Determined, enthusiastic, energetic, and kind hearted. These are just a few words that are at the tip of everyone's tongue when they are asked to describe the twenty-two year old Charlottesville native, Brandon "FinessE" Luckett. At a young age, FinessE was aware, at least subconsciously, of the saying "Life is ten percent what happens to me and ninety percent how I react to it". Determined and naturally talented, FinessE used his love for music to overcome obstacles many others would have caved under. While his peers indulged in self destructive behavior, FinessE remained dedicated to teaching himself the art of singing and songwriting. Music was his refuge, his salvation and his wings. FinessE, was a member of local and school choirs every since he was a child. He had always enjoyed singing, but it was not until he was inspired by Tevin Campbell's performance in the Goofy Movie, at the age of eight, did he actually consider singing as a career. When he was in 7th grade, FinessE finally got the courage to a sing a song he had spent two weeks writing for a classmate he was fond of. It was the first song he had ever written on his own. All of his hopes came crashing down on him when her initial response to his heartfelt song was uncontrollable laughter. It was then that he started to shrink away from performing in public. His shyness, caused by the embarrassing event, made him obscure his true vocal abilities. For a long time, no one quite knew how beautiful his voice was, not even his family members. A year or so later, FinessE was introduced to Marco Pablo Monterrozo, who at that time went by Dj Finesse.The two young boys became the best of friends as time went by, and it was Marco who was responsible for helping FinessE overcome his shyness and fully take ownership of his natural talent. Marco worked on honing FinessE's singing abilities, as well as taught him how to dance and DJ. They oftentimes brought their turntables to school and competed against each other during recess. FinessE, who at that time went by Static, found a mentor, a best friend, and a singing partner in Marco. His friendship with Marco came at the most opportune time. Just as the two of them were indulging themselves in music and making major strides as young teenagers, things started to go downhill for FinessE at home. He was repeatedly targeted by his mother and got involved in heated arguments. His mother was never supportive of his hobby and did not allow FinessE to practice at home. His relationship with his mother continued to deteriorate and at the age of 17, he made the decision to move out of her house and into his grandfather's house. The only thing that took his mind off of his problems at home was being at school where he sang without inhibition and indulged in friendly competition with Marco. However, that was soon taken away from him. On April 22nd, 2000, FinessE's best friend and confidant, Marco passed away while he was away on a family trip. Completely devastated and overwhelmed by the tragic event, a tearful FinessE announced the news to his choir class the next morning. Things never were quite the same after that. FinessE was so distraught after Marco's death that he lost his singing voice. While most people would give up on singing all together, FinessE remained dedicated and strived to teach himself how to sing again.It took him a year's worth of work to fully regain his mesmerizing voice. Soon after, FinessE started putting together and leading his own singing groups. In a short time, FinessE was the leader of four different groups, Lyrical Voices, Sentamental, God's Gift, and a Go-Go band named TSG. The groups attracted a lot of attention locally, especially from teenage girls. At the time, most of their teenage fans were captivated by FinessE's boyish charm. The groups were unfortunately not able to stay together due to character differences, but they were still valuable experiences that helped build FinessE's character as a leader and a performer. It was in Sentamental that FinessE found one of his current singing partners, J. Smooth. The two met through the Music Resource Center, a program started to give talented teenagers a chance to expand upon their musical skills and be part of a constructive team. This was a great alternative to getting involved in gangs and self-destructive behavior due to boredom. The program provided teens with managerial support, studio time, and other necessities to keep them interested in music.One evening in 2002 Rafael "D'Surg" Oliver, one of the cofounders of SoulT3ec, was recording with J. Smooth and introduced him to FinessE. FinessE soon invited J. Smooth to join Sentamental. When the group fell apart the two of them remained in tact. During that time, FinessE opted to change his name from Static to FinessE in order to carry his late friend's legacy with him wherever he went. He also decided to alter the last letter of his name, and replace it with a sigma, a sign that represents the aftermath or the one corresponding to the original. Even though many of FinessE's acquaintances and friends tried to discourage him from adopting Marco's name, FinessE was determined and convinced that it was the most appropriate way to preserve the memory of his best friend. The two of them combined their talents and names and created their own group, SmoothNessE. The Music Resource Center provided SmoothNessE with the support they needed while trying to hone their skills. FinessE and J. Smooth practiced relentlessly for hours at a time, and continued to write their own original songs. When the two were finally ready to record their first song, "My Heart's in Pain", they asked Rafael, who was head of Black Cardinal Productions (BCP) at the time, to produce it for them. The song was recorded and produced seamlessly, and it marked the beginning of a string of collaborations among the three of them, FinessE, J. Smooth, and D'Surg. While FinessE's musical career continued to expand and grow, his personal life was still wavering. With his mother only a few miles away from him, FinessE found himself still dealing with the aftermath of his deteriorating relationship with his mother. After the death of his grandmother it became increasingly hard to keep FinessE's extended family together, and many lost the sense of togetherness and helping one another. This was a huge burden on FinessE's heart, because it was his belief that families stay together through thick and thin.Most recently, FinessE has had to deal with his growing sense of responsibility towards his grandfather. FinessE watched helpless as his grandfather's health slowly deteriorated from the remorseless Alzheimer Disease. Due to inconsistencies within his family, FinessE oftentimes was the only one responsible for getting his grandfather to the hospital and making sure that they had enough money for all his medication. Naturally, FinessE had to take one, sometimes two fulltime jobs to help keep up with his growing expenses. As a result, his education suffered. A mixture of a lack of funding, and lack of time forced FinessE to put a hold on his education at Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2005, FinessE and J. Smooth added a third member to their group,Chopi. Chopi's Latin heritage was the missing ingredient in their group's sound. The three united and decided to name their group 3RDegree. 3RDegree is now on the cusp of releasing their first album through SoulT3ec. FinessE hopes to continue growing through his music and keep an everlasting relationship with all the members of 3RDegree and SoulT3ec.
