Sam Winters

.... The Sam Winters sound was born in Milwaukee, WI in the spring of ’79 along with the man himself. His lifelong obsession with music began before he can even remember, growing up on his father’s extensive jazz and classical collection, his mother’s LP collection including The Talking Heads, Billy Joel, and Paul Simon, among others, and all the wonderful 80’s music he could digest courtesy of a brand new television station called MTV. Little did Winters know, a mere two decades later he would hear his own music on that very station….. If Winters’ first stereo, a beige plastic Fisher-Price record player, could talk, it would tell tales of his older siblings’ record collections and the likes of Devo, The Kinks, The Grateful Dead, Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin, The Beastie Boys, and so much more. When finally he had a real stereo, he discovered a new love in the form of Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Wu Tang, and Snoop Doggy Dogg (as he was known back then). Winters had discovered his future calling; hip-hop and r&b music. Still, all of his old favorites remained. At age 10, Winters was forced to take up the clarinet, much to his dismay. He would have much rather played the saxophone, clearly a cooler instrument. Two years later, he took up the saxophone, soon followed by the guitar and bass guitar as he grew into a teenager. He spent countless hours in his bedroom playing along with all of his favorite music. After high school, Winters left Milwaukee and set off for Olympia, Washington to attend The Evergreen State College and find himself. He spent the next three years playing guitar and sax with various psychedelic rock bands and underground hip-hop groups. It wasn’t until his senior year, when he was finally able to get into his school’s music production classes and learn the ins and outs of both analog and digital recording and production, that he discovered his talents producing and composing music, as well as writing and playing it. Winters’ first song entirely written, played, and produced by him, “Your Boyfriend’s Got a Girlfriend, Girl”, was quite a hit among his classmates and professors. Throughout the fall and winter of 2000, you could catch quite a few music production students singing the chorus to themselves. In 2001 after graduating, Winters moved back to Milwaukee where he spent the next 3 years hard at work honing his craft. During this period, he wrote, produced and did vocals for 4 entire albums, which he never released. When he finally felt he was ready, Winters decided to leave the mic alone and stay behind the boards, working with various local artists and rappers from all over the country via the internet. In late 2005, Winters formed ShutDemDown Records with other area talent. Under the ShutDemDown umbrella, he executive produced and produced the bulk of 3 full length projects and more recently made the junp back to writer and part time lyricist. ShutDemDown has put on countless live performances around the area and received radio play including live interviews, garnering them a buzz and numerous accolades in the region. In 2006 Winters licensed 35 tracks to Bunim-Murray productions for use on various programming on MTV and the Oxygen network, including Real World/Road Rules Challenge and Bad Girls Club. He also produced the title track for the forthcoming feature length motion picture Streetballers. In 2007, Winters was featured in the cover story of late July’s edition of MKE Magazine, the city’s premier arts and entertainment magazine. Winters continues to excel in his musical endeavors and the time is ripe for his music to be heard on an international level. His unique style and influences set him apart from his peers in the field, and his writing abilities make him a double threat. Not just another beatmaker, Winters is a true producer and is superior at working with the artist on a creative level to make sensational music. The future is bright for Sam Winters, because Sam Winters is the future……