Ashley Parker Angel is a multi-platinum recording artist, a Broadway leading man, and one of the most recognizable faces of early-2000s pop culture. But before he ever sold out arenas with O-Town or played Fiyero in Wicked, he was a teen trying to get hired at his local GNC. He didn’t get hired at the time, but decades later, he’s walking back through those doors in a very different way.
On Wednesday, February 11, GNC announced an exclusive partnership with High Level Science, the medical-grade supplement brand Angel, 44, co-founded with world-renowned interventional cardiologist Dr. David G. Rizik.
“The collaboration brings two of High Level Science’s flagship formulas – High Level Man®, a 12-in-1 testosterone support formula, and High Level Heart + Body + Mind™ – to The Drop, by GNC, the retailer’s innovation hub for breakthrough wellness brands,” the official press release reads.
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While the partnership with the leading wellness retailer is new — and seeing his products on their shelves is a career milestone — Angel told Parade the feeling is strangely familiar.
“There’s a lot of interesting synergy there,” he said, recalling that one of the first jobs he ever applied for was at GNC when he was 15, but he wasn’t “quite old enough” to get hired. Growing up in a family that prioritized health, he said the store had always been part of his routine.
“So for me personally, there’s a lot of synchronicity,” he continued. “The universe works in mysterious ways. I feel like somehow I manifested it… it’s a full circle moment. And now it’s GNC, their tagline is ‘Live Well,’ and ours is ‘Live High Level.’”
But the road from teenage GNC hopeful to supplement co-founder wasn’t exactly a straight line. Angel explained that even at the height of his fitness routine, his blood work was telling a completely different story. “It was a shock because I was practicing fitness and nutrition at the highest level I knew possible, and to still have high blood pressure, cardiovascular issues, early signs of heart disease. Our generation talks a lot about cancer, but heart is the number one global killer of both men and women.”
At the time, one doctor suggested long-term statin therapy — a recommendation Angel said didn’t sit right with him, given how young and active he felt.
“It started a search for me where I wanted to find a heart expert, a global heart expert,” he said. That search led him to Dr. Rizik, a three-time Emmy-winning cardiologist who, ironically, believes “most supplements don’t actually work.” But when Dr. Rizik recommended a handful of specific, research-backed supplements — and Angel’s health markers actually improved — a lightbulb went off. The two decided to build a company together that could cut through what Angel calls the “confusion in the supplement space.”
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For fans keeping tabs, this GNC announcement may not come as a total shock. Angel has been hinting at a major retail partnership for months, telling Hollywood Hills Magazine in January that he had teamed up with “the biggest retailer in the nation” without revealing the name.
He’s also planning to lean into nostalgia in the best way possible. Angel told Parade he’s gearing up for a nationwide run of in-store appearances inspired by the ’90s mall tours that defined the boy-band era. “We are tapping into the ’90s nostalgia of mall tours, because the ’90s and 2000s are so back,” he said, explaining that he plans to travel across the country meeting fans and bringing that same high-energy, face-to-face experience into GNC stores.
