Jaheim Biography and Information

Jaheim

Jaheim Hoagland grew up in the 176 Memorial Parkway Projects, New Jersey. The projects are enough to mess up a lot of young peoples lives and things were far from easy for Jaheim. His father died when he was just two years old!
Life was tough for the young Jaheim, but on the plus side he was exposed to the world of music from a very young age. His grandfather, Victor Hoagland sang with many top musical groups of his time, including The Drifters who were a very well knwn group in their time.
Given the fact that his family were very much involved in music, every time they had get-together there would be a lot of singing, this is where Jaheim began to notice and nurture his talent.
He also entered several local talent shows but it was not until he sang at the Apollo and recieved an encouraging response that he really started to take things seriously. Jaheim won at the Apollo for three weeks running, at the tender age of just 15. This was not an easy thing to do given the amount of acts that have been booed off of that stage without even being given a chance.
After the his stint at The Apollo Jaheim continued to enter all kinds of talent shows in New Jersey and began to make quite a name for himself. Unfortunately around this time tragedy struck Jaheim once again when his mother passed while Jaheim was still only seventeen years old. This in itself is tragic enough but when you consider that his dad passed while Jaheim was very young and Jaheim was now an orphan it makes it all the sadder.

Jaheim commented,
"When I lost my Mom I thought I lost everything, but I had to be strong for my little brother...
I''m the strength now."

Following his underground success at local shows and even on the New Jersey Subways, where he became a bit of a minor celebrity, Jaheim put a tape together and began giving it to anyone that mattered. This method ended up paying off as somehow the tape found its way to Kid Kay Gee (Of naughty By Nature fame). On hearing the tape Kay Gee asked Jaheim to audition for him. Obviously liking what he heard Kay Gee signed Jaheim to his label, Divine Mill Records, which was part of the Warner Brothers Group.
Two years on and Jaheim finally released his first Album, "Ghetto Love". This album was produced by Kay Gee and had tracks written by the likes of Eric Williams (Blackstreet) and some of the members of R&B group "Next". Literally packed full of great track after great track this album was quite an impressive introduction to the music world. Featuring great ballads, often backed by heavy hip hop beats and sung like only Jaheim can do, this was a debut few other artists can match. Sometimes we forget just how music should sound lets hope Jaheim keeps on reminding us.