Sky Wyatt grew up in the North Vancouver hamlet of Deep Cove. He currently works as a truck driver in Vancouver, and even delivers singing telegrams in his spare time. Sky is also a volunteer for The Surrey Fire Department, and to this day he carries a pager and responds to emergency calls.
It was whilst attending UBC that he shared a voice coach – Beverly Delich - with a then-obscure Michael Buble. After learning a great deal from Ms. Delich, Sky moved on to a new melody mentor, the uber-talented Cinda-Ann Goernert, who has both taken him to a new level as a singer and shown him the importance of practice and technique.
2007 was a successful year for Sky’s musical journey. He made it to the final round of Red Robinson's Talent Showdown at The Pacific National Exhibition and twice wowed the crowd from The Mainstage. Sky also made it to the finals of The BC Talent Search at The Arms Pub in Port Coquitlam, and had similar success at Burnaby Days, where he realized a longtime dream by performing for an ecstatic audience from the back of a flatbed semi-trailer. Not content with simply entering competitions {most of which you can watch, at least in part, on YouTube}, Sky has also been seen strutting his stuff in an upscale downtown club as part of the house band. Backed by a dynamite jazz trio, Sky donned suit and fedora and crooned his way through a lengthy list of his favourite standards.
Although Sky does dig his Sinatra, he grew up listening to Folk, Motown, R&B, and rap. After his voice coach suggested that Sky learn some country songs “just for fun”, he promptly fell in love with a Tim McGraw tune called “Red Rag Top”. This led him to artists such as Brad Paisley, Trace Adkins, The Joshes {Turner and Gracin}, Billy Currington, and Emerson Drive. Sky is now hooked on country music and listens to little else!
This fascination is evident in one of Sky's relatively newfound skills, that of songwriting. A few years ago, Sky had never considered penning his own material. In fact, he placed an ad in a Canadian Songwriters’ magazine looking for pieces to record; an array of terrific tunes arrived, but none of them really resonated. Fortunately for Sky, he found his Muse whilst travelling in Costa Rica. Melodies and lyrics began percolating in his head and by the time he returned to The True North Strong and Free, he found that he'd developed more than a dozen ditties.
None of those early works appear on Sky's latest album, but he continues to believe that songwriting should be simple and fun. For him, the most important thing about a song is how it makes you feel, and it is therefore no surprise that Sky's works often combine stories to which listeners can relate and powerful images that they can envision.
Interestingly, none of the songs on this album have been played live. Nor does Sky have a regular band. But when people suggest to Sky that his approach to the industry is upside-down, he responds simply that there is no right way to be involved with music. And it is perhaps this profound perspective that makes Sky Wyatt one to watch.
Written by Darien Edgeler
