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Maestro Harrell

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Maestro Harrell
Harrell in 2019
Harrell in 2019
Background information
Also known as
  • M A E S T R O
Born (1991-07-29) July 29, 1991 (age 33)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
GenresRap, R&B, Pop, progressive house, electro house, big room house, future house, future bass, trap
Occupation(s)DJ, Record Producer, Singer-Songwriter, Recording Artist, Actor
Instrument(s)Vocals, Piano, Drums, Guitars, Keyboard
Years active1996–present
LabelsDef Jam, WonderWall Recordings, Mainstage, Armada, Spinnin' Records
Websitewww.maestroharrell.com

Maestro Harrell, also known as M A E S T R O (born July 29, 1991), is an American DJ, singer, rapper, actor, and record producer. He starred on the HBO original series The Wire as Randy Wagstaff (2006–08), and as Malik on the ABC comedy Suburgatory.[1]

Early life and career

Harrell was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was the recipient of The Most Talented Child Under Twelve Years Old at the Chicago Music Awards in 1999, 2000, and 2001. In 2005, Harrell performed at the grand opening ceremony for Disneyland in Hong Kong. He signed a recording deal with So So Def/Island Def Jam with hip-hop producer Jermaine Dupri.

Starting at the age of 7, Harrell made multiple appearances on TV shows like The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Maury Povich -Most Talented Kids Show and other television shows; serving as the spokesperson for Western Union's Study Buddy Reading Program which enabled him to travel around the United States performing at schools and delivering motivational speeches to encourage students to read, as well as singing numerous jingles. He is a member of SAG, AFTRA and EQUITY unions. In addition to his lead role in Sony TriStar's Guys Like Us, Harrell has appeared in several television commercials.

Harrell made his motion picture film debut in the movie Ali, which was directed by Michael Mann. He portrayed the young Cassius Clay, and the all-star cast included Will Smith, Jamie Foxx and Jon Voight. He was in Barbershop and the film The Promotion. He remains best known for his role in David Simon's The Wire as Randy Wagstaff.

His voice is featured on the Twilight Zone episodes CD, along with Blair Underwood. Harrell starred in ABC's production of the PGA Tour Western Open with Tiger Woods and other pro-golfers. In 2003, Maestro was selected to play Young Simba in the Chicago production of Disney's The Lion King.[2]

Harrell had a recurring role as Malik LeFrique on the ABC sitcom Suburgatory, which ran from 2011–14.

In 2011, he started producing. His first record was a remix to DJ Ruckus' single "Soul Soldier". 2014 he officially started a career as a music producer and dj. His first solo single developed as a collaboration with Antoine Becks, who has a career as an actor behind him too. "Drop It" contains many characteristics of the big-room-genre, which was very popular to that point of time. "Drop It" was the title and it was signed to German edm-label "Kontor Records".

In 2015, Maestro was cast to the role of Matt Sale in AMC's Fear The Walking Dead.[3]

His break through in the edm scene was finally done in 2015 with the progressive-house track "For You", a collaboration with Dzeko & Torres and singer-duo Delora. Later in 2015 he was signed to W&W's label "Mainstage Music", where he got much attention for his track "Olympus" as well as his collaboration "Poseidon" with Maurice West. One year later he changed his style with a jungle-terror-crossover track called "Zantar", which was produced together with newcomer NoTech.

In early 2018, Maestro released his self-produced track "Which One Which"[4] which would later be featured in The First Purge. A week later, he released a follow-up track titled "Woke up".[5] Later that year, M A E S T R O released his self-produced debut EP WAV GOD.[6]

Harrell's track with David Gemmill Crystals was featured in the animated superhero musical-comedy film Teen Titans Go! To the Movies later that year.

In September 2019, M A E S T R O released a follow-up to his debut EP titled "WAV GOD 2".[7]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2001 Ali Young Cassius Clay
2002 Barbershop Tillman
2008 The Promotion First Kid in Parking Lot
2009 Lowering the Bar Pimp D Short film
2010 Polish Bar Dawan Short film
2014 Dark Summer Kevin Dowdle [8]
2015 Some Kind of Hate Willie
2015 Bone Tomahawk Gizzard
2019 Thriller Ronnie DeBerry
2019 John Henry Young Hell
2020 Dinner Party Short film
2020 Loco Jason
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1997 Meego Marcus Episode: "Magic Parker"
1998–99 Guys Like Us Maestro Harris Main role: 13 episodes
2007 ER Todd Episode: "Lights Out"
2007 Cold Case Terrance Carter Episode: "Wunderkind"
2006–08 The Wire Randy Wagstaff Main cast (season 4); guest cast (season 5): 14 episodes
2008 Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story Joe - Teen Television movie
2010 Team Spitz Tye Television movie
2010 Meet the Browns Antonio Episodes: "Meet the Boyfriend", "Meet the Big Wedding"
2010 Lie to Me Tyrel Episode: "Delinquent"
2011 The Protector Tagger Episode: "Revisions"
2012 CSI: NY Morris Davis Episode: "Unwrapped"
2013 The Soul Man Young parishioner Episode (#2.5): "The Punching Preacher"
2011–14 Suburgatory Malik LeFrique Recurring role: 30 episodes
2014 Young & Hungry Derek Episode (#1.9): "Young & Getting Played"
2015 Fear the Walking Dead Matt[9] Recurring role: 2 episodes
2015 Drunk History Louis Armstrong Episode: "New Orleans"
2016 House of Lies J.R.[10] Episode: "Creative Destruction Phenomenon"
2017 American Koko Teen Boy #1 Recurring role: 3 episodes
2018 Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G. James 'Lil' Cease' Lloyd Recurring role: 5 episodes
2019 Adam Ruins Everything Tre Episode: "Adam Ruins a Sitcom"
2020 FBI Big Trey Episode: "Studio Gangster"

Discography

Album

2018:

  • WAV GOD - EP

2019:

  • WAV GOD VOL. 2

Singles

2014:

  • Drop It (with Antoine Becks)

2015:

2016:

  • Boa (with Arcando)
  • True (featuring Posso)
  • Poseidon (with Maurice West)
  • Siren
  • Zantar (with NoTech)

2017:

  • Pandemik
  • Hear Me
  • I Don't Care
  • Luv Me (featuring Alyxx Dione)
  • What U Wanna
  • We Rage (DJ Ruckus, Maestro Harrell, Jermaine Dupri)

2018:

  • 6Figga
  • She Wanna (ft. Rich The Kid)
  • Woke Up
  • Which One Which
  • Crystals (David Gemmill & M A E S T R O)
  • Symphony (with Olly James)

2019:

  • Stay FLYY
  • 2 For 1
  • IN MY BAG
  • U & I
  • MILLION
  • MAD AT U
  • LOOKING GOOD
  • SOUL FOOD (Maestro Harrell, M A E S T R O)
  • HYDE PARK (Maestro Harrell, M A E S T R O)
  • MIDWAY (Maestro Harrell, M A E S T R O)

2020:

  • Quarantine (Maestro Harrell, M A E S T R O)

Remixes

2011:

  • DJ Ruckus featuring Mannequim - Soul Soldier (Maestro Harrell Remix)

2015:

  • A&G and Northmark featuring Gabrielle Ross - Run With Me (Maestro Harrell Remix)

2016:

2017:

  • Dash Berlin feat. Do - Heaven (Maestro Harrell Remix)

References

  1. ^ "Suburgatory - Interview with Maestro Harrell". www.spoilertv.com. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  2. ^ Gans, Andrew (2003). "The Lion King Opens in Chicago May 3". Playbill.
  3. ^ Abrams, Simon. "Fear the Walking Dead Recap: Well-Meaning Madness and Other Viral Maladies". Vulture.
  4. ^ P, Milca (12 February 2018). "Maestro Comes Through on "Which One Which"". HotNewHipHop.
  5. ^ P, Milca (24 February 2018). "Maestro Returns With "Woke Up"". HotNewHipHop.
  6. ^ Markow, J (26 March 2018). "M A E S T R O releases self produced debut "WAV GOD EP"". ELEVATOR.
  7. ^ "M A E S T R O Follows up With "WAV GOD 2" Mixtape". HotNewHipHop. 8 September 2019.
  8. ^ Dark Summer
  9. ^ "Fear the Walking Dead add Maestro Harrell to cast". undeadwalking.com. 4 June 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  10. ^ "A Look at "House of Lies" Season 5 Premiere: "Creative Destruction Phenomenon"". whatelseisonnow.com. 8 April 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
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