George Tandy, Jr. was born and raised in Virginia where he learned to play several instruments. His stepmother, Candi, a vocal coach and artist developer, encouraged him to move to Florida to pursue singing, songwriting, and playing keyboards while working as a hip-hop dancer. Tandy later found work as a barista at Starbucks, where he gave a copy of his demo to Cima Georgevich, a frequent customer who was also the CEO of RedStar Entertainment. The label signed Tandy and released his debut single, "March", in September 2013.