Arthur Gunn

Dibesh Pokharel (Dibesh means light) was born October 24, 1997, in Kathmandu—the metropolis capital of around 2.5 million people in the country of Nepal—to parents Datram and Maiya. His family, including four sisters—including Rubi, Rupa, and Supriya—were not musical, although he was exposed to music at an early age and grew up with it in his life; they noted as a child he sang and played small guitars his mother gave him. His family emigrated to Wichita, Kansas, around 2008 when he was eleven but he remained and finished school. He bought a new guitar and befriended musicians and played the city's coffeehouses. He traveled and busked on street corners in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and a summer at the Ocean City, Maryland boardwalk. He cites as inspirations and influences: John Martyn, Nick Drake, Bob Dylan, Bukka White, Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Jimmy Page, Joe Cocker, Mississippi John Hurt, John Lee Hooker, Ray LaMontagne and Ben Howard. His musician friends urged him to audition for American Idol, and Gunn knew he wanted to be a professional singer-songwriter, and decided it was a good opportunity to learn more about the industry. == Career ==

Early career: Grahan Gunn first recorded songs in 2018 and around the same time started using his stage name. His debut, Grahan, is an eight-song Nepali language album including the love song "Nyano Ghar", released in early 2018. Grahan means "about day and night, the sun and the moon". and he received praise for his "sweet and anguished" vocals. He toured in Nepal to support the album, and recorded new songs in 2019, including "Ma", "Khoj", and "Karnali (The River)", which he released in December; all of which to be a part of a new album. American Idol Gunn submitted an audition online for American Idol in 2019, and was invited to the September 4 in-person Wichita, Kansas, auditions for the eighteenth season of the show at Century II Performing Arts & Convention Center. Seacrest tags the end of the scene by stating the contestants were almost famous. For the first round Gunn self-selected the singer-songwriter music genre and had to be encouraged by the judges to keep singing a second verse of his choice, "Hard to Handle" (1968) by Otis Redding. For the duet round he partnered with Amber Fiedler who was eliminated later on in the Hawaiian Showcase. Gunn passed onto the Top Forty and advanced to the Showcase round performing for a live audience—including his parents and sisters—in Kapolei, Hawaii, at the Aulani resort. Judge Lionel Richie said that advancing him to the Top Twenty was one of the easiest decisions they had to make. The rest of the season the show filmed all the on-air talent from their homes. The producers equipped each contestant with similar sound and lighting equipment so they could film from home. When asked who Gunn would like to duet with if he made it to the finale, his list included The Black Keys, Jack Johnson and Damian Marley. In May 2020 Gunn became the first Nepali-born contestant in the Top Ten on the show; he performed a reggae version of John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads" for the show's theme of evoking songs of home. Popculture's Kyle Phillippi noted Gunn's voice has been praised by the show's judges from the beginning as "the most unique", Gunn said, "I have been told that I have a husky tone to my voice that I open the diaphragm more than others." He added, "I don't use a lot of my head voice or nasal voice, and I am still learning my voice, but I don't have a particular way to define my voice." The first round were celebration songs with Gunn singing Gavin DeGraw's 2003 single "I Don't Want to Be". The second round was the contestant's intended debut single if they won with Gunn again singing Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" (1971). Gunn is seen as a trailblazer by Nepali musicians who hope more people from their country will feel empowered to sign up for competitions. Post-Idol, Self-Titled In June 2020, Gunn was one of the featured singers for a virtual arts event hosted by the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu. In July 2020, he released a seven-song album, Self-Titled, produced by Angelo Rodriguez. , his YouTube channel has 490,000 subscribers. His most watched video, , is "Nyano Ghar" (House of warmth), released May 2018, has over six million views on YouTube. ==Discography==

Albums • 2018: Grahan • 2020: Jalai Mai • 2021: Khoj • 2024: Ojhel == Notes ==