Jeremy Dyen
Jeremy Dyen (born April 18, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and member of the bands Fathead and Blivit, as well as frontman for his solo project Jeremy Dyen presents.
Early life and career
Dyen grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In an interview with NewWaveMusic.com, Dyen describes his childhood: "My whole household was MusicAL, my brother is a musician and everyone played the piano... A friend taught me 'Stairway to Heaven' on the piano and I just started listening to everything...in high school I played a lot of classic rock." His brother, Jesse Dyen, is a folk-rock singer and guitarist.
After high school, Dyen attended Skidmore College, where he was roommates his freshman year with fellow singer-songwriter G. Love. The two played as a duo at Lively Lucy's Coffeehouse in Saratoga Springs, NY. At Skidmore, Dyen studied jazz piano and played keyboard in rock bands, while also performing in jazz and salsa groups.
Band history
Dyen joined the Philadelphia-based band Fathead in the mid-1990s, playing keyboard and contributing vocals. As Fathead achieved more popular success in 1998, Dyen collaborated, performed, or shared the stage with a number of bands, including Ben Harper, The Roots, George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, moe., The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Green Day, as well as G. Love and Digable Planets.
After the break-up of Fathead, Dyen formed the band Blivit with bassist Dave Palan and drummer Jay Horvath. In an interview with Chorus and Verse, Dyen calls Blivit's sound "really all over the map style-wise." A mixture of indie, prog rock, and world music, the keyboard trio has established itself as a fixture of the Philadelphia music scene, nominated for best original band, best bassist, and best keyboardist at the annual Philly Music Awards.
Solo music
Outside of Blivit, Dyen writes and performs for his self-produced solo project, Jeremy Dyen presents. He released the album Onswitch, his first full-length solo album, on February 24, 2006. In addition to his solo work, Dyen has contributed to a number of other artists' recordings as a singer and keyboardist, notably John Legend's Grammy Award-winning album Get Lifted and Australian indie rock band Fruit's album Burn.
Discography
Studio Albums
Jeremy Dyen presents
- Onswitch (2006)
- Battery (forthcoming)
With band Fathead
- What Doesn't Kill Us (1998)
- Boundless (2001)
With band Blivit
- Unhand the World (2005)
- The Beginning (2007)
- Paul Is Dead (2009)
With band Amrita
- Amrita (2005)
- Ê Vidão (2006)
As performer
- Get Lifted - John Legend (2004)
- Burn (album) - Fruit (band) (2005)
- "One Nation," "Earth Angel" - Baldwin (featured in the show Hack (TV series))
- Everything Everywhere, All the Time - Electric City
Films
- American Chai (winner of the 2001 Audience Award at Slamdance Film Festival) - appeared as member of the band Fathead