![]() ![]() As his release drew near, Jennings decided on a new goal, to perform live on Showtime in Harlem, a televised musical variety competition produced at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Though Jennings was incarcerated until December of 2002, he found a receptive audience among his fellow inmates. "I set myself some goals and that translated to music." In 1997 Jennings received a copy of Erykah Badu's album Baduizm and, in listening to Badu's introspective compositions, began developing songs that explored the more philosophical side of romance, urban life, prison, and the African-American experience. "When I was in jail, I did a lot of soul searching," Jennings said to Brandi Barhite in the Toledo Free Press in 2008. He sang with a prison gospel choir and learned to play the acoustic guitar, the only instrument he was allowed to use. Jennings remained in prison for almost ten years, having failed his parole evaluations, but found ample time to work on his music. Jennings became involved in crime, and at age nineteen he was convicted of third-degree arson and sentenced to prison. Though successful in the local circuit, The Dotsons eventually disbanded as Jennings and his family members drifted apart. The Dotsons wrote and performed songs reminiscent of the popular R&B vocal groups of the time like Troop and New Edition and were popular at local talent competitions. In the 1980s Dotson's sons Tim and Chris formed a teen singing group, which they called The Dotsons, and asked Jennings, then ten years old, and his brother Jay to join the group. Jennings's uncle, Keith Dotson, was a working musician who sang with the Toledo Motown group KGB. ![]() "You need an outlet for the problems that you face, and I went through all the things associated with the streets." "I've been writing since I was little," Jennings said in an interview with Rhonda B. Before he was in high school, Jennings was already writing his own songs. Jennings's interest in writing and playing music began when he was in elementary school, and he performed with the choir at Cavalry Baptist Church. Spent Ten Years in PrisonĬhester "Lyfe" Jennings was born on June 3, 1973, and raised in Toledo, Ohio, where he and his four siblings-sister Dawn and brothers Charles, Jay, and Paul-attended the city's public schools. Some critics have even credited Jennings as a pioneer of a new genre one that National Public Radio (NPR) host Corey Moore called "Folk Soul." Building on the success of his debut, Jennings released two additional albums, gaining fans and prestige with each release and helping to define a new generation of R&B music. Critics have called Jennings a throwback to the R&B singers of the 1960s, including such legendary artists as Sam Cooke and Al Green, while his use of hip-hop beats and collaborations with rappers connects his music to contemporary developments in R&B. The platinum-selling recording artist is also a multi-instrumentalist who plays guitar, bass, and piano. Lyfe Jennings is a singer and songwriter, crafting emotional ballads with a unique sound that blurs the lines between R&B, hip-hop, and folk music. ![]()
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