Toledo-born soul singer Lyfe Jennings rose to No. 3 on rhythm and blues charts a few weeks ago with an album packed with positive lyrics addressing subjects such as domestic violence and warning "If he don't respect you girl, he gonna forget you girl."
But in the very week last month that sales of "I Still Believe" peaked, the 37-year-old singer was sitting in a jail in Cobb County, Ga., sentenced to 3 1/2 years in a two-year-old case that stemmed from a domestic dispute.
In a dejected tweet to fans on Twitter just as his album was cresting behind works by Eminem and Fantasia Barrino, Jennings wrote: "This will be my last post. To everyone who gave me a chance I am forever in your debt. I have had a fabulous career because of you ..."
The Warner Brothers Music artist, with prior albums in 2006 and 2008 that topped R&B charts, previously had announced that "I Still Believe" would be his last album.
Ironically, Jennings' blog on Myspace still carries information about a 21-city album-promotion tour which would have included a stop in Cleveland on Sept. 28 before concluding in Atlanta on Oct. 13. He began serving his sentence Sept. 22 after pleading guilty in a courthouse in Marietta, Ga., to fleeing police and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, according to records on the Web site of the Georgia Department of Corrections.
It is another sad chapter in the up and down life of a young musician who used his good looks and singing talent to overcome an early criminal record in Toledo.
Jennings, whose first name is Chester, was 18 when he accompanied a group of friends to a house on Nebraska Avenue in 1992 to seek revenge against a rival drug dealer who was competing for business with a member of the group.
One of the men threw a firebomb inside the house, which killed a 25-year-old mother of six. The men later learned that they had struck the wrong target.
Jennings' lawyer said Jennings had no role in the fire-bombing and his client went to the site thinking the men were only going to vandalize the target's car. Still, he was found guilty of arson and served 10 years in prison.
After his release in late 2002, he began pursuing a recording career under the name Lyfe Jennings.
His first album, released in 2004, was "Lyfe 268-192," borrowing his inmate number for the title. He eventually moved to New York and later Atlanta.
The incident for which Jennings now is serving time occurred in October, 2008.
After arguing with the mother of his children, he attempted to follow her to a relative's house in Smyrna, Ga., where he broke down the door, fired shots in the street, and then led police on a 90 mph chase that ended when he crashed his 2005 Corvette, the Marietta Daily Journal reported.
Two years later, he pled guilty to multiple charges arising from the incident, and told the judge at sentencing Sept. 22: "I did what I did and there's punishment for it. And I have a lot of remorse for it," the newspaper wrote.
Character witnesses praised the positive messages contained in his music and said that he had been a mentor for young men and was trying to help them make good life choices.
Neither his agent at the William Morris agency nor his publicist at Warner Brothers responded to a request for comment Thursday.
His Atlanta lawyer, Don Samuel, spoke to Jennings recently and reported to staff that "he is in good spirits under the circumstances," Dianna Cole, the attorney's paralegal assistant said Thursday.
Despite Jennings' legal trouble and apparent contradiction between the message of his music and his lifestyle, his fans apparently aren't giving up on him.
"Thank you for your lessons and encouragement," one fan wrote on his blog. "Chester, you are engaged to the world. Remember, everyone has a purpose who is born. In time the sun will shine once again on you ..."
Contact Gary Pakulski at gpakulski@theblade.com or 419-724-6082.
First Published October 29, 2010, 5:29 a.m.
