The youngest of five children, KeAnthony's two-parent, Christian upbringing, which included singing in his family's nine-member ensemble, the Gospel True Notes, wasn't enough to stop him from going down a crooked path toward that dream. Within months of being kicked out of Whites Creek Comprehensive High School in 1991 for fighting, a 16-year-old KeAnthony would be placed in a juvenile facility, then in Turney Center Industrial Prison and Farm to serve an eight-year bid for aggravated robbery. Luckily, his vocal prowess didn't go untapped in jail. "Most of the time, guys were asking me to sing to their girls over the phone," he says. KeAnthony made more serious career plans with Jasper "Jazz" Howard, a childhood acquaintance and fellow inmate. And upon their release in 1999, Jazz made KeAnthony the flagship artist on his independent Crosstrax Entertainment label.

By 2000, KeAnthony had recorded an album and hit the road to places like New York and California. The resulting buzz led to a deal with Warner Bros. in December 2003. And Warner exec Cynthia Johnson, who has helped promote the careers of Alicia Keys and Destiny's Child, thinks the label scored a major victory by signing him. "Everyone is extremely excited about KeAnthony," says Johnson. "He's a raw talent who makes you feel the moods and concepts of a song with his inspirational words."