Gray Joel Showcases His Unique Music Style In New Album

LOS ANGELES, CA, May 19, 2011 (Press-News.org) Poetry is heart and soul put to paper, spewed by sincere mouths in the hope of affecting its recipients. Such is Gray Joel (aka Aaron J. Gray) and his affinity with the type of music called spoken word. How have words shaped Gray's life and why will it continuously forever be part of him?

Gray Joel was born and raised in downtown Los Angeles, California. He never knew his father who died while he was still an infant. His mother and grandmother took care of him the best they can, even when gang wars and crack cocaine surrounded them. Instead of getting his feet wet in criminality, Gray kept with school and at 14, a teacher gave him an assignment: to write a poem. That day, he fell with the magic of poetry. A year later he began performing in coffee shops and joined open-mike events in and around LA. Gray soon penetrated the underground poetry scene, thriving in such places as the Midnight Special, A Different Light, and The World Stage. He had wanted to publish his first collection of poetry but due to his age, this never came to fruition.

College was the next step for Gray and rather than signing a deal with a spoken word record label, he chose to study Philosophy and Psychology. After five years, he graduated from the University of Southern California, joined the workforce, and later worked with troubled youth in south LA. In 2008, Gray published his second book of poetry titled 'A Perfect Blue' and decided to pursue his music career in spoken word. With LA producer D-Tune (aka Jason Foster), they came up with his first CD, 'The Well', followed up with his first full-length album, 'Cut. Bleed. Wait'. - all written and produced by Gray Joel himself.

Gray Joel managed not to be a cliche and out of adversity came creativity. His poetry is testament to his musicality and from here on out, he will not disappoint. Gray Joel will have the last word.

Hear more of Gray Joel's spoken word tracks at iTunes distributed by JMD Records and INgrooves (a partner of Uninversal Music Group.)