Kettering grad on a roll with ‘Today’ show song and new single released

Credit: Submitted

Credit: Submitted

A Kettering Fairmont grad has a lot going on.

Colton Jones and  Dani Brillhart , his partner in life and music, just released their first single, a sultry spin on Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On."
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"We've been writing for about two years," Jones said of the song released under the band name NI/CO.
"We finally have a body of work we can release."

NI/CO’s name is derived from the first letters of his first name and the last letters of hers.

The Nashville-based sweethearts, who met during their days at Belmont University, have another song featured in TV and Facebook promos for NBC’s “Today” show.

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Jones’ vocals come through in one of multiple versions of the song  published under the name CO.DA ( the first letters of Colton and Dani).

Jones explained that CO.DA is an alter ego for NI/CO, a pop band that leans toward R&B.

Like Marvin Gaye's "What Going On," Jones, the son of Cox Media Group Ohio Digital Manager Mary Irby-Jones, said NI/CO's version has a message.

“We don’t want to be over political, but we do want to give out a message that everybody wants love,” he said. “Everybody just wants the same thing and they want to be loved and accepted.”

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The first of six videos leading up to the song’s release  was posted to social media June 8.  The last was released Friday, July 13, to coincide with the NI/CO’s release of What’s Going On.”

The song is available on  Spotify  and other streaming platforms.

Other singles will be released.

Brillhart, a native of the Atlanta area,  said “What’s Going On”  is a very personal project.

“The videos subtly reference co-dependence, trauma and racial isolation while leaving room for individual interpretation,” she said in a statement.

The song already has been featured on Spotify playlists, including New Music Friday Denmark, New Music Friday Iceland and De Nye,  a “hits of tomorrow” playlist for Spotify in Denmark.

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Jones grew up singing in church and got an early intro to the music industry as a member of Kettering Fairmont's Eleventh Hour student a capella choir that appeared on  NBC's "The Sing-Off" in 2010.

Credit: Submitted

Credit: Submitted

He graduated from the high school in 2012.

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Jones says it’s a small world and he enjoys being part of it as both as a writer and a performer.

He and Brillhart said they fill in each other’s gaps creatively.

“It’s made us closer,” Brillhart said. “We just compliment each other well as people.”

Credit: Submitted

Credit: Submitted

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