Ash Graham Musician, Songwriter, Performer

While this blog mainly consist of young treble singers, we also feature young men in their late teens who’s voice has already broken and has developed a clear sounding mature sound.  Ash Graham, 16, from New Zealand is one young man who fills this description to a tee.  Not only are his vocal abilities astoundingly pleasant, but his musical prowess is enhanced by his song writing capabilities and composing genius.

I first was introduced to Ash on Tommy’s site, Stars2come.com in November of last year!  Following an exchange of letters with Ash’s parents I’m happy to now introduce him here on Rivenmaster’s Place.

Ash’s story begins long before he sang his first note. Being in a hurry to come into this world 6 weeks prematurely, Ash showed that he was going to be special from the start.  His mom was told that Ash would be in the neo-natal intensive care unit for about a week and would then move into the neo-natal ward, most likely being in hospital until his due date. However, by morning the doctors were stunned at his progress. He was already in the regular neo-natal ward and was doing so well they thought they may be able to move him to the ward with her. By day 3 and he was in the ward with his Mother and following sounds and people around the room.

Since then it’s been all go. Music clearly moved Ash from a young age, he regularly moved to the music whenever it played. At age 3 or 4 he asked for a guitar, but figuring it was a fleeting wish his parents held off. However the requests never stopped, so his uncle sent money from the UK for him to buy a guitar for his 6^th birthday. Before Ash had even had his first lesson he was playing Coldplay songs by ear. When lessons followed the following year, it became obvious that Ash was doing so well that his parents needed to move him to a private tutor. He stayed with that tutor for 2 years and completed London College of Music exams for Preliminary and Grade 1, achieving distinction for both exams. Ash was soon catching up to his tutor’s ability so he was moved again to a new tutor who immediately wanted to put him on the same level as his previous tutor. Ash wanting to maintain his “Distinction” level of passing, said he would do Grade 5, he received Distinction for that level as well, including achieving 30/30 for lead playing which is apparently a New Zealand first. Last year Ash completed level 6. This was a huge worry for him as it was his busiest year yet, having his first year of NCEA and his music commitments which made it difficult to balance with school at times.  Even with all that to contend with he still achieved Merit on that exam.

Ash’s first public performance was in early 2006 with his band Hybrid. Hybrid was a band formed as part of Thomas Goss’s School of Rock.  Right from the start Hybrid was a band that meant business, having one of the most successful EP releases for a School of Rock band. Here is their old Bebo site http://www.bebo.com/hybridrocks.

Ash didn’t start singing in a public forum until Rock Camp 2009 which convened in Auckland. They held a songwriter night and Ash was coaxed by one of his friends to show off one of his songs. Later in the camp he got to sing in front of  Jason Kerrison (lead singer of Opshop) and Campbell Smith (CRS Management and CEO of Big Day Out New Zealand). The feedback he received from them was enough for him to finally start believing he could sing.

In February 2010 Ash recorded an EP singing six of his original songs. He entered one of those songs “Routine” into the Zeal singer/songwriter competition in April 2010 achieving 2^nd equal. He then entered Play it Strange national secondary schools song writing competition coming in 3^rd Place! [ti_audio media=”1319″]
You can purchase Ash’s single on I-tunes! Please go there now and support Ash by downloading this great song!

In October 2010 he entered the Coastlands Star Search talent competition and was awarded 1^st place in the seniors. This year Ash again entered the Play it Strange Competition named Anthem in Black having his song “People of Black and White” selected for “Anthem in Black” – a compilation released in New Zealand for the 2012 London Olympics by Sportsing, APRA, Play It Strange and the NZ Olympic Committee.

Last year Ash was featured on the song for Mental Health Awareness week, called “Drifting Tonight” written by Ryan Edwards. Ash wrote and sings the 3^rd verse as well as providing back vocals.

WHAT’S ASH UP TO TODAY?

Ash is currently recording his debut album and hopes to have it finished and ready for release by the end of the year. The second single from the album, “Boy in the Box” will be released shortly to I-tunes but I have been given special permission to offer you a private debut of this song.  Be Watching I-tunes for this release!

[ti_audio media=”1327″]

Outside of music Ash loves skateboarding, graffiti art and is a member of the KCDC Youth Council (Kapiti Coast District Council).  He regularly performs at fundraising events performing at the Kapiti Art fair that raises funds for the Kapiti Coast Aquatic Centre. In addition, Ash participated as a celebrity artist providing a canvas painting he had done to be auctioned off and will also take part in The Big Busk for Child Cancer.

Here’s another sample of yet another Great Ash Graham song yet to be released entitled “Streetlights”!

[ti_audio media=”1321″]

Be sure you tell Ash how much you enjoy his music by leaving a comment below and also be watching for his new EP which he is currently working on “These Simple Words”. You can listen to the tracks for this yet to be released EP by visiting the last link in the list below!

To find out more about Ash and to visit all his sites here is a conclusive list that will help you on your journey to great music by Ash.

• Domain Site:http://www.ashgraham.co.nz
• MySpace:http://www.myspace.com/ashgraham
• Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/ash.graham.music
• Twitter:http://twitter.com/AshGrahamMusic
• YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/ashgrahammusic
• ReverbNation:http://www.reverbnation.com/ashgrahammusic
• Soundcloud:http://soundcloud.com/ash-graham