October London

Jared Samuel Erskine (born October 17, 1986), known professionally as October London, is an American singer and songwriter. He signed to Death Row Records by Snoop Dogg in 2022 and released his studio album, ''The Rebirth of Marvin'', in 2023. Its single, "Back to Your Place", topped the ''Billboard'' Adult R&B Songs chart and was nominated for three Soul Train Music Awards.

Early life

Jared Samuel Erskine was born on October 17, 1986 in South Bend, Indiana and grew up there. His mother was a singer and his father was a guitar player; he has stated that he first wanted to be a musician as a child because of his uncles, all singers, and seeing "how music brought everybody together" during the holidays. He began playing piano while in kindergarten. He also performed in a musical group, First Fam, in 2004.

Career

Erskine began performing music professionally under the name Sam London in 2014. Prior to performing as October London, he was training to become a commercial truck driver. He released his debut single, "Black Man in America", in 2016, which was written about police brutality against Black men in the United States. A music video for the song was released in September 2016. He met record producer Jazze Pha through mutual friends, and, after Pha played London's song "Color Blind" for rapper Snoop Dogg, Snoop Dogg called London days before Super Bowl 50 in February 2016. London became the first signee to Snoop Dogg and Jazze Pha's joint record label Cadillacc Music in March 2016 and was later signed to Death Row Records after the dissolution of Cadillacc. He began touring with Snoop Dogg on his Mount Kushmore Tour later that year. He also performed on the High Road Tour with Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa in the summer of 2016. His debut extended play (EP), ''Color Blind: Love'', was released in December 2016 alongside a promotional 13-minute-long film and its follow-up, ''Color Blind: Hate & Happiness'', was released through Jazze Pha and Snoop Dogg's imprint Cadillacc Music on April 7, 2017. London also created the theme song for the VH1 television series '' Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party'' and, in 2017, played a fictionalized version of himself on the Fox television series ''Empire''.

London released the EPs, ''The Love Cassette'' and ''Bell Bottom Nights'', in 2020 and 2022, respectively. Also in 2022, he began collaborating with Snoop Dogg and Claude Brooks on the animated children's music web series ''Doggyland''. His studio album, ''The Rebirth of Marvin'', was released in February 2023 and was a tribute to Marvin Gaye. His single "Back to Your Place" from the album marked his debut on a ''Billboard'' chart when it appeared on the Adult R&B Songs chart at number 22 in June 2023, eventually reaching number one in August and topping the chart for nine consecutive weeks by October. His EP, ''Jackpot'', was released on June 22, 2023. In November 2023, he released ''The Greatest Gift'' a Christmas album, and performed at the 2023 Soul Train Music Awards, where he was also nominated for the award for Best R&B/Soul Male Artist. He released his single "Eternity" as part of the soundtrack for the 2023 film ''The Color Purple

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