PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Sometimes, an overnight success is decades in the making — and it’s happening now for a veteran Portland musician.
Andy Stokes is called the “King of Northwest Soul Music” and his new record is a hit across America.
With a catchy beat, solid lyrics and classic soul singer vocals, “Best Day Ever” hit the R&B and Indie Soul charts hard and just kept rising.
The song is inspired by his wife.
“Cause that’s what we say to each other at the end of every day — no matter how the day is — best day ever,” Stokes told KOIN 6 News.
Stokes has been in the Portland music scene for more than 30 years — packing local clubs with a voice that hearkens back to classic soul singers like Marvin Gaye and Luther Vandross.
Originally from Virginia, Stokes came to the Northwest with his father, who was in the military at Fort Lewis. He went to high school in Tacoma and then came to Oregon to play football at Mount Hood Community College.
For Stokes, music started off as more of a hobby.
“Music was just fun stuff,” he said. “My dad and I used to do it on the weekends, and I never thought I would be doing any of this.”
However, that changed in 1991 when Stokes was with a band called Cool’r and they played in Japan.
The Gap Band’s Charlie Wilson heard him sing, and so did funk icon George Clinton.
“And [George Clinton] said — ‘I don’t know how long it’s going to take, but you got something special in you, and you need to go get it when you return home,'” Stokes recalled.
Stokes established a stellar career in the Northwest, but never had a big hit — until “Best Day Ever.”
“It’s amazing man,” Stokes said. “I mean it’s amazing. I just never gave up.”
“And it’s the Northwest sound too,” he added. “That what I’m proud of — it was created — it’s the Northwest sound.”
“Best Day Ever” is the first single off Stokes’ new album called “Now.” Rapper Snoop Dogg is featured on one of the cuts.