July 16: Singer & actor James Maslow- Big Time Rush – is 23-years-old today.

 

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James David Maslow was born in New York City, New York on July 16, 1990, and raised in La Jolla, California. At the age of six, he sang in the San Diego Children's Choir. Later, he attended the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts until 10th grade, then switched to Coronado School of the Arts (CoSA) specializing in musical theater. He graduated in 2007.

James had a small role in the San Diego Opera's production of La bohème when he was 10 years old. He attended acting camp at the La Jolla Playhouse, got his first agent when he was 14, and performed as Marius in a production of Les Misérables.

He made his television debut in 2008 as Shane in the iCarly episode, "iSaw Him First.” He also appeared in @urFRENZ, in which he portrayed a character named Brando. Maslow filmed an episode of See Dad Run, the Nick at Nite series, portraying the role of actor Scott Baio's former TV son, Ricky.

Musically, Maslow is the principal voice of the group, Big Time Rush - a pop singing group that formed in 2009. The other three members are Kendall Schmidt, Carlos Pena, Jr., and Logan Henderson, all on vocals. Nickelodeon cast for the new sitcom in 2007. Maslow sent in his audition tape and received the role of James Diamond two years later.

James and his bandmates have recorded many songs, which include the theme song, "Big Time Rush,” "Any Kind Of Guy,” "City Is Ours,” "Halfway There,” "Famous,” "Shot in the Dark,” "Stuck,” etc. An album including original songs was released in October 2010, entitled B.T.R. It was certified Gold by the RIAA in April 2011.

In November 2011, the band released their second album called Elevate which sold 70, 000 copies on its first week. Maslow and his band mates co wrote eight of the 12 songs. Maslow wrote "Elevate,” "Love Me Love Me" and the first single from the album, "Music Sounds Better With U.” The UK version of the album included a bonus song called "Epic" which he also helped write.

Maslow and Big Time Rush released their third album called 24/Seven in early 2013. He was recently featured on a song by YouTube rapper MattyB entitled "Never Too Young" and a cover of Justin Timberlake's Mirrors by YouTube singing group Cimorelli, both released in June 2013.  

James stars in two upcoming films for 2013: Getaway and The Frozen Ground. Maslow is set to make his theatrical film debut in the upcoming action film Getaway starring Ethan Hawke and Selena Gomez.

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For more about Big Time Rush, visit their Website at –

http://bigtimerush.wikia.com/wiki/24/Seven

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