Bleu

Featuring contributions from Mike Viola, Andy Sturmer (formerly of Jellyfish), Hanson, and Jason Scheff of Chicago, Alpacas Orgling was meant to be similar to 1970s AM radio pop music, and is described by the band as an "alt-pop version of the Traveling Wilburys."

William James McAuley III (born July 18, 1975), best known by his performing name, Bleu, is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer.

He has written and produced songs for Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, John Oates, Michelle Branch, Hey Violet, Big Freedia, and the Jonas Brothers, and has won multiple Independent Music Awards for his work with Air Traffic Controller.

In addition to his solo act, for which he was signed to Columbia Records, McAuley has been in a number of bands over the years, including a duo with Alexz Johnson called Johnson & McAuley, Electric Light Orchestra-style power pop band LEO, and a Mutt Lange homage super-group called LoudLion with Taylor Locke of Rooney and Allison Robertson of The Donnas.

McAuley's songs have been featured on soundtracks like Spider-Man and The Hills Have Eyes 2.

Released via Lunch Records, it received generally positive reviews, but did not take off until Bleu's entry into the WBCN Rock & Roll Rumble, which he won in 2001.

This led him to local opening slots with Jump, Little Children and Ben Folds.

He would later win a Boston Music Award for "Best Boston Band" (as well as be nominated for 5 in his career), and land a major label contract.

Bleu's next album, Redhead (called "an all around power pop treat" by music critic Aidin Vaziri), was released in 2003 on Aware Records.

Two versions were released; both featured the song "Somebody Else," which was also on the Spider-Man soundtrack.

The first version of the album featured a song, "Sayonara," which had backing vocals from Puffy AmiYumi, and the latter version (released on Columbia Records) contained the single "Get Up," which received moderate national airplay.

The album was also released in Japan with the Puffy AmiYumi guest spot featured, followed by a short tour in Japan.

Bleu parted ways with Aware Records after a public dispute about the direction of submitted demos, and his third studio album, tentatively titled A Watched Pot, was not released by the label.

In 2006, a side project with Matt Mahaffey of Self called L.E.O. was released.

In July 2007, Bleu released two EPs on iTunes.

One is a collection of songs he wrote for friends and family members for their birthdays, simply titled Happy Birthday.

The other is credited to the band Blizzard of '05 (also the name of the album).

The 7-song EP was recorded by Bleu, some friends, and some former bandmates when they converted the basement of one of their houses into a recording studio, and holed up there during the Blizzard of '05, which swept across New England and shut down the city of Boston for five days.

In July 2008, Bleu and frequent collaborators Mike Viola and Ducky Carlisle released Aquavia as a band called The Major Labels.

Also in 2008, Bleu regained the rights to A Watched Pot.

It was released on July 14, 2009, through Artist Garage and Fontana Distribution.

In August 2010, Bleu made the decision to use Kickstarter to fund the release of his already recorded fourth album in the US.

(UK label Lojinx had agreed to release the album in Europe.) Fan contributions reached the target of $8000 within 10 hours and went on to raise a total of $39,645 to support the release and marketing of the album in America.

Kickstarter named the campaign Best Music Project in the 2010 Kickstarter Awards.

The new album, titled Four, was released on CD in Europe on October 25 on Lojinx and on November 2 in North America on Bleu's own "The Major Label" imprint.

The European digital release date was November 29.

It consisted of re-recorded songs from Redhead for its 10th anniversary.

The songs were released individually in digital form.

Another side project is a take on '80s rock called LoudLion (plays covers and originals), which plans to release a CD in 2011.

Bleu is also an in-demand songwriter and producer, working with such artists as Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Big Freedia, the Jonas Brothers, Boys Like Girls, and Michelle Branch among many more major label and independent acts.

In November 2012, a crowdfunding for Bleu's fifth record started at pledgemusic.com.

The campaign ended October 24, 2013, and was even more successful than Four.

One of the many offers from the campaign was the Redhead Record Club.

In 2014, he wrote and produced all the soundtrack songs for Tinker Bell and the Legend of the Neverbeast, one of which is a duet featuring himself and KT Tunstall on vocals.

Bleu graduated from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

Bleu was known in the local Boston music scene for his live shows and work with other musicians, and received some local notoriety for his debut effort A Bing Bang Holidang, which was a charity benefit for the Boston Institute for Arts Therapy.

A single from that record, "Boston All Star 12 Dayz," received some local airplay, featuring famous local musicians and acts from Guster and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones as well as Kay Hanley of Letters to Cleo and Bill Janovitz.

Bleu would soon follow with his Workaday Day EP before releasing his first proper album, Headroom.

In 2014, the re-recorded collection on CD was made available exclusively for pledgers.

The official release of To Hell With You was January 28, 2014.