He’s just 11 and his voice has already earned him a record deal. His name is J.D. McCray and he is the voice of young Simba in the remake of “The Lion King.” It was just about a year ago when, at the 2018 Grammy Awards, McCrary — 10 at the time — joined Childish Gambino on stage at Madison Square Garden. According to Variety, the A-list crowd was impressed with his part in the 2017 collaboration, “Terrified.”
Some on the Internet even compared his voice to a young Stevie Wonder. McCrary has made history as the youngest person to land a recording contract at Disney’s Hollywood label. He turns 12 in July. How did Childish Gambino hook up with the young talent? While McCrary voices the young Simba, Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino) voices the adult Simba. McCrary says Glover offered him some big brother wisdom for his next chapter as an artist. “He gave me a lot of advice about knowing myself and my music and what I want to do,” McCrary told Variety. “He said to stay true to what you want to do with a song.”
