Joel Turner (born 3 March 1987) is an Australian beatboxer, singer, songwriter, instrumentalist and record producer best known for the Australian hit song "These Kids". As a beatboxer, he is recognised for his trademark sounds such as his "third voice", cowbell, teeth beats and bass guitar. He was the victor at the Beatbox Battle World Championship in 2005 and retained the title until 2009.
Turner first appeared at the auditions for the 2003 season of Australian Idol, where he drew attention for his beatbox skills. Although praised but deemed unsuitable for the competition, Turner was nevertheless voted "Most Popular of the Unforgettables" and performed at the 2003 Idol Grand Final at the Sydney Opera House. He was later signed and managed by Idol judge Mark Holden, together with rappers the Modern Day Poets (MDP), consisting of Turner's older brother Tim Turner (a.k.a. "DubLT" – left the group in 2005, replaced by Kitchener "KNO" Wesche) and their cousin Chris Turner (sometimes credited as Chris Heiner, a.k.a. "C4").
As of 2010, Turner has released two full-length albums and toured extensively. He has also appeared in several television commercials, most famously for Drumstick Loaded ice cream.
Life and career
Early life (1987–2002)
Turner had an underprivileged childhood, growing up in the lower-middle class suburb of Acacia Ridge in Brisbane's south. His mother Grace struggled to raise five children on a sole-parent pension. According to Turner's brother Tim, "we grew up with nothing. You know – nothing. St Vinnie's clothes, no food in the pantry, nothing. Mum would get paid on Thursday and the food was gone Saturday."
Turner's father, also a guitarist (who played in Richard Clapton's band as well as various outfits around Adelaide), left before Turner was born and returned only briefly when Turner was two years old. He later died of a heroin overdose in 1999. Turner has expressed regret at not having known his father and considers his music career to be a tribute to his father's memory. "I just felt sad that I never really got the chance to know him. And because he didn't die in the nicest way. He died in a tragic way." Turner was originally inspired by the vocal techniques of pop star Billy Ocean on his track Love Zone. In 2001, after being informed by a friend that what he was doing was an artform known as "beatboxing", Turner was inspired to develop his skills further, studying the genre and its artists, practising constantly and competing in battles. In addition to his background in percussion, Turner has reportedly sung since the age of seven and played guitar since nine.
Australian Idol, Joel Turner and the Modern Day Poets (2003–2005)
Turner began performing and writing songs with his family members as a child. Along with his cousin, he joined his brother in the group Modern Day Poets, which was later changed to "Joel Turner and the Modern Day Poets" to capitalize on Turner's fame through Australian Idol. It was Turner's cousin who suggested the trio audition for the show, as nothing more than a bit of a fun and an opportunity to gain exposure.
The genesis of the song "These Kids" occurred in December 2001 when Turner's brother asked him to compose some music for the lyrics he had written. The track was originally recorded in Cairns, Queensland, with funding from a family friend. It was this demo recording that would later help the group to secure a record contract with Mark Holden, who had been impressed with Turner's beatboxing and guitar skills and had asked to hear some songs from him. After the track's release, the group received a great deal of feedback from young people who identified with the issues mentioned in the song, such as drugs, depression, suicide, and living on the streets.
Following his signing to Holden's label Dream Dealers in early 2004, Turner spent the year recording and promoting his debut album and appearing at events such as the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, Telethon, and the Youth Alive Festival. He also appeared at the Australian Idol final for 2004 with a symphony orchestra and six beatboxers known as the Beatbox Alliance, who were assembled via a competition on Australian Idol judged by Turner and Holden.
Turner's first single "These Kids" was written by DubLT after a friend committed suicide and was later dedicated to Joel Turner's troubled childhood neighbour and friend. It debuted in the top 5 of the Australian singles charts in October 2004. The single reached number one on the Australian singles chart and remains the highest-selling release by an Australian hip-hop act ever.
The self-titled Joel Turner and the Modern Day Poets album was released on 1 November 2004 and was hailed by Beat magazine as "the most accomplished and shockingly brilliant debut of 2004". Most of the songs featured Turner's vocal percussion, alongside eight tracks of pure beatboxing. Guests on the album included boxer Anthony Mundine rapping on a track called "Knock U Out" (released as the second single and reached #14; The third single was "Funk U Up", which debuted at No. 17 on the ARIA charts in May 2005 and peaked at No. 13.
On returning to Australia, Turner was a special guest artist at the 2005 Schools Musical Spectacular in Bendigo and performed with 2003 Idol winner Guy Sebastian at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. He was also a judge at Australian Idol<nowiki>'</nowiki>s "Are You a Natural" competition. A DVD titled Joel Turner and the Modern Day Poets with the Beatbox Alliance was released in October 2005, which documented Turner's touring experiences and included live footage from the West Coast Blues and Roots Festival held earlier in the year.
Around this time, Turner and the Modern Day Poets received three nominations for Australia's prestigious ARIA Awards – Best Independent Release and Best Urban Release for their self-titled album, and Breakthrough Artist (Single) for "These Kids". The group would later receive an ARIA No. 1 Chart Award in honour of their debut single.
Move to Hardwax, Out of the Box and assault (2006–2008)
For the remainder of 2005 and into 2006, Turner continued to perform gigs with both the Modern Day Poets and Attention Deficit Disaudio partner Tom Thumb, notably appearing on stage at a show by beatboxing legend Rahzel in Brisbane. Turner also spent time performing at various schools throughout Australia, as well as events such as the Pacific Brands Fashion Show, Foxtel's 10th Birthday celebrations, the Sydney and Melbourne Auto Salon exhibitions, and the 2006 Gold Coast Big Day Out. In addition, Turner and MDP made their acting debut, appearing in two episodes of the interactive comedy Forget the Rules.
In January 2006, Turner undertook a televised performance with his band and special guest Axle Whitehead at the Australia Day Live Concert in Canberra. In a corresponding interview with music show Video Hits, Turner revealed that they had left their deal with Mark Holden and were looking to start their own record label.
Subsequent gigs included the Australian Hip Hop United benefit concert, Parkfest, the Bring It On Youth Festival, and Force '06. In April 2006, Turner made frequent appearances at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney, performing several shows a day and hosting beatbox workshops.
In June, Turner and the Modern Day Poets performed at the APRA songwriting awards in Sydney, where they had two songs nominated in the "Most Performed Urban Work" category. Turner spent the latter half of 2006 working on a new album and also formed a production company called Two Kingz Produktionz with up-and-coming Brisbane MC Preech. In October 2006, it was announced that Turner had signed a new deal with Rajon Music for himself and his company Modern Day Productions.
In early 2007, Turner released a single named "All Night Long" featuring Israel, Stan Bravo and C4 (AUS#38 March 2007 He was admitted to hospital where he underwent surgery to have his jaw wired back together. Turner subsequently resumed performing less than a month after the incident occurred, in spite of doctors' orders. He later maintained in the August edition of S-press magazine that the attack had not fazed him.
August 2007 saw the release of a new single "City of Dreams" featuring C4 (Modern Day Poets) and KNO (Beatbox Alliance, Modern Day Poets). It debuted at No. 60 on the ARIA singles charts, but promptly rose to No. 30 the album was overlooked by critics and did not achieve the commercial success of its predecessor.
Having recovered from his injury, Turner set about touring his second album Out of the Box, performing in schools and venues in cities across Australia. He headlined events such as the Urban Youth Arts Warehouse Fest, Xposed, and the Buzz Monkey National Breakdancing Championships, then spent early December performing several shows a day at the ASIMO exhibition in his hometown of Brisbane. Turner also received a further two nominations in the Urban division of the APRA Awards held in mid-June 2008.
Aside from occasional television appearances, Turner spent most of 2008 away from the public eye, his only prominent performances taking place during De La Soul's set at the Gold Coast's Summafieldayze Festival in January and Melbourne's "Make a Change Concert" in April.
In October the same year, Turner submitted a victim impact statement to the Beenleigh District Court and declared that the broken jaw he sustained in 2007 had rendered him unable to adequately promote his second album Out of the Box, which he claimed was detrimental to the album's sales. The court was told that Turner's recovery period had also cost him money in lost earnings. Describing the assault as unprovoked and gratuitously violent, the prosecutor stated: "The attack nearly pulled the plug on his beatbox career." Turner's attacker was consequently sentenced to jail. During a November feature story on Nine Network news program A Current Affair, Turner spoke out about the impact of the assault and was reportedly working on a new album.
Future direction (2009 onward)
His appearances in 2009 included a performance at Brisbane's Autumn Urban Fiesta and a support slot for De La Soul's 20th Anniversary Australian tour. Turner's single "City of Dreams" was later nominated for the APRA Awards' Urban Work of the Year for the second year in a row.
The second half of 2009 saw Turner headlining annual indigenous youth festival Stylin' Up before taking part in Easterfest Spotlight's "A Jazzmagical Christmas" spectacular. He also lent his support to the White Ribbon Foundation's Men in the Mall event as part of their campaign for the resolution of violence against women. He performed at Ibiza Downunder showcase on Australia Day 2009, and was reported to be planning a "Learn to Beatbox" DVD, but this release never came to pass. A third album was planned for 2010 but was never released. Years later, he tried to crowdsource a third album, but so far this has yet to eventuate. In 2019, he announced he was releasing new music later in the year
On August 19, 2022, Joel released the song Mullet on Spotify.
Artistry
Influences
He cites his musical influences as blues legends B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, as well as hip-hop artists such as Tupac Shakur, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and Cypress Hill.
Discography
- Joel Turner and the Modern Day Poets (2004)
- Out of the Box (2007)
Awards and nominations
ARIA Music Awards
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987.
!
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2005
| "These Kids"
| Breakthrough Artist – Single
|
| rowspan="3"|
|-
| rowspan="2"| Joel Turner and the Modern Day Poets
| Best Independent Release
|
|-
| Best Urban Album
|
|-
APRA Awards
The APRA Awards are held in Australia and New Zealand by the Australasian Performing Right Association to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members annually
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2"| 2006
| "These Kids"
| rowspan="2"| Most Performed Urban Work
|
|-
| "Funk U Up"
|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2"| 2008
| "All Night Long"
| rowspan="2"| Urban Work of the Year
|
|-
| "City of Dreams"
|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1"| 2009
| "All Night Long"
| rowspan="1"| Urban Work of the Year
|
|-
Beatboxing
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Event !! Year !! Category !! Status
|-
| align="center"|Hip Hop World Challenge || 2005 || align="center"|Solo Male || align="center"|Winner
|-
| align="center"|Hip Hop World Challenge || 2005 || align="center"|Team || align="center"|Winner
|}
References
External links
- Joel Turner's Official MySpace
- Joel Turner's Official YouTube Channel