Colby O'Donis
O'Donis at the CUN Awards, February 2009
Background information
Birth name	Colby O'Donis
Born	March 14, 1989 (1989-03-14) (age 20)
Origin	Jackson Heights, Queens, New York
Genres	Pop, R&B, hip hop
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actor, guitarist, pianist, dancer
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Kon Live Geffen Records Motown Records
Associated acts	Akon, T-Pain, Lady Gaga, Kardinal Offishall, Romeo, Paul Wall, Brooke Hogan, Jhevon Paris
Website	colbyodonis.com

Colby O'Donis (born March 14, 1989) is an American pop, R&B and hip hop singer-songwriter,guitarist, producer and actor.

[edit] Life and career

[edit] Early Life

Colby O'Donis was born in Queens, New York^[1] on March 14, 1989 to Puerto Rican parents. O'Donis's talent was discovered at age 3 when he won first place at a talent show by singing a Michael Jackson song. He would also perform at his father's flea market in Queens every weekend, just for fun.^[2]

[edit] Music Career

By age of 8, Colby's parents had relocated to Altamonte Springs, Florida where he began collaborating with producer/songwriters, Full Force, who were responsible for numerous hits by the Backstreet Boys, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, 'N Sync, and Britney Spears. Colby's rise to fame began at 10 when he became the youngest recording artist ever signed to Motown Records 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 age 11, he appeared regularly as an actor on the TV series Grandpa's Garage. By age 14, Colby's passion for music had him 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 15th birthday, Colby's parents made the decision to relocate to Los Angeles and pursue a recording deal using Colby’s 100+ song catalogue. Upon relocating, 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 producer's Damon Sharpe (J-Lo, Ginuwine, Kelly Rowland, Anastacia), Gregg Pagani (Babyface, Musiq, 3LW), Brion James, Manuel Seal Jr. (Mariah Carey, Usher, Mary J. Blige) and multi-platinum recording artist Justin Timberlake.^[3] 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.^[3] He was also briefly featured on an episode of Nickelodeon's Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide as Nelson Duckworth.

[edit] 2009-Present

In February, Colby attended the 51st Grammy Awards, but Colby and Lady Gaga did not win. Colby also featured in Lady Gaga's song "Just Dance". The following month, "Let You Go", the third single/video from his debut album was released.

In July 2009, Colby's duet with Brooke Hogan, "Hey Yo!" from Brooke Hogan's sophomore album The Redemption was released as her second single. He also appeared in Brooke Hogan's Show 'Brooke Knows Best'.

In Aug 2009, at the Teen Choice Awards 2009 O Donis and Gaga were Nominated for 9 Teen choice awards including "Just Dance" They both walked away with a Teen Choice award for best hook up

Colby is currently working on his sophomore album, with a new single titled "I Wanna Touch You" already on radio stations. Other recorded tracks that have leaked online include "Never Fall In Love Again", "Ooh Ahh", "I'm In Love", "Shake Your Body" and "Talkin 'Bout Us".

[edit] Discography

• 2008: Colby O

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Colby O'Donis

[edit] References

I Wanna Touch You Music Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmkGYFtebOU