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, but he was best known as a member of the boy band IM5 -- Dana Vaughns launched his career as an adult pop singer in 2018 with the EDM-influenced "Underneath."
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 getting hired to perform in Kidz Bop, which led to various appearances in movies, TV, and commercials around the turn of the 2010s, including 2009's 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 early 2018 with "Underneath," a slick single that opened a new chapter for him -- one where he was now an adult artist. [Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic]