BryanStars

Personal life

Odell was born on May 22, 1990 in Japan, where he lived until he was eight years old before moving to Nebraska. He attended Lincoln East High School where he graduated in 2008. He attended the University of Nebraska for two years and majored in Broadcast Journalism. However he made the decision to drop out early to focus on his YouTube channel, "BryanStars".

In 2011, Odell won a prize of $35,000 and a multi-day workshop with professional online bloggers at the Youtube Next Up! contest in New York City.

On February 11, 2017, Odell came out as gay.

Career

Odell is best known for his BryanStars Interviews, series on his YouTube channel, BryanStars. He publishes interviews and music videos from bands of the rock and heavy metal scene. Since 2008 he has interviewed acts such as Asking Alexandria, Tonight Alive, Pierce the Veil, Black Veil Brides, All Time Low, Sleeping with Sirens, The Ready Set, Blood on the Dance Floor, Escape the Fate, Blessthefall, Of Mice & Men, Memphis May Fire, Creed, Korn and Slipknot as well as artists like Rob Zombie, Keri Hilson, Cody Simpson, Mitchel Musso, and winners of American Idol.

In 2011, Odell developed and marketed a BryanStars clothing line. The line includes over 40 shirt designs, as well as bracelets, hoodies, posters, beanies and other items. Bryan also created "My Digital Escape," a collab YouTube channel which he developed and managed until 2016. The channel reached 800,000 subscribers and 80 million views.

In 2013, BryanStars Interviews was voted by music fans as the Best Music Blog in the Alternative Press Reader’s Choice Poll 2013. BryanStars Interviews was nominated for a Shorty Award for “Best Web Show” in 2014 along with Jerry Seinfeld.

Warped YouTube Program

In 2014, Odell was picked to be one of the “Warped YouTubers” along with Johnnie Guilbert, Damon Fizzy, CYR and Piddleass. The following year, Kevin Lyman (creator and founder of Warped Tour) made Odell the official host of the tour. Odell worked extensively with Warped Tour throughout 2015 as their official host on all social media, creating digital content to present and announce over 100 bands for the tour.

In 2015, Odell assisted Warped Tour in the continued development of their YouTube Program. Odell also taught a class on the 2015 Vans Warped Tour called "YouTube 101" where he taught aspiring YouTubers how to pursue a career in social media.

YouNow

Odell was one of YouNow's first paid live streamers and has been streaming on the site for over 6 years. To date he has conducted over 1000 live broadcasts on the website and has over 225,000 YouNow followers.

Musical endeavors

Odell was an A&R scout for Atlantic Records, Roadrunner Records, and Fueled By Ramen from 2013 to 2016. On March 21, 2016, BryanStars announced the release of a 5-track EP entitled "Follow Your Dreams". Pre-orders for the EP became available on iTunes and Google Play shortly after. It was released on April 1, 2016 and charted on Billboard at #22 on the Alternative New Artist Album Chart, #59 on the New Artist Album Chart and #128 on the Indie Albums Chart. To date the album has been streamed over 3 million times on Spotify, YouTube and Apple Music. BryanStars also collaborated with Social Repose on a cover of Bring Me The Horizon's "Follow You"

In November 2016, Odell announced that he would be releasing a second EP titled the "Picture Perfect EP". It was released on December 4, 2016.

BryanStars Tour

In 2012, Odell started the "BryanStars Tour" which lead through the whole United States. Bands like Ghost Town, Modern Day Escape, Her Bright Skies, Snow White's Poison Bite, Farewell, My Love, Late Nite Reading, CatchingYourClouds and Rocky Loves Emily played on that tour.

Never Shout Never incident

On June 3, 2012, Never Shout Never was interviewed by BryanStars, in an interview that was being covered by The New York Times. About halfway through the interview, Christofer Drew Ingle cut Bryan off, calling his show "a joke" and his questions "bullshit". As a result, the band ended the interview, and BryanStars was in tears because of it. An outpour of support for BryanStars happened as a result, and many musicians shared their words of support including Kellin Quinn of Sleeping with Sirens, Chris Fronzak of Attila, and Andy Biersack of Black Veil Brides. In a Stickam broadcast, Ingle stated that he felt bad that he made BryanStars cry. Ingle later admitted that he had taken acid earlier the day of the interview. Ingle was arrested the same day for possession of marijuana.

Awards and Achievements