Former Nickelodeon star Drake Bell at Stanhope House

STANHOPE — Former Nickelodeon star Drake Bell is more than an actor. He'll prove it when he brings his band to the Stanhope House on Friday night Jan. 19.
Though he had been acting since he was five, when he was filmed in his first commercial, Drake Bell (born Jared Drake Bell) didn’t start playing the guitar until he was cast in the 2001 TV movie Chasing Destiny, also starring the Who’s Roger Daltrey, who gave the young performer his initial lessons. As a teenager, though Bell was focusing on acting, he continued to play music and write songs on the side, and after a program he was in, Nickelodeon’s The Amanda Show, was canceled in 2002, and a spinoff, The Drake and Josh Show, was started (it first aired in 2004), Bell was able to finally show off his chops onscreen, writing the theme song, “Found a Way,” and playing an exaggerated version of his guitarist self named Drake Parker.
Heavily influenced by the Beatles and the Beach Boys, Drake released his debut, Telegraph, independently in 2005; soon after he signed to Universal, who put out his sophomore record, It’s Only Time, the following year. The live album, Drake Bell in Concert, appeared in 2008 and it wouldn’t be until 2011 that Drake would release any new material, with the stopgap EP A Reminder. In 2014, Bell released his third album, Ready Steady Go! under indie label Surfdog Records. Ready Steady Go! debuted at #182 on the Billboard 200, and sold 2,000 copies in its first week of release.
Doors open at 6 p.m., with opening bands starting at 7 p.m.
For tickets and other information about this show and others at The Stanhope House, go to www.stanhopehousenj.com.