A
soul singer who has drawn comparisons to such classic
R&B vocalists as
Bill Withers and
Bobby Womack,
Anthony Hamilton struggled for the better part of the 1990s as two of his albums went unreleased. Getting his start at age ten singing in his church choir, the Charlotte, NC, native also performed as a teenager at various nightclubs and talent shows. Always with an eye to move on to bigger things,
Hamilton made the move to New York City in 1993, eventually signing with Uptown Records, epicenter for the
new jack swing sound and home to artists such as
Jodeci and
Mary J. Blige. By 1995, Uptown was set to push
Hamilton's debut album, but the company went out of business, leaving the album unreleased.
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A
soul singer who has drawn comparisons to such classic
R&B vocalists as
Bill Withers and
Bobby Womack,
Anthony Hamilton struggled for the better part of the 1990s as two of his albums went unreleased. Getting his start at age ten singing in his church choir, the Charlotte, NC, native also performed as a teenager at various nightclubs and talent shows. Always with an eye to move on to bigger things,
Hamilton made the move to New York City in 1993, eventually signing with Uptown Records, epicenter for the
new jack swing sound and home to artists such as
Jodeci and
Mary J. Blige.
By 1995, Uptown was set to push
Hamilton's debut album, but the company went out of business, leaving the album unreleased.
Hamilton next signed with MCA and recorded his critically acclaimed but largely overlooked 1996 album, XTC. Another transitional period followed and
Hamilton ultimately found himself at the Soulife label. It was at Soulife, a relatively new venture run by some of the singer's old Charlotte friends, that
Hamilton laid down tracks for another solo album and also wrote songs for such artists as
Donell Jones and
Sunshine Anderson. In 2000, he accepted an invitation to sing backup vocals on singer/organist
D'Angelo's "Voodoo Tour" and traveled the world. Upon returning home,
Hamilton discovered that Soulife had also gone belly up.
With a second album unreleased,
Hamilton spent the next two years selling songs and singing backup for artists including
2Pac and
Eve. Then, in 2002 a lead spot singing on
the Nappy Roots track "Po' Folks" garnered
Hamilton some much-needed attention, as the song was nominated for the Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 2003 Grammy Awards. A subsequent gig performing at a Grammy luncheon led to a meeting between
Hamilton and producer Jermaine Dupri, who quickly signed the singer to his So So Def label. Technically his fourth album,
Comin' from Where I'm From bowed for So So Def in 2003. In 2005, some of his Soulife recordings were dusted off and polished up for release as
Soulife, and the new album
Ain't Nobody Worryin' followed later in the year. ~ Matt Collar, All Music Guide
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