Eric Darius
| Eric Darius | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Born |
December 3, 1982 Livingston, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz, Contemporary Jazz, Smooth Jazz, R&B, Pop |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, Vocalist |
| Instruments | Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Labels | SagiDarius Music, Blue Note, Shanachie, Narada, Higher Octave |
| Associated acts | Prince, Mary J. Blige, David Foster, Jamie Foxx, Carlos Santana, Babyface, George Benson, Brian Culbertson |
| Website | ericdarius |
Eric Darius (born December 3, 1982), is an American Contemporary Jazz/R&B/Pop saxophonist, vocalist, songwriter, producer, and educator.
Fearlessly pushing all musical boundaries, Eric is one of the most exciting musicians to enter the Contemporary Jazz scene in the last decade. His explosive arrival as a recording artist at the age of 17 caused a frenzy worldwide! Now, with six critically acclaimed albums under his belt, three Number One hit singles, eight Top 10 radio hits on Nielsen’s R&R/Billboard Contemporary Jazz Charts, and a SESAC Top 10 Jazz Artist of the Year award for 2015, international recording artist, Eric Darius is on the verge of superstardom. Prophetically hailed Debut Artist of the Year by Smooth Jazz News in 2004, Eric has shared the stage with innumerable world renown, Grammy Award winning artists, such as Prince, Jamie Foxx, Mary J. Blige, David Foster, Carlos Santana, Babyface, & George Benson, just to name a few. His music innovatively crosses over all music boundaries from Jazz, R&B, Hip-Hop, to Pop, creating a very distinctive, fresh sound and approach that is uniquely his own.
Eric Darius was born in New Jersey to a father of Haitian descent and a mother of Jamaican descent, but grew up in Tampa, Florida. Born into a musical family (his father plays bass, his mother and sister sing, and his older brother plays drums and trumpet) Eric grew up listening to Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Earth, Wind and Fire, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Grover Washington, Jr., David Sanborn, George Benson, Bob Marley and many others. He developed a love and appreciation for music at a very early age, as his parents exposed him to music from all types of genres . At the young age of 9 years old, he fell in love with the saxophone after hearing someone perform at his church, which was the first time he had ever witnessed hearing and watching someone playing the saxophone in person. The sound, soulfulness, and emotion portrayed through the instrument was what really drew him in and he immediately identified with it. For his 10th birthday, Eric’s parents bought a saxophone for him and that was the beginning of great things to come! He began his performing career at the age of 11, when he joined and toured with the youth-based Sonny LaRosa and America's Youngest Jazz Band. Eric had the tremendous opportunity of touring worldwide with this group, which featured kids from ages 5-12 playing the music of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong and many other jazz legends. It was while he was performing at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland at the age of 11 in front of thousands of people, that he realized that the saxophone was truly his calling and that music was a universal language that people from all walks of like can relate to. The sheer impact of joy and happiness his music brought to the audience inspired him at that point to make the decision to pursue music professionally as a career.
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