Biography
Mark Wahlberg and Eric West pose together at MTV Video Music Awards September, 2000
Eric started recording music at the age of 12 much like his uncle Grammy winner Smokey Robinson of Motown fame, Black Eyed Peas member Fergie (Stacy Ferguson) discovered Eric, invited the then 15 year old to appear on stage with the Grammy winner at a concert in New York City for Jane Magazine. In 1996 West released his debut single End Of The World under the name Eryk in Asia, it achieved Top 10 status on the Tokyo Hot 100 singles chart, right before he turned 15 he had finished recording a full-length album titled H20 that was never released. The single failed to hit in America. In the summer of 1998 Eric took his voice to radio, at age 16 he was the youngest DJ in history on FM radio in New York City, when he became a CO-host of the Top 9 at 9 on WBLS with radio diva JC Jordan.
On September 21st, 2000 Eric joined Rich Cronin of the platinum selling band LFO, in Brooklyn, New York to help lead the Light The Night Walk with 12 year-old leukemia survivor Kimberly Thach, the Society's National Youth Ambassador. Eric, Rich and Kimberly lead approximately 1,000 leukemia survivors, friends, and family members carrying illuminated balloons over the Brooklyn Bridge to commemorate lives touched by cancer.
With no record deal and an album that never got released Eric found himself and his family on hard times, finding himself homeless, West said in a recent interview, but after nearly a 3 year break, Eric returned briefly late 2002 with Can You Help Me? his first single in over 5 years, produced by Stay-C Hogan and written by West it became an international radio hit topping the B-Radio Latin American radio charts for 2 weeks, [2] rivaling songs by Justin Timberlake and Madonna for the No. 1 spot, while hitting Top 5 on numerous stations in Chile, Bolivia and Mexico (No.19 most successful Untapped Resources International Top 200 singles of 2002), rumors of an album being released floated around on the Internet, but were untrue at the time. In 2002 Eric got together with Grammy winning producers David Foster (Michael Jackson, Céline Dion, Whitney Houston) and Carole Bayer Sager (Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Neil Diamond) to write a song for Pop icon Cher for her forthcoming album, a demo version of the song "Love Don't Live Here" was leaked to the internet.
Eric once again disappeared until early 2004 but returned more visible than before. He signed a deal with Artist Against Racism to appear in their TV commercials in America. Artist Against Racism is an organization that also includes superstars like Céline Dion, Lenny Kravitz, Sarah McLachlan, Mike Myers, Bush and Aerosmith. He made his TV debut acting a tv pilot called In My Lifetime directed by Devin Hampton and Little X who has directed music videos for Sean Paul, Usher, Alicia Keys, R. Kelly and Nelly. Eric then received a top honor from the OCTN; he was awarded the Humanitarian Award : Youth Of The Millennium. He received the award for the charity work he's done in his community over the years.
In 2004 Eric also appeared in his own fashion spread in Marie Claire Japan. He was featured as one of fashion's top new models and singers, and that was just early 2004.
Eric West Publicity Still, c. 2004.
On August 28th, Eric made media headlines worldwide when he wore a "I Support Janet Jackson" T-shirt to the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards, which was a bold statement in regard to Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake's Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime controversy. Eric told Teen People USA, "It was my way of showing Janet support after being blacklisted by so many media outlets". The T-shirt earned mentions in the New York Daily News, New York Post, Miami Herald and Los Angeles Times to name a few. Janet Jackson and her fan club sent the singer a thank you message for his support according to reports.
As the year went on Eric continued to work on his album Half Life. Eric was scheduled to tour the UK as opening act for European star Matt Goss famous for UK hits When Will I Be Famous, Try and I'm Coming With Ya, but the tour was canceled due to Goss' ill health at the time.
West also began working on a new song with producer and DJ, Galbis. The track is slated to debut in clubs sometime in early 2006 close to Eric's CD release.
Eric West CD Single Cover
As 2004 continued Eric's star continued to rise, like most of Young Hollywood he became part of numerous Internet rumors and gossip columns, in mid-December 2004, Eric found himself once again making headlines when he announced on his official web site that he finished work on a song titled "Wires," inspired by those whose lives have been touched by HIV and AIDS.
Working on my album has been an amazing journey, a lot of it has been inspired by people, and more so life, recently, I wrote a song called "Wires," which is about HIV/AIDS, inspired by a few friends of mine who are going though situations that deal with HIV/AIDS. The singer also added, With my music, I don't want to compete with every other singer out there, but I want to make a difference in peoples lives, that matters to me, more so than selling millions of albums. I pray that I am able to changes lives or at least help to make them better, I know it will be a risk to release a song about HIV/AIDS like "Wires," but I'm willing to take that chance.
On January 20, 2005 AOL Music [3] announced it will premiere Eric's debut single from "Half | Life" as part of their "Breaker" artist program, he therefore became on the same promotional path that boosted such previous Breakers as Avril Lavigne, Josh Groban, 50 Cent and Jet. On Eric's official site, it states the LP's first single will be between "Half | Life" and a track titled "If I Only Knew", according to numerous websites the album will include songs called "Black Rose," "Wires," and "Underdog". Eric has said in interviews that the album is a mixture of Electropop, R&B, Rock and Hip-Hop.
Christina Milian and Eric West pose together at The Reign gala for the Elton John Aids Foundation Aug, 2005
Attempting to further popularize his name and image, he signed on to be a model for the hugely popular "Day Birger et Mikkelsen" line in Denmark and the UK in April 2005.
Aug. 6, 2005 Eric co-hosted The Reign at the Gerald W. Lynch Theatre in New York City with actress/singer Christina Milian, the event was designed by a group of inner-city children in 2003 to raise funding and awareness for HIV/AIDS prevention education for men, women and children living with HIV and AIDS through the Elton John Aids Foundation, as well as working with the Fresh Air Fund to continue to help other inner-city children and family's. Both Milian and West were awarded Outstanding Achievement Awards for their humanitarian efforts. Eric also appeared on NBC's Weekend Edition to talk about hosting the event.
In October, Paramount Pictures annouced Eric will appear in David Fincher's 2007 film Benjamin Button with a small role along side Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt. He also finished a song for the 2005 film Just Friends staring Ryan Reynolds and Anna Faris.
According to PauseandPlay.com Eric's forthcoming album will arrive spring/summer 2006.
Movies
2007 - Benjamin Button
2005 - Lords of Dogtown
Discography
Albums
Album cover
Album information
Half-Life
Released: July 2006 [7]
Chart Peak: n/a
Last RIAA Description: n/a
Singles: "Half Life", "I'm In Love"
Worldwide sales: n/a
Trivia
Born to an African American mother and a Puerto Rican father.
References
Footnotes
↑ top40-charts.com. Christina Milian Writes Diss Record And Moves On To Eric West.. URL accessed on 27 January 2006.
↑ radio.com. The Untapped Resources International Top 200 of the Year 2002. URL accessed on 2 January 2003.
↑ ascap.com. ASCAP Work. URL accessed on 5 March 2006.
