Ollie Gabriel – Motown Soul Flavors
As long as kept pulsing the beat of his heart
As long as the will of fire kept burning in his spirit
As long as he’s allowed to breathe, he wouldn’t let anyone suffocate his hopes and dreams
And his feet would let him run another 100 yard dash,
Born to perform, chasing success and racing for happiness.
Ollie Gabriel, singer-songwriter from a small town in Louisiana, is a go-getter kind of man.
Everything is his lyrics indicate he was born ready (“just as soon as my legs could move“).
Gabriel is sharing a message of dedication and perseverance along his single greatly inspired by Motown influences.
“My story is one of perseverance, determination and patience. I had a lot of obstacles and made many mistakes along the way, but I’ve been lucky enough to grow stronger through everything” admits Ollie.
The enjoyable part of it all is that Gabriel’s talking facts. He is not making a cliche Pop song, empty of substance, as we notice the beginning of his lyrics – when a grown man talks about the way he was born and how much he had to hustle since his birth, it’s not meaningless – and we acknowledge his story and grind.
What is more, in the video, you can see the athlete Blake Leeper.
This athlete, champion, was born missing both of his lower legs, yet the American was equipped with prosthetics at the age of 9 months. At the Paralympic Games in London in 2012, Blake managed to earn a silver and a bronze medal, in two different sprint disciplines.
Therefore, his presence in this visual can only emphasize the substance of his song and the meaning of his lyrics.
In February of last year, he released his single “Running Man” to massive success. On Spotify, this single has over 13 million streams.
All along the song, you can feel the taste of these Motown flavors in his strong, heartfelt and organic vocals, on top of his Retro Soul look.
There’s even a subtle hint of Rock in his configuration. The Soul man is also running for the Led Zeppelin, and Rolling Stone types of sound.
His ability to fuse it all with a contemporary Pop sound gives his music a refreshing feeling.
This clever combination can imply all sorts of emotion and quite an inspirational result for listeners’ state of mind. That’s how he creates music that is both fun and of substance.
“I think that today there isn’t enough music that makes people happy”, Ollie states. “I’m not a preacher nor a saint but my songs come from a place of joy, deep love and a lot of happiness”.
Drums, church organ, guitar, trombone, and singing – he learned to play it all in his school band and at church.
Creating music, all admiring the likes of Bobby Womack, Michael Jackson, and Curtis Mayfield, he learned a few things, precious to keep in mind as a musician:
“The biggest thing that I learned from my idols is that it is not about trying to copy something, but about creating something unique.”
After his move to Los Angeles, Ollie continued to work tirelessly towards his goals. Soon he was securing music placed in ads and on TV networks such as NBC, MTV and TNT. He has had hundreds of synch placements to date.
Following in the footsteps of many international stars, he decided to go to Europe and debut his freshmen EP there.
Running Man has been distributed by Sony Music via Jive Germany, the single was an instant radio hit. Running Man charted at #5 in Austria, top 20 in Switzerland, and in the top 30 in Germany. Despite him not even being in the region very long, he entered the top 40 on the iTunes charts, and generated over 2 million Youtube views.
Throughout 2016 Ollie was performing all over GSA on several of the most popular televised shows and events, as well as live performances at radio festivals playing in front of over 40,000 fans.
“Running Man” is set for release July 2017.
