Aidan James Laprete Powell (born September 6, 2001) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer. As an actor, he is known for his role as Henry Tanaka in The Wilds.
Early life
Laprete was born on September 6, 2001, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Laprete first started acting in commercials as a child. Laprete started playing the ukulele at age four,[1] and started to sing at age eight. He started performing at age six in children's groups at local ukulele festivals.[2]
Career
At age eight, Laprete performed the song "Hey Soul Sister" by Train at the 2010 Ukulele Festival. On July 19, 2010, a video of this performance was uploaded by "elrollo79" onto YouTube.[3] The video quickly went viral and has received over twenty million views.[4] The video got the attention of a number of popular artists, among them Jack Johnson and Mick Fleetwood as well as Train's Pat Monahan who is reported to have called it his favorite cover version of the song.[5] Laprete can be seen in Train's music video for their song Mermaid, which was filmed in Honolulu. The video premiered on February 27, 2013.[6]
In 2014, Laprete released his first single under the artist name Aidan James. He went on a solo tour independently to the east and west coast promoting the music. In Washington, D.C., he performed on the steps of the Capitol Hill and did a private performance at the Google Headquarters.[7]
A Hawaiian magazine, MidWeek, did a cover story on Laprete titled "How Aidan James Became One of Earth's Mightiest Heroes". The story was about him being featured in HBO's documentary, Saving My Tomorrow.[5] Laprete's debut album under the name Aidan James was released on December 1, 2015, featuring the song written for the show.[8]
Laprete was interviewed by ABC News and 3 of his music videos were featured at Good Morning America's Summer Concert Series in Central Park on July 22, 2016.[10]
On May 18, 2018, the single "Casanova", a collaboration between James and Chosen Jacobs, was released. It was written and produced by James and Jacobs.[11] He currently releases and produces music under the name Laprete.[12]
In 2022, Laprete played the role of Henry Tanaka in the second season of the Amazon Prime Video series, The Wilds. Entertainment Weekly praised his performance, calling Laprete a "standout" amongst the ensemble cast.[13]
Musical style
The ukulele, played as a pop instrument rather than in traditional Hawaiian style, is his trademark.[1] He has said, "I want to be able to show the ukulele to everybody and be able to show that you can do anything with it."[14] After rebranding to Laprete from Aidan James in 2020, he changed his sound completely, now being labeled as alternative pop music with electronic, hip hop, ambient, and UK garage influences. His influences include Jon Bellion,[10]The 1975, Bon Iver, Jai Paul, and Sevdaliza. In live performances, James uses a Boss RC-300 to create loops live on the spot, Roland SPD-SX to trigger samples, Ableton Live, and TC Helicon's Voicelive 3 for ukulele and singing effects.[15]
