Dana Vaughns

After spending his childhood working as a singer, actor, and dancer -- his big breakthrough arrived in 2009, when he appeared in Hannah Montana: The Movie -- Dana Vaughns was best known as a member of the boy band IM5, with whom he launched his career as an adult pop singer with the EDM-influenced "Underneath" in 2018. A native of a Pittsburgh suburb, Vaughns fell in love with entertainment at an early age, taking dancing and singing lessons before he turned ten. His parents decided to have their son pursue his show biz dreams, so Vaughns and his mother relocated to California. Dana's first break was being hired to perform in Kidz Bop, which led to various appearances in movies, TV, and commercials around the turn of the 2010s, including the 2009 Hannah Montana: The Movie. Shortly afterward, he was hired to be part of the boy band IM5, which was quickly whittled from a quintet to a trio featuring Vaughns, Cole Pendery, and Gabe Morales. IM5 never scored a hit, but they appeared in the 2013 series MyMusic, which led to Vaughns being in the 2014 series #Bandcamp. After a quiet few years, Vaughns resurfaced in 2017 with the piano ballad "Feelings," which became a streaming hit and helped establish him as an adult artist. The slick electronic pop of 2018's "Underneath" fared similarly well, and over the next year, he issued a string of singles including "Sweet Tea" and "Rough Rider," both of which were included on his debut EP, Familiar Strangers, in late 2019. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine