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Elijah Ford better known for his stage, ILLiJah, is an American R&B/Pop singer in Portland, Maine. He is currently on Triple 7 Ent. and Solid Records. He got his stage name from friends when he was 16 years old because of his singing style. His friends claimed that he was so “ill” as in, so good, almost unheard of, he ought to change it, he later added “ILL” in front of his name and eliminated the “EL” altogether to become, ILLiJah. He started singing at 9 years old. He was inspired by Usher’s “My way” album. He knows most of the songs on that album. Some of his favorite singers include Marvin Gay, Boys II Men, Luther Van dross, Bobby Brown, and many other R&B legends. Although many people applauded his talent, he was never fazed by it; he always wanted to be an athletic star, a famous soccer player like, Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima or a track star like Michael Johnson. ILLijah was born June 6, 1988 in Washington, DC. He was later put up for adoption by his biological mother. After a couple of months he was adopted by two couples from Maine. As a child, he grew up in Westbrook, Maine until he was 11 years old, and then moved to Brunswick, Maine until he graduated high school where he played soccer, and he was also in the track team. After graduating high school, ILLiJah was not sure what he wanted to do; over the years, music had become the center piece of his life, and he was determined to pursue hidden talent. He decided to move to Atlanta January 2009 to take the next step into the music world, after all, Atlanta is known as one of the top market for new up coming R&B artist. ILLiJah found himself back in Maine by the end of the year due to family crisis. His dad had a stroke, he was in the hospital for almost a month, and then he was sent to rehab to recover. In meantime, while his mother was coming from work, she sled, and broke her leg. It was very tough; he had never seen both parents handicap. They have always been active. After both parents fully recovered, he was thinking of going back to Atlanta, but he decided to stay in Maine to stick by his family because he felt like they are more important than any record deal. While in Maine, he met an old friend, T-Bo, also known as Mutumbo, the founder of Triple 7 Records. Mutumbo introduced ILLiJah to Sparks, the founder of Solid Records. Within one week of signing him, they had provided him at least four shows including the first open, which he opened up for J. Holiday in Cape Code, MA on April 17, 2010.