Miguel the artist biography

American singer and songwriter

This article is about the American singer. For other singers named "Miguel", see Miguel Bose, Miguel Cancel, and Miguel Ríos. For other uses, see Miguel.

Miguel Jontel Pimentel (born October 23, 1985) is an American singer and songwriter who specializes in contemporary and alternative R&B. Raised in San Pedro, California, he began pursuing a music career at age thirteen. After signing to Jive Records in 2007, Miguel released his debut studio album, All I Want Is You, in November 2010. Although it was underpromoted upon its release, the album became a sleeper hit and helped Miguel garner commercial standing. The album’s second single, "Sure Thing" reached further success in 2023, peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and ultimately becoming his most commercially successful song to date.

After Jive's dissolution in 2011, he moved to RCA Records and released his second studio album, Kaleidoscope Dream (2012) to continued success, spawning the hit single "Adorn." His third and fourth albums, Wildheart (2015) and War & Leisure (2017) further experimented with psychedelic and alternative influences; the former peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 while latter contained the single "Sky Walker" (featuring Travis Scott), which received triple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Miguel incorporates R&B, funk, hip hop, pop, rock and electronic styles into his music, and has been compared to vocalists Babyface and Prince.

Early life

Miguel Jontel Pimentel was born on October 23, 1985, and raised in San Pedro, California. He is one of two sons of an African American mother and a Mexican-American father. Miguel's parents divorced when he was eight years old. At a young age, Miguel was introduced to the older R&B his mother listened to,^[

Miguel Jontel Pimentel was born on October 23, 1985 in Los Angeles. The son of a Mexican American father and an African American mother, Miguel grew up in San Pedro, a predominantly middle-class Hispanic neighborhood in Southern Los Angeles. He developed a passion for music early in life: his father was an amateur musician and a fan of funk, hip-hop, jazz and classic rock, and his mother introduced him to R&B.

When Miguel was 5 years old, he declared that he wanted to follow in the footsteps of Michael Jackson and become a dancer. His parents divorced when he was 8, and he continued to honor his passion for performing and began to seriously pursue a career as a singer in his early teens. He started writing songs at 14, and he spent his high school years working with Drop Squad, a local production company, where he learned the ropes of recording.

In 2004, at the age of 19, Miguel signed a contract with the independent record label Black Ice. He spent the next several months honing his musical and songwriting abilities, and issued the single "Getcha Hands Up." Ultimately Miguel decided to walk away from his contract when his label requested he modify his sound to emulate B2K, a mainstream R&B boy band. His album never came to fruition.

Lawsuit and All I Want Is You

Miguel signed with Jive Records in 2007 and recorded his debut album All I Want Is You. The album's release was put on hold for three years when Black Ice sued him for breach of contract. While his legal troubles were sorted out, Miguel released a mixtape and wrote songs for other Jive artists, including Usher, Musiq Soulchild and Asher Roth.

The lawsuit was finally settled in 2010 and All I Want Is You was issued in November of that year. Unfortunately, it wasn't as much of a success as Miguel had hoped for. Still, its title track got a decent amount of airplay and was enough to earn Miguel a spot as supporting act on tour with Trey Songz and

(1985-)

Who Is Miguel?

Miguel is an American R&B singer who began writing songs as a teenager and signed his first recording contract in 2004. He gained attention for his 2010 release All I Want Is You. His next album, the 2012 record Kaleidoscope Dream, garnered critical acclaim and contained the hit single "Adorn," for which Miguel won the 2013 Grammy Award for best R&B song.

Early Life

Miguel Jontel Pimentel was born in San Pedro, California, on October 23, 1985. His father is Mexican American and his mother is African American. Miguel's parents divorced when he was 8 years old, after which he and his brother lived primarily with their mother. Miguel listened to R&B, funk, hip-hop, rock and jazz as a child, mostly due to the diverse musical tastes of his parents. By the age of 14, his taste was evolving independently, and he was writing and recording his own songs.

Career

In 2004, Miguel was signed by the independent record label Black Ice. He completed his first studio album, Young & Free, in 2006. Black Ice shelved the album, releasing only the single "Getcha Hands Up." Disappointed with the single, its video and his treatment overall, Miguel parted ways with the label. He has since stated that this experience taught him to take control of the way in which he was marketed, rather than relying on the label to differentiate him from the crowd of male R&B vocalists.

In 2007, Miguel signed a new recording contract with Jive Records. His next album, All I Want Is You, was not released for several years pending a lawsuit brought by Black Ice for breach of contract. The album was released in November 2010. Sales were slow at first but grew steadily over time, largely due to the radio popularity of the tracks "Sure Thing" and "Quickie." All I Want Is You ultimately spent 45 weeks on the Billboard charts and sold more than 400,000 copies in the United States.

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