Lawrence (band)

Lawrence is a US-based soul-pop group founded by New York City-raised siblings Clyde Lawrence and Gracie Lawrence who have been singing, performing, and writing songs together since their early childhood. Now, Lawrence is an eight-piece soul-pop group.[1]

Lawrence the Band
OriginNew York, NY, United States
GenresSoul-pop, funk, R&B
Years active2013 – present
LabelsBeautiful Mind Records, previously Warner Brothers
Associated acts
Websitelawrencetheband.com
Members
  • Gracie Lawrence
  • Clyde Lawrence
  • Sam Askin
  • Sumner Becker
  • Jordan Cohen
  • Michael Karsh
  • Jonny Koh
  • Marc Langer

Lawrence family

Clyde and Gracie Lawrence, who are three and a half years apart, have created music and performed together since childhood.[2][3] Their father, Marc Lawrence, is a filmmaker, screenwriter, and director, best known for movies such as Miss Congeniality and Music and Lyrics.[4] They also have a younger brother named Linus whom Lawrence has featured in songs such as "Come On, Brother" on their album Breakfast and is also often in Lawrence videos.[5]

Clyde Lawrence

Clyde is a singer, pianist, and songwriter. He began writing music soon after he started playing the piano at age 4 and now also plays guitar, organ, and keyboard.[6] After graduating from the Dalton School in 2011, he completed college at Brown University in 2015.[3]

When Marc Lawrence was working on the 2000 film Miss Congeniality and was not pleased with his options for the Miss United States pageant theme song, he turned to Clyde to see what he thought was wrong. At only 5, Clyde wrote his own version, and the film's other producers chose it without knowing its writer.[4] The Miss United States pageant anthem that Clyde composed is prominently featured in the film, and his composition led him to become the youngest member of the Songwriters Guild of America.[5] In recent years, a line from this song that Clyde wrote, "She's beauty, she's grace" has become widely used on the Internet.[7]

While attending high school at Dalton, Clyde continued to compose music for major motion pictures. He wrote original score for the 2007 movie Music & Lyrics as well as "Dance With Me Tonight", a song which Hugh Grant performs.[6] He wrote two tracks, one of which he performed himself, for 2009 movie Did You Hear About the Morgans? Clyde has written songs for additional films including The Rewrite (2015) and Landline (2017).[8] He also composed the songs featured in the Season 2 episode of Instinct entitled "Broken Record" which aired on July 7, 2019.[9] Clyde, along with Cody Fitzgerald, composed the entire score for the 2019 Disney+ film, Noelle, starring Bill Hader and Anna Kendrick. They are the youngest people to serve as composers of a Disney film.[10]

Gracie Lawrence

Gracie is both a singer and actress. She also attended Dalton, graduating in 2015,[3] and also attended Brown after taking a gap year to tour with the band.[11] Gracie would have been set to graduate from Brown in 2020, but she has since left college to play with Lawrence full time.[12]

Beyond music, she has acted on Broadway, television, and films for over a decade.[13] In 2009, she acted in the Broadway show Brighton Beach Memoirs and also played Lucy Granger in the film Did You Hear About The Morgans?. She has also acted in the 2011 film The Sitter as well as TV shows such as The Good Wife, The Americans, and Younger. In 2018, she played Julie Gardner on the main cast of thriller CBS-All Access series One Dollar, which also featured Leslie Odom Jr. and John Carroll Lynch.[13][14] She was featured in Town & Country Magazine's "Modern Swans" September 2018 issue.[15]

Band formation

While at Brown University, Clyde started a band which he originally called The Clyde Lawrence Band. While he sung lead vocals and played the keyboards, the band also featured a rotating crew of Brown students and Gracie would visit from their home in New York to perform as well while she was still in high school.[16][17] The band played at events around campus as well as colleges and venues across the Northeast.[3][11]

In 2013, Clyde wrote and recorded a full album, entitled Homesick, on which the Clyde Lawrence Band performed.[6] After many years playing together, the band's name changed to Lawrence when Gracie became co-lead singer.[4]

Seven of the eight band members attended Brown.[12]

Music

Lawrence released its first full-length album, Breakfast, in 2016, which hit #6 on the iTunes R&B charts on its first day of release.[5] Produced by Grammy winner Eric Krasno, Breakfast includes musical appearances from members of Snarky Puppy and Lettuce.[2] Their hit single from the album, "Do You Wanna Do Nothing with Me?" has several million plays on Spotify.[18]

Their sophomore album, Living Room, was released in September 2018. Living Room reached #2 on the iTunes R&B/Soul chart, earned a featured placement on Spotify’s “New Music Friday” playlist, and led the band to its late-night television debut on NBC’s Last Call with Carson Daly.[1] The album, which combines elements of Lawrence's old and new influences while featuring themes of childhood and family issues,[1] was co-produced by bandmates Jordan Cohen (tenor/baritone saxophone) and Jonny Koh (guitar), Brooklyn-based producer Eli Crews, and Clyde and Gracie themselves.[8]

Lawrence has performed both in the United States and internationally. The band has headlined several tours across the USA and also has appeared at Bonnaroo, Outside Lands, SXSW, Electric Forest, Firefly, Okeechobee, and Hangout festivals.[19] The band has also opened for Jon Bellion, Lake Street Dive, Vulfpeck, Soulive, Jacob Collier, Blues Traveler, O.A.R., and Bernhoft.[4]

Jon Bellion collaboration and record deal

In February 2019, Lawrence announced via social media that the band would be an opener for Jon Bellion on his summer 2019 national tour, the Glory Sound Prep Tour.[20] In June, Lawrence released its first of many Jon Bellion-produced singles, "Casualty". In July, Bellion and Lawrence announced that Bellion had launched his own record label, Beautiful Mind Records and had signed Lawrence as its first artist.[21][22][23] Bellion has stated that his intention with this new label is to "take care of artists for the rest of their careers" and to create a family of musical creators who he supports and with whom he collaborates.[24]

Band members
  • Gracie Lawrence – Lead Vocals
  • Clyde Lawrence – Lead Vocals/Keyboard
  • Sam Askin – Drums
  • Sumner Becker – Alto Sax
  • Jordan Cohen – Tenor Sax, Baritone Sax, Background Vocals
  • Michael Karsh – Bass, Background Vocals
  • Jonny Koh – Guitar, Background Vocals
  • Marc Langer – Trumpet

Discography

Studio albums
  • Living Room (2018)
  • Breakfast (2017)
  • Homesick (2013)
  • The Live Album (Part 1) (2020)
  • The Live Album (Part 2) (2021)

Singles
  • Do You Wanna Do Nothing With Me? (2017)
  • Misty Morning (2017)
  • Probably Up (2018)
  • Make A Move (2018)
  • Casualty (2019)
  • Casualty (Acoustic) (2019)
  • It's Not All About You (2019)
  • The Weather (2020)
  • Quarantined With You (2020)
  • Freckles (Live in LA) (2020)

References
  1. Rathe, Adam (2017-05-11). "Meet Lawrence, the World Economic Forum's Favorite Rock Band". Town & Country. Retrieved 2019-01-07.
  2. "Bio — Lawrence the Band". Lawrence. Retrieved 2019-07-29.
  3. "Gracie and Clyde of "Lawrence" Return to Perform for High School Assembly". Dalton School. 2017-01-11. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
  4. Goodman, Lawrence (2015-08-15). "Music Is What I Do". Brown Alumni Magazine. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  5. Downtown Magazine (2016-04-27). "Lawrence Founders Clyde and Gracie Lawrence to Headline Rockwood Music Hall on May 6". Downtown Magazine. Retrieved 2019-07-29.
  6. "Homesick, by Clyde Lawrence". Clyde Lawrence. Retrieved 2019-07-29.
  7. "Shop Shes Beauty Shes Grace T-Shirts online". Spreadshirt. Retrieved 2019-07-29.
  8. Cala, Christina (2017-04-13). "Siblings Gracie And Clyde Lawrence On Touring And The Meaning Of Home". NPR. Retrieved 2019-04-08.
  9. "Clyde Lawrence". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  10. "Clyde Lawrence, Cody Fitzgerald - Noelle (Behind the Scenes)". YouTube. February 13, 2020.
  11. "Sounding Off". Brown Daily Herald Features. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
  12. "SOLD OUT: Brown student/alumni band, Lawrence, rocks the Bowery Ballroom!". www.brownnyc.org. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
  13. Gracie Lawrence - One Dollar Cast Member, retrieved 2020-04-26
  14. "Gracie Lawrence". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-07-29.
  15. The Editors (2018-08-01). "Meet Gracie Lawrence, Actress and Half of a Sibling Pop Duo". Town & Country. Retrieved 2019-08-01.
  16. "Music Is What I Do". www.brownalumnimagazine.com. Retrieved 2019-07-29.
  17. Rathe, Adam (2017-05-11). "Meet Lawrence, the World Economic Forum's Favorite Rock Band". Town & Country. Retrieved 2019-07-29.
  18. "Lawrence". Spotify. Retrieved 2019-07-29.
  19. Zak, Mimi (2016-01-16). "Let's make pop music cool again: A conversation with the band Lawrence". Michigan Daily. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  20. "Lawrence". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
  21. "Beautiful Mind Records (@BMindRecords) | Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
  22. Lawrence – Casualty, retrieved 2019-08-06
  23. Lawrence (2019-06-07). "HERE'S THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: We've been in the studio with @jonbellion making a whole bunch of new Lawrence songs!! The first single is called "Casualty" and it comes out June 21st pic.twitter.com/bc4FNXk8Q6". @lawrencetheband. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
  24. Stephan, Tiara (2019-07-23). "Review – Jon Bellion Electrified and Improvised at the Fillmore". 303 Magazine. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
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