JoJo (born December 20, 1990) is a teenage American R&B and pop singer.

A singer.  A songwriter.  A prodigy. With just a few notes, she's made some of the most influential men and women in America stop in their tracks to find her, and meet her. She possesses a rare talent that has enchanted talk show hosts, celebrities and audiences throughout the United States.  And she's determined to take the music world by storm.

In the outskirts of Boston, Massachusetts JoJo grew up in a home filled with song. Her mother, a church soloist and trained musical theater performer, would practice hymns and arias alike while a young JoJo watched, listened and learned. She imitated her mother's incredible range as well as the sounds that breezed through the family's home stereo: Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston and Etta James. "When I was two years old, I would sing nursery rhymes.  I would do riffs on them and make them jazzy," JoJo remembers. It was at this early age that she taught herself to interpret the pop and blues tunes she heard with her own distinctive and unique style.

Joanna Noëlle Levesque was born in Foxborough, Massachusetts. She is of French (Levesque comes from French for Bishop and Noëlle means Christmas), Native American, Irish and Polish descent. JoJo currently resides in Edgewater, New Jersey, across the river from Manhattan, which is where she does her studio recording.


Early life and career

Growing up on the outskirts of Boston, Massachusetts, JoJo's family was low income and lived in a 1 bedroom apartment. JoJo listened and learned as her mother, a church singer, practiced hymns. She started singing when she was two years old by imitating her mother, putting her own spin on everything from nursery rhymes to pop tunes. Her parents divorced when she was five years old.

An ad in the paper announced open auditions for Kids Say the Darndest Things on the Road in Boston. Having immediately been given a spot to perform, she sang Aretha Franklin's "Respect". Bill Cosby and the crowd at Faneuil Hall responded overwhelmingly in favor. Soon after, The Oprah Winfrey Show contacted her, inviting her to perform. Reminiscing, she says that "when it came to performing, I just had no fear".


Appearances on talk shows and gospel festivals followed, but it was her appearance on the television show America's Most Talented Kids (even though she lost to Diana DeGarmo) that brought the call from record producer Vincent Herbert. The former Aaliyah, Toni Braxton and Destiny's Child producer had the young singer signed to Blackground Records and arranged sessions with famed producers like The Underdogs, Soulshock and Karlin.

JoJo made her big musical break in 2004 with her platinum-selling debut single, "Leave (Get Out)". The track became an international hit, peaking at #12 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and at #2 on the UK singles chart. When the single hit #1 on the Top 40 Mainstream, she became the youngest solo artist to have a #1 song in America. Her debut album, the platinum-selling JoJo, followed; it peaked at #4 on the US Billboard 200 and within the top forty of the UK charts. She co-wrote two of the album's songs, as well as writing and co-producing one full track. Her second single, the gold-selling "Baby It's You", featured a duet with Bow Wow (although the album version in the us did not but it was on her uk album). The song peaked at #22 in the US, though it went top ten in the UK.

c o o l e s t  p a r t n e r  s i t e s

The final single off the album, "Not That Kinda Girl", failed to make waves on the charts, due to underadvertisement and a music video considered off-par with her previous work. The song achieved number 10 on TRL for one day but then fell, never to make it on the countdown again. Unlike her previous singles, Not that Kinda Girl was never promoted. JOjo decided to go film movies and cancelled all her tours. Therfore, this single sold less than 100 copies.

Upcoming projects

According to The Hollywood Reporter, JoJo is in talks to make her feature-film debut in the upcoming FOX telefilm Aquamarine, opposite Emma Roberts. JoJo will also star in the film R.V.. Both films are to be released in 2006. The trailer for R.V. and additional information about the movie can be found here. It is confirmed JoJo's sophomore album will be out in summer 2006. The first single is "Too Little, Too Late," and is due to hit radio in February.