Keith Martin is a Washington DC-born accomplished musician, playing the keyboards, the bass guitar, the drums, and percussions. But Keith cannot read a single musical note. His songs are driven by feel and instinct, and this is perhaps why his music remains as potent as ever.

Growing up, the R&B singer listened to a lot of Boyz II Men, Brian McKnight, Glenn Louise, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, as well as Motown Great Stevie Wonder. He is also influenced by jazz and gospel music. Keith started writing music since he was 19 years old, and his love affair with it is showing no stopping.

Keith hung out a lot with musicians and songwriters, chief of them was Boyz II Men. In 1991, the vocal group and Keith joined MC Hammer’s tour. Seeing how prolific Keith is with his songwriting, Boyz Mike McCary finally brought Keith to Sony, where he eventually put out his first album, “It’s Long Overdue” in 1995.

“It’s Long Overdue” contained, as its last track, the quiet little song that is “Because of You.” It is the opening track, “I’ll Never Find Someone Like You,” however that created enough stir to be included in the soundtrack of Bad Boys. He left Columbia and independently released a second album, “Validated.”