Rayvon Owen

Rayvon Owen (born June 27, 1991) is an American musician from Richmond, Virginia and came in fourth place in the fourteenth season of American Idol.^[2] He released his EP Cycles August 26, 2014 prior to the contest, and his official single "Can't Fight It" in February 2016. Owen served as the host for TBS's reality competition series The Sims Spark'd.

Early life[]

Rayvon Owen was born in Richmond, Virginia living with his single mother and one sister. He graduated from the Henrico High School Center for the Arts and Belmont University and worked as a singer and vocal coach.

Music career[]

2014: Early career[]

Rayvon has his own music video, "Sweatshirt" which premiered in November 2014. He also has a debut EP Cycles.

2015: American Idol[]

He auditioned for the fourteenth season of American Idol with "Wide Awake" by Katy Perry and was chosen for Top 24 and eventually Top 12. After being in the bottom three in the top 11, (which guaranteed two people would be eliminated), Owen was deemed safe. Owen was in the bottom two for five consecutive weeks, but emerged victorious, thanks to the Idol Twitter Fan Save, where the bottom two perform and fans vote on Twitter for who should advance. Owen was the only recipient of the fan save in the entire season earning him the nicknames "Twitter King" and "Comeback Kid".^{[citation needed]} Owen finished in fourth place and was included on the Idols Live Tour.

Performances and results[]

• ^Note 1 When Ryan Seacrest announced the results in the particular night, Owen was in the bottom 3, but was the only contestant declared safe as both Adanna Duru and Maddie Walker were eliminated.
• ^Note 2 When Ryan Seacrest announced the results for this particular night, Owen was in the bottom 2, but was declared safe by Twitter vote as Daniel Seavey was eliminated.
• ^Note 3 When Ryan Seacrest announced the results for this particular night, Owen was in the bottom 2, but was declared safe by Twitter vote as Qaasim Middleton was eliminated.
• ^Note 4 When Ryan Seacrest announced the results for this particular night, Owen was in the bottom 2, but was declared safe by Twitter vote as Joey Cook was eliminated.
• ^Note 5 When Ryan Seacrest announced the results for this particular night, Owen was in the bottom 2, but was declared safe by Twitter vote as Quentin Alexander was eliminated.
• ^Note 6 When Ryan Seacrest announced the results for this particular night, Owen was in the bottom 2, but was declared safe as Tyanna Jones was eliminated.

2016-present: New music[]

On the Valentine's Day weekend of 2016, Owen debuted a new single, "Can't Fight It" written with Mylen, Nate Merchant, and Isaiah Tejada. The accompanying music video acts as his official "coming out" as gay, sharing a kiss at the end with LGBT activist Shane Bitney Crone.^[3][4] Owen told Billboard: "You’d be surprised at the amount of times I tried to pray the gay away from me or tried to tell God to take this away from me. No kid should have to do what I did and pray to not be who they are. That’s why I think it’s important even in 2016 to say this."^[5]

In January 2018, Owen was picked as Elvis Duran's Artist of the Month. He was featured on the Today where he performed his single "Gold."^{[citation needed]}

Personal life[]

On February 14, 2016, Owen premiered a music video for his song "Can't Fight It", at the end of which he kisses a man.^[6] That same day, Owen's interview with Billboard was published in which he came out as gay.^[7] One day later Shane Bitney Crone, who is featured as the romantic lead in the music video, announced that he and Owen are a couple.^[8] On March 3, 2018, they announced they would be getting married, after Crone proposed to Owen on stage at a Demi Lovato concert.^[9]

Discography[]

EPs[]

Singles[]

• 2016: "Can't Fight It"
• 2018: "Gold"
• 2020: "Space Between" (with Blair St. Clair)

Digital singles

References[]