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“In my time it was like N’Sync, Michael [Jackson] and Usher,” 20-year old singer/songwriter Loick Essien says of his childhood musical influences. You’d expect any sentence containing the phrase “in my time” to be the opener to a nostalgic jaunt for a person much older than Loick, but that’s what makes him a bit of an anomaly. His old soul counters his energetic, youthful spirit.
“[As a child] I always knew I had a love for singing, but I didn’t know that was what I wanted to do.” In fact, it was acting and dancing which captured his attention as a kid. His mother supported his penchant for performing, which led to him attending two theatre schools and appearing in British programmes including
Holby City and
The Bill.
It was a few chance relationships which introduced Loick to a new passion. “I met [music and film director] Jake Nava; and he really liked me, we built a relationship. He said, ‘If I’m doing any more stuff I’d like to get you back down, as I’m starting to do music videos’.”
True to his word, Nava invited Loick to feature in a video for urban/pop group
Big Brovaz. “That’s where it all started, on the lunch break I had my headphones on and I was singing out loud, but I didn’t realise, and the producer for Big Brovaz was sitting behind me. He said, ‘You’ve got a good voice, have you ever recorded anything before?’”
Then just twelve years old, Loick experienced life behind the booth for the first time.
In every school, college or university, there’s always that guy who does it all. They play sports, run the student council, get the highest grades and have been tipped for great success at the end of term. That same motif applies within the the music business as one artist will always push past the competition due to their numerous talents.
In 2010, that crown of glory/pressure sits on the head of Timothy McKenzie, better known as Labrinth. At first being merely recognised as the vocalist on Tinie Tempah’s smash “Pass Out”, Labrinth now stands as one of the most influential figures in popular music today.
With various production, songwriting and singing talents on his CV, the 21 year old finds himself signed to Simon Cowell’s SyCo label and at the start of etching out a musical legacy set to dominate the charts for years. Soul Culture sat down with the ‘Head Boy’ of the new school of artists to discuss the future, Team UK and being Simon Cowell’s latest investment…