Trevor McFedries facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Trevor McFedries
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McFedries in September 2022
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| Also known as | Yung Skeeter |
| Born | November 27, 1985 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
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| Years active | 2006–present |
| Labels | Dim Mak |
Trevor McFedries (born November 27, 1985) is a talented musician and entrepreneur. He was once known by his stage name, Yung Skeeter. Trevor has worked as a DJ, music producer, and director for many famous artists. These include Ke$ha, Azealia Banks, Katy Perry, and Chris Brown. He even toured with Katy Perry on her "California Dreams Tour" in 2011.
Trevor has performed at big music festivals like Lollapalooza and Coachella. He also worked at Spotify early in his career. Today, he is the co-founder and CEO of a tech company called Brud. He is also the person who created the virtual pop star Lil Miquela. Trevor is on the boards of the Southern California Institute of Architecture and Rhizome. Rhizome is the digital art branch of The New Museum.
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Early life and start in music
Trevor McFedries grew up in Davenport, Iowa. When he was in high school, he was a great football player. He also enjoyed playing basketball. At 16, he moved with his family to Los Angeles. He received a college scholarship to play football at San Jose State. However, he left college and moved back to Los Angeles. Los Angeles has been his main home ever since. He started working as a DJ when he was 19 years old.
Music career highlights
Trevor first used the stage name DJ Skeet Skeet. In 2007, he met musicians Shwayze and Cisco Adler. The three worked together and released an album in 2008. This album was called Shwayze. It reached the top 10 on the Billboard music charts. Two songs from the album, "Buzzin'" and "Corona and Lime", were very popular. They even charted on the Billboard Hot 100 list. Because they were so popular, they had a short reality television show on MTV called Buzzin'.
In 2008, Paper Magazine gave DJ Skeet Skeet the "People's Choice Award for Best DJ". He also made history by being the first DJ to perform at every show on the Warped Tour in 2008. By 2011, he had worked with many artists. He created remixes and produced songs for stars like Chris Brown and Ke$ha. In 2011, he also opened for Katy Perry on her "California Dreams" arena tour. He shared the stage with Katy Perry and Robyn. Trevor and Katy Perry were friends before the tour. During this time, he also worked in A&R at Photo Finish Records. A&R stands for Artists and Repertoire. It means he helped find and develop new musical talent.
In 2012, he changed his stage name to "Yung Skeeter." He continued to produce music and create beats for other artists. Trevor also started directing music videos in 2012. He directed videos for Steve Aoki's "Control Freak" and NERVO's "We're All No One." From 2012, Trevor worked as an Artist Advocate at Spotify. He also hosted a radio show for Dim Mak Records on iHeartRadio. In 2013, he became a spokesperson for VitaminWater. He performed with artists like B.o.B., Matt and Kim, and Santigold for their "Make Boring Brilliant" campaign. He also appeared in ads for the company. Yung Skeeter was the executive producer for BANKS' first album, Goddess. He also produced the song "Wallace" on Azealia Banks' 2014 album, Broke with Expensive Taste.
Brud: Virtual characters and storytelling
Besides his music career, Trevor McFedries worked for Bad Robot. This is a production company owned by J.J. Abrams. In 2016, Trevor co-founded a tech company called Brud. Brud is a "transmedia company." This means it creates digital characters and uses them to tell stories in digital worlds. Trevor is the CEO of Brud.
One of their most famous creations is Miquela. She is a computer-generated (CGI) character and model. Miquela uses social media to share her life. Her stories mix both real and made-up environments. At first, they kept Miquela's creators a secret. Later, they revealed that Brud had created her. Brud also made other characters to interact with Miquela online. One of these characters is Bermuda. Trevor first created Bermuda as if she was from a rival company. Later, he revealed that Brud had created her too.
In 2018, Brud received $6 million in funding from Sequoia Capital. That same year, Miquela was named one of Time magazine's "Most Influential People on the Internet." By 2019, Trevor's company had raised a total of $25.5 million in investments. The company was valued at $144.5 million. Trevor and his co-founders decided to only accept money from investment firms. These firms had to have a woman or a person of color in a leadership position.
On October 4, 2021, Brud Inc. was bought by Dapper Labs. The amount of money was not shared. With this deal, Trevor became the CEO of "Dapper Collectives." This new group will help make DAOs more common. DAO stands for Decentralized Autonomous Organization. The first DAO Dapper Collectives will create is "Brud DAO." This will make Brud Inc. more decentralized. It will allow fans and creators to own and guide the project with the Brud team. Trevor said that they will build tools for DAOs, storytellers, and creators. These tools will help them build the future of the internet using the Flow blockchain.
Friends With Benefits (FWB)
Friends With Benefits is a special online group. Trevor McFedries created it in September 2020. It is based on the Ethereum blockchain. Many people consider it to be the first "Social DAO." This means it's a community that uses blockchain technology to make decisions together.
Art and Artificial Intelligence
Trevor McFedries is known for his work where art and technology meet. He was featured in Rhizome’s 7x7 program. He also spoke at NYC Media Lab. There, he talked about the future of storytelling, art, and A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) with artist Aria Dean. Trevor also spoke with Berkeley Art + Design. He explained how a good story and personality can make a digital character feel real and relatable.
Involvement in politics
Trevor McFedries has also been involved in politics. He supported Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign. He also helped raise money for George Gascón. George Gascón was running to become the District Attorney of Los Angeles County.
