53 Thieves, with Bloomington's Caleb Ely, is stealing the show and the streams
The band 53 Thieves earned tens of millions of streams before its members — two singers and two producers — ever met face to face. They've yet to use a professional studio and lead singer Jess Mollie recorded some of her vocals at a refugee camp in Greece.
"There're no excuses these days," said Caleb Ely (EE-lee), the band's founder, who lives in Bloomington. "You can make hit records with people around the world. I did most of those (songs) without knowing how to play a single instrument."
53 Thieves is prepping for their first tour and in April will play their first music festival, at Florida Groves Music Festival, in Orlando, Florida. On Spotify they are grabbing just under 230,000 listeners each month.
"We have over 203 million streams," Ely said, then emailed this reporter a global streams chart. A label tracking 53 Thieves' success shows streams throughout the world, such as in Canada, Ghana, Hong Kong, New York City.
Who are 53 Thieves?
Caleb Ely, from Bloomington, is a producer who has released music with electronic and hip-hop elements since 2015.
Will Price is a producer from Jackson, Mississippi, who now lives in Austin, Texas. He's released r&b and soul-inspired instrumental hip-hop under the name Pryces since 2016.
Jess Mollie is a vocalist from Devon, England. Conor Jordan is a vocalist from Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Jess and Jordan have released electronic/r&b-inspired music under the name Denton Thrift since 2017.
Collaborations with Pop Smoke and Masego
"Our music was played in over 180 countries." Ely worked on the song “Like Me” by artist Pop Smoke, an American rapper from Brooklyn, New York, who won a grammy for best rap album: Ely's writing credit is listed in the song's information bar.
Pop Smoke was murdered at age 20 while being robbed in Hollywood Hills, California. From Jon Caramanica with The New York Times, comes this: "The months leading up to Pop Smoke’s death were packed with promise and adventure, persistence and trial. Interviews with 18 of his friends, colleagues and collaborators tell the story of this vital period."
Ely also collaborated with Jamaican-American singer and instrumentalist Masego, who was nominated for best progressive R&B album and produced “Wifeable,” a danceable, rhythm-y song that grabbed 15 million streams.
"Maybe (53 Thieves) doesn't have over 500 million," Ely said, "but you can say hundreds of millions of streams!"
Ely — he also goes by his solo-gig name, Ronin — started 53 Thieves as a global music project. In 2019 he partnered with Price. Ely heard vocalists Mollie and Jordan sing on another music project and told Price, "Your voices combined are perfect for the kind of music I want to make."
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Straight No Chaser spokesman vouches for 53 Thieves
Dave Roberts is an original Straight No Chaser member and business manager and entrepreneur. (Straight No Chaser started in 1996 at Indiana University and is a popular professional a cappella singing team.) Roberts said the 53 Thieves song "Dreaming" has more than 31 million streams, the band having more than 50 million combined streams.
"I certainly can vouch for (Ely) as a local producer and musician," Roberts said. "He’s one of those people who seems to have endless energy, and infectious enthusiasm."
53 Thieves' ear-filling song "Dreaming" is chill-drumming, electronic, pulsing, syncopated. Amid thumps of percussion, a warped sheet metal sound and staccato punching the finale, "Dreaming" offers whispery vocalists singing, "I don't give a f… about appearances. ... You've been dreaming. ... Come with me, I'll help you wake up." But somehow you don't want to wake up. The song is soothing you into its trance.
"I want success so bad"
Musicians and producers in the music business need a range of skills. "I personally love that," Ely said.
He craves accomplishment: "I want success so bad I'm willing to learn whatever I need to make it happen."
Ambition poking him, he strove for "the strongest band possible with the best producers and songwriters." Pryce is the best producer Ely knows, Mollie and Jordan the best writers.
Ely sees band-building as one might see bank-robbing.
"You need the best getaway driver, the leader, enforcer, the wise guy who can crack any safe," he said. "The music industry is almost impossible to break into, you need an A-Team. I built that and now we're on a huge rise."
"Don't Care" with Michael Bruner and collaborating with Ed Sheeran
"Don't Care" is an extravagant and unconfined song Ely co-produced and co-wrote with Michael Bruner, a Bloomington musician and sound designer. As with "Dreaming," that sensuous heartbeat escapes from a drum.
"I coulda been nice, I coulda been fair. . . . lovin' you right. . . but I just don't care … I gave you the night, but I just don't care. Said I didn't need you but I changed my mind. . .." Listeners sense that indeed a mind was surely changed.
Ely grew up in Bloomington and started DJ-ing at 16, which seeded his music business career. A couple of years later, he studied how to produce music and moved to New York City.
"I lived in Brooklyn for a while and that's where it all started. I made an Ed Sheeran remix and it blew up, I woke up to over 50,000 streams in one day."
That was it for Ely's college days; he stopped taking courses and has gone after music success ever since.
Who's 'Ronin'? He's (not) 'Fall-ing'
Ronin is the name of Ely's solo project, aside from the band. "My mother, Roni Griffith," Ely said, "was actually a famous disco singer in the '80s. She's the biggest influence on my music."
Ronin and Deverano's song "Fall" hit No. 3 on Viral Charts, which find songs that stir up the most excitement on Spotify. A song's position in the chart considers if it has recently spiked in plays. Also, if song sharing is up and how many new listeners have come across the song.
Ely produces, writes, sings and performs. His main instruments are piano and guitar. As producer, he constructs a song to provide a solid demo for the singers to write to.
"You want to give (the singers) space but also depth in the song so they can hear the potential. I have always lived by 'Don't just add, subtract.' I think the best records are the simplest."
Life outside music
Each week Ely volunteers at Community Kitchen of Monroe County in Bloomington. "When you're single with no kids you have some free time, haha. I also love giving back to the community."
He also trains in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, having earned a blue belt (the second adult rank), and competes in ballroom dancing.
"You have to conquer resistance. It ruins dreams, it does every day. The tunnel is always dark, there might not even be a light at the end of it, but there's a better you (for having gone through it)."
Find 53 Thieves on Spotify at http://tinyurl.com/yesbddzm.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: 53 Thieves band has almost 230,000 listeners before its first tour
