Keedron Bryant

Keedron Bryant emerged as a youthful R&B and gospel performer hailing from Jacksonville, Florida, seizing global notice during May 2020 through an a cappella clip in which he performed “I Just Want to Live,” a composition penned by his mother to protest the fatal encounter between Minneapolis police and George Floyd. At just twelve years of age, his evident skill combined with the clip’s rapid spread secured a contract from Warner Bros., prompting the label to issue a fully produced rendition one month afterward.

Although born in Sicily, Italy to a pair of ministerial parents, Bryant spent his formative years in Jacksonville, where his vocal aptitude surfaced early. In the opening months of 2020 he appeared on the NBC variety program Little Big Shots. Upon viewing footage of Floyd’s death, Johnetta Bryant drafted the lyrics to “I Just Want to Live” and shared them with her son the same evening; Keedron fashioned a melody and uploaded his own rendition the next day. The resulting performance resonated across social platforms, quickly turning into a rallying expression amid the wave of demonstrations against racial injustice and police violence that summer, drawing vocal support from Barack Obama, LeBron James, and Lupita Nyong’o.

Producer Dem Jointz, moved by the recording, supplied instrumental accompaniment that drew Warner Bros.’ interest, leading the company to sign Bryant and launch the studio version of “I Just Want to Live” the following month in alignment with the Juneteenth observance on June 19.