To be honest, few would have predicted the business prowess of Jamie Foxx.  His breadth of talent was not obvious from his previous performances in “The Jamie Foxx Show,” “In Living Color” or Booty Call. The Texas-bred comedian shocks life into figures that many of us fail to be mindful of, and he’s shown us that genius magic that was right in front of us the whole time.

Through Ray, Foxx was identified as authentic talent.  To a degree that no matter where he went from that point, nobody could ever take that away, like Pacino in The Godfather, DeNiro in Taxi Driver, and even Hoffman in The Graduate. Now, Foxx has taken it upon himself to revive R&B.

When you take a minute to think about it, Foxx is doing what even Eddie Murphy or Elvis Presley could not accomplish… move seamlessly between stage, screen and music chart.  In December, Foxx released his third album, Intuition, which held the #1 spot on the Billboard Charts for six weeks and sold more than a million copies.  The ironic “Blame It” has radio stations enthralled.  This boy has come a long way from Terrell, Texas.

Some interesting brand tidbits about this powerhouse:

1.  Jamie Foxx was a high school football star in Terrell, 30 miles east of Dallas.

2.  Before the film, Ray Charles and Jamie Foxx engaged in a two hour piano duel.  Afterwards, Charles proclaimed, “He’s the one… he can do it.”

3.  Foxx received a scholarship to United States International University in California, where he studied classical music and composition.  Hence the ease with which Foxx also performs brilliantly in The Soloist with Robert Downey, Jr.

4.  Jamie Foxx was born Eric Bishop and has taken his name from “the funniest man alive on television,” according to Jamie… Redd Foxx.  Eric is Jamie’s Clark Kent to his Superman.

5.  “In Living Color” was the brainchild of the Wayans family and jumpstarted the careers of not only Jamie Foxx, but Jim Carrey and Kim Coles.  The variety show hosted an entire rainbow of comedic talent from Chris Rock to Rodney Dangerfield.  Every show opened with a hip hop dance sequence from the “Fly Girls,” whose most noted member, J-Lo, and choreographer, Rosie Perez, have become multicultural legends.