JoJo (album)

## JoJo

### Producer

Bink!, Reggie Burrell, Ronald Burrell, The Co-Stars, G.P., Vincent Herbert, Kwamé "K1 Mill", Joanna Levesque, Mike City, Brian Morgan, Balewa Muhammad, Soulshock and Karlin, Tre Black, The Underdogs, Young Freak

## Singles

### Single #1

**Homeboy**
February 9, 2004

### Single #2

**Baby It's You**
May 17, 2004

### Single #3

**Leave (Get Out)**
August 9, 2004

### Single #4

**Not That Kinda Girl**
February 14, 2005

JoJo is the debut studio album by American singer JoJo, released on May 10, 2004, by Da Family Entertainment, Blackground Records, and Universal Records. Incorporating pop and R&B, JoJo was influenced by Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Brown, and Aretha Franklin. While recording the album over an eight-month period, JoJo worked with producers including Brian Alexander Morgan, Soulshock and Karlin, Mike City, Bink!, Kwamé "K1 Mill" and The Underdogs, among others. JoJo co-wrote three out of the 14 tracks on the album. The album also includes a cover of R&B group SWV's 1993 song "Weak".

## Background

As a child, JoJo listened as her mother practiced hymns. She started singing when she was two years and three months old by imitating, to R&B, jazz, and soul tunes. On the A&E show Child Stars III: Teen Rockers, her mother claimed that JoJo had a borderline genius IQ. As a child, JoJo enjoyed attending Native American festivals and acted locally in professional theaters.

At age seven, JoJo appeared on the television show Kids Say the Darnedest Things: On the Road in Boston with American comedian and actor Bill Cosby and she sang a song from singer Cher. After auditioning in the television show Destination Stardom, JoJo sang Aretha Franklin's songs "Respect" and "Chain of Fools". Soon after, The Oprah Winfrey Show contacted her, inviting her to perform. She performed on Maury, on one of the frequent "kids-with-talent" episodes, as well as many others. Reminiscing, she has stated that "when it came to performing, I just had no fear".

At the age of six, JoJo was offered a record deal, but her mother turned it down because she believed JoJo was too young for a music career. After appearing on talk shows and the McDonald's Gospel Fest performing Whitney Houston's "I Believe in You and Me" and competing on the television show America's Most Talented Kids, but did not win the show and lost to Diana DeGarmo. Record producer Vincent Herbert contacted her and asked her to audition for Blackground Records. During her audition for Barry Hankerson, Hankerson told her that the spirit of his niece, the late singer Aaliyah, had brought her to him. She was signed to the label, and had recording sessions with famed producers like The Underdogs and Soulshock and Karlin.

JoJo's live demo, Joanna Levesque, recorded in 2001, features covers of soul and R&B songs, including Wilson Pickett's "Mustang Sally" (1966), Etta James' "It Ain't Always What You Do (It's Who You Let See You Do It)" (1989), Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools" (1968) and "The House That Jack Built" (1969), The Moonglows' "See Saw" (1956), Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" (1972), and The Temptations' "Shakey Ground" (1975). In 2003, at age 12, JoJo signed with Blackground Records and Da Family and begin working with some producers on her first album.