Louis Baker who performs at both Massey University Wellington graduation ceremonies at the Michael Fowler Centre on Thursday.
A university graduation ceremony isn’t the usual gig for renowned soulful singer Louis Baker, but the Wellington man says he feels privileged to perform at the Massey Wellington graduation on Thursday.
Fresh from sold-out Auckland and Wellington shows, Mr Baker will perform two songs at ceremonies in the Michael Fowler Centre for graduates of the College of Creative Arts, Massey Business School, the College of Health, College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the College of Sciences as well as Professional and Continuing Education (PaCE).
His music career started aged 17 when he won a national song writing competition. After three years at the New Zealand School of Music, he left to focus on live performance full-time, playing at the biggest music festivals and sold out shows across New Zealand.
Following acclaim and awards from his first released single that included a recording session at Neil Finn’s Roundhouse Studio, Mr Baker was one of 60 students chosen from 4000 applicants to attend the prestigious Red Bull Music Academy in New York in 2013. He then spent the following summer in London playing a series of shows and recording his debut EP with UK producer Andy Lovegrove from Breaks Co-op.
He released his second single Birds in November 2013 followed by independently releasing a self-titled five track extended player in March 2014. The release debuted at number three on the New Zealand charts and number one on the iTunes Singer / Songwriter charts. He was also a finalist in the prestigious APRA Silver Scrolls Awards 2014 with his song Back On My Feet.
Louis Baker has extensively toured New Zealand and Australia, and played at a series of international events including Field Days - London, Sonar Festival - Barcelona, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. In January 2015 he completed an 18-date tour throughout the UK and Germany.
Baker has spent the last year writing with some of the biggest international hit makers including producer Eg White, who co-wrote Adele’s Chasing Pavements and Lindy Robbins who has written hits with Selena Gomez and Jason Derulo. Last year saw Mr Baker license two of his songs from his debut EP to Oprah Winfrey and Ava DuVernay’s hit US series Queen Studios.
He has earned accolades throughout the international music community, prompting renowned American singer-songwriter India Arie to remark “Louis Baker, you sing my soul.”
At the two graduation ceremonies, Baker will sing Rainbow, which he released last year and has received over two million hits on Spotify. He will also sing one of his latest released singles Gave It All Away.