Johnnie Valentine Newt (born July 9, 1979) is an American R&B singer and songwriter from

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, California. He is known for his work with R&B singer

Tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

, and served as a member of his production group Song Dynasty. Newt was credited with songwriting work on Tank's singles " When We" and "

Emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

", while his credits for other artists include

Tyrese Tyrese Darnell Gibson (born December 30, 1978) is an American R&B singer and actor from Los Angeles, California. He signed with RCA Records in 1998, and released his debut single "Nobody Else" in August of that year. It peaked within the top ...

's "

I Like Them Girls "I Like Them Girls" is a song by American singer Tyrese Gibson. It was written by Harvey Mason, Jr., Damon Thomas, Phillip "Silky" White, and J. Valentine for Gibson's second album '' 2000 Watts'' (2001), while production was helmed by Mason and ...

", the title track of

NSYNC NSYNC ( ; also stylized as *NSYNC or N Sync) was an American vocal group and pop boy band formed by Chris Kirkpatrick in Orlando, Florida, in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich. The group consists of Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez, ...

's album ''Celebrity'' (2001),

Mario Mario (; ) is a Character (arts), character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Ja ...

's " How Could You," and

Omarion Omari Ishmael Grandberry (born November 12, 1984), better known by his stage name Omarion, is an American R&B singer, dancer and actor. He rose to prominence as lead vocalist of the boy band B2K, which was formed in 1998 and managed by record e ...

's " I'm Tryna". He guest performed on

Tupac Shakur Tupac Amaru Shakur (; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all tim ...

's posthumous albums, '' Still I Rise'' (1999) and '' Until the End of Time'' (2001).

Early life

Valentine was born in The Fillmore District of San Francisco, California. As a kid, J. and his brothers would go down to Fisherman's Wharf where they were street performers. J. attended Balboa High School, where he played varsity basketball all four years of high school and AAU along with the likes of NBA players

Drew Gooden Andrew Melvin Gooden III (born September 24, 1981) is an American former professional basketball player who is currently a broadcaster for Monumental Sports Network. The power forward (basketball), power forward played 14 seasons in the Nationa ...

and

Deshawn Stevenson DeShawn Stevenson (born April 3, 1981) is an American former professional basketball player. Stevenson played for six teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) during a 13-year career. He originally committed to play at the University o ...

. J. was also seen in

Keyshia Cole Keyshia Myeshia Cole (née Johnson; born October 15, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, television personality and actress. Dubbed by critics as the " Princess of Hip-Hop Soul", she is known for her soulful voice and heartfelt lyrics. Bor ...

's debut video " I Changed My Mind" as her love interest. He also worked on her 2010 album Calling All Hearts as a producer and songwriter. Valentine is of African-American and Chinese ancestry. His father was African-American and his mother was Chinese-American.

Musical career

When Valentine was 9 years old, he and his brothers formed the band The Newtrons. In 2009, he founded the CityBoyZ Muzik label and signed hip-hop artist Bailey, and subsequently released the song “Go Dumb” which was originally a record from his ''Hide Ya Breezy'' mixtape. Valentine's 2011 album ''The Testimony'' featured artists

Keri Hilson Keri Lynn Hilson (born December 5, 1982) is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Decatur, Georgia, she began her musical career as a songwriter and backing vocalist for other artists under the wing of record producer Anthony De ...

Twista Carl Terrell Mitchell (born November 27, 1973), better known by his stage name Twista (also known as Tung Twista), is an American rapper. He is best known for his Chopper (rap), chopper style of rapping and for once holding the title of fastest ...

Gucci Mane Radric Delantic Davis (born February 12, 1980), known professionally as Gucci Mane, is an American rapper. He is credited, along with fellow Atlanta-based rappers T.I. and Jeezy, with pioneering the hip hop subgenre trap music for mainstream a ...

and

LeToya Luckett LeToya Luckett-Coles (born March 11, 1981) is an American R&B singer and actress. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as a founding member of the R&B girl group Destiny's Child, one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. As a mem ...

. The album accumulated over 17 thousand records sold and reached the iTunes top 10 for R&B/Soul. Valentine recorded “My Girl” with

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. A Pop music, pop and hip-hop-influenced contemporary R&B, R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "Honorific nic ...

for In My Zone 2. Valentine's production company, Song Dynasty, includes his brother Bobby Newt, his friend Texx and R&B singer

. The team has written and produced songs for artists such as

Jamie Foxx Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), known professionally as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, comedian, and singer. Known for his work in both the screen and music industries, his accolades include an Academy Award, a Grammy Award ...

and

Ron Isley Ronald Isley ( ; born May 21, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Isley is the lead singer and founding member of the family music group The Isley Brothers. Early life Born in 1941 to Sallye Bernice (née Bell) and O ...

. In 2014, they produced '' Now or Never'', Tank's first

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

project. The album's second single, “Emergency,” held the number 5 spot on the Billboard music charts. They wrote the song “Regret” for R&B singer

featuring

Ludacris Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, spoken as "ludicrous" in American English), is an American rapper and songwriter. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludacris moved to Atlanta, Georgia, at age ...

, which also peaked at #78 on the U.S. Billboard

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

chart and #8 on the Billboard

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart. Valentine scored his first #1 single on the R&B charts with Tank in 2022, with the successful single "Slow". The duet song is from Tank's tenth album release, R&B Money. Valentine and Tank are the hosts of a weekly podcast called ''R&B Money Podcast'', where the two discuss R&B music and other topics with some of the genre's current stars and its greatest legends.Tank Launches R&B Money Podcast With His Manager J. Valentine
/ref> Additionally, Valentine also works as Tank's manager.

Discography

Albums

Mixtape

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valentine, J. Living people Singers from San Francisco American contemporary R&B singers 1979 births Songwriters from San Francisco American male singer-songwriters 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American male singers Singer-songwriters from California