Jason Derülo
Raised in a two-parent home in Florida, Jason Derülo took to performing in school plays, and composed his first song on piano at the age of eight. "I grew up as a huge Michael Jackson fan, studying his videos, copying all his moves. I'd practice singing Usher and Justin Timberlake songs while doing their moves."
He kept writing, and at seventeen, Jason wrote and sang the chorus to ‘Bossy’, a song on southern rapper Baby's album ‘Five*Stunna’. This opened the floodgates, as he became a sought-after songwriter for the likes of P. Diddy, Lil Wayne, Sean Kingston, Cassie, Donnie Klang, Birdman, Iyaz and Danity Kane.
Meanwhile super-producer J.R. Rotem's label Beluga Heights had launched the platinum career of Sean Kingston. After Rotem's younger brother Tommy found Jason on MySpace, the Beluga Heights team flew Derülo out to L.A. to write songs for Sean Kingston's second album.
In 2009, after Rotem inked a joint venture deal between Beluga Heights and Warners Bros., American Idol judge and Warner Bros. Records Senior Vice President of A&R Kara DioGuardi signed Derülo as the flagship artist to launch the new venture.
"For eight months J.R. and I literally locked ourselves in the studio, wrote and recorded," explains Jason. "Our aim was to not be influenced by trends, and make sure that our art was coming from a true place."
With the release of Jason Derülo's self-titled debut album due on March 1st, there is the thrilling sense of the arrival of a major new star. "I don't feel like I'm competing with other artist," says Jason. "I'm just going to try and be the best I can be. And when I get to that level, well, I'll figure out a way to get better."