Being compared to the legendary Michael Jackson, triple-threat Chris Brown and international R&B renegade Usher may frighten a young artist coming up in the ranks, but for 13-year-old Jawan Harris, it is quite the opposite. After infectiously exposing his talents to the world via YouTube, Jawan is finally gaining the exposure he’s always wanted as he settles into his new home at Bystorm/Jive Records.


VIBE: How’d you first get your start? Did you have a demo?

Jawan Harris: I was singing in church. Other than singing in church, I was hanging around the house, putting up YouTube videos, and also just basically trying to show everyone that I’m a great singer. I sung at school [around this time], and a teacher knew my manager’s auntie. So his auntie brought me to my manager, and my manager just so happens to know Mark Pitts from Jive Records. I came up and started to sing for him, and they said that they were going to see if I was ready. They had me do “Nobody” and they said I did very well. That was the day before my birthday.

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