Diego Gomes

Gomes was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. He is of Portuguese and Italian descent.^[3] At the age of ten, Gomes formed a band before auditioning for The Next Star. He cites music influences from G-Eazy, Motley Crue, Diplo, Michael Jackson, Metro Boomin and Future, among many more.^[3]

At the age of 13, Gomes auditioned for the third season of the Canadian reality competition television series, The Next Star in 2010.^[3] Out of 4,000 young Canadians, Gomes was chosen as one of the top six contestants along with Victoria Duffield, Isabelle Stern, Madi Amyotte, Brandon Bizior and Mimoza Duot. Gomes worked with songwriter and producer Ryan Stewart to record the song, "My Best Friend's Girl", a track he performed on the show.^[4] A music video was filmed for the song and was released on September 17, 2010.^[5] At the finale, Gomes was announced the winner of that season.^[6] "My Best Friend's Girl" amassed over 550,000 views on YouTube and reached the top ten on the Billboard Canada's Emerging Artist Chart.^[7] The song also debuted at number 85 on the Canadian Hot 100.^[8] In December 2010, the top six were called back to Toronto once again to perform a cover of Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You".^[9]

In January 2011, Gomes did a Long & McQuade in-store performance with Suzie McNeil, presented by CHUM-FM.^[10] Following his appearance on the show, he was signed to Universal Music Canada and released two songs under the label.^[11] He released the single, "Call My Name", in August 2011.^[7] He also released a promotional single titled, "Tonight We're on Fire", which was featured on The Next Star: Season 4 compilation album.^[12] In 2012, Gomes formed the pop-punk band, More Than Us, and toured across Ontario as well as performing shows at the Rogers Centre for the 2012 Spring Fling and the FazeSuperGirl Power-Up Event.^[7] In May 2013, Gomes released the single, "Prom Night", which was produced by Mike Klose and Wayne Young of The Wanderers.^[13] In August 2013, he released the single, "Just Let Go" from his upcoming EP, which was expected to be released in early 2014.^[7] In July 2015, he released a single titled, "Bow Tie", via Prizefighter Productions.^[14]

In 2017, Gomes signed with Studizzy Entertainment and released his first single under the label titled, "Understand Me".^[15] In an interview with Canadian Dope, Gomes stated that after signing with the label, he was able to make music he wanted to make.^[3] He later released the single, "Sirens".^[16]

In 2019, Gomes began focusing on videography full-time,^[17] shooting over 300 music videos.^[18] In October 2021, Gomes started a YouTube series on his channel, Dreams 2 Reality, documenting his finical success over the years.^[19] He also became the CEO of videography business, New Wave Visuals, where he has worked with artists such as DJ Unimerce and Chromazz.^[2] In 2023, Gomes stopped doing music to live a more private life,^[20] while continuing to direct music videos for several artists.^[21]

Early in his career, Gomes' music primarily focused on pop, which he expressed not having the freedom in what he wanted to do.^[3] He later transitioned to urban rap,^[3] before changing his sound to latin pop.^[11]

Gomes worked at a major beverage factory,^[11] before quitting to focus on videography and filming full-time.^[22]