Damien Escobar | |
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Also known as | Dame Esco |
Born | 1986 (age 38–39) Jamaica, Queens, New York City |
Genres | |
Instrument | Violin |
Years active | 2003–present |
Labels | LCM Entertainment |
Formerly of | Nuttin' But Stringz |
Website | www |
Damien Escobar (born 1986), also known as Dame Esco, is an American violinist. He was previously in the duo Nuttin' But Stringz with his brother Tourie, but has been a solo artist since 2012. [1] [2] His "crossover violin" musical style consists of a mix of classical, jazz, pop, R&B, and hip hop. [2] [3]
Escobar was born in 1986 in the Jamaica, Queens neighborhood in New York City. He lived with his single mother and older brother Tourie. [3] He began playing the violin at the age of eight. [4] [5] At the age of ten, Escobar became the youngest student accepted into the Juilliard School of Music. [1] [4] He graduated from Juilliard at 13. [5] He also studied at the Bloomingdale School of Music. [3]
As kids, Damien and Tourie worked as street musicians, playing at Grand Central Station and on the New York City subways. [1] [3] [4] In 2003, they began playing professionally under the name Nuttin' But Stringz. [2] In 2005, Nuttin' But Stringz won a talent contest at the Apollo Theater. In 2006, Escobar appeared in the film Step Up . Nuttin' But Stringz took third place in the 2008 season of America's Got Talent . [4] They performed at the First inauguration of Barack Obama in 2009 [2] and won two Emmys. [6] In 2012, Nuttin' But Stringz separated. Escobar returned to school and got his real estate license. [1] [2] [4] [7]
After a short career as a real estate broker, Escobar returned to music as a solo act. His first solo performance was on the French TV show Taratata . He also played at the Indy Car 2012 Championship Awards Banquet, Russell Simmon's Hip Hop Inaugural Ball and the 2013 Food & Wine event in New York City. [1] [8] In 2013, Escobar went on the I Am Me tour in order to promote his comeback. He released his first solo album "Sensual Melodies" in 2014. [1] [4] [6] [9]
In 2014, he authored an autobiographical children's book titled "The Sound of Strings." The same year he performed at Oprah's "The Life You Want" weekend tour. [7] [10] Escobar released his first pop single "Freedom" in September 2015, [5] [6] which premiered at #15 on the iTunes chart. [10]
He released his second solo album, Boundless, in 2017, which was nominated for the 49th NAACP Image Awards in 2018 for the Outstanding Jazz Album category. [11] The album includes eleven songs. Then, after a year's break, he released another solo album, Songs from a Breakthrough, [12] followed by 25 Days of Christmas in 2020. [13]
Escobar started the "Life Out Loud" tour in 2022, which he performed across the United States. [14] [15] The theme of the tour was to encourage the audience to live a real life without regrets. As of 2022, he is working on his upcoming album, which he will release in 2023.
Year | Album | Songs |
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2013 | Sensual Melodies | Cupid, Emotional Interlude, Adorn, Diced Pineapples, Unthinkable, Water Runs Dry |
2017 | Boundless | Love Notes, Fuse, Awaken, Get up and Dance, Phoenix, A Winter Night in Boston, Night Drive, Reflections, Mood Swings, Overture’15, Lights, Intermezzo |
2020 | Songs from a Breakthrough | Am I Wrong, Purple Rain, Rain |
2020 | 25 Days of Christmas | This Christmas, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas |
– | Others | Freedom, Best Mistake, Bermuda Triangle, All of Me, Thunder, Down, Broken Sorrow |
In 2007, Escobar founded the Violins Against Violence foundation. [2] [6] Escobar also works with the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, UNICEF and Kennedy’s Cause, a charity that benefits children with lymphatic malformation. [2] [3] [8] [16] He is also on the Board of Directors for the Jamaica YMCA. In 2013, he hosted an event that raised over $50,000 for the Jamaica YMCA. [1] In 2014, Escobar performed a rendition of We Shall Overcome in honor of Mike Brown, Trayvon Martin and his friend Sean Bell. [17]