PJ Morton Visits The Giant Step Office

Stopping by the Giant Step office last Friday before his Studio 8 Lounge show on Sunday, we sat down with soul pop artist PJ Morton. If you don’t know about this artist, you will.

A native of New Orleans, LA, 25-year-old PJ Morton began playing the piano at the age of eight. By age 14, he was already writing and producing and has gone on to become a Grammy-award winning writer and producer, working with such greats as India.Arie and Fred Hammond and recently teaming up with Jermaine Dupri to co-write for Heather Headley, Monica, Jagged Edge and LL Cool J. Impressive as it may sound, what really sets him apart is his independent nature and do-it-yourself approach as an artist. Putting together a 14-city tour on his own and releasing his debut album independently, which sold more than 10,000 copies, PJ Morton definitely gives further proof that working with a major label isn’t always needed nor the best route.

So what’s next for PJ Morton? Moving to NYC next month, playing on July 6th at the Harlem SummerStage and putting together a “Welcome to NY” party, a full-length album is slanted to be released sometime at the end of this year. While his previous release was more soul than pop, this time around, soul takes a back seat to pop. From what we have heard so far, soul is still very much a part of his sound, where influenced as much by Stevie Wonder as by the Beatles and James Taylor, for PJ Morton it is “all about the songwriting and trying new things.”