Official artist biography / 2026
DOUBLEU
William Kirby Hartman
A story of survival, service, family, and turning isolated pain into music.
“The W can stand for winning—or the weight of the world.”— DoubleU
Press-ready copy
Short press biography
DoubleU is the recording name of William Kirby Hartman, a Florida-born, Kentucky-raised artist whose work turns grief, service, incarceration, and rebuilding into direct, narrative-driven music. Adopted at 13 months old and raised in Hopkinsville, Hartman lost his adoptive father, retired Air Force Master Sergeant Nick Hartman, at age ten. He began playing trumpet the following year and continued through high school. Hartman started making music during inpatient treatment at Youth Villages Inner Harbour, where recording became a way to cope. His first official release, “Two of Us,” arrived in October 2021, followed by the album Faded 405. He later served in the U.S. Army as a 68W Combat Medic, training at Fort Sill, Fort Sam Houston, and Fort Benning before leaving the service in October 2023. After a turbulent period that included incarceration, DoubleU returned to music with a sharpened purpose. His 14-track concept album Cold Case uses a cold-case noir world to explore isolated pain and the struggle to be seen as more than a record, label, or worst chapter. His goal is simple: if the music helps one listener feel less alone—even a fraction—it has done its job.
Artist statement
“I make music from the parts of life people usually hide. Cold Case is about isolated pain—what it feels like to be reduced to a file, a charge, a memory, or somebody else's version of you. I cannot change what another person has lived through, but if they hear my story and feel less alone, even for a minute, that means something. DoubleU comes from the W in William. Some days it stands for winning. Some days it stands for the weight of the world. The music lives between those two meanings.”— DoubleU
Official biography
Long-form biography
Born April 6, 2004, in Duval County, Jacksonville, Florida, William Kirby Hartman was adopted at 13 months old by his maternal biological great-aunt and raised in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. His stage name comes directly from the first letter of William: W, spoken aloud as “DoubleU.” He has turned that spelling into a question that follows his work—does the W mean winning, or the weight of the world? His adoptive father, Nick Fairbanks Hartman, served 20 years in the Air Force, retired a Master Sergeant, and later ran a heavy-haul trucking company. Nick died of a massive heart attack on October 10, 2014, when William was ten. A year later, William picked up the trumpet in sixth grade and stuck with it through high school. Raised on Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley, Blake Shelton, Reba, Michael Jackson, and Bruno Mars, he didn't start making music himself until inpatient treatment at Youth Villages Inner Harbour, where he met a small group making songs and found recording as a way to cope. That's where “Two of Us” and “Real Life Trauma” were made. In May 2020 he enlisted in the U.S. Army as a Private First Class, 68W Combat Medic—basic at Fort Sill, AIT at Fort Sam Houston, Airborne at Fort Benning, then back to Fort Sill—leaving the service in October 2023. After a period that included incarceration from February 2024 into 2025, he returned to music with sharpened purpose: the 14-track concept album Cold Case, about going through isolated pain, in hopes it helps someone else even a fraction.