Jeremih Felton, who performs under the mononym Jeremih (pronounced /dʒɛrɛmaɪ/), is an American recording artist and producer. Signed to Def Jam Recordings, Jeremih's debut single, "Birthday Sex", peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. His self-titled debut album, Jeremih, debuted at number six on the Billboard 200, selling 59,000 copies in its first week. 

Life and career

Early life
Jeremih Felton was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Born into a musical family, he began playing instruments at the age of three and taught himself how to play several, including drums, piano and the saxophone.  Jeremih attended Morgan Park High School, where he was part of the marching band. He graduated at the age of 16 and enrolled into the University of Illinois to pursue a career in engineering. After performing a tribute for Stevie Wonder at one of the campus's talent shows, he received positive feedback and realized his vocal ability, saying that the "music was just taking over".He then attended Columbia College Chicago.

Career beginnings
While attending Columbia College Chicago, Jeremih collaborated with record producer Mick Schultz. Together, they recorded a song entitled "My Ride". Jeremih received guidance by his cousin Day26 group member, Willie Taylor. In February 2009, Jeremih met with Island Def Jam chairman L. A. Reid and executive vice president of A&R Karen Kwak. After performing for the two, Jeremih was signed to Def Jam Recordings that same day.

2009-present: Jeremih
Jeremih released his debut single, "Birthday Sex", in early 2009 and peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. His eponymous debut album, Jeremih, was released in June 2009 under Def Jam; it debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 and sold 59,000 copies in its first week. Jeremih will take part in the Young Money Tour, alongside Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, Soulja Boy Tell'Em and Pleasure P. In August 2009, Jeremih was selected by Ron Huberman and Mayor Richard Daley of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to campaign children to return to school. Community activists protested and demanded CPS to undo their decision, claiming that Jeremih's music was "not appropriate for students" and "promotes teen sex". Daley argued that recording artists have the freedom of speech, noting that Jeremih was "a young man, [with a] back-to-school message, a young man who has had great success recording, producer, going to school, went to public school". Huberman also argued that "school officials would be naive to pretend students don't listen to Felton's music already".

Musical style

Jeremih cites R. Kelly, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson as his biggest influences. He described their music as "timeless", calling them "true musician-artists". With the released of his debut album, Andy Kellman of Allmusic compared Jeremih's vocals to Slim of 112 and Raphael Saadiq, noting that his "charmingly sly voice...is hard to not like"; oppositely, Ken Capobianco of The Boston Globe felt that Jeremih's voice was "thin", showing "little range". Jody Rosen expressed that Jeremih "has a way with tunes and hooks". He received comparisons to The-Dream, as well as Kelly and Wonder.
Jeremih's debut single "Birthday Sex" was released on March 24, 2009 and reached #4 on the Hot 100. His debut album Jeremih was released on June 30, 2009 and debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200 selling 59,000 copies in its first week. His second single "Imma Star (Everywhere We Are)" was released on June 9, 2009 and has currently reached #55 on the Hot 100. His third single "Make Up to Break Up" will be released on September 22, 2009 and he will be filming the music video in October of 2009. Jeremih will also embark on his first headlining tour in late 2009. Ajibo