If you haven’t heard of the name Mark Banks, then you might be living under a rock. Ok, that might be a little extreme, but the urban pop star artist is quickly making his way to the top of the music scene and people are definitely starting to take notice. The 18-year-old from Philadelphia, “North Philly” to be exact, has some of the hottest music out right now. His hit single “Hold Yuh” has garnered over a million streams on Spotify already and that number is steadily rising by the day. The melodious song is a crowd favourite on Apple Music as well. Despite its popularity, you wouldn’t think a song like “Hold Yuh” would come from someone living in Philadelphia, which has a rap and hip-hop heavy culture. Even though North Philly is home to numerous rappers, Mark took the road less travelled and decided to go the urban-pop route.
Mark states that “from the type of city I’m from, taking on such a different genre of music such as pop is very uncommon. Everybody in my city wants to rap and make music about the same things really. That’s totally fine because I live in a city full of talented and determined artists that don’t joke about their dreams. For me personally, I try to do everything differently in my life. I’m still from the hood, so I still like to add some of that type of culture in my songs. I took on pop because of how different and positive it is, but I definitely made sure I threw my urban side in it too. Where I’m from and that side of music will always have a place in me.”
For Mark Banks, music and singing always came easy to him and it shows in his single “Hold Yuh”. The song is filled with melodious tunes and notes that are just hard to be taught to someone that doesn’t a musical inkling or background. Mark grew up in a family that has very strong music bloodlines. Banks goes on to state that, “Music has always existed in my family for generations. My great-grandfather was an artist as well, he was a part of a music group called “Johnny Banks and the Everglades”. He was the main singer of the group. He and his group almost made it to the top, but he suddenly passed away before everything took off. But it did not stop there. The gift was passed down to my grandmother, then to my mother, then to my older sister, and then now to me. I’m sure it won’t stop with me either.”
Despite all the notoriety, Mark is gaining from his single “Hold Yuh” and all of his other top songs, he is continuing to stay humble and has identified a bigger purpose behind making his music. Mark states that “I’m so grateful for the blessing God gave me because I want to show my talent to the world. I want to show people that it’s nothing wrong with being different, and my biggest goal in life is just to bring positive energy from the type of music that I make into this industry and all the people around the world.” Mark definitely has a good head on his shoulders and on fire single in “Hold Yuh” that has helped take his success to new heights. The sky is truly the limit for this artist. He has the potential to become one of the biggest and brightest stars in the industry. You can follow along on his journey by following his Instagram account @markbanksofficial. You can also listen to “Hold Yuh” on Spotify here @Mark Banks.
