Luke James Boyd (born June 13, 1984) is a singer, songwriter, and actor from the United States. He began his musical career as a background singer for R&B superstar Tyrese, when he met and was taught for several years by Renowned producers The Underdogs, together with an acquaintance, Quentin, under Luke & Q. Clive Davis signed him immediately to J Records and he later created songs for artists such as Chris Brown, Britney Spears, and Justin Bieber. #Luke, James’ first mixtape, was released in 2011. The critically acclaimed tune “I Want You” from the mixtape got him a nomination for Best R&B Performance at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. In 2012, he published his second mixtape, Whispers in the Dark, as a free music download, similar to his first.
James released “Drip” in August 2017, and A$AP Ferg remixed it three months later. James released his second album “to feel love/d” on January 31, 2020, marking his comeback to music after a two-year absence to focus on acting. BJ The Chicago Kid, Ro James, Big K.R.I.T, Kirk Franklin, and Samoht performed on the album, which was published in collaboration with his manager Jonathan Azu’s record label and management organization Culture Collective. “to feel love/d” was nominated for Best R&B Album at the 63rd Grammy Awards on November 24, 2020.
In his acting career, he played R&B singer Johnny Gill in BET’s The New Edition Story, a 2017 TV biopic of the R&B sextet New Edition. Since then, he’s appeared as Noah Brooks in FOX’s Star, HBO’s Insecure, USA’s Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G., and BET’s The Bobby Brown Story. He will also appear in the third season of The Chi, which will premiere on June 21, 2020.