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Growing up and going to school in New York City, the Bronx, Harlem and Yonkers, one would hardly be concerned with rock music on a regular basis. Indeed, surviving a world populated by drugs, crime, and poverty becomes a number one priority. It was in this same environment that Yves Jean spent most of his childhood. A son of immigrants from the impoverished Caribbean island of Haiti, Yves Jean spent most of his younger years trying to avoid the temptations of inner city life. While attempting to escape this environment, Jean began to see basketball as a way out, though it was ultimately his interest in the bass guitar at age 17 that gave him an outlet to release his frustrations with the violent atmosphere of his neighborhoods. After college, Yves decided to spend nearly all of his personal savings and graduation money on a five song demo project. The few hours spent in a recording studio in Cleveland, Ohio quickly turned into a lifestyle that has lasted for over twelve years and continues to this day.
In 1999, Yves entered the Graffiti Rock Challenge as the Yves Jean Band. The competition was sponsored by local Pittsburgh radio stations and newspapers and featured over 250 bands - with the audience deciding the winner. Yves went on to win the Challenge. Shortly after, he entered the studio to record what would become his debut album, entitled Been Many Days Empty. Recorded in Pittsburgh and released in 2000, the album showcased the same mix of styles that won him the Rock Challenge. After the album's release, the Yves Jean Band quickly sold over 4,000 units, due in large part to their relentless tour of the Eastern United States. For the next five years, he and his band played wherever they were asked, including colleges, clubs, bars, festivals, opening slots for a national acts, and private functions. The demands of the tour schedule led to the band's lineup being rotated on a regular basis.
In 2004, Yves produced and released Rise Above Your Surroundings. This album showcased the Yves Jean Band's evolution to a more direct and concise sound with straight-forward rock, while not letting go of his foundations in world beat, hip-hop, and soul. The band supported this release for nearly two years, touring nationwide in the United States and then in Europe, where the record sold over 5000 units.
In 2006, Yves took a hiatus from music to concentrate on family and find new inspiration, which had faded during the support of the second release. Tragedy struck later that year when Yves' mother passed away due to cancer. This had a tremendous impact on Yves and left a huge void in his life. He continued on; however, using the heartbreak as inspiration to record his next album. For this project, Yves dropped the band and used his own name. This change signified his going solo along with a new musical direction.
Yves enlisted the help of Grammy Award winner and major label Producer and Mixing Engineer, Ken Lewis. He also recruited musicians world-wide with whom he admired working during his travels.
For the first time in his music career, Yves could write an album from his heart, documenting his trials and tribulations. In 2008, Yves released For Love and Desperation, an album that keeps true to his skill at crossing music genres while still being grounded with his roots in Haitian music. A commercially viable album, For Love and Desperation is his most successful release to date. It currently gets airplay in over 520 college and non-commercial radio stations across the United States.
Yves spent all 2011 writing and recording in a studio for the new album ,that was released in 2012. On this new album Yves has added more influences to his already diverse sound,with a mix of Pop,Rock,Reggae,Hip Hop,Classical,Electronic and Blues.
In order to achieve this sound,Yves enlisted the help of major artist and an array of others to record and write on the new album. Such as members of the band O.A.R.,DJ Logic, Steel Pulse and producer Kiyanu Kim. This will assure that fans of Yves Jean's music will get a new sound that will be infectious internationally.
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