it was already written in the stars that this crooner would make his mark in the world of music
he would gravitate to one style in particular confusing many around him but he ignored the
naysayers and carried on then after several years of superstar collabs chart-topping
hits and award nominations everything fell apart leaving him alone to pick up the pieces
let's find out what happened to american r b singer-songwriter and record producer john b
jonathan david buck known professionally as john b was born in providence rhode island and raised in
altadena california he comes from a very musical family his father was a professor of music and his
mother was a concert pianist john also has two siblings a brother who's a cellist and a sister
who's a violinist his grandparents even owned a record store john picked up his first instrument
the keyboard when he was eight years old soon after he also began playing guitar and the drums
naturally his parents played a major role in helping jon get his start in music education
his mother was the first person to sit him down and try to teach him to read music
however jon felt much more comfortable learning by ear even though both of his parents were heavily
into the classical genre jon developed a love for rock and especially r b with some of his early
musical influences being duran duran the bee gees earth wind and fire shade and michael jackson john
was clearly about his musical business at a very young age he began recording and distributing his
own music at 10. he became a child entrepreneur by making tapes and selling them to his friends
at school for five dollars he officially decided that music would be his life's work when he won
his eighth grade talent show interestingly enough the judges that day were members of
the pasadena-based r b group troop who john would go on to become good friends with in the future
john got a chance to really hone his singing skills at his performing arts high school
there he would join the gospel choir and learn how to properly sing as he was taught by a woman
who just happened to be a former member of popular 60s group the fifth dimension by the time his last
year of high school came around it was clear that john didn't really have any other choice whether
or not to pursue music professionally he pretty much had to since his grades were not going to
be the thing to help him go far in life so he took full advantage of being able to sign himself out
during the school day and use the free time to camp out in the lobby of various record labels
demo in hand waiting to catch someone on their lunch break one day he made his way over to yabyum
records since it was a small label and no one was really around to engage with jon just dropped off
his demo and left little did he know that it would soon catch the attention of the president and ceo
tracy edmunds wife of legendary singer-songwriter and record producer kenneth babyface edmonds
as jon continued making the rounds to other labels he would end up securing a meeting with motown
while in their office a call came in it was babyface he heard john's demo and wanted him
to come over immediately in 1993 at the age of 19 jon became the first artist signed to yabyum
records initially john got his feet wet by joining babyface's band playing the keyboard he would then
go on to write and produce for numerous artists such as new edition tony braxton color me bad
and after seven playing these behind the scenes roles were actually what jon preferred
the main purpose of his demo tape was to showcase his writing and production skills
not necessarily his singing ability it wasn't until babyface himself told jon that he had all
the makings of a great recording artist that he decided to go for it two years later his debut
album titled bonafide was released and went on to achieve platinum status it spawned the
top 10 hits someone to love featuring babyface the song was also nominated for a grammy award
and was featured on the soundtrack for the 1995 cop action comedy film bad boys then came the time
for jon to spread his wings and show the world that there was much more to his musical style
than just sounding like the white baby face his second album titled cool relax dropped in 1997.
the single they don't know became not only another top 10 song but his biggest hit ever
two other singles don't say and are you still down featuring tupac shakur also help the album become
certified double platinum years later jon would speak fondly of how the latter song came together
he got an invite to the studio that tupac was recording in one day as it turned out tupac
was a fan so much so that jon would even catch a glimpse of his cd inside tupac's car they hung out
john played some beats while tupac freestyled over them and they both agreed that a collaboration was
inevitable a couple of weeks later it happened after jon turned the song into
the label however he was told that it wouldn't see the light of day the issue was over jon and
tupac being extremely different artists from one another and there was a major concern especially
about tupac's thug life image having a negative impact on jon's clean-cut lover boy image sadly
just two weeks after recording the song tupac would become a fatal victim of a drive-by shooting
in las vegas on september 13 1996. now jon felt it was only right to shelve the track
until he spoke to tupac's mother afini shakur john went to her home and she told him how her son
never played her any of his music because he didn't want to offend her with the subject matter
he did however and was proud to play her are you still down john made it a point on his sophomore
effort to showcase more of his true self from the beginning his label never made any attempts
to conceal his race they knew the music and his songwriting talent would win out in the end
nevertheless he did have people talking about how he frequently showcased black women
in his music videos his significant other in his life at the time was also black that's
real to the way i'm living the woman i can relate to right now is a black woman
while on tour promoting cool relax john developed an amazing chemistry with his backup singers and
they began writing together before he knew it they ended up with about five or six songs
so he decided that the three of them should form a super group called jack herrera and
try to put out an album jon was very proud of the work they did but his label was not
at all interested pleasures you like john's third studio album was released in march 2001.
despite this being his third album in a row to go platinum jon felt it was not marketed and
promoted properly he was also dealing with major creative differences with the label only one song
was released called don't talk furthermore there was a lot of merging and rearranging going on at
many of the major labels and john found that most of the people who played an integral role
in putting together his previous albums were being pushed out as a result he felt it was
best that he part ways with yabyum unfortunately more disappointment was on the horizon for john
his short-lived marriage came to an end and a terrible fire in his recording studio ruined
all of his equipment and catalog of material dating back to his teens as anyone could imagine
this was a devastating blow for john to cope he began drinking and smoking excessively and sunk
into a depression one bright light in his life was all the support he got from his longtime
friend annette eventually they would take their relationship to the next level and become husband
and wife now ready to get back on the horse john made a move to work with matthew knowles
the father of superstar entertainer beyonce by signing on with sanctuary records matthew had
just been hired as the president of urban music at the label john's fourth album appropriately
titled stronger everyday was released in october 2004 the album didn't do anywhere near as well as
his other efforts even though jon considered it his best work today he would later attribute the
failure to a lack of support from the label the word on the street too was that many of
matthew's artists were struggling because he had severely tarnished his relationships
with people in the industry at one point radio even refused to play any of his artists music
during this time another r b artist of the caucasian persuasion was making his debut
and putting his stamp on the genre by the name of robin thicke unsurprisingly it was becoming
impossible for john to escape the comparisons and dealing with robin's name constantly being brought
into every conversation john would later admit that he did feel threatened watching robin come on
the scene and ascend in the blue-eyed soul arena that he'd always dominated over the next decade
jon would continue to release several projects independently including his first christmas
album as well as an album featuring previously unreleased songs then jon would take a significant
hiatus he would sum up what he was up to during that time in a 2019 interview with parleymag.com
constant touring and spending time with the family the most important thing for me right now is to
make the best decisions in business and personally and that's what this time has allowed me there
was a brief moment in 2016 where it looked like an album was on the way but nothing ever materialized
john had signed a deal with well-known music producer warren campbell to his boutique
indie label my block inc a full album was made but as warren alluded to in later interviews
things didn't end up panning out due to business disagreements in 2019 john dropped his first
single in seven years called understand featuring r b singer don l jones as he made the rounds to
promote it he also revealed that a brand new album of the same name was on the way he also released
another single that year in anticipation of the album called priceless at the beginning
of the 2020 quarantine john created the vibe select cafe named after his production company
a weekly instagram live concert experience aimed to lift the spirits of his fans stuck
at home he also relished being able to be home for an extended period of time with his wife of
nearly 15 years and their two daughters as things have slowly gotten back to normal in 2021 john's
return to touring and connecting with fans face to face his album that was anticipated to come out in
early 2020 still doesn't have an official release date as of the making of this video in a 2019
interview with the hype magazine.com he did though have this to say about what fans could expect
the album is going to be a return to just romantic vibes one thing i can definitely
say is i'm in touch with that romantic side of myself it's strictly for the lovers out there
thanks for watching please like share and comment also don't forget to subscribe and
turn on your notifications so you won't miss any future videos see you next time