Charles Otto Puth Jr. (; born December 2, 1991) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. His initial exposure came through the viral success of his song covers uploaded to YouTube. Puth signed with the record label eleveneleven in 2011.
Puth signed with Atlantic Records and Artist Partner Group to release his debut single, "Marvin Gaye" (featuring Meghan Trainor), in 2015. Later that year, he co-wrote, produced, and guest performed on Wiz Khalifa's single "See You Again", which peaked atop the US Billboard Hot 100 for 12 non-consecutive weeks, received diamond certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song nomination, along with three nominations at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year.
"Marvin Gaye" served as lead single for Puth's debut studio album, Nine Track Mind (2016), which, despite critical failure, peaked within the top ten of both the Billboard 200 and UK Albums Chart. Its single, "We Don't Talk Anymore" (featuring Selena Gomez), peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. His second album, Voicenotes (2018), was met with a critical incline and similar commercial success; it spawned the hit single "Attention" and was nominated for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. Puth's third studio album, Charlie (2022), likewise debuted within the Billboard 200's top 10, and was supported by the top 40 singles "Light Switch" and "Left and Right" (featuring Jungkook). His fourth album, Whatever's Clever!, was released in March 2026.
Alongside recording, Puth's career in production and songwriting for other artists has proved commercially successful. He co-wrote and produced the Justin Bieber and the Kid Laroi's 2021 song "Stay", which became his first non-performing production to peak the Billboard Hot 100.
Charles Otto Puth Jr. was born on December 2, 1991, in Rumson, New Jersey, to Debra, a music teacher who also wrote commercials for HBO, and Charles Otto Puth Sr., a builder and real estate agent. He has two younger siblings, twins Stephen and Mikaela. His father is Catholic and his mother is Jewish.
When Puth was two years old, his right eyebrow was permanently scarred in a nearly fatal dog bite incident. His mother introduced him to classical music and began teaching him the piano at age four. He started studying jazz at age 10 and participated in a summer youth jazz ensemble at Count Basie Theatre's Cool School in Red Bank, New Jersey, at 12. Puth was once hired by The Count Basie Theatre to play in a Charlie Brown production. In grade six, he went door to door selling a Christmas album called Have a Very Charlie Christmas that he had recorded and produced, making $600 in sales.
He attended the Holy Cross School and Forrestdale Middle School in Rumson before graduating from the Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School in 2010. During his seventh grade to senior years, he attended Manhattan School of Music Pre-College as a jazz piano major and a classical studies minor. Puth is a 2013 graduate of Berklee College of Music, where he majored in music production and engineering.
In September 2009, at age 17, Puth started his own YouTube channel, entitled Charlies Vlogs, posting comedy videos and acoustic covers. During this time, he would make theme songs and jingles for other YouTubers.
In 2010, Puth released the music video of his first song, "These Are My Sexy Shades". In December 2010, he released his debut extended play, The Otto Tunes, an independent release. In 2011, he won an online video competition sponsored by Perez Hilton, Can You Sing?, with a version of Adele's "Someone like You", which he performed with Emily Luther. In the same year Ellen DeGeneres announced that she had signed Puth and Luther to her label, eleveneleven, after seeing their performance of "Someone like You". Puth and Luther had performed the song on the show. In December 2011 he released a promotional single, "Break Again", with additional vocals by Emily Luther. The music video was released days later.
On January 25, 2012, Puth and Luther performed the song and Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Puth also performed at an event supporting DKMS Delete Blood Cancer, the world's largest bone marrow donor center, in October 2012. Puth left eleveneleven in late 2012.
On October 23, 2013, he released his second independent extended play, Ego, to streaming online. Puth was credited with the production and writing of songs and jingles for fellow YouTube personalities. He wrote the theme song for Shane Dawson's Shane and Friends podcast and skits, the intro jingle for the videos of the Vlogger family the SHAYTARDS, the original theme song for Charles Trippy's vlog Internet Killed Television, and a song for the tour and movie of YouTube group Our 2nd Life, as well as several singles for Our 2nd Life member Ricky Dillon. In 2014 he released the promotional single "L.U.V." The music video was directed by Andrew Vallentine. In the same year, he co-wrote the song "Celebrate" by Pitbull, included in his eighth studio album Globalization and featured in the 2014 DreamWorks Animation film Penguins of Madagascar.
2015–2016: "See You Again" and Nine Track Mind
In early 2015, Puth signed with APG/Atlantic, and his previous records were removed from iTunes. In February 2015, Puth released his debut single "Marvin Gaye", which features American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor. The single has been certified 2× Platinum in Australia, topped the charts in New Zealand, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, and peaked at number 21 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Puth wrote, co-produced, and was featured on a song with Wiz Khalifa, "See You Again", a tribute to Paul Walker, included in the Furious 7 soundtrack. While Khalifa wrote the rap lyrics, the rest of the song has been credited to Puth. The song peaked at number 1 on the Hot 100 chart for twelve non-consecutive weeks. "See You Again" was nominated for three Grammy Awards: Song of the Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Song Written for Visual Media. It was also shortlisted for the Song of the Year for the BBC Music Awards and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards. He produced the song "Slow Motion" for Trey Songz and has arranged sessions with Jason Derulo and Lil Wayne.
Puth starred as Meghan Trainor's love interest in the music video for her song "Dear Future Husband", released in March 2015. In the video, she meets Puth on an online dating service and he comes to Trainor's home with a carryout pizza, which succeeds in impressing her. On May 1, 2015, Puth released a five-song extended play, Some Type of Love. In June 2015, he released the promotional single "Nothing but Trouble" with Lil Wayne, from the soundtrack to the documentary 808: The Movie. During 2015, Puth worked on several albums of other artists. He co-wrote and produced the "Broke" and "Pull Up" for Jason Derulo's album Everything Is 4, co-wrote "Bombastic" with Bonnie McKee from the album of the same title, and produced "Working Class Heroes (Work)" on CeeLo Green's album Heart Blanche.
Pre-orders for Puth's first full-length album Nine Track Mind began on August 20, 2015, along with the second single "One Call Away". The song peaked at number 12 in the United States, 26 in the United Kingdom and 4 in Australia. By June 2017 the song had sold 1,575,475 copies domestically. Puth released a remix for the song, entitled "One Call Away (Coast to Coast Mix)", featuring the Americans Tyga, Ty Dolla Sign and Brett Eldredge and the Mexican singer Sofia Reyes.
His first full-length album, Nine Track Mind, was released on January 29, 2016. The album debuted at number 3 in the United Kingdom. It peaked at number 6 on the Billboard 200. It also received a score of 37 out of 100 on Metacritic, becoming the 15th worst-reviewed album on the site. Puth embarked on his first concert tour, the Nine Track Mind Tour, in March 2016. In 2016, Puth was the first musician to sign a deal with Deutsch Music, a subsidiary of Deutsch Inc.