Soul lovers know that the passionate music made by Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye live on through Raheem DeVaughn, the young rising star that's taken soul to another level. DeVaughn was clearly born to be an entertainer; his father, the jazz musician Abdul Wadud, brought a great deal of musical influence into his household growing up, as did DeVaughn's mother's vinyl collection.

It was in college that he realized music was to be his path. On his first day there, he ran into a group of students harmonizing like Boys II Men. He joined in, and soon after found himself staying home from class to work on songs and practice. After winning $2,000 in a talent contest at a local bar, he invested the entire thing into a CD burner, using it to spread his work near and far.

In 2005, his work paid off. DeVaughn, who had self-released several albums by this point, secured a record deal. Dedicated to his music, he had 30 tracks ready to go. They picked about half of them and released The Love Experience, his exciting debut. It immediately attracted attention for the way that DeVaughn would bring modern touches to the old school flavor of soul. Still, it's tracks struggled to climb the charts.

In 2008, DeVaughn released his sophomore album to critical acclaim. Love Behind the Melody had more of an R&B influence, and many of its songs appeared on the Billboard charts. "Customer," undoubtedly the most popular, ranked 11 on the Hot R&B/Hip-hop Songs chart. With guest appearances from a variety of well-known R&B personalities--including Scott Storch, Chucky Thompson, Orthodox & Ransum, Kwame and Bryan-Micheal Cox--plenty of new fans flocked to record stores to pick that album up.

Now touring internationally, Rhaeem DeVaughn is on top of the world and producing some of the most exciting soul-based work out there.