Cody Chesnutt

For Cody ChesnuTT, life in the music business looked promising from the start. Barely into his teens, he was performing on-stage in his Atlanta hometown, opening for acts that his dad was representing as their manager. By the time he'd hit his late twenties, ChesnuTT was leading his own group, the Crosswalk, and had inked a recording contract with Hollywood Records. Venus Loves a Melody, his first full-length album, was wrapped up and ready to go. Before that could happen, however, the label released ChesnuTT from the deal. Not long after, the Crosswalk disbanded. Disheartened, ChesnuTT pulled back and holed up in his bedroom, where he wrote and recorded for himself. In two years, he laid down more than enough material for a standard album. Three-dozen songs formed his double-disc 2002 debut, The Headphone Masterpiece. Later that year, he collaborated with the Roots for an alternate version of his "The Seed" -- dubbed "The Seed (2.0)" -- for the rap band's Phrenology album. While it seemed like ChesnuTT would continue to release music at a prolific rate, the follow-up to his debut was a December 2006 EP, Black Skin No Value. Also during this period, his wife gave birth to two children and the singer wanted time to focus on being a father. Subsequently, ChesnuTT didn't release a second album until October 2012, when the sophisticated Landing on a Hundred appeared on One Little Indian. A much more robustly produced, yet still organic album, it found ChesnuTT drawing heavily upon Marvin Gaye's classic late-'60s/early-'70s sound. Over the next several years, ChesnuTT continued to split his time between touring and taking time off to be with his family. In 2017, he returned with the Anthony "Twilite Tone" Kahn-produced My Love Divine Degree. The album found him better balancing his early lo-fi sound with a dynamic, stylistically varied approach to contemporary R&B. Featured on the album was the single "Image of Love." ~ Linda Seida