Miguel Jontel Pimentel (born October 23, 1985) is an American singer and songwriter who specializes in contemporary and alternative R&B. Raised in San Pedro, California, he began pursuing a music career at age thirteen. After signing to Jive Records in 2007, Miguel released his debut studio album, All I Want Is You, in November 2010. Although it was underpromoted upon its release, the album became a sleeper hit and helped Miguel garner commercial standing. The albums second single, “Sure Thing” experienced moderate success upon release, but became a viral phenomenon in 2023; peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and ultimately becoming his most commercially successful song to date.

After Jive’s dissolution in 2011, he moved to RCA Records and released his second studio album, Kaleidoscope Dream, in 2012 to critical acclaim. In June 2015, Miguel released his third album, Wildheart, which also received critical acclaim. His fourth studio album, War & Leisure, was released in 2017 to further acclaim. Miguel incorporates R&B, funk, hip hop, pop, rock and electronic styles into his music, and has been compared to vocalists Babyface and Prince.

Miguel Jontel Pimentel was born on October 23, 1985, and raised in San Pedro, California. He is one of two sons of an African American mother and a Mexican American father. Miguel’s parents divorced when he was eight years old. At a young age, Miguel was introduced to the older R&B his mother listened to, and his father’s musical tastes, including funk, hip hop, jazz and classic rock.

In eleventh grade, Miguel was introduced by a friend to a member of the production company Drop Squad, and he subsequently spent the rest of high school learning his way around a recording studio before seeking a record deal. Miguel is also close high school friends with rapper Blu, who also lived in San Pedro.

Miguel signed a production deal with Drop Squad in 2000. In 2004, he auditioned to be part of the group Fatty Koo, but their label, Columbia Records chose someone else to complete the sextet. Later in 2004, Miguel was signed by independent record label Black Ice and started working on his studio album, Young & Free. It was scheduled to be released on November 30, 2006, but was ultimately shelved. Black Ice released the single “Getcha Hands Up” with a video debut on 106 & Park, but Miguel decided to change his sound and image and walked away from Black Ice Records.[16] He later said in an interview for LA Weekly, “We shot a video, and if you ever see it, you will laugh your ass off. I have a fitted hat on and a white T-shirt and baggy jeans. I was 19 years old and it was the first time anyone had ever given me money.”

That album was a huge learning experience. I left the marketing of my album and me as an artist up to the discretion of the label. They marketed me like the typical R&B artist, which I can’t really blame them for, because that’s what they know. But that’s not what my lifestyle was.

For nearly a year, Miguel’s manager at the time submitted several songs to music mogul Mark Pitts; after receiving a song titled “Sure Thing”—which Miguel described as a “highly personal … record that no one was ever supposed to hear”—Pitts scheduled a meeting with Miguel in October 2007. The following month, Miguel signed a recording contract with Jive Records. Miguel recalled that the signing of his contract took place in a “very small room in a very small office in a small corner of the building at Jive”. After being signed, he recorded his debut album All I Want Is You, but was sued by Black Ice for breach of contract. Consequently, his album was not released for two years. In 2007, Miguel also contributed vocals to three tracks on the debut collaborative project of Blu and Exile, Below the Heavens, appearing under the moniker “Miguel Jontel”.

For the following three years, he contributed to Usher’s Here I Stand and Raymond v. Raymond, as well as Asher Roth’s Asleep in the Bread Aisle and Musiq Soulchild’s “IfULeave”. Miguel also released Mischief: The Mixtape; he explained that the title referred to his attempt to “[tell] people that there is an alternative to getting sort of the same thing”.

After his protracted contract dispute with Black Ice was settled, All I Want Is You was released in November 2010. It initially performed poorly, debuting at number 109 on the Billboard 200 on 11,000 copies sold, and was under promoted by Jive, amid the label’s dissolution. The album’s title track attained radio airplay, while Miguel toured as a supporting act for Trey Songz and Usher. Its following two singles, “Sure Thing” and “Quickie”, performed well on the charts, After falling off the chart for three weeks, All I Want Is You became a sleeper hit, as it re-entered the Billboard 200 and climbed the chart for 22 weeks, before peaking at number 37 on May 14, 2011. It ultimately spent 45 weeks on the chart, and sold 404,000 copies in the US.