Colby O'Donis Colón (; born March 14, 1989) is an American singer. He is best known for his guest appearance on

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influ ...

's 2008 single " Just Dance", which peaked atop the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, spent over 11 months on the chart, and received

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

certification by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA). Due to label conflicts, Senegalese-American singer

Akon Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon (), is a Senegalese-United States, American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, businessman, and philanthropist. An influ ...

was unable to perform on the song and subsequently enlisted O'Donis to do so; O'Donis was Lady Gaga's labelmate on Akon's

KonLive Distribution Konvict Kulture is a record label founded by R&B singer Akon, Melvin Brown and Bu Thiam in 2003 under the name Konvict Muzik. Artists including T-Pain, Kat DeLuna, Mali Music, Red Café, Dolla, Ya Boy, and Costa Titch have signed to and rel ...

label, to which he signed the year prior. Released in KonLive's joint venture with

Geffen Records Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...

, his debut studio album, '' Colby O'' (2008), peaked at number 41 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Its lead single, " What You Got" (featuring Akon) peaked within the top 20 of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, along with his guest performance alongside

Kardinal Offishall Jason Drew Harrow (born May 11, 1976), better known by his stage name Kardinal Offishall ( ), is a Canadian rapper and record producer. Often credited as Canada's "hip-hop ambassador", he has been regarded as one of the country's most prominent ...

on Akon's single " Beautiful" that same year. It served as his only release on a major label, although he has since written songs for other artists including

Jordan Knight Jordan Nathaniel Marcel Knight (born May 17, 1970) is an American pop singer and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist of the boy band New Kids on the Block (NKOTB), which rose to fame in the 1980s and 1990s, using a falsetto style of singing infl ...

and

Che'Nelle Cheryline Ernestine Lim, known by her stage name Che'Nelle, is a Malaysian-Australian singer-songwriter. She gained popularity in Japan with the release of her debut studio album, '' Things Happen for a Reason'' (2007). Early life Cheryline Er ...

Early life

O'Donis was born in

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, and grew up there and in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. He is of Puerto Rican and Italian descent. His mother, Olga, is a singer once crowned

Miss Puerto Rico Miss Puerto Rico is a national title bestowed on the women representing Puerto Rico in international beauty pageants. Although an Territories of the United States, American territory, Puerto Rico participates in international sports competitions ...

in New York, and his father, Freddy "Fast Freddy" Colón is a New York

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

who worked on New York station

WQHT WQHT (97.1 FM broadcasting, FM, ''Hot 97'') is a commercial radio station, licensed to New York, New York, which broadcasts an urban contemporary music format. The station is owned by Mediaco Holding, a subsidiary of the Standard General hedge ...

. He was named after Colby O'Donis, a

firefighter A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as hazardous material incidents, medical in ...

who was killed while saving his father's life. O'Donis has one sister who is five years older. He has stated that, for seven years, she helped pay for his dance, piano, and guitar lessons out of her own paychecks. His parents first realized his singing talent when he took first place at a

talent show A talent show or talent contest is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are p ...

by singing a

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

song when he was only three and a half.

Career

1997–2007: Beginnings

When O'Donis was eight, his parents relocated to

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

, and a year later, he began collaborating with the production group

Full Force Full Force is an American music group of hip hop and R&B singers, songwriters and producers from Brooklyn, New York. Members *B-Fine (Brian George) – drums and drum programming, backing vocals *Shy Shy (Hugh Junior Clark) – bass guita ...

, the same group that had worked with

Backstreet Boys Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson (musician), Kevin Richardson. The band formed in 1993 in Orlando, Flori ...

NSYNC NSYNC ( ; also stylized as *NSYNC or N Sync) was an American vocal group and pop boy band formed by Chris Kirkpatrick in Orlando, Florida, in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich. The group consists of Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez, ...

, and

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...

. O'Donis' rise to fame began at age ten, when he became the youngest recording artist ever signed to

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

in order to do a song for a major motion picture soundtrack. The song, titled "Mouse in the House", was featured on the ''Stuart Little'' soundtrack. Soon after, he began taking guitar lessons with Johan Oiested, a musician in

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the Rock music, rock band Santana (band), Santana. Born and raised in Mexico where he developed his musical background, he r ...

's rhythm section. At the age of eleven, he was making regular appearances as an actor on the television series ''Grandpa's Garage''. At age twelve, his father bought him his first production studio, and by the time he had reached fourteen, O'Donis was opening local Florida shows for major recording artists, including Backstreet Boys,

Brian McKnight Brian Kainoa Makoa McKnight Sr. (born Brian Kelly McKnight; June 5, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, record producer, radio personality, and multi-instrumentalist. An Contemporary R&B, R&B performer, he is recognized for his strong ...

98 Degrees 98 Degrees (stylized as 98°) is an American vocal group consisting of brothers Nick and Drew Lachey, Jeff Timmons, and Justin Jeffre. Their first Christmas album '' This Christmas'' has sold over two million copies and is widely recognized ...

, Britney Spears, and

Ne-Yo Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo ( ), is an American singer and songwriter. Regarded as a leading figure of Contemporary R&B#2000s, 2000s R&B music, he is the recipient of numerous accolades, includi ...

. Shortly after his fifteenth birthday, O'Donis' parents made the decision to relocate to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, and pursue a recording deal. After this move, O'Donis was introduced to Genuine Music Group, where he began collaborating on producing an LP album consisting of songs from his catalog and songs co-written by producers

Damon Sharpe Damon Sharpe, born Damon Jared Reinagle, is an American record producer, songwriter, DJ and recording artist who works in Los Angeles. He first reached notability as a member of Guys Next Door. He has since contributed to various albums that hav ...

, Gregg Pagani, and

Brion James Brion Howard James (February 20, 1945 – August 7, 1999) was an American character actor. He portrayed Leon Kowalski in '' Blade Runner'' and appeared in '' Southern Comfort'', '' 48 Hrs.'', ''Another 48 Hrs.'', '' Silverado'', '' Tango & Cash'', ...

. In 2006, O'Donis almost signed a record deal with Babyface. However, before the deal was finalized, O'Donis' management set up a meeting between O'Donis and

. They got in the studio where O'Donis played Akon his first demo of fourteen songs, and Akon loved and "really connected with it". A few weeks later, they set up a session and began working on music where O'Donis said they had really good chemistry from the start. At this time, Akon told O'Donis that he was starting his own label, called

Konvict Muzik Konvict Kulture is a record label founded by R&B singer Akon, Melvin Brown (music manager), Melvin Brown and Bu Thiam in 2003 under the name Konvict Muzik. Artists including T-Pain, Kat DeLuna, Mali Music (singer), Mali Music, Red Café, Dolla ...

, and asked if he wanted to be a part of it. O'Donis agreed and, for the next two years, he waited for the label to "get going and achieve the stature they need to launch new artists" before being officially signed. O'Donis has said that, before he signed with

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

and Akon, he had already released six independent record albums.

2008–2009: Breakthrough with "Just Dance" and debut album

O'Donis's first single, " What You Got" (featuring

), was released on February 26, 2008, and his second single, titled "Don't Turn Back", was released on June 24, 2008. Both singles were released for digital download via

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

and are featured on his debut album, '' Colby O''. O'Donis was also featured on

's debut single, " Just Dance", earning him a nomination for

Best Dance Recording The Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording (formerly known as Best Dance Recording) is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists f ...

at the

50th Annual Grammy Awards The 50th Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 10, 2008. It honored musical achievement of 2007 in which albums were released between October 1, 2006, through September 30, 2007. The primary ceremonie ...

. To date, this has been his most successful single. In 2009, O'Donis and Gaga won Best Dance Recording at the

Teen Choice Awards The Teen Choice Awards were an annual awards show that aired on the Fox television network between 1999 and 2019. The awards, based on a popularity vote that could be overridden by the producerswho reserved the right to choose the winnerscovered ...

for "Just Dance". He also performed a duet with Brooke Hogan entitled "Hey Yo!" later that year, in addition to his single "I Wanna Touch You" being released to radio. The music video for the latter premiered on July 27, 2009. Also in that year, he was featured in the Akon song " Beautiful".

2010–present: Later career and ''Start Over''

In 2010, O'Donis was featured in a song called "What You Waiting For" by Malaysian artist Mizz Nina, which has received extensive airplay in Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries. He also released another single, "Texting Flirtation". The following year, O'Donis signed with Z-Entertainment Records and released the digital single "Like Me". The music video premiered on February 9, 2012, on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. In 2013, after what he described as "a 4-year hiatus", O'Donis began working on his second studio album, titled ''Start Over''. He released singles "Lean", "Turn This Night Around", "Come Back", "State of Mind", and "Kiss Those Lips" to promote the album. Although planned for a release date in early 2014, the album was never released. In March 2020, he took to

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

to announce that he would be working on new music amidst the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. His single "Hold On" was released on March 14.

Artistry

O'Donis grew up listening to artists including

the Temptations The Temptations is an American vocal group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1961 as The Elgins, known for their string of successful singles and albums with Motown from the 1960s to the mid-1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield ...

Luther Vandross Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American Soul music, soul and Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer. Over his career, he achieved eleven consecutive RIAA certification, RIAA-certified ...

, and Usher.

Personal life

O'Donis married Erin Yvonne, a dancer, actress and life coach on November 21, 2016. In October 2019, their daughter Alina Cruz was born.

Discography

* '' Colby O'' (2008)

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odonis, Colby 1989 births Living people 21st-century American singers 21st-century American male singers American child singers American male pop singers American people of Italian descent American actors of Puerto Rican descent American contemporary R&B singers Hispanic and Latino American musicians Musicians from Queens, New York Singers from New York City Singers from Orlando, Florida Songwriters from Florida Songwriters from New York (state) American male songwriters American musicians of Puerto Rican descent