Willis Earl Beal (also known as Nobody) is an artist and musician.

Early years

Willis Earl Beal was born on the

south side of Chicago The South Side is an area of Chicago, Illinois, U.S. It lies south of the city's Loop area in the downtown. Geographically, it is the largest of the three sides of the city that radiate from downtown, with the other two being the north and we ...

, Illinois. In his early twenties Beal joined the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

, moving to

Fort Leonard Wood Fort Leonard Wood is a U.S. Army training installation located in the Missouri Ozarks. The main gate is located on the southern boundary of The City of St. Robert. The post was created in December 1940 and named in honor of General Leonard Woo ...

, Missouri. Beal was medically discharged from the army due to intestinal and visual problems. He then returned to Chicago where he worked at

Sears Tower The Willis Tower (originally the Sears Tower) is a 108-story, skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), ...

, following a five-month hospital stay.

Early career

In 2007, Beal moved to

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

, New Mexico. Here Beal spent some time

homeless Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

, and working entry-level jobs, notably as a night-shift security guard. During this time Beal began to record music, leaving CD-Rs in public spaces around Albuquerque. Beal would also leave self-illustrated flyers around the town in the hope of finding a girlfriend. One of these flyers was discovered by ''

Found Magazine ''Found Magazine'', created by Davy Rothbart and Jason Bitner and based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, collected and cataloged found notes, photos, and other ephemera, publishing them in an irregularly issued magazine, in books, and on its website ...

'' who put Beal on the cover of their magazine. ''Found'' later released a limited-edition box set called ''The Willis Earl Beal Collection'', which included Beal's poetry, artwork and a 17-song album. Through these flyers and the subsequent coverage in Found, Beal was contacted by more than 100 members of the public.

Music career

Beal participated in auditions for

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality, entrepreneur and record executive. He is the creator of ''The X Factor'' and ''Got Talent'' franchises which have been sold around the world. He has judged on t ...

's ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

'' television show, but dropped out of the "boot-camp" stage of the competition. In 2012, Beal signed a recording contract with

Hot Charity ''Hot Charity'' is the third album by the San Diego, California punk rock band Rocket from the Crypt, released in 1995 on the fictitious record label Perfect Sound Records (though this name appeared on the record sleeve no such label actually ...

, an imprint of independent record label,

XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been ran and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. Although only releasing an average of six album ...

. Beal's first single for the labels, "Evening's Kiss" was released on February 17, 2012, and the accompanying music video was illustrated by Beal. Beal's debut album, entitled ''Acousmatic Sorcery'' was released on April 2, 2012.

Discography

;Albums * ''

Acousmatic Sorcery ''Acousmatic Sorcery'' is the debut album by Chicago singer-songwriter Willis Earl Beal, released on April 2, 2012 by Hot Charity/XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halke ...

'' (

, 2012) * ''

Nobody Knows. ''Nobody Knows'' is the second studio album by musician Willis Earl Beal. It was released in September 2013 under XL Recordings. Track listing References

{{Authority control 2013 albums Willis Earl Beal albums XL Recordings albums ...

'' (Hot Charity/XL Recordings, 2013) * ''Experiments in Time'' (self-released, 2014) * ''Experiments in Time: The Golden Hour'' (self-released, 2014) * ''Noctunes'' (Electric Soul Records/

Tender Loving Empire Tender Loving Empire (often abbreviated "TLE") is an independent record label and local handicraft concept store based in Portland, Oregon. The record label side has established local and national recognition through a successful roster of indie r ...

, 2015) * ''Turn'' (cdbaby/TMB Limited, 2017) * ''Turn, Circle, Sun & Moon'' (cdbaby, TMB Limited 2017) * ''ALMS'' (Bandcamp, cdbaby 2018) * ''Morningstar'' (Bandcamp, Eyeless Records 2020) ;EPs *''Principles of a Protagonist'' (BitTorrent, 2012) *''A Place That Doesn't Exist'' (self-released, 2013) *''Curious Cool'' (self-released, 2014) *''Hourglass''(Bandcamp,2021) *''Blue Dawn''(Bandcamp, Eyeless Records,2021) *''Flying So Low / 12 Midnight''
TMB Limited
2015) 7 Inch Single *''Through The Dark'' (

, 2016) *'' A Chaos Paradigm'' (Tender Loving Empire, 2016) *''Circle'' (self-released, 2017) *''Sun & Moon'' (self-released, 2017) *''Sad Sam (Extended Player)'' (self-released, 2018) *"Feel/You" (2017])7 Inch single *"Dont You (Forget About Me)" cover *"3 ANGELS"in collaboration with Druidance

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beal, Willis Earl Living people XL Recordings artists Musicians from Chicago Year of birth missing (living people) United States Army soldiers American soul musicians American gospel musicians American male singer-songwriters Record producers from Illinois 21st-century American singers Singer-songwriters from Illinois 21st-century American male singers