Alicia Keys once told WILKES, "You don't try to do it. You just are it." She wasn't wrong. She was just early.

He learned to sing with purpose before he learned to perform. Growing up singing gospel will do that. He developed a four octave range covering harmonies in church and an ear for arrangement that was already sharp before he ever stepped into a studio. It's why the emotion in his singing doesn't feel manufactured, because it never was.

He moved through pop and R&B before fronting High Flight Society and playing a pivotal role in Disciple, both rock acts that toured heavily across the country and internationally, released multiple albums, and earned a Dove Award nomination. He then spent years in Nashville writing for a country publisher, pitching songs to other artists across every genre he touched. He's toured arenas with hard rock acts and performed alongside Sam Hunt early in his run, playing guitar, singing harmonies, and doing the kind of work that doesn't have a single job title.

Most people first met him on Season 14 of The Voice, where Keys went on to say, "There's something really powerful about you. It's just very rare." It was a real moment. He's been building on it ever since.

His piano-driven cover of The Killers' "Human" found an unexpected audience after being featured on ABC's Doctor Odyssey, reaching #1 on the U.S. Shazam chart, #4 globally, #1 on iTunes Alternative, Top 5 across all genres on iTunes, and Top 15 on Spotify Viral.

WILKES has never fit cleanly into one lane and has never needed to. Gospel, rock, country, and two decades of writing it himself are all in there somewhere. He sings everything like he means it, because he does.