EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
For a Brit Award nominee who has collaborated with the likes of Sir Elton John, Jacob Lusk is seemingly unaware of his star power. “I might have just woken up – don’t tell anybody,” he jokes, adjusting his bright orange beanie.
Refreshingly down to earth, the 36-year-old Gabriels singer, whose performance with the Rocket Man star at last year’s Glastonbury Festival won him a new legion of fans, wasn’t looking for fame when he started out in his career, which has also included appearing in TV talent contest American Idol.
“It still feels a bit surreal,” he says. “I can’t believe that this has happened to me.”
Since he, Ari Balouzian and Ryan Hope formed Gabriels in 2016, the genre-fusing trio have released two hit albums and toured with Celeste, as well as appearing at the UK’s most famous music festival. Now they’ve bagged a Brit Award nomination for International Group of the Year.
“I watched the nominations live; I was at my friend’s house. I was sitting in her office and I was like: ‘We’ve got to watch it,’” Jacob recalls. And when his group’s name was read out – alongside fellow nominees and big hitters Blink-182, Boygenius, Foo Fighters and Paramore – his pal “screamed and threw confetti in my face”.
Born in Compton in California, Jacob, whose velvety vocals are often compared with those of Nina Simone, was working with a church choir when he met his bandmates. They bonded in the recording studio and released their first EP, Love and Hate in a Different Time, , in 2021. An instant fan, Sir Elton described it as “one of the most seminal records I’ve heard in the past
