Van Hunt Age, Girlfriend, Children, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Van Hunt

• He grew up in Ohio, U.S., with his single mother.

  

  A childhood picture of Van Hunt with his mother in the 1970s

• His father was friends with Jimmy ‘Diamond’ Williams, the drummer of Ohio Players, a music band.

• When he was 7 years old, he started playing drums and learned to play the saxophone at the age of 8.

• Later, he learned to play the bass and keyboards. Reportedly, the guitar was the last instrument he learned.

• During his college days, he played guitar in a rock band called Royalty.

• He lived in Arlington, Texas, for a short time, and then moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1996.

• In Atlanta, he made some hip-hop demo songs for local rappers to earn money.

• During this time, he met many prominent music producers and artists, including Dallas Austin, Jermaine Dupri, and TLC.

• Hunt then wrote and produced the song ‘Hopeless’ for singer Dionne Farris, who worked in the group Arrested Development.

• Hunt played guitar and keyboards in Dionne Farris’s band.

• In 1977, the song ‘Hopeless’ was used in the film Love Jones.

• In 1999, Hunt wrote songs with Rahsaan Patterson for Patterson’s music album Love in Stereo.

• That same year, he also co-wrote songs with Cree Summer, including ‘Mean Sleep,’ for her album Street Faërie, which was produced by Lenny Kravitz.

• In 2000, Hunt recorded many songs for his debut album, Van Hunt.

  

  The cover of the music album Van Hunt

• After that, music producer Dallas Austin showed Hunt’s recordings to Capitol Records, which signed him in 2001.

• His first music album, Van Hunt, was released in February 2004. The album had singles like ‘Down Here in Hell (With You),’ ‘Dust,’ and ‘Seconds of Pleasure.’

• That same year, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance.

• In 2002, he worked on the song “Missing You” with Joi, an American singer-songwriter and record producer.

• Hunt met Randy Jackson through Dionne Farris, and later that year, Randy Jackson became Hunt’s manager.

• His second album, On the Jungle Floor, was released in 2006 and was co-produced by Bill Bottrell.

• This album included the single ‘Character,’ a new version of ‘Mean Sleep’ as a duet with Nikka Costa, and a cover of ‘No Sense of Crime’ by The Stooges.

  

  The cover of the music album On the Jungle Floor

• Hunt has toured and performed with various popular musicians such as Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys, Boney James, The Roots, Seal, Angie Stone, Coldplay, The Brand New Heavies, Dave Matthews Band, and Kanye West.

• In 2006, Hunt appeared with Nikka Costa in the music video of the song ‘If I Had No Loot’ from the album Overnight Sensational by Sam Moore.

  

  The cover of the music album Overnight Sensational by Sam Moore

• He was also featured in the music video of the song ‘Half the Fun’ from the album Act Your Waist Size by Count Bass D.

• In 2007, Hunt won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and shared this award with John Legend and Joss Stone for their cover of ‘Family Affair’ by Sly & the Family Stone.

• The song was featured in the 2006 tribute album ‘Different Strokes by Different Folks.’

• After receiving the Grammy Award, Hunt said that winning the Grammy was one of the biggest pleasures he’s had.

  

  Van Hunt after receiving Grammy award

• Hunt moved from Atlanta to Los Angeles in 2007.

• On 7 August 2007, Hunt released a 4-song digital EP titled The Popular Machine.

  

  The cover of the digital EP The Popular Machine

• That same year, he announced that on 15 January 2008, he would release a music album titled Popular with Blue Note Records.

• However, Blue Note cancelled Hunt’s contract after some changes at its parent company, EMI.

• In December 2007, Blue Note said that they would not release the album, and Hunt and the label agreed to end their partnership.

• In January 2008, Hunt announced on his MySpace blog that the album would never be officially released.

• Blue Note owned the album’s master recordings and did not sell them back to Hunt for a low price.

• Hunt said that he thought the label did not have enough money to promote the album well.

• A noted media house, LA Weekly, called the album a ‘trippy mix of funk, punk guitar, and soul vocals’ and a ‘left-field stunner.’

• During a media conversation with Creative Loafing, an Atlanta newspaper, Hunt said that he felt ‘devastated’ when the label dropped the album.

• In August 2017, his music album ‘Popular’ was released officially on online music platforms, 10 years after it was first shelved.

  

  The cover of the music album ‘Popular’ (2017)

• In June 2008, Hunt was working on his fourth album. He announced that he had planned to release and promote it himself using the Internet.

• Hunt shared updates about this new way of working on his MySpace page.

• He toured the U.S. in July and August 2008.

• In May 2009, he released a music album titled Use in Case of Emergency, which had demos, remixes, and B-sides from 1997 to 2005. He made it available on his website.

• In 2009, Hunt sang the theme song ‘Be on Our Way’ for the film Hurricane Season.

  

  The poster of the theme song ‘Be on Our Way’ form the film Hurricane Season

• That same year, he was writing a book of short stories called Tales of Friction, based on his life.

• In July 2009, during a media conversation, he said that he planned to release one more album and go on tour again, but was unsure about his plans after that.

• On 16 July 2010, Hunt performed at a tribute to Curtis Mayfield during the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta.

• On 14 June 2011, Van Hunt announced on Twitter that he would release his new song in 3 years. The song ‘June’ was released on 15 June 2011 at midnight through Mike Ragogna of The Huffington Post.

• After that, he announced the title and release date of his next album, What Were You Hoping For?

  

  The cover of the music album What Were You Hoping For

• The same day, a long article about the song, the new album, and his new approach was published on the Music Remedy website.

• Van Hunt then released the album under his label ‘Godless Hotspot’ in partnership with distributor Thirty Tigers.

• He released online several free songs, including ‘June’, before the album launch.

  

  The cover of the music album ‘June’

• In July 2011, he released the album’s first official single, ‘Eyes Like Pearls.’

• In 2014, Van Hunt shared updates about his new album through PledgeMusic.

• In May 2015, he released his music album The Fun Rises, The Fun Sets. Before the album was released, he shared a new song called ‘Vega (Stripes On)’ on iTunes and Amazon.

• After that, he released a song titled ‘Old Hat.’ The album reached number 31 on the US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

  

  Van Hunt on the cover of the song ‘Old Hat’