Coming straight from Phili Sterling Simms is one of Def Jams most newest family members. I know when everybody heard the song "Dig A Hole" from Jay-Z everybody was like hmmm is that Usher , Naaa it's Ne-Yo..... not even close. Sterling may sound a lil similar to some other artists when it comes to "Dig A Hole" but he really got it goin on.
When he was young he was like a lil Michael Jackson. His grandfather who was a musician, introduced him into music and forced it on him. Even though he wanted to do ordinary kids stuff like playing in the street and hanging with friends, he stayed home and listened to soul legends like Sam Cooke. All thanks to his grandfather influence, sterling is movin on up.
During Sterling's arrival to the world of entertainment he was also influenced by New Edition, Usher, Boyz II Men and Brian McKnight.
According to his manager Donnie Medows, when Sterling wasn't able to work, and had to record, he lived in the production studio for months, washing up in the mens room, using paper towels as washcloths. Now that's a bit O-D. He could have got a towel from the dolla store.
After a period of struggling with paper towel rashes(just jokin), Sterling finally got a job at a local car wash in Atlanta with some other talented young musicians named Diggie Doms and Mistafiss. After a few months of not seeing his musical buddies he ran into them and they had signed a production deal with Sony and agreed to sign him on as an artist. He quickly started working on what was to be his debut by spending days and nights locked in the studio(with no paper towels) pouring heart and soul into his record until fate interviened once more. The attacks of 9/11 sent the recording industry into a downward spiral. Cut backs at Sony cause the imprint Sterling was signed to to be dropped leaving him back at one.
He ended up going back toPhiladelphia, Sterling reconnected with one of the premiere musical legends in the city, Kenny Gamble. Gamble knew of his talent ever since Sterling was little. Since he seen that Sterling was now a developing writer and was still driving toward success Gamble gave him the opportunity to record in his production studio for free. Sterling went to work laying down the frame work of his One Recordings/Defjam debut My Turn.
When he went back to ATL, There he formed a company with another writer named Chuka called "KnightWritahz". The joke was that they worked and held down jobs during the day, but at night, they wrote. Sterling enjoyed writing much more than the pressures of trying to succeed as an artist, and began to shop his music in Atlanta.
Sterling and Chuka met up with producer Teddy Bishop, who liked the songs Sterling was working on. Bishop asked, who was the voice behind the songs. Well, the voice was Sterlings, of course, and at Teddys prompting, Sterling decided to pursue his dream of becoming a performer again. After months of networking a buzz was circulating in the industry about this young new talent. While in miami for the Bmi and Vma award weekend Sterling and Teddy Bishop were approached by Bob Keetch who is a friend of Teddy. Bob was looking to break into the music business and was searching for someone to carry the torch of his well funded independent label "One Recordings". Ater hearing Sterling's music and meeting with him, Bob was convinced that Sterling would be his star. He quickly signed Sterling to his indy label, and they began shopping to a major for distribution.
What jumped everything off for Sterling was when a meeting was arranged for him by Defjam A&R Ray Romulus. This was the first time that he had ever felt nervous about performing, but the years of training were on his side. As he stood in the room with DefJam president L.A. Reid, he had to perform like never before. Nailing this performance could mean that his dream could finally be realized in an instant. He started his showcase for Mr. Reid and after three songs he knew he wanted Sterling on his DefJam roster.
Sterling wrote his new CD over a period of two years and all the songs are about his real life experiences. The party songs like "Juice In My Cup" and "Worth Your While" are funky and upbeat. They both make you feel like you are at a party. While "Best Friend", talks about someone who ended up pregnant with his buddies baby. "Eighty On The Freeway" tells the story of the urgency to get to your girl at at 3 o'clock in the morning.
He has done songs with Paul Wall, Freeway, DaBrat, Bun B, Sean Paul and of course the Jay to the Z. I think he looks madddd good and he sounds great so you will mos definitly hear him on the 4th episode of my podcast.
