BATES BELK BIOGRAPHY
Bates Belk is a global recording artist and music producer whose high energy, boundary-pushing songs and remixes have moved international audiences on dance floors in Paris, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and USA audiences in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Miami. In 2015, after 20 years of solely being based in New York City, Bates relocated to Berlin, Germany, where he continues to operate BB3 Dynamics Records LLC (www.BB3Dynamics.com) with offices in both Berlin and New York City.
Bates globally released two Techno EPs in late 2015. The first Techno EP was released on 9 October, 2015 entitled Life Trichotomy containing a selection of philosophically-based theatrical Techno compositions written in Berlin, New York and London. The second Techno EP was released on 13 November, 2015 entitled Life Trichotomy Reincarnated – The Remixes containing songs remixed by other artists from the Life Trichotomy EP.
In 2014 and 2015, Bates globally released a series of 6 electronic dance songs with the first song released in 2014 entitled OUTTASIGHT, followed by 2015 releases of the songs It’s in the Mind, Bionic Power (Pushing Harder, Jumping Higher), Danger with a Stranger and Get Me to the Disco. Bates is currently producing his début album in Berlin, which contains collaborations with over 40 Berlin-based artists.
Bates was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, USA. Growing up in a region of the United States not particularly known for its acceptance of the free-thinking outsider, Bates found in music something that could help him make sense of the world and partially fill the void caused by the lack of artistic encouragement. He absorbed the music of such producers as Giorgio Moroder, Trevor Horn, Daniel Miller, Rick Rubin, Brian Eno, Nile Rodgers, Quincy Jones, Frankie Knuckles, Vince Clarke, François Kevorkian, Johnny Jewel, Philip Glass, Anne Dudley, Ennio Morricone, Edgar Froese, Jean-Michel Jarre, Kevin Saunderson, Daniel Lanois, John Carpenter, Vangelis, Hans Zimmer, Tony Visconti, Alan Parsons, Craig Armstrong, Steve Reich, major influences in the beats, sounds and remixes that Bates performs and produces today. As a young man and later as an emerging performer, Bates traveled frequently to Europe, South America, Asia, Africa and Australia, freely embracing the progressive music, art and cultural scenes found there, which encouraged his own artistic expression.
Like many iconoclasts who come to their chosen art later in life, Bates did not initially set out to pursue music. He earned an undergraduate degree in finance at the University of Texas at Austin, and later an MBA at Fordham University in New York City. Bates then embarked on a successful career in digital marketing, working for global publishing and financial services companies, which would span the next two decades. However, that’s as long as it would last. Says, Bates, “For a long time, I had been living two lives in New York City. The life of a corporate drone opposing others’ daily manipulations and negative energy. And a life that I brushed up against regularly, one of positivity and artistic creation, but didn’t live in fully yet. But because I’ve always been an adventurer and risk taker, creating music is now how I thrive. This is who I am. And my move to Berlin will take my art to new levels.”
Bates has given performances at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week NYC, the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris, London’s Factory 7, The Room in Tokyo and The Museum of Contemporary Art Miami and will embark on an international tour after the release of his upcoming début album.