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Damon Thomas
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| Some people seem destined to do certain things. Damon Thomas, one-half of the multi-platinum production duo the Underdogs, seemed destined to spend his life making music. Thomas, a Kansas City native and pianist since age five, has been a songwriter most of his life, showing glimpses of his talent even at an early age. He knew it too. In fact, when his mother gave him the choice of recording equipment or a car for his 16th birthday, he instantly jumped on the equipment and has never looked back. By age 18, he had moved out to Los Angeles, and working on a variety of projects, hoping to catch a break.
Mainstream work came knocking on his door with work on Brandy's self-titled debut album, and Damon found himself co-writing "I'm Yours" for the 4x platinum set. A year later, he began working with recording artist and super-producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, and continued to develop his musical abilities as a songwriter as one of Face's writing partners.
The payoff was a series of Top Ten songwriting collaborations, including "These Are The Times" by Dru Hill, "Most Girls" by Pink and "Never Gonna Let You Go" by Faith Evans, which peaked at #1 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart in 1999. He also sat at the boards for an array of artists from Gladys Knight to 2Pac, and was in fact the last producer to work with 2Pac before his death in 1996.
Despite all of his success, he soon felt that moving onto other projects was the next step, and in 2001 he called fellow camp writer Harvey Mason, Jr. about working together on a track. The two had met a few years earlier when Damon approached Rodney Jerkins' Darkchild Entertainment team about working on a track together, and he remembered Mason's work for the likes of Toni Braxton and Brian McKnight. Mason too was ready to step out from being a camp writer, so Thomas proposed a collaboration. The finished product was 2001's "I Like Them Girls," the lead single from Tyrese's 2000 Watts album.
What had originally been planned as a single collaboration soon became a songwriting machine, as the duo of Thomas and Mason began working with a clientele that included pop sensations B2K and Stacie Orrico, and R&B veteran Brian McKnight. Their songs soon enough caught the eye of BMG North America CEO Clive Davis, who at the time had left his position at Arista Records to start his own label, J Records. He enlisted the Underdogs to contribute a track to the J's first artist, Olivia, and that was the first in a series of projects for Davis' imprint. In 2002, Tyrese signed with J, and the Underdogs ended up contributing over half of the tracks for his gold-certified I Wanna Go There album. That year, Davis, who had just finished showcasing Alicia Keys to the world, introduced his newest prodigy, 15-year old Mario, and when it came time to produce Mario's debut, he called on-who else-Thomas and Mason. They offered up three tracks, and Mario's self-titled album went gold.
2003 was the Underdogs' biggest year yet with the addition of their high-profile work with first-season American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson, and they contributed two songs to the double-platinum debut. When Ruben Studdard won the second season, Thomas found himself working with a familiar face-Babyface, that is-on Ruben's first single, "Flying Without Wings," which was produced by Face and the Underdogs. After that hit Top Ten status, the Underdogs had repeat success with "Sorry 2004," which pushed the album to double-platinum status.
The year ended with Thomas' first-ever Grammy nomination, for Album of the Year, with the Underdogs having worked on Justin Timberlake's nominated debut Justified. Though Outkast eventually won the award, the nomination was a great way to cap a year the Underdogs hope to eclipse in 2004.
Thomas and his partner have logged studio time with familiar faces Tyrese, Mario, and Studdard, while working on new projects by Donnell Jones, Omarion, Avant, Marques Houston, and Craig David. Also in the works are tracks for industry veterans Charlie Wilson, Toni Braxton, Babyface, and the Backstreet Boys and emerging stars Houston, JoJo, and American Idol's third-season winner Fantasia. If that wasn't enough, the Underdogs recently signed an exclusive label deal with Davis' J Records, and are working on the debut release of their first artist, Luke & Q, while continuing to take on projects from a who's who list of pop and urban music's finest. It seems like Damon's decisions have been paying off, ever since his mother's original proposal. |
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| I'm Tryna |
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| Ain't Gon' Beg You |
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| Baby It's You |
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Big John Platt
