Brian Vander Ark (The Verve Pipe)

A virtual entertainment renaissance man, Brian Vander Ark has imbibed music, theater, and movies. He is best known as the frontman for the pop band the Verve Pipe, which scored a hit in 1996 with "The Freshmen," from its album Villains. The track earned the band an ASCAP Pop Award. Vander Ark began playing guitar at age eight and writing songs at age 16. Although underage, he honed his skills playing five one-hour sets nightly in Holiday Inn bars five nights a week, earning 275 dollars weekly. At age 18, he joined the U.S. Army and, upon his release, returned to Holiday Inns. Tired of playing covers, Vander Ark joined the band His Boy Elroy as a guitarist. He eventually quit and started the band Johnny With an Eye. In 1992, he disbanded Johnny With an Eye to form the Verve Pipe with Donny Brown. The Verve Pipe fared well, becoming one of the Detroit area's most popular bands in the mid-to-late '90s. Vander Ark and the rest of the Verve Pipe released five albums: I've Suffered a Head Injury (which was re-released as an EP) in 1992, Pop Smear in 1993, Villains in 1996, The Verve Pipe in 1999, and Underneath (produced by Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger) in 2001. Vander Ark used the Verve Pipe's downtime to explore his interest in theater and cinema. In the summer 2001, he appeared as Charlie Bowdre in The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, written by Michael Ondaatje (The English Patient) and performed at La Jolla Playhouse at University of California San Diego. On film, Vander Ark played a country singer in the independent film Road Kill, which premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. It earned an Audience Choice Award. He also appeared in Mergers and Acquisitions. Also in 2001, he played red leather pants-wearing Ricki, the mullet-topped bassist in Mark Wahlberg's character's band Blood Pollution in Rock Star. Besides acting in the movie, which also starred Jennifer Aniston, Vander Ark wrote the love song "Colorful," which Wahlberg's character channels at the end. In 2003, he wrapped up a "comedy but over-the-top slasher film" Dead and Breakfast. The same year, he self-released his 11-song solo debut, Resurrection, a collection of whispery songs that Vander Ark has drawn from painful breakups (the ballad "And Then You Went Away"), the rigors of living up to a record company's expectations (the punchy "Written and Erased"), and death ("When I'm Gone," from the 2002 Angelina Jolie movie Life or Something Like It). The tune "1229 Sheffield" was also on the 1998 soundtrack for the movie Clay Pigeons. Resurrection saw a rerelease in March 2004.
— Christina Fuoco , All Music Guide