Zo!

Official Biography (courtesy of Zo!)

Zo!(n) -- 1. Metro Detroit-born, Metro DC-based musician/producer Lorenzo Ferguson. 2. An exceptionally talented multi-instrumentalist who claims the piano/keyboard as his primary instrument, but is self-taught on the bass guitar, the drums, and most recently the guitar. 3. A Musical Architect who utilizes all sound elements to form original compositions that can be classified under no single genre of music.

With a catalog that dates back to 2001, Zo! began to generate interest in his music by completing and circulating five instrumental projects from 2001 through April of 2003. He began to receive the most attention from two particular titles - Zo! Presents...Passion & Definition (2004) and remix album Re:Definition (2005). Passion..., released in July of 2004, is a soul-driven instrumental album that boasts a 21-track lineup of thick low-grooving rhythms that all possess a wonderful warm quality. Both albums thoroughly showcase Zo!'s ability to expand musically as he plays all of the different instruments live.

Though largely known for his solo work, Zo! has collaborated with a variety of artists from the likes of Finale, Slum Village, Asylum 7, YahZarah and Sy Smith to Asheru, Kev Brown, Platinum Pied Pipers, Little Brother, and The Foreign Exchange. In 2004 he teamed with producer Waajeed of the Platinum Pied Pipers (PPP) to play keys on the lead single "Stay With Me" featuring vocalist Tiombe Lockhart, which appears on their debut album Triple P.

After relocating from Michigan to Maryland on February 10, 2006, ...just visiting was released the following month. This vinyl-only release contains six tracks of remade classics, including "Caught Up In the Rapture", "Free," and "Star of the Story". At the end of 2006, Zo! completed the production work for yet another instrumental album entitled Freelance, a 15-track creative spectrum of work once again showcases Zo!'s abilities not only as a talented multi-instrumentalist, but as a dedicated composer who has a deep appreciation for the art of creating music.

During the production of ...just visiting, Zo! met and began working with Phonte of Little Brother as 2005 came to a close. Little did they know, they were building a working foundation for what would lead to larger-scaled future collaborations with Zo! contributing production work to Little Brother on their 2007 Getback album ('When Everything Is New') and The Foreign Exchange's acclaimed 2008 Leave It All Behind LP ('If She Breaks Your Heart'). In the summer of 2008, Zo! and Phonte released their limited edition CD (2500 copies) and ode to 80's music entitled Zo! & Tigallo Love the 80's.

On New Year's Day 2009, Zo! joined up with Detroit emcee Asylum 7 to create a collaborative '1 Producer / 1 Emcee' project entitled Overdue Process, which can be found and purchased on iTunes and the Tasteful Licks Records site.

One can catch Zo! rocking the keyboards with the DC band The ELs (who also double as the touring band for The Foreign Exchange), playing keys and bass for the Platinum Pied Pipers, or playing keys for vocalist/musician AB.

On November 3, 2009, Zo! received more attention by releasing the sequel to ...just visiting entitled ...just visiting too, which features vocalists Sy Smith, Carlitta Durand, Phonte, and Darien Brockington. ...just visiting too, comprised of seven classic records ("Nights Over Egypt," "Perfect Angel," and "Highways of My Life") received an excellent response from the net accumulating more than 20,000 downloads in its first two weeks of availablilty. The Roots' drummer, Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson was even spotted on Twitter the night after JV2's release sending the link to several 'important' followers of his stating, "Meet @zo3hree5ive (Zo!), your favoritistist producer, the evidence? (...just visiting too link provided)"

Zo! recently released his highly anticipated solo project SunStorm,  working with artists such as Phonte, Sy Smith, YahZarah, Rapper Big Pooh, Darien Brockington, Lady Alma, Jesse Boykins III Carlitta Durand, Eric Roberson and Monica Blaire. Zo! has also recently contributed keyboard work to producer/musician Nicolay's 2009 release, Shibuya: City Lights 2 ("Shibuya Station" and "Wake Up In Another Life") and production ("Shadow"), keys work, and bass playing ("Why Dontcha Call Me No More") to YahZarah's new album, The Ballad of Purple St. James.