Lakyn Heperi

Lakyn Heperi (born 28 April 1992) ^[1] is an Australian-based New Zealand singer, songwriter and musician most well known for appearing on The Voice (Australia); he was eliminated at the quarter-final stage. His debut EP, 'Better Than That' was released on 16 November 2012 through Universal Music Australia.

Early life

Lakyn grew up in Auckland, New Zealand and played piano from the age of 3, encouraged by his mother Anne-Maree and his musician father Doug. At the age of 12, Lakyn relocated to Victoria, Australia with his family.^[2] In his mid-late teens he became a semi-professional skateboarder before an accident saw him off his feet for eight months with a broken ankle.^[3] During this time, Lakyn developed his musicianship and songwriting from his bedroom and shared it on YouTube developing a large fan base and receiving millions of views of his videos. This support gave him the encouragement to submit an audition tape to The Voice (Australia). He cites Bob Dylan, Bon Iver, Jeff Buckley and The Beatles amongst his musical influences.^[4]

The Voice (Australia)

Lakyn auditioned in Melbourne with an acoustic version of 'Kids' by MGMT, accompanying himself on guitar.^[5] His audition impressed both Joel Madden and Seal enough to turn their chairs for him and he ultimately chose to progress in the competition on Team Joel.^[4] He was pitted against fellow contestant Nick Len in the battle round with the song 'Big Jet Plane' by Angus & Julia Stone where he proved himself to be the stronger contestant and was chosen as the winner by Madden. Lakyn's studio recording of 'Big Jet Plane' was the first of any of The Voice contestant's performances' to top the iTunes Chart.^[6] In his first live show, Lakyn sang 'Forever Young' by Alphaville. He progressed in the competition thanks to the public vote. At the quarter final stage, Lakyn sang 'Friday I'm in Love' by The Cure. Lakyn was eliminated from the competition in the public vote after this performance.^[7]

'Better Than That' EP - Present

On 16 November 2012, Lakyn released his first EP 'Better Than That' through Universal Music Australia.^[8] The EP contained four self-penned songs as well as a haunting acoustic cover of '(I Just) Died in Your Arms' by Cutting Crew. The EP received positive reviews from critics with The AU Review saying 'Better Than That is a strong EP, with a maturity and depth in the music that’s not easy to find in an artist'.^[9] On 20 January 2013, Lakyn debuted his first music video, for the track 'Don't Tell Me' from the EP.^[10]

In April 2013, Lakyn performed with Diafrix for Triple J radio’s "Good Az Friday" at Melbourne Town Hall with a hip-hop cover of James Blake’s "Retrograde".^[11]

Also in April 2013, Lakyn supported Birdy on her Australian tour, along with Lewis Watson.

References