Deuce (singer)

Deuce
Erlichman in late 2010
Background information
Birth name	Aron Erlichman
Also known as	Tha Producer
Born	March 2, 1983 (1983-03-02) (age 28)
Origin	Los Angeles, California
Genres	rap rock, hip hop, post-hardcore (early)
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, record producer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2005—present
Labels	10th Street Entertainment Eleven Seven Music
Associated acts	Hollywood Undead, The Truth, GML, Jeffree Star
Website	www.deucela.com

Aron Erlichman (born March 2, 1983), better known by his stage name Deuce, is an American singer, rapper, record producer, and songwriter. Brought to fame as one of the co-founders and lead vocalist of rap rock band Hollywood Undead, Deuce has since branched into solo work and is preparing to release his label debut in November 28, 2011 through 10th Street Entertainment and Eleven Seven Music. He is also involved in a movement with fellow rapper The Truth called "Nine Lives" (often stylized as '9LIVES'), which includes a clothing line and record label, among other things. Deuce has announced that his debut solo album will go by the same name.^[1]

History

Musical beginnings

Deuce began creating rock-based music under his birth-name Aron Erlichman, early in 2001. He released three tracks, "Franny", "Surface Air", "Breaking Through" on "Broadjam" internet sharing site for opinions and ratings in 2005 and gained little recognition. He later co-founded Hollywood Undead with Jorel Decker and sang clean vocals for the band, until he was evicted in 2010.

Hollywood Undead

Erlichman co-founded the band Hollywood Undead as a vocalist and producer with close friend Jorel Decker (J-Dog), The band began their musical career with the creation of the rap-rock song "The Kids" which was greatly promoted by Jeffree Star. Erlichman initially adopted and recorded songs with the band under the pseudonym "Tha Producer" due to his role in production but shortened this pseudonym to "Deuce" shortly after.^[2] At the time of Deuce's departure, Hollywood Undead had gained success with Swan Songs, which peaked at number 22 on the Billboard 200 in its first week.^[3] A few EPs were released, the Swan Songs B-Sides EP and the Swan Songs Rarities EP in 2009 and 2010, respectively. In 2009, Hollywood Undead released their first live album, Desperate Measures, which peaked at number 29 on the Billboard 200.^[4]

Departure

In early 2010, Hollywood Undead announced that Deuce had left the band due to musical differences. Hints of Deuce's departure were noticed when he did not take part in the Vatos Locos tour. Deuce was later replaced permanently as Hollywood Undead's clean vocalist by Daniel "Danny" Murillo. Deuce later released a song titled Story of a Snitch against the group, claiming that he was evicted unfairly. The subject was brought up by interviewer Byan Stars on YouTube^[5] during an interview with Johnny 3 Tears and Da Kurlzz. The pair told the interviewer that the band had to "constantly satisfy Deuce while touring". "It was so bad, that I don't think there would've been another record if he was still with us", Da Kurlzz told the interviewer. "We bent over backwards to accommodate Deuce", he said. Johnny 3 Tears, growing weary about the subject, said, "It was just that he didn't like being on the road, so we would have to do things to make him happy. He also claimed to be writing all the songs, and all this B.S.". The band decided to drop the subject afterwards, saying that they have moved on from the situation and would prefer not putting in too much detail.

Martini Beerman of rock.com interviewed Charlie Scene and J-Dog, and the two decided to explain the final events that led up to the split. Charlie Scene told the interviewer, "He wanted to have his personal assistant come on the tour. None of us have personal assistants, we're not egomaniacs. We don't need that, and he wanted the band to pay for it and we did for like four months. After that we were like, 'we're not gonna pay $800 a week to have your buddy out on tour'. We went to the airport to fly out for our next tour, and he didn't show up. We were like, what the fuck do we do? We called him and he didn't answer. So for the first 2 weeks of that tour, I sang all his parts."^[6][7]

Solo Career

Since his departure from Hollywood Undead, Erlichman formed an eponymous band which also focuses on rap rock music. The band is fronted by him and is mostly a solo project, but has live members and frequently featured artists Jimmy Yuma (who assisted in writing the song "This Love, This Hate" on Swan Songs), Arina Chloe, and "Truth", one of Erlichman's best friends and fellow musicians. Transgender musician and model Jeffree Star is also closely involved with Erlichman and is featured on many of his songs, with his earliest work with Erlichman being demo songs "Turn Off the Lights" with Hollywood Undead.

Deuce has been unable to release independent albums since 2010 due to contract issues with A&M/Octone Records which he signed while with Hollywood Undead, Deuce could not own the rights to his solo-music until he was free of his contract.^[8] However, Deuce discovered a loophole which enabled him to produce and release remixes, so long as they did not concur a profit. As a result, Deuce released several independent songs with unique lyrics using fimiliar beats, as many unsigned rap/hip-hop artists do. Deuce used instrumentals from various artists, including: 50 Cent, Eminem, Tupac, and Jay-Z. Many of these "remixes" or "mixtape style songs" made it on to his 2011 re-release mixtape Call Me Big Deuce, which was released to promote his debut album which is expected to be released November/December 2011. The album will be released under label; 10th Street Entertainment. The album is said to contain collaborations with Travie McCoy, Ronnie Radke and Skee-Lo. The album's lead single, "America", will be released November 28th with an accompanying music video. It was also announced that the album will be released on March 27 2012. Deuce also announced that a song titled "Let's Get It Crackin'" will be released as a single, but it is not yet known if it will come out before "America" or not.^[9][10][11]

In September 2010, Deuce made his first official live performance as a solo artist at California's Epicenter music festival, opening for Eminem, Blink-182, Kiss, Bush, Rise Against, and others.^[12][13]

Band members

Erlichman, although a solo artist, has a seven-piece band for the purpose of touring with some members helping in production and promotion.

• b.LaY - vocals; backup singer/rapper; appears as b.LaY.
• Truth - vocals; appears as "featuring artist".
• Jimmy Yuma - Co-production, lead guitar for live performances
• Jim Lowery - Bass guitar for live performances
• Arina Chloe - Keyboards, backing vocals
• Tye - drums & percussion for live performances. Provides drums for When We Ride (remixed and mastered version of Hollywood Undead's "Dead in Ditches")
• Chase - percussion, provided additional percussion at Epicenter

Nine Lives

A common misconception is that "Nine Lives", or "9Lives", is the name of Deuce's band, however the project began as a motto or saying and has since evolved into a music group (including several different artists, including Deuce, Truth, GML & Serve), an organization, and a soon-to-be clothing line. The Truth, a close collaborator and frequent featured artist on Deuce's solo songs, is considered the C.E.O. and founder of both the music company and clothing company. Truth plans to eventually evolve the project further into a legitimate record label, as well as a clothing line. Many artists have been known to support the "NINE LIVES movement", including Jeffree Star, Kinda Major, Gadjet, SteVille.

Legal issues

A&M/Octone

Erlichman filed a lawsuit against his previous record label for several charges including "breach of contract". Erlichman claimed that James Diener, C.E.O. of A&M/Octone prevented him from releasing any music. Although Erlichman was happy to release his solo songs under A&M/Octone, they refused to allow him to do so due to the vulgarity, inappropriate content, and gang references in his lyrics. Erlichman also claimed that former Hollywood Undead member, Shady Jeff, pointed a gun to his face which frightened him.^[8]

Jeffree Star

In November 2011, Jeffree Star accused Deuce of illegally using Star's verse in the song "Let's Get It Crackin'" on the social-networking site Twitter. Star tweeted "@Deuce9lives you're illegally using my verse in your song AND dressed someone up like me?????? WHAT THE FUCK" to Deuce. He also tweeted "@MeliMelissax3 @Deuce9lives yup, he's illegally trying to use a verse I never signed off on. Interscope is gonna own his stupid ass". Star continued making the allegations. It is not yet certain if Star will take legal action to this situation or not.^[14][15]

Discography

with Hollywood Undead (2005-2010)

Main articles: Hollywood Undead discography and List of Hollywood Undead songs

• 2008: Swan Songs
• 2009: Desperate Measures

Solo (2005, 2008-present)

• 2005: Aron
• 2008: The Two Thousand Eight EP
• 2011: The Call Me Big Deuce EP
• 2012: Nine Lives

References

1. ^ http://www.facebook.com/notes/deuce/deuce-lives-on-five-seven-music/277058429004188
2. ^ Ziyah Karmali (July 2, 2009). "Interview With Hollywood Undead". Shave Magazine. http://www.shavemagazine.com/entertainment/090702. Retrieved November 3, 2011. 
3. ^ "Swan Songs — Hollywood Undead". Billboard. September 20, 2008. http://www.billboard.com/#/album/hollywood-undead/swan-songs/1171415. Retrieved November 3, 2011. 
4. ^ "Desperate Measures — Hollywood Undead". Billboard. November 28, 2009. http://www.billboard.com/#/album/hollywood-undead/desperate-measures/1295156. Retrieved November 3, 2011. 
5. ^ Edwin Arteaga. "Bryan Stars interviews Hollywood Undead". BryanStars.com. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXdNx25qzXg. Retrieved February 19, 2011. 
6. ^ http://desmoines.metromix.com/music/article/hollywood-undead-singer-admires/2635629/content
7. ^ Edwin Arteaga (May 10, 2011). "Hollywood Undead interview with Rock.com". rock.com. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBaxNvfMkDk&feature=player_embedded. Retrieved June 2, 2011. 
8. ^ ^{a b} Claire Atkinson (February 19, 2011). "Fink prefers coach". The New York Post. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/fink_prefers_coach_HBXQdGUlUHsITfP5eRZA7L. Retrieved November 3, 2011. 
9. ^ http://www.kikaxemusic.com/news/rock-music/item/4749-ex-hollywood-undead-frontman-deuce-to-rise-again-with-nine-lives
10. ^ http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsburger/52939796-53/deuce-album-hollywood-lives.html.csp
11. ^ http://highwiredaze.com/deucenews1
12. ^ Spencer Matulaitis (July 28, 2010). "Deuce of HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD Announces Epicenter 2010 Solo Performance". Pure Grain Audio. http://puregrainaudio.com/news/deuce-of-hollywood-undead-announces-epicenter-2010-solo-performance. Retrieved November 3, 2011. 
13. ^ Rick Florino (July 27, 2010). "Former Hollywood Undead frontman Deuce Added to Epicenter Twenty Ten". Artist Direct. http://www.artistdirect.com/entertainment-news/article/former-hollywood-undead-frontman-deuce-added-to-epicenter-twenty-ten/0dYS9sNaj333a. Retrieved November 3, 2011. 
14. ^ http://twitter.com/#!/JeffreeStar/status/136588983089111042
15. ^ http://twitter.com/#!/JeffreeStar/status/136220264043253760

• Official website

Persondata
Name	Aron, Erlichman
Alternative names	Deuce
Short description	Musician
Date of birth	March 2, 1983
Place of birth	Los Angeles, California
Date of death
Place of death