< About | General Info | Pianist | Vocalist | Songwriter | Producer | Live Sound Engineer
Early Childhood & Chromesthesia
From as early as age 4, Bryan Woolbert loved singing. At his preschool concert, Woolbert reportedly sang the entire show before it ever started. Despite his teachers' attempts to hush him, young Woolbert performed every song perfectly in tune (thanks to perfect pitch) and without missing a beat. He had no prior individualized vocal coaching. Instead, he preferred playing children's music CDs and singing along with them at home using a professional karaoke speaker that his parents had purchased. Above all, Woolbert fell in love with the involuntary sensations of color caused by Chromesthesia that he could both experience and participate in. On his 7th birthday, Woolbert gained the ability to experience the colors at will as his parents gave him an iPod Nano (First Generation) and corresponding speaker dock. As he routinely listened to the music that they periodically added to his iTunes library in a dark bedroom at night with no distractions, Woolbert would improvise harmony lines and sing them alongside the lead vocalist(s) in the tracks. He also greatly admired the portability of the earbuds that came with it which allowed Woolbert to carry his iPod in his pocket and listen to music wherever he went.
Musical Style & Middle School Choir
As Woolbert began performing classic pop/rock music by artists like Billy Joel and Elton John at events for The Lions Clubs of New Jersey on behalf of The Music Association for Visually Impaired Students of New Jersey (MAVIS), he accompanied his piano playing with corresponding lead vocals. He then began attending Mission Point Church during 4th grade and almost immediately fell in love with Christian praise & worship music. While he could not see well enough to read the lyrics that were on the screen at the time, Woolbert would learn them along with the melody of a given song by listening to his peers singing all around him. By 7th grade, Woolbert joined the Alder Avenue Middle School choir. At first, Woolbert's rather high vocal range prompted the choir director to place him within the alto section. However, his voice matured and deepened by around January of that school year. He was subsequently moved to the tenor section.
CharterTech High School for the Performing Arts & Karaoke
From 2013-2017, Woolbert attended CharterTech High School for the Performing Arts. As an Instrumental Major, he would occasionally sing lead vocals with bands of students during required school showcases. During his junior year, Woolbert would finally take formal vocal lessons from none other than the legendary vocal coach Sal Dupree. He taught Woolbert how to properly project using a natural chest voice, along with many other quintessential classical and pop vocal techniques that have transformed him into the lead singer that he is today. Soon after acquiring these new vocal skills, he began taking the stage as a karaoke singer at local venues, most notably at Clancy's by the Bay with Dupree's colleague Lori Kelley (which closed in 2022 and is now Mexiquila). Woolbert decided to double as a Vocal Major during his senior year at CharterTech. In essence, he joined the high school choir, went on multiple Vocal Major-only trips to renowned music venues in Philadelphia, and performed in required school showcases. Like their Instrumental counterparts, these public performances consisted of several different genres of music and were graded by instructors as part of the student's GPA. Woolbert received a New Jersey Governor's Award in Arts Education before graduating as salutatorian in 2017 (check out the video of his graduation performance of his original song "Let Her Name Ring"). Directly after the graduation ceremony, Woolbert and his family went to celebrate at Applebees Grill+Bar in Mays Landing where he sang in a karaoke competition and won the top prize for that night.
Studio Experience & Harmony Improvisation
During his time in high school, Dupree introduced Woolbert to expert producer Kit Worton who engineered the first professional recordings containing Woolbert's vocals. While in the studio, Worton taught him several crucial vocal techniques pertaining to audio production. Simultaneously, Woolbert demonstrated his natural ability to improvise harmony lines on the spot. When Worton discovered this, he passionately worked with Woolbert to develop the characteristic wall of harmonies that can be heard on many of his vocal tracks today.
Cairn University & The Gospel Choir
From the fall of 2017 through the spring of 2019, Woolbert studied Worship & Music at Cairn University. During his first semester, Woolbert studied classical voice with Elizabeth Sutton who encouraged him to explore and express the rich colors in the lower baritone regions of his vocal range. After that, he auditioned and successfully made it into the university's gospel choir. Unlike the strict nature of the traditional choir that he sang in at CharterTech, the gospel choir gave him occasional opportunities to use his natural gift of improvising harmonic lines on the spot so long as they blended in well with the music. Soon after, the choir director Ruth Naomi Floyd became Woolbert's private vocal teacher at the university and added several jazz vocal techniques to his palette.
Rowan University & Planet Rose Tropicana Atlantic City
Woolbert then made a transfer to Rowan University in time for the fall 2019 semester where he became a Music Industry: Technology major. As such, he acquired considerable amounts of knowledge about the live sector, music marketing, and much more pertaining to the modern music business. This information has helped Woolbert to develop his own brand and to market his music. During this time, Woolbert started singing karaoke at Planet Rose Tropicana Atlantic City. He has won multiple awards at the venue, including the Owner's Award. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Rowan with a Bachelor of Science in Music Industry: Technology in May of 2022.
Today
n summary, Woolbert has sang both lead and harmony vocals at dozens of venues throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania over the course of more than 15 years. He has also been recorded singing on many tracks (check out Bryan Woolbert's music releases). Today, Bryan Woolbert's vocals can be heard live on the Ocean City, NJ Boardwalk during the summer, at Firewaters Saloon located in the downstairs Marketplace section of Tropicana Atlantic City, at local karaoke venues such as Planet Rose Tropicana Atlantic City, and perhaps at your venue or next event!
Quotes
"Encourage someone, change a life, illuminate the future!"
-Bryan Woolbert
-Bryan Woolbert
"They say 'Nothing is ever good to extremes...' I would refute that claim with one thing: Love. Genuine love."
-Bryan Woolbert
-Bryan Woolbert
"Everyone's definition of the word crazy is a little different."
-Bryan Woolbert
-Bryan Woolbert