Chance (artist)
- This article is about Chance, an independent American alternative rock musician. John Barnes Chance was another American composer.
Chance is a solo artist based in Los Angeles, California, but was born and raised in Orlando, Florida. As a solo artist, Chance is backed on stage by his touring band "the Choir." Although he has expressed wishes to tour through the United States as well as the United Kingdom, as a Solo Artist he has so far only performed in Florida and California.
Early On
Chance began his MusicAL path by taking lessons at the age of 7. While in High School and in typical youthful fashion, he learned multiple percussive instruments while biding his time in both marching and concert band. Playing in numerous cover bands, Chance cut his teeth on the east coast cover circuit playing with a band called The Action (later known as Getting Red).
From Covers to Original act
With a few of his band mates, he moved to Los Angeles, CA and toiled the local scene. The Sunset Strip was a bust and pay to play was in high fashion. He met like-minded musicians and upon founding the band, Portable, eventually signed to TVT Records.
Signed, and Touring
Chance & Portable's highlights were early and fast. They played Woodstock 99, and toured the US for a few months. Their first single, Help Yourself, from their debut Secret Life,(released July 27, 1999) was on the radio, although a planned video was pulled by the Record Label just hours before shooting. This was a textbook example of the sad state of the band's relationship with their label.
Portable released one more CD with TVT Records "Only If You Look Up" as well as an EP that the band released independently. For Chance though, his close friendship with his bandmates superseded all else and they amicably put the band on indefinite hiatus in November of 2003.
Chance, Solo Artist
(Solo Career started in 2004) There are many unique features to the approach of Chance. Being gifted with multiple talents, Chance does many things by himself. In his Portable days he worked together with professionals such as Brad Wood and Tim Palmer, experiences that now enable him to properly record, mix and master his own music. Being familiar with working with a band, he manages, promotes and books his own band. Since he works as a graphic designer for an American magazine, he does all the artwork and web design on his own too.
However, the utmost unique feature of Chance is his relationship to his fans. Both on his message board and beyond it, he stays in close touch with anyone who supports his music. These relationships go deeper than shallow small talk. "Percy's Song" testifies of this close bond. It is about a fan who has battled cancer for most of her life. She lives on the far end of the United States and has only physically met Chance twice.
Chance is one of the first musicians to achieve large-scale recognition through his involvement in podsafe music. Along with Brother Love and other musicians, his music has reached a large number of ears courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network, the podcasting community and renowned music web sites such as GarageBand.com. Along with other artists, Chance has contributed to the Podsafe for peace benefit project initiated by Adam Curry. On October 9, 2005, Chance became the first artist to start a simulcast podcast, which included over 30 podcasts around the world playing one of his live performances at The Gig in Los Angeles.
Strangely enough, Chance's most notable success is in the country of Qatar after he was discovered through GarageBand.com. The song "Say What You Will" quickly moved up the charts and has held the #1 spot for over three weeks, being more popular than for instance the Foo Fighters. The song "Man on a Mission" followed only weeks later and reached the #2 position in Qatar's charts. In August 2006, the song "Independent" reached the tenth spot.