Jesse Boykins III (born February 20, 1985) is a Jamaican-American singer, songwriter, and record producer from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

Career

Boykins is a world soul artist originally from Jamaica, later relocating to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

and finally

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. His first EP, '' Dopamine: My Life On My Back EP'' was released February 14, 2008 and his follow up '' The Beauty Created LP'' was released November 25, 2008 through NomaDic MuSic. His career in music began at the age of nine when he joined his school choir. He soon began auditioning around Miami and found himself recording with various local Miami artists. In high school Boykins was invited to perform in the Grammy Jazz Ensemble and recorded an album with them. After high school he was recruited to

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

University in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. At

, he perfected his skills as a writer, performer, arranger and producer and as a vocalist. He also studied with classical trainer Kamal Scott and Universal recording artist

Bilal __NOTOC__ Bilal may refer to: People * Bilal (name) (a list of people with the name) * Bilal ibn Rabah, a companion of Muhammad * Bilal (American singer) * Bilal (Lebanese singer) Places *Bilal Colony, a neighbourhood of Korangi Town in Karachi, ...

. In November 2017, Boykins revealed that he was signed to

Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The l ...

. His first album under his major label deal was a physical release of his mixtape ''Bartholomew'', which was previously released for streaming on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming s ...

in 2016. Jesse received his firs
Grammy nomination
for co-writing Steve Lacy's lead singl
Playground
from his ApolloXXI album.

Discography

Studio albums

* '' The Beauty Created'' (2008) * ''Zulu Guru'' (2012) * ''Love Apparatus'' (2014) * ''Bartholomew'' (2017)

Extended plays

* '' Dopamine: My Life on My Back'' (2008) * ''Way of a Wayfarer'' (2011)

Writing credits

*Apollo XXI: Playground - Steve Lacy

Guest appearances

References

External links

Youtube.com/jboykins3
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boykins, Jesse, III 1985 births Songwriters from Illinois Singers from Chicago Living people 21st-century African-American male singers The New School alumni American contemporary R&B singers American neo soul singers African-American songwriters American male songwriters