JERSEY KID HITS # 1
Puth, 23, tops charts with ‘ See You Again’
Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi, meet New Jersey’s freshest musical star: Charlie Puth.
The 23yearold Atlantic Records singersongwriter hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on Wednesday for “See You Again” — a song written with rapper Wiz Khalifa fromthe “Furious 7” soundtrack.
The song appears at the end of the movie in a scene showing the late actor Paul Walker driving off into the distance.
“I started crying” when I heard the news it hit No. 1, Puth told The Post in an interview on Wednesday. “A song I co-wrote in 10 minutes in Hollywood had gone to No. 1.”
Puth, from Rumson, NJ, was signed to Warner Music’s Atlantic label less than a year ago and said he was shocked when the song was selected for the movie soundtrack, given Warner’s many talented songwriters.
Kevin Weaver, Atlantic’s head of film and TV, helped get the song on the CD.
In the label biz, Warner Music’s gain is Ellen DeGeneres’ loss.
Originally, Puth was signed to the talk show host’s eleveneleven label after she spotted him on YouTube singing Adele songs.
Puth, a graduate of the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston — whose alums include Al Di Meola, Melissa Etheridge, Donald Fagen, John Mayer and Psy — has gained 80,000 new fans on social media ( Instagram and Facebook) in the last week, he said.
That’s why he had to make private his personal videos, he said.
Warner’s team swooped in after seeing him perform on “Ellen”— and learned he had becomea free agent.
Puth, who took piano lessons and listened to his parents’ records— including those of artists like the Carpenters and the Isley Brothers— hit the big time thisweek not just in the US but also around the globe.
“See You Again” was No. 1 in 26 countries and, on April 13, Spotify said it broke a record for the most streamed song in a day — with 4.2 million listens.
Puth describes his music as “soul-ful pop.” He now lives in Los Angeles after extending his stay during negotiations with Warner. His next offering, called “Marvin Gaye,” is a duet with “All About That Bass” singer Meghan Trainor.
In May, he’s releasing an E. P. and is working on a yet unnamed CD. Puth says he’s stuck for a title, though a summer tour with Trainor is all set.
First stop: New Jersey.