Ian B.

Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I wrote my very first song at the age of seven, a playful tune meant to tease my little sister, who cried every morning when we were woken up for school. What started as a joke quickly became the earliest sign of a lifelong connection to music and storytelling through sound.

I grew up in a deeply musical household. My mother, a singer herself, filled our home with gospel music from a wide range of cultures and traditions. My father, whose taste stood in complete contrast, introduced us to world music in all its diversity, from Congolese rhythms to the timeless melodies of ABBA. I still remember him playing Boney M or Indiana Wants Me by Dean Taylor, moments that quietly shaped my musical curiosity.

One of the most defining influences in my journey came in 1991, when my mother bought an a cappella cassette featuring soulful gospel songs performed entirely by studio singers. They never even had a group name, just voices, harmonies, and emotion. That recording left a lasting impression on me. It taught me how to hear music differently and to understand melody, vocal layering, and harmony in their purest forms. To this day, it remains my favorite a cappella recording. Years later, after an extensive search online, I finally managed to find it again, proof of how deeply it had stayed with me.

That influence came full circle in 2009 when I uploaded my first a cappella video to YouTube, a song from that very cassette. I had not heard it in over 17 years, yet I sang every part from memory.

Throughout secondary school and high school, I continued to develop my craft. I played in the school band and later became a member of an a cappella group called The Lyrics, where I refined my vocal blending and harmonic sensitivity. After high school, I sang with another group that had a more mature sound, performing professionally before life eventually took us in different directions.

Music remained constant. I spent several years singing in church choirs, and after moving to Canada, I led a church choir for nearly a decade before stepping down in 2019. Along the way, I continued writing, learning, and shaping my sound, even if I never quite reached the release stage.

For a long time, I waited for the perfect moment. Eventually, I realized it does not exist.

So here I am, ready to give this chapter everything I have and to finally share my music with the world. Thank you for listening. I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I do.