Ryan "PREZ" Prescott is an American music artist, songwriter, and music executive. He is best known for being an R&B solo artist, as well as a former member of the American all-male five member Pop/R&B music group DIVERSE. History Early life to 1997: Prescott began singing at the age of 5, often performing at his church and also in school music performances as he continued on towards his high school years. In 1997, he began writing songs and collaborating with notable commercial music artists such as Tamia, Jennifer Lopez, and the late Aaliyah. 1997-2001: Aspiring solo career to joining DIVERSE In early-1999, while studying music in college and trying to land a record deal with a major label, Prescott met during the same music business course they were both taking at the time. The two quickly became friends, and Pasquin invited Prescott to go and watch a rehearsal that Pasquin was having with a Pop/R&B music group Pasquin had recently formed along with friends Mazzy Matin, , and Michael Link. While Prescott was attending the rehearsal, he joined in singing as the group was harmonizing together. Pasquin and the other three members then invited Prescott to join the group as its fifth member after recognizing that Prescott's vocal style was the missing piece they were seeking in order to fully complete the group's vocal sound. Prescott quickly decided to put his aspiring solo career on hold and officially join the group. The group's five members then chose "DIVERSE" as the official name of the group since most of them were from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. DIVERSE signed a management and music production deal with H2O Entertainment a few months later during the Summer of 1999. Some of H2O's music executives had helped the young R&B music group Imajin land a deal with Jive Records a few years beforehand. Imajin had achieved worldwide commercial success with their Billboard Top 25 hit song . Soon after signing with H2O, DIVERSE began writing songs and performing publicly at different venues throughout the Tri-State area while waiting to land either a full or development deal from one of the major record labels located in nearby New York City. 2001-2006: Leaving DIVERSE and joining Rocket Records as a solo artist After performing together for over 2 years and gaining a sizable fan base in the Northeast, DIVERSE had still yet to land a deal with a major record label. In October 2001, both Link and Veenstra decided to leave the group in order to focus on other endeavors outside of the music industry. Matin shortly followed thereafter in order to focus on a songwriting career, and then Prescott himself decided to leave DIVERSE so that he could once again concentrate on landing a major record deal as a solo artist. Shortly after all of the other members left DIVERSE, Pasquin decided to start up his own Independent record label and begin a career as a music executive. In January 2002, Pasquin officially launched the label, which he named Rocket Records. Still trying to obtain a major record deal for himself, Prescott officially joined Rocket Records as a solo artist under the name "PREZ" a month after the label's initial launch. Veenstra meanwhile had decided to return to the music industry at about the same exact time, and he promptly joined Rocket Records as its Vice President. Veenstra helped Prescott write a few songs for Prescott's upcoming debut solo album, which was due to be released during the Summer of 2002. The lead single from the album entitled "Ease My Mind" was officially released to radio on May 7, 2002. The single failed to break into . On July 16, 2002, Prescott's debut album which was self-entitled "PREZ" was officially released. The album failed to break into at any point following its release, and a second single off of it called "What's That About" was released to radio on August 13, 2002, but failed to break into Billboard's Hot 100. On October 29, 2002, a third and final single off of the album called "Secretly Crazy" was released to radio, and it as well failed to break into Billboard's Hot 100. 2006-present: Joining Siri Music to current ventures While both Prescott's debut solo album and its three commercially released singles did not perform well on the charts, Prescott was able to write and collaborate on some songs with Chauncey Jackson, who would later go on to found the Siri Music Group, a record label directly underneath Universal Republic Records, itself a record label that is wholly owned and distributed by the Universal Music Group. This collaboration ultimately resulted in Prescott moving on from Rocket Records and joining Siri as both an artist and songwriter shortly after Siri's initial launch in 2006. Upon joining Siri, Prescott decided not to work on material for his own second album and instead focused on writing songs for up-and-coming artists signed to Siri. Prescott also assisted Jackson and his Siri team in writing songs for popular commercial artists such as Tamia (who Prescott had previously helped write for years earlier) and Jessica Simpson. By 2008, having never released a second solo album, Prescott decided to discontinue his career as a music artist, opting instead to write songs for developing artists on a full-time basis and also to focus on other things outside of the music business. As of 2013, Prescott is mainly involved in ventures outside of the music business, mostly in the clothing and fashion design industries. In late-2011, Prescott's friend and former fellow DIVERSE group member officially re-launched Rocket Records after having placed the label into hibernation from 2007 to 2011. Teaming up with 2-time Grammy-nominated music producer Tim Coons and entertainment attorney Daniel R. Fallon, Pasquin successfully re-launched Rocket Records in late-2011 and the label quickly began doing some work with notable commercial music acts such as Backstreet Boys member Howie Dorough. Besides being nominated for 2 Grammy Awards, Coons had earned much acclaim for being the original music producer of the Backstreet Boys, as well as directly helping to launch the careers of some other highly successful commercial music acts such as NSYNC, JoJo, Jesse McCartney, Colby O'Donis, and others. Prescott continues to write songs and also help mentor developing music artists signed to Siri, Rocket Records, and other notable record labels. He resides in New York City.
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