Canton Jones

Contemporary gospel singer, rapper, and producer Canton Jones grew up in a musical family in Deerfield Beach, a coastal town in southeast Florida. As early as the age of five, Jones joined a singing quartet his father formed, and by age 16 he was making beats for himself and other local singers. After high school, Jones moved his home base to Atlanta, where he attended Morehouse College. It was there that the singer joined the school's popular glee club, which afforded him a chance to tour extensively and sing for Oprah Winfrey, Stevie Wonder, Bobby Jones, and Ray Charles, among others. In the meantime, Jones also attended Pastor Creflo Dollar's World Changers Church, where he sang in the choir. During a solo performance in one of the megachurch's services, Jones caught the attention of the congregation's youth pastor, who asked him to help in the youth department. He did, and not long after, he made his recorded debut for the Holy Hip Hop label with 20 Yrs. 3 Mths. & 12 Days... (2002) and set up his own outlet, CAJO. His breakthrough came with an appearance on the Grammy-nominated compilation album Holy Hip Hop: Taking Gospel to the Streets; his subsequent release, Love Jones (2005), made its debut on Billboard's Top Gospel Albums chart at number 11. Jones' profile continued to rise throughout the remainder of the decade and the 2010s. Among his charting releases were all four volumes in the Kingdom Business series (2008-2013), the double album Dominionaire (2011), and I Am Justice (2016). ~ Andree Farias