full name: elijah sterling doucet. nickname(s): eli, lijah. birthday: 3rd june. gender / pronouns:  cis man ,  he / him. orientation:  bisexual / biromantic. hometown: eunice, louisiana, us. personality: adaptable, curious, over-critical, distracted. languages: english, french ( louisiana ) and asl. height: 175cm / 5'9. build: slender, lean.

born and raised in eunice, la surrounded by family. elijah has two older siblings ( a brother, then a sister ) and one younger sister. their parents were always quite pleased for the equal split and the siblings always got on extremely well, thanks in part to them being relatively close in age.

it was a vibrant and loving household, always filled with family and friends, but most importantly for elijah -- with music. of all sorts, his father bringing a love of punk, soul and the british music scenes of the 70s and 80s, his mother contributing her love of jazz, anything easy-listening, indie pop and the body of work from her home country of jamaica. his sisters helped too to bring more of the present to the listening parties and elijah lapped it all up.

they let his creativity blossom, buying any instrument he wanted, electronic equipment to help produce or mix, cameras, canvases, paints, pencil and other medium sets. he was a good student, but all teachers said he had his head in the clouds -- or needed to focus on doing his work, rather than doodling on it.

music was his first love, but photography was a close second. he as the family and the neighbourhood photographer and worked his way into local music venues to fuse his two loves. eventually, somehow ( even elijah's still not quite sure how ) it turned into a vocation and he began earning money. all the while working on his music privately.

opportunities to travel, often with particular bands or artists arose and he took them all, seeing more of the united states than he ever could've dreamed of. he worked up the courage to start sharing his musical ambitions and started slowly being put in touch with different and the right people. with most companies unwilling to take too big of a risk on a completely unknown and underfunded artist, elijah came up with a compromise and began earning credits writing songs for other artists whilst working on his own.

eventually, he independently released his first ep with 4 singles. from there, he signed with columbia records and moved to new york. he would go on to release another, longer ep, 2 studio albums, and just under two years ago another ep of 13 tracks. for all ventures, he's used the stage name 'couyon'. ( yes i am basically using raleigh ritchie as a career claim, i am unimaginative hokay )

his latest release was intended to be another full studio album, but elijah found himself completely and utterly burnt out. he had still been writing for other artists whilst crafting his own work, touring as openers for others at first before taking the leap himself. touring is his favourite thing to do, and he's always been pretty sensible about it and knowing his own limits. he's stuck mostly to medium venues but for both albums did arena tours and with the release of the ep two years ago, did an arena tour for that.

crashing out, he decided to take a break -- from work and from the bustle of the city. by chance, a flyer advertising the tourist town of wicklow ridge vermont caught his eye and a little over a year ago elijah chose it as his place of respite.

he'd been in town all of a month before deciding that doing nothing was simply not working out for him, either. the position as arts instructor for the community centre came up first and elijah jumped at the opportunity to get involved. making art for the sake of making art is his favourite thing to do, and he loves working with kids and adults alike and exploring their creativity.

then came the call for a photographer for the wicklow watch, a role he was a little more apprehensive to take on. his skills were perhaps a little rusty and he wasn't really sure what undertaking it would require -- but it worked out well in the end and he's loving the return to the practice.

headcanons.

artist instagram ( run primarily by pr / social media staff because elijah wouldn't know where to begin ) aside from the usual promo stuff, is full of his photography. most of it is from tours and his travels of course, but it's been a fun little outlet and a way to keep at least some of his skills up when the focus shifted to music.

proficiently plays piano ( an exceptional piano player, but he'd never dream of claiming that ), guitar ( & bass guitar ), violin, and drums. has at some point messed around with basically every other instrument in existence to varying degrees of success.

carries a moleskin notebook around with him at all times, it is packed to the brim and always a little worn-looking because his current one gets used a lot. mostly for writing lyrics, of course, but he'll jot down random thoughts or things people have said that catch his ear too.

part of the reason he burnt out so bad he thinks, is quite simply... he's not built for the public eye. now, he's by no means an a-lister or a widely popular musician, but many of his songs and both albums have charted and he has a very loyal / passionate fanbase. but elijah is shy -- always has been. he dearly loves talking to people, but can take a bit to warm himself up fully. it's never anyone else's fault and he always makes that explicitly clear. once he has warmed up though, there's no escaping the bubbly, enthusiastic and fiercely loyal friend you've just made.

has always used the small platform he has to voice his political opinions -- openly queer himself, always standing up for lgbtq+ and especially trans rights. it's caused controversy and he's lost 'fans' / followers for it but he doesn't care -- he won't compromise on his closely held feelings and views for the sake of making more money.

was diagnosed with hereditary degenerative hearing loss in middle school. friends, family and teachers started increasingly noticing he was having difficulty concentrating or following what was going on. initially, they put it down to him being a daydreamer but it became increasingly clear that that was not the case. he got his first set of hearing aids in high school and began taking asl classes with his family. as it stands presently, his hearing loss is considered to be moderate-severe.

has two kitties, an orange cat named slim, after lightnin' slim, and a black cat called amédé, after amédé ardoin. they are spoiled rotten and usually the first to hear any new music -- for their approval, of course.

excellent cook, terrible baker. which is a bit upsetting to him ( but also probably for the best ) because he has an inexhaustible sweet tooth. loves cooking for people! always pestering his mom and other people for their recipes.

frequents the book nook, everwood cafe, sweet haven bakery & sugar & cream the most. likes to sit and work ( or pretend to work and actually just contentedly people watch ) in those places, sometimes for hours on end. but he always buys enough to warrant staying and treats other people often too, especially the staff. also a regular at brave new world because he's a huge nerd.

wanted connections.