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Raheem DeVaughn (born May 5, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter. He signed with Jive Records to release his debut album, The Love Experience (2005), which entered the Billboard 200, while his second album, Love Behind the Melody (2008), peaked at number five on the chart and yielded critical acclaim. The latter's first two singles, "Woman" and "Customer", both entered the Billboard Hot 100; the former was nominated for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. His third album, The Love & War MasterPeace (2010), peaked within the Billboard 200's top ten and served as his final release with Jive.
His fourth album, A Place Called Love Land (2013), was released by Entertainment One Music and peaked at number 22 on the Billboard 200, while his fifth, Love Sex Passion (2015), peaked at number 31. DeVaughn released his sixth album Decade of a Love King on October 19, 2018. On June 28, 2019, DeVaughn released The Love Reunion, his seventh studio album, featuring the lead single, "Just Right".
He graduated from High Point High School in Beltsville, Maryland, an unincorporated section of Prince George's County. DeVaughn had an epiphany early in his college career at Coppin State University in Baltimore, when he saw a group of street corner singers and began harmonizing with them. DeVaughn said his focus became music: "Before I knew what was going on, I was... cutting class to write lyrics and record". His focus turned to becoming a professional singer.
DeVaughn's first solo single released on a major label was the song entitled "Guess Who Loves You More", his second single was "You". DeVaughn's first Jive Records release The Love Experience, was acclaimed, selling around 250,000 units. While promoting the album, DeVaughn took to wearing a crown and cape at shows, a ploy to make himself stand out, calling himself the "Underground King." Around this time, DeVaughn also began making appearances at different shows in D.C. with artists such as Wes Felton and Asheru of Unspoken Heard, hiding his face behind a hooded sweatshirt performing under the alias Chronkite. Felton comments that that alter ego was engendered for complicated reasons: "Chronkite represents that part of every artist who started what they're doing singing in front of a mirror as a child with a brush in their hand. At that time, it was based love, the initial attraction that draws you to music. In his business, unfortunately, your passion, your love, your individuality as an artist, can be stripped away the further you get into it."
DeVaughn has been compared to Dwele, Van Hunt, D'Angelo, Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder. DeVaughn has described himself as a "R&B hippie neo-soul rock star," a take on the difficulty media types have classifying him. Although Jive has been thrown considerable weight behind his recent album, DeVaughn doesn't leave promotion duties entirely to his label: "I'm my best marketing tool. I'm building the brand Raheem DeVaughn. I have to do it." He worked on the street to spread the word around, sold mixtapes of unreleased material to build hype, and provided impromptu shows at local venues. In another act of self-promotion, DeVaughn made an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in late January, wearing a shirt that read "Grammy Nominated on the front" and "Love Behind the Melody-- In Stores Now" on the back. He also appeared on the late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!, performing "Woman" on January 18, 2008.
His song "Woman" was featured as iTune's single of the week the week of January 27, 2008 and received a nomination for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for the 2008 Grammy Awards.
In 2008, he was featured on T-Pain's song, "Reality Show" from the album Thr33 Ringz. The song also featured Jay Lyriq and Musiq Soulchild.
His song "You" was featured in the 2008 video game Grand Theft Auto IV.
DeVaughn was nominated for "Best R&B Album" in the 2011 Grammy Awards.
In September 2013, DeVaughn released his fourth studio album A Place Called Love Land on new label Mass Appeal Entertainment. The first single released from the album was "Love Connection".
On March 3, 2014, DeVaughn released a mixtape for free download titled King of Loveland.
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