Heaton

?There are two types of pop star. The first, sadly, is the one we know all to well, the mindless puppets at the beck and call of their corporate masters, their creativity the slave of supply and demand. The second is the rarer breed. Blessed with a singular vision, the courage of their convictions and the power to grab your soul and then hold it with an electric zeal, they understand that pop is not simply a product but the gateway to a better place?

For the past 5 years Heaton has been in the latter of the 2 categories. Following the launch of his website in 2000 he went on to record his first independent album entitled Labeless. The record was available through his official website and in 2003 was sold through, the then market leaders, Vitamnic Music Group.

The album showcased Heaton's first attempts at writing and recording with the Manchester based producers The Brooklyn Foundation, a relationship which would prove long lasting and fruitful. Heaton was one of the first independent artists to use the internet as a vehicle to promote awareness of his music. Although this is now common practice with such sites as myspace & garageband 5 years ago for an unsigned artist to have his own website was something to be very proud of.

Heaton later released Let It Go a track from his forthcoming Computer Music album. Let It Go literally exploded onto the net reaching 1 on 5 Mp3 sites with downloads in excess of 10,000 by the end of that year. An internet buzz had begun and success followed with such tracks as Better Than B4, 100 Miles & Nothing Beautiful Remains all topping different unsigned sites throughout 2004. The Computer Music album was released by the end of the year, but due to problems arising within Vitaminic Heaton had to revert to selling the album through his own site independently.

Following the success on the Mp3 Charts Heaton pieced together a band to perform the songs live in Manchester, not quite knowing if downloads would transfer over to ticket sales. The night was a total sell out and the tracks really came to life performed live with a 5 piece band. Heaton himself found it hard to get into the venue as he was turned away at the door, ?It was quite funny really I had to point at the posters emblazoned with my face to be let in?. The Manchester Evening News picked up on the story and crowned Heaton ?The Download King?.

There was now a clear demand for gigs but due to one band member, Liam Frost, landing a record deal and unable to commit to gigs and other band members travelling etc? it was hard to pin a regular band down to perform with. The success attracted industry interest from both Labels and Management Companies but nothing transpired due to lack of gigs.

Keen to keep complete control over his artistic rights Heaton signed up with CDbaby for a worldwide physical and digital distribution deal. This enabled him to give Computer Music an official release and into stores such as iTunes.

Heaton continued to write and record music throughout the next few years with various other internet artists he met through sites such as garageband, myspace and mp3unsigned. In 2006 he released the Interlude album, a collection of demos & collaborations recorded over a 2 year period. The album was available for FREE to members of his website and never received an official release.

2007 has seen a new songwriting partnership develop with Warrington based Phil Ireland. The pair teamed up over the internet and spent most of this year writing and recording new material. Don't Wanna Be Lonely is their first release. The track is a confident upbeat guitar track, very instant and radio friendly. The single also includes a Brooklyn Foundation radio remix along with 2 other previously unreleased tracks Try, Try, Try and Breathe.

Visit www.heatonmusic.com for more information.