Bleu

William James McAuley III (born July 18, 1975), alias Bleu, is an American musician and a record producer. He has written and produced songs for Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, John Oates, Michelle Branch, Hey Violet, Big Freedia, and the Jonas Brothers, and has won multiple Independent Music Awards for his work with Air Traffic Controller.

In addition to his solo act, for which he was signed to Columbia Records, McAuley has been in a number of bands over the years, including a duo with Alexz Johnson called Johnson & McAuley, Electric Light Orchestra-style power pop band LEO, and a Mutt Lange homage super-group called LoudLion with Taylor Locke of Rooney and Allison Robertson of The Donnas. was released in 2003 on Aware Records. Two versions were released; both featured the song "Somebody Else," which was also on the Spider-Man soundtrack. The first version of the album featured a song, "Sayonara," which had backing vocals from Puffy AmiYumi, and the latter version (released on Columbia Records) contained the single "Get Up," which received moderate national airplay. The album was also released in Japan with the Puffy AmiYumi guest spot featured, followed by a short tour in Japan.

Departure from label, Alpacas Orgling, and other projects Bleu parted ways with Aware Records after a public dispute about the direction of submitted demos, and his third studio album, tentatively titled A Watched Pot, was not released by the label.

In 2006, a side project with Matt Mahaffey of Self called L.E.O. was released. Featuring contributions from Mike Viola, Andy Sturmer (formerly of Jellyfish), Hanson, and Jason Scheff of Chicago, Alpacas Orgling was meant to be similar to 1970s AM radio pop music, and is described by the band as an "alt-pop version of the Traveling Wilburys."

In July 2007, Bleu released two EPs on iTunes. One is a collection of songs he wrote for friends and family members for their birthdays, simply titled Happy Birthday. The other is credited to the band Blizzard of '05 (also the name of the album). The 7-song EP was recorded by Bleu, some friends, and some former bandmates when they converted the basement of one of their houses into a recording studio, and holed up there during the Blizzard of '05, which swept across New England and shut down the city of Boston for five days.

In July 2008, Bleu and frequent collaborators Mike Viola and Ducky Carlisle released Aquavia as a band called The Major Labels.

Also in 2008, Bleu regained the rights to A Watched Pot. It was released on July 14, 2009, through Artist Garage and Fontana Distribution.

Another side project is a take on 80s rock called LoudLion (plays covers and originals), which planned to release a CD in 2011.

Bleu is also an in-demand songwriter and producer, working with such artists as Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Big Freedia, the Jonas Brothers, Boys Like Girls, and Michelle Branch among many more major label and independent acts.

Four In August 2010, Bleu made the decision to use Kickstarter to fund the release of his already recorded fourth album in the US. (UK label Lojinx had agreed to release the album in Europe.) Fan contributions reached the target of $8000 within 10 hours and went on to raise a total of $39,645 to support the release and marketing of the album in America. Kickstarter named the campaign Best Music Project in the 2010 Kickstarter Awards.

The new album, titled Four, was released on CD in Europe on October 25 on Lojinx and on November 2 in North America on Bleu's own "The Major Label" imprint. The European digital release date was November 29.

To Hell With You In November 2012, a crowdfunding for Bleu's fifth record started at pledgemusic.com. The campaign ended October 24, 2013, and was even more successful than Four. One of the many offers from the campaign was the Redhead Record Club. It consisted of re-recorded songs from Redhead for its 10th anniversary. The songs were released individually in digital form. In 2014, the re-recorded collection on CD was made available exclusively for pledgers.

The official release of To Hell With You was January 28, 2014.

Tinker Bell and the Legend of the Neverbeast In 2014, McAuley wrote and produced all of the soundtrack songs for Disney's Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast.

SiX TAPE

Bleu's sixth studio album, the self-produced SiX TAPE, was released in August 2021. Musical inspirations cited by the artist include ELO, Prince, Dire Straits and Carl Carlton. Contributors include Lindsey Ray and co-writers Taylor Locke (Rooney/Sparks/Train) on “Never Believe It” and Isaac Bolivar aka Izzy Fontaine (Seal/Banks) on “My Emo GF.” Session musician Jesse McGinty is credited as co-writer and instrumentalist on “Baby By Your Side,” “Love You So” and “A Crazy Life!”

Discography

Songwriting and production discography YearArtistTitleLabelRole 2022 NCT Dream "Fire Alarm" SM Entertainment Producer 2018 Jesse Saint John "Fake It" We Are the Guard Records Writer, producer, mixer Big Freedia "Rent" Asylum Records Writer Addie Hamilton "Hell or Highwater" Self-released Producer, writer, mixer 2017 Air Traffic Controller Echo Papa EP Self-released Producer, writer, mixer Michelle Branch "Heartbreak Now" {(Hopeless Romantic) Verve Label Group Writer Addie Hamilton "Judge and Jury" Self-released Producer, writer "La La La" Position Music Producer, writer 2016 Josh Kaufman Josh Kaufman EP Self-released Producer, mixer; writer (all songs except "Avalanche") Johnson & McAuley Johnson & McAuley EP Self-released Artist, producer, mixer; writer (all songs except "The Promise") Air Traffic Controller Black Box Self-released Producer, mixer (all songs), writer ("People Watching," "Phantom," "The House," "Warrior," "Water Falls")2015 Bleu (ft. guest vocalists Justin Tranter, Alexz Johnson, and more) To Hell With You Self-released Artist, producer, writer, mixer Hey Violet "Smash into You" (I Can Feel It EP) Capitol Records Writer Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast soundtrack "Float," "1000 Years," "Strange Sight," "Strange Sight Reprise," (all featuring KT Tunstall) additional score Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast soundtrack Walt Disney Records Producer, writer, instrumentalist; featured artist ("1000 Years") John Oates "Dirty Business" (Another Good Road) Elektra Nashville Producer, writer 2014 LoudLion Die Tough Self-released Producer, writer, mixer Alexz Johnson "Thank You For Breaking My Heart" (Heart EP) Laydee Spencer Music Writer 2013 Mike Taylor "DWNTWN KDS" Self-released Producer, writer, mixer Marc Martel "Our Love Remains," "Perfect World," "8th Wonder" (The Prelude EP) Be Music & Entertainment Co-producer, writer Happy Endings soundtrack "Ordinary Extraordinary Love" Madison Gate Records Producer, writer, mixer Meat Loaf "Fall From Grace" (Hell in a Handbasket) Sony Music Writer LoudLion Theme song, The Hills Have Eyes 2 soundtrack Bulletproof Records Producer, writer, mixer Hanson "Go," "Running Man" (The Walk) 3CG, Cooking Vinyl Writer; producer ("Running Man")

Artist discography A Bing Bang Holidang (1999) Headroom (2000) Redhead (2003) A Watched Pot (2009) Four (2010) Besides (2012) To Hell With You (2014) SiX TAPE (2021)

EP's Workaday Day (2000)

Awards 2002 Boston Music Awards: Best Rock Band (indie label) 2010 Boston Music Awards: Best Boston Artist That Doesn't Live in Boston 11th Independent Music Awards: Four – Best Pop Album 15th Independent Music Awards: Best Music Producer 15th Independent Music Awards: Black Box – Best Indie Album 16th Independent Music Awards: Echo Papa – Best Rock EP