2022 MAIN STAGE ENTERTAINMENT

Regarded as one of the music industry’s most innovative music producers, Joseph “Jo Blaq” Macklin has quickly become a light of his own in the music industry. Known as a rare “100 percenter” in his industry, he is a sought-after songwriter, vocalist, instrumentalist,and producer.

Jo has worked with many of the mainstream artists of our time. In 2015, he was nominated for a “Best Pop Vocal” Grammy for his vocal production work on Ariana Grande’s My Everything Album. Jo was again nominated for two Grammy’s in 2016 for the vocal production on Tim Bowman’s Listen album and Jill Scott’s Woman album.

Over his genre-spanning career, Jo has worked with artists such as: Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Anita Baker, Justin Bieber, Cruz Beckum, Mario, Big Sean, B5, Chris Brown, 98 Degrees, Jasmine V, Next, Kendrick Lamar, B. Smyth, Evan Ross, Jordin Sparks, Shaunice, and more.

Specifically, Jo executive produced LeToya Luckett’s (a founding member of Destiny’s Child) Until Then album as well as Disney actor and artist Olivia Stuck (star of Disney’s XD series Kirby Buckets) album.. He worked with “June’s Diary,” Kelly Rowland’s (another founding member of Destiny’s Child) girl group, producing music for the show “Chasing Destiny.” It wasn’t his first forray into producing for a television series. In fact, from 2017 to 2018, he produced music for the hit show Empire.

Jo splits his time between Los Angeles and Kansas City, making a point to cultivate local talent. He co-founded a record label, DISTRKCT, which has produced albums by KC-based artist Effie (Curve My Enthusiasm, 2020), Kimberly Keys, Adrian the Truth, Sweets and many more.

Blaq’s long-anticipated solo album is due to be released in fall 2021.

 Jo is a native son of “WYCO” (Wyandotte County, Kansas), and is the youngest of 3 “preacher’s kids.” Although his musical interest and talents existed then, as a kid, Jo excelled on the basketball court, as well. Jo was ranked as one of the top basketball players in the state of Kansas, hailing from the dominant Washington High School. He went on to play Division 1 College Basketball at the University of Texas-San Antonio, and would later continue his collegiate career at Colorado State. He played professional basketball in Australia before returning home.

Today, Jo’s passion is to bring music and light to his community, and his calling is giving back to the Kansas City Metro area, his hometown. He invests his time, money, and energy into local initiatives, including the first-ever Christmas tree lighting and Christmas of Diversity concert in the historic 18th & Vine Jazz District and the rehabilitation of the Quindero Museum, which houses houses historical artifacts from the African-American community. Jo has served as the event music producer for ther American Jazz Museum and has taught music theory and coding classes through the Full Employment Council and University of Central Missouri—for free. The classes offer metro-area teens paid internships and access to Jo as a mentor.

Jo’s focus is on building a musical and social culture that provides a space for every man, woman, boy and girl to live their dreams—and that especially includes his three-year-old son, Micah.

● Justin Bieber

● "All That Matters"

● "Change Me"

● Ariana Grande

● "Almost Is Never Enough"

● "Better Left Unsaid"

● "Piano"

● "Right There"

● "Right There [feat. Big Sean] (7th Heaven Radio Mix)"

● "Right There (Ralphi Rosario Radio)"

● "Too Close"

● "You Don't Know Me"

● Jill Scott

● "Fool's Gold"

● Empire (Fox Network) [Writer, Producer & Vocal Producer]

● "Heart of Stone"

● "Momma I Love You"

● "I Got You"

● "Crazy Crazy"

● "Free Freda"

● "Play The World"

● "Throne"

● Serayah

● "So Good"

● LeToya Luckett

● "B2L"

● "Grey"

● "Show Me"

●"Disconnected"

● "Use To"

● "Weekend"

● "Worlds Apart"

● "Higher"

● Elijah Blake

● "6 Year Old"

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● Evan Ross (Writer & Producer)

●"How To Live Alone"

● Kierra Sheard (Writer & Producer)

● "Save Me"

● 98 Degrees

● "Make Life Easy"

● "Invisible Man"

● Al Japanese MegaStar (Lady Gaga of Japan) [Writer, Producer & Vocal Arranger]

● "After The Storm"

● "For You"

● "Top Of The World"

● "Hands Up"

● Propain

●"Complicated"

● Travis Garland

● "Twilight"

● The Game

● "Art Of War"

● Single Ladies (VH1 Network)

● "Don't Make Me Wait"

● Love & HipHop Atlanta (VH1 Network)

● "Confused In Love - Ariane Davis"

● American Girl (Amazon Network)

● "Love Has To Win"