Bret Hadley "Epic" Mazur (born August 31, 1970) is an American vocalist, rapper, and record producer. He is best known as a founder and former frontman of the

rap rock Rap rock is a fusion genre that fuses vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop with various forms of rock. Rap rock's most popular subgenres include rap metal and rapcore, which include heavy metal and hardcore punk-oriented influences, resp ...

band

Crazy Town Crazy Town (sometimes abbreviated as CXT) is an American rap rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1995 by Bret Mazur and Seth Binzer. Crazy Town is best known for their 2000 hit single "Butterfly", which reached number one on the US ''Billboard'' ...

Early life

Bret Mazur grew up in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York before his parents moved across the country to Hollywood, Los Angeles. It was here that he began to work as a DJ at age 16, and received the pseudonym "Epic" from a friend. Mazur graduated from William Howard Taft High School in Los Angeles. He then collaborated with

Richard Wolf Richard "Wolfie" Wolf is an American Emmy Award-winning film and television composer, multi-platinum-selling music producer, songwriter, remixer, and author. Wolf got his start writing songs for his band and various artists before working for ...

as part of the production team Wolf & Epic on albums by Sheena Easton, Bell Biv DeVoe,

Ralph Tresvant Ralph Edward Tresvant (born May 16, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter, actor and record producer, best known as the lead singer of R&B group New Edition. As a solo artist, Tresvant released the album '' Ralph Tresvant'' (1990). In 2008, he ...

, MC Lyte and MC Serch, among others.

Crazy Town

Crazy Town was formed by Mazur and

Seth Binzer Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. ...

, who started collaborating in 1995 under the initial name of "The Brimstone Sluggers". By early 1999, they were calling themselves Crazy Town, and the full band consisted of Mazur, Binzer,

Rust Epique Charles Lopez (February 29, 1968 – March 9, 2004), better known by his stage name Rust Epique, was an American guitarist and painter, who performed with the bands Crazy Town and pre)Thing. Biography In 1999, Rust Epique joined Crazy Town, a r ...

, James Bradley Jr., Doug Miller,

DJ AM Adam Michael Goldstein (March 30, 1973 – August 28, 2009), known professionally as DJ AM, was an American disc jockey (DJ). Born in Philadelphia, Goldstein became interested in deejaying as a child after watching Herbie Hancock perform his 1 ...

, and Antonio Lorenzo "Trouble" Valli. Their debut album, ''

The Gift of Game ''The Gift of Game'' is the debut studio album by American band Crazy Town. It was released on November 9, 1999 in the U.S. by Columbia Records. The album yielded the band its biggest hit to date with "Butterfly" which reached number 1 on the ' ...

'', was released in November 1999, having been recorded earlier that year. It would become a major success after their single ''

Butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

'' reached No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, sparking record sales in excess of 1.5 million. Their 2002 follow up album, ''

Darkhorse ''Darkhorse'' is the second studio album by American rap rock band Crazy Town, released on November 12, 2002. The album peaked at No. 120 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and No. 164 in the UK. It sold less than 13,000 units in its first week. Crazy T ...

'', was a commercial failure in comparison, and the band broke up shortly after its release. Crazy Town announced they had reformed in 2007, and Mazur stated that Crazy Town's third album, tentatively titled ''Crazy Town Is Back'', would be released right after his upcoming solo album, ''Strip to This'' in Spring 2008. Neither album was released, though Crazy Town did release a third studio album, ''

The Brimstone Sluggers ''The Brimstone Sluggers'' is the third studio album by American rap rock band Crazy Town. It was released on August 28, 2015 and was Crazy Town's first album in 13 years since ''Darkhorse'' in 2002. According to Mazur, the album is a stylistic ...

'', in 2015. Following a year of hiatus from the group, Mazur announced in January 2017 through

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

that he will no longer tour with the band.

Record producer

Mazur was included as a producer for

New Edition New Edition is an American R&B/Pop group from the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1978 by Bobby Brown. Their name is taken to mean a 'new edition' of the Jackson 5. The group reached its height of popularity in the 198 ...

side project,

Bell Biv DeVoe Bell Biv DeVoe, also known as BBD, is an American music group from Boston, Massachusetts, formed from members of New Edition, consisting of Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins and Ronnie DeVoe. The band is best known for their debut album, the multi-pl ...

Feature films and television

In 2014 Mazur became the music and audio department head for Sugar Studios LA. Mazur scores and sound designs feature films. He worked on the 2018 film ''

The Oath The Oath may refer to: Books * ''The Oath'' (Wiesel novel), a 1973 novel by Elie Wiesel * ''The Oath'' (Peretti novel), a 1995 novel by Frank E. Peretti * '' The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court'', a 2012 book by Jeffrey Toobin ...

''.

Personal life

Mazur has one son named Max, who was born in 1996, and his cousin is actress

Monet Mazur Monet H. Mazur (born April 17, 1976) is an American actress. Life Mazur was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Ruby Mazur, an illustrator known for creating the "tongue" logo for the Rolling Stones' "Tumbling Dice" single jacket, a ...

. He is of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

ancestry.

References

External links

Bret Mazur
on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

Official WebsiteSugar Studios LA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazur, Epic 1970 births Living people Nu metal singers Musicians from Brooklyn Jewish American musicians Jewish rappers Jewish hip hop record producers Jewish heavy metal musicians William Howard Taft Charter High School alumni 21st-century American Jews