Josh Xantus, known professionally as Josh X, is a Haitian-American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his single ''Heaven on My Mind''.

Early life and education

Xantus was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York City and raised by a single mother in

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

. He began playing classical piano at age six and composed his first song at age 13. He attended the summer program at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

and after receiving a full college scholarship, 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 ...

Long Island, NY Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land area. The island exte ...

. He cites

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 his favorite singer.

Career

While in Los Angeles in 2009, Xantus performed his single "First Time" for

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 ...

, who praised his work, telling him to "continue to carry out the legacy of being a musician that represents real music." In 2015, he co-wrote the track "Ready to Go" with

Swizz Beatz Kasseem Daoud Dean (born September 13, 1978), known professionally as Swizz Beatz, is an American rapper and record producer. Born and raised in the Bronx borough of New York City, Dean embarked on his musical career as a DJ in 1994. At the age ...

for

Pepsi Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...

and Fox's ''

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

'' and released his debut single "All for Love" featuring

Jadakiss Jason Terrance Phillips (born May 27, 1975), better known by his stage name Jadakiss (, ), is an American rapper who began his career in the 1990s and formed the hip hop trio the Lox alongside Styles P and Sheek Louch in 1994. The group signed w ...

. That same year, he began writing and producing for rapper

Cardi B Belcalis Marlenis Cephus (; born October 11, 1992), known professionally as Cardi B, is an American rapper. Noted for her unfiltered public image and lyrics, Cardi B is one of the most successful female rappers. From 2015 to early 2017, she ga ...

, and collaborated on the tracks "Selfish", "Island Girls", and "Heaven on My Mind" the following year. "Heaven on My Mind" ranked at No. 22 on the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Adult R&B Songs The Adult R&B Songs chart (formerly called Adult R&B Airplay) is an airplay chart that is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The chart tracks and measures the airplay of songs played on urban adult contemporary radio stations, whose playl ...

charts in January 2017. He continued working with

for three years. In 2018, Xantus signed with record label

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

and released the single "All On Me" featuring

Rick Ross William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper. An influential figure in modern Hip-hop, hip hop music, Rick Ross has become known for his "Wiktionary:booming, booming" vocal perfor ...

. The music video received over 3.7 million views on YouTube.

Discography

References

External links

*
Josh X on SoundCloud
{{authority control Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American male singer-songwriters Record producers from New York (state) Rappers from Brooklyn 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians Singer-songwriters from New York (state)