Where Are They Now: Colby O'Donis

At 19, singer-songwriter Colby O'Donis was being billed as the Latino answer to Justin Timberlake and Chris Brown. But what happened to him?

Colby's rise to fame began at age ten, when he became the youngest recording artist ever signed to Motown Records in order to do a song for a major motion picture soundtrack. The song, titled "Mouse in the House", was featured on the 1999 Stuart Little soundtrack.

In 2006, O'Donis almost signed a record deal with Babyface. However, before the deal was finalised, O'Donis' management set up a meeting between him and Akon. They got in the studio where Colby played Akon his first demo of fourteen songs, and Akon loved and "really connected with it".

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A few weeks later, they set up a session and began working on music where Colby said they had really good chemistry from the start. At this time, Akon told O'Donis that he was starting his own label, called Konvict Muzik, and asked if he wanted to be a part of it. Colby agreed and, for the next two years, he waited for the label to "get going and achieve the stature they need to launch new artists" before being officially signed.

Colby's first single, "What You Got", featuring Akon, was released in February 2008, and his second single, titled "Don't Turn Back", was released in June. Both singles were featured on his debut album, Colby O.

Colby was also featured on Lady Gaga's debut single, Just Dance, earning him a nomination for Best Dance Recording at the 50th Grammy Awards. To date, this has been his most successful single.

In 2009, released the singles I Wanna Touch You,  and was featured on Akon's song Beautiful.

In 2013, Colby O'Donis began working on his second studio album, titled Start Over. The album was never released.

In 2016, Colby married dancer and actress,  Erin Yvonne.