Lyfe Jennings (born Chester Jennings in Toledo, Ohio) is an African American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, record producer, and instrumentalist. He plays the guitar, bass, and piano which he integrates into his music. Jennings began singing at a young age in a Toledo church choir. He later joined a group called The Dotsons with two of his cousins and his older brother, Jay. The group separated in the early 1990s, and Jennings rediscovered music and started a music program at an Ohio prison where he was serving a ten-year sentence on an arson-related charge. He has cited Erykah Badu's 1997 album Baduizm as one of the reasons for his rediscovery.