2008–12: Career beginnings In 2009, Sudduth partnered with producer Tim Lauer and engineer Dan Hansen to record an a cappella version of "Sedated", released under the name Mikky Ekko. That led to his first EP
Strange Fruit, which released February 15, 2009. In September 2009, he toured with the Nashville-based collective group
Ten Out of Tenn. Lauer and Hansen collaborated with Ekko for his 2010 EPs,
Reds and
Blues. "Who Are You, Really?", one of the tracks from
Reds, caught the attention of experimental hip hop producer
Clams Casino. (
Teen Wolf,
Ringer,
Pretty Little Liars,
True Blood,
The Blacklist and
Reign). The video for "Feels Like the End", his second official single, produced by Nick Ruth and Ekko, was released to YouTube on September 25, 2012, with the digital release following on September 25. "Pull Me Down", written and produced by Ekko and Casino, was released digitally on October 30, 2012. The official video was uploaded to YouTube on November 16, 2012. Ryan Hemsworth released a remix of the song to iTunes on December 7, 2012.
2012–16: Breakthrough and Time In November 2012, Ekko was featured on singer
Rihanna's seventh studio album
Unapologetic on the track "
Stay", which became a single in 2013. The song, originally written by Ekko and English songwriter
Justin Parker, charted in multiple countries, becoming Ekko's first-charting material. It gave Ekko his first entry on the
UK Singles Chart, charting at number four, and on the US
Billboard Hot 100 at three. The song charted in the top five of 19 countries, including in Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand and Switzerland. It has sold an approximate 10 million copies globally, making it his best selling single. Ekko performed "Stay" together with Rihanna for the first time at the
2013 Grammy Awards on February 10, 2013. Mikael Wood of
Los Angeles Times positively reviewed the performance and wrote that it was the most memorable moment of the night. "Who Are You, Really?" was featured during the closing credits of HBO's season six premiere of "True Blood" on June 16, 2013. Ekko premiered the video for "Kids" through VEVO on July 8, 2013. It was released via iTunes on September 8, 2013. Ekko co-wrote the song "
We Remain" for
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, performed by
Christina Aguilera. Ekko's debut album was titled
Time. In March 2015, the song "Smile" was used in the trailer for the teen drama
Paper Towns. "Watch Me Rise" became an opening theme for the
EFL Championship on
Sky Sports. In April 2015, Ekko was picked as
Elvis Duran's
Artist of the Month and was featured on NBC's
Today show hosted by
Kathy Lee Gifford and
Hoda Kotb and broadcast nationally where he gave a live performance of "Smile".
2016–2018: Fame In 2016, Ekko began working on his next project, entitled
Fame. Produced by Jay Joyce, the album was recorded in Nashville. The album's first single, "Blood on the Surface", released October 13, 2017. Paper Magazine premiered the song on October 12, 2017, describing it as "synthy retro".
Fame was released on November 2, 2018. ==Discography==