About AJ Born Arnet Jerome Diggs on June 5th 1956 to Eula Mae Johnson & William Kessler Diggs in Philadelphia, Pa., I learned music at an early age. In this family of 10, all of my brothers and sisters either sang or played an instrument. Inheriting the love for all types of music (i.e. gospel, jazz, R&B, and entertaining) from Mom, who had the voice of an angel depending on how I acted...lol, and Dad, who I discovered later played guitar and sang quartet gospel. I started a musical journey that hasn’t waned even though it’s taken all of the changes in direction that musicians take. I was fortunate to survive the streets of Philadelphia, a few starter bands, a post Viet Nam military period, a marriage or two, being a single parent to a talented, high functioning, mildly disabled son and numerous losses of family members. The most recent being my brother Terrence on April 6th. I'm currently the father of 2 daughters, Yolanda & Maleka and a son Arnet Jr. I took violin lessons in the 3rd grade only to find that the cello squeaked a lot less. I played cello all through my school years, became a music magnet student and was good enough for 2nd seat “All City Orchestra” during high school. Also during that period, I had practiced long and hard enough to learn bass, guitar, drums, piano, theory, composition and acoustics. Over the years since school, my influences had grown from the Mozart I studied, through the 60's & 70's Motown eras to the more prevalent and progressive sounds of the electronic 80's & disco. My major influence and mentor was my brother Vincent, a percussionist and singer in a 70's band called The Interpretations. He also played with Grover Washington Jr and was with the team that mentored Pieces Of A Dream. I ventured into virtuosity and began to listen to composers and performers like Jimi Hendrix, Motown's James Jamerson, Earth, Wind & Fire, Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield, Quincy Jones, Larry Graham, Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, Victor Wooten ( and the list goes on). My repertoire became virtually endless and includes a great deal of rock with was also prevalent during my musical growth. I also watched enough tv to develop an interest in theme songs and movie scoring and arrangement. I ended up being the MD for the majority of the bands I performed with because of my training in music and have several students to my credit. I left Philly in 1988 and relocated to South Carolina then moved to North Carolina in 2006. I’ve performed with several national and international artists like, The Blue Notes, The Dreamlovers, The Ambassadors, Bill Pinkney and The Original Drifters. I have played for icons like the Johnny Rawls, the Late Chick Willis, Blues ladies like Barbara Carr and Priscilla Price thanks to the mentorship and business acumen of blues legend, Greensboro resident and my friend, Roy Roberts. This world class entertainer has made it possible for me to become an international entity with our tours overseas to perform at The Cognac Blues Festival in France, where I was honored to meet and chat with guitar legend George Benson and Billboard Live in Tokyo where we backed William Bell which is still my favorite gig. I am still in the Roy Roberts Band along with the Greensboro based bands, House Of Dues and Soul Central. AJ and Company was formed by me in 1999 while residing in South Carolina. My current cd, “Already In Progress” is still making moderate progress in the beach and blues markets and is available @ CD Baby, Amazon , Soundclick, Spotify, Number1Music and most digital download platforms.... ...and of course from me. You can expect a new cd from me soon and I’ll see you @ the show. PEACE, PROSPERITY & ONENESS ............................AND MUCH LOVE, AJ Diggs Sr