Fred Jenkins

Born in the City of Chicago, Fred was hearing everything from Mozart to B.B. King. At the early age of 10, Fred was able to begin expressing himself by playing the guitar and singing in church. After many accolades as a teenager, he was immediately accepted into the American Conservatory of Music, where he studied Music Composition. With various music energies fueling the radio airwaves, Fred began playing with a whirlpool of groups. Studio sessions and live performances are second nature, and his reputation precedes him. After Mariah Carey’s green light on one of Fred Jenkins’ catalogued written and co-produced songs for her most recent multi-platinum remix, “Heartbreaker,” one would call Fred the winner of today’s Survivor program. Hard work pays off. After many sold-out worldwide concert performances and platinum albums, these new mystical sounds are what Fred calls “Urbananica.” The sounds that master true blends of America’s grassroots of Pop, Jazz, Soul and Grit Funk, that’s straight message lyrics that will lure the ears of young adults and please the sophisticated pallets of contemporary adult listeners, Fred finds himself on the same stages with greats like Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Barbara Streisand, Heart, David Lee Roth, The Beach Boys, Barry White, The Isley Brothers, as well as Lauryn Hill, R. Kelly and Debra Cox, just to name a few. Fred’s hidden talent surfaced and was brought to light when he was called on to assist on the first album production of Boyz II Men, for Motown Records. He went on to work and produce with Rick James and co-produce Val Young’s debut album, “Seduction”. Fred continues to do life performances and studio sessions for known and up and coming artists, as well as play on numerous TV commercials and movie soundtracks. The sccolades continue to roll in with an induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with The Gap Band, for it’s many years of recognized hits on Billboard’s Pop and R & B Charts. Today’s Hip-Hop, Rap record producers and artists like Dr. Dre, Master P., Snoop Dogg, Eminem, LL Kool J and Public Enemy, have been influenced by Fred’s Gap Band signature striking guitar sounds, from wah- wah rhythms to sultry melodic tones, that keeps Fred’s “Urbananica” platinum hit sounds well into the new millennium.

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