Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. (born August 11, 1974) is an American jazz singer from Logan County, West Virginia. He received national attention for winning the sixth season of the NBC reality show America's Got Talent.
Murphy was raised in Logan, West Virginia, where his father was a coal miner. His parents divorced when Murphy was eight, after which he moved with his mother, two brothers and two sisters to Detroit, Michigan. He dropped out of school in the 11th grade. Murphy was homeless at age 19, sleeping in his car.
After moving back to West Virginia in the late 1990s, Murphy renewed his childhood friendship with Jennifer Carter. They worked together at a restaurant where she was a manager, and they married in 2005. He worked as a car washer during the months leading up to his TV performances, and after his home had been robbed, he was nearly destitute when he arrived to audition for America's Got Talent in 2010.
In November 2010, Murphy and Carter traveled to New York City for the audition. He was selected as the winner of the show on September 14, 2011, after a performance of "My Way", a song popularized by Frank Sinatra. He won the $1 million grand prize and began a headlining act in Las Vegas on October 28.
After winning, Murphy signed to Sony Records and Columbia Records, and released his first album That's Life on November 21, 2011. The album debuted at #34 on the Billboard 200, selling 28,000 copies, then fell to #41 the next week on the charts. It debuted at number one on the Billboard jazz charts, and also reached #1 in the Jazz category on Amazon.com. By May 2017, the album had sold 156,000 copies.
Many have compared Murphy's vocals and phrasing to that of Frank Sinatra, a singer he has always admired. Many of the tracks from That’s Life are Sinatra standards. Murphy said of the album, "For a lot of music fans, especially older people, I can bring back some happy memories. And hopefully I can create new memories for generations to come."
That's Life was produced by Steve Tyrell, himself an aficionado of Sinatra's music.
As part of his AGT prize, Murphy headlined a show at the Colosseum Theater at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Other tour stops include the Apollo Theater in New York, the DTE Energy Center in Detroit with The Temptations, headlining appearances at the West Virginia and California State Fairs, a Super Bowl appearance, a televised performance at The Hollywood Christmas Parade and a string of sold-out headlining shows across the USA (many supporting local charities). Major media appearances have included The Today Show, Anderson Cooper, The View, The Talk, The Wendy Williams Show, Fox and Friends, CNN, The Tom Joyner Show, Scott and Todd on WPLJ, and Good Day LA, among others.
He has also sung the national anthem at Madison Square Garden, WVU's Mountaineer Field, prior to a West Virginia University/LSU matchup and at several other public events. In 2017, he continues to give concerts
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