LISTEN: Logan Staats of The Launch is grateful for being the Lucky One

By Jeremy Harpe and Candice Ryan of CFWE-FM
Windspeaker.com Contributor

“My dad gave me my first guitar,” said Logan Staats, a Mohawk from Oshwekan, Ont., Six Nations of the Grand River Nation, who was the first winner of CTV’s hit music competition The Launch, chosen to record an original single.

“I found a sense of belonging in that guitar, inside that music, and that, you know, was a place that I went for healing,” he told CFWE-FM.

His “The Lucky One” track shot to number one country wide and the reaction from his community has been “super overwhelming,” said Staats. “So many people watch the show, and so many people have approached me inside the community at Six… It’s been emotional.”

The show filmed last summer, so Staats has been sitting on his achievement for six months.

“It’s been a while of me keeping everything hush, hush,” he said, secluding himself and putting his focus and energy on writing and keeping healthy.

“It’s kind of a relief to say ‘I’m the chosen one’ now. It’s definitely something I’m super proud of.”

It wasn’t easy and there were times when Staats thought it’s just time to move on. But mentor and star of The Launch, Shania Twain, came to advise Staats when he was struggling with the song, overwhelmed as he was.  She told him to put the guitar down and focus on the vocal delivery… “that was pivotal,” he said.

Scott Borchetta, a record executive credited with the discovery of singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, was also a huge influence on Staats’ success on the show. He told Staats to sing straight from the heart. Borchetta said he had believed in Staats from Day One.

“I was clearly struggling at that point in the show… struggling to kind of make that song mine, struggling to fit in with what was happening… That moment lasted a lot longer than it did on the show… When he said that to me, it just helped me kind of see True North in a really wild, crazy thing that was going on around me.”

Staats shared some advice for young people on how to break through the wall on achieving their dreams.