“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Edison
There are different definitions of success for different people. The one thing that all achievers will agree on is that success comes through perseverance despite several failures. Even the most successful people from various professional fields have had to travel dark roads to excel in their areas of expertise. Rising musician and rapper Romain Ferri has a similar story. Coming from a low-income family, Romain has been through several hardships in life to pursue his passion for music. The 23-year-old artist has now become a role model to many aspiring musicians who want to navigate the industry.
Romain was born and raised in a family of 4 kids. His father was the family’s breadwinner and worked at a small bakery. Things got difficult as he and his siblings started growing up. When Romain reached high school, his father could no longer pay for his education, so he quit school and started working. Romain worked as a bagger at a grocery store to support his family. In the evenings, he would visit a nearby music store where one of his friends worked as a salesman. This was when Romain developed a passion for music.
Gradually, Romain started spending more time at the store learning to play various instruments from his friend. What fascinated him was the sound of the acoustic guitar. Within a few months, Romain mastered the art of playing the guitar to become a professional guitarist at a local club. Seeing artists performing live and earning appreciation made him want to be in their shoes. With no formal music training, Romain started practicing on his own, writing songs and then singing them accompanied by his guitar.
At 21, Romain was desperately auditioning at various clubs across Los Angeles to launch his career as an artist. He also went to several music record labels to get signed but was rejected every time. Romain faced over 100 rejections in less than 6 months but never gave up on his dreams. He launched his YouTube channel called Ferri’s Acoustics and started recording his songs and uploading them. With no professional recording studio or photographer, Romain’s music videos were shot on his mobile phone, and his music only had the sound of the acoustic guitar in the background.
Romain continued releasing videos on YouTube even though he was not getting the expected response. It took him 8 months to find his audience and witness a positive change in the number of views and subscribers. Ferri’s Acoustics started scaling up as his music reached more and more ears. Romain’s unique take on rap with a subtle hint of pop made him a music sensation online. With his growing popularity, Romain landed several opportunities to perform live and collaborated with A-list artists.
Today, Romain is a popular face in the Los Angeles music scene and on digital platforms. The rapper has over 2 million subscribers on YouTube and 500K average monthly listeners on Spotify. He owns a record label, Ferri Records, that only signs fresh talent to provide them with a launchpad.
Romain wants his story to inspire millions of struggling artists in the industry to chase their dreams. He believes that if he can prove his skills after hundreds of repeated rejections, anyone can.