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Star Spotlight
Many of you know Drake Bell from his hit Nickelodeon TV series Drake & Josh. But he's also a talented musician, and he's just released his second CD, It's Only Time. Drake, who has appeared on TV and in films—Yours, Mine and Ours, High Fidelity, and Jerry Maguire—admits his first love is music. Check out our one-on-one interview with this talented star!
Q & A
Q:
You wrote or cowrote all the songs on It's Only Time, right?
Drake: Yes. Michael Corcoran, who produced the record and who I've been working with for about six years now, plays guitar and piano on the album. And Chris Abraham, whom I've also known for years, wrote some of the songs with us, and he plays horns and does back up vocals. We're all friends. I've grown up with these guys.
Q:
Are you going to be touring?
Drake: We're getting the band set up right now. We've got a show scheduled two days after Christmas and then we're gone through January.
Q:
What makes this album different from your first album, Telegraph?
Drake: The whole process of making this record was much more exciting. You know, getting in knowing that Universal loves all the songs and having creative freedom... Every time we sent them a [song], they said, "Great. What's next?" So we just kept making the record the way we wanted to. It was really cool.
Q:
Tell us about your writing process. Do you come up with a tune or do you come up with a lyric first?
Drake: It usually starts with the chord progression first. You sit there and you mess around with something until you like the way it sounds with a piano or a guitar. The lyrics come last for me, usually.
Q:
Do you think Drake & Josh opened doors for you musically?
Drake: Yes. And I think that the reason is that they let me be a musician on the show and let me play my own music there instead of giving me songs to sing. If there was going to be a song, they would say, "Drake, go write a song for this episode. We need this kind of song." So the audience really saw that I was a musician.
Q:
It's Only Time is a very personal album, but is there a particular song that really means something to you?
Drake: Probably "Fallen For You." That's about a point in my life and in my relationship. Every time I hear it, it puts me right there.
Q:
Was it difficult for you to go back into the studio after just recovering from your car accident last year?
Drake: It was. I didn't know if I was going to sing again. It was such a horrible time, but I'm fortunate enough that my studio environment is my home. So it was good in that sense, but it was really hard having [my] mouth wired shut and not knowing whether [I was] going be able to do it.
Q:
When did you know that you wanted to make a career out of music?
Drake: I think maybe around 11 or 12. I was always a fan of music and I was always singing, but the instruments and the bands came into play [when I was] 11 or 12.
Q:
Did you ever take lessons?
Drake: I took voice lessons and guitar lessons at the beginning here and there, but I learned a lot on my own and playing guitar in my room for 13 hours straight, and figuring it all out. It was really on my own and having a love for it.
Q:
What other goals have you set for yourself?
Drake: Well, I directed an episode of Drake & Josh and that was a lot of fun. So directing and producing and hopefully things like that. I really want to get into the production side.
—Interview by Marie Morreale
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Drake Bell
(Photo: Tony Cutajar)
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STAR STATS
Star Calendar
December 5, 2006
It's Only Time is released
December 30, 2006
Drake performs on Fox and Friends morning show
(check your local listings)
December 31, 2006
Drake performs on the Fox New Year's Special
(check your local listings)
Nick airs 2 episodes of Drake & Josh
Drake & Josh: "Who's Got Game?" at 8:00 p.m.
Drake & Josh: "The Wedding" at 8:30 p.m.
December 2006-February 2007
Drake is on a radio promo tour
2007
Drake & Josh fourth season episodes air on Sundays at 7:00 p.m. in TEENick lineup
Star Stats
Birth Date: June 27, 1986
Birthplace: Fountain Valley, California
Height: 5' 9"
Hair: auburn
Eyes: brown
Star Faves
TV Show: SpongeBob SquarePants
Food: Italian
Drink: lemonade
Candy: anything with caramel
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