About Kortnee Simmons
Born June 22, 1993 in Poughkeepsie, New York, Kortnee Rumph followed in his own footsteps and began appearing in stage plays at the age five, such as The Weather Report, Jungle Book, Endangered Species, and The Tale of Robin Hood. It was at that time he also discovered his love for music when he began taking singing in his school chorus, usually the only boy in the class. Kortnee and his family moved to Fort Pierce in 1998 and he quickly landed a lead role in "Morning Announcements" (1998).By the age of thirteen he was a one of the first people with A.M.M.T. in Florida. He appeared in musical productions such as Bye Bye Birdie, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Rent, Hairspray,You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, Peter Pan, and It's A Wonderful Life, as well as having his image on playbills and cards. At age six Kortnee appeared in his first professional theater production off Broadway playing a hopeless romantic in the play "Romeo and Juliet".He continued to land small roles in such plays as It's a Wonderful Life (2007) with Audrey Anderson, Rent (1999) with Alexia Heathcock, Alex Rumph, and Amber Trimble, and Hairspray (2007) with Ryan Weiss, Jenna Pinchbeck, and Felicia D'Ascanio. He also guest starred on such television shows as "Morning Announcements" (2004), "Who wants to be a singer" (2005), "Morning Announcements" (2005) (mini), and "Endangered Species" (2000). Kortnee also continued dancing, eventually becoming one of the first students of the prestigious Anderson Middle Musical Theater. He then attended the Martin County High School enrolled in singing, this time following in his mother's footsteps who attended Poughkeepsie High School. While in his freshman year Kortnee was cast in his first lead role in the feature film High School Musical 3 (2008). Back in school in his sophomore year he played the lead role of Ren in the musical "Footloose" and the role of Sonny in the musical "Grease". That same year Kortnee was honored with the award of Theatre Student of the Year. In the summer of 2005 Kortnee became a part of the ensemble cast for the new television movie "Real Life" (2008), filmed on location in California. During the summer of 2008 Kortnee was cast as Chad's little brother in the Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical 3 (2008) (TV) which was directed by Kenny Ortega. Being a big fan of musical theater, Kortnee was thrilled to be a part of this musical movie project in which he gets to showcase his dance skills.::Tiger Beat Magazine
Kortnee Simmons, also known as Kaito, is an American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor from New York with African, Dominican, Brazilian, Jamaican, and Native American roots. He is the nephew of Joseph Simmons, also known as Rev Run of the hip-hop group, Run DMC, and the nephew of entrepreneur, producer and author Russell Simmons. Since signing a distribution deal with Empire (Ghazi Shami, CEO/Founder), Kortnee has amassed over 15 million streams for his singles: "Secrets", "The Real", and "Don't Take It Personal". The singer has shared the stage with artists such as Betty Wright, Chris Brown, J. Holiday, Mya, August Alsina, Leikeli-47 and Baauer. He's also appeared in 'The Get Down' with Jaden Smith and Giancarlo Esposito, TeenNick Top 10 with Nick Cannon, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and at the 2015 Nickelodeon HALO Awards....