NEW YORK (AP) — After hitting puberty, Johnta Austin lost his record deal and thought his musical career was over. But it wasn’t. The singer-songwriter gave away one of his songs to another performer and it became a hit. Since then, he’s gone on to write more hits for A-list acts including Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Chris Brown, Trey Songz and more. He’s won two Grammys and in 2019 he finally released the debut album he started working on nearly three decades ago. He tells The Associated Press: “It’s been a long time coming.”
