After his grand-pa took a six-year-old Sterling to a recording studio for the first time, his future was sealed. “To this day, whenever I write a song I dedicate it to my grand-pa. I feel like I’m living his dream.” In addition to his childhood lessons, Sterling also performed in local theater productions as well as scribbling song lyrics in his notebook.

Moving from the city of brotherly love to Atlanta when he was fifteen proved to be a culture shock in more ways than one. “I went from hanging in front of the corner store to eating chicken cheese steaks to eating fish and grits,” Sterling jokes. “But, living in Atlanta was one of the best things for my music. I always tell people, Philly made me into a man, but Atlanta made me into an artist.”

Back when Sterling was nineteen, before he had made any real contacts in the music business, Sterling was trying to perfect his craft as a singer/songwriter while slaving the day away at an ATL carwash. “There were these producers who worked at the shop named Mr. Fist and Diggie Don who were working with Lil Zane,” Sterling says. “They were the first guys who took me seriously as an artist and gave me my first break.”

“My main goal while constructing my album was to create a different kind of soul album,” the Philadelphia native explains. “I wanted to capture diverse sounds that I once jammed to on the radio when I was a kid.”

Sterling penned a deal with Sony Records that later fell through. “Personally, I got tired of the ups and downs of trying to be an artist and decided to concentrate on just songwriting. For me, writing is the greatest therapy in the world. If I’m feeling tense, I can always sit down and pen a song. I know that’ll make me feel better.”

Forming the creative clique The Knightwritaz with six other writers, Sterling wrote songs for Mario and Tyrese. Sounding like an R&B version of the X-Men, Sterling explains, “With the Nightwriters, we feed off of each others energy as well as help each other out. We’re all friends, but we also get the job done.”

As luck would have it, one of Sterling’s demos fell into the ears of another production company,”One Recordings.” Coincidentally, Ray Romulous, an up and coming Island Def Jam A&R executive, heard of Sterling and delivered his demo to “Antonio “L.A.” Reid, Chairman of Island Def Jam Music Group. “After all those years, the hard work had finally paid off,” he laughs. After presenting Mr. Reid with fourteen songs, Sterling was signed to the label. “Working with “L.A.” was a dream come true,” says Sterling. “His track record as both an artist and executive speaks for itself.”

"Nasty Girl" - LISTEN
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