Luke James Boyd (born June 13, 1984) is an American singer, songwriter and actor.[1] He began his musical career singing background for R&B artist Tyrese, where he met and was soon mentored for several years by Super producers The Underdogs with an acquaintance, Quentin, under Luke & Q. He was signed directly to J Records by Clive Davis himself and later wrote songs for musicians such as Chris Brown, Britney Spears, and Justin Bieber. IN 2011, James released his first mixtape, #Luke. The mixtape's critically acclaimed single "I Want You" earned him a Best R&B Performance nomination at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. Like the first project, he released his second mixtape, Whispers in the Dark, as a free music download in 2012. His self-titled debut studio album was released on September 23, 2014.
Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and raised by a single mother, James was influenced by an eclectic array of genres, particularly jazz and R&B.[10] James said his love for music started when he watched a contestant perform a cover version of Donny Hathaway's version of "A Song for You" on Showtime at the Apollo.[10] He said "I got chills. And I get that feeling all over again whenever I think about that performance. At the time, I'd never said I wanted to be a singer; I just knew I wanted to entertain. And I'd never heard of Donny. But when my mother found her copy of one of his records, I knew then that I wanted to reach people that way."[11]
As a child, James was inspired by several recording artists and musicians such as Marvin Gaye, Willie Nelson, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, Alabama, among others.[12] He credits his mother for introducing him to all kinds of music.[11] James attended St. Augustine with schoolmate, (and future OFWGKTA member) singer-songwriter Frank Ocean.[12] While in St. Augustine, he joined a musical trio named Upskale with Quinten Spears (known as Q) and Tah for a brief period, which introduced him to his longtime manager, director, and choreographer Frank Gatson.[10] After graduating St. Augustine , the trio split and James relocated to[data unknown/missing], California. Q and James later formed a duo called Luke & Q, where James performed under the name Luke The Singer.[10] Shortly after forming the group, the duo was able to be the opening act for R&B artist and Tyrese Gibson during one of his concerts. However, after the failure to garner both James and Q much recognition, they decided to both part ways.
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