BIO
Lyrical country with a pop twist is a good way to sum up the musical style of recording artist Blake Breithaupt. His appreciation of great, storytelling song lyrics and his love of both country and pop melodies and production creates a style that is a blend of where he comes from both personally and literally. It’s a style that is best summed up as Nashville meets L.A.
Having grown up in the St. Louis area in nearby O’Fallon, IL, Blake was exposed to all different styles of music since a very early age. He was raised on everything from Michael Jackson, REO Speedwagon, and Celine Dion to Garth Brooks, Alabama and Shania Twain. As he entered his teen years, he found himself listening a lot to artists like Brian McKnight, Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, Rascal Flatts, Michelle Branch, Missy Elliot and Kenny Chesney. He also was introduced to jazz by his high school choir director and the highly-respected jazz program she directed at the school. It was at this point that he began to appreciate the artistry and talents of such greats as Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. “My parents listened to a lot of different styles of music as I was growing up. So, by the time I was in high school, it would not be uncommon for me to go from listening to the new hip-hop tracks on Top 40 radio or the newest pop hit to some 90’s country music or an old jazz standard,” Blake says. He also has been singing, acting and dancing since he was very young and has performed in many musicals and plays including lead roles in “West Side Story” and “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
After high school, Blake left home in IL and headed to “Music City U.S.A.” Nashville, TN to pursue a Bachelor of Music degree in Commercial Music at the prestigious School of Music at Belmont University. During his time at Belmont, he interned for Echomusic on Nashville’s famed Music Row and also worked at the world-renowned Ocean Way Studios in Nashville, which is one of the top recording studios in the world. He also accepted a summer position working for The William Morris Agency (now William Morris Endeavor Entertainment), the oldest talent agency in the world, which represents talent in various entertainment fields including movies, music, television, literary, etc. Many of music and film’s biggest stars have been represented by the agency over the last 120 years.
As part of his senior Belmont Honors Thesis, he interviewed around 20 people in the entertainment industry about their careers to gain insight and knowledge about many aspects of the business. These included people in many different parts of the industry including Paul Moore (Co-head of The William Morris Agency’s Nashville offices), multi-award-winning hit songwriter/record executive/producer/former American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi, Chris Gero (Vice President of A&R for Yamaha Corp.), hit songwriter/former Evanescence member David Hodges, Ernie Woody (manager of Ocean Way Recording Studios Hollywood, CA and Ocean Way Audio) and many others. “Getting to interview music industry people of this caliber was such an honor. I learned a lot about songwriting from Kara and David. They have written hundreds of Top-40 hits across multiple genres and have such a huge understanding of what makes a song great. Some of the legends that I interviewed have become close friends and mentors, and I still call upon some of them when I need guidance, which is a great thing to have,” Blake says. As a performer at Belmont, Blake was a member of the 12-singer (plus full band) vocal jazz group “Jazzmin” and was the tenor for a 6-person a cappella group named “Soul’d Out”. Soul’d Out was personally invited to participate in NBC’s hit-show “The Sing Off” multiple times, but because of the conflicting solo schedules of the members, the group was ultimately unable to participate. Blake graduated from Belmont University Magna cum laude and a Belmont Honors Program Graduate with a Bachelor of Music (B.M.) Degree with a mixed emphasis in composition/arranging and performance.
Blake has since spent time living both in Los Angeles and Nashville performing and working on his music. He is now predominantly based in Nashville. During his career so far, Blake has performed in numerous states including Illinois, Hawaii, Missouri, Tennessee, Georgia, Indiana, Texas and North Carolina. He was the opening act for major recording artist/”One Tree Hill” television show and film actor Tyler Hilton at a show in Wilmington, NC, where The CW Network’s hit show “One Tree Hill” was filmed. “Opening for Tyler Hilton at his show the week of the final episode filming of One Tree Hill down in Wilmington was a great experience. The show was packed, and we met a lot of great people in the audience that night who really enjoyed my set. Many of them have become fans of my music and continue to follow me in my musical journey,” Blake says. While in Wilmington, Blake also worked as an actor on the series finale episode of “One Tree Hill.” He can also be seen as an actor in the music video for Rascal Flatts’s hit song “Easy” (featuring Natasha Bedingfield), and he’s worked on NBC’s hit show “Parenthood” out in Los Angeles.
Recently, Blake completed recording his debut EP with multi-Grammy-winning engineer/producer Bill Whittington (Faith Hill, CeCe Winans, Jordin Sparks, Brian McKnight, 98 Degrees, Jessica Simpson, Amy Grant, etc.) The album features a blend of Blake’s own songwriting style and songs by some of today’s top songwriters in Nashville and Los Angeles. The sound will be a blend of country, pop and R&B. Blake says, “I’m really excited with the record Bill and I have created. I’ve been blessed to work with some great songwriters and musicians on this project, and it’s nice to get to show more of who I am in the songs I have written as well. Some of Nashville and LA’s heaviest hitters are a part of this album, which has been such a blessing, and I can’t wait for it to be released soon, so I can share it with the world and the great people I’m honored to have following me and my music.”