by Marisa BrownBorn to mixed-race parents in Chester, PA, a suburb to the south of Philadelphia, self-taught singer Kevin Michael grew up around music, and was even in contract negotiations when he was 11, though he didn't end up signing anything until many years later. Instead, he focused on making studio demos and songwriting, and only began label shopping more seriously when he was in his late teens. Eventually, he was noticed by Virgin, but Michael's eclectic style -- a mix of Philly neo-soul, contemporary R&B, and pop -- proved to be difficult to market, and when the label's senior VP of A&R, Josh Deutsche, left to start the Atlantic imprint Downtown Recordings, he took Kevin with him. In the spring of 2007 the young singer's debut EP, YaDig, an iTunes-only release, came out in anticipation of his October self-titled full-length.