Eric Stuart (born October 18, 1967 in Brooklyn, New York), is a voice actor, voice director, singer, songwriter, and guitarist. As the lead singer of his own band, the Eric Stuart Band (abbreviated ESB), he is an award-winning independent artist with a growing US and international fan base.
Stuart gained acclaim as a voice actor not only because of his performing ability, but also due to his remarkable skill in matching Japanese “lip flap,” which makes him exceptionally qualified for English dubbed anime. Among his many roles, he is most well known as the voice of Brock, James, and Squirtle in Pokémon (the first 10 years, seasons 1-8), as Seto Kaiba in Yu-Gi-Oh!, and as Gourry Gabriev in Slayers. His voice acting excellence has also earned him the job of voice directing, often while playing one or more characters on the same show.
Although he is an exceptionally skilled voice actor, Stuart is first and foremost a musician, and loves to perform on stage with his band--the Eric Stuart Band (ESB). He has toured with Peter Frampton (1999, 2000), Ringo Starr (1997), and Lynyrd Skynyrd (1997); and has opened for Jethro Tull (1997), Julian Cope (1995), Hall and Oates (1997, 1998), and Chicago (1995, 1997, 1998) as well. He has been influenced by many artists (Buddy Holly, Bruce Springsteen, Cat Stevens, Elvis, Neil Diamond, Jim Croce, and the Beatles), but his own musical style does not conform to any specific genre (usually in the vicinity of roots rock, folk, and country). Each of his albums has it’s own feel to it, but trademark features common to all include his unique his ability to convey varied emotions with his voice, story-telling lyrics filled with rhetorical devices (clever and witty enough to stand on their own as poetry), and a meticulous attention to quality and minute detail in every note. Stuart coins the term "concrete country" to describe his music--for this reason, some ESB fans jokingly but loyally refer to themselves as "ConcreteBlockHeads" (or "blockheads" for short). His band has made five albums to date, three of which are presently available world-wide: “Blue, Dressed In Black,” “BombShellShocked,” and “In The County Of Kings.” (For more information, see the wikipedia article on each album.) He is currently nearing completion of a new album for 2008.
