Johnta Austin

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Johnta Austin
Birth name	Johnta (pronounced Jon-tay) Marice Austin
Born	June 28, 1980 (1980-06-28) (age 27)
Origin	Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Genre(s)	R&B
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, record producer
Years active	1995–present (solo)
Label(s)	So So Def Recordings Island Urban Music Island Def Jam Recordings
Website	Official Site @ Def Jam Records

Johnta Austin (June 28, 1980) is a two-time Grammy Award-winning [1]American upcoming singer-songwriter on Jermaine Dupri's So So Def Recordings.

Johnta Austin grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1989, at the age of eight, Austin hosted the daily television show, “Kid’s Beat” on CNN. Covering current events, sports and the entertainment world, Austin went on to become the Atlanta Bureau Chief for the CNN weekly news program, “Real News for Kids” and the reporter for the TBS half hour weekly, “Feed Your Mind. Austin grew up singing in church choirs and wanted to become an actor, and he interviewed such celebrities as Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan, among others, and in 1993, made his television debut on The Arsenio Hall Show, where he admitted he loved singing and was offered to sing with Arsenio Hall's band. [2]

He was originally signed in the mid-late 90s to RCA Records before being dropped in favor of R&B singer Tyrese Gibson. However, he ended up writing a few songs for him (including the hit "Sweet Lady") as well as writing for other artists.

Austin has been extremely busy and successful during the last several years. He co-wrote Mariah Carey's hit 2005 singles, "We Belong Together", "Don't Forget About Us", "It's Like That", and "Shake It Off" from her album "The Emancipation of Mimi". Johnta Austin also co wrote Mary J Blige's single "Be Without You" from her #1 selling CD "The Breakthrough" and Monica's single "Everytime Tha Beat Drop" from her latest album "The Makings of Me". He is also featured as a guest artist on Jermaine Dupri's 2005 single, "Gotta Getcha" and has co-written a few songs on Chris Brown's self-titled debut album in 2005, as well as "Can I Call You" from Marques Houston's debut album in 2003. Very little is known about his personal life.

Austin produced and was featured in Shortie Like Mine and Outta My System, both singles by rapper Bow Wow off his album The Price of Fame. Both of the songs were successful, Shortie Like Mine reaching #9, and Outta My System reaching #22 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The release of his debut album has been pushed back repeatedly, due in part to So So Def changing its affiliation from Virgin Music to Island Records. It is currently scheduled to be released later in 2008.^{[citation needed]}