Joseph Whelan is one of those very rare things in the music world, a natural talent as a singer, songwriter and virtuoso guitar player. Infrequently do such people come along but when they do they take the world by storm. That is what Joseph Whelan is about to do.
The story began 10 years ago when Joseph first picked up a guitar at the tender age of 16. He was a natural and pretty soon he became known around the circuit playing with some established rock bands. His contemporaries soon realised that Joseph was something special. He went on to develop his skills with the guitar and became a master of the fretboard, whilst also developing his unique singing style and songwriting skills.
In 2005 Joseph joined the rock band Dementia during which time they toured the UK and Europe supporting the likes of MAJ, Bullet For My Valentine, Breed 77, Exodus and Death Angel. He co wrote the band’s EP 'Life Gets Easier', the self titled album 'Dementia', and their most successful release 'The Path To Valhalla'. As bands do, Dementia broke up in 2011 with the members going their separate ways, and, whilst Joseph was working on some new songs, he was asked to join the successful rock band Cloven Hoof and has toured Europe with them many times since. Indeed, Joseph occasionally performs with Cloven Hoof today, when he can fit it in with his busy schedule as a solo artist.
However, though Joseph didn’t know it, forces were working in his favour and 2012 was to be the turning point in his career. He wrote and recorded a single, ‘I Lie Lonely’ and though Joseph wasn’t expecting big things, the record went straight to number 1 on the Official Charts Companies’ Rock Singles Chart and entered at number 3 on the Independent Chart. This caused quite a stir, particularly as it was achieved without any radio play or media coverage and Joseph found himself much sought after by independent record labels. Realising that he needed help and guidance before entering into any of the recording contracts that he had been offered, he was delighted to be contacted by multi million selling musician and composer, Paul Hardcastle, who had just launched a management company. After a few meetings with Paul, Joseph realised that he would benefit from the experience of Paul and his team and agreed to take him on as his manager.
It was as though someone had waved the starter’s flag as things suddenly began to happen. First up Paul negotiated a deal with the major artist booking agency Marshall Arts Talent who look after Paul McCartney, Elton John, George Michael, Pink and Joe Cocker. They realised that Joseph was heading for the big time and took him on as a development artist and immediately began securing gigs for him around the UK and in Europe. They secured him top billing at both the Aintree Grand National this year and at the Silverstone F1 Grand Prix in June.
Whilst all this was going on the American Guitar giants Gibson took an interest. Recognising Joseph’s incredible guitar skills they came on board and now Joseph is officially sponsored by their American subsidiary Kramer Guitars, with even more interest in the USA coming from the world famous Floyd Rose, who joined the growing list of guitar manufacturers who are now sponsoring Joseph.
Joseph’s online presence started to rocket as well with, to date, over 800,000 views registered on his own You Tube channel along with 25,000 followers on both Twitter and Facebook. His drop dead gorgeous looks have won him an army of devoted female fans and also a big following in the gay market, particularly after Joseph agreed to take part in their Terrence Higgins Trust charity edition photo shoot earlier this year alongside other high profile stars.
Joseph is well on the way to completing his debut album and is now the subject of major label interest. If 2012 was a big year for Joseph 2013 is gonna be mega!
