GRAMMY award-winning Milwaukee musician Grace Weber announced in a Facebook post on Monday that she has inked a deal with Capitol Records.
Now based in Brooklyn, Weber’s post included a photo of her in front of the iconic Capitol building at Hollywood and Vine in Hollywood.
Capitol's distinctive label designs over the years and its stellar roster means Weber is in good company.
Capitol Records – now part of the Universal Music empire – has long been a major player, having signed the likes of Waukesha's Les Paul in the 1940s, Frank Sinatra in the ‘50s, The Beatles and The Beach Boys in the ‘60s, Milwaukee's Steve Miller and Bob Seger in the ‘70s and, well, you get the picture.
Capitol Records also shared the news yesterday on social media:
🗣 It’s official! There’s no better way to kick off the week than by welcoming the super talented @gracewebermusic to the #CapitolFamily! Big things coming, stay tuned! 🙌🎉 pic.twitter.com/l0rMJnwYSX — Capitol Records (@CapitolRecords) November 26, 2018
Born in Wauwatosa, Weber performed at "Showtime at the Apollo" when she was just 16 and was then on her way, singing at the wedding of athletes Mia Hamm and Nomar Garciaparra, appearing on Oprah Winfrey’s show and being named a Billboard magazine Spotlight Artist to Watch in 2010.
Weber – who is currently on a national tour with PJ Morton – has released two albums: "Hope & Heart" in 2011 and "The Refinery" in 2014. More recent music can be heard at her website.
Here's her new single, "Mercy," her first for Capitol:
Weber’s Facebook post hinted that a new disc is imminent.
"Blessed to be doing this with the most amazing team, and all the day 1’s and space legends," she said. "So ready to release this album to the world. ... So much love to my new team at Capitol – we’re gonna do amazing things."
Weber hasn’t forgotten her hometown, where she created The Music Lab, which she describes as, "a free monthly arts program for Milwaukee area high schoolers to connect and be inspired by music industry professionals from around the country. Each lab includes one special guest performance, a Q&A conversation and an open mic session for students to sing, rap, recite, dance or express their creativity in any other way."
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.