Rising singer Daniel Caesar blazes trail with celebrity fan base

NEW YORK — What do Stevie Wonder and Kylie Jenner have in common? They’re both fans of rising R&B singer Daniel Caesar.

The golden-voiced Canadian singer, who also counts Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Rick Rubin and Erykah Badu as admirers, has built a strong celebrity fan base, thanks to his smooth, soulful R&B sound.

Caesar calls Wonder “one of my favorite songwriters of all-time,” and said meeting the iconic musician left him starstruck.

“He came in and asked to hear (my) song again. And that was probably the craziest part to see Stevie Wonder vibe out to a song I wrote,” Caesar, 22, recalled. “I was very shook. … I’ll never forget that moment.”

Caesar’s encounter with Jenner was similar. She attended a listening party for his full-length debut album, “Freudian,” released in August.

“I was honored. She’s really dope, very down-to-earth. She introduced herself to me the first time I met her,” he said. “She’s like, ‘Hi, my name’s Kylie.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah. I know.’”

“Freudian,” the follow-up to several EPs, debuted at No. 16 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart. The project was produced by Matthew Burnett and Jordan Evans, the duo who produced Eminem’s Grammy-winning No. 1 hit “Not Afraid,” as well as songs for Drake and others. Burnett and Evans also manage Caesar.

Caesar released “Freudian” independently, though he said he and his team met with major record labels to see their vision.

“We’d go to the meetings and some were good and some weren’t as good,” said Caesar, thinking that the label executives “can’t possibility care about what we’re doing as much as we do.”

“We decided to bet on ourselves. And