Rising Star: Eric Stanley

[ @estan247 ]

Growing up, Eric was always musically inclined. Born in Chesapeake, VA on April 19, 1991, Eric lived in a household surrounded by musicians. His mother played the piano while he, his sister, and brother would sing along. It was when Eric watched his older brother play the viola during one of his family’s music sessions that molded his interest in the instrument. So at age 12, he decided to learn how to play the violin.

What began as an elective in middle school, developed into a second nature for Eric. As he entered high school, he went on to receive professional training and join the Richmond Youth Symphony Orchestra.

At the start of the new year in 2010, he began playing along recorded songs. One of the first videos he posted on Youtube was a violin cover of “Say Ahh” by Trey Songz. This video gained 100,000 views in a day. The overwhelming response motivated him to keep moving forward and to keep posting videos. With just homemade videos recorded in his dorm room with his violin and beats as accompaniment, Eric has reached over 44,000 subscribers and surpassed 6 million total upload views. Those numbers continue to rise daily. In fact, he has 10 videos with over 100,000 views. His most popular video is B.o.B’s ‘Airplanes,’ and his two Eminem covers are also nearing 700,000. He continues to use this social media site to build his brand and has been featured on other social media sites such as WorldStarHipHop.com.

Eric has not limited himself to a specific style of music. He would define it more as world music mixed into modern. However, some of his musical influences include Jean-Luc Ponty and Japhia Life. In addition to musical impacts, Eric considers his family as a major influence in his career.

In the future, Eric wants to tour worldwide and make albums that will change the way that violin is perceived in mainstream music. Eric has already started working on his self-titled EP (extended-play) to be released on iTunes in April of this year. This EP aims to incorporate a variety of pop, hip hop, jazz and orchestral music.

Currently, Eric is sharpening his musical abilities by studying Music Performance in Classical Violin at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. Eric also knows how to play the piano and is currently learning the guitar. When Eric is not making music, he enjoys playing basketball as a way to relax.

Eric is a master of his craft, the musical protége has elevated his passion, by performing as the opening act for the “Airplanes” singer/songwriter B.O.B., Maybach Music’s Wale and RocNation’s very own J.Cole. Next on Stanley’s agenda is a performance at the Richmond Jazz festival on Aug 11th, his roaring rifts can also be heard Aug 13th as he plays the National anthem for the Cleveland Browns.

Eric is multi-talented and thrives to inspire others through the chords of his violin.

Eric’s videos can be viewed at www.youtube.com/estan247.

Below is Eric’s violin cover of Eminem & Rihanna’s hit track “Love The Way You Lie”. Enjoy!