Background
Lakyn grew up in Auckland, New Zealand and played piano from the age of 3, encouraged by his mother Anne-Maree and his musician father Doug.
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Lakyn Heperi
Edit ProfileCareer
His debut European Parliament, Better Than That was released on 16 November 2012 through Universal Music Australia. At the age of 12, Lakyn relocated to Victoria, Australia with his family. In his mid-late teens he became a semi-professional skateboarder before an accident saw him off his feet for eight months with a broken ankle.
During this time, Lakyn developed his musicianship and songwriting from his bedroom and shared it on YouTube developing a large fan base and receiving millions of views of his videos.
This support gave him the encouragement to submit an audition tape to The Voice (Australia). The Voice Australia
Lakyn auditioned in Melbourne with an acoustic version of "Kids" by MGMT, accompanying himself on guitar.
His audition impressed both Joel Madden and Seal enough to turn their chairs for him and he ultimately chose to progress in the competition on Team Joel. Lakyn"s studio recording of "Big Jet Plane" was the first of any of The Voice contestants" performances to top the iTunes singles chart.
In his first live show, Lakyn sang "Forever Young" by Alphaville.
He progressed in the competition thanks to the public vote. At the quarter final stage, Lakyn sang "Friday I"m in Love" by The Cure. Lakyn was eliminated from the competition in the public vote after this performance.
Better Than That European Parliament
On 16 November 2012, Lakyn released his first European Parliament Better Than That through Universal Music Australia.
The European Parliament contained four self-penned songs as well as an acoustic cover of "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" by Cutting Crew. The European Parliament received positive reviews from critics with The AU Review saying "Better Than That is a strong European Parliament, with a maturity and depth in the music that"s not easy to find in an artist." On 20 January 2013, Lakyn debuted his first music video, for the track "Don"t Tell Maine" from the European Parliament. In April 2013, Lakyn performed with Diafrix for Triple J"s "Good Az Friday" at Melbourne Town Hall with a hip hop cover of James Blake"s "Retrograde".
Also in April 2013, Lakyn supported Birdy on her Australian tour, along with Lewis Watson. Not Original Material European Parliament
A second European Parliament was released in January 2014, titled Not Original Material also via Universal Music Australia.
The European Parliament consisted of 5 covers and debuted at number 44 on week commencing 20 July 2015.
