Before Yungblud would perform sold out shows
Including a set in Leeds that made him cry
Before Yungblud would collab with artists like MGK, Travis Barker, Charlotte Lawrence
and his girlfriend Halsey for their song “11 Minutes” which has more than 35 million
views on YouTube at the time of this recording.
Before Yungblud would have over 180k followers on twitter, more than 1 million followers
on Instagram, and close to 750k subscribers on YouTube at the time of this recording
Before Yungblud would drop songs like “Loner,” which has more than 6 million views, “Medication”
which has over 7 million views, “Parents” which has more than 11 million views on YouTube
and the original song “Tell It Like It Is” From the Disney Original Show “The Lodge”????
Before he would wear pink socks everywhere and be one of the most talked about new artists
in 2019, he would appear as “Oz” on the Disney show “The Lodge”
Yungblud has quickly become one of the most talked about new artists this year. From his
honest lyrics to his energetic personality and how intensely he connects with his fans,
it’s hard not to love this guy. But his journey to stardom has been a long road. In
fact, before he was performing with MGK and Travis Barker, he was performing with his
band on a Disney channel show! Everyone needs to get their break somewhere. We’re going
to get into his whole journey in this video cause that's what we do here.
What’s going on guys? It’s your boy Michael McCrudden walking you through the life and
career of Yungblud prior to fame, here for you of on course on Before They Were Famous.
We’ve recently covered Lizzo and we have a Rich Life on MGK coming your way shortly.
Before we start, I’ve got a trivia question for you though:
“What is the name of the character that Yungblud played in his first acting role back
in 2015?”
Place your guesses in the comments down below and I’ll see you guys after the intro.
Yungblud was born Dominic Richard Harrison on August 5, 1997 in Doncaster, England with
his two younger sisters Jenima and Isabella. His mother Sam was a stay at home mom who
took care of Dom and his father Justin worked at a guitar shop so Dom had music in his life
from an early age, always have access to instruments. Not only that, but his grandfather was actually
a musician as well, performing with the English rock band T-Rex a couple of times in the 70’s.
His grandad would also plays songs for Dom growing up. Dom took the inspiration and ran
with it. He was singing and playing guitar ever since he can remember. When he was 11
years old, he wrote a song on the guitar and showed his mom, or likely his mum as he would
have said it:
When he was 12, he performed through a PA system during a bingo night. Eventually, he
played in some cover bands, but nothing really went far. In school he loved music, art and
history but really hated math and science. He would often skip his math classes to spend
time in the drama center or in the music room. Dom’s music teacher wouldn’t tell anyone
about him skipping class. He studied theatre and performed in musicals like Westside Story.
At 14, he even performed in a musical with actor Matt Lucas.
But in school he was a bit of a trouble maker.
He said in an interview:
At school, some of my teachers didn’t like me, but some of my teachers loved me. It was
funny. I was a bit of a dickhead!”
One day at school, his friends dared him to pull off what he calls a “moonie,” which
I think we call “mooning” someone in North America. Aka pulling your pants down and showing
your butt to someone, aka what might now be known as the James Charles. Dom was never
afraid to tell it like it is, which would usually make some of his teachers a bit upset.
Yungblud was also diagnosed with ADHD but his mother didn’t want to put him on medication
in fear of numbing his personality.
He told Red Bull:
“I went to arts school in London for a bit but then kind of figured out that it wasn’t
right for me, it was kind of a place where they would tell me what to do and how to express
myself, and I didn’t agree with that,”
His time in high school didn’t last very long because at 16, Yungblud dropped out of
high school and moved to London to pursue a career as a rock star. He told ABC that
for the first couple of years out there, he was writing what he called “rubbish” music.
He had a YouTube channel called “IAmDomHarrison” where he posted videos of him covering popular
songs. We also found this old song of his called “Miss Those Days” where he was
singing under his last name “Harrison”
He also got drunk for the first time in Spain at 16:
Yungblud’s musical inspirations are pretty wide ranging. As a kid he loved the classics
like The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, but his dad also got him into bands like Oasis
and The Arctic Monkeys. Then he found Eminem, NWA and Kendrick Lamar.
“The thing about those artists is that they said what they thought and tried to move the
needle in culture, not just in music, and I think that kind of – very early on – gave
me sights to be rebellious and say what I thought. If I thought something was wrong,
I’d say it; if I thought somebody was wrong, I’d say it.
That inspired him to want to create a real message and movement behind his music. His
fashion was influenced by rockstars like The Who and Mick Jagger. But his first ever concert
was Canadian rockstar Bryan Adams. Summer of ’69 is an alltime classic.
Shortly after moving to London, Dom was found by Disney. In 2016, Dom was cast as a recurring
character on Disney’s “The Lodge.” Ironically his character in the show was an out of town
musician who stirred up drama.
He also appeared on Disney’s show “The Squeeze” as a reoccurring actor in multiple
roles including this:
I guess he was the original Doja Cat!
It was through his time at Disney that he met his management team, who helped him shift
away from Disney as he started to realize he had dreams of something bigger and wanted
to make a real impact with his lyrics. Somewhere along the line, Yungblud began to find his
sound.
He mixed pop hooks, hip-hop and punk feelings with cultural commentary into well-polished
singles. Eventually he moved to LA without much money but luckily his talent was found
by the right people.
His song “Tin Pan Boy” was aimed at property developers who wanted to tear down an important
area, his song “King Charles” targets modern capitalism. But it was his song “I
Love You, Will You Marry Me?” that really caught the attention of the masses. He brought
a punk feeling back to mainstream music that has been missing for a while. And from there,
it seems like every single song he drops has become a cult hit.
In November of 2018, Dominic started dating singer Halsey. The two first met up in LA
for a drink and the rest is history.
She posted a picture saying:
darling dom. everyone who has met you in this life, for any amount of time at all, will
be changed forever because of it. for some, in small ways they won’t even realize. for
others, in a life changing wave. and every single one of them will be better, from having
crossed your path for even a second. you leave an irrevocable shine on every soul you come
in contact with. mine is gleaming. 💡 happy birthday, I love you.
And Halsey told Rolling Stone that a typical night for them might include listening to
The Beatles, ordering Chinese food and writing poetry on their typewriters
Dom also said in a 2019 that his sexuality is very fluid, stating:
"I am more straight. I'm very happy in my relationship with my girlfriend. I'm pretty
in love to be honest. She's a total babe. But if I hadn't met her and I walked down
the street and met a fucking bloke tomorrow, or a trans person, you never know. It's about
connection. I'm very fluid about it".
He said about his intent with music:
‘At the minute I feel like young people are not being listened to, so music is how
I can express my opinions and create change. If we fight, we win.’
Also stating:
I wanna be an artist that doesn’t tip toe on eggshells – I want to say it as it is,
and that’s what I’m here to do, you know?”
In terms of his first big purchase with his musical success:
But before his Disney break, in 2015, Dom appeared in an episode of the TV Show “Emmerdale.”
His character’s name was Matt. And there you have the answer to your question from
the beginning of the video. But that’s all I got for you
in this one.