Mikey Wax - Biography

Biography

Mikey Wax is a singer/songwriter from Long Island, NY, who started playing piano at the age of 8. He tends to also write and perform on acoustic guitar. At the age of 16, Mikey had an instrumental track of his featured in the independent film Magic Rock. Upon graduating from high school, Mikey attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.

His debut album "Change Again", produced by Bob Stander, was released on November 1, 2008, and ranked on the iTunes top 100 pop albums in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Shortly after, Mikey made his television debut performing live on the CBS Morning Show in West Palm Beach, Florida. The album includes the song "In Case I Go Again" which was selected as the winner of The Unsigned Artist radio contest held by WRMF / 97.9 FM, a Hot AC radio station in South Florida. The single was later featured on the CBS hit series Ghost Whisperer. In July 2010, The music video for "In Case I Go Again" was featured on the homepage of YouTube as part of their "Music Tuesday" spotlight. It now holds over 500,000 views. Most recently, The instrumental for "In Case I Go Again" was featured on NBC during the 2012 Summer Olympics. His songs "Yes" "Twisted Fate" "Last Great Song" "Nice To Meet You" "Taxi Driver" "Cedars Bay" and "In Case I Go Again" have appeared on MTV's The Real World, True Life, & Teen Mom.

In June 2009, Wax supported singer Josh Hoge on his U.S tour. Wax completed his second U.S tour supporting artists Howie Day and Serena Ryder in February 2010. Mikey has also toured with Landon Pigg, Diane Birch, Tyler Hilton, Rusted Root, Graham Colton, Tony Lucca, Ingram Hill, Andy Grammer, Scars on 45, James Durbin (singer) and Ryan Cabrera. Wax has been known to perform the piano and guitar simultaneously. He also performed in the 5th annual Great South Bay Music Festival at Shorefront Park in the summer of 2011. Other performing acts included umphrey's mcgee and 38 Special.

On April 29, 2010, Mikey released "The Traveler" EP for free download through his website http://www.mikeywax.com. Integrating social networking to download the EP, The Traveler received 15,000 downloads and contributed to Mikey hosting over 100,000 fans via social networking sites. "Birmingham", the single off the EP, was later featured on the homepage of American Songwriter.

In the summer of 2010, Wax headlined his own house concert tour, playing at 40 homes across the country. He completed his second annual summer house tour in 2011, this time performing at over 60 homes nation wide. Prior to the summer 2011 house tour, Wax recorded his second full-length album with producer Warren Huart (The Fray, Augustana, Kris Allen, James Blunt). The album titled "Constant Motion" released digitally on Tuesday, September 20, 2011, ranking at #6 on the iTunes singer/songwriter chart, and #47 on Billboard Heatseekers chart. The album was supported by a tour opening for American Idol finalist Elliott Yamin. Additionally, the single off the record "Counting On You" began receiving radio airplay on major adult top 40 (Hot-AC) stations, and debuted on the Mediabase adult top 40 radio chart on April 9, 2012. Soon after, Mikey was selected by New Music Seminar as an "Artist On The Verge", and supported an east-coast tour with Jon McLaughlin. Wax was also featured by iHeartRadio as an “Artist To Watch”. On July 25, 2012, "Counting On You" was featured during the elimination montage on FOX's So You Think You Can Dance. That same night, his song "You Tell Me When" was featured on MTVs The Real World. Two weeks later, it was announced that “Counting On You” would be featured as the elimination song on all the remaining episodes of So You Think You Can Dance (U.S. season 9). The weekly feature caught the attention of national daily newspaper USA Today, who featured Mikey on their website September 5, 2012. In November, 2012, "Counting On You" was placed in the movie trailer for the major motion picture Playing For Keeps (2012 film), starring Gerard Butler and Jessica Biel. The trailer gained the attention of popular entertainment website Young Hollywood, who featured an interview with Wax shortly after.

On November 6, 2012, Wax released a holiday EP, "And A Happy New Year", consisting of 3 originals and 3 covers. The EP features Steve Holley on drums. Steve was a member of Paul McCartney's Wings (band), and used the same sleigh bells, tambourine and other percussion on Mikey's EP that were recorded on McCartney's Wonderful Christmastime. Wax's EP debuted at #26 on the iTunes US Holiday chart, and the title-track "And A Happy New Year" received radio airplay on SiriusXM Holly throughout the holiday season. Shockya.com praised the EP saying, "The six track EP simply makes holiday music “the cool thing to listen to”." In the last week of 2012, "Counting On You" was featured hourly on Dutch internet radio station Radio 501.

On February 28, 2013, "Counting On You" was selected as a finalist in the International Songwriting Competition (ISC) - Adult Contemporary Category. That same week, Mikey & "Counting On You" were selected out of 13,000 artists as a top-ten finalist in the second annual Guitar Center unsigned singer/songwriter contest. Mikey is currently recording his third full-length album with Nashville producer Ed Cash.

On April 30, 2013, Mikey's song "For Better Or Worse" was featured on the Lifetime (TV network) hit show Dance Moms.