JONATHAN "JONJO" JOSIAH(born January 3rd) has been a noteworthy leader in the music industry for over 20 years.You may know him from his work as a distinguished artist, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and musical contributions of many high profile celebrities. He was raised by his teenaged Puerto Rican mother and Columbian father in jersey city, NJ. Growing up in northern Jersey, music and sports played a major part of his childhood. By 10th grade, his dreams of playing in the MLB or NBA were cut short due to low grades and poor attendance. He decided it was time to drop out of school to pursue his music career and hit the streets... thats where he picked up his name J-Merk aka Merk Montes.
In 2008 he linked up with urban latin recording artist, "De La Ghetto" and "Alex Kyla" to form a new music group called, "Massacre Gang." They dropped various mixtapes and successfully managed a 36 city tour over the next 3 years. In 2012, Jonathan went solo and connected with world renowned king of Reggaeton, "Daddy Yankee" where he landed a management deal with "Cartel Records" forming a new crew called "Cartel Boyz."
In the midst of strategizing his career as an artist (which was taking off at lightening speed), he had a supernatural encounter where he first met Jesus Christ. His eyes were immediately opened to a new spiritual realm, he now felt guilty and discouraged about his vision as an artist. Although he carried this new weight, he didn't let that slow him down and continued to pursue his career co-writing and producing records with DY and other world renowned artists.
In 2016 after getting married, J-Merk (now Jonathan Josias), began to feel overwhelmed and frustrated with the direction the "Cartel Boyz" was heading. So he prayed about it and lo and behold, his prayer was answered. The message revealed, he was to dedicate his artistic talents to making music in the name of Jesus and only for the kingdom of god.
This new revelation led him to collab with Christian hip-hop recording artist,"YP aka Young Paul." In 2018, they dropped their 1st album together called, "Love over Hate." Although he was making music for the lord, he was still struggling with giving up some areas of his lifestyle. " I had the lord in my heart and in my mind, but I didn't give him all of me completely... I was still trying to hold on to some of my lifestyle," says Jonjo.
In 2020, he got baptized and left "J-Merk Montes" dead in the water and rose up as,
"JONATHAN JONJO JOSIAH," a bond servant of Jesus Christ. Now completely surrendered to the lord, he is excited to go into a new season with the lord releasing his first single,
"THANKS AND PRAISE" off his debut album titled, "CROSS MY HEART AND HOPE TO DIE."
With the vision now crystal clear and the direction of this young man, it's only right you stay tuned into this man of gods new journey for 2020 and beyond as he continues to follow the beat of Jesus... "O,Yeah!!!"
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