Chester Jermaine "Lyfe" Jennings (born June 3, 1978) is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, record producer, and instrumentalist. He plays the guitar, bass, and piano which he integrates into his music. The ''

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'' referred to him as a "socially minded R&B singer".

Biography

Lyfe Jennings was born on June 3, 1978 in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

to a working-class family and was the middle of five kids. When he was a teenager, Jennings started to perform with his brother and two cousins. In the beginning of the 1990s the group disbanded. During this time, Jennings began to get into legal trouble and his musical career came to a halt when he was sent to prison at the age of 14 for firebombing a house, killing a woman.

Career

2002-2005

In 2002, after serving 10 years in prison, Lyfe returned to his musical aspirations. Two days after his December 2002 release from prison, he recorded a four-song demo CD. A month after that LP was released, he performed at

The Apollo The Apollo Theater is a music hall at 253 West 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Boulevard (Eighth Avenue) in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is a n ...

. He was booed as he walked onto the stage, but when the Apollo audience heard his gritty falsetto and lyrical songwriting, they were swayed to the tune of five amateur-night victories in a row. Lyfe sold about 1,000 copies of his four-song demo CD during his Apollo "residency." His growing success influenced Lyfe to move to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and pursue a major-label deal.

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

provided him with a contract and released his debut, Lyfe 268-192 in August 2004. A year after its original release, the album was reissued with a new version of "Hypothetically" added as bonus track featuring American Idol winner, Fantasia.

2005-2013

Lyfe released a more hip-hop-oriented follow-up '' The Phoenix'' arrived in August 2006, with

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and

Young Buck David Darnell Brown (born March 15, 1981), best known by his stage name Young Buck, is an American rapper. He heads his own record label, Cashville, and was a member of the former hip hop group G-Unit. Early life Brown was born in Nashville, Te ...

making guest appearances.

Lyfe Change ''Lyfe Change'' is the third studio album by Lyfe Jennings, released on April 29, 2008. "The album is called Lyfe Change because I'm changing it up a bit," explains Lyfe. "In the past I didn't work with different producers, I produced and wrote ...

released in April 2008, featuring a handful of new production associates as well as a verse from T.I. Jennings. Subsequently, Lyfe accepted a new deal with

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

and began working on another album, tentatively titled Sooner or Later, which he stated would be his last. The album was finally released in August 2010 and featured guest spots from

Bryan-Michael Cox Bryan-Michael Paul Cox (born December 1, 1977) is an American record producer and songwriter who is notable for his work with artists such as Usher, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, and Toni Braxton. Among his most notable productions are "Be Wit ...

Warryn Campbell Warryn Stafford Campbell, Jr. (born August 21, 1975) is an American record producer. He has worked with a number of gospel, hip hop and R&B artists. Campbell originally got his start as a session musician and producer under the tutelage of DJ ...

Fabolous John David Jackson (born November 18, 1977), better known by his stage name Fabolous, is an American rapper. Raised in Brooklyn, he first gained recognition while still a senior in high school, when he performed live on American music executive ...

, Bobby Valentino,

Ludacris Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, homophonous with 'ludicrous' in American English), is an American rapper, actor, record producer and record executive. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludac ...

, Anthony Hamilton, and

Jazmine Sullivan Jazmine Marie Sullivan (born April 9, 1987) is an American R&B and soul singer. Born and raised in Philadelphia, her debut album, ''Fearless'' was released in 2008. The record topped ''Billboards Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and was certifie ...

. Lyfe completed another prison stint for his actions stemming from a 2008 domestic dispute.

2013-Present

He returned to music in October 2013 with ''

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'', released on the Mass Appeal label. Like all of his previous studio releases, it peaked in the Top 10 of Billboard's R&B chart. Tree of Lyfe, recorded primarily in his home studio, followed in June 2015. On his new album, ''Tree of Lyfe'', Lyfe Jennings describes it as his most personal work to date and produced the majority of the album at his home studio in Greenwood, Mississippi . When asked about his current musical mindset, Lyfe Jennings response is one of reflection and experience, "Everybody feels like they have to reinvent themselves. I don’t think you can reinvent the truth. It is what it is. I’m not focused on reinvention. I want to go deeper. This album reaffirms the reasons why people started loving this music in the first place."

Personal life

Jennings was previously engaged to Joy Bounds, the mother of his two oldest children. In October 2008 Jennings, after arguing with Bounds, followed her to her family's house in

Smyrna, Georgia Smyrna is a city in Cobb County, Georgia, United States. It is located northwest of Atlanta, and is in the inner ring of the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. It is included in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs–Alpharetta MSA, which is included in the Atlant ...

. At the residence he destroyed the door, fired shots in the street, and led police on a high-speed chase that ended when he crashed his 2005 Chevrolet Corvette. In September 2010 he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison after he pleaded guilty to multiple charges arising from the incident. On February 2, 2016, he married Gwendolyn Scharkowski, a German model. They have a son. On March 15, 2016, Gwendolyn filed for divorce.

Discography

;Studio albums * ''

Lyfe 268‒192 ''Lyfe 268‒192'' is the debut studio album by American singer and songwriter Lyfe Jennings. It was released on August 17, 2004, by Columbia Records. The album's title contains the numbers "268–192", the identification number of which he was giv ...

'' (2004) * '' The Phoenix'' (2006) * ''

'' (2008) * '' I Still Believe'' (2010) * ''

'' (2013) * '' Tree of Lyfe'' (2015) * ''

777 777 may refer to: * 777 (number), a number * AD 777, a year of the Julian calendar * 777 BC, a year in the 8th century BC * Boeing 777, a commercial jet airliner :* Boeing 777X, the newer generation of the Boeing 777. Art and entertainment Alb ...

'' (2019)

References

External links

Official siteLyfe's ''Yahoo! Music'' profileLyfe's ''VH1'' Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Lyfe Articles containing video clips 1978 births Living people 20th-century African-American male singers African-American pianists African-American record producers American hip hop singers American rhythm and blues guitarists American male guitarists American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters American neo soul singers Musicians from Toledo, Ohio Record producers from Ohio Singer-songwriters from Ohio Participants in American reality television series Guitarists from Ohio American contemporary R&B singers American male pianists 21st-century American singers 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American male singers African-American songwriters African-American guitarists 21st-century African-American male singers American male singer-songwriters