Jon Batiste, born November 11, 1986, in Metairie, Louisiana, grew up in a musical family tied to the New Orleans scene. He began performing at age eight with the Batiste Brothers Band, starting on drums before switching to piano. After graduating from the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts in 2004, he studied jazz at The Juilliard School, earning a BM in 2008 and MM in 2011. His debut album, Times in New Orleans, was released in 2005. Batiste's style blends New Orleans jazz with funk and rhythm and blues. In New York, he formed the band Stay Human around 2005 with peers including bassist Phil Kuehn and drummer Joe Saylor. The group released the EP My N.Y. in 2011 and Social Music in 2013. Batiste served as bandleader and musical director for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert from 2015 to 2022, performing nightly with Stay Human. Notable releases include We Are (2021), which earned Grammy Awards for album of the year and five others in 2022, and American Symphony (2022). He won an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA for the Soul soundtrack (2020). Batiste is known for energetic live performances emphasizing human connection through music.