Bret 'Epic' Mazur | |
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 Mazur (left) with Seth Binzer in 2014 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Bret Hadley Mazur |
| Also known as | Epic Epic Mazur |
| Born | August 31, 1970 [1] Brooklyn, New York, U.S. [1] |
| Origin | Los Angeles |
| Genres | |
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| Instrument(s) |
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| Years active | 1986–2003 2006–present |
| Labels | Columbia |
Bret Hadley "Epic" Mazur (born August 31, 1970) is an American vocalist, rapper, and record producer. He is best known as a founder and former frontman of the rap rock band Crazy Town.
Bret Mazur grew up in Brooklyn, New York before his parents moved across the country to Hollywood, Los Angeles. It was here that he began to work as a DJ at age 16, and received the pseudonym "Epic" from a friend. Mazur graduated from William Howard Taft High School in Los Angeles. He then collaborated with Richard Wolf as part of the production team Wolf & Epic on albums by Sheena Easton, Bell Biv DeVoe, Ralph Tresvant, MC Lyte and MC Serch, among others. [2]
Crazy Town was formed by Mazur and Seth Binzer, who started collaborating in 1995 [3] under the initial name of "The Brimstone Sluggers". By early 1999, they were calling themselves Crazy Town, and the full band consisted of Mazur, Binzer, Rust Epique, James Bradley Jr., Doug Miller, DJ AM, and Antonio Lorenzo "Trouble" Valli. Their debut album, The Gift of Game , was released in November 1999, having been recorded earlier that year. It would become a major success after their single Butterfly reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, sparking record sales in excess of 1.5 million. [4] Their 2002 follow up album, Darkhorse , was a commercial failure in comparison, and the band broke up shortly after its release.
Crazy Town announced they had reformed in 2007, [5] and Mazur stated that Crazy Town's third album, tentatively titled Crazy Town Is Back, would be released right after his upcoming solo album, Strip to This in Spring 2008. Neither album was released, though Crazy Town did release a third studio album, The Brimstone Sluggers , in 2015. [6] Following a year of hiatus from the group, Mazur announced in January 2017 through Facebook that he will no longer tour with the band. [7] [8]
Mazur was included as a producer for New Edition side project, Bell Biv DeVoe.
In 2014 Mazur became the music and audio department head for Sugar Studios LA.
Mazur scores and sound designs feature films. He worked on the 2018 film The Oath .
Mazur has one son named Max, who was born in 1996, and his cousin is actress Monet Mazur. [9] He is of Jewish ancestry.
Crazy Town is an American rap rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1995 by Bret Mazur and Seth Binzer. Crazy Town is best known for their 2000 hit single "Butterfly", which reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and helped their debut album, The Gift of Game (1999), sell over 1.6 million units. Their follow-up album, Darkhorse (2002), failed to achieve the same level of success, contributing to the band's breakup in 2003. Mazur and Binzer reformed the band in 2007 and released their third album, The Brimstone Sluggers, in 2015. In 2017, Mazur left the band and Binzer changed the name of the band to Crazy Town X.
Sugar Ray is an American rock band formed in Newport Beach, California, in 1986. Originally playing heavier funk metal and nu metal style music, the band achieved mainstream popularity in 1997 with their more pop-influenced single "Fly". The song's success led the band to shift its style dramatically to the more radio-friendly pop sound with their subsequent releases. Their best-selling album, 14:59, was released in 1999, and featured popular singles "Every Morning", "Someday", followed by a self-titled album in 2001 featuring the single "When It's Over". The band would release two further albums, In the Pursuit of Leisure (2003) and Music for Cougars (2009), though the albums and respective singles generally sold far less. The band continued to tour into the 2010s.
Bell Biv DeVoe, also known as BBD, is an American music group from Boston, Massachusetts, formed from members of New Edition, consisting of Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins and Ronnie DeVoe.
New Edition is an American R&B/Pop group from the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1978 by Bobby Brown. Their name is taken to mean a 'new edition' of the Jackson 5. The group reached its height of popularity in the 1980s. The lineup originally consisted of Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, Bobby Brown, Ronnie DeVoe, and Ralph Tresvant. Brown left the group in late 1985 to begin a successful solo career, and they continued as a quartet for one album, before adding Johnny Gill to the lineup in 1987. Early hits included "Candy Girl", "Cool It Now", and "Mr. Telephone Man". Tresvant was the lead singer on most of the songs. In 1990, both Gill and Tresvant released their own solo albums, while the remaining three members formed the trio Bell Biv DeVoe; the group ceased to work together for the first half of the 1990s.
The Gift of Game is the debut studio album by American band Crazy Town. It was released on November 9, 1999 in the U.S. by Columbia Records. The album yielded the band its biggest hit to date with "Butterfly" which reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 24, 2001.
Rap rock is a fusion genre that fuses vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop with various forms of rock. Rap rock's most popular subgenres include rap metal and rapcore, which include heavy metal and hardcore punk-oriented influences, respectively.
Seth Brooks Binzer, better known by his stage name Shifty Shellshock, is an American musician, best known for being a co-founder and front man of the rap rock band Crazy Town, known for their hit song "Butterfly". He has also had a solo music career and appeared in the reality television series Celebrity Rehab 1 and 2 and Sober House 1 and 2.
Quarashi is an Icelandic rap rock band from Reykjavík, Iceland. The group consists of rappers Hössi Ólafsson, Ómar Örn Hauksson, Steinar Orri Fjeldsted, and Sölvi Blöndal. For live shows, Quarashi was joined by guitarist Smári "Tarfur" Jósepsson, bassist Gaukur Úlfarsson, and DJ Dice. The group came back together in 2016 and is planning on releasing a new album.
Ronald Boyd DeVoe Jr., is an American singer, rapper, and actor known as one of the members of the R&B/pop group New Edition, and the R&B/hip hop group Bell Biv DeVoe. He was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts.
Poison is a substance that causes injury, illness, or death.
"Butterfly" is a song by American rap rock band Crazy Town. It is based on a sample of "Pretty Little Ditty" from the Red Hot Chili Peppers' 1989 album Mother's Milk, so band members Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith, and John Frusciante are credited as writers. The song was released in October 2000 as the third single from their debut album, The Gift of Game. It gained mainstream popularity after being released physically on February 20, 2001.
Darkhorse is the second studio album by American rap rock band Crazy Town, released on November 12, 2002. The album peaked at No. 120 on the Billboard 200 and No. 164 in the UK. It sold less than 13,000 units in its first week.
Ralph Tresvant is the debut album by American singer Ralph Tresvant. The album was released by MCA Records on November 20, 1990 in the United States. It went to number one on the Irish Albums Chart for 12 weeks, and on the US Top R&B Albums chart for two weeks and peaked into the top 20 on the US Billboard 200 chart. It features the number one single, "Sensitivity" along with two more top five R&B hits: "Do What I Gotta Do" and "Stone Cold Gentleman", which featured labelmate Bobby Brown, and has been certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Richard "Wolfie" Wolf is an American Emmy Award-winning film and television composer, multi-platinum-selling music producer, songwriter, remixer, and author.
Act Like You Know is the third studio album by American hip hop recording artist MC Lyte. It was released on September 17, 1991, by First Priority Music, distributed by Atlantic Records, and featured production from Audio Two, The 45 King, Ivan "Doc" Rodriguez, The King of Chill, Pal Joey, Epic Mazur, Richard Wolf and DJ Master Tee.
Hootie Mack is the second studio album released by R&B group, Bell Biv DeVoe. It was released through MCA Records on June 1, 1993, and featured production from the group itself and some of R&B's top producers such as Chris Stokes, L.A. Reid and Babyface. As the follow-up to the group's quadruple platinum debut album, Poison, expectations were high. Although Hootie Mack was not as successful as Poison, the album peaked at 19 on the Billboard 200 and 6 on the Top R&B Albums. Two singles made it to the charts—"Something in Your Eyes" and "Above the Rim", the former making it to 38 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was certified gold on August 25, 1993.
The Brimstone Sluggers is the third studio album by American rap rock band Crazy Town. It was released on August 28, 2015 and was Crazy Town's first album in 13 years since Darkhorse in 2002. According to Mazur, the album is a stylistic follow up to their 1999 debut, The Gift of Game. In comparison to Darkhorse, which was more rock oriented, The Brimstone Sluggers focuses more on hip-hop, and features collaborations from rappers Madchild and Bishop Lamont. Former Crazy Town member DJ AM, who died in 2009, is a featured artist on the track "Born to Raise Hell", and No Doubt guitarist Tom Dumont provides guitar and vocals on the track "Ashes".
"Word to the Mutha!" is a song co-written and performed by American contemporary R&B group Bell Biv DeVoe and co-written and produced by Wolf & Epic. It originally appeared on their debut studio album Poison under the title "Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky, Mike, Ralph and Johnny !", but the title was shortened and a remixed version of the song was issued as the only official single from the group's remix album WBBD-Bootcity!: The Remix Album. The song features vocals from Bobby Brown, Ralph Tresvant and Johnny Gill. It was the first recorded song to feature all six members of New Edition. Brown, Tresvant and Gill are credited separately on the single, rather than collectively as New Edition.
Ricardo Bell is an American singer and actor best known as one of the founding members of R&B/pop group New Edition, and the lead singer of Bell Biv DeVoe. As a solo artist, Bell released the album Ricardo Campana in 2000.
When in Love is the first single from MC Lyte's third album Act Like You Know. It was released on August 22, 1991. Although its original version of the album is produced by Wolf & Epic, its single version includes a remix made with Carmen Rizzo.
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