editing systems, management and distribution services. It was created in 1987 and became a publicly traded company in 1993...
/Media 100
Media 100
Media 100 is a manufacturer of video editing software and non-linear editing systems designed for professional cutting and editing. The editing systems are currently all based on OEM AJA Kona boards, with the exception of the Software-only Producer and Producer Suite, and run exclusively on Macs...
, 3D animation (Lightwave 3D), Compositing
Compositing
Compositing is the combining of visual elements from separate sources into single images, often to create the illusion that all those elements are parts of the same scene. Live-action shooting for compositing is variously called "chroma key", "blue screen", "green screen" and other names. Today,...
effects using (After Effects), graphic design
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
(Photoshop)and video duplication. Brandon started on wedding projects and soon after moved up to working on corporate video
Corporate video
Corporate video production refers to audio-visual corporate communications material commissioned primarily for a use by a company, corporation or organisation. A corporate video is often intended for a specific purpose in a corporate or B2B environment and viewed only by a limited or targeted...
s, music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
s, and TV commercials. In 1996 Brandon's father won Surrey's Entrepreneur of the Year Award and eventually expanded into a bigger location. In 1997 his father won "Vancouver Ethno-Canadian Entrepreneur Of The Year Award" which once again propelled the business into high sales. At the end of 1997, Brandon started feeling the stress from the long 18–22 hour days, pressure from his father, and low pay. Brandon started taking medication to help cope with the anxiety. He also gained more than 100 pounds (45.4 kg) between 1996 and 1997 which caused him to developed type-2 diabetes
Diabetes mellitus type 2
Diabetes mellitus type 2formerly non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus or adult-onset diabetesis a metabolic disorder that is characterized by high blood glucose in the context of insulin resistance and relative insulin deficiency. Diabetes is often initially managed by increasing exercise and...
.
1997 -–1998: The depression
Depression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
. This depression helped him find a new love for music, "I would sing to songs on my stereo that dealt with the same thing I was currently going through at the time." Paris says. "Little did i know that my singing voice was getting stronger by the month. I started singing at parties for fun, Many people would compliment on my vocals or say i should seriously think about getting into a singing career. I rolled it off my shoulder at first but admit that the thought of becoming a singer started growing on me by the day." He claims music helped him find his way out of his 2 year drug addiction. "I wrote all my feelings down on paper every night when i was coming down from my high. "It wasn't until close to the end of my addiction that it dawned on me why i was doing so much drugs. It was because i was masking all of the terrible things i went through as a child, one of them, being sexually abused (by nearby neighbor) at a young age for many years without my family knowing." Paris says. "singing and writing was like being at a session at the psychologists office every night. I finally got all the skeletons out of the closet and dealt with it for the first time. This was the biggest turning point in my life. It was only then when I knew I somehow had to take both my love for writing and singing and make this a career." Brandon legally changed his name from Richard Lee to Brandon Paris in 1998 as he believed it was like starting life all over and a way of leaving all the evils in his past behind. He chose "Brandon" as his first name because of his most loved actor and martial artist Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee was a Chinese American, Hong Kong actor, martial arts instructor, philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement...
, whose son was named Brandon
Brandon Lee
Brandon Bruce Lee was an American actor and martial artist. He was the son of martial arts film star Bruce Lee...
. he chose the well known city "Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
" as his last name because he felt it was more marketable and thought it would be much too hard to market a popular, unoriginal Chinese last name "Lee
Chinese name
Personal names in Chinese culture follow a number of conventions different from those of personal names in Western cultures. Most noticeably, a Chinese name is written with the family name first and the given name next, therefore "John-Paul Smith" as a Chinese name would be "Smith John-Paul"...
". Brandon also changed his appearance by losing 126 lb (from 302 pounds (137 kg) down to 176 pounds (79.8 kg)). Brandon was used in television and newspaper ads as a "success story" for several years for Fitness world,
1999 -–2006: Music Career
With absolutely no training, experience or knowledge in playing, writing or even singing music, in 1999 Paris left his fathers business to pursue his new chosen career. He sold all of his belongings within 2 weeks, and moved to Long Beach, California with $7,000 cash in hopes of putting together a band. Brandon immediately took vocal lessons and went to the library every day educating himself with books on song writing and music business. Paris did not succeed at putting together a band. After running out of money within 1 year, Brandon became desperate for money, and attained an illegal green card and visa papers. Only 2 weeks later he was soon caught and deported back to Canada.Paris immediately got a job with a nightclub in downtown, Vancouver in 2000, where he worked as a busser at night. This allowed him more time to learn guitar, take vocal lessons with Juno Award
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
Winning, Patricia Dahlquist and write songs. He started writing and performing his own songs as a solo artist locally from 2001 to 2002. He independently financed the recording of his solo album which took 2 years to complete but released songs to radio with no success. Brandon could not release many of the songs due to debt in the studio and co-writes he could not buy out, the songs still sit on the shelf.
Fall of 2002 Brandon was approached by Dave Devindisch (former bassist of the defunct Vancouver band called DDT) while performing at a concert at the Croatian Culture Center in Vancouver where he asked if he would be interested in recording a demo
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
at his home studio. Brandon agreed and soon after, Dave and Brandon formed a two man band playing at local venues. In 2003, Paris decided to finally record a full album with Ninjabeatz Studios http://www.ninjabeatz.com in Burnaby, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, where reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
artist Dagriff was recording his 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...
. Dagriff was approached by Paris and asked if he would be interested in collaborating on one song from the album he was recording. Soon after, Dagriff joined the band and became a huge influence on the band's music. Dagriff was eventually featured on more than half the album which took over two full years to eventually complete. In 2004, Greg Ellis was asked if he would play guitar on a couple songs for the album which resulted in him joining the band as well. In 2005, Chris Murray Driver, who was friends with Dave Devindisch, joined the band, and only a few months later talked his friend Marc Gladstone (keyboards) into joining the band. Both Marc and Chris are former members of the band Doug and the Slugs
Doug and the Slugs
Doug and the Slugs are a Canadian new-wave/power-pop band based in Vancouver. The group was formed in 1977 and was most active throughout the 1980s. They are best remembered for the Canadian top 40 hits "Too Bad" , "Making It Work" and "Tomcat Prowl"...
.
In spring 2005, Paris tried to release the songs independently to radio with no success. A few months later he approached Vancouver-based record producer Troy Samson of Hipjoint Productions (Moka Only
Moka Only
Daniel Denton , known professionally as Moka Only, is a Canadian hip hop artist. Originally from Langford, British Columbia, near Victoria, he is now based in Vancouver. He was previously part of the hip hop group Swollen Members, and briefly a part of Len. His albums are released by Legendary...
, Kreesha Turner
Kreesha Turner
Kreesha Turner , is a Canadian R&B/pPop recording artist. She cites as her inspirations R&B acts such as Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and D'Angelo, hip-hop acts including A Tribe Called Quest, Andre 3000 and Common and rock acts like the Foo Fighters and Our Lady Peace.-Early life:The oldest of three...
, Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg
Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...
) and Jeff Dawson (State of Shock
State of Shock (band)
State of Shock is a Canadian-based band from Vancouver, British Columbia. They made their debut in June 2004 with their album Guilty by Association....
, Kelly Rowland
Kelly Rowland
Kelendria Trene "Kelly" Rowland is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer, and television personality. She rose to fame as one of the founding members of the American girl group Destiny's Child...
, Daniel Powter
Daniel Powter
Daniel Richard Powter is a Canadian recording artist. He is known for his hit "Bad Day", which spent five weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. Powter became the only act to register the #1 hit of the year but chart no other Hot 100 hit.- Life and career :Powter grew up in Vernon, in the...
, Marcy Playground
Marcy Playground
Marcy Playground is an American alternative rock band consisting of three members: John Wozniak , Dylan Keefe , and Shlomi Lavie . The band is best known for their 1997 hit "Sex and Candy".-Early years:...
), to rework six of the original recordings. This took the whole project to a new level. Paris changed the name from "Brandon Paris" to "Brandon Paris Band
Brandon Paris Band
Brandon Paris Band is a Canadian rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Brandon Paris started the band in 2002. The band performs a fusion of pop, rock, reggae, punk and soul. They have gained a huge amount of popularity in many parts of Canada and attained an already significant fan base...
" and decided they were finally ready to shop their debut album now titled On My Own.
in January 2006, Brandon Paris Band
Brandon Paris Band
Brandon Paris Band is a Canadian rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Brandon Paris started the band in 2002. The band performs a fusion of pop, rock, reggae, punk and soul. They have gained a huge amount of popularity in many parts of Canada and attained an already significant fan base...
signed a deal with Koch Entertainment
Koch Entertainment
Koch Entertainment was a music, film and television distribution company. It was purchased by E1 Entertainment in 2005 and now operates under the name E1 Entertainment.-History:The company began in 1975 as Koch International...
literally overnight just days after sending out their album to record labels across Canada, with many offers following. Their debut albums' first single, "Rewind and Start Again", was a huge success on commercial radio after being released on March 13, 2006. The song climbed up to top 20
Top 20
20 #1's Now is a 2007 compilation album by various artists and presented by reggaeton production duo Luny Tunes, released on November 20, 2007, by Machete Music.-Tracklist:# Welcome to My Crib – Randy "Nota Loka"...
on the Canadian CHR charts (tracked by Radio & Records
Radio & Records
Radio & Records was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It originally started out as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006, up until its final issue in 2009.-History:The company was founded in 1973 and...
(Billboard Information Group
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
)). Their debut albums' second single, "Somebody to Hold", was released after its very successful first release Rewind and Start Again, which hit top 20. The song was also well received in many cities. It unfortunately peaked at #53 on CHR
Contemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio is a radio format that is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts...
(tracked by Radio & Records
Radio & Records
Radio & Records was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It originally started out as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006, up until its final issue in 2009.-History:The company was founded in 1973 and...
(Billboard Information Group
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
)). Koch Entertainment
Koch Entertainment
Koch Entertainment was a music, film and television distribution company. It was purchased by E1 Entertainment in 2005 and now operates under the name E1 Entertainment.-History:The company began in 1975 as Koch International...
, Brandon Paris Band's record label, decided to release "Give Me a Reason" only a month after the release of Somebody to Hold, in hopes of getting better results, but to their dismay it was not enough to reach top 40 status. Only a couple months later it quickly lost its momentum on the radio once the funding towards radio promotion stopped. It was believed that the timing, and lack of funding for marketing the singles release was partially to blame. Topping off an already exceptional year, Brandon Paris Band
Brandon Paris Band
Brandon Paris Band is a Canadian rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Brandon Paris started the band in 2002. The band performs a fusion of pop, rock, reggae, punk and soul. They have gained a huge amount of popularity in many parts of Canada and attained an already significant fan base...
was nominated for Best New Group or Solo Artist (CHR) by the Canadian Radio Music Awards
Canadian Radio Music Awards
The Canadian Radio Music Awards are an annual series of awards presented by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters that are part of Canadian Music Week....
in spring of 2007.
2007 -–present: The Second Album
Pocket Full of Holes (Brandon Paris Band album)
Pocket Full of Holes was independently released in Canada on December 1, 2008, in hopes of a big follow up to the Brandon Paris Band's breakthrough album On My Own. On November 3, 2008, Brandon Paris Band independently released their first single, "Say Goodbye" from the album to radio...
". "We've been exploring all sorts of directions and have come up with an even more innovative sound with stronger lyrics and powerful hooks
Hook (music)
A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, hip hop, dance music, and pop. In these genres, the hook is often...
which we feel will get the attention not only from Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
again, but the USA as well", says Paris. Lyrics on every song are written by Brandon with two songs co-written with Dagriff ("masquerade" and "Twisted"), one song co-written with Marc Gladstone ("Don't Fade"), and one song co-written with the entire band ("Voice Inside My Head", All music is written by Bryan Jasper with additions and changes by the rest of the band, except three songs ("Don't Fade", "Voice Inside My Head" and "Never Get Enough")
Pocket Full of Holes (Brandon Paris Band album)
Pocket Full of Holes was independently released in Canada on December 1, 2008, in hopes of a big follow up to the Brandon Paris Band's breakthrough album On My Own. On November 3, 2008, Brandon Paris Band independently released their first single, "Say Goodbye" from the album to radio...
" was independently released in Canada December 1, 2008 in hopes of a big follow up of their breakthrough album On My Own
On My Own (Brandon Paris Band album)
On My Own is Brandon Paris Band's first studio album. It includes the hit single, "Rewind and Start Again". Their debut album's first single, "Rewind and Start Again", was a huge success on commercial radio after being released on March 13, 2006. The song climbed up to top 20 on the Canadian CHR...
. On November 3, 2008, Brandon Paris Band
Brandon Paris Band
Brandon Paris Band is a Canadian rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Brandon Paris started the band in 2002. The band performs a fusion of pop, rock, reggae, punk and soul. They have gained a huge amount of popularity in many parts of Canada and attained an already significant fan base...
independently released their first single called "Say Goodbye" from their 2nd album titled “Pocket Full of Holes
Pocket Full of Holes (Brandon Paris Band album)
Pocket Full of Holes was independently released in Canada on December 1, 2008, in hopes of a big follow up to the Brandon Paris Band's breakthrough album On My Own. On November 3, 2008, Brandon Paris Band independently released their first single, "Say Goodbye" from the album to radio...
” to radio. "Say Goodbye", mixed by Mike Fraser
Mike Fraser
Mike Fraser is a Canadian record producer, engineer, and mixer. Mike is best known for his work with AC/DC, Metallica, Aerosmith and Joe Satriani...
(AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
; Hedley
Hedley (band)
Hedley is a Canadian pop rock band comprising lead singer Jacob Hoggard, Tommy Mac on bass, Dave Rosin on lead guitar and Chris Crippin on drums. The current band retains the original name of Hoggard's pre-Canadian Idol group, although the membership has changed. The band originated in Abbotsford,...
) and mastered by Adam Ayan (Rolling Stones; Linkin Park
Linkin Park
Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. Formed in 1996, the band rose to international fame with their debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and multi-platinum in several other countries...
), is currently receiving airplay across Canada, including reporting stations, digital stations and satellite. Additional credits on “Pocket Full of Holes” include Jeff Dawson (State of Shock
State of Shock (band)
State of Shock is a Canadian-based band from Vancouver, British Columbia. They made their debut in June 2004 with their album Guilty by Association....
, Kelly Rowland
Kelly Rowland
Kelendria Trene "Kelly" Rowland is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer, and television personality. She rose to fame as one of the founding members of the American girl group Destiny's Child...
, Daniel Powter
Daniel Powter
Daniel Richard Powter is a Canadian recording artist. He is known for his hit "Bad Day", which spent five weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. Powter became the only act to register the #1 hit of the year but chart no other Hot 100 hit.- Life and career :Powter grew up in Vernon, in the...
, Marcy Playground
Marcy Playground
Marcy Playground is an American alternative rock band consisting of three members: John Wozniak , Dylan Keefe , and Shlomi Lavie . The band is best known for their 1997 hit "Sex and Candy".-Early years:...
; State of Shock
State of Shock (band)
State of Shock is a Canadian-based band from Vancouver, British Columbia. They made their debut in June 2004 with their album Guilty by Association....
), Sheldon Zaharko (Salteens, Billy Talent
Billy Talent
Billy Talent is a Canadian post-hardcore band from Streetsville, Ontario. They formed in 1993 with Ben Kowalewicz as the lead vocalist, Ian D'Sa on lead guitar, bassist Jon Gallant and drummer Aaron Solowoniuk ....
, Smugglers, New Pornographers, Barney Bentall
Barney Bentall
Barnard Franklin "Barney" Bentall is a Canadian pop/rock singer-songwriter who is most well known for his 1990s-era band, Barney Bentall and the Legendary Hearts. Their most successful Canadian singles included "Something to Live For", "Life Could Be Worse", "Crime Against Love" and "Come Back to...
, Ridley Bent) at Vancouver's legendary Factory Studios, (Juno-nominated
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
) Joao Carvalho (Hedley
Hedley (band)
Hedley is a Canadian pop rock band comprising lead singer Jacob Hoggard, Tommy Mac on bass, Dave Rosin on lead guitar and Chris Crippin on drums. The current band retains the original name of Hoggard's pre-Canadian Idol group, although the membership has changed. The band originated in Abbotsford,...
, Alexisonfire
Alexisonfire
Alexisonfire was a five-piece, Juno-nominated post-hardcore band that formed in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada in 2001. The band consisted of George Pettit , Dallas Green , Wade MacNeil , Chris Steele , and Jordan Hastings .They describe their music as "the sound of two Catholic high-school girls...
, Protest the Hero, David Usher
David Usher
David Usher is a British-born Canadian singer-songwriter. Formerly the frontman for the alternative rock band Moist, he embarked on a solo career beginning in the late 1990s.-Biography:...
, Matthew Good
Matthew Good
Matthew Frederick Robert Good is a Canadian rock musician. He was the lead singer for the Matthew Good Band, one of Canada's most successful alternative rock bands in the 1990s, before dissolving the band in 2002...
, Holly McNarland
Holly McNarland
Holly McNarland is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter.She collaborated with Matthew Good on the song "Flight Recorder From Viking 7" from the album Loser Anthems as well as on the song "Pony Boy" from Matthew Good's greatest hits package In a Coma...
) in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. To add to the success of "Say Goodbye", a video was filmed for the song which was directed, shot, and edited by the lead singer himself with a $4.00 budget. The video has been downloaded thousands of times within weeks of its posting gaining quickly in popularity.
Current Personal Status
Brandon married Renee Lavigueur on July 28, 2007. Renee has also been involved with the marketing of Brandon's music to this present date.Discography
- 2006: On My OwnOn My Own (Brandon Paris Band album)On My Own is Brandon Paris Band's first studio album. It includes the hit single, "Rewind and Start Again". Their debut album's first single, "Rewind and Start Again", was a huge success on commercial radio after being released on March 13, 2006. The song climbed up to top 20 on the Canadian CHR...
(October 3, 2006) Canada
Nominations
Brandon's popPop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
/rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
/reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
band, Brandon Paris Band
Brandon Paris Band
Brandon Paris Band is a Canadian rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Brandon Paris started the band in 2002. The band performs a fusion of pop, rock, reggae, punk and soul. They have gained a huge amount of popularity in many parts of Canada and attained an already significant fan base...
, was nominated for Best New Group (CHR
Contemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio is a radio format that is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts...
) in 2006 by the Canadian Radio Music Awards.