Biography
"Imagine Dion meeting Marshall Crenshaw at the Beatles' house, with the Kinks, Beach Boys, Four Seasons and Persuasions all dropping by for a song swap. The words have a cynical edge, but what really grabs you is the old-fashioned sweetness and punch of his neo-doowop vocals playing off incredibly hook-happy tunes" —PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS
“The anti-Kurt Cobain” (NY Press) and “absurdly talented performer” (Village Voice) has “killer hooks” (Time Out New York), “a cynical edge” (Philadelphia Daily News), and a “silky tenor voice that produced chills” (New York Times). Sean is New York City's golden-voiced rabble-rouser; the purveyor of perfect pop songs; the founder and former leader of the pioneering vocal group Rockapella; the composer of the "Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?" TV theme song; perpetrator of the JEWMONGOUS comedy song concert; and entertainer to the pop-starved masses. His three solo albums feature his signature angst gift-wrapped as pop confection.
SOLO ALBUMS
Altman's three solo CDs are available at www.seanaltman.com. He followed up his acclaimed solo debut, seandemonium (19 originals), with a more bombastic work: alt.mania (Chow Fun Records), which features Sean’s full muscular band blasting through 15 original songs of angst gift-wrapped as pop confection peppered with a dozen other bits of palate-cleansing sonic mayhem. alt.mania includes the song "Unhappy Anniversary" — Sean’s ode to divorce that pop starlet Vitamin C covered on her platinum Elektra debut. Guests include Jian Ghomeshi of Moxy Fruvous, violinist Deni Bonet, and Elliott Kerman of Rockapella.
Sean's CD catalogue also includes Losing Streak (Chow Fun Records), a 22-song collection of his live-in-concert performances of songs composed by his song writing heroes — McCartney, Costello, Brian Wilson, Nilsson, Paul Simon, Bowie, Bacharach, Carole King, and others — in the famed Loser's Lounge tribute series, and JEWMONGOUS’ debut CD “Taller Than Jesus”, a collection of original comedy songs.
MR. ROCKAPELLA & BEYOND
Sean grew up in the Bronx, graduated from Brown University, formed Rockapella on a NYC street corner and orchestrated the group’s rise to its current status as the world’s premier contemporary a cappella group. Sean’s credits with Rockapella include featured performances on the PBS documentary “Spike Lee & Co - Do It Acappella”; “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”; five years (295 episodes) starring in the PBS daily series “Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?” (for which Sean wrote the theme song with David Yazbek, composer of Broadway hits “The Full Monty” and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"); nine CD releases; concerts with Billy Joel (Madison Square Garden), Sting and Don Henley; and numerous commercials.
His song writing credits include the off-Broadway musical comedy “Minimum Wage” (NYC Fringe Festival Audience Favorite Award); numerous featured songs for Nickelodeon and Disney TV; and a dozen songs for the comedy “Connections,” which enjoyed a long run at Theater For The New City in New York. Sean’s vocal arrangement credits include the feature films “Leap of Faith,” “Joe’s Apartment,” “Meet The Parents” and “Sing Now Or Forever Hold Your Piece”. Sean performs his songs in concert throughout the world with his five-piece band, as an acoustic-electric duo, or solo acoustic. He has appeared with Elton John, Billy Joel, Joey Ramone, Moby, Cyndi Lauper, Warren Zevon, Fred Schneider of the B-52s, Styx, Dan Bern, Jill Sobule, David Cassidy, John Cale, Robyn Hitchcock, Take 6, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, The Persuasions, Chuck Berry, Steve Vai, Terry Bozzio, and They Might Be Giants.
Instrumentation
Sean Altman plays guitar and sings. Solo, duo and full band format available.
Discography
Taller Than Jesus (Jewmongous, 13 originals, Chow Fun Records)
alt.mania (LP - 15 originals, Chow Fun Records)
seandemonium (LP - 19 originals, Chow Fun Records)
Losing Streak (LP - 22 covers, Chow Fun Records)
Unorthodox (What I Like About Jew CD 2006)
Glory (GrooveBarbers CD 2005)
1991-1997: Nine Rockapella CDs in the USA & Japan
Links
| http://www.seanaltman.com |