Colby O'Donis

Colby O'Donis (born Colby O'Donis Colón;^[1] March 14, 1989) is an American-Puerto Rican pop and R&B singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer and actor. In 2008, he released his debut album Colby O, and his single "What You Got" featuring Akon reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100. He featured on "Just Dance" by Lady Gaga, which spent almost five months on the Billboard Hot 100.

Early life

O'Donis was born in New York City, USA^[2] to Puerto Rican parents. His mother, Olga, is a singer once crowned Miss Puerto Rico, and his father, Freddy Colón, is a New York disc jockey.^[3][4] He was named after Colby O'Donis, a firefighter who was killed while saving his father's life.^[1] O'Donis took first place at a talent show by singing a Michael Jackson song when he was only three and a half.

Music career

When he was eight, O'Donis' parents had relocated to Florida, where he began collaborating with the group Full Force, which was responsible for numerous hits by the Backstreet Boys, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, 'N Sync, and Britney Spears. Colby's rise to fame began at ten, when he became the youngest recording artist ever signed to Motown Records, in order to do a song for a major motion picture soundtrack. The song, titled "Mouse in the House", was featured on the 1999 Stuart Little soundtrack. Soon after, he began taking guitar lessons with Johan Oiested, a musician in Carlos Santana’s rhythm section. At the age of eleven, he was making regular appearances as an actor on the television series Grandpa's Garage. and by the time he had reached fourteen, Colby was opening shows for major recording artists, including JoJo, A-Teens, Hoku, S Club 7, Jump5, B-5, Backstreet Boys, Brian McKnight, 98° and 'N Sync. Shortly after his fifteenth birthday, Colby's parents made the decision to relocate They moved to Los Angeles, and pursued a recording deal using Colby’s 100+ song catalog. After this move, Colby was introduced to Genuine Music Group, where he began collaborating on producing an LP album consisting of songs from his catalog and songs co-written by producers Damon Sharpe (J-Lo, Ginuwine, Kelly Rowland, Anastacia), Gregg Pagani (Babyface, Musiq Soulchild, 3LW), Brion James, Manuel Seal, Jr. (Mariah Carey, Usher, Mary J. Blige) and multi-platinum recording artist Justin Timberlake. Colby also performed in California, opening shows for Keyshia Cole, 112, Montell Jordan, Daddy Yankee, Omarion, Don Omar, Brandy, Akon, Rihanna, Bobby Valentino, Ne-Yo and Lil Wayne. During this time, he was briefly featured on an episode of Nickelodeon's Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide as Nelson Duckworth.

Colby O (2008–present)

Colby's first single, "What You Got" featuring Akon, was released on February 26, 2008, and his second single, titled "Don't Turn Back", was released on June 24, 2008. Both singles were released for digital download via iTunes, and are featured on his debut album, Colby O. O'Donis was also featured on Lady Gaga's debut single, "Just Dance", earning him a nomination for Best Dance Recording at the 50th Grammy Awards. In 2009, he won Best Dance Recording at the Teen Choice Awards with Lady Gaga. He also has a performed a duet with Brooke Hogan entitled "Hey Yo!". His most recent single 'What Are You Waiting For' [1] in collaboration with Malaysian artist Mizz Nina has received extensive airplay in Malaysia and other South East Asian countries.

Discography

Awards and nominations

References