Foto: MediaVibre

SoulGreg Artist

is an academic musician, composer, guitarist, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and a music producer.

He is a top and experienced Slovenian musician. He has been wholeheartedly dedicated to music since the age of six and is a composer, guitarist and singer, as well as a multi-instrumentalist and music producer.

His music has a unique sound and it is in Slovene and English in which melodic rock, pop and soul predominate. On stage he is a guitarist and a singer with a soul / R & B / rock sound. In his music he has, among other things, given the guitar back its leading power, which gives him the unique style and additional recognition.

SoulGreg Artist is a professional academic musician who completed his jazz guitar studies at the University of Music in Graz, Austria, and has performed abroad, including London, Atlanta and Los Angeles. In addition to being a singer and a guitarist, he is also a composer and producer with a very broad opus that encompasses the elements of rock, pop, soul, R&B, jazz and classical music. His life is his inspiration. That is where the realness of his message and music comes from. He arranges and records each peace completely independently.

SoulGreg Artist performs with BigLights Band. n eight-member band made up of excellent and experienced musicians, including his wife Nina:

Miran Pečnik – bass GUITAR

Nina Bezenšek – back voCALS

Tina Zidanšek – back voCALs

Dejan Žafran – back vocals and keyboards

Uroš Eferl – guitar

mag. Mojca Eferl – piano

Damjan Vajde – saxophone

Tomaž Jelen – drums

Foto: MediaVibre

SoulGreg Artist’s performances and concerts are sensational as they are charged with emotions, full of powerful music and are therefore a top-notch experience.

“I dedicated my life to music and love. I am a student of life every day. “

In his private life, SoulGreg Artist is a dedicated, loving husband and father. He is also a great philanthropist and humanitarian. In the wake of his life’s tragedy, the loss of his two-and-a-half-year-old son Viljem Julijan, he and his wife Nina founded the Viljem Julijan Association, which helps children with rare diseases and their families.

Gregor Bezenšek – SoulGreg Artist was born in 1983 in Celje, Slovenia and has been a musician by heart and soul since he was just little boy. It was back then when he was just a little boy, when he first saw a guitar on television,  he knew in that moment that his destiny was written to music and that he would be a musician for life.

“I always knew I was going to be a musician, just that and I never thought for a second that I could be anything else. “

He started attending music school at the age of six. He additionally showed his musical talent, when he wrote and arranged his first original composition at age ten. A year later, he formed his first rock band Gaad Band, being the lead singer and guitarist. With Gaad Band he recorded his first album, being the author off most tracks. They performed all over Slovenia and were very popular among the youth.

At just sixteen, he enrolled to go study jazz guitar at the renowned University of Music and Fine Arts in Graz, Austria. With only two months time to prepare for the demanding entrance exams, he came before the admissions committee at the university. The professors did not take him seriously at first, because of his youth and asked him with a laugh, if he knows how to turn on the electric guitar. However, he then impressed them so much with his  performance, that he was admitted to the university despite his young age.

During his studies, he devoted himself entirely to music, and he also performed a lot with his then jazz band. At the age of 21, he successfully completed his music studies, as then one of the youngest graduates in the history of the university.

His next turning point in his life came, when he  was encountered with modern R&B and soul music, while studying guitar.  He was completely taken over by R&B and soul music.  He loved these sounds so much, he started writing his own pieces, which were the combination of these genres. During this period, he released self-produced R&B songs such as Feelin ‘so Bad, I Miss You, Is it Cool, See you Girl, So in Love with You, Nothing Better Than Love feat. Mario Moore, So Hot feat. Deuce, Queen Balla feat. Money Cren …, in which he once again showed his great talent and professional production perfectionism, as he wrote, played all the instruments, sang, and recorded all the songs himself. His R&B songs have also impressed some foreign producers, who have been fascinated by their excellence.

Despite working with record labels and producers abroad, especially in the USA and Great Britain, he decided to continue his musical career in Slovenia for personal reasons. Along the way, he met and became acquainted with many musicians and different musical genres, to which he constantly developed personal respect and consequently incorporated them into his music. In doing so, he constantly broadened his musical horizons and grew in his freedom of creating different music and expending his musical depth.

 Because of his eagerness of learning and constant delving into music, he began to integrate elements of rock, pop, jazz and classical music making the electric guitar his lead.

In 2013, a new chapter in his musical journey began. He started collaborating with the band BigLights Band. He introduced his band to the public with the song O, bog, povej, followed by the songs Novi svet and Lay Your Body Down. One of his major successes during this time was the listing of his songs on the acclaimed international music TV station iConcerts, where his concerts were broadcasted.

 During this period he created many songs in both Slovenian and English, including: Something ’bout Love, Life’s Amazing, Deus Symphony, Let the Love Win, I can’t live Without You, Happy Birthday Song, Ella Vita, If You Set Yourself Free, Lovecaine. In 2015, he also released the album Let the Love Win.

 

“Music is like space; it has no end and knows no boundaries.
The more the artist is free from his prejudices, the bigger his music is.”

In 2017, a deep and shocking turning point occurred in his personal life, which deeply and permanently left a humongous mark on him and his musical creativity.
This was the year, his son Viljem Julijan was born, who was diagnosed, soon after birth, with a deadly rare disease, for which there was no treatment or cure. As a family man, he devoted himself entirely to caring for his son, who needed 24-hour care at home.

The music that followed, was music that reflected great pain and love for his beloved son. SoulGreg Artist wrote and made songs dedicated to him – My Eternal Love, A fairytale for Prince and a Ballerina, Viljem Julijan (In cor meo in aeternum) …
In 2018, he and his wife Nina founded the humanitarian Society Viljem Julijan, with which they wholeheartedly help children with rare diseases and their families.

During this period of his life, music helped him heal his pain as he was able to express his emotions and feelings through it. At the same time his music gained a new dimension and breadth. The songs, Ko se srečava v raju (Cum occurimus nos in paradiso) and Še živim, were created.

The farewell of Viljem Julijan in 2019, at the age of two and a half, left him with great pain and sorrow, but he decided not to give up, to live and do what he does best, make music .

His son left, but he gave him a large part of him, the part he had never known before. His existence within him is forever in SoulGreg Artist`s heart and will shine through his music.

In spring 2020 the coronavirus epidemic burst out. During these hard times SoulGreg Artist also began to create arrangements of well-known Slovenian and foreign songs.

“In these times of distress and anxiety, during the epidemic, I`ve been inspired to give my support to people through music, which they know well and are already emotionally connected to. Therefore, I felt the need to create my arrangements of songs, which I also deeply respect. “

During this time, he recorded many covers foreign and domestic hits, such as Hallelujah, The Prayer, We Are the World, Lean on Me, Imagine, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Med iskrenimi ljudmi, Vjeruj u ljubav and many others. His covers hit a great response and have touched many people in Slovenia and abroad.

Today, SoulGreg Artist is full of life and inspiration, creating more and more music. He is more musically free than ever before and he is more powerful in his singing, instrumental and compositional expression than ever. His story is and will be a story of music and love.

“My relationship with music holds a deep connection that has been within me all my life. It reaches my deepest senses and it is my inseparable companion on all my journeys my life has before me. I grew up through music and I will grow with it `till the end of my days. Through music I love, I cry, I laugh, rejoice and through it I also mourn and heal. That is why my music is always a genuine reflection of myself. I had always said: if you want to know who I am, you don’t have to read my story, just listen to my music.”