As J*Davey, vocalist Jack Davey and producer D'LEAU draw from soul, funk, hip-hop, and new wave. Prior to forming the duo in Los Angeles in 1999, D'LEAU learned to produce while tinkering with his father's studio equipment. Jack, originally from from St. Louis, Missouri, was in a group that was signed to MCA but failed to release anything. For several years, Jack and D'LEAU, the self-proclaimed "black Eurythmics," worked the live circuit and built their reputation and a unique following. They made substantial strides on the recording side of things, scoring music for television shows CSI: New York and Entourage. The duo's recording appearances and collaborations began to accumulate in the mid-2000s. A cover of Frank Zappa's "Dirty Love" appeared on the 2006 Ubiquity label compilation Rewind! 5. Early the following year, the duo signed with Warner Bros. -- a deal that proved to be fruitless and short-lived. Later that year, The Beauty in Distortion/The Land of the Lost was issued independently. The duo ultimately thrived on its own with self-released EPs Boudoir Synema (2009) and Evil Christian Cop (2011), as well as the album New Designer Drug (also 2011). Later in the 2010s, the duo continued with the EPs Rookie (2014) and POMP (2015). Throughout their alliance, both individually and together, they performed and recorded with a variety of artists, including Sa-Ra, Thundercat, the Roots, 4hero, Miguel, and even Mariah Carey.