Jermaine Paul


Jermaine Paul is an American singer. He was the winner of the second season of The Voice. Prior to his The Voice stint, he was co-nominated at the 48th Grammy Awards for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, in a collaborative work with Alicia Keys as the featured artist.

Early life

Jeremiah Jermaine Paul was born on July 26, 1979, in Harriman, New York, and was raised in Spring Valley, New York, the fifth of 10 children. His father encouraged his involvement in music by "turning their living room into a musical performance area". "It was loaded with instruments—piano, drums and guitars—and some of the kids, including Jermaine, formed a group to perform gospel songs in local churches." By the time he was 12 years old, he began to acquire a reputation for singing at local churches and talent shows with his family. Jermaine joined numerous adult choirs.
At the age of two, Jermaine and his brother moved to Alabama with their grandfather. There, he was introduced to the guitar. He played his step-grandmother's old Gibson guitar at the local church. With some knowledge of the guitar, and the yearning to go back to New York, he wrote his first song.
At the age of 14, he moved up-state to Harriman, New York. There he attended Monroe-Woodbury High School and was introduced to rock and jazz. While taking guitar lessons he was selected to join the all-state, all-county chorus, and the classically trained high school voice ensemble.

Music career

At 15, Paul joined a quartet group named 1Accord and signed to basketball star Shaquille O'Neal's label, T.W.Is.M Records. He began writing and producing songs of his own. Paul auditioned for the first season of American Idol but did not receive any callbacks from the producers. He began recording backing vocals for artists such as Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, Joss Stone, Blackstreet and Jaguar Wright. He was nominated for a Grammy for the category "Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals" for "If This World Were Mine" by Alicia Keys featuring Jermaine Paul. The track was from the J Records album .

The Voice (2012)

In 2012, he auditioned for the second season of The Voice singing "Complicated" from Avril Lavigne. Two of the four coaches turned their chairs, with Paul opting to be on Team Blake. He was the eventual winner of the second season.

After ''The Voice''

His winning song, a cover of "I Believe I Can Fly" made it up to #83 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The follow-up, "Soul Man", with his coach Blake Shelton did not break the Hot 100, reaching just #108.
His single "I Believe in This Life" reportedly taken from his forthcoming album premiered on The Voice on November 8, 2012.

Discography

Singles

;Singles as back up vocals
YearSongAlbum
1996"Don't Wanna Be Alone" You Can't Stop The Reign
1997"Don't Stop, Don't Quit" Booty Call Soundtrack
1998"Rivers" Respect
2003"Diary" The Diary of Alicia Keys
2005"Unbreakable" Unplugged
2005"Gold Digger" Late Registration
2005"If This World Were Mine"
2008"The Preamble"The Preamble
2009"Airplane"