Isaac Slade

Isaac Edward Slade (born May 26, 1981) is an American musician and the lead vocalist, main songwriter, pianist and co-founder of Colorado-based rock band The Fray.

Isaac Slade
Slade in 2014
Background information
Birth name	Isaac Edward Slade
Born	(1981-05-26) May 26, 1981 Boulder, Colorado
Genres	Pop Rock, Soft Rock
Occupation(s)	Vocalist, Musician, Songwriter, Pianist
Instruments	Vocals, Piano, Guitar, Percussion
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Epic, Sony
Associated acts	Ember, The Fray
Website	thefray.com

Life and career

Early years

Slade was born in Boulder, Colorado and raised in the Denver metropolitan area with his family, which included both parents—who were missionaries from the same family—and two younger brothers, Caleb and Micah. He also lived for a time in Guatemala due to his parents' profession, where he studied at Interamerican School in the city of Quetzaltenango. The Slade family are of English and Slovakian descent. He attended Faith Christian Academy in Arvada, Colorado and later attended the University of Colorado, Denver, as a music and entertainment industry studies major. He received a Bachelor of Music.[1]

Slade started singing when he was 8 years old, and began playing the piano at 11, after temporarily losing his voice. He wrote his first song when he was 16 and learned to play guitar when he was in high school.[2]

The Fray

Formation and early stages

Slade joined Ember, a band which consisted of Slade and his future band-mates Dave Welsh and Ben Wysocki. The band soon dissolved, and later, in the spring of 1999, Slade ran into former school-mate and vocalist/guitarist Joe King in a record store. The two began regular jam sessions, which led to writing songs. They later added Slade's younger brother, Caleb, on bass and Zach Johnson on drums.

Dave Welsh and Ben Wysocki re-joined Slade and King, to form the Fray. They soon released Movement EP, and in 2003, they released Reason EP to some local critical acclaim, particularly by Denver's Westword alternative newsweekly.[3][4] Despite these reviews, the band struggled to launch a single. Denver radio station KTCL rejected eight of their songs before the band decided to submit "Cable Car". The song found airplay on a KTCL radio show highlighting local bands and the radio station received a large number of requests for it soon thereafter. The band changed the name of the song to "Over My Head (Cable Car)", and by the end of 2005, it had become KTCL's most played song of the year.[5]

Charity work

Slade performed on the 2010 remake of the 1985 charity single, "We Are the World".[6] He joined 85 other artists on February 1, 2010, to record the track for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.[7]

On October 27, 2013, Slade and the Fray played at the Colorado Flood Benefit Concert that raised nearly $500,000 for victims of the flood.[8]

Influences

Slade stated in an interview that one of the first songs that inspired him was "Swallowed" by Bush, and that the lyrics and tune had moved him enough to pursue his career.[9] In a post on AOL Radio Blog, he wrote:

"As a boy 'Swallowed' was my siren's song. I was a sheltered church child and here's this man talking about living the life his way, doing whatever he felt like doing. Bush wasn't allowed in my house either, which made it that much more mysterious."[10]

His other musical influences include Nine Inch Nails, Queen, Radiohead, R.E.M., Counting Crows, U2, and Led Zeppelin.[10]

References

1. Goodland, Marianne (April 20, 2006). "CAM Records returns with release of Colorado Cuts". cu.edu. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
2. "The Fray". vh1.com. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
3. Herrera, Dave (December 25, 2003). "All Mixed Up". Westword. Archived from the original on February 3, 2009.
4. Heller, Jason (February 19, 2004). "The Fray: Reason EP (self-released)". westword.com. Archived from the original on November 12, 2004.
5. Smith, Dane (March 30, 2006). "The Fray Live the High "Life"". Rolling Stone.
6. Kaufman, Gil (February 2, 2010). "'We Are The World -- 25 For Haiti' Artists Include Kanye West, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber". MTV. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
7. "The Song". Archived from the original on February 17, 2010. Retrieved October 16, 2014.
8. Ferner, Matt (October 28, 2013). "Colorado Flood Benefit Concert Raises Nearly $500K For Victims". Huffington Post. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
9. "Nightline Playlist: The Fray". ABC News. August 16, 2007. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
10. "The Top 10 Lead Singers by The Fray's Isaac Slade". aolradioblog.com. September 30, 2009. Retrieved August 27, 2012.