Jared Lincoln Cotter (born June 17, 1981) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and model. He was a contestant on the sixth season of ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

'', and co-wrote

Jay Sean Kamaljit Singh Jhooti (born 26 March 1981), known professionally as Jay Sean, is a British singer and songwriter. He debuted in the UK's Asian Underground scene as a member of the Rishi Rich Project with " Dance with You", which reached No. ...

's 2009 single " Down", which peaked at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.Jared Cotter interview
Cotter has written songs for Carl Thomas, Joe, and

Biography

Born and raised on Long Island, Cotter grew up in a family of musicians. Cotter's great grandfather,

James Reese Europe James Reese Europe (February 22, 1880 – May 9, 1919) was an American ragtime and early jazz bandleader, arranger, and composer. He was the leading figure on the African-American music scene of New York City in the 1910s. Eubie Blake called him ...

, was the first African American jazz player to perform at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

. Cotter's father, Robert Cotter, played in the late 1970s with

Nile Rodgers Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 750 million albums and 1 ...

and the late

Bernard Edwards Bernard Edwards (October 31, 1952 – April 18, 1996) was an American bassist and record producer, known primarily for his work in disco with musician Nile Rodgers, with whom he co-founded Chic. In 2017, Edwards was selected as the 53rd greates ...

of the Big Apple Band, later known as

Chic Chic (; ), meaning "stylish" or "smart", is an element of fashion. It was originally a French word. Etymology '' Chic'' is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s. Early references in English dictionaries classified ...

. Cotter's recording career began when he was 15. He performed and released music as JL Cotter, and co-wrote songs such as "Make U Cry", "My Girl", "She Likes It" and the Notorious B.I.G inspired "Somebody's Gotta Go". In 2004, he graduated from

Five Towns College Five Towns College is a private college in Dix Hills, New York. The college's degree programs focus on music, media, and the performing arts. History Founded in 1972, Five Towns College holds an Absolute Charter issued by the New York State Boa ...

. In 2005, he independently released "The Album Before the Album". The album was re-released after he appeared on ''Idol.'' He released a single "Good Morning" in October 2008. Cotter released a five-song EP ''You Me Forever'' on July 1, 2014. Cotter has performed on BET's

106 & Park ''106 & Park'' is an American hip hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that was broadcast on weekdays at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT on BET; it aired on a one-day delay on BET International. It was the network's highest- rated ...

, and opened for

Avant Avant can refer to: People * Avant, part of music production team Bloodshy & Avant * Avant (singer), Myron Avant, an American singer * Clarence Avant, a music executive * Jason Avant, is a US American football player Places * Avant, Oklahoma, ...

. He has also performed at BB King's in Times Square, Village Underground, Soul Café and SOB's. In 2007, he reached the semi-final stage of ''

American Idol season 6 The sixth season of ''American Idol'' premiered on the Fox Broadcasting Company as a two-night, four-hour premiere special on January 16 and 17, and ran until May 23, 2007. Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson returned as judges, and Rya ...

''. He sang

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

's " Lately" for his audition. He signed with EMI Music Publishing in 2009. In 2009, Cotter co-wrote several songs on Jay Sean's album '' All or Nothing'', including the number one song, "Down", which was the seventh-best selling single of 2009. In April 2010, he received an

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

award as a writer for one of the "Most Performed Songs" of the year. Immediately after ''American Idol'', in June 2007, Cotter joined as co-host for a daily show ''The Sauce'' on the television network

Fuse TV Fuse is an American television channel owned by Fuse Media, LLC, that was originally launched in 1994 as MuchMusic USA, a localized version of the Canadian cable channel MuchMusic, owned by CHUM Limited which was also the parent company of City ...

. After ''The Sauce'' was cancelled in 2008, he hosted ''You Rock, Lets Roll'', a dating game show, in the same time slot. He also hosted Fuse's ''No. 1 Countdown: Pop'' where he presented videos and conducted interviews. He has also worked for

Fox TV Fox Broadcasting Company, LLC (commonly known as Fox; stylized in all caps) is an American commercial broadcast television network serving as the flagship property of Fox Corporation and operated through Fox Entertainment. Fox is based at Fo ...

’s

Good Day New York ''Good Day New York'' is a morning show airing on WNYW Fox 5 (channel 5), hosted by Rosanna Scotto and Curt Menefee. It is a Fox owned-and-operated television station in New York City, owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox C ...

as a weekly correspondent during later seasons of ''American Idol''. He was the host of ''The Challenge'', a

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York, is the List of cities by GDP, largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a List of U.S. metropolitan areas by GDP, gross metropo ...

high school

student quiz show A student quiz show (sometimes academic quiz show) is a television or radio game show, quiz show featuring contestants who represent the schools they attend. WRC-TV, NBC4's ''It's Academic'' in the Washington metropolitan area, Washington, D.C. met ...

on MSG Varsity internet service. From 2014 to 2015, Cotter was the co-anchor for the syndicated ''

The Daily Buzz ''The Daily Buzz'' (occasionally abbreviated ''"theDBZ"'') is a nationally syndicated news and infotainment program. The show premiered as a 3-hour weekday morning television show on September 16, 2002, initially airing on 10 stations owned and ...

'' program of Florida's

Full Sail University Full Sail University is a Private university, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit university in Winter Park, Florida. It was formerly a recording studio in Ohio named Full Sail Productions and Full Sail Center f ...

. In January 2017, he joined "The List" as co-host. As of early 2024, Cotter was the

talent manager A talent manager (also known as an artist manager, band manager, or music manager) is an individual who guides the professional career of Entertainer, artists within the entertainment industry. The responsibility of a talent manager is to ove ...

for Paul Russell and was

Shaboozey Collins Obinna Chibueze (born May 9, 1995), known professionally as Shaboozey, is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. Shaboozey's music combines hip-hop, country, and Americana. His stage name originated from the mispron ...

's co-talent manager. He was promoted to partner at Range Music. Also in 2024, he started record label 3AM Entertainment with Jay Sean and Jeremy Skaller.

Influences

Cotter has cited

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. (; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He helped shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player an ...

and

Brian McKnight Brian Kainoa Makoa McKnight Sr. (born Brian Kelly McKnight; June 5, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, record producer, radio personality, and multi-instrumentalist. An Contemporary R&B, R&B performer, he is recognized for his strong ...

as influences.

Personal life

Cotter began dating Canadian singer-songwriter

Melanie Fiona Melanie Fiona Hallim (born July 4, 1983) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. On March 14, 2016, their first child was born. On Valentine's Day 2018, the couple became engaged. Originally they planned to marry on

Amalfi Coast The Amalfi Coast ( or ) is a stretch of coastline in southern Italy overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Gulf of Salerno. It is located south of the Sorrentine Peninsula and north of the Cilentan Coast. Attracting international tourists o ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

; but the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

forced them to postpone their wedding three times. The couple eloped on December 12, 2020 in Los Angeles.

Discography

Album

Extended plays

Singles

Charted songs with song-writing credits

As featured artist

''American Idol'' performances

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cotter, Jared 1981 births 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singers American Idol participants Living people People from Oceanside, New York Singers from New York (state)