J-Wess
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| J-Wess | ||
|---|---|---|
| Background information | ||
| Birth name | James Wesley Essex | |
| Born | 1975 | |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, USA  |
|
| Genre(s) | Urban music | |
| Occupation(s) | Producer, Songwriter | |
| Years active | 2003-present | |
| Label(s) | Mushroom Records | |
| Website | www.jwess.com | |
James Wesley Essex, better known by his stage name J-Wess, is an American-Australian urban musician. He had a top twenty album in Australia in 2004 with J-Wess Presents Tha LP, producing three singles, "Bang This", "Luv Ya" and the top 10 single "What Chu Want". Although born and raised in Los Angeles, he now lives in Australia and has Australian citizenship.
Contents |
[edit] Early years
J-Wess was born in Los Angeles, California. He grew up surrounded by music with his parents having albums by Motown greats and his favourites being George Clinton, Dr. Dre, DJ Quik and Raphael Saadiq.
However, he was also talented in basketball playing college basketball as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) while studying business finance. In 1999, J-Wess was invited to Australia to train with the Gold Coast Rollers, a National Basketball League team based on the Gold Coast, Australia. Unfortunately, the Gold Coast Rollers folded shortly after he arrived so he moved to Adelaide to play with the Woodville Warriors and the South Adelaide Panthers in the subsidiary Australian Basketball Association.
[edit] Chart success
In the middle of 2003, J-Wess's first single "Bang This" was released. Featuring the lyrical contributions of Digga from the crew Battletown and the vocal talents of Kulaia, it quickly gained airplay on Australian radio and Australian video programs. The single reached a peak of number 18 on the ARIA singles charts and the top ten of the Australian urban and dance charts.
The second single "What Chu Want" featured the talents of Lolly as well as MC Digga and Kulaia and was released in late 2003. It reached the Australian top 10 in February 2004 and went gold.
His album J-Wess Presents Tha LP was released on April 5, 2004 and debuted in the Australian top 20 album charts of April 12, 2004, peaking at #19. The third single is "Luv Ya", which debuted at #15 on June 7 2004.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Album
- J-Wess Presents Tha LP (2004) #19 AUS
[edit] Singles
- Bang This (2003) #18 AUS
- What Chu Want (2003/4) #10 AUS
- Luv Ya (2004) #15 AUS
