Donald Earle DeGrate, Jr. (born September 29, 1969 in Hampton, Virginia

Hampton, Virginia

Hampton is an independent city that is not part of any county in Southeast Virginia. Its population is 137,436. As one of the seven major cities that compose the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, it is on the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula. Located on the Hampton Roads Beltway, it hosts...

), better known by his stage name

Stage name

A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...

 DeVante Swing, is an American

United States

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

 record producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

, singer

Singing

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

, rapper

Rapping

Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...

 and songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

. Swing rose to fame in the 1990s as the founding member of the trendsetting R&B

Contemporary R&B

Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...

 group Jodeci

Jodeci

Jodeci is an American band, whose repertoire includes R&B, soul music, and new jack swing. The group consists of two pairs of brothers from Hampton, Virginia and Charlotte, North Carolina: Cedric & Joel Hailey and Donald & Dalvin DeGrate, all respectively known by their stage names: K-Ci & Jojo,...

, one of the more popular R&B acts of its time. Swing served as the main songwriter, producer, and leader of Jodeci which also featured his younger brother Dalvin DeGrate

Dalvin DeGrate

Dalvin DeGrate is an R&B/soul musician, singer and rapper, one-quarter of the R&B group Jodeci. He is the younger brother of Jodeci founder DeVante Swing...

.

Swing went on to form his own record label, Swing Mob

Swing Mob

Swing Mob consisted of members of the various collectives and/or record labels associated with Missy Elliott and Timbaland. Elliott with the group Sista, Timbaland, Magoo, Ginuwine, Playa, Darryl Pearson, Tweet with the group Sugah, Majik, Jimmy Douglass Stevie J., Maija Max, Bazaar Royale and Chad...

, which signed artists such as Ginuwine

Ginuwine

Elgin Baylor Lumpkin , better known by his stage name Ginuwine is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Signed to Epic Records since the mid-1990s, Ginuwine had released a number of multi-platinum and platinum-selling albums and singles, becoming one of R&B's top artists during the late 1990's...

, Missy Elliott

Missy Elliott

Melissa Arnette "Missy" Elliott , is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, and actressA five-time Grammy Award winner, Elliott, with record sales of over seven million in the United States, is the only female rapper to have five albums certified platinum by the RIAA, including one...

, Playa

Playa (band)

Playa was an American R&B/hip-hop group. Composed of Smoke E. Digglera , Digital Black , and the late Static Major , Playa is best known for their 1998 hit album, "Cheers 2 U", produced by longtime collaborator Timbaland...

, and Timbaland

Timbaland

Timothy Zachery Mosley , better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, songwriter and rapper....

 at the beginning of their careers. Swing also produced 2Pac

Tupac Shakur

Tupac Amaru Shakur , known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide as of 2007, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world...

's "No More Pain" on the 1996 album All Eyez on Me

All Eyez on Me

All Eyez on Me is the fourth studio album by American rapper 2Pac, released February 13, 1996 on Death Row Records and Interscope Records....

 which saw somewhat of a departure from what he normally produced for Jodeci. He also produced three songs on Danny Boy

Danny Boy (singer)

Daniel O’Connor, , best known as Danny Boy O’Connor, is an American rapper and a member of the hip-hop group, House of Pain. Danny Boy moved to California in the 80s where he masterminded House of Pain, one of the first all white hip-hop groups...

's It's About Time (2010) album. He will release his new album, Swingin' Love, in the near future.

Sources

• James T. Jones IV (March 10, 1992). "Jodeci throws its voice into the doo-wop". USA Today
  USA Today
  USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
  
  ', p. 4D