User:TheCentralRoom/Newton James

Newton James Hippolyte Jr. (last name phonetically pronounced heep-o-lit) (born August 23, 1990) is a West Indian American musician and actor from Jefferson Parish, Louisiana.

1990-2004: Early life and musical beginnings
Newton James Hippolyte Jr. was born on August 23, 1990 at West Jefferson Hospital in Marrero, LA and was raised in near by town Harvey, LA. He is of French (via mother side) and St. Lucian descent (via father side). His parents Monique G. Hippolyte (née MonLouis) (b. 1955) and father Newton James Hippolyte Sr. (b. 1944) migrated from St. Lucia to St. Croix with their three daughters in the 70s and then finally to the United States in 1980.

James attended public school Frederick Douglass Elementary School (now a career prep school) in Gretna, LA. He was often teased and called homophobic slurs because he "spoke proper" and wore Walmart clothes and shoes. He did not participate in sports until high school, as his interest was martial arts (Tae Kwon Do) and music. James grew up on many styles of music such as 90s rap and R&B, from his oldest sister Valancia constantly listening to her boombox, and his father's vinyl collection which consisted of country western, reggae, soca, zouk, soukous (one of his favorites due to it's uptempo and prominent guitar characteristics), R&B and soul music from 50s-80s. James' family kept up with their Caribbean tradition and culture including the celebration of Christmas and New Year by throwing huge house parties with fellow Caribbean friends and their families going house to house playing music, eat, and socialize. At the age of 5, it were these house parties that James began to take after his father's youth in St. Croix, and started DJing with the vinyl collection.

When James was 9 years old, his second eldest sister Vickie rented the American music biopic film, La Bamba. After constantly watching the movie over and over, James convinced his parents to buy him a guitar. In early August of 2000, shortly before his 10th birthday and the start of the new school year, his father took him to Werlein's Music Store in Gretna, LA and bought him a bright red Squire. James is left handed but learned to play the guitar right handed for the sake of having more options of guitars when it came to purchasing. He began taking lessons to learn the basic chords and songs on the guitar through local Bridge City guitar player Steve Alexander. Vernaculary learning 50s and 60s classic rock songs introduced James to an era that he would go on to later revisit and re-inspire him to play guitar by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page in high school.

After competing elementary school, James started attending St. Rosalie Middle School for 7th and 8th grade. There he participated in an band ensemble playing guitar for the play production of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. James was a good kid, but coming from a public school he was a little "rowdy" often causing uprisings during times of homeroom the day started, when a teacher stepped out of the room, or during lunch breaks. He was an avid "beatboxer and pencil tapper" both skills he had acquired from the days of beatboxing on the street corner while his neighborhood friends rapped but more so from his elementary school days in which Alex May, a childhood classmate and friend, would always rap to various rappers such as Nelly, Snoop Dogg, but mostly Eminem. One popular song they loved performing was the Dr. Dre song "Forget About Dre" ft. Eminem. --There was not a single rap or hip hop song on the radio from late 90s to early 2000s that James couldn't perform.-- At St. Rosalie Middle during "blank pockets of time" when a teacher stepped out of class, James would begin tapping on the desk and by the time the teacher came back, more than half the class was beating on the desk to either a Ludacris, a Snoop Dogg song, or a favorite among his friends, "Grindin" by Clipse. Another definitive song James enjoyed performing was "Deliverance" by Bubba Sparxxx on the guitar.

At this time James was re-introduced to martial arts again through a school friend and future bass play he would go on to jam with, Jonathan Kim. It was North Korean style called Kuk Sool Won. Unlike the first time James did martial arts, he stuck with it as he was much older and more determined at the time.

2004-2008: High school, guitar, and continued Martial arts
After graduating from middle school in 2004, James started attending Archbishop Shaw High School, an all boy Catholic high school. There he continued to meet other musicians often having music jam sessions with his friends and classmates. The first notable band James was in was a trio called "Falling Discontent". The band consisted of two guitarists (James and Conner Finn) and drummer (Eric Loupe). Implementing sounds of modern rock, both heavy and alternative, they played one house party and also recorded a demo which consisted of 3 original songs and a heavy metal version of Hendrix's rendition of Bob Dylan's All Along the Watchtower. Though the band had a difficult time finding a constant bass player, the trio held their own and were all skilled enough to sound as though they were not missing an instrument.

He soon began participating in talent shows around the area. One show was at a mall called "the Crescent City Talent Showcase" hosted by the Ronald McDonald House Charity. He placed 3 for overall in the contest. Through this talent show he met the co-directors (Ted Bergeron and Mike Hymel) of another non-for-profit organization called the Louisiana Kids. This organization gives the local youth an outlet to perform and express themselves on stage at various senior living centers, charity events, and festivals. Every year, there is a regional, state, and then a national competition. In 2008, James participated. Two of his performances, a cover of Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight and his own rendition of the Hendrix version of Star Spangled Banner, got him into nationals and he placed in the top 25 with his cover of Wonderful Tonight. His senior year in high school, James was elected as president of the guitar club. They all got together at the end of every week on Fridays and had fun playing different songs.

James kept up with his martial arts in high school and was promoted to 1st degree black belt (Joh Kyoh Nim). He often instructed classes and helped testing students for their belt promotions. He also entered the 2007 Kuk Sool Won World Tournament and placed 4th in sparring. Although after he graduated high school, he had to stop due to the conflict of his college studies.

2008-2010: College, Newton James Hippolyte Jr: 2009 Demo Recordings
After high school, in 2008 James enrolled at Tulane University on music and legislative scholarships which altogether accumulated closely to a full ride.

In his early college years, he often had jam sessions with his middle school friend and bass player, Jonathan Kim. They both had an in depth fascination with Dave Matthews Band, as well as his frequent guitarist Tim Reynolds. It was through Kim that James learned of Dave Matthews Band, often exchanging thoughts about the latest live concert recording they listened to. James has a huge digital collection of Dave Matthews Band some of which he obtained from Kim, his friends from Edmond, Oklahoma, and from online. Dave Matthews Band went on to be one of the forces that inspired James to get better at songwriting. He had also begun taking singing lessons with retired Mezzo-soprano Opera singer, Melanie Hirschfeld, who only taught people whose voices needed small refinement. It was because of his mother and Mrs. Hirschfeld's encouragement that he auditioned for Tulane Summer Lyric Theater productions as well as for the New Orleans Opera Association. With Summer Lyric, James participated in Oliver and South Pacific (2009), The Music Man (2010), Man of La Mancha (2011), ending with Sunset Boulevard and Anything Goes (2012). Also in October 2009, he had a brief stint with the Tulane music theater workshop and participated in the production Little Shop of Horrors. Outside of school, James landed auditions for the New Orleans Opera Association singing in operas Porgy and Bess and Italian opera Turandot.

At school, James studied music, and took a few business courses on the side but all of his hard earned music pallets were not developed there but at home, where he woodshedded all throughout college to become a better guitar player, songwriter, and producer. There were times when he felt like giving up at school because he could not understand the music theory and other concepts the faculty taught. At times, faculty suggested that he promptly stopped pursuing the music degree and go to another department to pursue something else. By that point, James had become too acquainted with the way he knew and understood music yet, he was determined to cross the finish line. It was cause of his good ear that allowed him to “wing” it and pass his courses. These hardships at school, prompted James to stick more towards music history courses, where he could just write papers- - grades that made up for the music theory courses; all the while giving him time to hone his musicianship at home. It was also due to James' ear that allowed him to learn the baritone and bass vocal harmonies quickly in time for the musical theater productions and operas he sang in.

In 2009, James met and began a relationship with a New Orleans poet of Sierra Leone and Belgian descent, who is also the daughter of Tulane University Professor, Dominique Meekers. The relationship lasted three years. It was also during this time that James began giving guitar lessons to Dominique, and it was with his help, that James was able accomplish his first in studio demo album. Titled Newton James Hippolyte Jr: 2009 Demo Recordings, James recorded a seven song cover album from a variety of some of his favorite artists including Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, John Lennon, and the rendition song "Somewhere over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" by artist Israel Kamakawiwoʻole, whom he related to the most from the album because of their shared similar smooth vocal trait. These lost recordings can be found at online archive The Church Of Sound. He gave many free copies away, and there are only ten existing signed copies of this album. After a gig one night shared with Guitar Slim, Jr., James first experienced audience members asking for autographs.

At this time, Meekers began promoting James around various clubs and blues jam sessions such as Big Al's Saloon in Harvey, LA as well as two now closed venues Whiskey Dix on the Avenue and Donna's Bar & Grill, Ernie K Doe's Mother-In-Law Lounge, Chickie Wah Wah, and Rock n' Bowl in the New Orleans metropolitan area. It was at Big Al's Saloon, Whiskey Dix on the Avenue, Donna's Bar & Grill, and at the Mother-In-Law Lounge where James had the fortunate opportunity to share the stage with New Orleans guitar legends Troy Turner and Guitar Slim, Jr.. James has also had an impromptu jam with Lighting Malcolm and Cedric Burnside at an Ogden Museum of Southern Art's Odgen After Hours concert series in which Malcolm walked up to James in the crowd and the two started playing on his guitar at the same time.

2011-2013: The Jim West Era, Graduation
Although the gigs were slowing down 2011 due to his short comings, Meekers was able to land James a three show concert tour in Belgium that winter.

Soon after James' mother and his second eldest sister, Vanessa, purchased him a mac while his youngest out of the three older sisters, Vickie, purchased him music creating software Logic Pro 9. This mac laptop and music software was the key missing ingredient that allowed James to begin sharing his music with the world, thus being the catalyst of the studio engineer and music producer he is today. The first song he recorded and released on his YouTube account was an 80s electrodance reggae infused tune called "Under the Sunshine". James soon began to experiment with more sounds and production styles. He eventually took an Electronic Music course (2010) taught by Tae Hong Park and another class his senior year called Music and Digital Signal Processing taught by visiting assistant professor Richard Snow. Both were classes that looked and expanded upon music genres electroacoustic music and musique concrète along with learning how to manipulate digital audio workstations to create such music. Not only did these two classes expand his knowledge in his native Logic Pro, he also learned other programs such as Pure Data and Pro Tools. For his final semester class project, James created an electroacoustic music and musique concrète piece titled "Time Bomb Odyssey". James has also expressed that these two classes are the only two that he actually benefited from musically and pushed his abilities further.

In 2012, James continued to quietly release music via his YouTube account but also began to travel during summers. His sister Vickie asked him to come up to Seattle, Washington that summer, which was one of the best experiences of his life. While there he had the opportunity to hike the Dungeness Spit as well as visit a city called Bremerton. One night, James was with his sister and her friends at the time watching movies on a boat and then out of nowhere, fireworks started firing off in the sky across the pond from where they were located. This scenery inspired him to write and record the song "Bremerton" and release it on YouTube.

James continued to release songs via YouTube, but under the new moniker "Jim West" blending primitive elements of folk and electronica, which you can hear in his 2013 release titled "Faith". He was always enamored by the old black and white TV shows, one notably titled "The Wild Wild West". The main character was a secret agent by the name of James West, but at times on the show, the character was also called "Jim" for short. James liked the concept so much that he adapted the name "Jim West". Soon, James once again started digging back into documentaries of the 60's rock, blues, and folk music. He was already well acquainted with the rock and blues music from that era, so he decided to tune into and study the different folk singers by the likes of Fred Neil and Bob Dylan. It was at this time when he was inspired to pick up the harmonica. It was initially through Jimi Hendrix that James discovered Bob Dylan by listening to the renditions of Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone" and "All Along The Watchtower", yet when he met fellow New Orleans musician Spencer Bohren, James was given a set of Dylan albums noteably from the years 1963-1966. The songwriter in him was suddenly born and began his journey from wanting to established himself as a guitar player but to become a solid songwriter. Notable songs from the inception of this new period in James' life are "Exit 7" and "It's Ok, I'll Turn the Lights On" which can be found via his YouTube account. During this time, although James was beginning to slow down on how much he was gigging to focus up on finishing up school, he had the chance to play with Spencer Bohren at his annual Snug Harbor Christmas show at the jazz bistro club Snug Harbor, and another time was also invited to share the stage with a band comprised of fellow Tulane students called "Doombalaya" at venue The Masion, both local venues on Frenchmen Street.

In his last semester of college, James formed a jam band with his fellow classmates and with after unanimous decision, this band was called "Fighting Polygon Team". Comprised of James (guitar), Eric McGoffin (piano), Elliot Ward-Bowen (bass), and Arthur Richardson (drums), they quickly wrote a handful of songs and played a show at the end of the year in the Tulane Marching Band room in Dixon Hall. This concert was dubbed by Richardson as "A Concert for Ourselves" which can be found on soundcloud. James maintained his scholarships till the end of his school career and graduated from Tulane University in 2013.

2014
At the start of 2014, James dropped the "Jim West" moniker, decided to use his first and middle names as his stage name and began preparation for his full length album release. While continuing to work on his craft, James also kept busy by continuing to work with various artists including other Harvey, LA and New Orleans rap recording artists and producers by providing a convenient in house studio and music production. One notable outlet was New Orleans based rap group Cherokee ST comprised of Michael Kissell aka "DJ Michael Palmer" and John Edwards aka "DJJEDTHV$LOTH" both of whom he befriended towards his graduation at Tulane University. James wrote and played all the guitar parts on their self released album titled "Cherokee ST", and produced one track titled "I'm the Man Girlfriend" feat. Dirty Henrry on the hook. He also provided in house co- production and co- composition where he provides guitar, bass, and backup vocals on the track for song "Lonely Player's Club" and co- production and co- composition for song upcoming unreleased song "Kentucky Wildcat" both by DJJEDTHV$LOTH. Edwards (DJJEDTHV$LOTH) was also another musician and friend he met towards the end of college. He and Edwards both had a common interest in the same "wide variety" of music and began an unnamed "experimental free rock group" duo with James on guitar and Edwards on drums. This band jammed once at an open house party in spring of 2014.

Viral Video: Cyanide
As summer of 2014 heated up, James started to zone in on how to approach his music career. June 2, 2014 saw the release of James' single "Cyanide". He recorded and uploaded a home video of him performing the song with his acoustic guitar to video sharing website YouTube, and posted the song via entertainment and social networking platform Reddit. Known for its lush and light, but yet heavy and dark sound, it was well received. In one day, the video accumulated over 3,000 views and he gained over 60 YouTube subscribers.

Another Rising Son and Brown Eyed Country Soul
By the end of the summer, James realized his growing spirtuality, past shortcomings, as well as a better understanding with the essence of time. This prompted him to draw back from all the buzz of his own projects and collaborations. He decided to once again return back to square one and build himself up, for himself and by himself, with a new attitude on life. This new sense of self-awareness, caused him to write 3-song EP titled Another Rising Son EP and was released on August 26, 2014.

In the meantime, James continued to record and prepare for his first release with endless hours in the studio. He sought after a sound reflecting the primitive early sound qualities of rock but updated for the current times, as the project was a 1960s blues rock inspired album. James hiring John Edwards ("Obsessed Equilibrium" and "Firefly") and Arthur Richardson (rest of the album) to play drums in the studio for the album. Four months later on the 23rd of December, Brown Eyed Country Soul was released. It has since received international praise for its originality and sound.

2015-present
All throughout 2014 and 2015 James sharpened his craft in music production.

2016: Positively 5th Street
On May 27, 2016 James released a 70s inspired R&B/Soul EP titled Positively 5th Street. With the name inspired by Bob Dylan's Positively 4th Street as well as the actual 4th street in his hometown, James sought after sounds by the liked of Curtis Mayfield and Al Green to complete this music project.

Present
James is currently working on several single song releases under other aliases as well as his sophomore rock album titled What Dreams May Come.

Artistry
James has a great appreciation for psychedelic and vintage/nostalgic aesthetics.

Influences
James grew up on and has listened to a wide variety of music from hip hop to country music. As a musician and guitarist, he cites Ritchie Valens, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and other countless artists from the late 50s to mid 70s as primary influences. In recent times, he has shown more interest in music post 1970s to present.

Discography
Newton James Hippolyte Jr: 2009 Demo Recordings (2009) Another Rising Son EP (2014) Brown Eyed Country Soul (2014) As The World Turns Series (2016) What Dreams May Come (2017)

Concert tours
Winter In Belgium Tour (2010/11) What Dreams May Come Tour (2017)

Filmography
In between his music, James also pursues acting as it has been an interest since he was a teenager. In college, he did background and featured work for various productions around New Orleans but took time off to finish school. One year later after his graduation, he started back up again and has been nominated for the 2015 BAG Awards for "New to the BIZ" category. You can find out more about his acting through his imdb page here.