Evan Nagao (born May 3, 1996) is a musician and competitive yo-yo player. He is known for being the 2018 World Yo-Yo Champion and 5 time US National Yoyo Champion (2017, 2018, 2022, 2023 1a division, 2023 2a division).
Evan Nagao | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 3, 1996 |
| Occupation(s) | Musician and competitive yo-yo player |
| Employer | None |
Biography
editEvan Nagao was born in 1996 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was introduced to yoyoing at a young age by his father, Alan Nagao, who was an entrepreneur and important figure in the yoyo boom of the '90s.[1][2] He was proficient in 2A yoyoing by the age of three, and was invited to various TV shows as a yoyo prodigy when he was four. However, he soon found yoyoing to be repetitive, and after a couple of years he took a lengthy hiatus to focus on other aspects of his youth.[3]
After his hiatus from yo-yoing, Nagao had the opportunity to try a newer unresponsive yo-yo in a Redondo Beach kite shop in 2009. Nagao was blown away by the improvement in yo-yo technology, and was inspired to return to yo-yoing. He caught up with the tricks of the time, and entered the competitive yo-yo scene. He participated in various yoyo competitions in 2009 and 2010. Dismal results in these competitions discouraged him, and he took another hiatus from the sport.[citation needed]
In 2014, Nagao decided to reenter the competitive yoyo scene. After being disappointed by his result in the 2014 West Coast Yo-Yo Contest, Nagao sought to learn more about the judging system. Over the next few years, he mastered various aspects of the system, allowing him to do better every year. After his performance at the 2015 National Yo-Yo Contest, Nagao was sponsored by Yoyofactory.[citation needed]
In 2017, Nagao won the National Yo-Yo Contest. He won the National Yo-Yo Contest again in 2018, and went on to win the World Yo-Yo Contest that same year.[1][4]
In 2019, Nagao appeared in the Netflix documentary "We Are the Champions ep. 4" where he announced his retirement from the competitive yoyo scene to pursue a career in music.[5]
After the COVID-19 pandemic subsided enough for yoyo competitions to be held, Nagao returned to the competitive scene again and won the 2022, and 2023 National Yoyo Contests.[6]
Competitive career
edit| 2010 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Yo-Yo Contest | 14 | 6 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| National Yo-Yo Contest | 6 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| PNWR | 1 | 4 | 4 | |||||
| EYYC Open | 1 | |||||||
| West Coast | N/A | 5 | ||||||
| California State Yo-Yo Contest | 10 | 4 | ||||||
| Southwest Regional Yo-Yo Contest | 6 |
Musical works
editGoing under the artist name Evan From Heaven, he debuted with his first single "Waves" in June 2019. He used his second single, "The Last Stand," as the music for his routine at the 2019 World Yo-Yo Contest, which was released shortly after. In June 2020 Nagao released his third single, "Me entiendes".
In November 2020, Nagao released his debut album titled Love, which included 10 new songs.
References
edit- ^ a b Andrew Whalen (13 August 2018). "WATCH 2018 WORLD YOYO CONTEST CHAMPION EVAN NAGAO PERFORM TO 'FREEBIRD'". Newsweek. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
- ^ Ryan General (14 August 2018). "Hawaiian Man Wins 2018 Yo-Yo World Championships in China". Next Shark. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
- ^ Nagao, Evan. "About Me". Evan From Heaven. Retrieved 2021-07-05. "after years and years of yoyoing, I got bored of the repetition and quit sometime around 2002-2003."
- ^ Austin Westfall (6 July 2018). "Hawaii man wins national yo-yo title with incredible performance". Hawaii News Now. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
- ^ "About Me". EvanNagao.com. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
- ^ Evan Nagao - 1st Place - 1A Final - 2022 US Nationals, retrieved 2022-08-31