Ellen DeGeneres Record Label Launches With First Signee Greyson Chance

Budding music mogul Ellen DeGeneres is well on her way to becoming pop’s next P. Diddy after launching her own record label.

DeGeneres is setting up a label with plans to unveil new artists to the world. So who has the comic snagged as her first signee? Well, none other than cute-as-a-button YouTube sensation Greyson Chance, 12.

The Emmy-winning talk show host, who joined American Idol in January, will announce on her daytime chat show — The Ellen DeGeneres Show — on Wednesday that she is starting a label set up in collaboration with Telepictures Productions — eleveneleven.

Chance, a Justin Bieber-lookalike from Edmond, Oklahoma, was spotted by DeGeneres after a video of him playing the piano and singing Lady Gaga’s hit song “Paparazzi” at a sixth grade church music festival went viral this month. He was then invited to appear on the DeGeneres’ show on May 13, sparking huge interest in his video which has now been viewed over 20 million times.

“Greyson inspired me to start a record label called eleveneleven. He is my first artist and we are making a record together,” DeGeneres said in a statement released on Tuesday. The quirky talk show hostess says she will continue to use her hit show as a platform to break new artists for eleveneleven.

Greyson will perform his original song Broken Hearts, which will be his first single, on Wednesday’s Ellen — but he still can’t believe how much his life has changed in just two weeks: “It’s crazy thinking about 30 million people (checking it out). It just makes me happy. It really just hasn’t sunken in yet… It’s awesome.”