Jesse Hartman is an American

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

, film maker and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

, living in New York's East Village. Hartman formed ''Sammy'' with

Luke Wood Luke Wood is an American music executive and musician, known as being the president of both Beats Electronics from 2012 to 2010 and DGC Records from 2007 to 2010. He was also a guitarist for the 1990s alt-rock bands Sammy and Girls Against Boys. ...

(where Hartman co-wrote, sang, and played guitar and keyboards), releasing ''Debut Album'' (1994), ''Kings of the Inland Empire'' (1995) and ''Tales of Great Neck Glory'' (1996). He then went on to form the

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

/ electro group Laptop in 1997, releasing an EP, ''End Credits'', in 1997, followed by the single "Gimme The Nite" in 1998. "End Credits" garnered

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

's ''

Evening Session BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

''. The song used samples of Hartman's ex-girlfriend's

answering machine An answering machine, answerphone or message machine, also known as telephone messaging machine (or TAM) in the UK and some Commonwealth countries, ansaphone or ansafone (from a trade name), or telephone answering device (TAD), was used for a ...

. The Laptop single Nothing to Declare spent one week at #74 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in June 1999. Hartman was then signed to a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

and released two singles ("Nothing to Declare" and "I'm So Happy You Failed", both in 1999), before leaving the label. He eventually joined Trust Me Records and released the albums ''Opening Credits'' (2000), ''The Old Me vs. The New You'' (2001), and ''Don't Try This At Home'' (2003). As a filmmaker, Hartman has written and directed ''Happy Hour'' (1993, Best Short Film Award Berlin Intl. Film Festival), made documentaries for

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

's ''Edgewise'' (1997, opening night selection of Rotterdam Intl. Film Festival), and co-produced

Kelly Reichardt Kelly Reichardt (; born March 3, 1964) is an American film director and screenwriter. She is known for her minimalist films closely associated with slow cinema, many of which deal with working-class characters in small, rural communities. Reich ...

's indie hit feature ''River Of Grass.'' As an actor, Hartman has been in

Larry Fessenden Laurence T. Fessenden (born March 23, 1963) is an American actor, producer, writer, director, film editor, and cinematographer. He is the founder of the New York based independent production outfit Glass Eye Pix. His writer/director credits inclu ...

's vampire film ''Habit.''

References

External links

Laptop official websiteTrust Me Records: Laptop
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartman, Jesse Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American male actors American rock guitarists American male guitarists American rock keyboardists American electronic musicians People from the East Village, Manhattan