Rayvon Owen (born June 27, 1991) is an American singer and musician. He is notable for appearing on the fourteenth 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 ...

'', where he finished in fourth place. Owen served as the host for the reality competition series '' The Sims Spark'd''.

Early life

Rayvon Owen was born in

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

on June 27, 1991. He graduated from

Henrico High School Henrico High School is a public high school located in Henrico County, Virginia and operated by the Henrico County Public Schools. It has two specialty centers — the International Baccalaureate (IB) IB Middle Years Programme, Middle Years/IB Dip ...

and

Belmont University Belmont University is a Private university, private Christian university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Descended from Belmont Women's College, founded in 1890 by schoolteachers Ida Hood and Susan Heron, the institution was incorporate ...

and worked as a singer and vocal coach.

Music career

2014: Early career

Rayvon has his own music video, "Sweatshirt" which premiered in November 2014. He also has a debut EP ''Cycles''.

2015: ''American Idol''

He auditioned for the fourteenth season of ''

'' with " Wide Awake" by Katy Perry and was chosen for Top 24 and eventually Top 12. After being in the bottom three in the top 11 (which guaranteed two people would be eliminated), Owen was deemed safe. Owen was in the bottom two for five consecutive weeks, but emerged victorious, thanks to the Idol Twitter Fan Save, where the bottom two perform and fans vote on Twitter for who should advance. Owen was the only recipient of the fan save in the entire season earning him the nicknames "Twitter King" and "Comeback Kid". Owen finished in fourth place and was included on the ''Idols Live Tour.''

Performances and results

* When

Ryan Seacrest Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American television presenter and producer. Seacrest is the host of '' Wheel of Fortune'', having hosted since replacing long-time host Pat Sajak in September 2024. Seacrest co-hosted and ser ...

announced the results in the particular night, Owen was in the bottom 3, but was the only contestant declared safe as both Adanna Duru and Maddie Walker were eliminated. * When Ryan Seacrest announced the results for this particular night, Owen was in the bottom 2, but was declared safe by Twitter vote as Daniel Seavey was eliminated. * When Ryan Seacrest announced the results for this particular night, Owen was in the bottom 2, but was declared safe by Twitter vote as

Qaasim Middleton Qaasim Asani Malik Seawright-Middleton is an American actor and musician best known for his role in '' The Naked Brothers Band''. Qaasim also starred in the documentary movie ''The Music in Me'', and finished eighth place in the fourteenth seas ...

was eliminated. * When Ryan Seacrest announced the results for this particular night, Owen was in the bottom 2, but was declared safe by Twitter vote as Joey Cook was eliminated. * When Ryan Seacrest announced the results for this particular night, Owen was in the bottom 2, but was declared safe by Twitter vote as Quentin Alexander was eliminated. * When Ryan Seacrest announced the results for this particular night, Owen was in the bottom 2, but was declared safe as Tyanna Jones was eliminated.

2016-present: New music

On the Valentine's Day weekend of 2016, Owen debuted a new single, "Can't Fight It" written with Mylen, Nate Merchant, and Isaiah Tejada. The accompanying music video acts as his official "

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

" as

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

, sharing a kiss at the end with LGBT activist

Shane Bitney Crone Shane Bitney Crone (born December 19, 1985) is an American filmmaker, writer, speaker, and advocate for LGBT rights. Early life Crone was born in Kalispell, Montana. He moved to Los Angeles after high school graduation. Career "It Could Ha ...

. Owen told ''

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 ...

'': "You'd be surprised at the amount of times I tried to pray the gay away from me or tried to tell God to take this away from me. No kid should have to do what I did and pray to not be who they are. That's why I think it's important even in 2016 to say this." In January 2018, Owen was picked as

Elvis Duran's Artist of the Month Since 2013, ''Elvis Duran's Artist of the Month'' is a regular ''Today Show'' feature fronted by American radio broadcaster Elvis Duran in which he chooses an upcoming solo singer, and at times duos and groups, to spotlight them each month as "Artis ...

. He was featured on the ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...

'' where he performed his single "Gold."

Personal life

On February 14, 2016, Owen premiered a music video for his song "Can't Fight It", at the end of which he kisses a man. That same day, Owen's interview with ''

'' was published in which he came out as

. One day later,

, who is featured as the romantic lead in the music video, announced that he and Owen are a couple. On March 3, 2018, they announced they would be getting married, after Crone proposed to Owen on stage at a Demi Lovato concert.

Discography

EPs

Singles

*2016: "Can't Fight It" *2018: "Gold" *2020: "Space Between" (with Blair St. Clair) ;Digital singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Owen, Rayvon 1991 births Living people American Idol participants American gay musicians African-American LGBTQ people LGBTQ people from Virginia American LGBTQ singers Musicians from Richmond, Virginia Henrico High School alumni 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singers 21st-century African-American male singers