Windsorite R&B artist achieves opportunity of a lifetime

Tony Coates is pictured on Pitt Street in downtown Windsor on November 19, 2015

Photograph by Kati Panasiuk

 

By Kati Panasiuk

Windsor music has a fresh new sound in the industry as a young man’s voice is the center of a music video competition.

Tony Coates, 29, has a passion for music, singing and theatre which he has been doing his entire life.  Although he has completed a bachelor degree in nursing, he has never given up pursuing a successful career in music.

“My mom bought me my first acoustic guitar when I was 16,” Coates said.

Traveling from Windsor to Montreal, Coates has taken part in many open mic nights and events throughout the last eight years on the road. He has traveled from city to city, to promote his unique sound to whomever would listen. His single “Superman” has broken out into the music scene and is currently trending online. Coates said the music video is an accomplishment and worked on it with Windsor based videographer John Chan and choreographer Tiffany Wentzell.

“It was interesting to be a part of that kind of experience,” Coates said. “The only other music videos I have done is one shot videos where you just play acoustic.”

Wentzell was inspired when the Windsor Music Video Contest opened. She worked with Chan to produce the video for the competition that would capture what she envisioned when she was first inspired. Wentzell looked for music to establish the video from the ground up when she found Coates’ song Superman and she said she just wanted to make something beautiful.

“I chose the song ‘Superman’ because it was perfect for the type of duet I wanted to do,” said Wentzell. “It was light and just embraced the joys of being together with the added touch of Tony’s soulful voice that could pull movement out of your very core.”

The Superman video has over 700 views on YouTube and it won second place in the Windsor Music Video Contest on Oct. 22. The video uses natural lighting and shows off Windsor’s scenery like the riverfront and the Detroit skyline.

With 39.3 per cent of albums being sold digitally in Canada, it can be an advantage to use social media to promote an artist’s work according to Canadian Music Blog. They also say out of 196 countries, Canada’s music market is seventh for music sales.

Chan has been making videos for five years and this is his third music video he has produced. He said it is a treat to be able to do something this artistic and creative. Chan and Wentzell produced the video for “Superman” in just two days.

“It was a real team effort and we pulled off the video in a very short time frame,” Chan said. “It’s super rewarding.”