Template:Infobox musical artist

Jamie Stevens (born September 15, 1974 in Euskirchen, Germany) is a former singer, songwriter, music manager, computer games author and entrepreneur from Germany.

He was one of the first male pop singers to sell his music and CDs through his own Independent record label on the internet. A long time before music platforms such as Napster and Kazaa became famous, he had already started to market his music through the world wide web. His official website went online in 1997, a long time before most major superstars went online with their own official websites (such as George Michael or Madonna who both went online with their own websites three years later than Stevens).

In 2000, he became one of the most downloaded artists on the internet with more than 25,000 legal downloads per month (and a total of 300,000 downloads in the year 2000 only). While record companies such as Sony, BMG or Polydor filed a lawsuit against Napster and other file sharing platforms, Jamie Stevens even encouraged people to download his music legally off the internet. He became an international Top10 artist on MP3.com and offered his music on various other legal music platforms.

Biography

1995–1998: Early years

Jamie Stevens started to write and record his first demo songs in 1995. He recorded about 20 songs that year and sent them to record labels and producers in Germany. Two of those songs, "Let Yourself Go" and "I Believe In You" would later end up on his critically acclaimed debut album.

His demo tapes prompted some heavy reactions in the music business and he received various offers. During that time Jamie started to work with Germany's top-notch producer duo Klarmann/Weber (who already scored a US No 1 hit with Chaka Khan, and who also worked with artists such as Beverley Knight, LaToya Jackson, Kathy Troccoli or Randy Crawford). He was also asked to join a new German boygroup but declined the offer and started to put his first 15-minute live show together. During the following years he did various TV shows and live performances in Germany. He performed together with various international acts like Blümchen, Justin Timberlake, or DJ Quicksilver.

1999–2000: The first CD single(s)

Stevens released his first CD single, "Only love (will make you wise)," on the internet in 1999. The CD was distributed by MP3.com, where it became an instant No 1 hit. It seemed that Stevens had discovered a whole new way of marketing his music (in 1999 none of the major recording artists sold or distributed their music through the internet yet). Two other CD singles followed in the next 12 months and Jamie Stevens started working on his first album.

2001–2002: The Wizard's Call

Still without a record deal, Stevens decided to release his debut album on his own. At this time it was quite unusual to choose this way of distribution and Stevens became a forerunner for being one of the first independent male pop artists to sell his music on the internet only. He had teamed up with different songwriters from Sweden, New York, Canada, Switzerland, Los Angeles, and Germany to finish his debut album, "The Wizard's Call," which was eventually released in May 2001. The album was a set of 14 pop songs, with most of the songs co-written by Jamie Stevens himself.

A national promotion campaign included various radio and magazine interviews. Jamie cracked the MP3.com Pop Charts with four different songs. More than 25,000 people downloaded his songs in one month only (November 2001). His cover version of LFO's "Girl On TV" became another MP3.com No. 1 hit (peaking at No. 4 on the overall worldwide Mp3.com Pop Charts in July 2001). At the same time he was one of AudioSurge's Top 40 most downloaded artists of the month (together with major acts, such as Britney Spears).

His song "Back Off," which was written by Stevens and Rodney Ronquillo stayed on some German radio charts for nearly one year. The album was distributed worldwide by CDBaby.

"The Wizard's Call" was sold out by November 2003 and was never re-released. However, some of the originally manufactured CD (from 2001) became available again in Nov/Dec 2006 and were sold through CDBaby.

2002–2003: Unbreakable

Shortly after the release of his debut album, Stevens already started working on his second album Unbreakable. The album was released in November 2002 and included 15 brand new songs. Again he collaborated with songwriters and producers from all around the world. Many songs were offered as a free and legal MP3 downloads on different music platforms, such as MP3.com, BeSonic, MP3 Australia and SoundClick.

The album also included Jamie's cover versions of the Italian No1 hit "La Solitudine" by Laura Pausini and the song "Battlefield" (originally by Paul Carrack and Nick Lowe but later interpreted by Diana Ross).

"Unbreakable" was already sold out one year after its release, namely in November 2003. The album has never been re-released ever since then and it is his rarest CD so far.

To this day (October 2006), "Unbreakable" has been the last studio album that Stevens recorded.

After 2003

Very much to the surprise of his fans, Stevens announced to take a break from the music business in April 2003 (very shortly after the release of his second album). He never released an album after that (although a "best of" compilation album was released by his record company in 2004).

In 2003 he focused on finishing his own music trivia/comedy computer game, "Pop Minds," which was released in Germany, Switzerland and Austria in October 2003 and received raving reviews from the national press.

Discography

Albums

• 2001 The Wizard's Call
• 2002 Unbreakable
• 2004 Everyday's Another Chance (The Best of 1997 - 2004)

Singles

• 1999 Only love (will make you wise)
• 2000 I Wanna Get 2 Know U
• 2000 Where Do I Go From Here?
• 2001 Back Off
• 2004 If I Could Love You Forever

Other

• 2005 Voice Of The Heart (on the charity album Voyces United for UNHCR)

External links

• Fan page with discography and scans of all CD covers