Jeremih

Jeremy Phillip Felton (born July 17, 1987), known professionally as Jeremih (/ˈdʒɛrəmaɪ/ JERR-əm-eye), is an American R&B singer. He embarked on a musical career after meeting record producer Mick Schultz in 2008, and signed a recording contract with Def Jam Recordings the following year.

Jeremih's 2009 debut single, "Birthday Sex" peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart; it preceded the release of his self-titled debut studio album in June that year, which peaked at number six on the Billboard 200. His 2010 single, "Down on Me" (featuring 50 Cent) saw continued commercial success and matched the chart position of "Birthday Sex", also receiving sextuple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It preceded the release of his second album All About You (2010), which was met with a critical and commercial decline. His 2014 single, "Don't Tell 'Em" (featuring YG) became his third top-ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The song and its follow-up singles, "Oui" and "Planez" (featuring J. Cole), each received quintuple platinum certifications by the RIAA and preceded the release of his third album, Late Nights: The Album (2015). He formed the duo MihTy with singer Ty Dolla Sign in 2018, with whom he has released an eponymous collaborative album (2018).

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Felton began playing drums at the age of three and is able to play the saxophone, several percussion instruments, and piano/keyboards. He attended Morgan Park High School, where he was part of the marching band as well as a Latin jazz band. He also learned to play percussion instruments like congas and timbales. Felton was a good student and earned academic honors at Morgan Park High School, allowing him to graduate a year early. He enrolled at the University of Illinois and Parkland College in Urbana-Champaign. After spending a semester at the university studying engineering, he wanted to change his education to something related to music. He transferred to Columbia College Chicago in 2007 to pursue a degree in music business. After performing a tribute to Ray Charles at one of the campus's talent shows, he received positive feedback and realized his vocal ability, saying that the "music was just taking over".

While attending Columbia College Chicago, Jeremih collaborated with record producer Mick Schultz. Together, they recorded a song, titled "My Ride". Jeremih received guidance from his cousin, Day26 group member, Willie Taylor. In February 2009, Jeremih met with Def Jam's CEO Russell Simmons, and executive vice president of A&R Karen Kwak. After performing for the two, Jeremih signed a recording contract with Def Jam that same day. In 2009, Jeremih released his debut single, "Birthday Sex". The song later peaked at number 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100. In June 2009, Jeremih released his eponymous self-titled debut studio album, Jeremih. The album debuted at number 6 on the US Billboard 200, selling 59,000 copies in its first week. In promotion of the album, Jeremih took part in America's Most Wanted Tour, alongside Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, and Soulja Boy Tell 'Em. The second single, "Imma Star (Everywhere We Are)", peaked at number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In August 2009, Jeremih was selected by Ron Huberman and Mayor Richard M. Daley of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to campaign children to return to school. Community activists protested and demanded CPS to undo their decision, claiming that Jeremih's music was "not appropriate for students" and "promotes teen sex". Huberman argued that "school officials would be naive to pretend students don't listen to Felton's music already". Daley also argued that recording artists have the freedom of speech, noting that Jeremih was "a young man, [with a] back-to-school message, a young man who has had great success recording, producer, going to school, went to public school". In September 2009, Jeremih performed on ABC Daytime's soap opera One Life to Live, alongside recording artist Lionel Richie. The two performed "Just Go", a song from Richie's album with the same title.

On June 1, 2010, Jeremih released the first single for his second studio album All About You, titled "I Like" featuring Ludacris. "Down on Me" featuring rapper 50 Cent was confirmed to be the second single from the album. "Down on Me" charted on the number-one position for eight weeks total on Rhythmic Billboard chart. All About You was released on September 28, 2010. The following year, Jeremih and Rick Ross were featured on the song, which was performed by Wale, titled "That Way" from the compilation album Self Made Vol. 1.

In December 2011, Jeremih confirmed he had been working on his third studio album, originally titled Thumpy Johnson. He announced plans from a summer 2012 release under Def Jam. However, the album was not released. Instead, Jeremih released his first mixtape titled Late Nights with Jeremih on August 7, 2012.

On November 5, 2014, Jeremih and members of his crew were involved in an incident at a Fuddruckers restaurant in Billings, MT in which Jeremih's associates allegedly "hassled"[1] a young female restaurant employee and a manager for discriminating against them. Members of Jeremih's crew responded to the alleged racism by taking over the restaurant's microphone, throwing beer onto employees, and allegedly throwing a glass beer bottle into the kitchen, getting broken glass into the fryer and forcing the restaurant to close temporarily.[2] The Billings Police Department sought but never issued arrest warrants in response to the incident.[3] Surveillance footage of the altercation was published by TMZ, and the concert promoter for Jeremih's Billings performance offered refunds to audience members and renounced the actions taken by Jeremih and his crew. [4]^{[permanent dead link]}