John West (born May 11, 1983) is an American singer, formerly signed to Def Jam Recordings.

Biography

John West was born on May 11, 1983, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. West discovered his talent for music while in high school, where he took

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lessons for a year. His musical influences stem from listening to such artists such as Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill,

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...

, Jill Scott and

Lenny Kravitz Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. His style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop and folk. Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male Roc ...

. After graduating in 2000, he headed to Los Angeles for college and the pursuit of a bigger passion: cartooning. West later transferred to Columbia College in Chicago as an English and art major. Upon graduating college, West moved to Los Angeles to concentrate on music. While recording music, West also worked as a

substitute teacher A substitute teacher is a person who teaches a school class when the regular teacher is absent or unavailable; e.g., because of illness, personal leave, maternal leave and so on. "Substitute teacher" (usually abbreviated as "sub") is the most co ...

. He began to

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on Third Street Promenade. After a couple of years word spread of West, and after being invited to New York City to showcase his musical talents with an acoustic performance for Mercury Records President, David Massey, West signed with Mercury/ Island Def Jam in October 2010. In 2011, West released his self-titled debut EP ''John West'' which includes his first single "Lovely", produced by

Christian Rich Christian Rich is an American-born Nigerian production and DJ duo consisting of twins Kehinde Hassan and Taiwo Hassan. Early life and career The identical twin brothers were born in Chicago and raised in Nigeria for exposure to their father's Y ...

, it

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American rapper Pusha T.John West – EP by John West – United States
Amazon.com. Retrieved November 14, 2011. On September 1, 2011, West released the Mark Staubach-directed music video and on September 15, 2011, he released the video for "Loved You Tonight". John West premiered and released the cover art for his single "Already There" featuring Big Sean on November 10, 2011, the music video was released on VEVO four days later. Since being signed, West has worked with Brian Kennedy, The Smeezingtons, Kevin Rudolf, and the Stereotypes, among others. West has been recognized by the

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and featured in USA Today as a 'pick of the week'.

Discography

Extended plays

Music videos

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:West, John 1983 births Living people American contemporary R&B singers Musicians from Baton Rouge, Louisiana Singers from Louisiana 21st-century American singers