Malik Alston

Official Biography (courtesy of Malik Alston) 

Malik is a lifelong Detroiter who is a multitalented musician and performer. He began as a singer at a young age, singing gospel at Hartford Memorial Baptist Church and in community choirs.  Malik performed in several high-school groups, including his own vocal groups, Voices of Joy and Love. He has studied vocal music and electrical engineering at Wayne State University. Malik has acted and sung in several touring gospel plays. He has appeared as a featured vocalist with gospel and R&B artist Ortheia Barnes.

His poetry and music performances have been featured with the poetry troupe EmRuop and in concert with the Last Poets, Gil Scott-Heron and Jessica Care Moore. Malik has been warmly received in performances at the Detroit Institute of Arts, 2005 Fuse-In: Detroit's Electronic Movement (performing with Mike Clark), Movement 04: Detroit's Electronic Movement Festival, 2003 Movement Festival, the 2000 - 2002 Detroit Electronic Music Festivals and the Detroit Public Library's Noontime Concert Series. He has also entertained audiences at several appearances at the Winter Music Conference in Miami, Florida and at Club Module in Tokyo, Japan (Beatdown Sessions Series).

Malik's releases include several poetry/music discs, Malik's Mind and Poetic Reflections  (Truth Manifest Records). Malik's CD projects also include the house/dance release Conscious Exposure and the piano jazz stylings heard on Dinner Music  (Truth Manifest Records). Malik has released a well-received solo EP, Caterpillar  (Third Ear Recordings).  His original jazzfusionhouse compositions provide a creative framework for Painted Pictures, a band he founded in 2001. Painted Pictures released its debut project, Tuxedo Sessions, in May 2004 (Truth Manifest Records). The band continues to entertain audiences at its new Wednesday weekly, The Pocket, presented by Truth Manifest Records at 5th Avenue Downtown.

He is one of the featured artists on the Detroit Beatdown Vol. 1 compilation (Third Ear Recordings), the African Diaspora Vol. II  compilation for Cranbrook Art Museum (Time Machine Commercial Recording Studios), In The Dark :The Soul of Detroit compilation (Still Music), the Detroit Soul compilation (Unisex Recordings), and the title track for Recloose's Cardiology project (Planet E). Malik has also released the recent singles Back 2 Chicago with Roy Davis, Jr. and Doc Link (King Street); Inside, a collaboration with John Arnold, featured on his Neighborhood Science project (Ubiquity Recordings).  His latest solo project will be released in fall 2005 on Mahogani Music.

Malik is honored to have received a nomination as 2005 Outstanding Electronic/Dance Writer Producer of the Year at the Detroit Music Awards. Malik continues to produce and write for a number of national and international artists. He continues to collaborate with many artists, including Alton Miller, Amp Fiddler, :brownstudy, Roy Davis, Jr., Doc Link, John Arnold, Recloose, Javontte, Jerry the Cat, Jabril Sun, Szymanski, Keith Worthy, Dwayne Jensen and Mike Grant.