Jillian Smith | Staff Writer
Sophomore and Communication media major Jordan Williams, better known by his stage name Sonny Miles, sang his way to victory last month. He along with the student female a cappella group, Ladies in Red won the Union Activities Board “Open for Tori Kelly Contest”. The opening performances, however, scheduled for the annual Pack Howl Homecoming concert on Oct. 29, was not able to take place.
“The management at the last minute just said no,” said Matthew Wright, a sophomore in Graphic design who was supposed to MC the concert. “The reaction was what you would expect. People were upset, confused and disappointed. I was bummed and I wasn’t even performing,” Wright said.
Williams joined other contestants who posted audition videos to Youtube for them to be voted on. The five acts with the most votes on the UAB website were chosen to perform at the beginning of Campout on Oct. 23. At Campout, a student poll and celebrity judge panel selected Williams and the a cappella group to perform.
Concert or not, Williams has captured the hearts, minds and smiles of NC State’s student body with his self-written song “Liberation.”
The name Sonny Miles was born from the combination of Miles Davis and Sonny Stitt, two artists Williams’ grandfather often listened to. “He never made it to see me grow into who I am now, so it’s basically a tribute to him,” said Williams.
His interest in music began when he was young, listening to his father’s vinyls, drawing inspiration from popular music artists like Prince.
A native of Winston-Salem, NC, he attended Mount Tabor High School where he was in band and began to play the clarinet. Williams also plays guitar, bass and drums.
Williams began playing drums at church when he was nine-years-old, about a year ago he set out to teach himself how to play guitar and bass. In many of his YouTube videos, you can catch him playing and singing covers to acoustic guitar.
Williams is also a member of the student men’s a cappella group Grains of Time. He has been singing with them for a year.
“I found my passion at 17. I think that’s when I knew I wanted to do it for the rest of my life,” Williams said.
Sonny Miles has been spotted all around Raleigh wherever there is an open mic night or anything he can find. He has also performed at Ziggy’s in Winston-Salem. He averages about four to five performances every week on top of school work.
The hardest part of these performances is getting people to remember you according to Williams. “It’s just making sure that people stay with you. It’s making people retain you. That’s the difficult part,” he said.
Sonny Miles has a unique sound, one that resulted from a combination of different artists from different genres that wouldn’t typically put together. He describes it as a mix of John Legend, John Mayer and Bob Dylan. “His style is super chill and catchy. It’s nice, it’s real easy to listen to. It kind of just gets you rocking and snapping,” Wright said.
While Williams wasn’t able to open for Tori Kelly, he did get to meet her. “Some things don’t work out in your favor, other things do,” read the caption of a photo he posted to Facebook of him and Kelly the night of the concert.
Williams just released his first EP as Sonny Miles titled “The Beta Chapter,” on Nov. 1. You can find it on Spotify, iTunes or SoundCloud or go through links on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
