Donte

You never know who’s watching you. That’s a truism that R&B singer Donte learned a few years ago.

The 20-year-old Philadelphia native was playing the lead role in the musical stage play “The Life of Marvin Gaye” when, during intermission, he was introduced to Jonnetta Patton, CEO of JPat Management and the woman behind the astronomical success of her son, multi-platinum R&B Superstar Usher. “I couldn’t stop smiling,” says Donte, recalling the night that changed his life. “Meeting her was like seeing a close relative that I hadn’t seen in awhile.” The chemistry between them was just that magical, he says.

Patton went on to consummate a deal with Donte, signing him to her newly formed JPat Records.  “He has that thing.  He connects with his audience through his performance and smooth vocals.  He’s very sexy and has a bright future in acting and music”.

What Patton saw in Donte is exactly what she is counting on the public to see in him as well. Tall, muscular and handsome, Donte not only has the looks but the incredible vocal skill to catch the eyes and ears of fans and tastemakers alike.

The soft-spoken Donte grew up on the less than glamorous north side of Philadelphia. He describes his road to success as “a long journey” but he can remember the event that set things in motion like it was yesterday. “I was about 11 years old at the time. I was outside playing while my mom was inside watching ‘Showtime at the Apollo’,” he says. “She was raving about somebody on the show and I told her, ‘That’s nothing, mama. I can do that.’ She said, ‘Okay, let me hear something.’ I sang and she loved it.”

She loved it so much that she immediately began making calls to anyone and everyone that she thought could help her son get into the music industry, including an uncle who was a jazz and blues artist. Donte cut his teeth on the likes of jazz singer Joe Williams and blues great Muddy Waters but it wasn’t long before he dove into R&B, studying the sounds of the late Marvin Gaye and eventually, Usher. It was those singers and others like them, who inspired him the most.
Working with producers and songwriters like J-Lack, Sam Salter and Ryan Lovett, Donte’ says that he strives to “bring a sense of my own reality to my music. I want to keep it as real as possible and get out here and sing my heart out and do what I love to do. I’m definitely going to bring the happy side of being a 20-year-old because I haven’t been through too much adversity in my life. I want to bring that smooth crooner vibe with a little bit of a rough edge because I’m no gangster but I’m certainly no sweetheart either.”

Donte says he has sacrificed a lot for his dream but he doesn’t mind putting in the hard work. “I’ve been doing this quite a while now. I’ve missed a lot of basketball tournaments and football games so if you’re looking to me to throw you a football, you just might be out of luck,” he jokes. “I’ve been through the long hours of training and recording, sleeping on the couch and waking up and hopping right into the recording booth.”

Donte says he’s not worried about comparisons to Usher or any other R&B singer. What separates him, he notes, is his own story, his own reality. “You can listen to the same story but if you hear the same story by 10 different people, you’ll hear something different from each one. I definitely think you’ll be captured by the story I have to tell.”