American singer, songwriter and producer Charlie Puth, 23, got his big break on video sharing website YouTube, after he and fellow student Emily Luther teamed up to enter a singing contest. The singers had to create the most popular version of Adele’s hit song, Someone Like You, and the duo recorded a rendition that quickly went viral online, attracting thousands of hits.
As a result of this quick success, they appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres chat show, and found themselves being signed up to her record label, eleveneleven, for an intense ‘development deal.’ Since then, Puth has had two hugely popular singles, See You Again, which he wrote and appeared on alongside Wiz Khalifa and the tune
Marvin Gaye, which features relative newcomer Meghan Trainor. While only making it into the top 25 in the US, Marvin Gaye topped the charts in the UK, New Zealand and Ireland, as well as taking the number four spot in Australia. Puth and Trainor are now preparing for a tour to increase their fanbase and shoot them further into the musical stratosphere.
Puth has since left the label eleveneleven and signed with industry heavyweight Atlantic Records, following his release of two independent albums, The Otto Tunes in 2010 and Ego in 2013. He has also been credited with the writing and production of songs for other YouTube stars, including Shane Dawson, Vlogger tribe the Shaytards and Our 2nd Life member Ricky Dillon.
Puth, who now lives in Los Angeles, California, having moved from his native New Jersey, recently tweeted an answer to fans who had enquired about his unusual eyebrows. Puth said that he had endured a near-death experience as a result of a head trauma when he was a child, and said that his eyebrow scar was due to a dog bite when he was just two years old.