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Scott Jablonski (known by his stage name SJ) is an American singer-songwriter, performing artist, and attorney based in
South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...
. As a recording artist, SJ has released two studio albums and one live album through his independent record label, Acoustic Soul Records. In 2011, the singer was nominated by
Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merge ...
's The Coffee House as "Discovery of the Year", and his song "I Like You" appeared on several
airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...
charts in the US in 2012. He has opened for acts like
Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran ( ; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...
and
Pentatonix Pentatonix (abbreviated PTX) are an American a cappella group from Arlington, Texas, consisting of vocalists Scott Hoying, Mitch Grassi, Kirstin Maldonado, Matt Sallee, and Kevin Olusola. Characterized by their pop-style arrangements wit ...
.


Early life and education

Jablonski was born in
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
, Ohio. He graduated from Gannon University in 1999 with a
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
in political science and foreign language studies. He also played varsity soccer while at the school. In 2004, he earned a master's degree at the
University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...
's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. He also earned a JD degree from the school that year.


Career

After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh, Jablonski embarked on a career in law. With Ronald A. Brand, he co-authored ''Forum Non Conveniens: Past, Present and Future'' which was published by
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
in 2008. His legal writings have also appeared in other publications like the ''Journal of International Law and Politics'' and the
University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...
''Inter-American Law Review'', among others. In 2009, his friends and family heard a demo of a song he had made and urged him to pursue music as a career. He adopted the stage name, "SJ," for that endeavor. In 2010, he founded the Acoustic Soul Group, of which his Acoustic Soul Records is apart. He began releasing songs that year, including "I Like You" which was nominated for a Hollywood Music & Media Award. He was also named a grand finalist in the UK's Festival4TheStars for writing the song. A Spanish version of the song, "Lo Mejor De Mi," won first place in the International Songwriting Competition in the Latin category. In March 2011, "I Like You" reached the top 10 of ''
FMQB ''Friday Morning Quarterback'' (better known as ''FMQB'') was a trade magazine which covered the radio and music industries in the United States. Its coverage included programming, management, promotion, marketing, and airplay for music formatt ...
''s
adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...
chart alongside acts like
Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. She is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists in hist ...
,
Bruno Mars Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), known professionally as Bruno Mars, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Regarded as a pop icon, he is known for his three-octave tenor vocal range, live performances, R ...
, and
Train A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...
. In May 2011, he released his first commercial studio-recorded EP, ''Coffee'', featuring the songs "I Like You," "Let Me Be," "Coffee," and others. Later in 2011, Sirius XM's The Coffee House station nominated SJ for the "Discovery of the Year" award, and his song, "Coffee," won a Hollywood Music & Media Award. In July 2012, it was announced that
Taylor Guitars Taylor Guitars is an American guitar manufacturer based in El Cajon, California. The company was founded in 1974 by Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug, specializing in acoustic guitars and semi-hollow electric guitars. It is one of the largest manufact ...
, Sennheiser, Future Sonics, Gator Cases, Hercules Stands, and Elixir Strings had officially endorsed SJ. In August 2012, he released his first full-length studio album entitled ''Coffee: Strong Brew Edition''. The album featured all the songs from the 2011 EP, ''Coffee'', with 7 new tracks. Other South Florida artists like Randy Singer, Erica Sommer, and Joshua Stedman were featured on some songs. The album was recorded at Outer Reach Music Studios in Miami. SJ also released an accompanying live album and DVD entitled ''Coffee: Unfiltered''. The song, "Let Me Be," spent over 13 weeks on
Mediabase Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analytic ...
's adult contemporary charts, peaking at number 32. In September 2012, he was one of 25 finalists nominated for the ''
American Songwriter ''American Songwriter'' is a bimonthly magazine covering songwriting. Established in 1984, it features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee. History The ''American Songwri ...
'' Coffeehouse Tour competition. In October and November, SJ opened for Pentatonix on 6 dates, concluding his nationwide "Coffee Tour." Later in November, he went on a short Midwest tour. Throughout 2011 and 2012, SJ's songs were played on over 50
adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, ...
and americana radio stations across the country. In May 2013, SJ opened for Ed Sheeran at SunFest in
West Palm Beach West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...
, Florida. In September of that year, he opened for
Robin Zander Robin Wayne Zander (born January 23, 1953) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the rock band Cheap Trick, but is also a solo artist. Zander was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016 as a ...
of
Cheap Trick Cheap Trick is an American rock band formed in Rockford, Illinois in 1970 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. Their work bridged elements of '60s pop rock, guitar pop, '70s har ...
. In 2014, SJ was named one of 8 semi-finalists in 3 categories for the International Songwriting Competition. Later in 2014, he launched the ''Covers & Others'' video series in collaboration with Day's Edge Productions. The goal of the series was to bring awareness to organizations with social, scientific, or environmental initiatives by playing covers of songs over videos related to their work.


Discography


Studio albums


EPs


Live albums


Singles


Recognition and awards


References


External links


Acoustic Soul Music Group
{{DEFAULTSORT:SJ American rock songwriters American acoustic guitarists American male guitarists American folk guitarists American rock guitarists American rock singers American folk singers American lawyers 1977 births Living people Singers from Cleveland 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singer-songwriters Guitarists from Ohio 21st-century American guitarists American male singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Ohio