Vendor Writing

Volunteer Spotlight: IJ Quinn III

BY NORMA B., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR

IJ Quinn III moved to Nashville in March of 2022, he’s from the small town of Warsaw, NC.

He’s been volunteering with The Contributor for about three months.He says he wanted to help people he saw on the street, and he felt this was the best way for him to do that.

So how did he find The Contributor ?

He moved into an apartment around the corner from where the paper is located (154 Rep. John Lewis Way), he walked up to the church, and asked about volunteering with them.

In his short time here, he’s learned he REALLY enjoys helping people. He feels it’s a part of his purpose, and he plans to continue!

So what does he plan to do with what he learns from here? He has you might say he has GREAT EXPECTATIONS!

He wants to take his experience here and use it to help others not only locally but on a GLOBAL scale.

There is SO much more to IJ than his ‘volunteer spirit’, and his desire to help others.

A bit of a nomad, IJ left his hometown and lived in Chicago for eight years from 2003-2011. A record deal and a divorce led to another move to a move to Los Angeles, Calif., in 2015.

In the short time I spent with him I can tell you he’s a colorful individual with many aspirations.

He came from humble beginnings growing up on a hog farm in Warsaw, NC.

Perhaps because of his upbringing, or maybe in spite of it, he became a self-taught musician, who enjoys ALL genres of music.

He was in the blinds round of The Voice, which eventually led to a record deal.

Early in his career he recorded his music in Columbia, SC with The Beach Music Circuit featuring Bill Pinkney and the Drifters, Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs, and Percy Sledge. He even played the Alabama Theater with with Jeff Cook a founding member of the group Alabama.

He formed the band Future Feats that was together from 2007-2019 (pre-pandemic) and had recorded eight albums both EP (Extended Play) and LP (Long Play) under his own name and the stage name Josh Quinn.

He was even featured on Friday Night Lights with a song titled “When They Want It The Most.”

He’s toured the US and Canada with the likes of The Kooks, The Wombats, Matt and Kim, Betty Who, Young Blood Hawke.

Anyone who comes to Music City to make it in the music business can attest to the fact that IT’S NOT EASY!

IJ knows that all too well. He was eventually dropped by his label, his agent, his entire team, but all was not lost. He didn’t stay down.

He’s currently working with Mark Needham on a new album! Proof that you can’t keep a good man down!

His aspirations don’t end with music though. He would also love to try acting, directing and producing as he enjoys being both in front of and behind the camera.

More than anything IJ’s message is one of LOVE, he’s wants to lift up humanity until there are equal rights for ALL!

As he strives to accomplish his lofty goals he will indeed prove to be a “global superstar!”