JOE BEL | July 2014
Joe BeL was born in 1987 and grew up in a small French city, at the foot of the mountains. She was studying History of Arts and Literature until the day she decided to quit everything, so she could write, compose and arrange the songs that haunted her during class. Joe has been composing music since the age of 12, mostly on an old synthesizer, but never shared anything until 2012. «My family and friends were surprised when I decided to quit college for music. A lot of people didn’t even know I’ve been writing songs. I was to shy to sing in front of other people until my very first concert.»
Influenced by soul music, pop and afro beat, Joe loves Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney and Fela Kuti. She likes writing the bass lines first and using improvisation and spontaneous ideas to develop her songs. «I can’t sit down and tell myself: Now I’m going to write a song. Even the subjects and themes of my texts aren’t things I «decide» on. I take what comes into my head, I think that is what makes me feel good and helps me to learn who I am. I don’t want to think too much when I write songs – I want true words, true things.» The result is a warm, deep and sincere music – pop songs with shades of folk, soul and hip hop, simple and full of passion.
Joe’s first EP «In The City», released in 2012, received enthusiastic reviews in France and established her as an independent selfmade artist to look out for. Since then, Joe gave numerous concerts and had the chance to be the opening act for Corneille, Imany, School Is Cool and many others. When Asaf Avidan asked her to join his 2013 european tour for 17 shows in Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Switzerland and France, she discovered her real passion for the stage and life on tour.
Earlier this year, Joe was signed by the French music label 3ème Bureau (Wagram) and is now working on her debut album which is planned to be released in 2015.
At Music Apartment, Joe BeL will present her songs accompagnied and supported by her current live formation.
