Jon Muq

A Ugandan singer/songwriter based in Austin, Texas, Jon Muq has taken an instinctual approach to his music which effortlessly blends Afropop with folk, rock, and soul. After honing his craft in Kampala hotels and on a cruise line, he found his way to the U.S. and eventually signed with Easy Eye Sound. His Dan Auerbach-produced debut single, "Runaway," was released in late 2023. Growing up in Mutungo, Uganda, Muq was fascinated by the brass band at his school and later joined as a bugler. He continued to follow music wherever he found it; as a teenager, he chanced upon a copy of the U.S.A. for Africa charity single "We Are the World" and taught himself to sing every vocal line, mimicking the styles of American singers as disparate as Michael Jackson and Kenny Rogers. He began writing his own songs in English and learned to play guitar on a friend's instrument, borrowing it to play gigs at local hotel bars. A video of him singing led to his first international gig, providing entertainment on a Norwegian cruise ship. This proved pivotal in many ways, not least of which for providing him with a visa that allowed him to move to the U.S. By this point, he had amassed a large catalog of Western covers along with his own songs which synthesized music of the African diaspora with the folk, pop, rock, and soul he'd been playing for years. Settling in Austin, Texas, he connected with Dan Auerbach (the Black Keys) who signed Muq to his Easy Eye imprint. Muq's first single for the label was the tuneful and emotional "Runaway," released near the end of 2023.
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