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After spending much of his earlier years as a producer, Jason Derulo decided to get in front of the microphone himself to try his hand at being a solo singer. It ended up being a good career decision for Derulo, as he exploded onto the scene with several hits a little more than a decade ago. Still only in his early 30s, Derulo has been a very popular entertainer and has plenty of good years left, having already sold tens of millions of singles.

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Derulo was born on September 21, 1989 in Miramar, Florida and at just a few years old had shown that he was very gifted musically. “I was an arts kid in every form of the word you can imagine,” Derulo said. “I wanted to sing and dance and act - I wanted to do it all. At a very young age, I was put in performing arts schools where I got to do those things every single day.”

Derulo was writing songs for some big names in the music business when he was still just a teenager, while studying his craft as a performer that included dancing and singing. Finally, Derulo was given his shot at the big time when he was signed to Beluga Heights Records, kickstarting his career.

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Derulo’s debut album was a self-titled one that was released in March of 2010, selling more than 300,000 copies. His first single from the album, “Whatcha Say”, also became his first number one song, going platinum multiple times. There were two more top 10 hits from the album, with “In My Head” reaching number five and “Ridin’ Solo” hitting number nine. Two years later, Derulo released his sophomore album “Future History” that was backed by the hit songs “It Girl” and “Don’t Wanna Go Home”.

In 2011, Derulo had met singer Jordin Sparks, who was a few years removed from her win on “American Idol” and several hit songs. The two started a relationship that lasted for a few years before they went their separate ways in 2014. Things seemed to be going well toward the end of their relationship, though, especially when you consider the gift that Derulo had given Sparks.

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On their last Valentine’s Day together, Derulo went all out, buying 10,000 roses for Sparks. It was estimated to have set him back about $16,000. “I only wish I could have fit 10,000 more in here,” Derulo said. “Valentine’s everyday!” Derulo added that “Her favorite color is orange. So they were all orange. Passion Roses took care of me. I knew it was outrageous, but they made it happen for me...She was absolutely overwhelmed and shocked. She was like, ‘I have never seen this many flowers in one place before.’ I was like, ‘Me neither, actually.’”

Derule has released two albums since the start of his relationship with Sparks. In 2013 he released “Tattoos”, and two years later had “Everything is 4”, which ironically enough, reached number four on the Billboard 200. Those albums have produced multiple successful songs, which include “Talk Dirty”, “Wiggle” and “Want to Want Me”. He’s continued to release music, though the mainstream success compared to his earlier work hasn’t quite been there. Derulo has gotten his hand into acting, though, and was part of the ensemble for the 2019 film “Cats”.

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While many popular musicians have massive writing teams helping with their songs, Derulo likes to do a lot of the writing work himself. “I’ve been writing songs since I was eight years old,” he said. “It’s a part of me, and it’s how I got into this business in the first place...At the end of the day, great songs are what people care about. People want to be moved. We all want to go see a great movie because we want to be moved. We want to laugh, we want to cry, we want to feel something. Just like with music.”

At his young age, Derulo still has a lot planned for the years to come and wants to keep pushing hard. “I think the biggest challenge is to continue on the same path. I think it’s easy to become complacent from the success you’ve had,” Derulo said. “I think that by going on the path that I am, my destiny will just come to me...If you think you’ve already made it, that’s when  you can fall short and go backwards. I’m constantly pushing forward and chasing the element of perfection.”