Sankil Jones

Entertainment Agency.at

About Sankil Jones

Sankil Jones was born in Vienna to a painter of royal Lebanese descent and an Austrian ballerina. As a child he suffered from severe asthma and allergies and Doctors suggested for him to spend as much time as possible near the sea, so Greece, Spain, the Baltic Sea and Long Island became his home. But it was New York that triggered the artist in him. Already at the age of four he started to sing Gospel in church, played the violin and dreamt of becoming a graphic designer for Disney. After seeing a Michael Jackson performance dancing became his secret passion, but his poor condition kept him from pursuing this particular dream... yet.

After years of heavy medication Sankil, now a teenager, stopped taking them from one day to another and stubbornly decided he was cured. He started taking dance lessons in New York and London, engaged in sports for the first time... and succeeded in overcoming his illness. The years of watching and studying from the side lines had paid off and shortly after he found himself working as a singer and dancer all around the world.

He played lead parts in musicals such as "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Grease" among many others, worked as a model, choreographed for musical and pop-acts and won the "International R&B Contest" at Vienna’s Town Hall singing under the name Tama. Soon he was opening act for Dionne Warwick ("I Say a Little Prayer") and shared the stage with legends like Diana Ross ("Ain’t No Mountain High Enough") and Patti LaBelle ("Lady Marmelade"), who exclaimed "That boy can SING!!" while performing together at the Vienna State Opera.

After a childhood of careful protection and a whirlwind of trying out everything he felt he had missed out on the young artist now felt he needed some time to come into his own and took a job as a singer on a cruise ship. He stayed for four years and literally travelled around the world three times, living the nomad-life he was so used to. It was on that ship, far away from anything familiar and singing anything from Frank Sinatra to German Schlager, where Sankil Jones started writing his own music and crafting his own, unique dancing style.

During visits to family and friends in Vienna he searched out record companies and was soon successful. His debut album "Sankil Jones – Firestarter" was released by the end of 2010 and included crowd pleasers like "U’ll Never Know" and "Better Man". Only a year later, by the end of 2011 and independent from his label which failed to promote the album, he wrote, co-produced and released the song "Fire", accompanied by a thrilling music video, and was chosen for Armenia’s Eurovision Song Contest pre selections. Due to the difficult political situation at the time Armenia ended up not participating that year, but for Jones the success of "Fire" was the incentive for the concept to a show and its soundtrack entitled "PhoeniX Island", which would mark his second album as a solo artist as well as a turning point in his carreer.