Brian Jeffrey’s song writing career began unexpectedly and magically in 2010. Since writing his first song in 2010, Brian Jeffrey has produced his debut album, i am brian jeffrey. Brian has performed at; Cliffs Resort, Branch Street Deli, Shell Café, Bon Temps, Alegria Wine and Ware, Sculpturra Winery and headlined the Song Writers At Play showcase. Brian Jeffrey has been featured on two KSBY news segments and is currently working on his second album, "Living The Dream," due out in early 2015.
From 1995-2010 Brian and his wife, Nikki ran an employment agency that they started on their kitchen table. The business grew to a staff of 15 employees, responsible for the employment of over 1,000 people during the course of their careers. In 2008, the financial crisis that affected so many Americans ravaged their thriving business. They funded the struggling company for two years until they were finally forced to shut it down or risk losing everything.
Brian had played the guitar on and off through his teens and twenties, but gave it up when he started the business. The year before the financial collapse, he purchased a Martin guitar in an attempt to finally learn to play. For two years, he played daily, creating new arrangements for cover songs. By the time the financial collapse hit, he was better on the guitar and enjoyed the creative rush of getting immersed in a song. It also helped to ease the pain of the unspeakable personal and professional challenges the couple was suffering all at once. Someone once said that you don’t know who you are until you are squeezed. An apple can only yield apple juice and an orange, when squeezed, can only yield orange juice. The couple was was being squeezed from all directions in life, but Brian dreamed that the best was yet to come. It was during this period that Brian Jeffrey, the musician, was born. His first original song was “The Best”. It was written during a snow- storm and was literally a cry for light during a dark and challenging time. It was also a celebration of love, hope and the healing powers of positive energy.
The couple also believes in the healing power of travel. In July 2010, Nikki and Brian watched a movie called The Bucket List. Realizing that life is unpredictable and the time to live is right now, they created their own list. The “Fuck It List” was born! They made a list of places they would like to go in the next year. Brian bought a travel case for his guitar and made one simple rule: everywhere they stay and play, they earned a patch. Yeah, that’s right. Those iron-on patches…they still have those. Brian has about 50 patches on his case so far! They spent a month in Alaska: car, ferry, planes, trains, small planes and no cruise ships! They did six weeks on the east coast: The Jersey Shore, New York (NOT BOSTON…go Yankees!), Rhode Island, Maine and Vermont. Next it was off to Ambergris Caye, Belize for six weeks. That place is paradise and you must go see Rasta Todd. Tell him Brian sent you. They returned home for the holidays and New Year, 2011 and went back to Central America for four months. They saw Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama and the rest of Belize. Every night at sunset, Brian played his guitar on the beach and began to form musical arrangements that would later become songs.
When the couple returned from their travels, they quickly adopted their second dog, Frankie Snowflake Derek Jeter Jeffrey Goldfaden. He is a white, English Lab and he rocks! The second thing Brian did was to acquire an eight track recording device so that he could record, “The Best,” for Nikki. Once the creative floodgates were opened Brian wrote ten songs in ten months and began recording. A year later, in March 2012 Brian released his debut album i am brian jeffrey. The album features ten songs written, performed and produced by Brian Jeffrey in his home studio. In April, 2012 Brian Jeffrey’s first music video, “The Best” was posted on YouTube. Check it out and download his album on ITunes, Amazon or CD Baby.com.
Nikki and Brian moved from Big Bear to Shell Beach in November, 2011 and have found a perfect paradise there, but don’t tell anyone. Brian’s nightly stage is a bench on a cliff over the Pacific Ocean, with views up and down the coastline. Several people gather each night to watch the sunset and sing along.
Life can begin again.
I released my second album Living the Dream, which celebrates the struggles and life lessons that are salvaged from the ashes and identifies a path forward, to live again and discover a vision as grand and meaningful as one’s mind can imagine.
My latest album “Don’t Look Away,” features some of your favorite artists including; Josh Barrett, Hayden Gardner and Michael Clair from The Kicks. The album was mixed at a major studio in San Francisco and mastered at Painted Sky Studios. The world is crazy right now and here are many issues that need to be solved, so please don’t look away.
I believe that music shapes our world and that everyone has a story. I never intended to be a songwriter, yet I am set to release my third album since I began writing songs six years ago. Brian Jeffrey Music examines ties that bind us together, the challenges that make us stronger and my belief that we are more alike than we are different. My songs visualize a better world and speak to the challenges of today.
My third and most important album, Don’t Look Away focuses on the social and personal battles that we face and fight, which permeate our society and continue to fester including; Social inequality, mass incarceration, immigration, loss and our common desire to find love and live life happy, healthy and free.
Don’t look Away from the persistent issues that need changing. Don’t look away from the world that you want to see. Don’t look away from this moment and from the things that matter most and don’t look away from the world that you were born to change.
Watch Brian Jeffrey videos at: Youtube.com/brianjeffreymusic
Facebook.com/brianjeffreymusic