Biography
Colin was raised by Christian parents who pulled him out of Grade 3 because they felt they could do a better job than the system was doing. Colin was home‐schooled alongside his 3 younger siblings until Grade 9 at which point his parents finally granted their son's request to attend a nearby arts school. [1]
Homeschooling, also known as home education is the education of children at home or a variety of other places. Home education is usually conducted by a parent or tutor or online teacher. Many families use less formal ways of educating. "Homeschooling" is the term commonly used in North America, whereas "home education" is commonly used in the United Kingdom, Europe, and in many Commonwealth countries.
Colin attended the University of Toronto, where he received a degree in cinema studies and philosophy. During his time in Toronto, Colin collaborated with urban‐music talent including Glenn Lewis and Divine Brown. [1] He co-wrote and produced 10 songs on Ray Robinson's Juno-nominated album, What It Is, and has cuts on the BrassMunk disc Fewturistic (including How 'Bout feat. Moka Only). Colin also has upcoming releases by Once Degrassi: The Next Generation star and now rapper Drake, Kardinal Offishall, Divine Brown, Saukrates and Frank n Dank. Recently several US artists have sought material from Colin including former Blackstreet member Chauncey Black (Universal/Motown), Sean Price and Brick and Lace (Geffen). [2]
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in the colony of Upper Canada. Originally controlled by the Church of England, the university assumed the present name in 1850 upon becoming a secular institution. As a collegiate university, it comprises eleven colleges, which differ in character and history, each with substantial autonomy on financial and institutional affairs. It has two satellite campuses in Scarborough and Mississauga.
Glennon Ricketts Jr., professionally known as Glenn Lewis, is a Canadian neo soul singer–songwriter. Lewis earned a Grammy Award nomination in 2004 and has also won a Juno Award, with a sum of six nominations.
Divine Brown, previously known as Divine Earth Essence, is a Canadian Juno Award-winning R&B and soul singer and theatre performer.
Don't Think Less of Me, is an 11-song [2] pop album owing its song writing influences to early Van Morrison, U2 and The Beatles, hip hop and soul music.
Sir George Ivan MorrisonOBE, better known as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter, instrumentalist and record producer. His professional career began as a teenager in the late 1950s playing a variety of instruments including guitar, harmonica, keyboards and saxophone for various Irish showbands, covering the popular hits of that time. Van Morrison rose to prominence in the mid-1960s as the lead singer of the Northern Irish R&B band Them, with whom he recorded the garage band classic "Gloria". His solo career began under the pop-hit oriented guidance of Bert Berns with the release of the hit single "Brown Eyed Girl" in 1967. After Berns's death, Warner Bros. Records bought out his contract and allowed him three sessions to record Astral Weeks (1968). Though this album gradually garnered high praise, it was initially a poor seller.
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin formed in 1976. The group consists of Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr.. Initially rooted in post-punk, U2's musical style has evolved throughout their career, yet has maintained an anthemic quality built on Bono's expressive vocals and the Edge's effects-based guitar textures. Their lyrics, often embellished with spiritual imagery, focus on personal and sociopolitical themes. Popular for their live performances, the group have staged several ambitious and elaborate tours over their career.
The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. With members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, they became regarded as the foremost and most influential band in history. Rooted in skiffle, beat and 1950s rock and roll, the group were integral to pop music's evolution into an art form and to the development of the counterculture of the 1960s. They often incorporated classical elements, older pop forms and unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways, and later experimented with several musical styles ranging from pop ballads and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock. As the members continued to draw influences from a variety of cultural sources, their musical and lyrical sophistication grew, and they were seen as an embodiment of the era's sociocultural movements.
In late 2007, Grammy winning producer Dallas Austin (Pink, Gwen Stefani, Leona Lewis) collaborated to advance Colin to UniversalMotown Records. Late January 2008, Colin leaked an unofficial remix/response to Kanye West's Flashing Lights online. Within 10 days, the remix and accompanying street‐video had spread across the internet, and now exceeds one million views on YouTube. Perez Hilton, MTV, Pitchfork Media, Arjan Writes, Discobelle and Kanye West all covered the phenomenon. Kanye West included "I Want Those Flashing Lights" on his latest mixtape, Glow in the Dark tour Mixtape. [1]
Dallas L. Austin is an American record producer, songwriter, musician, and film producer, born in Columbus, Georgia.
Alecia Beth Moore, known professionally as Pink, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Originally a member of the girl group Choice in 1995, LaFace Records saw potential in Pink and offered her a solo recording contract. Her R&B-influenced debut studio album Can't Take Me Home (2000) was certified double-platinum in the United States and spawned two Billboard Hot 100 top-ten songs: "There You Go" and "Most Girls". She gained further recognition with the collaborative single "Lady Marmalade" from the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack, which topped many charts worldwide. Refocusing her sound to pop rock with her second studio album Missundaztood (2001), the album sold more than 13 million copies worldwide and yielded the international number-one hits "Get the Party Started", "Don't Let Me Get Me", and "Just Like a Pill".
Gwen Renée Stefani is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is a co-founder and the lead vocalist of the band No Doubt, whose singles include "Just a Girl" and "Don't Speak" from their 1995 breakthrough studio album Tragic Kingdom, as well as "Hey Baby" and "It's My Life" from later albums.
In 2009 Colin Munroe took part in an interactive documentary series called City Sonic. The series, which featured 20 Toronto artists, had him reflect on his early experiences with the Revival Bar. [3]
City Sonic is a documentary series about Toronto-based musicians and the places that influenced their music. The first five City Sonic films were previewed at Toronto's 2009 North by North East Music and Film Festival.
Universal Music Group is an American global music corporation that is a subsidiary of the French media conglomerate Vivendi. UMG's global corporate headquarters are located in Santa Monica, California. It is considered one of the "Big Three" record labels, along with Sony Music and Warner Music Group. Since 2004, the corporation is no longer related to the film studio Universal Studios.
Rowdy Records is an independent record label, distributed through Motown Records.
Young Chris is an American rapper and songwriter. A member of Philadelphia rap duo Young Gunz, formerly signed to Roc-A-Fella Records through Beanie Sigel’s State Property collective, early success included the hit single "Can't Stop, Won't Stop". Signed in December 2010 as a solo artist to Universal Motown through producer/songwriter Rico Love’s label imprint Division1, Young Chris is currently working on his album release. Because of their homophonic names Ries is often confused with the rapper YC who used to perform as "Yung Chris" and incorrectly credited as the performer of the song "Racks".
"Flashing Lights" is a song by American hip-hop artist Kanye West. It features Detroit R&B singer Dwele and contains background vocals from Australian singer Connie Mitchell. West co-wrote and co-produced the song with Eric Hudson and released it on November 22, 2007 as the fourth single for his third studio album, Graduation. The single's cover art was designed by Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami. The single received acclaim from music critics and is cited as one of the best songs on Graduation.
"Us Placers" is the debut song by American supergroup Child Rebel Soldier, a musical collaboration consisting of hip-hop artists Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, and Pharrell Williams. It was released as the third song on the track-listing of West's 2007 mixtape Can't Tell Me Nothing. The song was produced by Fiasco and contains samples of the recording "The Eraser" by Thom Yorke, lead singer of the alternative rock band Radiohead. On "Us Placers," the trio speak on the entrapments of fame. Having been released on a free mixtape, the song did not enter charts but became an online hit and received strong reviews from music critics.
"Go Hard" is the second single from DJ Khaled's third studio album, We Global. The track features American rappers Kanye West and T-Pain. They both used the auto-tune effect. The song is produced by The Runners and it samples Madonna's 1985 song "Angel". It first charted on the Bubbling Under R&B/Hip Hop chart on September 9, 2008, debuting at #25, where it peaked at #15, and has started chart on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs debuting at #85 and then rising to #53 so far. It also debuted at #69 on the Billboard Hot 100 the same week the album We Global was released due to digital downloads, also at #19 on the Hot Rap Tracks.
"Stay Up! (Viagra)" is the first single released from producer-rapper 88-Keys' debut album The Death of Adam and features the album's co-executive producer Kanye West. The song samples "All Night Loving" by British R&B three-piece band Imagination. The single was released digitally on August 25, 2008. According to both artists, the song, which follows the overall storyline of the concept album, is about a man named Adam, who after a bad string of relationships, decides to take Viagra in an attempt "stay up" longer. A snippet of the track was first previewed on Kanye West's 2007 Can't Tell Me Nothing mixtape and featured an additional spoken word verse delivered by Malik Yusef.
Francis and the Lights is an American pop project led by Francis Farewell Starlite. The term "and the Lights" refers both to the lights on a stage and pixels on a computer screen.
"Barry Bonds" is a song by American hip-hop recording artist and record producer Kanye West. It was released as the seventh song on the track-listing of his third studio album Graduation (2007). The track was co-produced by Norfolk record producer Nottz alongside West and contains a sample from a live recording of "Long Red" by the American hard rock band Mountain. The song is built on dense, loping reggae drums and has a spare trip-hop groove driven by moaning bass guitar. In addition to early 1990s hip-hop, it also harbors elements from funk and jazz. Although the arrangement primarily maintains a stripped-down approach, its ominous instrumentation assumes a bombastic combination of twinkling keyboards, minor-key synths, and Gothic organ stabs. The song features a guest appearance from rapper Lil Wayne, who provides the one single guest rap verse on the entire studio album. With the track, West uses former Major League Baseball player and home run king Barry Bonds as a metaphor for his ability to create music hits.
Can't Tell Me Nothing: The Official Mixtape is a mixtape by American hip-hop artist Kanye West. It was made freely available over the internet on May 27, 2007 in anticipation of the release of his third studio album, Graduation.
"Maybach Music 2" is a hip-hop song recorded by American rapper Rick Ross and released as the third single from his third studio album, Deeper Than Rap. The song features Kanye West, T-Pain, and Lil Wayne.
Donavan LaMond Johnson better known by his stage name XV is an American rapper, singer and songwriter from Wichita, Kansas. He first gained major attention after the release of his twelfth mixtape Everybody's Nobody, for which he received two awards from DJBooth.net. His name, XV, refers to the age (15) at which he began his musical career. On Monday July 26, 2010, XV announced that he had signed a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records via his Twitter page.
Patrick Reynolds, professionally known as Plain Pat, is an American music executive, record producer and songwriter, perhaps best known for managing the early careers of Kanye West and Kid Cudi. He is also noted for working with prominent artists such as Drake, Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, Lupe Fiasco, Ghostface Killah, The Roots, Lloyd, Young Gunz, Ashanti, Ludacris, Freeway, Ja Rule, N.O.R.E. and The Mutton Birds among others.
"All of the Lights" is a song by American rapper Kanye West, as the fourth single from his fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010). It was produced by West and features additional vocals from several other recording artists, including John Legend, The-Dream, Elly Jackson, Alicia Keys, Fergie, Kid Cudi, Elton John, Drake, and Rihanna; the latter is the only credited feature on the single.
Louis King Johnson, Jr., better known by his stage name King Louie, is an American rapper from Chicago, Illinois. Spin Magazine attributed King Louie as being one of the Chicago rappers who made Chicago the "hottest hip-hop" scene in 2012.
Paul Salva, Jr., better known by his stage name Salva, is an American record producer based in Los Angeles, California. Known for his signature blend of Rap and Electronic music, Salva's remixes and bootlegs are some of the highest rotated amongst club and radio DJs worldwide. His remix of Kanye West's "Mercy" with RL Grime held the #1 most popular track on SoundCloud in June 2012, continuing to enjoy worldwide success and helping propel his artist career. Salva has since produced and collaborated with artists such as Young Thug, Future, Wiz Khalifa, E-40, DJ Shadow, Yuna, Boys Noize, has songwriting credit on the Grammy-nominated album Oxymoron by Schoolboy Q (TDE/Interscope) and music appearing in films such as the 2014 box office record-breaker Transformers: Age of Extinction.
Alan Stanley Soucy Brinsmead, better known by the stage name Sinjin Hawke, is a Canadian-American electronic music producer and DJ.
Miles Parks McCollum, known professionally as Lil Yachty, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter. Yachty first gained recognition in August 2015 for his singles "One Night" and "Minnesota" from his debut EP Summer Songs. He released his debut mixtape Lil Boat in March 2016. On June 10, 2016, Yachty announced that he had signed a joint venture record deal with Quality Control Music, Capitol Records, and Motown Records. His mixtapes Lil Boat and Summer Songs 2 were released in 2016 and his debut studio album, Teenage Emotions in 2017. His second studio album, Lil Boat 2 was released on March 9, 2018.
Stephanie Victoria Allen, better known by her stage name Stefflon Don, is a British rapper, singer, and songwriter best known for her 2017 single "Hurtin' Me" featuring French Montana, which peaked at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart. In 2016, Don released her debut mixtape Real Ting, followed by another mixtape, Secure, in 2018.
