Justin Deas

Every arena moment has an architect the crowd never sees. For a growing roster of pop and R&B's biggest names, that architect is Justin Deas.

Raised on Charleston church keys and now based in Los Angeles, Deas is a music director, keyboardist, and arranger — the person who turns a finished record into a living, breathing show. He's held the music-director chair for Snoh Aalegra and anchored the keys for Madison Beer, and his touring passport reads like a festival bill: Charlie Puth — including a performance on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve and shows in Tokyo — Camila Cabello, where he played "Havana" live in Doha, Qatar, and Tinashe in São Paulo, Brazil, a night he clocked at "20,000 sounding like 100,000."

The common thread is the church. Before the stadiums there were Sunday services, a tradition Deas still keeps — from his home congregation to the platform for Bishop T.D. Jakes. It's the training that lets him hear a show as a whole: where to breathe, where to build, where to let a moment land.

Off the road he produces, arranges, and programs under the same name — @its_jus_obama — the rare musician equally fluent in the pocket of a live band and the grid of a session. The Booth files him exactly where he lives: behind the boards, holding the whole thing together.