After completing high school, Joe decided to forge ahead with a career in music. By the time he was a teenager, Joe also found the time to perform with a band around Opelika, taking as his inspiration contemporary acts such as Bobby Brown, Babyface, and Keith Sweat in addition to classic Motown artists like Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. From an early age, he played guitar and piano, and directed the gospel choir in his parents ’ church as well. ’ ” Fortunately, church-going gave Joe an opportunity to develop his musical talents, giving him an appreciation for Christian acts such as the Winans and Vanessa Bell Armstrong. In high school and growing up, weren ’t having it any other way. During his childhood in Georgia and Opelika, Alabama, as Joe recalled in a 1997 Ebony interview, “ was my whole life. His parents were both ministers in the Pentecostal Church and made sure that their five children took an active role in church activities. Going double platinum within a year of its release, My Name Is Joe established the performer in the top league of R&B singers, writers, and producers, and earned him a reputation as one of the hardest-working artists in the music industry.
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Gradually building his public profile by contributing songs to several successful soundtracks, Joe ’s strategy finally paid off. From his early signing to a record deal right after high school to a personally disappointing first outing in the recording studio, Joe branched out into writing, producing, and offering background vocals for the work of other artists.
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Helped by the major hit songs “I Wanna Know ” and “Stutter, ” R&B vocalist Joe ’s third album, the 2000 release My Name Is Joe, fulfilled the promise that the artist had developed over several years in the music industry.