Hamilton has won a Grammy Award from 12 nominations,[5] and is also known his song "Freedom" (with Elayna Boynton) which he co-wrote and performed for the soundtrack album to the 2012 film Django Unchained.[6]
Career
A Charlotte native, Hamilton began singing in his church's choir at age 17.[7] He attended South Mecklenburg High School, where he performed as part of in their award-winning choir directed by Mark Setzer. In 1992, he met producer Mark Sparks, who encouraged Hamilton to leave Charlotte and head to New York City, where he signed with Andre Harrell's Uptown Records.[7] In 1996 he recorded the album XTC for MCA records which has remained unreleased.[8][9]
After MCA had failed to give XTC proper release, Hamilton signed with the Chris Dawley's Soulife Records.[22] In the period 1999 to 2001, prior to his 2003 official debut, Hamilton's first compilation album, Soulife was released in June 2005 and was composed of songs recorded .[23] After the record company went bankrupt the recording were shelved. Arista asked Hamilton to revisited the material and with parts re-recorded, a selection was released as Soulife in June 2005. Ain't Nobody Worryin', his third studio album, was released on December 13, 2005 and received gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
At the 2006 BET Awards, Hamilton won the BET J "Cool Like That" Award. Comedian Dave Chappelle had Hamilton as a musical guest on his show Chappelle's Show in episode 6, Season 2 that premiered on Comedy Central. In later 2006, he guest performed on Tupac Shakur's "Dear Mama (Frank Nitty Remix)". He made a guest appearance on the UPN show All of Us in Season 2. Hamilton made a cameo as a soul singer in the film American Gangster, to whose soundtrack he contributed. During the 2008 BET Awards, Hamilton performed Al Green's "Tired of Being Alone" during a tribute to Green's career. Later in 2008, he was featured on Jeezy's album The Recession, which peaked atop the Billboard 200.[24]
In February 2015, Hamilton made a cameo appearance on the television series Empire, where he performed "Point of It All" as part of main character Luscious Lyon's proposal to his girlfriend.[26] The episode aired February 4, 2015. In August 2015, Hamilton made a guest appearance on the song "That One", the first single from Teedra Moses' second album Cognac & Conversation.
On February 24, 2016, Hamilton performed at the last "In Performance at the White House" hosted by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle as part of a tribute to singer Ray Charles.[27] On March 25, he released his sixth album What I'm Feelin (2016), which he describes as an "emotional" cleanse reflecting on some of the hurdles he has faced.[28] The album features guitarists Gary Clark, Jr. and Vince Gill, and songs produced by Mark Batson, Salaam Remi, and James Poyser, among others.[29][30] Hamilton worked with the background singers the HamilTones,[31] who often perform soul renditions of hip hop tracks.[32][33] That same month, Hamilton partnered with Cracker Barrel Old Country to release a deluxe version of the album sold online and in their stores.[34] On March 28, 2016, Hamilton performed on NPR's critically acclaimed Tiny Desk Concerts, where he performed his the singles "Amen", "Best of Me", "Cool", and "Charlene".[35]Chris Brown recruited Hamilton to perform on the "Legends" remix of his single "Back to Sleep", which was released on April 10, 2016.[36] On April 21, 2016, Hamilton embarked on a nationwide tour with Fantasia.
In 2017, Hamilton co-performed on the song "Carnival" for the virtual band Gorillaz from their fifth album Humanz. On May 15, 2020, Hamilton released the single "Back Together" featuring Rick James through Hamilton's label My Music Box, in partnership with BMG. The song was co-written by Hamilton and Ed D. Kane, and produced by 9th Wonder. It served as the lead single from his seventh album, Love Is the New Black, released on September 24, 2021.[37]
Dating since 2003, he married his background singer Tarsha McMillan in 2005.[39][7] On November 2, 2010, Hamilton and his wife Tarsha welcomed twin boys.[40] On his official Facebook page on June 11, 2012, Hamilton announced the birth of another son. The couple announced on June 20, 2015, after 10 years of marriage, that they were getting a divorce.[41]
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