Jeiris Cook Bio | eyeseecopenhagen

JEIRIS COOK

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Jeiris Cook, if asked will tell you his singing influences and style are reminiscent of the Motown era. A life long soul stirring vocalist, his aim is to marry old and new while delivering audiences a performance that is truly unique and rare.

His vocals exquisitely compliment the acoustic vibrations that emanate from his guitar. He is modern Motown with lingering traces of folk and bluegrass rolled into one musical and rustic serenade. Going dark musically for years, he credits his revival to his first guitar "Homer", which is named after his late grandfather (Homer Cook).

He started singing at a young age at home and in choirs/musicals throughout grade school. In the late 90s early 2000s, he joined up with high school friends to start a group called Kornerstone. Over the next 7 years, they recorded 1 unreleased album and performed at various showcases and venues. Of those, the most famous being Showtime At The Apollo (hosted by Steve Harvey at the time).

The most infamous (at least from Jeiris’ viewpoint) was at a park in Wyandanch, Long Island. It was late summer and most of the acts on stage were hip hop artists. “By the time our time slot came up, the crowd was in a drunken stupor and greedily waiting for more hardcore profanity-laced music. We were essentially a boy band getting ready to perform for a crowd that wanted no parts of such a thing”. Kornerstone was oblivious and enthusiastically walked on stage with their introductions.

Things started to go south when one member of the group recalls someone from the crowd yelling “I don’t know why ya’ll up there, we aren’t gonna support you”. As the music began to play, and the first notes uttered, the backlash was immediate. First came a chorus of crescendoing boos from the crowd. The group danced and sang on hoping to win over hearts and minds. “We also didn’t want to show any signs of visible panic, even though we were”, the group recalls. As the performance progressed, the crowd grew more irritated and started throwing food, followed by beer cans and bottles. Dancing turned to dodging and the house DJ coward under the table until the onslaught ceased. “The worst part, was having to walk back thru that very same crowd to leave the venue. We essentially left with our tails and humility between our legs”. Needless to say, neither Jeiris nor the group have since returned.

“Since then, the lesson learned in that moment rang out clear for me. Not everyone will like you, no matter how talented you are or how hard you work. Just be grateful for the people that do, learn from the people who don’t and duck when all else fails”.

Jeiris Cook

Jeiris Cook’s debut album will be released in the Spring of 2018.