Born on the French Caribbean Island of Guadeloupe and raised in Paris, singer/songwriter Joel Virgel has made two CDs, been profiled in Vanity Fair, co-starred in the Roland Emerick film "10,000 BC," played drums and percussion in the bands Wild Colonials and Brazzaville, and sung backup vocals for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. His face familiar from many roles in movies, television, and commercials, Virgel has also lent his big, velvet voice to countless movie soundtracks. Joel's musical world is broad, encompassing the sounds of Brazil, Africa, Europe, and the classic R&B and jazz of the United States. Singing in both French and English, he has an unerring ability to penetrate to the core of a song without a trace of the maudlin or obvious. The debut CD "Amor Amer," which garnered much critical praise for its treatment of the sensitive subject of love - fresh and fading, sad and joyous - is now followed by the spring, 2013 release of "It Happens to Us All." And it does. All of us face the same emotional minefields; the same perilous voyage across the stormy seas of love and loss, life and death. In "It Happens to Us All," Joel and co-writer/producer/musician Kenny Lyon (Divinyls, Lemonheads, Brazzaville, Jann Arden, Mark Curry, Larkin McLean, Jim Bianco, Petra Haden, Joe Frank, Los Super Elegantes, among others) have crafted a set of beautiful songs that illuminate the happiness and sadness, heights and depths, victories and defeats, and trials and breakthroughs of love and life. Joined by stellar musicians Mike Bolger, Scott Breadman, Mike Boito, David Ralicke, Matt DeMerritt, and Doug Mathews, Virgel and Lyon have created a soundscape that ranges between downtempo Ibiza and carnival-time Rio; the cool breath of Lady Day serenading Billy Strayhorn, and the hot blast of a tropical dancehall.