“A timeless voice. I remember being spellbound the first time I heard Wakes sing. You don’t hear many voices like his today. Rich, delicate and effortlessly beautiful.”
Damien Chazelle
Director, ‘La La Land’, ‘Whiplash’, ‘Babylon’
“Eddie is a new, evocative voice.”
Morgan Freeman
Academy Award Winning Actor
“Tremendous singer.”
Elvis Costello
“Damien Chazelle and I have worked with Eddie on two movies, the latest of which being ‘LLL’, and I think he’s a consummate professional with a killer voice. He’s such a classic in every way.”
Justin Hurwitz
Academy Award Winning Composer of ‘La La Land’
“You actually sing better than Nat! Your pitch, rhythmics, direction, projection, and phrasing are all terrific.”
Ralph Carmichael
Arranger for ‘Nat King Cole Sings, George Shearing Plays’ (1961).
From Walt Disney Theatrical to “La La Land”, Eddie has turned heads when he sings.
Eddie’s life as a singer is the stuff movies are made of: from performing at the Super Bowl as a youngster, to being discovered years later singing on the street in Los Angeles by Hollywood A-listers, to performing for and with legends. That’s because when Eddie sings, he turns heads. As Academy Award winning director Damien Chazelle says, “You don’t hear many voices like his today. Rich, delicate and effortlessly beautiful.”
Eddie’s Wakes vocal style is reminiscent of another time. Eddie has a velvety, wide range baritone that doesn’t sound like other contemporary singers today. He gets rave reviews. He’s a “tremendous singer” says Elvis Costello.
Eddie hails from Topeka, Kansas. Within his own family, a lineage of musical prowess served as his guiding light. He sang with his eight brothers, his father was a pastor and a phenomenal singer – Lionel Hampton asks him to sing with his big band – and Eddie, in turn, honed his skills in the vibrant crucible of church and school talent showcases. Eddie says, “I associated my love for music with my love for family. It was the covalent bond that defined, really, how I saw myself, my family, my community.”
Eddie continues, “Who were my great influences growing up singing? Well, my older brothers, and of course, the countless icons who influenced them: Sam Cooke, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Billy Eckstine, Johnny Hartman, Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, even James Brown.
Now with management, an agent and a record label in place, Eddie’s about to embark on his most ambitious project to date in support of his debut album, “Street Singer”. Backed by a world-class quartet, Eddie will tour extensively, domestically and abroad.