Well who could forget that Chris Rene’s first audition in the first season of singing talent reality show The X Factor America!! Rene’s performance impressed every single audience and the judges of the show by singing one of his original songs “Young Homie”. Rene got four ‘yeses’ from the Show Judges L.A Reid, Nicole Scherzinger, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell and following that, Rene had sheded tears on the stage.
“Yeah, it's been nine months now,
Haven't had a drink and I'm starting to see clear now,
I'm putting all my fears down,
I can hear the cheers now,
Seeing peace signs when I look around.”
The lyrics of “Young Homie” contains heavy subject matter and is reflective of Chris’s personal life. Rene wrote the song prior to auditioning for the first season of the American version of The X Factor. He performed the song a total of three times on the show - at his first audition, during the top nine performance show and during the show's final. The singer had shot to stardom on YouTube with his X Factor audition racked up 1.7 million hits on the website in just three days.
Chris says "Young Homie" is "about learning how to be a grown-up”. "When you're young, you feel like there's no limit, no consequences to your actions. So it's me talking to my younger self and to all the young brothers out there, telling them that life's too beautiful to live like that." the singer added.
“Young Homie” is the first single from Rene's debut studio EP I’m Right Here and, following its release the song reached number one in the New Zealand singles chart.
In the song Rene sings how he hadn’t touched a drink in nine months and how he had started to see clear then. And if you have seen the music video of the song, you can easily identify with the peace signs he’s talking about. The Homie’s in the video are flashing the two fingered peace symbol everywhere.
Chris, though finished third overall in the singing talent competition, The X Factor, the song “Young Homie” ultimately led him the immense fame and fan following. Following that, he signed a record contract with Sony Music and even released an album.
On the personal front, Rene has a son Ryan whom he fathered with his longtime girlfriend, Melissa Sheree Stansberry. He also has another son named Elijah who lives in a foster care. For the first two years of Elijah’s life, the singer did not know about him. His long-lost son later learnt Chris is his biological dad. Elijah's foster parents have since allowed Chris to spend time with him, but they had earlier told the child that Chris is a close family friend.
This young singer, songwriter, musician and producer from Santa Cruz, California, is a former drug addict and alcoholic who was just ten weeks sober when he auditioned for The X Factor. He was a trash collector in his home town before he made it big in the music industry.
Rene is grandson of Leon Rene, a famous composer of R&B and rock and roll songs between 1930s and 1950s and a founder of a number of record labels including "Class" and "Rendezvous Record Company". He is also famous for writing “Rockin’ Robin”, a hit for Bobby Day and for Michael Jackson while, his father was a jazz pianist and a singer. Rene’s sister Gina is also a singer and a record producer.
The sources mention Rene was interested in music since his childhood and also performed in school groups. He first began playing music in punk bands at age 12 and had went on to become a local star in the hip-hop scene. Well, seems like he was born to be a star!!