Miguel Biography

About one of R&B's most talented artists

Miguel
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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 Usher. The followup singles, "Sure Thing" and "Quickie," peaked at No. 1 and No. 3 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart, respectively.

Commercial and Critical Breakthrough

After Jive became a part of RCA, Miguel released his sophomore effort, Kaleidoscope Dream, in 2012. Thanks to a new label and marketing team, it debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and received critical acclaim. The lead single, "Adorn," became his second No. 1 single on the R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart and earned him a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song.

During a performance of "Adorn" at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards, Miguel attempted to leap across the stage, but failed, injuring two female audience members. The incident became known as the "Miguel Leg Drop" and became the subject of much Internet satire.

Wildheart

Miguel released his third studio album, Wildheart, in June 2015. The rock-infused R&B album has received critical acclaim for its subject matter and instrumentation. Wildheart pushes the boundaries when it comes to what is typically expected of R&B artists and proves that Miguel is well on his way to superstardom.

Popular Songs

  • "Sure Thing" 
  • "Adorn" 
  • "Quickie" 
  • "All I Want Is You (feat. J.cole)" 
  • "Do You..." 
  • "How Many Drinks?" 

Discography

  • All I Want Is You (2010)
  • Kaleidoscope Dream (2012)
  • Wildheart  (2015)