As a songwriter, Los Battey’s career has been extraordinary; he and his brother Steven have penned hits for artists like Madonna, Justin Bieber, Chris Brown and Bruno Mars. They’ve been nominated for a Grammy Award four times, winning in 2010 for their contribution to Madonna’s “Revolver” remix.

The Battey brothers, or Jackie’s Boyz, the name they gave themselves in honor of their mother Jackie, were far from an overnight success. Their story began in Savannah, Georgia, when they were just teenagers, busking for change on the pier. After their parents’ death, they made their way to another pier, this one on the opposite side of the country in Santa Monica, CA.

 For five years, four to five days a week, they performed on the pier and the streets of L.A., using what little downtime they had to hone their songwriting skills. The hard work finally paid off when they got a chance to record a demo for a new artist named Flor-ida. The song, “Sugar,” went on to sell 1.5 million copies. A publishing deal with Universal came next, and the songwriting team was off and running.

But Los has always been a singer first. After a health scare in 2016, he felt called to finally write and record for his own voice. And what a voice it is.

 In our conversation, Los generously shares his story; the love that inspired him to follow his dreams, made him resilient in the face of tragedy and continues to keep him moving forward while giving back to the next generation of young artists.

Links:

For full show notes, transcriptions of this episode, and more offerings for singers, you can visit my website HERE.

You can find Los on: Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter or his website.

The songs from today’s episode are:

When My Love Ends from the album Revival
Anomoly (Single)
Do It Again w/Shawn Stockman from Boyz ll Men (Single)

(all songs used with permission.) 

To listen to Jackie’s Boy’s discography, head to his Spotify channel.

For information about the online course mentioned in this episode, just head to Becoming A Singer.

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Theme music for the Podcast was composed by John Smith. He edits all the podcast episodes too. (Thanks honey!) 

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