Former B3 Member Blair Late Featured on Latest Bravo TV Reality Show!

     The life of a retired boy band pop star continues to remain a mystery in Hollywood, never usually chronicled after the singer leaves their respective group and the sought after spotlight. Many artists unfortunately wallow in the past, dreaming of performing for a crowd of thousands again one day, while some use their time in the limelight wisely as a platform to achieve goals they previously left on the back burner. 

               
     Growing up in the small Texas town of Odessa, famous for its football addiction and being the setting for the film “Friday Night Lights”, Blair Late, the flamboyant, singing, dancing, and hyper-active kid, stuck out from the other macho-type, football player jocks. Following his high school graduation, Late traveled to California and New York to achieve his dreams of pursuing his endeavors in the entertainment industry.

               
     After leaving the Lone Star State to attend UCLA for his freshman year of college, becoming the new third member of the boy band B3, a development deal with Columbia Records, having the duties of an entertainment reporter, and his engagement to the man of his dreams, Late will soon be seen as one-half of a couple to be featured on Bravo’s upcoming documentary series, “Newlyweds: The First Year”, set to debut on May 6. The sky is the limit for the 30-year-old, but he is not one to forget his roots.

               
     “Growing up in Odessa was surprisingly better than one would expect,” Blair says. “I had a fantastic childhood. I also had the pleasure of having my family send me to a well-known camp in New York. I had the best of both worlds. Small town values, great education met with glamorous summer camp where my friends consisted of Natalie Portman, Mandy Moore and Bryce Dallas Howard.”

               
     While Late does consider his hometown to be “one of the ugliest towns you’ve ever seen”, he singles out the fantastic people and the many opportunities the town gave him to perform and hone his theatrical skills. After starring as Seymor in his high school’s rendition of “Little Shop of Horrors”, the school’s first ever musical, the aspiring actor was part of the first cast that gave Permian High School their first district win in the One Act Play Festival and was eventually voted “Most Likely to Succeed” by his peers.

               
     However, the deserts of West Texas were not enough to fulfill Late’s ambitions. Blair traveled to California to attend UCLA. After making straight A’s during his first semester, his family allowed him to pursue other goals. He did not want the university to hold him back from chasing his dreams. Eventually he attained a solo record deal with Tommy Boy Records and left behind California for the lights of New York and never looked back.

               
     While recording solo music, he caught the attention of producers, which opened the doors for his big break. “The Berman brothers heard me and essentially bought me out of my contract and added me to the group B3 who was just coming off a number one record and in dire need of a replacement of the lead singer who had just parted ways with the group,” Late says.

               
     B3, which Late joined in 2002, were best known in Germany for their hit singles including their biggest success, a cover of The Bee Gees’ “I.O.I.O” which peaked at number four on the charts, and "You're My Angel". While the boy group did not find success in the states, B3 headlined events such as the Olympics in Athens and the Euro Cup in Portugal.

               
     When the European press got wind of the news of Late joining the group, his life changed overnight. After being thrown into a group with guys he barely knew, the artist experienced sold out tours, multiple hit singles and two successful albums, experiences he calls surreal and fantastic. Even with the group’s many accomplishments, Late’s eyes began to open to what was really happening.

               
     “Everything was happening so fast and was beyond anything I had ever dreamt about. Then eventually, reality set in,” Late says. “I was a product. I was forced back into the closet. At times, I was miserable and felt completely alone, all while I was doing what I loved, performing.”

               
     In 2004, during the promotion of the group’s third studio album, Late began to feel homesick, depressed and was over his time with B3. Finally, he asked to be let out of his contract to try a second chance at a solo career. With the other guys in the band ready to take a break as well, B3 disbanded after six more months of album promotion and a farewell tour.

     Late says the whole ordeal was bittersweet. He was glad the group had the opportunity to say goodbye to their fans on the tour, which ended in December 2004. The tour was extremely emotional yet gratifying for the artist. He started 2005 as a “free” individual.

     His pursuit of the much desired solo music career led to Late signing a rare development deal with Columbia Records. The record company paid a small fee to set the artist up with various writers and producers to let the creative juices start flowing. With 20 songs completed, he was asked to perform a small three-song private concert for the chairman of Sony Records and the A&R staff.

     “Nothing went particularly wrong. I was happy with my performance, but a week later I was dropped from my contract and Columbia Records and I parted ways. Their brief explanation was that they were only releasing one new pop act that year and it would not be me, rather The Jonas Brothers,” Late says. “Ironically, the Jonas Brother winded up having the same fate as me, they too were dropped. It seems that Columbia has a knack for letting go of talent.”

    Following his departure with Columbia, Late felt a change was needed. With a new passion for fashion and entertainment, he signed with a hosting/reporter manager in Los Angeles and started booking work with networks such as Extra, Access Hollywood, E! and the Style Network.

     He eventually made the transition of only discussing fashion to talking about everything pop culture had to offer the audience. Late says it was nerve wracking to have his fate in the hands of business executives once again, but this time around he was able to be himself. This led to a full time job with Australia’s number one television network.

     With many titles under his belt, Late added fiancé to the overflowing list. After meeting Jeff Pedersen at a mutual friend’s pool party in 2010, a last minute weekend trip to Catalina and a visit to Austin, Texas to see Late’s Alma Mater, UCLA, pull a win over the University of Texas at Austin’s Longhorn football team, Jeff proposed to the artist/actor/reporter in April 2011, on Blair’s birthday. There may be a sixteen-year age gap between the two, but Blair says the proposal was the happiest moment in his life.  

     “Life has been so good to Jeff and I and we are so happy to now share the rest of our lives together,” Blair says.

     Blair and Jeff’s dream wedding and first year of marriage will soon be chronicled on Bravo TV’s new reality documentary series, “Newlyweds: The First Year”, set to premiere on May 6. The show will follow the lives of four couples from the moment they say “I do” to their first wedding anniversary, sharing intimate details about themselves and their relationship along the way.

     Having worked in the entertainment industry for many years, a producer friend of Late suggested the newly engaged couple go in for a meeting when plans for the new Bravo show got underway. The couple says the opportunity was too good to pass up and became part of the official cast soon after.

     By joining the cast, Blair and Jeff agreed to have a crew with cameras follow them around almost everywhere during their first year as a married couple, a time that people say really makes or breaks a relationship. “Having the cameras in our life during the first year of marriage was like attending a year of intense marriage therapy,” Late says. “The cameras and in-depth interview process forced both Jeff and I to go inside our deepest selves. It forced a lot of issues out in the open for us to discuss and resolve or compromise.”

     Late says the entire experience was “an extremely comfortable and rewarding process”, worth putting his reputation on the line to prove to the audience that gay couples are just as normal as straight couples.

     The entertainment reporter says every couple deserves equal rights and hopes his small part on the upcoming show will help sway the opinions of Middle America. “I hope DOMA is overturned. I hope the U.S. government will recognize same sex marriage. Having the states recognize equality is not enough in the slightest. It must be the law of the land,” Late says.

     As a wedding gift to Jeff, Late jumped back into the studio to record “Love Calling (You Are There For Me)”, a self-written track dedicated to the first time the two men met. Blair says the song’s opening line; “It was love at first sight, on a hot summer Sunday night, when I first saw your face”, sums everything up in a nutshell.  The iTunes release of the song will coincide with the premiere of “Newlyweds: The First Year”.

    It took a long time for Blair to be comfortable with writing and recording again. “I believe it took me falling in love to do so,” he says. “At this point you never know, perhaps more music and a full-fledged album will be on my horizon.”  

     Late is all about setting goals and making them happen. From attending UCLA to his time with B3, from getting married to having a show on Bravo, all these accomplishments became reality due to his hard work, determination and passion.

     Even though Blair Late has a decorated resume with experience in music, theater, television and fashion most individuals can only ever dream about, he is quick to point out that he is far from done chasing everything he wants. Eventually he wants to become a fixture on American daytime television, just like he has done in Australia, and expand his current high quality cardigan line, Crest & Letters, into a chic fashion house.

     “I would like to be the first full time male panelist on The View. I think they are ready for that and I am the right person for the job,” Blair says. “If we are lucky enough, I would like to continue our relationship with Bravo in some capacity. I would also like to do Broadway, that is a long life goal.”
 

*This story appears as the May cover feature of Dallas-based Evoke Magazine, written by yours truly, print issue out this weekend. This is the original, unedited version of the story.