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Epic Mazur

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bret 'Epic' Mazur
Birth nameBret Hadley Mazur
Also known asEpic
Epic Mazur
Born (1970-08-31) August 31, 1970 (age 54)[1]
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.[1]
OriginLos Angeles
Genres
Occupations
  • Record producer
  • musician
  • singer
  • rapper
  • songwriter
  • sound designer
  • mixing engineer
Instruments
Years active1986–2003
2006–present
LabelsColumbia

Bret Hadley "Epic" Mazur (born August 31, 1970) is an American vocalist, rapper, and record producer. He is best known as a founder and former frontman of the rap rock band Crazy Town.

Early life

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Bret Mazur grew up in Brooklyn, New York, before his parents moved across the country to Hollywood, Los Angeles. It was here that he began to work as a DJ at age 16, and received the pseudonym "Epic" from a friend. Mazur graduated from William Howard Taft High School in Los Angeles. He then collaborated with Richard Wolf as part of the production team Wolf & Epic on albums by Sheena Easton, Bell Biv DeVoe, Ralph Tresvant, MC Lyte and MC Serch, among others.[2]

Crazy Town

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Crazy Town was formed by Mazur and Seth Binzer, who started collaborating in 1995[3] under the initial name of "The Brimstone Sluggers". By early 1999, they were calling themselves Crazy Town, and the full band consisted of Mazur, Binzer, Rust Epique, James Bradley Jr., Doug Miller, DJ AM, and Antonio Lorenzo "Trouble" Valli. Their debut album, The Gift of Game, was released in November 1999, having been recorded earlier that year. It would become a major success after their single "Butterfly" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, sparking record sales in excess of 1.5 million.[4] Their 2002 follow-up album, Darkhorse, was a commercial failure in comparison, and the band broke up shortly after its release.

Crazy Town announced in 2007 that they had reformed,[5] and Mazur stated that the band's third album, tentatively titled Crazy Town Is Back, would be released right after his upcoming solo album, Strip to This, in spring 2008. Neither album was released, though Crazy Town did release a third studio album, The Brimstone Sluggers, in 2015.[6] Following a year of hiatus from the group, Mazur announced in January 2017 through Facebook that he would no longer tour with the band.[7][8]

Record producer

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Mazur was included as a producer for New Edition side project, Bell Biv DeVoe.

Feature films and television

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In 2014, Mazur became the music and audio department head for Sugar Studios LA.

Mazur scores and sound designs feature films. He worked on the 2018 film The Oath.

Personal life

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Mazur has one son, named Max, who was born in 1996, and his cousin is actress Monet Mazur.[9] He is of Jewish ancestry.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Bret "Epic" Mazur". xtrememusician.com. Archived from the original on December 29, 2014. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  2. ^ "Bret "Epic" Mazur X Fluid Audio". mixware.net. Mixware, LLC. Retrieved April 15, 2018.
  3. ^ Edwards, Gavin (March 15, 2001). "Q&A: Shifty Shellshock of Crazy Town". Rolling Stone. No. 864. p. 35.
  4. ^ Jeckell, Barry (January 10, 2002). "News on Crazy Town, Nelly, NY Metropolis Fest". Billboard. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  5. ^ Harris, Chris (December 5, 2007). "Kris Kross, Crazy Town, EMF, Extreme And More Unmemorable Reunions, In Our Year-End Top 10s – Music, Celebrity, Artist News". MTV. Archived from the original on June 1, 2014. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  6. ^ "Crazy Town: The Brimstone Sluggers". AllMusic. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  7. ^ Mazur, Bret (January 10, 2017). "To all of our fans and friends..." Crazy Town (via Facebook). Archived from the original on February 26, 2022. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
  8. ^ Mazur, Bret (January 10, 2017). "Statement from Epic..." Bret Mazur (via Facebook). Archived from the original on February 26, 2022. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
  9. ^ Wiederhorn, Jon. "Crazy Town Into the Skater Chicks in New Vid". mtv.com. Viacom International, Inc. Archived from the original on January 30, 2017. Retrieved April 15, 2018.
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