- published: 03 Oct 2009
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Sean Kingston (born Kisean Anderson; February 3, 1990) is a Jamaican-American singer. He pursued a music career and debuted in 2007 with the album Sean Kingston.
Kingston was born on February 3, 1990, in Miami, Florida and moved to Kingston, Jamaica when he was six. He attended high school in Ocho Rios. His grandfather was the noted Jamaican reggae producer Lawrence Lindo, who worked under the stage name Jack Ruby. At age 11, Kingston spent 3 weeks in jail for breaking and entering, and Kingston lived in a car while his mother was incarcerated for identity theft.
Sean Kingston was discovered through MySpace by Tommy Rotem at Beluga Heights, and signed to the label in a partnership deal with Sony. Beluga is a label notable for its focus on discovering and developing artists. In an interview with HitQuarters label head and producer J.R. Rotem described this process with regards to Kingston:
"Sean Kingston was a rapper when we found him and it was a development process to get him more melodic. At Beluga we essentially refine the talent so that it's more of a marketable product."
Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by the stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper. He released his debut album, Show and Prove, in 2006, and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2007. His Eurodance-influenced single, "Say Yeah", received urban radio airplay, charting on the Rhythmic Top 40 and Hot Rap Tracks charts in 2008. Khalifa parted with Warner Bros. and released his second album, Deal or No Deal, in November 2009. He released the mixtape Kush and Orange Juice as a free download in April 2010; he then signed with Atlantic Records. He is also well known for his debut single for Atlantic, "Black and Yellow", which peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. His debut album for the label, Rolling Papers, was released on March 29, 2011.
Khalifa was born on September 8, 1987 to a mother and a father serving in the military. His parents divorced when Khalifa was about three years old. His parents' military service caused him to move regularly: Khalifa lived in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan before settling in Pittsburgh where he attended Taylor Allderdice High School.
Justin Drew Bieber ( /ˈbiːbər/ BEE-bər, born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian Pop/R&B singer-songwriter, musician, and actor. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who came across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager. Braun arranged for him to meet with Usher in Atlanta, Georgia, and Bieber was soon signed to Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG), a joint venture between Braun and Usher, and then to a recording contract with Island Records offered by L.A. Reid. Bieber's debut single, "One Time", was released in 2009 and peaked in the top twenty in Canada and charted in the top thirty in several international markets. His debut album, the seven-track EP My World, followed in November 2009, and was soon certified platinum in the United States. He became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut album chart on the Billboard Hot 100.