Socalled is a musician, photographer, magician and writer based in Montreal. He was born Josh Dolgin in Ottawa, Ontario and raised just north, in Chelsea, Quebec. As a kid he was always in musicals and drew cartoons for the Ottawa Citizen. He hated soccer. He was bribed by his mother to continue piano lessons until high school, and then he picked up the accordion. He wrote for the newspaper and played in any kind of band – salsa, gospel, rock, funk – then discovered MIDI and hip hop. He worked with rappers, he made mad beats, and he got into studios. He graduated from McGill and made a 50 minute animated film for the Canada Council, meanwhile writing for Hour Magazine and performing. He has now appeared on a dozen recordings as pianist, singer, arranger, rapper, writer and producer. Socalled performs and records widely with a crew of mixed-up freaks and geniuses from around the world, including Chilly Gonzales, Abraham Inc, Fred Wesley, David Krakauer, Killah Priest, Susan Hoffman-Watts, Frank London, Matisyahu and Irving Fields. Established officially in 2005, Socalled released Sleepover in May 3 2011 Dare To Care in Canada. In 2013 he was more active than ever releasing The Season, a recording of his first piece of Musical Theatre along with teaching a Theatre class at Concordia University and composing the music for Tales from Odessa a musical based on the writing of Isaac Babel which premiered at the Segal Centre in June 2013.