JAHEIM

Hailing from New Brunswick, NJ, Jaheim was heading in a direction so many young men fall prey to. He used to hand out in the streets and do those ignorant things that street people do. Why? Because they just don’t know any better. As Jaheim puts it:

"When you're young you tend to do things because of the peer pressure." Or stupidity….

24-year-old Jaheim's voice is a gravelly mixture of old school R&B and a new school millennium thug. As for his look, Jaheim says while he can come out with the more typical R&B look, he feels he's too young for all that. He's got hip hop in his blood and that's how he wants to represent.

"I feel that if I come onstage with denim jeans on, Timberlands, a do-rag and braids, there is a different slant to me and it's a great feeling when I see people's faces, when I start singing, it's like I mess their heads up."

Some may think Jaheim's rise to fame is an overnight success story, but how he got his start is actually beginning to be quite typical of a lot of new artists. Jaheim started out singing in the church when he was younger and he basically just happened to hook up with the right person at the right time when he got older. Simple as that.

He sent his demo tape to a friend over at the 'Naughty Goods Store' and asked him to give the tape to KayGee (formerly of Naughty by Nature) basically telling him he'd regret not listening to it. He got a call back and everything fell into place after that.

But times weren't always so easy or so good for Jaheim. He’d been in trouble as a teen and incarcerated a few times:

"The last time I came home from being incarcerated, I went into the studio and did 'Never Too Much.' I sang [song] that for KayGee. Then we did a showcase for Warner Brothers and we got the deal. I signed to his production company, then we signed to Warner Brothers, so, it was like 'cool!"

Jaheim claims he always knew he had talent but never thought he'd be living out his dreams because of the daily pressures of ghetto living. He lost his mother back in 1995 and realized that he just couldn't keep doing the things he used to do. He knew he had to set an example for his younger brother. He says he grew up in a wild lifestyle and when his mother died, he saw his family fall apart so he knew he had to do something positive with his life.

That's when he decided to work on his singing and see what would come of it. His first album out the box he ends up working with KayGee, Eric Williams of Blackstreet and RL of Next. Not to mention that people were singing his songs before they even knew his name. I'd say that he's doing pretty good for a newcomer.

Jaheim’s debut cd Ghetto Love, blew the competition out the water! With hits like "Ready, Willing & Able," "Anything" and Just In Case" Jaheim quickly rose up the popular music charts. At first, many people thought that legendary R&B crooner Luther Vandross had made a smashing comeback, but in reality Jaheim just sounds a lot like Luther with a new millenium edge.

But don't be fooled, Jaheim is not trying to be anyone's shadow. He is rising to the top on his own name and getting his own fame. In fact, this man's future looks so bright he may need sunglasses!