Tyler Ray Ward (born March 12, 1984) is an American independent singer, writer and producer. On his YouTube channel he has 2+ million subscribers with 5+ billion views. Ward also has a strong social media following on sites like Facebook , Twitter , Instagram and Spotify.
Personal life
Before Ward had interest in music, his focus was on athletics. After graduating from high school, Ward enrolled at the United States Air Force Academy Preparatory School, where he studied and played football. Ward left the Air Force Academy after his first semester and transferred to UNC as a scholarship collegiate football athlete.
Musical career
Ward has become a well-known artist in part through his use of social media, posting a mix of covers and originals on YouTube. Ward has successfully completed five worldwide headlining tours and has played shows with many mainstream artists including Switchfoot, The Beach Boys, Aloe Blacc, The Jonas Brothers, The Fray, Yung Joc and many more. Through his music video career, Ward has performed and produced most of his early songs and many of the current ones in his parents' basement, which he later turned into a proper recording space. Nowadays, Ward produces most of his music on the road or in his Los Angeles recording studio. Ward was number five on Billboard's Top 100 Uncharted List and was also ranked on Billboard's Social 50 Chart for several weeks.
Ward coined the phrase "Social Media Artist' - which accounts for all full-time musicians making a living through online platforms. This new business has been considered the "future of the music industry." Ward pioneered the selling and streaming cover songs, legally, on iTunes and Spotify and has established the ability for artists to collect revenue through streaming monetisation.
In 2011, Ward performed a duet with The Band Perry, celebrating the Academy of Country Music Awards and went on a tour with Boyce Avenue. Later that year, Ward performed with Christina Grimmie live on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Their performance aired nationwide on October 10, 2011.
On September 25, 2012, Ward released an EP titled Hello. Love. Heartbreak. on iTunes. In early January 2013, Ward confirmed that he had signed with Sony Music Germany.
In June 2013 Global star Jason Derulo joined Ward by singing in the acoustic version of "The Other Side (Jason Derulo song)"
In October 2013, Warner Music Group retained seven YouTube stars, including Ward, Kina Grannis, and Peter Hollens, to help promote a new single by Hunter Hayes and Jason Mraz. Ward and the others independently recorded versions of the song, "Everybody's Got Somebody But Me," which were subsequently mashed up into a video posted exclusively on YouTube. This was the first such venture by Warner, whose senior vice-president for interactive marketing said optimistically that "or some kids, people like Kurt Schneider and Tyler Ward are people that they trust."
Ward released his album on October 18, 2013 titled Honestly. Honestly included 12 original songs that featured up and coming artists including Alex G. and Lindsey Stirling. Ward completed his 5th headlining tour in the winter of 2015 in Europe and North America.
In December 2015, he was picked as Elvis Duran's Artist of the Month and was featured on NBC's Today show hosted by Kathy Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb and broadcast nationally where he performed live his single "Yellow Boxes".
In 2016 after the tragic death of Christina Grimmie , Tyler released a music video named "A song for Christina Grimmie" dedicated to her and their friendship. Tyler recorded this song in a single take but breaks down towards the end of the performance.
In the year between 2017-18 Tyler ward released total 10 single original. And his "What its Like To Be Lonley" got a well responded in Digital platform.