Max Beal

Max Beal is a singer-songwriter and pianist splitting time between Ohio and Nashville, building a catalog around catchy melodies, dramatic theatrics, and a soul foundation pulled from Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Prince, and David Bowie.

Raised in Dover, Ohio, Max started playing piano by ear at seven and fell hard for doo-wop — the harmonically dense acapella sound of Harlem's streetlight era. He recorded his first album, Streetlight Serenade, at fifteen, then spent a summer working a local power plant job to fund a basement studio where he built out the rest of his early catalog.

In 2018, Max became the first-ever solo act to win GROOVE U's Instaband battle of the bands, which led to a deal with Elementary Records and a run of releases — New Love (his Spotify/Apple Music debut), the Change and Dumb in Love EPs, and the concept album Xplode, released on his eighteenth birthday.

Max has since taken the show to Nashville, including a June 2024 set at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge and a spot on the Bus Call Nashville bill at Category 10, where he debuted the new single “Sparkle Boy.” He keeps a steady circuit of rooms in Ohio and Nashville running in parallel with the new Nashville push.