Anthony Hamilton

Despite breaking through in the 1990s as part of the suave, New Jack Swing-era of R&B stars, Anthony Hamilton became recognised as a timeless, master soul crooner who went on to be norminated for numerous Grammy Awards and performed at the White House for President Obama.

Raised by his grandmother in Charlotte, North Carolina, he learned to sing in church choirs and started out working as a barber before moving to New York in 1993 in search of stardom. From living in cars and hustling his way into studios to perform for producers, he released his debut album 'XTC' in 1996, but struggled when his record label went bankrupt and he failed to make an impact. He wrote the hit 'U Know What's Up', with which Donell Jones reached number two in the UK charts, but it was when Hamilton became a touring backing singer for D'Angelo that he really got a new lease of life and began to learn his trade. He also worked with Tupac Shakur, Santana and Eve and sang lead on Nappy Roots' single 'Po' Folks' before his 2003 album 'Coming from Where I'm from' produced his big top 20 hit 'Charlene'. His raw, romantic style and bare, unflinching emotion was further embellished on 'Ain't Nobody Worrying', and both 'The Point of It All' in 2008 and 'Back to Love' in 2011 broke into the US Album Charts as Hamilton became known as one of the few authentic soul men still performing.

He also featured on the Jadakiss hit 'Why' and Nas's number one album 'Life Is Good' and appeared on tracks with Angie Stone, Young Jeezy and Jill Scott before his collaboration with soul legend Al Green on single 'You've Got the Love I Need' which won him his first Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance in 2009. Another high point was his duet 'Freedom' with Elayna Boynton which was used on the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino's 2012 movie 'Django Unchained' before releasing his seventh studio album 'What I'm Feelin'' in 2016.