Given a strict Baptist church upbringing in a racially segregated area of Texas,
Jamie Foxx had piano lessons from the age of five and became pianist and choir
leader at the Terrell New Hope Baptist Church. At school he shone at basketball
and American football and planned to join the Dallas Cowboys, but his plans were
diverted after joining the band Leather & Lace and winning a scholarship to
study classical music and composition at United States International University
in California. He changed his name to Jamie Foxx in 1989 when he started
appearing at comedy clubs, leading t...