Biography

Contemporary R&B singer/songwriter Eric Bellinger earned his first contract as a recording artist, but he advanced his early career as a songwriter. Beginning in 2009, he co-wrote dozens of songs for high-profile artists including Chris Brown, Brandy, and Justin Bieber. In 2014, he released his debut album, The Rebirth, followed by a pair of EPs and the first volume of his Cuffing Season series. 2018 saw the release of Eazy Call, his third studio long-player and first to hit the Billboard 200. 2019's double-album sequel The Rebirth 2 yielded the Chris Brown- and OG Parker-assisted hit "Type a Way." He remained busy at the start of the next decade, releasing the 2021 solo album New Light, as well as two collaborations with Hitmaka, 1-800-Hit Eazy: Line 1 & 2. A Compton, California native, Bellinger starred as a running back on his high school football team and earned a scholarship to play for and attend the University of Southern California. Around the same time, the Epic label presented him with a recording contract. Bellinger opted to go with music, but his career advanced more as a songwriter than an artist. From 2009 through 2013, he co-wrote dozens of songs for high-profile artists, including two cuts on Chris Brown's Grammy-winning F.A.M.E., Brandy's "Without You," and Justin Bieber's "Right Here." Two of his biggest hits came with Usher's "Lemme See," which reached number two on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and Brown's "Fine China," a number ten R&B/Hip-Hop hit. Meanwhile, Bellinger worked on solo material such as In the Meantime and the three-volume Born II Sing series of mixtapes. In 2014, he released The ReBirth with appearances from past collaborator Sevyn Streeter, Kid Ink, and Sage the Gemini. Among its several singles were the Kriss Kross/Ohio Players-sampling "I Don't Want Her" (featuring Problem) and "9 Lives" (featuring Too Short and Ty Dolla $ign). In the run-up to the release of his anticipated follow-up, Bellinger issued the pre-album teaser mixtape Choose Up Season before announcing the release of Cuffing Season in 2015. A second volume of the latter was issued just a few months later. Bellinger returned in 2016 with the mainly acoustic-sounding EP Eric B for President: Term 1. The more varied-sounding follow-up Term 2 appeared at the beginning of 2017. The following year saw the release of his third studio long-player Eazy Call -- the title was derived from his "It's Eazy" ad-lib. In September 2018, Bellinger and rapper A.D. issued the collaborative album Nine as Poncho Belly & Dizzle. After closing out his year with the holiday single "Kisses on Christmas," he returned in early 2019 with the double album The Rebirth 2, which included the hit "Type a Way" featuring Chris Brown and OG Parker. A second full-length, Saved by the Bellinger, appeared in September of that year and was followed two months later by Cuffing Season 3. 2020 was devoted largely to smaller releases like the third EP in his Eric B for President series and collaborative projects including Scenarios with Chase N. Cashe and Optimal Music with Nieman J. Bellinger. He kicked off 2021 with 1-800-HIT-EAZY, a collaboration with Hitmaka, and returned in September with his own solo album, the Grammy-nominated New Light, which featured guests like Brandy, Teedra Moses, and Kierra Sheard. The solo single "Obsession" appeared in 2022. In February 2023, he was back with Hitmaka for their follow-up album, 1-800-Hit Eazy: Line 2. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi