Ari Hest

Summary

Ari Hest (born 16 June 1979) is an American singer-songwriter from the Bronx borough of New York.[1]

Ari Hest
Hest at The Saint in Asbury Park, New Jersey, May 11, 2011
Hest at The Saint in Asbury Park, New Jersey, May 11, 2011
Background information
Born (1979-06-16) June 16, 1979 (age 44)
New York City, U.S.
GenresRock, folk, pop
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, musician
Instrument(s)Guitar, keyboards, harmonica
Years active1999–present
LabelsColumbia, Project 4
Websitewww.arihest.com

Biography edit

Early life and education edit

Hest's father is a college music professor and his mother a cantor.[2] His older brother, Danny, is Hest's former manager. Hest took piano lessons as a child and later taught himself to play guitar. Hest attended Cornell University in Ithaca, NY beginning in 1999 and later transferred to New York University, where he received a degree in Communications in 2002.

Career edit

Hest released an EP, Incomplete and two albums, Come Home and Story After Story all independently as he grew his fan base touring colleges and universities around the U.S. In March 2004, Hest signed a recording contract with Columbia and recorded the album Someone To Tell and a five-song EP "Guilty Hearts EP" in the fall of 2005. His next EP was called The Green Room Sessions, a home spun recording entirely played and produced on his own. Shortly after releasing that, he worked with producer Mitchell Froom on "The Break-In", which was his last release on Columbia.

As an independent artist once again in 2008, Hest created 52, a subscription based service in which he wrote, recorded and released a new song every week for a year. In 2009, he released Twelve Mondays, a collection of 12 fan-selected songs from those 52, remixed.

Between 2011 and 2014, Hest released three more albums - Sunset Over Hope Street (2011), The Fire Plays (2012) and Shouts and Whispers (2014). Several songs from these albums have appeared in films and TV shows.

In 2016, Ari co-wrote a number of songs with Judy Collins, and the two released an album of duets June 3 entitled Silver Skies Blue, after two years of on-and-off touring together. The album earned Hest his first Grammy Award nomination (it was Collins' first nomination in 40 years). Silver Skies Blue was nominated for Best Folk Album at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards in 2017 but lost to Undercurrent by Sarah Jarosz. This is not Hest's first collaboration - he has two other projects: The Open Sea with Rosi Golan, and more recently, the Brazilian guitar inspired Bluebirds of Paradise with Chrissi Poland.

Discography edit

  • Incomplete (EP, 1999), Project 4
  • Come Home (2001), Project 4
  • Story After Story (2002). Project 4
  • Someone to Tell (2004), Columbia
  • Guilty Hearts (EP, 2005), Columbia
  • The Green Room Sessions (EP, 2006), Columbia
  • I've Got You (Download only single, 2007), Columbia/Red Ink
  • The Break-In (2007), Columbia/Red Ink
  • Live at the Quick Center (EP, 2008), Project 4
  • 52 (2008), Project 4
  • Twelve Mondays (2009), Project 4
  • Sunset Over Hope Street (2011), Downtown
  • The Fire Plays (2012), Project 4
  • Shouts and Whispers (2014), Project 4
  • Silver Skies Blue with Judy Collins (2016), Cleopatra
  • Natural (2017), Ari Hest
  • Against The Sky (2020), Ari Hest

Soundtrack and other albums edit

  • Consistency, Live from the Village Underground (2002), Project 4, included with first 1,000 copies of “Story After Story”
  • Winter Break: The Movie Soundtrack (2003), Various Artists, with “Strangers Again” from Ari Hest
  • DecentXposure: Volume One (2003). Various Artists, with "Consistency" from Ari Hest
  • The Lincoln Lawyer soundtrack (2011) Various Artists, with "Now" from Ari Hest
  • The Open Sea (with Rosi Golan), "Little Apple" EP (2010)

References edit

  1. ^ Fitzpatrick, Heather (March 4, 2013). "Interview & Photos: Ari Hest @ the Triple Door". Back Beat Seattle. Archived from the original on October 16, 2014. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  2. ^ Barron, Nicole (April 11, 2011). "Interview with Ari Hest". The Celebrity Cafe. Archived from the original on October 17, 2014. Retrieved October 10, 2014.

External links edit

  • Official website
  • Biography at Star Pulse Archived 2013-07-29 at the Wayback Machine.
  • Live Music Archive
  • Interview at Stereo Subversion[permanent dead link]
  • Interview with Sound Bites Dog E-Zine