Sometimes, a star works his whole life to reach the fame he’s always sought. Other times, he knows the right people or has the right money. And once in a while, he gives his music to a local DJ and ends up reaching number one on the pop charts of South Africa. Dance music artist Beau, who performs at Fly’s Tribal Forces party this Saturday alongside DJs Cindel and Shawn Riker, happens to be this last type of star.
“It all happened like a dream, so I try to keep it that way, to let it flow,” he says. His throbbing anthem “Love Kills 2.0” has seen international success. “It’s a huge deal to wake up in the morning and see all these emails and tweets from people there.”
Beau, who was born in small-town America but moved to New York to study the music business, wasn’t always intent on becoming a star. But after years of touring with big-name acts like Madonna and Lady Gaga, he couldn’t help but want to get onstage himself.
“The more I watched it, the more I had the inkling to want to do that,” he says. “So I dove off the deep end, quit my job, and two weeks later I packed up my stuff and said, ‘I’m gonna go on tour.'”
Occupying the musical space between the clean, swelling cuts of Euro house and other electronic dance music (EDM) and pop artists like Robyn or David Guetta, Beau’s single seems just as relevant at a club like Fly as at a music festival. The PhatkidMuzik remix, which has been the most popular in South Africa, adapts the distortion and high-hat/snare beats of the local dance scene.
“I knew I could be just another blond boy singing and dancing, but I wanted to do more,” says Beau, who dreams of playing enormous EDM festival stages. “The energy is so amazing. If a DJ can do that from behind a desk and make something so magical, then if I can just step out in front of that and actually perform, I think it’s something people will jump on.”
Despite his energy and confidence, Beau remains humble. “I’m just simple Beau from small-town Maine who had a dream,” he says, adding sincerely, “I’ve got a lot of people to thank when I get my first Grammy.”
Beau performs at the Tribal Forces Military Party Sat, June 25, 10pm at Fly, 8 Gloucester St.
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