Pop/soul performer blends genre-spanning songwriting with modern messages on dazzling new album
Nashville, Tenn. (September 24, 2021) — Sidewalk Records recording artist Wyn Starks proudly celebrates diversity — both musical and cultural — with his full-length debut, Black is Golden. Listen to the album HERE.
Released today, Black is Golden is a rallying cry for people of color, as well as an inclusive call to the dance floor for all races. There are gospel ballads, progressive pop anthems, soul songs, and R&B bangers, each song wrapped around the dazzling delivery of Starks’ multi-octave voice. Call it a celebration of diversity and individuality, delivered by a musician who’s proud to highlight the very things that make him different.
“It’s important that we’re able to celebrate our differences and our different cultures, especially given what we’ve seen today with racial inequality,” says the Minneapolis native, who sang his first solos in church, relocated to Nashville as a young adult, and signed with Curb Records during his first six months in town. “That’s why I chose to call my album Black Is Golden. I feel like it encompasses this story — this journey of becoming who I am as an artist, and being able to look at myself and love myself.”
Black is Golden features Wyn Starks’ first single, “Circles,” which has earned nearly 2 million streams on Spotify, as well as viral hits like “Dancing My Way.” Also included are a handful of fresh, unreleased tracks, from the title track — a celebration of blackness and selfhood, wrapped around a cool R&B groove — to the gospel-influenced power ballad “At the End of the River.”
Meanwhile, themes like social politics and racial equality help strengthen the album’s contemporary punch, and Starks tackles each song with a rare mix of personal intimacy and universal appeal. These are his stories, after all, but they’re meant for everyone.
Black is Golden is available HERE today, 9/24. For more information on Wyn Starks, visit www.wynstarks.com.
About Wyn Starks
Pop star. Soul singer. Modern-day genre-blender. Old-school R&B revivalist. Wyn Starks proudly celebrates his own diversity with 2021’s Black is Golden, a debut album rooted in the singer/songwriter’s versatile vocals, timely messages, and bold willingness to break new ground.
Black is Golden blends throwback grooves with contemporary moves, nodding not only to Starks’ past — including his upbringing in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he sang his first solos in church — but also the innovative sounds he discovered upon relocating to Nashville. Signing a record deal with Curb Records after just six months in town, he began releasing songs that celebrated love, life, and inclusivity, earning nearly 2 million streams for his debut single, 2019’s “Circles.” From there, his sound deepened to include tracks of justice and racial equality, all while maintaining his unique blend of vintage influences and progressive pop hooks.
Released in 2020, the EP Who I Am showcased an artist whose music is simultaneously personal and universal. One year later, Black is Golden continued that balancing track. The album is both a rallying cry for people of color and an inclusive call to the dance floor for all races, and its broad mix of music — including gospel ballads, rhythmic bangers, soul classics, and dazzling pop anthems — strengthens the album’s central message of diversity.
About Curb Records
Celebrating 57 years in business, Curb Records is one of the world’s leading independent music companies. Owned and operated by Mike Curb since 1964, Curb Records has achieved 435 number one records, over 1,500 Top Ten records and charted over 4,500 total records. With over a half century in operation, Curb Records has been influential in the careers of some of the biggest names in music, including: Tim McGraw, Hank Williams, Jr., Rodney Atkins, Lee Brice, LeAnn Rimes, The Judds, Dylan Scott, Sawyer Brown, Wynonna, Lyle Lovett, Jo Dee Messina, Hal Ketchum and Desert Rose Band, among many others. Today’s roster includes some of the top names across multiple genres of music. For more information, visit www.curb.com.
