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Amos Lee is the pseudonym for one of the most talented songwriters in the American folk, soul, and bard rock scene of the XXI century. The real name of Amos is Ryan Anthony Massaro. Ryan was born in June 1977 in a small Philadelphia suburb called Kensington; he was the only child in the family.
The musician knows little about his origin, usually confining himself to the phrase that he is a person of mixed descent. The only fact we know about his family is the fact that the artist inherited an estate in West Philadelphia. Together with his family, the future Amos moves to New Jersey, where he graduated from Cherry Hill High School East. After successfully graduating from high school, Ryan goes to the University of South Carolina, where he earns a degree in English, as well as a minor in pedagogy. The guy began to be interested in music precisely in his student years, where he first gets acquainted with playing musical instruments. So, he quickly gained guitar and bass playing skills and used them as a member of a local band. According to Amos himself, he developed a fine musical ear by listening to different music back in the day.
Amos decides to return to Philadelphia, his native city, after graduating from university, where he started working as a second grade English teacher at Mary McLeod Bethune School. Ryan moonlights as a bartender at local events, especially music evenings. He started playing at open music festivals from time to time, after which he was observed by his future manager Bill Eib. The manager arranges for the first big performances of a novice musician. So, Bill negotiates for Amos to perform as the opening artist for famous American blues musicians Mose Allison and B.B. King. Ryan recorded his first CD with four songs on it in 2003. The manager sends the debut CD to several publishers and receives positive feedback from everyone. Thus, Norah Jones heard the records of the musician in one of the labels and decided to invite him as a musician for the opening. Also, the friendship that existed between Amos's manager and Bob Dylan's manager allows Ryan to play the opening act at some of Dylan's concerts. In 2004, the musician recorded his first self-titled EP, at Blue Note Records, with which the musician signed. It was the beginning of the success of Amos Lee.
The musician released his first full-length self-titled studio album in early 2005. The album was very warmly received by critics and gave the artist some start recognition, which allowed him to embark on his first tour, which he organized to support the album. Amos also set the sound that is unique to him, and almost impossible to confuse with somebody else. So, possessing a unique honey voice, the guitarist accompanies him with an arid guitar riff. Overall, the music sounds like a continuation of the classic 70s soul traditions. The artist also occasionally hired outside musicians to record his albums, using additional backing vocals, bass, and piano. At the same time, some songs have tangible overtones of blues and folk.
From the very first album, the artist managed to get into the list of Rolling Stone's "Top 10 Artists to Watch." The second album, "Supply and Demand," comes out with a slight hiatus of less than a year, which also received moderately good reviews. Selected singles from the album made it to the Billboard Top 100. It took 25th position in the US rock charts, which was already a pretty solid success.
The third studio work has already taken the 11th position in the rock chart. This album became the quintessence of the musician's folk and blues sound, but the most successful album became the fourth studio album under the name Mission Bell released in 2011. This album got the # 1 place on both the US Music Chart and the US Rock Chart. It becomes the best-selling studio album on Amazon and iTunes.
Although subsequent albums were not so successful, each of them hit the top 10 of the US rock charts. The period from 2012 to 2020 has been marked not only by the release of several studio albums but also by EP and live album recording. The musician had a fairly busy touring schedule, especially in the period from 2012 to 2015. The musician is still working on new material, although new releases have not been announced officially yet. Despite all the incidents that took place in 2020, the musician has already managed to restore his concert activity. Well, we will follow the news from the musician, and let's hope that Amos will continue to delight us with new releases and performances.