Destined Universal

Vernon Owen Dykes III (born April 30, 1991), professionally known as Destined Universal, is an American Pop/Dance singer-songwriter. He is best know for his role as producer on the tribute project, Legendary: A Decade of Stacie Orrico.
After appearing alongside JoJo and Nina Sky in the 2011 Girls Who Rock benefit concert for She's the First & an endorsement from celebrity teen blogger Baz Bendell (birth name Daric Richie), Universal is now set on the release of his national and international singles "Lovelife" and "Luv U Betta" on January 31, 2012.
Early life
Vernon Owen Dykes III was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and raised primarily in Sicklerville, New Jersey. He is the eldest of five children. Vernon started singing by the age of two, and penned his first song (a Gospel medley) at the tender age of six. He also particapted in church choirs until his mid-teens.
After going through a series of different stage names, Dykes settled on "Destined Universal," verfying the name stood not only for his background, but also described his music.
After a couple years of label hunting, Universal decided to further pursue his music career as an independent artist. In late 2008, Universal met Jaquan Barnett (Founder/CEO of Beautiful Noize Entertainment, LLC.) in college. The two had "musical chemistry," and a month later Barnett (stage name Artis) became Universal's producer.
Music career
2008-2010: Beginning with R&B career
From 2008 to 2010, Universal worked on a series of projects (Ignition, Sick & Tired of the B.S., Flipping the Script, The Seven Stages of Heartbreak), all of which were discontinued due to personal and financial issues.
After Barnett moved back to the west coast to further his education and expand what would now be know as Beautiful Noize Entertainment, LLC., Universal found himself stuck. His music career was discontinued for a while to finish his education.
2010: Legendary: A Decade of Stacie Orrico
In May 2011, Destined Universal presented the idea of starting a tribute project, celebrating the ten years Stacie Orrico had been in the music industry. StacieOrrico.org adopted the concept immediately and began promotions. Destined released a string of YouTube videos for the occasion. The project would eventually gain the name Legendary: A Decade of Stacie Orrico. Fans all around the world sent in their submissions for the compilation. Only five were selected.
On August 29, 2010, Universal released a cover of Orrico's "So Simple" (performed by Adrienne Holland) as the lead single off the project. The single debuted only four days after the tenth anniversary of the release of the Genuine. Intially, Universal was scheduled to do his own rendition of "" for the project, but wasn't able to do so in time.
Legendary was released October 5th, 2010 via Bandcamp. The reception of the project was positive overall, earning 200 hits in its first day. The project ultimately made Destined Universal a common name on the internet, granting him favor within the blogging community.
2011-2012: Baz Bendell endorsement & Love, Pain, & The Dancefloor EP
On June 10, 2011, Universal made an appearance at the 2011 Girls Who Rock benefit concert for She's the First, alongside twin-sister duo group Nina Sky and multi-platinum recording artist JoJo. At the event, Universal announced that he had returned to the studio and was working on yet another solo effort.
One week later, a clip of a song entitled "Luv U Betta" was leaked onto the internet. The one-minute clip was available exclusively through Universal's fan site, Destined Universal At Large. The clip went viral soon after. Universal annouced through his official Facebook page that "Luv U Betta" would be the lead single off of a project he was currently working entitled Love, Pain, & The Dancefloor EP. In October, Universal stated that "Luv U Betta" would be a UK only single and that a new song, entitled "Lovelife" would be released in the U.S. and unveiled the tracklisting for Love, Pain, & The Dancefloor EP.
In November, the "Luv U Betta" sample was then released through Bandcamp and YouTube. The further exposure launched Universal in a media frenzy.
Later that month, Destined Universal caught the attention of celebrity teen blogger Baz Bendell. Bendell quickly adopted Universal as his new musical protegé, promoting and publishing several features on the world-renowned entertainment/ news site Bazaar Daily News. Om January 12, 2012, Bendell announced that Destined would be releasing his singles exclusively through Bazaar Daily News on January 31st.
Influences
Universal has gone on the record to name Jessie J, Stacie Orrico, John Legend, Yolanda Adams, Kirk Franklin, amongst many others as artists who've "paved the way" for artists like him.

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