Raheem DeVaughn was born on May 5, 1975 and is an American R&B and soul singer/songwriter born in Newark, New Jersey.
Son of jazz cellist Adbul Wadud and cousin of singer Chrisette Michele, DeVaughn has lots of musical blood, however even in pre-school DeVaughn’s mother said he had an affinity towards music. After graduating from high school, DeVaughn attended Coppin State University in Baltimore City, U.S., and began harmonising with a group of street corner singers, and it wasn't long before he began skipping classes to write and record lyrics.
After winning a talent competition at the Washington DC nightclub named Bar Nun, CEO of Soul World Entertainment Cliff Jones asked DeVaughn to write a song for soul quartet Dru Hill. In doing so the singer caught the attention of DJ Jazzy Jeff and Roc-A-Fella A&R guy Kenny Burns which led to DeVaughn being signed by Jive Records in 2002.
After the successful single releases of “Guess Who Loves You More” and “You” DeVaughn released his major label debut “The Love Experience” on June 28, 2005. The album received critical acclaim, sold around 250,000 copies and reached No. 46 in the Billboard 200.
The music of DeVaughn has been compared to that of Dwele, D’Angelo and Marvin Gaye, with his mix of R&B, neo-soul and soft rock.
DeVaughn’s follow-up album “Love Behind the Melody” was his biggest charting hit, which peaked at No. 5 in the Billboard 200. The album also produced the song “Woman” was the singer’s most commercially successful ingle and was nominated for a Grammy award for Best Male R&B Performance in 2008. The R&B singer’s two subsequent albums “The Love & War MasterPeace”, which received a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Album and the independently released “A Place Called Love Land” both charted well, and secured DeVaughn’s position in the R&B mainstream.
Zara Larsson
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