Selan
For the fictional character from the Al-Qadim campaign setting of Dungeons & Dragons, see Selan (Dungeons & Dragons). For the village in Albania, see Selan, Albania.
| Selan | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Selonius, Selonius Funk |
| Origin | Queens, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | R&B, Pop, House, Electronica, Soul, Rock |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Labels | Articon Records, Vega Records |
| Associated acts | The Free Radikalz, Louie Vega, Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez, DJ Spinna, Alejandro Sanz, Adele, Ashanti, Raheem DeVaughn, Dennis Ferrer |
| Notable instruments | |
| piano, keyboards, keytar, vocoder, melodica, acoustic drums, electronic drums, percussion, drum machine, trumpet, electric bass | |
Selan (born Selan Lerner in Queens, New York, United States) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, composer, arranger, musical director and producer who is known for combining electronic, pop, and soul music. He possesses perfect pitch and musical total recall, also known as eidetic memory. He is of Trinidadian and Jewish heritage.
Selan has collaborated extensively with "Little" Louie Vega and Kenny "Dope" Gonzales of the house music production team Masters at Work. Notably he plays the extended keyboard improvisation on the Masters at Work remix of Nina Simone's "See-Line Woman" which appears on the highly successful 2002 Verve Remixed collection. He also plays the extended keyboard solos on the DJ Spinna remix of Betty Carter's "Naima's Love Song" which appears on the 2003 follow-up Verve Remixed 2 collection. Selan co-wrote the music for most of DJ Spinna's Intergalactic Soul album, which was released in 2006 on Shanachie Records. He also co-produced, co-wrote and was a featured artist on "Back 2 U", a standout track on that same album.
His 2004 single "Unconditional Love," produced by DJ Spinna, was released on the Wonderwax record label. Selan's solo single "Gravity" was released in 2005 on Louie Vega's Vega Records. He is the co-writer of the song "Focus" which appears on Concrete Rose, the multi-platinum 2004 album by American R&B singer Ashanti. He also appears as a co-writer on the songs "Marathon" and "Desire" which appear on the 2007 Grammy-nominated second album Love Behind the Melody by Raheem DeVaughn.
As a side musician, he has performed with Adele, Bono, Alejandro Sanz, Toni Braxton, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, R&B singer Joe, Stevie Wonder and Roy Ayers just to name a few. He's recorded with and/or for Kanye West, Aaliyah, David Byrne, Earth, Wind and Fire, R. Kelly, Musiq Soulchild and many others. Selan's keyboard work on the house remix for Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly" helped DJ/producer Louie Vega win the 2006 Grammy award for BEST REMIX. He has been a member of Little Louie Vega's Elements of Life Band and also plays keyboards and sings background for the classic disco/R&B group CHIC featuring Nile Rodgers.
After being traveling as part of Adele's band from January 2009-July 2009, Selan joined the classic r&b/disco band, Chic featuring Nile Rodgers. He played keyboards and sang background vocals.
In September 2011, Selan joined the house band as a keyboardist, vocalist and trumpet player for Rosie O'Donnell's The Rosie Show which aired on Oprah Winfrey's OWN network. It was cancelled in March 2012.
On August 8, 2012 Selan released his debut album, "Space Flight", which features contributions from legendary producer/guitarist/songwriter and artist Nile Rodgers, Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest fame, M1 from the revolutionary hip-hop group Dead Prez, Grammy-nominated recording artist Emily King and Melissa Jimenez.
2013 was a big year for Nile Rodgers, who wound up winning 3 Grammys for his work on Daft Punk's album, "Random Access Memories". All of the frenzy surrounding the song "Get Lucky" brought a very high visibility to Chic and as well as to Nile himself. The band toured all over the world, rejuvenating Nile's career and introducing him to a younger generation. Despite all of this success and exposure, Selan decided to leave the band in January 2014 and subsequently retire from being a side musician period. He decided to focus all of his efforts on music production, his solo career, filmmaking and other business ventures.
Selan is currently developing TV shows, short films and documentaries. He is also in the midst of creating innovative vegan clothing, footwear and accessories. Selan is vegan, an environmental, human and animal rights activist and a feminist.
Beginning in September 2015, Selan has been a frequent guest musician in the house band for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Selan released his album, "The Future" on Pi Day, March 14, 2016.
Solo Discography
- Unconditional Love (single) (2004)
- Gravity (single) (2005)
- Alwayz Sumthin (DJ Spinna remix featuring Phonte and Sage) (single) (2007)
Space Flight album (August 8, 2012)
The Future album (March 14, 2016)