Casey Luong (born November 4, 1994), known

mononymously A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. In some cases, a mononym selected by an individual may have originally been from a polynym, a word which refers to one o ...

by his stage name Keshi (stylized in

all lowercase Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing ...

), is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Known for his distant falsetto vocals and textural instrumentals, he has accumulated over one billion streams with songs such as "Like I Need U", "2 Soon" and "Right Here".

Early life

Luong was born in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, to

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

parents and grew up in

Sugar Land Sugar Land is the largest city in Fort Bend County, Texas, United States, located in the southwestern part of the metropolitan area. Located about southwest of downtown Houston, Sugar Land is a populous suburban municipality centered around ...

. Despite living in an ethnically diverse community with a large Asian population, he recalls that he often felt out of place and disconnected from his heritage while growing up, as others around him were mostly ethnically Chinese. When he was 13, he began learning the guitar after picking it up from his grandfather. He began teaching himself the instrument while using his grandfather's Vietnamese music book. Another one of his motivations for learning guitar came from watching

Drake Bell Jared Drake Bell (born June 27, 1986) is an American actor, singer, songwriter, and musician. Born in Newport Beach, California, he began his career as an actor in the early 1990s at the age of five with his first televised appearance on ''Hom ...

on the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

TV show

Drake & Josh ''Drake & Josh'' is an American teen sitcom created by Dan Schneider for Nickelodeon. The series follows two teenage stepbrothers Drake Parker (Drake Bell) and Josh Nichols (Josh Peck) as they live together despite opposite personalities. The ser ...

. He cites

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...

and

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

as his biggest influences as a kid. He graduated from Stephen F. Austin High School in Sugar Land and earned a

Bachelor of Science in Nursing The Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN, BScN) also known in some countries as a Bachelor of Nursing (BN) or Bachelor of Science (BS) with a Major in Nursing is an academic degree in the science and principles of nursing, granted by an accredited ...

from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. He then worked as an

oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...

nurse at the

Texas Medical Center The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is a medical district and neighborhood in south-central Houston, Texas, United States, immediately south of the Museum District and west of Texas State Highway 288. Over 60 medical institutions, largely concentrate ...

for two years. The stage name "Keshi" comes from the childhood name that his fiancée's parents gave him. They have been childhood friends since 5th grade. Whenever he visited, her parents would call him "Keshi", which they still do to this day.

Career

He created the moniker "Keshi" and began to share music via his

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

page around 2017. He credited watching YouTube tutorials for teaching him how to write, produce, and engineer his music. Initially, he was in doubt of his abilities and musical direction, but slowly his distinct style, which relies on his dreamy vocals combined with lo-fi beats and guitar, garnered more attention and popularity. In 2019, he quit his job as a nurse and flew to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to sign with

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

. His decision to quit nursing and the pursuit of music was ultimately made due to his realization that the fear of missed opportunities exceeded his fear of failure. From there, his first singles attracted millions of listeners upon release. He cites

Frank Ocean Christopher Francis "Frank" Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987), is an American singer, songwriter, and rapper. His works are noted by music critics for featuring avant-garde styles and introspective, elliptical lyrics. Ocean ...

The 1975 The 1975 are an English pop rock band formed in 2002 in Wilmslow, Cheshire. Now based in Manchester, the band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Matthew "Matty" Healy, lead guitarist Adam Hann, bassist Ross MacDonald, and drummer G ...

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

, and

Bryson Tiller Bryson Djuan Tiller (born January 2, 1993) is an American singer and rapper. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he began his career in 2011 with a mixtape entitled ''Killer Instinct Vol. 1''. Tiller initially gained mainstream success in 2015 follow ...

as some of his greatest musical influences.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Single albums

Singles

Songwriting credits

Tours

* Hell/Heaven Tour (2022)

References

External links

* {{URL, keshimusic.com 1994 births American rhythm and blues singers People from Houston Vietnamese-American culture in Texas Living people Keshi Lo-fi musicians American musicians of Vietnamese descent