George Peel, aka Orange Peel Moses, is the undisputed champion of singing telegrams in Colorado. His career started in 2004 and became a full-time job within five years. Peel has since booked nearly 5000 singing telegram gigs in 20 years and performed the majority of them himself; he has a couple of contract singers he works with when he isn’t available. “We’re doing 300-plus a year right now,” Peel says of his business Custom Singing Telegrams.
Image: Heart Led Media
Styling: Shannon Ryan
Location: Archipelago
Light spills through the balcony doors of Archipelago’s idyllic attic, bathing Orange Peel in a warm golden glow that complements his fuzzy, fluorescent-orange jumpsuit and Orange Crush beanie. He places an orange net bag cradling several ripened navel and blood oranges on the floor, waves to a few friends and settles into his chair, perfectly at home in the cavernous space.
Peel, who is also known by his musical moniker Orange Peel Moses, asked to meet at Archipelago, a social health club, for a reason. He first learned of music’s health benefits at a 2021 Music as Medicine workshop guided by Touch Copple and held at the historic mansion. Since then, that knowledge has grown into a philosophy that shapes how he views his health, his happiness and his career as a singing telegram.
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Styling: Shannon Ryan
Image: Ryan Fila
On Valentine’s Day, Orange peel serenaded Daybreak anchor Lisa D’Souza on behalf of co-anchor Chris Parente. Photographer Daniel McEnrue was on hand to capture the magic.
From Gypsum to Vail, here’s what’s happening for the July fourth holiday.
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Image: Jay Parkinson
In anticipation of Valentine’s Day, Cupid went on Colorado & Company to talk all things singing telegram.
Featured Image Location: Archipelago
Wardrobe Support: Shannon Ryan
Wings: Nate The Average
Diaper: MellCo Threads
Image: Ryan Fila / Heart Led Media
“Orange Peel is a professional singing ‘telegram’ who is hired to go to locations and sing songs for unsuspecting people, usually for things like Valentine’s Day or birthdays. Upon learning that I wrote for the Westword, he informed me of the time that he came into our offices and serenaded two pregnant employees with ‘Push It’ by Salt N Pepa; the only appropriate song to sing in this situation.”
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Focus attention on the guest of honor with a customized (outdoor) singing telegram from Orange peel moses of Custom Singing Telegrams. Jenny Baker-Strasburg says clients are regaled by two or three songs and gifted handwritten lyrics as a keepsake.
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As challenging as it was, starting an entertainment business would have been infinitely more difficult if I hadn't begun studying music at such a young age. My mother's encouragement to take piano lessons and then join the school band when I was young gave me a definite head start in the music department. I'm infinitely grateful to her for that.
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I remember envisioning delivering singing telegrams when I was 17 or 18, just a few years after I began writing rudimentary original songs. Even though I’d seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, I failed to connect what I was picturing to the balloon bouquet-wielding nurse that hilariously performs for Ferris’s unamused sister.
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Over the past fifteen years, George Peele, who goes by Orange peel moses, has delivered over 3,000 singing telegrams.
Valentine’s Day’s usually the biggest day of the year for his business, but he’s also performed for a guy getting a vasectomy and a person celebrating the last day of chemo; anniversaries, proposals and going-away parties also keep him employed.
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Wanna hear a remix of my upcoming single “Butterflies?” Tune into KUHS Radio Sunday, August 26 between 6-8 p.m. MST for The Joman Show:)
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When Mile High Sports Radio jocks Benjamin Allbright and Benny Bash spied a spandex clownfish-clad man with a guitar attempting to deliver a singing telegram to a nearby business, they decided to invite him into the studio for an impromptu interview.
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On Valentine's Day, Channel 2 reporter Kevin Torres followed Custom Singing Telegrams' founder George Peele and singer Melissa Ivey around for a couple of hours. Click on the image above to see the TV segment that aired.
TomorrowWorld might be dead in 2016, but this past weekend, EDM fans flocked to the Atlanta Motor Speedway for Imagine Music Festival. The three-day fest, which moved to AMS this year from historic Fourth Ward Park and features an Atlantis-esque aquatic theme, hosted more than 50 electronic acts, including headliners Benny Benassi, Dillon Francis, Zeds Dead and Nero. Beyond the music, attendees could attend yoga and meditation classes, check out live painting and art installations, watch Cirque performers, splash in a pool, or ride a Ferris wheel.
CHECK OUT CITRIC ACID ARTISTS IN ATLANTA MAGAZINE'S GALLERY
Orange peel moses debuted his new Kevin Alves and Shane Etter-produced tune "Dress Up" at Westword Magazine's WhiteOut at Artopia. Peruse Westword's Artopia slideshow for photos from the Alice in Wonderland-themed fashion show.
Peruse Westword's Artopia slideshow
Jim Wills interviewed Orange peel, along with WhiteOut fashion show producer Jenny Baker-Strasburg, for Crave Magazine's Artopia preview.
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