He's the voice of Pokemon: He's James; he's Brock; he's Dexter, the hand-held computer; and he's some 15 other characters in the pocket monster pop culture cartoon hit.
And when he's not James and Brock and Dexter and most of the rest of the 2-D cast in the TV show and in "Pokemon: The First Movie," which opens Wednesday, he's Eric Stuart, the 3-D rock star.
As Eric Stuart, the real-life rock star, he's been touring the country opening for Peter Frampton, Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jethro Tull, Julian Cope, Hall and Oates and Chicago.
His single, "One Good Reason," is getting airplay on a dozen radio stations around the country, including Long Island's WBAB/102.3 FM, and his band is getting ready to record a CD ­ the second produced by Frampton ­ this week.
"I like to keep the two sides of my career ­ voice actor and singer-songwriter ­ separate," says Stuart, who splits his time between East Hampton and Brooklyn Heights. "I'm a musician first. I just happen to be able to do some funny voices."
Funny thing is, when he first auditioned for Pokemon, he didn't even get a part. When he did get a callback, it was only for Brock. 'Then the guy that was doing James went out of town, and they had me impersonate him, but I started making James more flamboyant, so they kept me. Then they started giving me more characters."
It is the funny voices of all those Pokemon characters that have allowed Stuart to make his voice heard in the music world. "Music is one of the toughest worlds to survive in," says Stuart, who has received the John Lennon Songwriting Award and two Billboard Songwriting Awards. "I can't only be a musician because you get paid peanuts. And I can record the Pokemon voices when I'm on the road gigging."
Despite Staurt's efforts to keep things separate, James and Brock and Dexter do manage to get into the singing act every once in a while. James, for instance, does the vocals on the "Double Trouble" track on the TV show's CD "Pokemon 2.B.A. Master."
"When I sing as James I try not to do it well because if it sounds too good, it's not funny," Stuart says.
And for someone who has such a sultry, rockin' voice, that's not as easy as it sounds. "I like to do Brock because he is the most similar to me," says Stuart in his best Brock voice. "But James has so much more range," he intones in James tones. "He really goes over the top.. He dresses up like a woman a lot, and I have to do a falsetto voice," he says, his voice rising to reach the upper register. "It's a little outrageous, but the kids love it."
Of course, the kids, especially the teenage girls, also love his Eric Stuart voice, and when he and the Eric Stuart Band ­ Stuart (songwriter, lead singer, acoustic guitar); Bryan Gardenour (drums and percussion); Ben Mauro(guitar); and Mason Swearingen (bass and back-up vocals) ­ do their gigs, many of them on Long Island, they are mobbed my fans.
That Eric Stuart voice has won him some pretty famous fans, including Ringo, who has declared, "He's great," and Frampton, who has commented, "He's a terrific writer and singer and deserves to be heard."
Stuart and the members of his band are indeed being heard loud and clear: NBC, CBS and Fox and doing interviews with the band: ABC is running a segment with them tomorrow night; WB/Channel 11 is doing a special on them Wednesday; and Z100/100.3 FM is interviewing them live at 7 a.m. Friday. That's just this week's schedule; once "Pokemon: The First Movie" really gets going, they plan to be a lot busier.
Meanwhile, their recently launched Web site, www.ericstuart.com, has received more than 130,000 hits; a fan club is being formed; a newsletter, "Can't Get Enough Of It," the title of one of Stuart's songs, will be started next month; and they have making appearances in area Virgin Megastores and Tower Records.
Oh, yeah, Stuart and the band members are in negotiations with the Internet site eBay to auction themselves off to play a New Year's Eve gig to the highest bidder.
Aside from Pokemon and the rock concert and CDs, Stuart's voice can be heard as Gourry, the knight in shining armor in the Japanese animated video series "Slayers."
And next year, he'll voice the Pokemon TV series and the second movie, which goes into production in January. He's also finished voiceovers for a pilot for a TV show featuring the collectable character Hello Kitty and another for Hikerian, a cartoon about trains that transform into fighting robots.
"I would love to be working on a prime time show like "The Simpson' or 'King of the Hill,' that are geared more to adults," Stuart says. "Who knows, maybe I'll make a guest appearance on them as Eric Stuart."
If he does, you can be sure that James and Brock and Dexter and all of Stuart's other Pokemon pals will be tuned in.

Newday Monday, November 8, 1999

By Nancy A. Ruhling