Jacob Banksis a Nigerian-born English singer and songwriter from Birmingham. Banks won the 2012 MOBO UnSung regional competition in Birmingham and the Adidas "Are You In" music competition. His music is influenced by a range of genres including soul, R&B and hip hop. Banks is currently signed with American label Interscope Records.
Music career
2012–present: Breakthrough
The second release from The Monologue, titled "Worthy", was played by BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe as his "Next Hype" record on his Radio 1 show and received additional plays on 1Xtra, XFM, 6Music and Annie Nightingale. In April 2013, Banks played his first headline show at the London St Pancras Old Church. He supported Emeli Sande on her April 2013 UK tour. Banks features on Wretch 32's song "Doing OK", the second single from Wretch's forthcoming third studio album. Banks features on Chase and Status' "Alive" from their album, Brand New Machine. He also supported them, on their Brand New Machine 2013 UK tour. Banks announced he was to release a joint EP featuring himself, Wretch 32 and George the Poet titled Gambling Man in 2013. However, this did not occur. On 1 May 2014, his collaboration with All About She, "I Can Wait", was released for free download as part of their debut extended play Go Slow. Banks has also worked with other artists such as Bondax, Jake Gosling, Knox Brown, Plan B and Wretch 32.
On 21 July 2015, Banks' second extended play entitled The Paradox was released. It features a guest appearance from Odd Child Recordings rapper Avelino on the track "Monster".
In 2016, Banks was featured on Norwegian production team Seeb's release, "What Do You Love". The song reached number 2 on VG-lista, the official Norwegian singles chart.
On 9 March 2017, Banks premiered his two-part narrative video, written and co-directed by himself, for his single, "Unholy War". The single is off his upcoming EP, 'The Boy Who Cried Freedom'. In November 2018, he released his new album, "Village", which made No. 1 on new and upcoming albums on Spotify.
