A major star on television (
In Living Color,
The Jamie Foxx Show), the big screen (
Any Given Sunday,
Collateral,
Ray,
Miami Vice,
Dreamgirls), and radio (his second album,
Unpredictable, featured two Top Ten R&B singles),
Jamie Foxx -- born
Eric Morlon Bishop, Jr., in Terrell, TX -- started out as a comedian and went through years of gradually escalating recognition before winning an Oscar for his portrayal of
Ray Charles in
Ray.
Though a 1994 album,
Peep This, was something of an underground hit, he didn't really break out as a singer until his guest appearance on
Kanye West and
Twista's "Slow Jamz." The song helped set the stage for his second album, released through J Records at the very end of 2005. Upon release,
Unpredictable duked it out for the number one position on the Billboard albums chart with
Mary J. Blige's
The Breakthrough. It reached number one and eventually went platinum.
Intuition, involving input from the-Dream,
Timbaland,
Ne-Yo, and
Floetry's
Marsha Ambrosius, followed in late 2008. Like its predecessor, it topped the R&B/Hip-Hop chart, led by "Blame It," one of 2009's biggest party singles. Near the end of 2009,
Foxx issued his fourth album, Body. Previewed by the single "Winner" featuring T.I. and Justin Timberlake, Best Night of My Life followed in 2010. The artist has also collaborated with
Gladys Knight,
Melvin Riley,
Adina Howard,
MC Lyte,
Ludacris, and
Snoop Dogg.
–
Andy Kellman, Rovi