Oliver Tree Nickell (born June 29, 1993) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and filmmaker. Born in

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish language, Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the largest city and the county seat of Santa Cruz County, California, Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population ...

, Tree signed to

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

in 2017 after his song "When I'm Down" went viral and released his debut studio album '' Ugly Is Beautiful'' in 2020. He achieved international recognition with his songs " Life Goes On" in 2021, and " Miss You" in 2022. He released his second studio album '' Cowboy Tears'' on February 18, 2022, and his third studio album '' Alone in a Crowd'' was released on September 29, 2023.

Early life

Oliver Tree Nickell was born on June 29, 1993, in

. Tree studied business at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

for two years.

Career

2010–2016: Early career and hiatus

Tree launched his solo recording career as "Tree" in 2010. By then, he had made presentations for performances such as

Skrillex Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ, record producer, musician, singer. Raised in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he began his career in 2004 as the lead vocalist of the ...

and

Zeds Dead Zeds Dead is a Canadian electronic music duo from Toronto consisting of Dylan Mamid, also known as DC, and Zachary Rapp-Rovan, also known as Hooks. The duo rose to prominence releasing original music and remixes from 2009 to 2010 before becoming ...

. He initially self-released his music, releasing an album called "Splitting Branches" in early 2013. He sang and played guitar in a ska band called Irony, which was his first experience performing. He would produce dubstep for a brief period of time, as well as performing at music festivals such as Wobbleland 2011 in San Francisco. He mainly released music under the pseudonym "Tree". At age 20, Tree signed up with the London-based

R&S Records R&S Records is an independent record label founded in 1983 in Ghent, Belgium. R&S represents the initials of Renaat Vandepapeliere and Sabine Maes, the couple that created the label. R&S Records has had several subsidiaries, most notably Apollo R ...

and released his debut EP, ''Demons'' in August 2013. The EP gained some recognition after

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...

lead singer

Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician who is the vocalist and main songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. He plays guitar, bass, keyboards and other instruments, and is noted for his falsetto. ''Rolling Stone'' desc ...

approved of his cover of their song "

Karma Police "Karma Police" is a song by the English Rock music, rock band Radiohead, released on 25 August 1997 as the second single from their third studio album, ''OK Computer'' (1997). It features acoustic guitar and piano, and lyrical themes of insani ...

". Tree eventually found himself on hiatus as he went back to school, studying music technology at the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a Private university, private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for ...

2016–2018: Return to music and ''Alien Boy''

In March 2016, Tree returned to music, being featured on the song "Forget It" by

Getter A getter is a deposit of reactive material that is placed inside a vacuum system to complete and maintain the vacuum. When gas molecules strike the getter material, they combine with it chemically or by adsorption. Thus the getter removes small ...

, a part of his EP, Radical Dude! In November of that year, he made his first television debut, performing with

on ''

Last Call with Carson Daly ''Last Call with Carson Daly'' is an American late-night television series that was broadcast by NBC from 2002 to 2019. Hosted by former MTV personality Carson Daly, the series was initially formatted as a late-night talk show in line with '' ...

''. Shortly after the release of "When I'm Down" by

Whethan Ethan Snoreck (born May 25, 1999), better known by his stage name Whethan (formerly Wheathin), is an American DJ and music producer from Chicago. He gained recognition after his 2022 single "Lock It Up (Whethan song), Lock It Up," and the remix ...

featuring Tree in October 2016, Tree signed to

and a month later, graduated from the

. Tree often writes, acts, and directs sketches in comedy videos, and has worked with companies such as Fuck Jerry. He released his debut single as Oliver Tree "Welcome to LA" on May 26, 2017, accompanied by another single, "All I Got". In February 2018, Tree released his major-label debut EP, ''Alien Boy'', along with the double music video for "All That x Alien Boy". Tree wrote and directed the debut, which took over nine months to create. He spent five months practicing freestyle monster truck jumping at the Perris Auto Speedway and performed all his stunts in the music video. Tree has played at major festivals such as

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...

and Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, and performed as a special guest at

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colora ...

where he was subsequently named on ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. The paper covers music, arts, film, theater, culture, and other local news in the Los Angeles area. ''LA Weekly'' was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin (among others), ...

''s "The Best (and Weirdest) Fashion at Coachella" list in 2017. He was the supporting act on

Louis the Child Louis the Child (893 – 20/24 September 911), sometimes called Louis III or Louis IV, was the king of East Francia from 899 until his death and was also recognized as king of Lotharingia after 900. He was the last East Frankish ruler of the Car ...

's Last to Leave Tour (2017) and Skizzy Mars' Are You OK? Tour (2018), and was scheduled to join

Lil Dicky David Andrew Burd (born March 15, 1988), better known by his stage name Lil Dicky, is an American rapper, singer, comedian, and actor. He first received recognition after the music video for his 2013 song, "Ex-Boyfriend" became a viral video, v ...

and DJ Mustard on the Life Lessons Tour Fall 2018 before it was canceled. Tree toured North America and Europe with Hobo Johnson in 2018.

2018–2020: ''Ugly Is Beautiful'' and singles

Throughout 2018 and 2019, Tree released singles that would make an appearance on his debut album, '' Ugly Is Beautiful''. On December 7, 2018, Tree released his second music video, "Hurt", a single from the album. He travelled to Ukraine to film the video, which he wrote and co-directed with Brendan Vaughan, an up-and-coming music video director. On April 11, 2019, Tree released a standalone single, "Fuck", with the music video being released on the same day. His fourth music video and single, "Miracle Man", was released on June 7, 2019, with the video reaching 1.3 million views on the first day of release. Tree released his second EP, '' Do You Feel Me?'' on August 2, 2019, in which the song "Introspective" would make an appearance on the album. The EP gained generally positive reviews. On December 6, 2019, Tree released "Cash Machine", a single accompanied by a music video. Together with the single, Tree announced his debut album, ''Ugly Is Beautiful,'' and announced that the album would be released on March 27, 2020''.'' On March 25, 2020, Tree posted a message to his Twitter page, stating that due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, ''Ugly Is Beautiful'' would not be released on time. However, on May 19, the album's official release date was revealed to be June 12. On April 7, 2020, he released a sixth song from the album, "Let Me Down" along with a music video. On May 16, 2020, Tree set the

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

for the world's largest

kick scooter A kick scooter (also referred to as a push-scooter or scooter) is a Human-powered land vehicle, human-powered street vehicle with a mwod:handlebar#:~:text=: a straight or bent bar,usually used in plural, handlebar, deck, and wheels propelled by ...

, which he later uploaded a video of himself riding on in July 2020. 10 days later, he released his last single before the album, titled "Bury Me Alive" having a music video as well. On June 8, 2020, Tree announced his decision to delay ''Ugly Is Beautiful'' yet again, this time to July 17. He stated that, because of the issues of racism and police violence against black people going on during that time after the

murder of George Floyd On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black American man, was murdered in Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old White police officer. Floyd had been arrested after a store clerk reported that he made a purchase using a c ...

, he "did not believe it was an appropriate time" to release the album when "much bigger things" deserved attention. On July 17, 2020, ''Ugly Is Beautiful'' was released.

2021–2022: Deluxe versions of ''Ugly Is Beautiful'' & ''Cowboy Tears,'' collaborations, and critical recognition

Despite claiming that he was retired, he released the single "Out of Ordinary" on February 4, 2021, announcing the deluxe edition of ''Ugly Is Beautiful''. On May 28, 2021, Tree released a deluxe version of his debut album named '' Ugly Is Beautiful: Shorter, Thicker & Uglier'', from which the song "Life Goes On" gained notable popularity. He would later collaborate with Russian

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

band Little Big and release the single "Turn It Up", featuring Estonian rapper

Tommy Cash Tommy Cash (April 5, 1940 – September 13, 2024) was an American Country music, country musician. His elder brother was Johnny Cash. Background and career Cash was born in Dyess, Arkansas, on April 5, 1940, the youngest of four sons and thre ...

, from their collaborative EP ''Welcome to the Internet'', which was later released on September 30, 2021. On January 12, 2022, Tree released the single "Cowboys Don't Cry" and the single "Freaks & Geeks" on February 4, both from his second album, '' Cowboy Tears''. ''Cowboy Tears'' was released on February 18, 2022. On May 20, 2022, Tree released a single, "I Hate You" followed up by another single "Placeholder" on July 15. He would also announce a tour to accompany the album ''Cowboy Tears''. On August 5, 2022, he followed up the release of Cowboy Tears with a non-album single titled "Miss You" - a collaboration with German music producer

Robin Schulz Robin Alexander Schulz (; born 28 April 1987) is a German musician, DJ, and record producer. On 4 February 2014, he released the first single from his debut album, a remix of "Waves (Mr. Probz song), Waves" by Dutch hip hop artist Mr. Probz. T ...

and a remix of the song "Jerk" from Ugly is Beautiful. A month later, Tree collaborated with Polish-Irish DJ and producer "TWISTED" for "WORTH NOTHING", a Phonx-infused remix of the song Jerk. On October 28, 2022, the music video of Miss You was uploaded, and the song started to gain as much popularity as Life Goes On did in 2021. He then released a deluxe version of Cowboy Tears titled "Cowboy Tears: Drown the World in a Swimming Pool of Sorrow" on December 23, 2022.

2023–present: ''Alone in a Crowd'' and World Tour

On March 3, 2023, Tree released his first single of 2023, "Here We Go Again" with DJ and music producer

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...

. He followed up this release with a single titled "Bounce" released on June 20. The same day, he played a show at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado and announced that this song was the first single released that would be featured on his third studio album, '' Alone in a Crowd''. On July 17, Tree announced that his Alone in a Crowd World Tour would occur from October 2023 to February 2024. He would be scheduled to perform in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

with American rapper Sueco,

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

with

, and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

with rock band

Fidlar Fidlar, stylized as FIDLAR, is an American punk and garage rock band from Los Angeles. The band's name is an acronym for Fuck It Dawg, Life's a Risk, a skate mantra stolen from singer Zac Carper's former roommates. Originally, FIDLAR went unde ...

. On July 21, he released his second single from the album, "One & Only". He collaborated with upcoming underground dance music group Super Computer for his third single, "Essence" released on September 1, 2023. On September 15, a fourth single was released, "Fairweather Friends". ''Alone in a Crowd'' was then released two weeks later on September 29, 2023.

Discography

Studio albums

Independent albums

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Filmography

Television

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tree, Oliver 1993 births Living people People from Santa Cruz, California Musicians from Santa Cruz, California American alternative rock singers American dance musicians Singers from California Comedians from California American hip-hop singers American sketch comedians American dance-pop musicians American rock singers San Francisco State University alumni 21st-century American singers 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male singers American male comedians