BIOGRAPHY
Since 2008, Jade Bell has been bringing his critically acclaimed, award-winning poetry to life
in the form of music. With his continuously evolving and expanding assembly of musicians
known as Blind Focus, Bell’s compositions have grown into a unique blend of acoustic folk,
soul and blues to accompany his authentic and unprecedented literary work. A lyricist of
exceptionally rare talent, Jade Bell has successfully found the connection between emotive
words and passionate melodies, carrying his listeners on a soulful journey through sound.
A near-lethal injection of heroin and cocaine dramatically altered the course of his life,
rendering Bell blind, mute, and immobile after emerging from a nearly two month-long
coma as a result. A now limited ability to communicate with the world around him; he is
someone who is not defined by his limitations. Instead Bell dove farther into writing poetry,
lyrics, compositions and producing music.
In 2008, while being featured in a documentary, “Harpooned Soul: The Jade Bell Story”, telling
of his own life experiences, Bell had theinspiration to create the soundtrack for the film using
his own literary pieces, a now substantial body of work. The filmmakers accepted his proposal and along with the production
of the film came Bell’s first full-length album, Black Candy. The album included a variety of talent including Isaac Slade from the band, “The Fray”, who was the co-writer/composer on Bell’s original track “Breathe”. The album was produced at The Barn, a studio operating under the ownership of Randy Bachman located on Salt Spring Island.
While finalizing the production of Black Candy and “A Harpooned Soul: The Jade Bell Story” in 2010, Jade Bell eagerly began the production for his second album, War Stained Skin. It showcased many of the same musicians who had previously worked with Bell on Black Candy, in addition to a whole new set of diverse musical artists and performers.
Jade Bell has since produced two other albums; Black Swan in 2015 and ‘Pulse’ in 2017.
Bell currently resides in Victoria BC, where he continues to produce music with “Blind Focus”. Bell recently collaborated with Anhoni and J Ralph to co-produce a new song entitled ‘Karma’.
Due to his unique story, Bell continues to be one of the most inspiring Canadian lyricist and music producer, he has been featured on the Vicky Gabereau, CBC, and countless articles have been written about his story and the work he does as a musician and the work he does with his foundation (Jade’s KIDS Foundation) . Bell has also won the International Poet of Merit Award from the International Society of Poets.