Описание
Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins (born July 29, 1977 in Pleasantville, New Jersey) is a Grammy Award-winning songwriter, record producer, and musician. Working largely with his brother Fred Jerkins III & writer LaShawn Daniels, Jerkins has been an extremely in-demand producer for over a decade,[citation needed] being requested by such artists as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Lionel Richie. The words "Darkchild" appear in some form in many of his tracks. He is currently working on forthcoming albums from Brandy, Ciara, Beyoncé, LeToya, Teairra Marí, Anastacia and Melanie Brown and Korean pop sensation Se7en.
Biography
Jerkins was born into a religious family as the youngest son of a minister and choir director mother. He grew up in Pleasantville, New Jersey. He began taking classical music lessons on the piano as a small child. As a teenager he had already decided to become a record producer. At 15, he and his brother Fred Jerkins III wrote and produced their own gospel rap album - On the Move. He began making more demos, one of which caught the attention of idol Teddy Riley, who gave him advice on the music industry. Finally, his first professional writing and producing job came in 1994 when he contributed two tracks to the debut album of R&B artist Casserine. Riley also subsequently let Jerkins share writing and production duties on tracks by Pure Soul, Men Of Vizion & Wreckx-N-Effect in 1995 & 1996.
In his current personal life, a formerly overweight Jerkins has stated that a change in lifestyle is responsible for a new slender physique - previously it had been rumored this was achieved via GBP. He has also been married to pop/gospel/R&B singer Joy Enriquez since April 4, 2004. Additionally, in 2006 Jerkins was appointed VP of A&R for The Island Def Jam Group. They currently reside in Brooklyn New York.
Darkchild Records and label ventures
1999 venture
Jerkins has made two attempts to bring his label to prominence. The first was in 1999 when he joined with Sony/Epic Records to promote such signees as Whitney Houston-style power vocalist Rhona, Pop/R&B girl group So Plush and rapper Fats. Male vocalists K-Young, Lil' Zal and J. Mathis also made frequent collaborations with Rodney Jerkins around this time, although it is not known if they were actually signed to the label. Buzz was created about artists with Fats appearing on two tracks Jerkins produced for Michael Jackson's Invincible album and So Plush releasing the single "Things I've Heard Before" with a Hype Williams-directed video. Singles such as So Plush's "Damn (Should Have Treated You Right)" and Rhona's "Satisfied" were also released and made fair impact on charts. Subsequently, So Plush albums and "Things I've Heard Before" singles were pressed (and made available as promos) and Rhona's album was even released in Japan, output from the label stopped from this point however. It seemed that eventually artists were released from the label as Rhona reappeared in 2003 joining infamous R&B group En Vogue and Fats released an album as part of the duo F.A.T.S. & Bathgate in 2006.
2005 venture
In 2005 Darkchild Records reappeared when Jerkins signed brand new acts including Shamari Fears formerly of R&B group Blaque, female MC Asia Lee, Dancehall artist Atiba and Gospel singer Anesha Birchett. Joy Enriquez also briefly appeared as an artist on the site before her album release on new sister gospel label JoyFul Child Records. The website was redesigned and relaunched with artist bios and track samples and a new Darkchild Members "Platinum" Club was set up which gave access to Jerkins' Versatility instrumental album and other exclusives. It seems the label has again had problems however, as a track recorded by Shamari - "The One U Need" was used by Jerkins as a
