Keeping It Reality

Jermaine Paul was doing well as a professional musician. He started his career at age 15 with the quartet 1Accord, then got discovered by Alicia Keys, who invited him to come on board as a backup singer. Gradually, he made his way into the spotlight by singing duets with Keys; his work with the singer, songwriter and pianist netted him a Grammy Award nomination, and he began opening Keys’ shows as a solo act. 

But in 2010 Paul slowed down on the road with Keys in an effort to cultivate his own material, and in 2011 he backed off completely. Money he had saved was drying up as he tried to piece together his dreams of going solo. 

Around the same time, NBC kicked off the first season of the reality TV series The Voice on April 26, 2011. “My daughter was like, ‘Dad, you should do that,’” Paul, 34, says in a phone interview from his home in the village of Harriman, an hour north of New York City in the Hudson Valley. “So I went out on a limb and did it.” 

Last May 8, Paul was declared winner of the second season of The Voice, and he had accomplished the victory solely on the strength of his soulful voice. On Sunday, Sept. 2, 2 p.m., the Empire State singer will bring his golden pipes to the New York State Fair’s Chevy Court for a free concert. 

Paul, the fifth child of 10, was born into a musical family. His oldest sister, Theresa Ladd, teaches music at Syracuse’s McKinley-Brighton Elementary School. And his father Charlie Paul was a vocalist and bassist who opened for greats like James Brown and Patti LaBelle, although his solo career never really took off. Instead, papa Paul put his music dreams aside and settled down to start a family.  

“We grew up singing gospel together,” Jermaine Paul says. “My dad always had a lot of gospel around and really kinda sheltered us from rap, rhythm’n’blues or hip-hop. It was mainly gospel and Lite FM and he always kept instruments around. My mom never really had a living room. It was a rehearsal studio.”

Paul learned guitar and piano in addition to singing. When his older brother Charles went off to college and became involved with a group called 1Accord, the younger Paul jumped in, too.

“I was just the little brother that wanted to be in the group,” he says. “It turned out I ended up making the cut.”

At 15 Paul was going to school by day and traveling to New York City to perform at night. “I was always tall, so I could get away with it,” he recalls, with his smirk being audible over the phone. “We did a bunch of performances, had a manager and by the time I graduated high school, we got signed to Shaquille O’Neal’s label {Twism Records}. He was like a big brother. He always took care of us, made us feel like we were part of a family. He always extended his hand out to make sure we were more than good.”

But things fell apart when 1Accord got shelved and their music never made it out of the studio, so the members split up and Paul got married and started a family. He still harbored solo dreams as his father had, and he was looking for a foundation to build upon. 

So Paul constructed a studio at his house and began performing solo gigs in Manhattan, as well as singing with a new band, Focused. One night while performing with Focused, he found himself singing to Alicia Keys. “She was like, ‘You should come out on the road,’” he says. “It’s history ever since.” 

In 2003 Paul began his travels with A-lister Keys. “We did everything,” he remembers. “Toured everywhere, did all the award shows, I really got my feet wet. It really exposed me to how it is for an artist. We played every music festival, we did an unplugged album, I worked with her on The Diary of Alicia Keys {J Records, 2003}, the song “Diary,” the Luther Vandross tribute {“If the World Were Mine”}.”

Paul was also writing his own material and taking greater steps toward becoming a solo act. In 2010 he backed off to do only occasional shows with Keys and in 2011 he was off the road completely. Then he made the decision to audition for The Voice in August 2011.

“I stood on line at the Izod Center in Jersey at the cattle call with like, billions of people,” he says. “I didn’t want to go in and slap them my credentials. I wanted to make sure that they heard and responded to my voice. My voice would get me to the next level.”

The show taped on and off throughout the fall of 2011 and into early 2012. Although Paul had been on stages all over the world with Keys, this was different.

“I felt like I was on my own,” he says. “Extremely nervous, extremely anxious, but at the same time cautious that I didn’t overdo it. I wanted to make sure that it was as clear as possible and that my voice would have a chance to speak for me. It was very nerve-wracking.” 

Yet whether singing a smooth, sexy and ultimately powerful take on Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated” or an explosive cover of R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly”, Paul and his gospel-tinged voice made it through with flying colors. 

“I couldn’t believe it,” he recalls about his announcement as the winner. “I wanted to make sure my legs were under me, I wanted to make sure it was real. But after making sure it was real and I had legs, I just wanted to jump really high. It felt like a release, a freedom. I can’t explain it. Imagine starting in the mailroom in the biggest company on Wall Street and the whole time you have your sights set on being the CEO, the president, and finally you get that opportunity. That’s the best way I can explain it. It still sounds crazy.” 

Paul is now recording his debut solo album at Jungle City Studios in New York City, and he expects a single will soon be released in September. He also has a music school project in the works where he’ll help introduce and teach students a variety of genres. “If they’re singers and they’re passionate about jazz, I introduce them to rock, to pop,” he says. “I try to broaden their eyes and show them that there are genres, but it’s all music and it all comes from the same place.”

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