So impressed were we by his recently released single ‘Silver’, we decided to Get To Know Glenn Lumanta more.
The Sydney performer has notched more than two million views on his YouTube channel alone and has a forthcoming EP entitled ‘In My Element’ in the works.
But who’s inspired him? What are his favourite songs? And what would he be doing if music wasn’t an option?
Find out here in our latest feature.
1. Name : Glenn Lumanta.
2. Where are you based? Western Sydney.
3. How did you get your start in music? Well, in a nutshell, I’ve always been musically inclined. All throughout high school I wrote, I sang, I played the guitar, as a lot of young guys usually start out. But it wasn’t until I started checking out gigs in the city and started to expand my networks and who I knew that I really got my name out there. Going to a music institution also helped, and I made myself known as a singer/keys player, which definitely helped with getting a few gigs. And from there it was just onward and upward, a constant hustle to keep doing gigs and keep making music.
4. Give us five words to best describe you as an artist. R&B Australian Singer Songwriter Producer.
5. Tell us a little bit about your sound and how it developed. Finding my sound was always a challenge, especially because I listen to such a diverse range of different genres and I love all of them. So creating something with a distinct sound was difficult when I was trying to purposefully jam pack all of my musical influences into one recording. But as I continued this project, I decided to strip everything back to music that made me want to become a singer in the first place. Artists like Chris Brown’s early music, Musiq Soulchild, Boyz II Men, Brian McKnight, of course Stevie Wonder. Those are the guys that reeled me into this world, and that was my starting point. And hopefully all those other influences come through more organically through the music as opposed to it being consciously injected to sound a certain way. I developed my sound around how the music made me feel.
6. Who have been your musical influences? As I’ve said in the previous question, artists like Musiq Soulchild and Brian Mcknight, D’Angelo and Stevie Wonder. Of course. But I also listened to a whole heap of piano players. Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner. I’ve been drawing inspiration from all over the place.
7. What are your favourite songs of all time? Tough question. Super tough. Maybe I’ll break it down to the top five I just love to sing;
You And I – Stevie Wonder
She’s Always A Woman – Billy Joel
Weak – SWV
I Can’t Make You Love Me – Bonnie Rait
How Does It Feel – D’Angelo
8. What was the first album you bought? The first album that I ever bought was either Usher’s ‘Confessions’ or Guy Sebastian’s ‘Just As I Am’. It’s one of the two!
9. Give us a little fun fact about yourself that people might not know. I’m a huge geek for all things video games, and if I had the time, I would play video games all day.
10. What would your chosen career be if music wasn’t an option? If I couldn’t be a singer, I’d probably be a producer or a writer. But if I couldn’t do music in general, I really enjoy art and graphic design.
11. What’s the best advice you’ve been given in your career? The best advice for me was to never undercut myself and to never sell myself short. As an artist i guess I have the responsibility to keep my integrity and to also know my worth and what I’m capable of. Once I have a sense of that then I should also have a sense of where I want to be headed and what opportunities I can make for myself.
12. Tell us about your latest release. I just released a song that I wrote and produced entitled ‘Silver’. I wrote this song during a tough period in my life where I had to say goodbye to someone very close to me. It’s a reminder that some things do come to an end and it’s okay. And for whatever reason, it was meant to happen and there is something greater on the horizon.
13. What do your future plans involve? Eventually I want to be able to take my music on tour and play around the country, and hopefully someday around the world. No matter what I’m gonna keep creating and releasing music and hopefully there’ll be people out there that are keen to hear it.
14. Where can our audience catch you live? I have a gig coming up at PlayBar (Surry Hills) on February 16. There’ll be more dates to come, which you’ll be able to find on all my social media platforms when I announce them!
WEBSITE : www.glennlumanta.com
FACEBOOK : www.facebook.com/GlennLumantaMusic
TWITTER : www.twitter.com/GlennLumanta
INSTAGRAM : www.instagram.com/GlennLumanta
SOUNDCLOUD : www.soundcloud.com/GlennLumanta
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