Singer-songwriter Teddy Swims got his start in Salem High School musicals

CONYERS — By the end of 2019, Jaten Dimsdale, had been in several Atlanta-area bands of different styles — everything from punk to rap. But it wasn’t until he recorded a cover of the Michael Jackson song “Rock with You” and stuck it on YouTube, that his professional music career truly took off.

“We just thought we’d pay homage. Within a few days, it was going crazy,” Dimsdale, now known professionally as Teddy Swims, explained on his website.

Swims’ version of “Rock with You” now has more than six million views on YouTube and it is not even his most successful cover. Swims’ take on Shania Twain’s song “You’re Still the One,” which he begins with a dedication to his mother, Glenna Fox, has that distinction with 77 million views and counting.

As it did for so many people, the COVID-19 pandemic spurred Swims to try something new: writing his own material. The social media sensation landed a record deal. Since then, Rolling Stone Magazine has named him an “Artist to Watch.” He has performed on “Today,” “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” and “The Late Show with James Cordon.” And he is preparing to head out on a world tour, following the release of his second EP on Jan. 21.

Swims also recently recorded a version of “Georgia on my Mind” for Piedmont Healthcare; all proceeds from downloads through the Bandcamp app go towards the health system’s Employee Support Fund, which provides for things like mental health services, day care expenses and meals for staff.

In songs like “Please Turn Green” and “Simple Things,” Swims croons convincingly about life in small towns because he grew up in Conyers. In fact, he first learned he loved to sing in a musical theater class at Salem High School.

As a sophomore back in 2008, Dimsdale had been playing football for 10 years, when a teacher approached him and a few fellow “jocks” about signing up for the musical theater class. But like many parents who don’t want to see their kids quit longtime activities, Fox was less enthused about her son’s switch from football to theater.

“He came to me and said he wanted to do musical theater and chorus, and I flipped out,” Fox said.

Dimsdale won his mom over on a practical point. He said he was too short to get a college scholarship for football, but he might have a chance with theater. Once she heard him sing on stage, Fox agreed.

“The first musical he did, I was like ‘This is his element.’ He really shined,” Fox said.

Dimsdale went on to star in Salem High productions of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “Children of Eden,” and “Rent,” under the direction of Lenae Rose and Pete Talton.

“I love that I got to help him through those high school years to get stronger as a singer, but he was born with that. Nobody can teach you to sing like Jaten sings,” Rose said.

Once Dimsdale got a taste of making music, he was hooked. He began to tinker with every instrument he could get his hands on. Fox recalls him finding a used piano on the Internet. They drove an hour and a half to pick it up.

“I would go upstairs, and I would hear him playing that piano sometimes all night long,” she said.

Next was a ukulele.

“He took the ukulele everywhere we went. If it was a five-minute drive or an hour drive, he played that ukulele the entire time until he mastered it,” she recalled.

Talton said that in class, Dimsdale’s work ethic set him apart just as much as his voice.

“Nobody’s going to outwork him,” Talton said. “There was an intensity in the passion that he had.”

The relentless effort slowly began to pay off. Dimsdale built a “small-town fan base,” according to his mother, waiting tables and singing at a series of restaurants, including Sycamore Street Pizzeria in Social Circle, which has since closed. At one point, he participated in a local “Future Stars of Tomorrow” competition, which turned out to be prescient.

With his more recent national success, Swims has made a point to give back to his home state and town.

According to Talton, his former student struggled with the typical insecurities that teenagers do, including about failure. Talton recalled pep talks about not letting naysayers stop him from trying his best to make it in the music industry. Now on the other side, Dimsdale returned to offer similar advice to Rose’s current students in Morgan County.

Swims has also publicly celebrated his mentors. When Talton and his wife attended a Swims concert at The Loft in Atlanta in February 2020, Swims pointed him out to the audience.

“Just to give you an idea of the heart of that guy… we were sitting in the audience and he stopped everyone and said, ‘That man right there is why I’m standing up here doing this….’ I was the old, bald guy out in the audience bawling my eyes out. It was just a great feeling,” Talton said.

Fox, Rose and Talton all say that what you see is what you get with Swims — and that authenticity is a huge part of his appeal.

“He’s not just a singer or somebody trying to be something, he really is that person and when he writes his music, it’s all relevant to something that has happened and he feels that, so he portrays that emotion sincerely,” Fox said.

Rose added, “It’s so cool that he’s the same person that he was as far as that heart that I got to teach and it hasn’t changed him.”

Photo Credit: JARPhoto Credit: JAR

Photo Credit: JAR