McGee turned his teenage sadness, loneliness and confusion into "My Story," a song he wrote in 2007 while he lived out of a friend's car and bounced between friends' houses.
The lyrics describe how he felt after the death of his grandmother, who taught him how to sing, and the divorce of his parents. Lyrics also provide insight into the period in his life when he was homeless.
The 20-year-old Sandusky native posted the song on MySpace, the social-networking site. Now, more than 16 million hits later, the crooner has become an Internet celebrity.Thousands of people have left messages on his MySpace and Facebook pages. People leave comments daily in which they write about how his song motivates and inspires them.
"I started to read the messages and people said the song changed their lives. . . . I couldn't believe it," McGee said. "It was never my intention to hit it big, I didn't think people cared."
Hundreds of people have posted versions and spoofs of "My Story." McGee has also become a heartthrob. Women leave posts saying he is cute and blow him Internet kisses. They send him pictures and ask to be his girlfriend.
On a recent look at his page, a girl from Mississippi wrote how she is his biggest fan and has added one of his songs as her cell phone ring tone.
The attention has given the raw-voiced singer the opportunity to rub shoulders with well-known producers and artists in R&B and hip-hop music. Some major-label artists, like rapper Trina, have remixed his song and put it on the Web.
But his path to budding stardom has not been straight, and, at times, he has been his own roadblockMcGee's dad, Rick, a firefighter with the Sandusky Fire Department, described his son as a typical child who did well in school. But he said that when he and his wife, Monique, who works at an automotive parts plant in Sandusky, divorced after more than 20 years of marriage, his son, then 17, took a turn for the worse.
"He felt like we stayed together for his older brothers, but not for him," the elder McGee said. "It was hard on him."
After the divorce, McGee, who has two older brothers, shuttled between his parents' homes. But they asked him to leave when he broke their rules. After his junior year, he dropped out of Sandusky High School.
"When he got out there, he figured out it wasn't as easy as he thought it would be and he made desperate decisions to go out and make a dollar," his father said.
On his own, McGee stayed with relatives and friends, such as Reiko Clark, his barber. He would pack clothes into the back seats of friends' cars, and sometimes sleep on the streets.
"I was all alone and felt I had nowhere to go, no one understood me," McGee said. "Nobody really knew I was out there because I didn't want to tell them."
But McGee always kept his notebook close.
He scribbled song lyrics. After he penned "My Story," he recorded it in a friend's home studio. The friend encouraged him to post it on the Internet.
"I didn't know anything about MySpace," McGee said. "I wasn't concentrating on a computer; I needed somewhere to lay my head."
In September, he was tapped as an up-and-coming artist at the Ohio Hip-Hop Awards. He caught the attention of DreamLife Productions, a Cleveland record company, where he signed a record and management deal.
His manager, who goes by Sosa, also manages popular Cleveland hip-hop artist Al Fatz. He says he believes McGee will be a star.
"He writes all of his own music and he has an amazing voice," Sosa said. "He doesn't sound like he is 20 at all, and the soul in his voice is needed in the game right now."
In the past few weeks, McGee flew to Atlanta to meet with producers. He has also been to New York and New Jersey to record and perform in front of popular producers like Poke of the Trackmasters, and hip-hop artists like Young Chris. He now even has his own Web site, seanmcgeeonline.com.
Tropikana, a radio personality at WENZ FM/107.9 in Cleveland, called McGee a talented performer who has developed a strong fan base through the Internet.
"He has a hit on his hands," Tropikana said. "I think if he continues to stay focused and keep a strong management team around him, he could be the next big thing."
But McGee must rectify some of his mistakes and also fulfill a promise he made to his mother.
His mother said her son's rebellious period was hard, but he needed to go through it to get to the point he is at now.
"I think he is starting to get his life back and he's realized it can't be done without hard work," Robinson said.
