Project: Plan B

20 year old, Andre “A.J.” Fequiere was born on February 15, 1989. Though he spent his early years in Brooklyn, New York he grew up in the beautiful Pennsylvania Pocono Mountains. Andre's musical talents are not just god giving it's literally in his blood tracing back to his grandfather, who was an original member for the popular group "Kool & The Gang" and also the son of Hip-Hop legend rapper/producer “Kangol Kid” of mid 80’s rap group, UTFO (“Roxanne, Roxanne”) fame. The musical DNA has led him to follow in his dad’s footsteps as young vocalist and song-writing producer himself



At the early age of four A.J made his first T.V and stage appearance on NY’s “Video Music Box” with his then R&B group, “Under 18” which included his older relatives (his brother T.Shaun and cousin Tamia). They then appeared in Black Beat Magazine as up & coming vocalists and performed on TV’s “It’s Showtime at the Apollo” with host/comedian Steve Harvey. After the groups disbanded A.J. continued to enjoy the center stage, and has appeared as a guest on the short-lived talk show “Iyanla”. He kept his vocals is tip-top shape as a lead member of his gospel choir and has caught the acting-bug from lead roles in school plays.



In the summer of 1998, there was a sudden rise of gang activity in his Brooklyn neighborhood which forced his family to leave and move to Pennsylvania’s beautiful Pocono Mountains. Stripped of the hip-hop culture he knew and loved, he took his “Brooklyn street savvy” along with him and maintained his connection to their culture through his uncles who supplied him and his brother T.Shaun with new Hip-Hop/R&B CD's, monthly. Years later, as they became sub-urbanized teenagers, they noticed that fellow students from neighboring school districts (who were also stripped from the streets of New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia) shared a similar appetite for current Hip-Hop music. Immediately, the brothers hopped at this business opportunity and dubbed copies of these CD's for their fellow Hip-Hop deprived classmates for a profit. This was the beginning of SoundStorm Academy. The brothers became so popular that A.J. ran for Student Council President and won with his “Reach for The Stars” campaign, filled with celebrity endorsed posters featuring pictures of himself with “Destiny’s Child”, “Will Smith”, “3LW”, “City High”, “Carson Daly”, . . . and more.



In the winter of 2003, “SoundStorm Academy” was officially formed and designed to service fellow students with up & coming Hip-Hop and R&B music. The success of the company led them to two great opportunity's first one being word traveling to New York City’s SONY URBAN MUSIC A&R Executive Joseph Cerini. Joe was so impressed he offered the brothers a position as interns which later led them to also interning for Yvette Noel-Schure (publicist for singer/actress Beyonce), thereby making them the youngest interns in the company. The next being capturing the attention of the Black Entertainment Television Network (BET). After making an appearance on BET’s The Center, A.J. and T.Shaun were recognized as the nation’s youngest entertainment executives. That appearance included A.J.’s former singing group "YungFellaz"(referred to by SoundStorm as “Plan A”). Shortly after that appearance, Plan A grew impatient and dissatisfied with A.J.’s leadership and later terminated him and his older brother’s guidance. By this time, A.J.’s desire to be a performer had diminished until BET 106 & Park’s “Wild Out Wednesday” (W.O.W.) creator Pat Charles called SoundStorm and requested an appearance from their R&B group to participate in a televised talent competition. With no such group currently under the umbrella, SoundStorm accepted the BET request and formed what is known today as “Project: Plan B”.



With only two months to prepare, then 19 year old SoundStorm Academy President T.Shaun recruited T.C. and E-Touch as new members, negotiated product endorsement deals with SouthPole/LOT 29 Clothing and 310 Footwear, assembled a music production team which included a vocal coach and arranger and later a choreographer. Two months later, Project: Plan B won the semi-finals and later won the championship as BET W.O.W. 2006 Best Male R&B Performance. Shortly after their win, Project: Plan B opened for artist such as: Marques Houston, Omarion, Nick Cannon, Sammie, Black Buddafly and more. They became the official spokes models for Pennsylvania’s “In Your Reach” Recycle Campaign and appeared in XXL’s Hip-Hop Soul Magazine. PPB also teamed up with Bow Wow's female rapper “Miss Nana” for a Myspace single release entitled “WHO?” and where models for D.Vizionz Apparel which featured the group in several national magazine ads. Project: Plan B later disbanded after T.C.'s decision to pursue his career elsewhere leaving A.j. to depend on the only thing that can't easily break up or leave him, his family.



A.J. is currently filming a reality show with his family entitled "Yo Kangol" showing this musically talented families work ethic, day to day together etching their name in stone as the next family dynasty. With all the talents A.J. possesses song writing has by far become the strongest talent in his arsenal. He's writing songs for other artist including his own, under the SoundStorm Academy umbrella. T.Shaun and A.J. determined to make 2009 a great year for the label with leaked T.Shaun records making the internet go crazy and new artist K.O.P smash single "Uga Uga Shh" on the rise. Expect a storm of great things this summer, because "The Storm Is Coming!"