Kazzer
Encyclopedia
Mark Kasprzyk better known by his stage name, Kazzer, is a Canadian musician whose work ranges from Rap Rock
Rap rock
Rap rock is a cross-genre fusing vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop with various forms of rock. Rap rock is often confused with rap metal and rapcore, subgenres that include heavy metal-oriented and hardcore punk-oriented bands, respectively....

 to Alternative Rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

. He is best known for the song "Pedal to the Metal", which was aired regularly on MuchMusic
MuchMusic
MuchMusic is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Bell Media. MuchMusic is dedicated to music-related programs, pop and youth culture.-History:...

 and MTV Europe
MTV Europe
MTV Europe is a pan-European 24-hour entertainment cable and digital television network launched on August 1, 1987. Initially, the channel served all regions within Europe being one of the very few channels that targeted the entire European continent...

, played on contemporary hit radio
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...

, hot adult contemporary, alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 and mainstream rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

 radio stations in Canada. He is also an auto sports
Auto racing
Auto racing is a motorsport involving the racing of cars for competition. It is one of the world's most watched televised sports.-The beginning of racing:...

 television personality.

History

He grew up in Binbrook
Binbrook, Ontario
Binbrook is a small, but growing community in southeastern Hamilton, Ontario in Canada. It was unpopularly amalgamated into the City of Hamilton in 2001. Since 2001, Binbrook has added hundreds of new homes as it becomes an "island" suburb of Hamilton, separated by conservation and agricultural lands...

, 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....

, near Hamilton
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...

 and at the age of 8, he began learning judo
Judo
is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...

, becoming so skilled that he later became part of the Canadian National Judo Team and was an alternate for the Canadian team in the 2000 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

. At 16, he began writing songs. Being relegated to alternate status for the Olympics inspired him to pursue a career in music and in his teens he discovered hip-hop and took up breakdancing. Around this time, Mark produced a demo which made it into the hands of Epic Records
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...

 (a subsidiary of Sony BMG).

Music career

Under his stage name Kazzer, Kasprzyk was signed and released his 2002 debut album Go for Broke in Canada, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

. The energetic lead single, "Pedal to the Medal", was co-written with Brian West, Grammy-nominated producer for the likes of Nelly Furtado
Nelly Furtado
Nelly Kim Furtado is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Furtado grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.Furtado first gained fame with her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, and its single "I'm Like a Bird", which won a 2001 Juno Award for Single of the Year and a 2002 Grammy...

. The song was featured on the soundtracks of the 2003 remake of The Italian Job
The Italian Job (2003 film)
The Italian Job is a 2003 heist film directed by F. Gary Gray. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Seth Green, Jason Statham, Mos Def, and Donald Sutherland. It is an American remake of a 1969 British film of the same name, and is about a team of thieves who plan to steal...

, the 2004 film Catch That Kid
Catch That Kid
Catch That Kid! is a 2004 American adventure comedy film directed by Bart Freundlich. It is a remake of the Danish blockbuster Klatretøsen...

on the television series Malcolm in the Middle
Malcolm in the Middle
Malcolm in the Middle is an American television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for the Fox Network. The series was first broadcast on January 9, 2000, and ended its six-and-a-half-year run on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons and 151 episodes...

,
and in the Hotwheels Acceleracers movies. It was also featured in the opening "splash" animation and on the soundtrack of the Midway Sports video game NHL HITZ PRO. Additionally, his song "Fueled By Adrenaline" was featured on the two Bugbear games, FlatOut:Head On and Flatout Ultimate Carnage.

Kazzer was nominated for a New Artist of the Year
Juno Award for New Artist of the Year
The Juno Award for New Artist of the Year has been awarded since 1974 as recognition each year for the best new artist/musician in Canada. The category was originally divided by separate awards for men and women...

 at the 2004 Juno Awards
Juno Awards of 2004
The Juno Awards of 2004 were presented on April 4, 2004 at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and were hosted by Alanis Morissette.Singer-songwriters Nelly Furtado, Sarah McLachlan, and Nickelback led the nominations with five nominations each...

. He has toured Canada repeatedly including a 2003 MTV
MTV Canada
MTV is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel devoted to talk, lifestyle and documentary programming.MTV is owned by Bell Media, with its name licensed from the American channel of the same name, which is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom.The channel launched as talktv...

 Campus Invasion tour which on some dates he headlined and on others opened for Gob
Gob (band)
Gob is a Canadian punk band from Langley, British Columbia formed in 1993, The Band consists of Tom Thacker, Theo Goutzinakis, Gabe Mantle and Steven Fairweather. Gob's most successful album is World According to Gob and their most successful song to date is I Hear You Calling...

. He has performed at concerts and festivals
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...

 in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, and opened for The Roots
The Roots
The Roots is an American hip hop/neo soul band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are famed for beginning with a jazzy, eclectic approach to hip hop which still includes live instrumentals...

 in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, and for a New York Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 game.

Go for Broke sold 25,000 copies worldwide in 2003. Epic Records went through an executive change and Kazzer found himself without representatiion, and he moved to Linus Entertainment
Linus Entertainment
Linus Entertainment is a record label based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.The company was started by Geoff Kulawick, who previously was vice president of A&R at Virgin Records/EMI Music Canada....

, a leading Canadian independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

 distributed by Universal Records
Universal Records
Universal Records was a record label owned by Universal Music Group, and it is now owned by Manny Patino and Michael Jackson, and operated as part of the Universal Motown Republic Group.-History:...

.

Kazzer's second record Broke was recorded at EMAC Recording Studios
EMAC Recording Studios
EMAC Recording Studios is a music and commercial recording facility in London, Ontario, Canada, established in 1979 by Robert Nation and Joe Vaughan.- The Building :...

 and released on June 28, 2005, featuring the lead single "Ordinary".

There were plans for a third Kazzer release, expected in 2008/2009, but it never came to fruition. Mark has since formed a new project called Redlight King who are currently signed to Hollywood Records. Kasprzyk made news in 2011 for his success in securing permission from Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...

 to allow him to sample Young's 1972 song, "Old Man
Old Man (song)
"Old Man" is a song written and performed by Neil Young on his 1972 album Harvest.The song was written for the caretaker of the Northern California Broken Arrow Ranch, which Young purchased for $350,000 in 1970. The song compares a young man's life to an old man's and shows that the young man has,...

". The sample is included in the song "Old Man" (originally titled "Hardworking Hands") on his third album "Something for the Pain", released in 2011.

Other media

He has appeared in film and television, including a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...

 as a redneck in the 2004 MuchMusic comedy road movie
Road movie
A road movie is a film genre in which the main character or characters leave home to travel from place to place. They usually leave home to escape their current lives.-History:...

 Going the Distance. He was also one of many collaborators on Sports Car Revolution, aired on the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

-based specialty television channel Speed Channel
SPEED Channel
Speed , is a cable and satellite television network broadcast to various parts of North America, but primarily the United States...

 in 2005 and 2006. He has owned a 1962 Ford Thunderbird, a 1949 Mercury and a 1930 Ford Model A.

Discography

  • Go for Broke (2002) Epic Records
Singles:"Pedal To The Medal"
  • Broke (2005) Linus Entertainment
Singles:"Ordinary"
  • Something For The Pain (2011) Hollywood Records
Singles:"Old Man", "Bullet in My Hand"

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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