Louder Than The Music

Durban singer-songwriter John Ellis, who formed and fronted Tree63 - one of South Africa's most well known bands, launched his solo career in 2010 after more than a decade of international success.

Rock band Tree63 began life named simply Tree. They did what most bands do, by playing festivals and gigs around their local area, Durban in South Africa. Their debut album 'Overflow' sold 1000 copies and impacted the South Africa Christian Music scene. Then Tree broke up.

A few months later in early 1998, Tree had a change of heart and headed on a national tour of South Africa supporting MIC, next up was a trip to play in Europe where Tree made their debut at the UK's Soul Survivor festival.

Tree returned to South Africa with a record deal with Survivor Records and began working in April 1999 on the follow-up record, '63'. The album was released in July 1999 in the UK, and in December of that year in South Africa. The award-winning album spawned the hits 'A Million Lights', 'Stumbling Stone' and 'Treasure' which made a massive impact in South Africa's mainstream top 40 chart.

Tree (now re-christened Tree63 for the US market) released its self-titled US debut at the end of 2000. The band enjoyed two consecutive Number 1 radio hits, and garnered a Dove Award (the CCM equivalent to a Grammy) for Rock Album of the Year (2001) as well as a SAMA nomination for Album of The Year (2001). National US tours supporting established CCM stars ensued.

Tree63's recording of Matt Redman's 'Blessed Be Your Name' helped to spark the song's popularity. Chris Tomlin described the band's rendition of the song as "the definitive recording of one of the most all-encompassing songs in the entire world of Christian music." The song also inspired the band's Best-Of album, titled 'Blessed Be Your Name: The Best From Tree63'.

John found himself frustrated by the limitations of the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) market, and despite some notable successes, Tree63 struggled over the next eight years to exist beyond the genre.

John Ellis is now ready to establish himself as a solo artist, with the release of his self-produced debut solo album 'Come Out Fighting'. The first single from the album is 'Own Way Home', which John has described as "slightly oblique, tongue in cheek, cocky and earnest all at the same time."

Ellis admits that this is the album he has always wanted to make but was unable to, due to circumstances surrounding his previous recording contract. "For the first time in many years, I feel liberated as a songwriter. During the Tree63 years I was locked in a stylistic ghetto and there was no space for me to say what I was really feeling. This debut album is my first 'real' album in that it's about what I'm about. There's a lot of healthy indignation here and a lot of hope too, although this time it's wide-eyed and worldly, as opposed to disconnected and naive."