Johnta Austin

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**Johntá Austin** is an American singer-songwriter and rapper, who is signed to Jermaine Dupri's So So Def Recordings. He is commonly known for collaborating with producers Bryan-Michael Cox, Jermaine Dupri & The Production Team StarGate. Austin was awarded two Grammy Awards for his work on the songs "We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey and "Be Without You" by Mary J. Blige.

## Early life and career

Austin grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1989, at the age of eight, Austin hosted the daily television show, *Kid's Beat* on CNN. Covering current events, sports and the entertainment world, Austin went on to become the Atlanta Bureau Chief for the CNN weekly news program, *Real News for Kids* and the reporter for the TBS half hour weekly, *Feed Your Mind*. Austin grew up singing in church choirs and wanted to become an actor, and he interviewed such celebrities as Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan, among others, and in 1993, made his television debut on *The Arsenio Hall Show*, where he admitted he loved singing and was offered to sing with Arsenio Hall's band.

## Songwriting

Austin's first professional credit as a songwriter was the single "Can't Be Wasting My Time" for singer Mona Lisa.

He was signed in the mid-late 1990s to RCA Records before being dropped in favor of R&B singer Tyrese Gibson. However, he ended up writing a few songs for him (including the hit "Sweet Lady") as well as writing for other artists.

Austin co-wrote Mariah Carey's hit 2005 singles, "We Belong Together", "Don't Forget About Us", "It's Like That", and "Shake It Off" from her album *The Emancipation of Mimi*. Austin also co-wrote Mary J. Blige's single "Be Without You" from her #1 selling CD *The Breakthrough* and Monica's single "Everytime Tha Beat Drop" from her album *The Makings of Me*. He is also featured as a guest artist on Jermaine Dupri's 2005 song, "Gotta Getcha" and has co-written a few songs on Chris Brown's self-titled debut album in 2005, and "Can I Call You" from Marques Houston's debut album *MH* in 2003.

Austin produced and was featured on the songs "Shortie Like Mine" and "Outta My System," both singles by rapper Bow Wow off his album *The Price of Fame*. Both of the songs were successful, "Shortie Like Mine" reaching #9, and "Outta My System" reaching #14 on the *Billboard* Hot 100. Austin has confirmed on his Twitter that he is working on Love, Sex & Religion again.

Austin also recently worked on albums by Janet Jackson, Jermaine Dupri, and Whitney Houston.

He co-wrote "Still" by Tamia, found on her 2004 release, *More*, "This Song" By LeToya Luckett, found on her 2006 debut, *LeToya*, He also co-wrote "My Heart" on Jennifer Hudson's self-titled debut album *Jennifer Hudson* (2008).

## Solo career

After achieving success writing for other artists, he began work on his full-length debut album *Ocean Drive* on So So Def/Virgin Records. His first single "Lil' More Love" was released on June 7, 2005. It was followed by the release of "Dope Fiend" on November 29 later that year. While the album's first two singles failed to achieve radio/chart success, the label released a third single "Turn It Up" on July 11, 2006 along with a Jadakiss-added version in November.

A fourth single, "Video" featuring UGK was released a year later on July 31, 2007. Following the departure of So So Def Recordings from Virgin Records for Island Def Jam in 2007, the album was pushed back from a February 6, 2007 release to a September 4th release. A final single, the ballad "The One That Got Away" was released in 2008, before the album was eventually shelved.

In 2010, he released a digital single "Close Your Eyes."

In 2012, Austin announced the upcoming release of the "Love" EP, part 1 of a three-part release with the subsequent "Sex" and "Religion" EPs to follow. "Love" EP was released on December 12 preceded by the buzz single "What a Feeling" featuring Jermaine Dupri.

## References

1. ↑ 6.islandrecords.com
2. ↑ [[[:Template:BillboardURLbyName]] Billboard.com]
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## External links

* Official Def Jam page
* Official website
* Facebook page
* MTV News: You Hear It First Feature - Johnta Austin
* Vibe: Love Interrupted (Article)

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