When Ricky Jarman was a kid, music always seemed to move him to dance.
“I just couldn’t sit still when I listened to music,” Jarman said.
On July 6, Jarman’s years of dancing and singing to music paid off when he won Best Male R&B Artist at the 5th Carolina Music Awards in Raleigh. This was his second nomination and his first time winning. The Carolina Music Awards, like the People’s Choice Awards, selects a winner based on the number of votes each nominee gets.
Jarman, a 2007 North Lenoir High School graduate, said the experience was an adrenaline rush; so much so that much of what he said on stage at the Duke Energy Center is a blur to him now.
“I couldn’t have done this without my fans,” Jarman said. “I don’t remember half of what I said.”
Jarman — the son of Rich and Robin Jarman — grew up in Kinston in a family where rhythm played a key role in everyone’s life. His mother was a dancer, his father played drums and Jarman’s first foray into music came when he sang for his sister’s dance recital.
“I sang for the dance instructor and she said, ‘We’ll put you guys (Jarman and a childhood friend, Bryan Malpass) into the show’,' ” he said.
Jarman would go on to follow in his sister Dani's footsteps and train as a dancer, joining an all-boy’s gymnastics team in seventh grade and taking lessons from hip-hop dancing instructors in the area. In 2006, Jarman was scouted at a talent showcase in Charleston, S.C., to join a boy band in Orlando, Fla., named “UNITED.” The next year, though, two of the group’s members left to pursue solo careers and the project was scrapped.
Though the experience was short-lived, Jarman said it was a valuable learning experience.
“I learned to be self-reliant,” he said. “When you’re in a boy band, you have to work as a team, but the team members have to know how to carry their own load.”
His first two years he calls his “experimental stage.” Jarman’s solo career officially started in 2010 and he now sings alone under the name Ricky Jay (a nickname he picked up while in high school). Last year, he released his first album, “Make it Happen.” Jarman says he hopes to reach people in a “fast-paced” and “confusing” world through upbeat, encouraging and radio-friendly dance music.
“With my music, the stipulation I have is that I won’t (be) cussing,” he said. “You can still be cool without endorsing vulgarity.”
The encouraging themes of Jarman’s songs are a reflection of the man himself, according to his drummer and Hampstead resident, Jacob Paolino.
“He’s one of the most caring guys I’ve ever met,” Paolino said. “But when it’s time to practice, he really turns it on.”
Up until now, Paolino said he’s been in loosely-organized garage bands, playing punk and hardcore music. When he started playing with Jarman, Paolino had to make an abrupt, musical 180-degree turn into the world of mainstream — dance pop.
“I never thought I’d be playing music like this,” Paolino said. “Pop is a lot more straight ahead than the stuff I’ve been playing before.”
Paolino said working with Jarman and the band has been a welcome change, though, as far as band organization is concerned.
“These guys really know what they’re doing,” Paolino said. “This is an actual band. (Jarman) is the real deal on vocals.”
Jarman will be staying and playing in Jacksonville until September, including a performance at Hooligans at 10 p.m. on Aug. 9. Jarman said his next stop is New York City, where a voice can more likely reverberate across the nation, not just around a state. His hope is that the name Ricky Jarman will be on the tongues of music fans from coast to coast.
“I want to be a household name,” Jarman said. “I think to do that, you have to have full confidence in what you’re doing, you have to be morally grounded and you have to continue to innovate.”
Free Press Staff Writer Jon Dawson contributed to this report.
Want to go?
Ricky Jarman will perform with his band at 10 p.m. on Aug. 9 at Hooligans on Onslow Drive in Jacksonville. For more information, contact Hooligans at 910-346-2086 or Jarman through his website, officialrickyjay.com.