Music to Our Ears: Ebon Lurks

It is hard to believe that since the viral video of his acoustic cover of the song “Bad” by artist, Wales, and an album in the works, Ebon Lurks, doesn’t have record labels pounding down his doors. Ebon Lurks is the new guy on the block whose vocals has made him gone viral on Twitter with over three thousand retweets on each one of his videos.

Ebon Lurks performs different music covers ranging from Justin Bieber to Drake to Chris Brown, and each one with so much passion, but that is not all of what he does. He also writes and performs his own music which is considered to be of the R&B/Pop genre, and he also plays the guitar, to which he sometimes uses with some of his music and music covers. However, Lurks dreams to become a well-known artist was not always on his radar.

Today his Facebook, Ebon Lurks, Twitter, lurksebon, YouTube, BATigers14, and Instagram, Lurksebon, are swamped with collectively over 110,000 followers. The 20-year-old singer-songwriter lives in Los Angeles but originates from Oklahoma. Music came into his life as a pastime at first, where he would sing for fun and joke around when he was with either his family or friends, but it was not until he was 14 years old that he knew that he wanted to be a professional singer-songwriter for the rest of his life. He used to think he would become a professional athlete, that he might one day play professional college baseball or basketball.

Lurks started on YouTube with his channel devoted in the year 2011 when he was just 15 years old. He makes music videos for his music he covers from other artists on his channel that generates at least ten thousand views each. While his YouTube channel, BATigers14, produces about two million views while his channel has about twenty thousand followers. Lurks has his own music that isn’t a cover of an artist’s song on Youtube Channel, EscapeTracks, that generated over fifty-four views.

Fun fact, one of his videos on YouTube that jump-started his career was a cover of Frank Ocean’s song, “Thinking About You,” which earned him about 350,000 views, was recorded in his bathroom with nothing but two pencils and his voice.

According to The A&R Power Summit, Lurks currently works with more than one producer on account he feels that if he works with only one producer, their idea of music will influence his creativity and they would not want him to change his music. While he believes that when he works with more than one kind of producer it will give him room to grow as an artist.

Artistically his biggest inspiration for his music is Chris Brown to which he says, “Chris Brown has a lot because of his overall talent and his performances on stage. I think musically he is iconic.”

Though his favorite artist is Chris Brown, Lurks has a favorite song called Fake Love by singer-songwriter Drake – Lurks has a music cover on his YouTube channel.

Even though Chris Brown is his inspiration he did not actually start thinking about making singer-songwriter as a profession until he saw Justin Bieber perform his single “One Time.” He began to look through all of Bieber’s other songs. Lurks decided that he wants to do what Justin Bieber did – to make music globally and make it big.

He is also around the same age as Justin Bieber when Lurks started making his music and uploading it. Bieber was around the age of 12 years old when he began and is currently 22 years old, while Ebon Lurks started around the age of 14 years old and is currently 20 years old.

Ebon Lurks has endured a lot more than most people have in their lives. When he was just two years old, he and his brother, Malek, had lost not just one parent but both. In the wake of grieving over his parents’ death, he and his brother moved in with his grandmother who raised the boys as her own children.

In his everyday life, his inspiration came from someone who is so incredibly close to him. Lurks says, “My grandma for sure she is a strong woman and raised my brother and me after our parents were killed.” She offered him vocal lessons when she first heard him singing, but he had told her he wanted to focus on sports than his singing.

“Music [is one thing I can not live my life without]” He says about what one thing he can not live without is. He grew up listening to music. Since starting the want to become a performer, Lurks lives through his music and to let other people enjoy it.

Though if he were not singing right now, he probably would be playing college baseball or basketball he still feels blessed in his life, “It is crazy [to have fans], and I feel very blessed. I know I am not the biggest out, but with the hard work put in, I believe talent will not ever go unrecognized.”

His fans, #Lurkers, definitely don’t disappoint. With Lurkers continuously leaving comments of support on his social media it helps him know that he is not going to quit working towards his dream. He does have fans approving his song choices and how he performs in his music videos and a few making sure they love him and that he will always be loved by Lurkers.

Lurks does feel blessed that his work is not going to waste and has amazing fans that continuously love him while he and his music grow, “It is crazy, and I feel very blessed. I know I am not the biggest out, but with the hard work put in I believe talent will not ever go unrecognized”. He loves his fans and hopes to make them proud.

However, that does not mean he does not have “trolls” whisking around his comments section whether it be on Facebook or Twitter and sometimes even on YouTube. They are there, and they are waiting for him to respond; with comments like “you suck” to “this dude butchered this song” to a much more vulgar comments. From the looks of his YouTube videos or his Twitter responses, the trolls are not going to let him get down from working on his goals to become someone globally famous.

With fans coming up to him anytime someone recognizing him he really enjoys it happening. He appreciates each and every one of his fans and how enthusiastic they are when meeting him, “Yes [they do recognize me] here and there and they are all really sweet.”

His fans love him so much so that they continuously ask him through different social media outlets – Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter – to cover a song that they absolutely love. One Fan asked him, over Facebook, to cover Adele “Hello” when it first came out. Another asked, over YouTube, for Lurks to continue the song “Zaddy” by singer-songwriter Ty Dolla $ign.

Lurks does want to take his music out to the roads and go on tours. Though he does not have any dates right now, he is in the process of working on the tour dates. He has dropped a Debut EP out last June on the 30th. The song he dropped is called “Am I in Love” and can be found on YouTube.

He does have one place he dreams of performing he says, “Madison Square Garden.” Where are all the legends from Justin Bieber to Chris Brown to Paul McCartney have played and have “officially” began their careers. Every type and almost every legend have played at Madison Square Garden (MSG) in hopes that they have made it big globally.

He does have one advice for anyone that are trying to make singing as a career, “No matter how long it takes and no matter how many times you get knocked down keep pushing and believe in yourself and in what you are chasing.”

“I am not too sure [about becoming a model or an actor while pursuing singing and song writing] yet, but you do not know the future so that we will see [whether I become an actor or a model] one day.” He says about whether or not acting and modeling is in future like some celebrities have been known to do like Drake, Demi Lovato, and so much more.

Lurks is on Soundcloud as well. He uploads all of his music on there, so his fans are also able to have it on the go. He also has a music profile on Apple Music but the only do songs on there is his original music, “One Day” and “Am I in Love.”

Ebon Lurks might be new to the game, but he positively is the perfect package – with his particular talent, charm, his looks, thousands of Lurkers and some of his original music. Ebon Lurks is determined to share his talent and music with everyone globally.

#Music