While he reckons an international recording deal is every artist’s dream, Port Elizabeth-born pop and RnB musician Gino Lee, 22, never expected his dream to come true this soon.
The singer cites many an instance where it felt as though the walls were closing in and the journey to realising his dream of signing with a US recording company seemingly moving further away.
However, he remains grateful for that one meeting with New York ONErpm managing director Jason Jordan in August.
That meeting not only saw him get signed by the record company but also release his single, Only Get Better, four months later.
Lee has always known he was destined to be a musician from when he started playing the piano at the age of six. Initially, he taught himself on a piano at home and later took lessons as one of his school subjects at Theodor Herzl.
In high school, he and a group of friends formed a band.
“The band was kind of the beginning of my music career, we entered a lot of competitions and performed around PE,” he said.
While still in high school, Lee entered and won the M-Net Young Stars competition, which marked the beginning of his solo career.
It was while juggling his solo career and matric that he met Johannesburg talent agency owner Elsubie Verlinden, who invited him to the ARTS talent showcase to perform in front of international talent scouts. Through the showcase, Lee moved on to perform in the US, where he was awarded a scholarship to study at the New York Film Academy.
“I studied acting at the film academy for a year and moved to LA to work at a production company and later at a record label.
“I released some music while in LA but my main focus was my acting career,” he said.
Upon returning to SA in late 2016, he relocated to Cape Town and was signed by ICE modelling and acting agency. While still pursuing his music career , he scooped a signing deal with Sony Music in 2017.
Sony Music’s doors opened after he released his single Back To Me, which charted on local radio stations, followed by another single Know You Better.
“After a lot of things going wrong, empty promises and a point where I just felt like everyone in this industry could not stick to their word, I finally met up with Jason, who showed me humility and reliability,” Lee said.
Lee’s Only Get Better is available on digital music platforms. He is also busy working on an EP, to be released in 2019. Follow him on Facebook (Gino Lee) and Instagram (@mrginolee).