Epic Mazur

Last updated

Bret 'Epic' Mazur
Birth nameBret Hadley Mazur
Also known asEpic
Epic Mazur
Born (1970-08-31) August 31, 1970 (age 53) [1]
Brooklyn, New York, U.S. [1]
OriginLos Angeles
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Record producer
  • musician
  • singer
  • rapper
  • songwriter
  • sound designer
  • mixing engineer
Instrument(s)
Years active1986–2003
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.

Contents

Early life

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

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 in 2007 that they had reformed, [5] and Mazur stated that the band'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 would no longer tour with the band. [7] [8]

Record producer

Mazur was included as a producer for New Edition side project, Bell Biv DeVoe.

Feature films and television

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 .

Personal life

Mazur has one son, named Max, who was born in 1996, and his cousin is actress Monet Mazur. [9] He is of Jewish ancestry.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crazy Town</span> American rap rock band

Crazy Town is an American rap rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1995 by Bret "Epic" Mazur and Shifty Shellshock. Their 2000 single "Butterfly", 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bell Biv DeVoe</span> American R&B group

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Edition</span> American R&B group

New Edition is an American R&B/pop group from the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1978 by singer/rapper Bobby Brown with Ralph Tresvant serving as the group's lead singer for over 40 years. Their name is taken to mean a new edition of the Jackson 5. The group reached its height of popularity in the 1980s and is considered the blueprint for what would become the modern boy band. The lineup originally consisted of Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, Ronnie DeVoe, Bobby Brown, and Ralph Tresvant, the lead singer. 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.

<i>The Gift of Game</i> 1999 studio album by Crazy Town

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 with "Butterfly" which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 24, 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shifty Shellshock</span> American vocalist (1974–2024)

Seth Brooks Binzer, better known by his stage name Shifty Shellshock, was an American rapper, singer-songwriter, and vocalist, best known for cofounding and fronting the rap rock band Crazy Town, known for their hit song "Butterfly", later having a solo career. He struggled with addiction throughout his career and appeared on the reality television series Celebrity Rehab and Sober House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronnie DeVoe</span> American singer and rapper

Ronald Boyd DeVoe Jr., is an American singer and rapper 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.

Monet Happy Mazur is an American actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poison (Bell Biv DeVoe song)</span> 1990 single by Bell Biv DeVoe

"Poison" is the debut single of American vocal group Bell Biv DeVoe, released as the first single from their debut album of the same name. The song, in the style of new jack swing, a late-1980s/early-1990s hybrid of R&B, hip hop and swing, was the group's most successful.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Butterfly (Crazy Town song)</span> 2000 single by Crazy Town

"Butterfly" is a song by American rap rock band Crazy Town. 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 19, 2001. 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.

<i>Darkhorse</i> 2002 studio album by Crazy Town

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 fewer than 13,000 units in its first week.

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<i>WBBD-Bootcity!: The Remix Album</i> 1991 remix album by Bell Biv DeVoe

WBBD - Bootcity!: The Remix Album is a remix album released by R&B group Bell Biv DeVoe. It was released on August 27, 1991 via MCA Records, and was composed of remixes of songs from the group's debut album Poison. The album reached No. 18 on the Billboard 200. It was certified gold on October 23, 1991.

<i>Act Like You Know</i> 1991 studio album by MC Lyte

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.

<i>Hootie Mack</i> 1993 studio album by Bell Biv DeVoe

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.

<i>The Brimstone Sluggers</i> 2015 studio album by Crazy Town

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 then Crazy Town member Epic 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". It is also the last Crazy Town album to feature lead vocalist Shifty Shellshock before his death on June 24, 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">When Will I See You Smile Again?</span> 1991 single by Bell Biv DeVoe

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"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.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Bret "Epic" Mazur". xtrememusician.com. Archived from the original on December 29, 2014. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  2. "Bret "Epic" Mazur X Fluid Audio". mixware.net. Mixware, LLC. Retrieved April 15, 2018.
  3. Edwards, Gavin (March 15, 2001). "Q&A: Shifty Shellshock of Crazy Town". Rolling Stone . No. 864. p. 35.
  4. Jeckell, Barry (January 10, 2002). "News on Crazy Town, Nelly, NY Metropolis Fest". Billboard . Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  5. Harris, Chris (December 5, 2007). "Kris Kross, Crazy Town, EMF, Extreme And More Unmemorable Reunions, In Our Year-End Top 10s – Music, Celebrity, Artist News". MTV. Archived from the original on June 1, 2014. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  6. "Crazy Town: The Brimstone Sluggers". AllMusic . Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  7. Mazur, Bret (January 10, 2017). "To all of our fans and friends..." Crazy Town (via Facebook). Archived from the original on February 26, 2022. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
  8. Mazur, Bret (January 10, 2017). "Statement from Epic..." Bret Mazur (via Facebook). Archived from the original on February 26, 2022. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
  9. Wiederhorn, Jon. "Crazy Town Into the Skater Chicks in New Vid". mtv.com. Viacom International, Inc. Archived from the original on January 30, 2017. Retrieved April 15, 2018.