About Joe
Joseph Lewis Thomas , known mononymously as Joe, is an American R&B singer. He signed to Polygram Records in 1992, and rose to prominence after releasing his debut album Everything the following year. He followed it with a series of successful albums under Jive Records, including All That I Am , the international bestseller My Name Is Joe as well as the multi-certified albums Better Days and And Then... . Several songs from these albums became hit singles on the pop and R&B record charts, including the number-one hit "Stutter", the top ten entries "All the Things ", "Don't Wanna Be a Player", and "I Wanna Know" as well as his collaborations "Faded Pictures", "Thank God I Found You" and "Still Not a Player".
Since his departure from Jive, Joe has released most of his projects independently through ventures with Kedar Massenburg and Plaid Takeover Entertainment. In 2016, his twelfth album My Name Is Joe Thomas became his eleventh album to score a top five-placing on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, while lead single "So I Can Have You Back" became his fourth number-one hit on the Adult R&B Songs chart over the span of three consecutive decades . In 2010, Billboard listed Joe at 48th on its list of the Top 50 R&B and Hip Hop Artists of the past 25 years. An ASCAP Award recipient for his song "I Wanna Know", Joe is a seven-time Grammy Award nominee and has been nominated for numerous other awards and accolades, including a BET Award, an NAACP Image Award, and four Soul Train Music Awards.
Joe was born July 5, 1973, in Columbus, Georgia, and was the child of evangelist preachers. He moved to Opelika, Alabama during his formative years and graduated from Opelika High School in 1991.
After his graduation from Opelika High School, Joe continued to sing and write music while working at occasional temporary jobs. In New Jersey, while working at a gospel record store and continuing his music education through a local church, he met producer Vincent Herbert and recorded a three-song demo tape. In 1992, he signed to PolyGram Records and released his debut album Everything the next year. Produced by Joe along with Keith Mille, J. Dibbs, and Dave "Jam" Hall, it peaked at number 105 on the US Billboard 200 and number 16 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Everything spawned three singles, including I'm in Luv" and "The One for Me" the former of which became a top ten hit on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and peaked at number 22 on the UK Singles Chart. The following year, Joe appeared in the group Black Men United, along with then-label mate Brian McKnight, Gerald Levert, Aaron Hall, Tevin Campbell and other male singers for the single "U Will Know" for the soundtrack to the romantic drama film, Jason's Lyric.
In 1996, Joe contributed the song "All the Things " to the soundtrack to the crime comedy parody film Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood . Released as a single, it reached number 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and was later included as the opening track on his second studio album All That I Am after signing with Jive Records. Marking his commercial breakthrough, the album reached number 13 on the US Billboard 200 and number 4 on Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Another hit single from the album "Don't Wanna Be a Player", was also featured on the Booty Call soundtrack. All That I Am eventually went platinum in the US.
A songwriter and producer, Joe became a frequent collaborator on other artist's projects in the mid-1990s. He remixed a duet by Barry White and Tina Turner called "In Your Wildest Dreams" as well as a remix of Turner's single "Something Beautiful Remains" from Turner's album Wildest Dreams and wrote and produced on albums by R&B groups Ideal, Xscape and Hi-Five. In addition, Joe sang on the remix of Big Punisher's "Still Not a Player", produced by Knobody, which interpolated his own song "Don't Wanna Be a Player" and appeared as a backing vocalist on Brandy's track "Angel in Disguise" from her second album, Never Say Never . In 1999, singer Mariah Carey asked him to sing on her track "Thank God I Found You" which appeared on her album Rainbow . Released as the album's second single, it became Joe's first number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 and was later certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America . Aside from its peak of number two in Canada, the song achieved moderate international charting, reaching the top ten in the United Kingdom and peaking within the top thirty in Australia, Belgium , France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
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