ABOUT

NOIVAS was born on March 12th in Galveston, Texas to Rosalind and Douglas Wright, Sr. He's the youngest of 5 children raised on a ranch in Jasper, Texas. His love for music began with bass guitar lessons from his oldest brother at the age of 6. Growing up, NOIVAS would sing solos in his father, Reverend Douglas Wright, Sr.’s church in his hometown of Jasper. From there, he became familiar with the piano and guitar at the age of 12. He loved instrumentation so much that he stopped singing all together. 

NOIVAS was inspired to sing again at the age of 14 when he performed Sam Cooke‘s “A Change Is Gonna Come” for his father for the first time. His father being from Mississippi and growing up in the Jim Crow South, made him feel more connected to the history of such a powerful song. That musical interest grew roots when Wright served three years as his church’s music director and taught himself the basics of music theory. Today, NOIVAS also plays ukulele, saxophone, harmonica, and mandolin. To top it all off, he is a talented whistler.

As a two-time contestant on FOX’s American Idol, NOIVAS made the Top 48 in 2014 and the Top 24 in 2015. That same year, NOIVAS self-released an EP titled "Breathing Underwater", with the titular song dedicated to his brother Alfred Wright, after his first American Idol journey. It reached #40 on the Top 100 charts of iTunes. Immediately after his final elimination in 2015, NOIVAS embarked on a regional U.S. tour that spanned from California to Florida all the way to upstate New York, performing over 180 shows.

In his time as an artist, he has had the privilege of opening up for multiple artists and bands as follows: Andy Grammer, Gavin DeGraw, Emeli Sandé, Corinne Bailey Rae, Jason Mraz, Robin Thicke, Parachute, Jack Ingram, NEEDTOBREATHE, The Cab, Civil Twilight, Nico & Vinz, and Five For Fighting. He’s also had the opportunity to play at multiple festivals like: SXSW, State Fair of Texas, ACL, Lollapalooza, and Bonnaroo. Even performing at Steve Harvey’s eponymous giving-back ceremony, the Neighborhood Awards, in the same lineup with the likes of Charlie Wilson, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Keith Sweat, and Maxwell.

In 2016, NOIVAS completed his Bachelor's degree at Baylor University. After finishing another smaller tour in June of 2017 he decided to take a break from it all, because of burnout and exhaustion. He then became an educator, like his parents, in the Texas public schools and a professor at a Texas junior college. His love for education and learning new things is self-evident, even in his songwriting. In 2020, he completed his Master's degree in Management Information Systems at Lamar University. One thing that his educator parents taught him and his siblings at a very young age was that "knowledge is power" and "education is one thing that no one can take away from you".

Being the country boy that he is, NOIVAS decided to settle 25 miles outside of the Austin, Texas city limits with his partner, Elissa, their 2 beautiful daughters, Bella and Ira, and Abby and Bear, their fur babies. Now in 2023, NOIVAS is making a comeback in music with a feature on NBC’s The Voice!

NOIVAS commands the stage with powerful sounds and raw emotion that draw the audience in from his first note. With a plethora of genres under his belt–pop, rock, country, alternative, soul, and American roots, to name a few–NOIVAS has been likened to artists: Jon Batiste, Brandi Carlisle, Chris Stapleton, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, and international music legend Stevie Wonder.

NOIVAS’ influences are as distinctive as he is. They include Chris Stapleton, Elvis Presley, Beyoncé, Michael Jackson, Steven Tyler/Aerosmith, James Taylor, Nina Simone, John Mayer, Adele, Justin Timberlake, Coldplay, Eric Clapton, Radiohead, and Bono/U2.