a world of Inspirational Contemporary Soul

Melodic vocal expression comes natural to me; however my start singing professional came later on for me than many might think. I started singing in college, 2005 at the age of 20.
Music has always been in me. For me, worship is music, that’s how much God has crafted music in me, in my heart.

Compassionate and caring, I have a soulful and sincere vocal execution in my worship music experience. Early inspiration comes from the church. Growing up in the church has molded me to who I am today. The music I grew up hearing in church is central to my musical tastes. The church has had a rudimentary influence on my musical craft as well. I honor and love the LORD. I am interested in getting the industry back to real music, music with a wonderful message and a soulful conveyance. 

For the most part, I grew up shy, and did not sing in public for most of my childhood, I was born in the '80s in Boston Massachusetts. My first musical break-out came while attending college. During my sophomore year I started pursuing my dream of a fulfilling life of music. Fulfilling because I recognized the gift God put in me. I am meant to sing. I was excited, but very afraid. I knew I had to let loose and sing freely. The first time I performed in public was at a talent show at Hamilton College, my alma mater, hosted by the West Indian African Association (WIAA). I was, at the time, serving on the executive board of the organization as the Ambassador. Because of the position I held, I played a role in putting the show together. I was the co-chair of the talent show committee with my friend Matroner George.

My performance that night was a cover of Musiq Soulchild's "Love." I had an instrumental of the song, and had been performing it in my room for a couple of weeks, to master my rendition of it. I did master it and it was my time to share it with the crowd, which seemed like the world to me. It turned out to be amazing! The people loved it! The girls were screaming while I was singing, and I got a thunderous applause after the song. From that day forward my life turned around. I was no longer timid about my abilities, and I was more confident in myself. People came up to me after the event and were hugging me and kissing me and telling me what an amazing job I did. I tried to contain my elation with a simple smile and a humble “thanks” or “thank you,” but what was going on inside of me was totally different than my outward appearance. My adrenaline was still rushing from the performance and I had this special feeling that engulfed my heart. The mixture of the two made me feel like I was on top of the world. What a rewarding experience, I knew I was meant to do this for the rest of my life no matter what.

That same night I saw the Hamilton College Gospel Choir perform. I was interested in what they were doing. They were singing together and that was the kind of network, connection, and closeness I needed to support my music. I wanted to have friends that I could share my music with and I wanted to sing with the choir to help mold it. The gospel that I knew of at that time was totally different from what I heard the Hamilton Gospel Choir singing. This choir did not seem like a choir to me because they lacked that soulful sound I had in my earlier life associated with the term choir. I think they were more of a Christian fellowship choir. They sang well, but there was something missing. I wanted to fill that void. Over the next three years I did. I filled the void and I loved doing it. It helped me to grow musically and I loved serving the Lord. It has been one of the most important ordered steps in my life. Thank you LORD! 

I also had the opportunity to work with a Hamilton College student I already knew, Michael Allen. He is an amazingly talented pianist and he played for the gospel choir during my time at Hamilton. We noticed each other’s respective talents and capitalized on that by getting together to practice music. He knew some music that was contemporary at the time and played it on his keyboard for me. He started me out with a couple of songs by John Legend. We did well with that, and we practiced them often. We did "Ordinary People," and "So High." We did so well, we actually decided to take it to the public and no longer just stay rehearsing it the empty Hamilton College chapel. We did about five different events spread out throughout the year and they all were great. Some of my friends would call me little Legend, because I emulated John Legend so much. I can say today that much of my style was crafted in the hours I would spend rehearsing with Mike. The John Legend songs made me more John Legend-ish with my style. However, Andre did come out in the rehearsals too, and although John Legend is a big influence he is not the only one. I had a love for music by Babyface, Silk, Bilal, Kim Burrell, Musiq, Prince, Maxwell et al. 

Through my time with the gospel choir I met an amazing choir director by the name of Roxanne Bellamy-Campbell, she has since been recognized in my spirit as my spiritual mother. I thank God for her! She is an amazing talent and skill, and she was very caring and in touch with every choir member on an individual level. I had the great opportunity to minister to more people through my music at annual gospel workshops. I sang at Wells College, Hamilton College, and Muhlenburg College in gospel workshops led by simply amazing and very blessed and talented individuals. L. Kirk Hatcher and Ed "Chief" Menifee have been big brothers to me from the time I met them. They have given me solos at gospel events and helped to culture my voice to where it is today. It would only be right for me to honor and thank them for noticing me and devoting their time to me. 

Mike Allen would not always be there as my keyboardist so I began to dabble in musical software that would allow me to produce my own music and record my own songs. I began making simple beats and writing songs. I would eventually move to a point where I would have the music produce entirely by someone else and I started to focus more on my vocal ability and songwriting. I still use the same software I initially used to record my music today, Magix Music Maker.
 
So that is a brief overview of my musical journey and my musical style. I am happy I could share it with you and I know you must be a fan to have read this far, and I thank you for that. 

Much love and may the LORD bless you!