Indiana native Ty Causey cut his teeth on the Gospel circuit, singing in multiple choirs and ultimately working with such legendary performers as James Cleveland and Shirley Caesar. His warm vocal tones became widely recognized, resulting in steady work in regional singing groups and on commercials. He first made an international name for himself as a guest vocalist on smooth jazz star Najee’s 1998 CD Morning Tenderness, and then solidified his position as a young performer worth watching when he accompanied Najee on the Morning Tenderness world tour.
After a few more years of back-up gigs, Causey recorded and released his first solo CD, the independently released N-Tysing, in 2004. N-Tysing was a solid disc on which Causey straddled the smooth jazz/R&B line with help from instrumentalists such as Najee and guitarist Nelson Braxton, and it received significant critical acclaim. While he also played keyboard and programmed most of the instrumentation on the disc, it was Causey’s vocal performance that was most notable, his tenor voice (which sounds like a slightly fragile Carl Anderson) working very well with the album’s generally smooth grooves. Unfortunately, despite strong initial sales, N-Tysing lost momentum due to distribution problems and never gained the audience it deserved.
Fortunately, Causey didn’t stay on the sidelines for long. In July of 2005 he released his sophomore disc, Love Notes, working with executive producer Bert Caldwell (of ispysoul.com). From the bluesy opening on the first song, “Life On Track,” Causey made it clear that he was not simply creating N-Tysing II, but was moving into a gutsier, more R&B-oriented sound that was as appealing as its predecessor but which stretched Causey more as a vocalist.
In June, 2006, Causey re-released N-Tysing with two new tracks (“Marvelous Love” and “It’s Probably Me”), giving this fine album the kind of wide release that it warranted the first time. It was a welcome second chance for a deserving album. He followed it in 2007 with Expressions, an excellent album that showed more of an R&B feel and that was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic. In early 2008 Ty issued an album of previously unreleased recordings, Body Language.
Causey has continued to release an album every year or two through the 2010s and the 2020s, pleasing his legion of fans around the world with both consistency and taste. In the process he has earned several SoulTracks Readers’ Choice Award nominations.
By Chris Rizik