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Singer, songwriter, recording artist, and actor as well as being a voting member of the Recording Academy, who on Instagram alone has almost 900 thousand followers. On the music side, he has charted in the Billboard Top 40, the iTunes Top 200 dance charts and Top 100 charts, and had three GRAMMY Considerations. He has one song that features Lil Wayne, and he did a pop dance record with a former member of Destiny’s Child, plus he has a new single coming out in July. He attended the GRAMMY Awards in Los Angeles in February and will be at CMA Fest in Nashville next month. On the acting side, he is a SAG-AFTRA member, and his acting résumé includes films such as Fate of the Furious, Pitch Perfect 3, and Wonder Woman 1984, and TV work such as The Vampire Diaries, NYPD Blue, and more.
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Notable Guest Quotes

“I started doing music since my childhood really. I was about eight years old, nine years old. I was playing guitar and I started writing songs at a young age.”

“I was always the one at a younger age that just really took this serious.  I also sung the national anthem for the (WWE) back in high school.  I would love to pop that footage up sometime and put it on social media.”

“Music's always been a part of my life because my Uncle Chucky played guitar with BB King in Las Vegas… and then my dad went to Peabody Conservatory for music.  So, music is kind of really in my blood.  Everybody else was more like the instrument of the family, but I'm the vocals of the family and the songwriter.”

“I was under a label for seven years.  And that's when I charted top 40 on Billboard… I was on that Billboard chart for eight weeks as an independent artist.  I was under an independent label at the time. And, you know, doing tours and promo runs, radio interviews and all that.”

“Music is my first love and my passion.  And I work very hard in music, but I also work very hard in acting.  The two kind of go together because they're both entertainment business.”

“An audition in itself is a role.  So, it gives you the time to practice your best performance… And book that job, possibly.  Nothing's guaranteed.”

“It takes a lot of investment time and a lot of investing money and sacrifice away from your family and traveling because very few people make it in their hometown.  And you have to go outside of your comfort zone, and you have to go to places that you normally wouldn't go.”

“I'm a networker. I'm a go-getter. I don't stop. I don't quit… in my vocabulary, the word ‘no’ means just go harder.”

“Going (to) the GRAMMYs was awesome, very legendary.  I (saw) a lot of major other entertainers as well and brushing shoulders with the right people, connected with a lot of major producers – new producers that I'm going to be working with very soon… I didn't want the night to end.  It went so good.”

“A friend of mine is actually Priscilla’s son, Nava, he’s a good person. So, like, Elvis Presley really inspired me a lot.”

“When you have two celebrities together in the studio making a big hit record, it's a good feeling, just the energy and how you can learn from each other, vocally and knowledge in the music industry.”

Songs on this episode

“Party Life”
“Wildcard” (feat. Lil Wayne)

Podcast Type
NHT