Foxx’s earliest musical excursion came playing the piano aged five and subsequently being the pianist and choir leader at Terrell’s New Hope Baptist Church near where he lived. Having developed a knack for telling jokes during high school, Foxx later graduated and earned a scholarship to United States International University to study classical music and composition. Foxx’s rise to recognition and ultimate success stemmed from a successful stint at stand-up comedy in the earl '90s, and more notably a series of well-received acting roles including “In Living Color” in 1991, “Roc” in 1992, and his own “The Jamie Foxx Show” from 1996.
In 1994 the singer released his debut solo record “Peep This” earning him a small but devoted underground following. Over the next 10 years Foxx’s focus remained on his acting career where he later earned an Oscar for his portrayal of Ray Charles in the film “Ray” in 2004. The singer and rapper’s musical breakthrough came in 2005 where he appeared on Kanye West and Twista’s single “Slow Jamz”, skyrocketing Foxx to notoriety. Foxx subsequently contributed to the Knaye West song “Golddigger” before issuing his No. 1 platinum-selling sophomore album “Unpredictable” in 2005. Aided by the singles “Extravaganza”, “Unpredictable” and “DJ Play a Love Song” the album earned a host of rave reviews and won the Grammy-Award for Best R&B Album in 2006.
Following acting roles in “Jarhead”, “Miami Vice”, and “Dreamgirls” Foxx returned to released his third full-length album “Intuition” in 2008. With appearances from Kanye West, Ne-Yo, and T-Pain, the album narrowly missed out on the Billboard 200 No. 1 spot however earned positive reviews from the critical press. Following collaborations with the Rascal Flats, Tank, The-Dream, The Game, and T.I., Foxx released his fourth full-length “Best Night of My Lie” in 2010. With more high-profile contributions from the likes of Justin Timberlake, Drake and Wiz Khalifa, the album peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200. The album “Hollywood: A Story of a Dozen Roses” was issued in May 2015, led by the single “Ain’t My Fault” and “You Changed Me”.
Jamie Foxx gets made fun of and poked fun at a lot, but the reality of the situation is that he has a ton of talent and doesn't get as much respect as an artist as he should get. He can turn just about anything into a soulful piano single and this alone sets him apart from a ton of artists who have tried the same thing.
He doesn't mind making fun of himself and he doesn't mind making a comedy out of his performances. It's always fun to be a part of his crowd; because he does his best to not only give you a great performance, but also a lot of laughs at the same time.
To draw the audience in he will talk about general instances that he has encountered that people can relate to and then he uses that to ad lib and create songs that not only grab your attention, but also make you laugh. The stage in which he performs is very small. So small in fact that it is just big enough to hold his piano. Not only does he showcase his singing ability by "talk singing", but he also shows his piano playing talents by ad libing similar to his song lyrics on the fly.
This makes each and every performance he does unique because he doesn't have to have a set group of songs to play and can instead take what has happened to him recently and turn it into a song.