4 Artists Similar to the Star we have Created

Our lead singer Ben Carson, has dark black hair. We are selling our artist as a band who is alienated and appeals to an audience who too feel alienated and illicit anger from society. When we researched into these artists, they all stereotypically wore dark black clothing symbolizing their anger and dark thoughts that went on in their head. We are going to put this across in our music video.

Kurt Cobain, the lead singer of Nirvana, had a severe drug addiction with mental health issues. He lived a short life yet he made such a strong impact on the music industry. His long hair helps sell his star image to the hard rock genre as the alienated youth will either have the same style hair so it'll resonate with them or they'll aspire or look up to those of this fashion style. As well as his hair, Kurt Cobain has a degree of aggression and a look of rebellion upon him. This look will again further resonate with the target audience of hard rock as it reinforces the organic feel to his music allowing him to sell his star image.

One artist immediately that springs to mind when I think our lead singer is Alex Garcia. He infers the same American rock star feel that Kurt does when he sings. His birthday is on September the 8th and he signed with long running record label Atlantic Records in 2009. Prior to this, he was signed with Fearless Records in 2006. Prior to his fame, he was one of the only original members of Mayday Parade as of 2014 along with Derek Sanders and Brooks Betts. In terms of mental health, Alex Garcia doesn't obtain any mental health issues that I am aware of so I suppose this does differ from Kurt however, in terms of musical talent, I think they both share a spark that not many other rock singers have. As mentioned above with Kurt Cobain, Alex holds the same hair style and his use of tongue infers he is a rebellious youth which will help sell his star image to the dis-affected youth.

The second artists that comes to mind is Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys. The Beach Boys were an American, California based rock band in the 1960's. Their lead singer, Brian Wilson, suffered some mental health issues. This potentially may have spiralled from his habits he developed which were: sleeping, doing drugs and overeating. Mr Wilson suffered from Schizoaffective Disorder, and was bipolar. These illness's made him hear voices in his head which ultimately limited his ability to compose and write songs. However, Wilson overcame his mental health issues and managed to finish off the album he began prior to being diagnosed, called 'Smile' which was a big moment for the band. The hard rock trademark, long hair and also his deep voice allows him to reach out to the alienated hard rock fans. As his age is older than most, his target audience isn't as youth as other rock stars. He uses generic conventions in his music videos as he used shots such as whip-pans and panning shots to show his movement during the performance which enabled him to add a layer of energy to allow his hard rock fans to be more enticed in his videos reaching out to the alienated youth of society.

Another artist that we believe in similar to our lead singer is no other than the Syd Barrett, the Pink Floyd magician. Syd was not in fact diagnosed with any mental illness however, he was said to have either schizophrenia or bipolar disorder according to fellow musicians in the industry. With regards to his music, he was absolutely fantastic and had such a powerful and positive impact in the rock industry. Although he left, a song he sung with Pink Floyd known as Astronomy Dominie was composed in 1967 and remained a popular performed song even after Barrett left the band. Long hair and a serious face with remarks of anger is a notable image of Syd which allowed him to sell his star image to the disengaged youth. His bipolar issues allow him to resonate with the mentally challenged people of society which again sells his star image.

The singer who was in similar shoes to our lead singer was a young adult by the name of Nick Drake. He had a gift at writing songs. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1974, only aged 26. During his lifetime, he wasn't as widely recognized as he became once he died. He suffered from severe depression and insomnia. These two mental illness's don't complement each other well at all as because Nick had trouble sleeping, he couldn't 'sleep away his sorrows'. He passed by overdosing on his anti-depressants. He was a exceptional singer and a gifted talent. As with all the hard rock stars I've mentioned, the use of long hair helps sell the star image. Whilst nobody encourages the use of drugs, most of the hard rock target audience 'look up' to those rock stars and when drugs are involved, it does help reach out to a further alienated youth and also to those suffering from drug addiction in any form. The organic feel to Nick shows he built his fan base over time as he was appealing to a niche audience like ourselves.