Seth Sharp was born in Hartford, Connecticut (USA) to the critically-acclaimed actress/teacher/director, Frances McAlpine-Sharp and her husband, Seth Sharp, from whom Seth takes his name. Seth started performing at the age of 3 and began singing in clubs, talent shows, political events and social gatherings around the age of 10. Seth was surrounded by music growing up in Hartford. His mother often took him to live jazz concerts in Hartford's Bushnell park and several of Seth's relatives played and composed classical music and rock. Seth's cousin, the guitar legend, Tony Macalpine, lived with Seth's family for a period of time, while Tony studied music at Hartt School of Music, where Seth eventually took singing lessons in classical music. When Frances (Seth's mother) heard Seth sing, "And I Am Telling You" she urged him to sing for her friends - thus Seth's singing career began.
In his early years, Seth performed on local television, mostly in acting parts. He was also commissioned by, "The Hartford Courant" to write an opinion piece about his experiences growing up in Hartford and then a reflection upon the life and works of Nelson Mandela. Seth's writing (poetry and essays) won him several awards, including the City of Hartford Poetry recitation contest, where Seth recited his original poem, "Hidden", about people who live under the radar of society. Seth also received an award from the NAACP for his musical achievements.
At the age of 13, Seth became the youngest DJ in the state of Connecticut with a regularly-scheduled program, on Hartford's WQTQ, 89.9 FM. During this time, Seth was also selected to be a musician for the National Episcopalian Church, where he traveled on behalf of the church to conferences and recorded music and wrote a song which was included in the National Church's Young People's songbook. Throughout high school, Seth continued to perform and make music in various venues and was featured in a couple of independent films.
Seth met one of his inspirations, the civil rights icon, Rosa Parks, when she came to Seth's high school in Hartford, for a performance by the drama club, of which Seth was a lead performer. The icing on the cake for Seth was when he discovered that his family and Rosa Parks were headed to the same family reunion in Connecticut. As it turned out, Rosa Parks was Seth's cousin by marriage.
Seth went to Yale University and joined a jazz a cappella singing group, which toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe. Seth also started a theater company at Yale, where he directed many plays and worked with a local elementary school to mentor the young students in performing. Many of Seth's plays received rave reviews in the University Newspapers. In his senior year of Yale, Seth joined the world-renowned, Yale Whiffenpoofs, an a cappella singing group which yale graduate, Cole Porter, was a member of in the early 1900s. Seth traveled extensively with the group and sang "The Christmas Song" for President Clinton and his family at a White House Christmas party and also sang for Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India. With the group, Seth performed at the BBC Jazz club in London and in many prestigious venues throughout the world.
Seth moved to New York City, upon graduation from Yale, and continued his career as an actor/singer and also started directing professionally. Seth performed at various clubs throughout New York City and did regional theater throughout the United States. His performance as Daniel Beauxhomme, the love interest in the musical, "Once on this Island", earned him a Robby Award for best ensemble cast and the show was nominated for an LA-Ovation award against such shows as Ragtime. Seth also co-starred in "Avenue X" at the San Diego Playhouse and made television appearances in San Diego to promote the show. While in New York, Seth appeared in various films and TV shows and starred in an independent film which won an award at the Columbus Film Festival.
Seth began vocal-coaching in New York and was the vocal coach for the lead singers of the multi-platinum album pop band, "Scissor Sisters" until Seth moved to Reykjavik, Iceland. While in New York, Seth directed several productions for the "Urban Youth Theater", which is housed at the famous, Henry Street Settlement, in Lower-Manhattan. Seth's directorial debut, "Hello, Out There" was highly praised in the New York Times. Seth also taught musical theater at Henry Street and worked as a teaching artist in New York City public schools. As a vocal coach and singing teacher, Seth has developed a very successful track record for helping his students to reach their goals. Both in Reykjavik and in New York City, Seth’s current and former students have achieved their goals ranging from: personal achievement to international success. Among his former students is the winner of Iceland's X-Factor.
Seth's first years in Iceland, entailed extensive travel between Iceland and the United States because of various performances in the two countries. Seth co-starred in 40 performances at New York's Carnegie Hall, and was the featured performer at the Juneteenth Celebration at Hartford's Wadsworth Atheneum.
Seth began working on more original material, while in Iceland and collaborated with Icelandic musicians. The first original song Seth released, "Every Sunday" is on the Sole Music dance label, from the United Kingdom. "Every Sunday" was a collaboration between Seth and Icelandic DJ and house music producer, Tommy White. Seth wrote the lyrics to "Every Sunday" in honor of his great friend, Rose, whose wisdom Seth relied upon. "Every Sunday" is also an anthem to finding spirituality in one's life and following one's own path in life.
Seth started a band in Iceland called, "Black Clock". Black Clock began as a Prince cover band and performed in Reykjavik to packed-houses in one of downtown Reykjavik's largest live-music venues. The members of Black Clock changed several times over the course of two years. Seth settled upon a band consisting of a self-trained blues pianist, a classical cellist and a drummer. The band recorded an album of cover songs (including an old Icelandic folk song, called "Móðir mín í kví kvi", about the ghost of a baby who was killed by its mother who comes back to the mother to offer comfort). This album, "A Song For You" was released on cdbaby.com in 2006 and sold in the record store, "12 Tonar" in Iceland. Shortly after it's appearance on cdbaby, the album became available on I-tunes, amazon.com and many other online retailers.
"A Song For You" is a collection of jazz, pop and dance songs and the title track, "A Song For You" was written by Leon Russell and covered by Donny Hathaway. Donny Hathaway was one of Seth's biggest musical influences, although Seth discovered Hathaway's musical oeuvre after Donnie Hathaway had died. Seth was also greatly influenced by Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and jazz singer, Blossom Dearie.
Seth traveled to Africa, on behalf of the US State Department, in 2007. He and the pianist from "Black Clock" did a 4-country tour of Africa, performing in theaters, embassies, schools, concerts halls, clubs, on television, on radio stations and in festivals. Seth performed at the inaugural jazz festival in Brazzaville, Congo and was asked to return to Brazzaville by the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Congo. Seth returned to Africa in the fall of 2007, with the entire band (minus the drummer, plus a guitar player). Seth and the band, performed at FESPAM, the largest music festival in Africa. Their performance was attended by almost 20,000, where the audience continued singing Seth's original song, "Brazzaville", after Seth and the band had left the stage. Brazzaville was a collaboration between Seth and the piano player from Black Clock and is an ode to the city of Brazzaville.
Seth's next single, "Happiness is Taking Over" was a collaboration between Seth and dutch producer/dj, D-Reflection. Seth wrote the lyrics for this song while in a bad mood and trying to figure out a way to cheer himself up. Seth wanted to listen to a song that would encourage him to find happiness but couldn't find a song in his Ipod that encouraged him to do so without adhering to a particular religious dogma or without finding happiness from external sources. So he wrote the lyrics to this song so that he would always have a song in his ipod to cheer himself up that encouraged him to seek happiness from within.
"Happiness is Taking Over" was released on the Adaptation dance music label from the UK. The song had done very well and was listed in the top 10 list of world-renowned DJ Roger Sanchez on traxsource.com. The song also stayed in the top 10 on clickgroove for several weeks. Both "Happiness is Taking Over" and "Every Sunday" received critical praise from many top dance music DJS from around the world. Seth's vocal abilities have been compared to house music giants Arnold Jarvis and Robert Owens.
Seth Sharp was asked to compete for Iceland's "Songvakeppni Sjónvarpsins" on behalf of Icelandic composer, Magnús Þór Sigmundsson. Seth was a part of a trio that sang a song called, 'Lullaby to Peace", which was originally selected for the finals of the competition, which decides what song will represent Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest. Magnús asked Seth to sing a second song called, "Johnny" in the competition and Seth also performed a third song for Svala Björgvinsdóttir of the band, Steed Lord. All three of the songs Seth sang were released on a compilation CD along with the other songs from the competition.
In 2008, Icelandic songwriter, Óskar Páll Sveinsson asked Seth to perform the song, "Family" in Iceland's pre-Eurovision contest. Óskar's song, "Is it True" won that competition and achieved 2nd place in the Eurovision song contest.
After the Icelandic competition, Seth was asked to travel to Latvia, where he represented Iceland in the Balticness concert, which was a collection of the 11 members of the council of Baltic States. Seth performed, "Móðir mín í kví kví" at the Riga Opera House for the prime ministers of several European countries.
Seth's most recent venture includes co-writing and starring in a short film called, "Jeffrey and Beth", which was premiered in Reykjavik and shown at the Warsaw International Film Festival. Seth DJs and sings in Reykjavik and in New York and continues to write and perform original material.
(read less)
