Jaye Muller

Jaye Muller
Jaye Muller in LA, 2006
Background information
Birth name Jens Müller
Also known as Jaye Muller, J., Count Jaye
Born (1967-12-23)23 December 1967
Berlin, German Democratic Republic
Genres
Occupation(s) Musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur
Instruments Drums, guitar, keyboards, vocals
Years active 1983–present
Labels PolyGram, A&M, PolyEast
Associated acts Muller & Patton, Ben Patton, Jack Rieley, die anderen, Count Jaye & The Hard Beats
Website countjayeandthehardbeats.bandcamp.com

Jaye Muller (born Jens Müller) is a German Internet entrepreneur and musician who performed under the name J., and later in a duo named "Muller & Patton" with American musician Ben Patton and under the name "Count Jaye" (2015). In 1992, he released his second solo album, We Are the Majority. As of 1996, it had sold 350,000 copies worldwide.[1] He later co-founded, together with Jack Rieley, the internet company JFAX, now j2 Global (NASDAQ: JCOM), which allowed its users to receive multiple types of media through their email. Müller is no longer active in the company since 2004, but remained shareholder until 2016.

Musical career

Born in East Berlin, Muller (then Müller) left Germany for Paris, France in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Before leaving, Muller played as drummer in the East Berlin underground band die anderen in the mid 80s. In March 1992, he signed a contract with PolyGram.[2] Later that year, he used some of the money from this contract to start the weekly newsletter Germany Alert, which chronicled neo-Nazi activity and warned of human rights abuses in Germany.[3][4] Muller was nominated for the Reebok Human Right Award for this work. In 1992, J. was the victim of a home invasion and robbery by three thugs in his apartment. The robbers stole everything they could find pertaining to J.'s music, but no valuables. As of January 1993, the identities of the robbers were still unknown, but J. suspected they were neo-Nazis.[5] In January 1993, he also released his second solo album, We Are the Majority, in the United States on A&M Records. It had previously been released in France in October 1992.[3][4] In interviews, Muller expressed his views that the German government should somewhat restrict their people's freedom of speech to prevent fascism from experiencing a resurgence there, after the German Unification/Annexation of East Germany.[3] He titled his album We Are the Majority to serve as a rallying cry to those in Germany who did not want their country to succumb to right-wing extremists again, but who felt they could do nothing about it. As he told the New York Times,

If you take all these minorities and put them together, we are the majority and can change everything. But we have to use the voice we have. We have to say that we want justice.[4]

Müller released several other solo albums as well as albums in partnership as the duo "Muller & Patton". In 2015 Muller released a rock album "Bandages Cover The Looting" under the name "Count Jaye & The Hard Beats" co-produced by Müller himself and industry veteran Morris D. Temple.

Critical reception

Steve Hochman of the Los Angeles Times called the music of We are the Majority "a solid, one-man-band rap-rock collection reminiscent of the Dutch group Urban Dance Squad."[3] In a 4-star (out of 5) review, AllMusic's Roch Parisien called the album "A disc that helps tear down that intimidating wall that separates rap and rock."[6] Billboard wrote that "tracks like "Keep the Promise" and "Born on the Wrong Side of Town" "successfully incorporate elements of rap, rock, funk, and pop."[7]

Business career

With his manager, Jack Rieley, he went on to co-found the company JFAX Personal Telecom Inc. (now j2 Global) in 1995.[8] The company allowed users to receive numerous types of media through email, including not only emails, but also faxes and voice messages. It did this by assigning each customer a phone number that received voice messages and faxes, then rerouts them to an email account.[9] He got the idea for the company when he missed his faxes while traveling to different locations on tour.[1][10] In 2000, Muller was nominated for the "Entrepreneur Of The Year Award". He later chose Richard Ressler to be the CEO of JFAX.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 Sreenivasan, Sreenath (23 September 1996). "Expanding the Boundaries of E-mail". The New York Times.
  2. ↑ Farber, Jim (14 December 1992). "Firing Back At Germany`s Hatemongers". Orlando Sun-Sentinel.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Hochman, Steve (9 January 1993). "This Rapper Backs Limits on Speech". Los Angeles Times.
  4. 1 2 3 Rule, Sheila (27 January 1993). "The Pop Life". New York Times.
  5. ↑ Fisher, Marc (17 January 1993). "He's Hot. He's Sexy. And Someone Wants Him Dead". The Washington Post.
  6. ↑ Parisien, Roch. "We Are the Majority Review". AllMusic.
  7. ↑ "Album Reviews". Billboard. 1993-02-06. p. 53.
  8. ↑ Schlender, Brent (7 July 1997). "Cool Companies these Days". Fortune.
  9. ↑ Berry, Colin (1 May 1997). "Just the Fax, Ma'am". Wired.
  10. ↑ Savitz, Eric J. (11 November 2002). "Partying Like It's 1999". Barron's.
  11. ↑ Williams, Geoff (1 September 2000). "Stop-Gap Measures". Entrepreneur.
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