Toulouse

A New York-based, Nigerian-born R&B singer/producer with a shadowy image, Toulouse arrived on the pop landscape in late 2016 with "So You Know I Care," a soulful and electronically textured single that drew immediate praise from critics. His follow-up single, a gravely downplayed take on the jaunty 1963 Peggy March hit "I Will Follow Him" that he titled "I Will Follow You," was used in an advertisement for Apple's iPhone 7 and became a breakout hit netting him millions of digital streams. Another single, "No Running from Me," landed on the star-studded Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack in February 2017, adding another win to Toulouse's brief but powerful canon. While he has offered little information about himself, the artist's scant biographical materials reveal that his family moved from Nigeria to the U.S. in 2004 and that, after graduating from NYU's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, he spent some time recording instrumental music for commercial before getting picked up by the publishing arm of Downtown Records. Subsequent singles released in 2017 include "It Is Well" and "Reach Out." ~ Timothy Monger