Maitreya

Jamie Greenslade is best known in New Zealand as a member of the Christchurch group Dark Tower who took the nation by storm in the summer of 1999-2000 with the singles ‘Baggy Trousers’ and ‘The New Outlook’ feat. Dave Dobbyn. In 2001 he began recording under the guidance of DLT who then gave him the moniker Maitreya meaning a ‘Future Teacher’.

In 2002 Maitreya released the successful single ‘Lick-a-Lounge’ under Mai Music as well as becoming a popular On Air Personality at Auckland radio station Mai FM. He continued to collaborate with artists such as Nesian Mystik and Kat Theo while recording his demo ‘Comin 2 Amerika’ in anticipation of an August 2003 move to New York City.

For the next two years Maitreya immersed himself in New York’s Open Mic scene and in 2005 he released and sold over 500 copies of ‘Illegal Alien’, a mixtape style album hosted by The Game’s DJ, Kris-Stylez. He also secured an internship at Roc-a-Fella Records (Jay-Z) as a member of the ‘Street Team’ and in 2006 began his own live show, ‘Illegal’, which he continues to perform in and around the Lower East Side and Brooklyn, New York.

In November of 2006 Maitreya signed up to the online music site SellaBand.com and became an immediate sensation. The challenge was to raise $50,000 from fans on the site to be used to record an album with top of the line producers and production facilities. Maitreya became the 6th artist ever to raise the 50K on June 2nd 2007 and is now in the process of recording and co-producing his debut solo album with Brooklyn Noise Music (www.bknmusic.com).