From his father’s side Aïrto Edmundo (born October13, 1985) has his roots in the Caribbean, but he himself grew up in Breda. As a talented soccer player he managed to reach as far as the ‘promising team’ of NAC. But before long another passion -music- was luring and in that he appeared to be talented as well. It was obvious who he got that from, his father being a good guitarist.
After breaking off a study in tourism, Aïrto was sure about one thing: music would be his future. Not hampered by an education or a well-thought plan he started to explore what kind of music suited him. In the beginning he focused on R&B, in particular Brian McKnight and BoyzIIMen. On his father’s advice he also began to explore other music styles. Classic soul music appealed to him. He had great interest in Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder, they both became an outstanding source of inspiration.
After that he followed Neo-Soul music with among others Anthony Hamilton and Jill Scott. His own singing career started with an overwhelming performance at a graduation party. The audience’s enthusiasm encouraged him to go on. His warm voice, moving on the cutting line of soul and R&B appealed to a broad public.
In 2006 his football career became a closed book and he started to write his own songs. In that same year he broadcasted his first covers on YouTube, in the beginning just to find out if people were responding. And indeed they were, at first cautiously, but it did not take long before Aïrto knew how to hold on to a big host of enthusiastic followers.
Although he got and still gets a lot of requests, he has mostly kept on singing songs that suit him and his voice. Among others, he has performed songs of Amy Winehouse, James Morison and Bruno Mars. His songs have been watched very often, in total over 19 million times. At this moment Aïrto has 86000+ subscribers, of whom the main part come from abroad. Many people in Holland are surprised when they find out that he appears to be an ordinary Dutch boy, also because Aïrto regularly corresponds in English with fans from all over the world.
Besides performing covers he has begun to write his own songs too, such as You, True friends and Big Green Eyes. Since 2008 he has done so professionally as well for EMI Publishing. He wrote songs with Hamilton, Lisa Lois, Fanatic, Alain Clark and Han Koorenneef.
His performances on YouTube did not stay unnoted in the USA. In 2009 Usher and his wife invited him to come to the States and a year later he went there again at Anthony Hamilton’s request. In the USA the sale of his music and his looks were too strongly focused on and the meaning not enough; Aïrto kept his distance for the time being. To be able to keep on making music he momentarily works as a warehouse employer in Zwolle.
From now on he has been performing more and more, home and abroad. At a special YouTube Event in Washington DC he worked together on a special edition of We are the World. Early in 2011 he performed at Noorderslag in Groningen and in that same year in Paradiso and at the Liberation Festival in Zwolle. There is a growing crowd of fans that have been asking for an album.
Producer Justin Stanley was asked to produce the first single that Aïrto wrote together with Guido Maat. At first Stanley was too busy producing an album for Eric Clapton and Sheryl Crow, but he was so enthusiastic about the material he got that he was pleased to do the job. Aïrto sang all the vocals in an attic room in Zwolle, his current place of residence and so Mystery was born in 2011.
Mystery made him Soul talent of Radio 6 and Serious Talent of Radio 3FM. As a result of the release of Mystery, DJ Giel Bielen said:”….listen carefully for I think this is going to be a very big one…”
The future is promising. |
