De Phazz

Karl Frierson
Karl Frierson was born in Florence, South Carolina, and at a early age his talents in music and theatre were recognized and supported.
At the age of 9, a chance meeting with his fellow statesman Dizzy Gillespie, inspired Karl to decide to follow his dream in becoming an international entertainer. Karl was a part of many magnet programs in the US for the musically gifted and talented, one of which, involved faculty members of the University of South Carolina.
In 1983, Karl became the youngest choral student in his high school to achieve the honor of Honors All-State Chorus.
In 1985 he became the first student in his school to receive a summer scholarship to the South Carolina Governor´s School Of The Arts held at Furman University in Greenville South Carolina. There he worked intensivly with the faculty from the highly acclaimed North Carolina School for the Arts.
After declining a scholarship to study classical music in Italy, Karl opted to attend Georgia State University and received exposure to the entertainment business in The Southeast. The entertainment business became so tempting to Karl, that to the disappiontment of his university professors, he left GSU to persue a career in the entertainment business.
After two years, for Karl, the business was moving too fast for him and he wanted to slow down. To the disappointment of his talent agents, Karl left the business and joined the US Army as an Infantryman, a choice that was very far away from the entertainmant business.
After three years in the Infantry, Karl accepted a special assignment the the US Army Europe Band and Chorus. During the duration of his military career (5 years), he performed over 800 shows as a musical ambassador throughout europe.
Karl finally accepted his entertainment talent as something that should be taken seriously and took the step with entertainment as a profession.
To make a long story short, the rest is history!

Pat Appleton
Tochter einer deutschen Mutter und eines liberianischen Vaters, fing während ihres Politikwissenschaftsstudiums in Heidelberg einen Nebenjob als Sängerin an und stellte bald fest daß sie sich weit besser als Botschafterin der Musik eignete als - wie ursprünglich geplant - ein Sprachrohr der Politik zu sein.
Nach einer Gesangsausbildung und diversen Stationen als Lead- und Background Interpretin für zahlreiche Pop- und Jazzbands, und nach Ausflügen in die Werbe- und Filmmusik schloß sie sich 1999 dem Heidelberger Klangkollektiv De-Phazz an, bei dem sie zusätzlich als Texterin und Komponistin kreativ ist. Nicht zuletzt ist sie auch ein gerngesehener Gast bei Bands wie Jazzkantine, Nighthawks oder dem Bahama Soul Club, mit denen sie ebenfalls Songs geschrieben und veröffentlicht hat.
Als „eine der wichtigsten Stimmen des zeitgenössischen, deutschen Jazz“ (3sat) bereist Pat Appleton heute mit De-Phazz die ganze Welt. Im September 2007 veröffentlichte sie ihr erstes Solo Album „What’s Next?“ das in Zusammenarbeit mit Produzenten aus Dänemark, Deutschland, Österreich Italien und Japan entstanden ist.