The rising star talks about his upbringing, influences and of course, his music
With Michael Kiwanuka, it's all about the voice. He describes it as "hitting straight through to the core" with direct, emotional songs about love, yearning, comfort and belonging.
It's a voice that built him a following via MySpace and small London gigs, and led Paul Butler from The Bees to invite him to the band's Isle of Wight studio to lay down these introductory tracks from what promises to be a major new British singer/songwriter. Which makes it all the more strange, really, that Michael originally set out to be a session guitarist who maybe wrote the odd song for other people.
Michael tells Monkey from Orange that his "upbringing in North London influenced my music greatly. All the music that inspired me I found from friends who lived near me in the town I grew up in."
He also gives his opinion on the charts being dominated last year by dance, pop and dub-step. And following on from this, when asked why he thinks he's being tipped for success now he says "I think I'm being tipped because there seems to be a rise in less beat based music. The success of artists like Mumford and Sons and Adele have also help give this kind of music a cool edge."
Well we're certainly looking forward to hearing what Michael has got to offer us this year. Check out the full interview with Orange from Monkey to find out what inspires him, how African music has influenced him and how his music "is a fresh take on what's been done before".
Check out our gallery of Ones to Watch in 2012
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