Dewain Whitmore Jr. is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and vocal producer based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Signed to Disney Music Publishing, he has worked with numerous popular acts, including

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. According to '' Billboard'', Brown is one of the most successful R&B singers of his generation, having often been referred to by many contempo ...

Nick Jonas Nicholas Jerry Jonas (born September 16, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. Jonas began acting on Broadway at the age of seven, and released his debut single in 2002; this caught the attention of Columbia Records, where Jonas ...

DNCE DNCE is an American dance-rock band consisting of lead singer Joe Jonas, drummer Jack Lawless, and guitarist JinJoo Lee. Bassist and keyboardist Cole Whittle was a part of the band from when it started in 2015 to when it went on hiatus in 2018. ...

Martin Garrix Martijn Gerard Garritsen (; born 14 May 1996), known professionally as Martin Garrix and also as Ytram and GRX, is a Dutch disc jockey and music producer who was ranked number one on ''DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list for three consecutive years—201 ...

Khalid Khalid (variants include Khaled and Kalid; Arabic: خالد) is a popular Arabic male given name meaning "eternal, everlasting, immortal", and it also appears as a surname.

, Usher,

Kelly Clarkson Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born April 24, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. She rose to fame after winning the first season of ''American Idol'' in 2002, which earned her a record deal with RCA. Her debu ...

The Wanted The Wanted are a British-Irish boy band consisting of group members Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness and Nathan Sykes and, until his death in 2022, Tom Parker (singer), Tom Parker. The group was formed in 2009 and signed a worldw ...

Mary J Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Award ...

James Blunt James Blunt (born James Hillier Blount; 22 February 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. A former reconnaissance officer in the Life Guards regiment of the British Army, he served under NATO during the 1999 Kosovo War. After l ...

BoA Kwon Bo-ah (; born November 5, 1986), known professionally as BoA, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, dancer, record producer and actress. One of the most successful and influential Korean entertainers, she has been dubbed the " Queen of K- ...

, and

Exo Exo ( ko, 엑소; stylized in all caps) is a South Korean-Chinese boy band based in Seoul formed by SM Entertainment in 2011 and debuted in 2012. The group consists of nine members: Xiumin, Suho, Lay, Baekhyun, Chen, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai ...

amongst others. His works have accumulated over 12 million in sales.

Early life

Born and raised in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

, Whitmore was exposed to many styles of music at an early age. Growing up on a very special blend of musical influences stretching from Smokey Robinson, Lionel Richie and Stevie Wonder, all the way to Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, Toto, George Michael, Billy Joel, James Taylor and Kenny Rogers, his inspiration is one big nostalgic melting pot.

Music career

Whitmore's big break came in 2011, after re-locating to Los Angeles. After one year of being in LA, Whitmore was introduced to

, who recorded two of his songs, "Up To You" and "Should've Kissed You", which featured on Brown's fourth studio album '' FAME''. The album reached No. 1 in 3 countries, and sold over 2 million copies worldwide. The album earned a nomination at the

54th Grammy Awards The 54th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 12, 2012, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles being broadcast on CBS honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011. LL Cool J hosted the ...

, for

Best R&B Album The Grammy Award for Best R&B Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works on albums in the R&B music genre. Honors ...

. ''F.A.M.E.'' won in the Best R&B Album category. That same year, Whitmore vocal produced

's first single "Mr. Know It All" from her studio album ''Stronger'', The album ''Stronger'' went on to win

Best Pop Vocal Album The Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality vocal pop music albums. Awards in several ...

at the

55th Grammy Awards The 55th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 10, 2013, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. E ...

. In November 2011, Whitmore collaborated with Mary J.Blige, on the song "You Want This", which was included on Bliges’ 10th studio album '' My Life II... The Journey Continues (Act 1)''. The album was certified gold, selling over 500,000 copies. On June 29, 2012,

released his Billboard No. 1 album ''

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...

.'' Whitmore wrote three songs on the album, including "Stuck On Stupid" , "Party Hard" and "Free Run". The album earned a nomination at the

, for

Best Urban Contemporary Album The Grammy Award for Best Progressive R&B Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for quality works on albums in the urban contemporary subgenre within the R&B field. Honors in several categories are presented at t ...

The album also reached No. 1 in 5 countries. The next year, Whitmore reached more commercial success, with collaborations with Usher, Ciara, The Wanted and once again Chris Brown. Co-writing the single and title track " X" (#98 Billboard Hot 100), from Browns' sixth studio album '' X'', which reached No. 1 on the Billboard US Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums and No. 2 on the US Billboard 200. The album would go on to be nominated for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. In 2015, Whitmore teamed up with frequent collaborator Brown on his 7th studio album titled ''

Royalty Royalty may refer to: * Any individual monarch, such as a king, queen, emperor, empress, etc. * Royal family, the immediate family of a king or queen regnant, and sometimes his or her extended family * Royalty payment for use of such things as int ...

'', co-writing three songs. The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard US Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart and No. 2 on the US Billboard 200 chart. That same year, Whitmore collaborated with K-pop group

EXO Exo ( ko, 엑소; stylized in all caps) is a South Korean-Chinese boy band based in Seoul formed by SM Entertainment in 2011 and debuted in 2012. The group consists of nine members: Xiumin, Suho, Lay, Baekhyun, Chen, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai ...

on their album

EXODUS Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * Ex ...

. The album topped Billboard's World Albums Chart on the issue date of April 18, 2015, and stayed in the top 10 for six consecutive weeks. On June 15, 2018,

released his new single "Ocean" featuring Khalid, which was co-written by Whitmore. The single reached No. 1 at US dance radio, No. 5 on Billboard US Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, and Top 10 Billboard US Dance Club Songs. Whitmore continued his dance success with another collaboration with Garrix and fellow Dutch DJ

Justin Mylo Emilio Justin Behr (born 7 November 1995), better known by his stage name Justin Mylo, is a Dutch musician, DJ and record producer from Amsterdam. He gained recognition after working and collaborating with Martin Garrix Martijn Gerard Garrit ...

, on the single "Burn Out". The track was co-written and features vocals from Whitmore, and reached No. 26 at Billboard US Hot Dance/Electronic Songs.

Selected discography

Grammy Awards

, - , 2011 , Chris Brown – ''F.A.M.E'' , Best R&B Album , , - , 2012 , Kelly Clarkson – ''Stronger'' , Best Pop Vocal Album , , - , 2012 , Chris Brown – ''Fortune'' , Best Urban Contemporary Album , , - , 2013 , TGT – ''Three Kings'' , Best R&B Album , , - , 2014 , Chris Brown – ''X'' , Best Urban Contemporary Album ,

References

External links

Info site

Info site

Info site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitmore, Dewain Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American male singer-songwriters Record producers from Missouri People from Kansas City, Missouri Singer-songwriters from Missouri