Canton Jones, born in Deerfield Beach, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Christian music

Christian music

Christian music is music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence, and lament, and its forms vary widely across the world....

ian and Christian hip-hop artist.

Early years

Canton Jones began singing at the age of 5 in a vocal group founded by his father. By the age of 16, he was writing and producing songs for friends in his hometown.

He relocated to Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

 where he attended Morehouse College

Morehouse College

Morehouse College is a private, all-male, liberal arts, historically black college located in Atlanta, Georgia. Along with Hampden-Sydney College and Wabash College, Morehouse is one of three remaining traditional men's colleges in the United States....

 joining the school's renowned Glee Club

Morehouse College Glee Club

The Morehouse College Glee Club, founded in 1911, is the official choral group at Morehouse College. The Glee Club has a long tradition of significant public appearances, having performed at Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral, President Jimmy Carter's inauguration, Super Bowl XXVIII, and the 1996...

. The club performed for celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...

, Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder

Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...

, Dr. Bobby Jones

Bobby Jones (singer)

Bobby Jones is a Grammy Award–winning Gospel music singer and television host from Nashville, Tennessee and the host and executive producer of several cable television's gospel music program including Bobby Jones Gospel.-Career:Jones has produced programs for BET since 1980...

 and Ray Charles

Ray Charles

Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...

, as well as performing at high profile events such as the opening ceremony of the 1996 Olympic Games

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 and at the first gospel concert ever held at the US Pentagon

The Pentagon

The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...

.

Between 1998 and 1999, he joined World Changers Church International, under the pastorship of Creflo & Taffi Dollar

Creflo Dollar

Creflo Augustus Dollar, Jr. is an American Word of Faith teacher, pastor, and the founder of the non-denominational World Changers Church International based in Fulton County, Georgia. Creflo Dollar Ministerial Association , Creflo Dollar Ministries, and Arrow Records...

 and in his own words, grew as a Christian under their stewardship: "My wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, took me to World Changers and I started getting the word. I was going to that church for like three years before I really rededicated my life to Christ. I was there from probably like 1998 or 1999 until 2001 before I really started getting on track."

Musical career

In 2001, Jones launched his own gospel record label, CAJO International. and independently released his first album, 2002's 20 Years, 3 Months & 12 Days, which chronicled his journey to salvation.

He released his second independent album in 2004: The Password and that same year, collaborated with Lil iROCC Williams

Lil iROCC Williams

Justin Williams is an American rapper and actor. Williams began his career using the stage name Lil iROCC Williams, but eventually dropped the "Lil". His name is often stylized multiple ways, including Irocc, iROCC, irocc, and iroCc.Williams is a Christian, which is heavily reflected in his lyrics...

 on Williams's 2004 debut album, and wrote and performed a song, "You and Me", for the compilation Holy Hip-Hop:Taking the Gospel to the Streets.

At this time he was now a member of the choir of World Changers International Church and a solo performance at the church attracted the attention of the church's youth pastor, who asked Jones to help him in the youth department. Not long after that, he was signed to the church's Arrow Records label, an affiliate of EMI

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

.

He released his major label debut, Love Jones, in the summer of 2005, which debuted at number 11 on Billboard's Top Gospel Albums chart. The album is named after his daughter, Love, born to him and wife Ramona in 2004. Following the album's success, Canton toured the US with over 200 appearances that year.

In November 2005, The Password was re-released nationally at the end of 2005 as The Password: Access Granted and earned him two Grammy

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 nominations. His success in 2005 saw him listed in The Atlanta Business Journal at number 19 in their 40 Under 40 chart of Atlanta's rising stars.

On 5 April 2008, he released Kingdom Business. In 2009, he released Kingdom Business, Pt. 2, and Kingdom Business, Pt. 3 followed in 2010.

Canton Jones's fifth and most highly anticipated album for him and for CAJO Records, Dominionaire, was released on Febuaury 1st, 2011. Three singles were released prior to the albums release, "In da Club", "Window", and "GOD", only the first two listed were released on iTunes.

Personal life

Canton Jones has a wife named Ramona and they have a daughter, Love Jones and a son, Dominion Jones. He attends World Changers Church International in College Park, Georgia

College Park, Georgia

College Park is a city located partly in Fulton County, Georgia and partially in Clayton County, Georgia, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 13,942...

, where he sings as a member of the praise & worship team.