Hobbie Stuart

Brighton-based singer Hobbie Stuart will be a familiar name to the avid web-surfers and video-streamers of the last few years, but this YouTube star is set to make his mark as a proper recording artist having now signed to Sony Music.

So what do you need to know about Hobbie? Well, firstly, Hobbie is not his real name; his first name is actually Roberto, but he was nicknamed due to his Brazilian father frequently referring to him as 'Hoberto' in Portuguese. His father also played a crucial part in encouraging him to take up music as a career after he became impressed with his singing voice. He learned guitar at the age of 11 and, though originally in a band, decided to take to YouTube in 2010 to unveil his remarkable pop covers to the world. Since joining the video upload site, Hobbie has racked up an amazing 24+ million views and 160,000+ subscribers with stand-out covers such as Rihanna's 'Diamonds', Miley Cyrus' 'We Can't Stop' and, his personal favourite, 'Hold On We're Going Home' by Drake.

Now, he's set to unleash his debut single 'Still Here' along with his EP of the same name. 'It's a song I wrote last year', he explains. 'I thought back to a time when I wasn't really doing much with my life and when I thought it was too late to actually do anything with. I had got kicked out of college and I had no qualifications and I thought that was it.' The irony is, of course, that this single marks a long string of achievements that he couldn't have dreamed of reaching just a few years ago. Having been previously introduced by Jamal Edwards from SBTV, Hobbie got to work with long-time musical hero Ghetts after deciding that he needed rap accompaniment. 'I've been a fan of his for a long time so it was really cool having him on the song', he explained.

Continue reading: Introducing: Hobbie Stuart, Who's Turning His Hobby Into A Promising Career