Jason Scott Wilkes (born September 12, 1984), known professionally as WILKES, is a musician, singer and songwriter. He is the former frontman for
High Flight Society
High Flight Society was an American Christian rock band from Cedartown, Georgia.Cedartown,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
, United States, and lived there until he married. He attended Cedar Hill Middle School. He gave an audition during the school's talent show on April 1, 1999. He attended the
University of West Georgia
The University of West Georgia is a public university in Carrollton, Georgia, United States. The university offers a satellite campus in Newnan, Georgia, Newnan, Georgia, select classes at its Douglasville Center, and off-campus Museum Studies c ...
, and studied Auto Body & Paint at
Coosa Valley Technical College
Georgia Northwestern Technical College (GNTC) is a Public college, public technical college serving nine counties across North Georgia, northwestern Georgia. It operates under the Technical College System of Georgia. The college has six campus ...
.
Bands
High Flight Society (2001–2012)
After around two years of recording demos and performing local gigs,
High Flight Society
High Flight Society was an American Christian rock band from Cedartown, Georgia.Selectric Records for the release of their EP ''From Far Above Somewhere''. They were then signed onto RKT Music, a subsidiary of
Rocketown Records
Rocketown Records was an independent record label which was started in 1996 by Michael W. Smith. In the fall of 1995, met with Don Donahue, A&R director at Reunion Records, to discuss creation of the label.
In 1996, Word Records bought a minority ...
, in March 2007.Georgia Band High Flight Society Signs With RKT Music ; BREATHECast.com; published March 2007 (retrieved March 20, 2008) On June 5, 2007, the band released its self-titled debut album under RKT Music.
In late 2008, the label folded, leaving High Flight Society without a label. On December 12, 2008, it was announced that they had added Jerad Griffin to take over Jason's rhythm guitar parts and to sing background vocals. In 2009, High Flight Society independently recorded and funded the release of '' Par Avion'', which was released on June 16. This EP was made available online, and hard copies were sold only at shows.
On March 12, 2010, it was announced that they had officially signed to
Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
/
Word Records
Word Records is a Christian faith-based entertainment company based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is owned by Curb Records, and is a part of Word Entertainment. It is distributed by Warner Records (the former Warner Bros. Records).
History
In ...
. Unfortunately, due to restructuring within the label, they were abruptly dropped, leaving them wondering how they would proceed as a band.
On December 21, 2010, it was announced that they had decided to part ways with Jerad. Using
Kickstarter
Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
, the band raised over $5000 between December 21, 2010, and January 28, 2011, to fund their new six-song EP. On December 20, 2011, the band released its final work, '' Lights Come Down''.
On Sunday, May 20, 2012, Lockridge, aged 31, had a seizure while preparing for church and died of apparent trauma. After that, the remaining members decided to disband.
Sam Hunt (2010–2012)
Wilkes and the rest of High Flight Society backed Sam Hunt as his band for a couple of years. They unofficially called themselves "Sam Hunt and The Second Chance Band." Wilkes played acoustic guitar, rhythm electric guitar, and sang background vocals for Sam.
Disciple (2012–2015)
During late 2012, Disciple underwent a lineup change, causing all members to be replaced, with the exception of Kevin Young, the band's lead vocalist and one of the founding members. Wilkes joined the band as bassist, backing vocalist and co-lead vocalist. Disciple did a co-headlining tour with Fireflight in January and February 2013, called the Save Us Now Tour.
In early 2014, Disciple launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund their new album, which was to be recorded and released independently. The campaign was a huge success, setting a goal of $45,000 and ending with a total pledged amount of $115,852. For this project, the band returned to producer
Travis Wyrick
Travis Wyrick is an American music producer and owner of Lakeside Studios in Knoxville, Tennessee. He is particularly known for his work with bands such as P.O.D., Pillar, 10 Years, Nine Lashes, and Disciple, and artists such as TobyMac and ...
, who produced the first seven Disciple albums. The album, titled '' Attack'', was released on September 23 worldwide. This was the band's first release to feature the members of the new lineup, including Wilkes. Apart from playing the bass and singing background and co-lead vocals, Wilkes helped in co-writing three tracks on the album. The band went on to tour alongside
Decyfer Down
Decyfer Down is an American Christian rock band formed in 1999 and based in Morehead City, North Carolina, United States. Until 2002 – the year that Christopher Clonts joined the band – they went by the moniker Allysonhymn (pronounced All-e ...
, Nine Lashes and Seventh Day Slumber on the City Rockfest tour of 2015.
On March 31, 2015, it was announced that Wilkes had made the decision to step down from the band in order to support his family. He left the band after the last show of the City Rockfest tour, on April 11, 2015.
On September 25, 2015, the band released ''
Vultures
A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...
'', an EP which consisted of songs that were written while recording ''Attack'', but not released along with the rest of the songs on the album. While Wilkes did not record anything on the EP, he did co-write three of its songs.
Wilkes (2015–present)
After parting ways with Disciple, Wilkes started a solo venture, with the help of a few other musicians including Georgia musician Shane Cole. On August 6, 2016, Wilkes started a fundraiser for the creation of two new acoustic EPs. Wilkes stated on the campaign page that the EPs will be free.
On March 14, 2017, Wilkes released the first EP on his official website, and called it "No Filter - Part I". The EP consists of 3 tracks.
On July 22, 2017, Wilkes released a full production single instead of a second acoustic EP. The single is called "Stealing from Heaven".
The Voice
On March 6, 2018, Jason Wilkes appeared on NBC's '' The Voice'', as a blind audition contestant. The episode in which he appeared was the fourth episode of season 14. He performed "One Headlight" by The Wallflowers, and caused two out of four coaches to turn around; Adam Levine and Blake Shelton. Upon being given the choice, he joined Team Blake. In the Battles Round, on the episode broadcast on March 26, 2018, he was paired with Blake Team teammate Jordan Kirkdorffer both singing "
Nobody to Blame
"Nobody to Blame" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton. The song was released in November 2015 as the singer's third single overall. Stapleton co-wrote the song with Barry Bales and Ronnie Bowman. It became Stapleton's ...
", a
Chris Stapleton
Christopher Alvin Stapleton (born April 15, 1978) is an American country singer-songwriter and guitarist. Born in Kentucky, Stapleton moved to Nashville in 1996 to study for an engineering degree from Vanderbilt University, but dropped out to pur ...
song. He was picked by Blake to move on to the knockouts round. Wilkes then sang " The Climb" by
Miley Cyrus
Miley Ray Cyrus ( , born Destiny Hope Cyrus, November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and director. Regarded as a contemporary pop icon, Cyrus has been recognized for her evolving artistry and image reinventions. She is ...
, winning his knockout against Dylan Hartigan, moved on to the live playoffs and was eliminated.