Jared Drake Bell was born on 27 June 1986 in Orange County, California,US and started an acting career in the mid 90s, appearing in shows like “Home Improvement” and movies such as “Jerry McGuire” and “High Fidelity”. It was through his role as an actor that he came to terms with the music world. While working on the film “Chasing Destiny” he became acquainted with his co-star Roger Daltrey (lead singer of the Who) and received his very 1st guitar lesson from the rock legend.
Bell continued on with his music endeavors in parallel with his acting career. During his stint on the Amanda Show he often contributed musical performances and while he was starring on the show “Drake & Josh” he showcased many of his original compositions (one of which was the theme song to the series). Bell’s sound was heavily influenced by 60s pop groups like the Beatles, Beach Boys, and the Rolling Stones as well as 50s rockabilly acts such as Eddie Cochran, Chuck Berry, and Buddy Holly.
His first studio album, “Telegraph” was independently released through the label Nine Yards on 23 August 2005 and was later reissued in 2007. It was met with strong critical acclaim and featured the hit song “Found Away”, which has since been covered by Ariana Grande and Elizabeth Gillies. Later that year Drake Bell acted in the movie “Yours Mine and Ours” and performed the song “Bring Em Out” with the guitar pop act Hawk Nelson for the soundtrack.
Towards the end of 2006 Bell issued his 2nd studio album “It’s Only Time” trough the label, Universal Motown. This proved to be his most successful release yet, peaking at no. 81 on Billboard’s Top 200, no. 21 on Billboards Rock Charts, and no. 4 on the Mexico Top 100. The album sported the singles “I Know”, “Found a Way (Acoustic)”, and “Makes Me Happy”. The latter title rose to no.3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The three closing tracks: “Rusted Silhouette”, “Break Me Down”, and End It Good” acted as a medley and a homage to the Beatles album “Abbey Road”.
Drake spent the larger part of the remaining decade acting in movies like “Drake & Josh Go Hollywood”, “Superhero Movie”, “College”, and “Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh”. He also devoted a portion of his time touring the world and in 2008 released a DVD entitled “Drake Bell In Concert”.
On 22 April 2014, Bell released the rockabilly inspired album “Ready, Steady, Go!”. This release was produced by one of Bells’ favorite musicians, Brian Setzer. Though Bell composed a few of the album’s tracks it was predominately comprised of covers, including works by the Kinks, Bill Joel , Queen, The Jags and the Moves. The Brian Setzer cover “Bitchcraft” acted as the leading single and received a remix from the French electro-swing band Caravan Palace. The album hit no. 182 on the Billboard 200 and was supported by an extensive US tour, on which Bell played varying high schools.
Best known for his appearance in his television show 'Drake and Josh', Drake Bell became extremely popular to the younger generation, myself being one of them. The talented, young actor more recently dabbles in pop rock and alternative rock music, he even plays guitar, piano, bass guitar, drums and the ukulele. Although his music is quite catchy and he has a great presence on stage, it's hard to imagine him as anything other than the teenager from the 'Drake and Josh' TV show. Bell went on to sign with Universal Motown in 2006 as he released his first single called ‘I know’, which wasn’t exactly the most memorable song of the year to say the least. Drake still has a lot of following from young teenagers, especially in America where he currently does most of his performances, but speaking for myself as someone who watched the show religiously when I was younger I can't say his music is something I care to follow. He is a natural entertainer but I don't think he'll be breaking away from having a young fan base and his character in his TV show anytime soon. Let's just I can’t see him selling out any large arena's in the future, but my inner child would like to see him if he ever came over to the UK, I'd have to go alone though as I'm sure none of my friends would be willing to be seen at a Drake Bell concert. He’s had his time in the spotlight and I don’t think his career will be escalating beyond his acting career much more in the future.