Evansville Native and Former NBA Star Walter McCarty is Also an R&B Star [AUDIO]

The 1993 Harrison High School graduate has quietly been making music on the side since 2003.

The worlds of sports and music have been married for what seems like forever, with musicians aspiring to be athletes, and athletes aspiring to be musicians. Both perhaps secretly hoping that the fame they garnered in one world will help propel them in the other.

For McCarty, music has been a passion for years. His debut album, Moment for Love was released in May of 2003 while he was a member of the Boston Celtics. A second album, Emotionally followed just under two years ago in February of 2011. After being let go as an assistant coach by the home state Indiana Pacers in 2011, McCarty went back to the studio and began work on his third album, Unbreakable, released in late-November of 2012.

As the Brand Manager for the station, I get requests all the time from local artists and small record labels to play their songs. And truth be told, a majority of them are garbage. Either the production is poor quality, it's doesn't fit the sound of the station, or my personal favorite, they send me an unedited song that drops a few curse words.

So when I received the e0mail from Walter's management asking if I would be willing to take a listen, I'll be honest, I rolled my eyes and pretty much made up my mind that I wasn't going to like it. How many former athlete's have had successful music careers? None that I can think of. My expectations were low, but I clicked the link anyway just to see if they were right.

It turns out, they weren't.

What I heard was a solid, well-produced R&B jam featuring the surprisingly impressive singing voice by one of the stars of the University of Kentucky's 1996 championship team.

Is McCarty anything groundbreaking? No. He's not the next Eminem, his music won't "change the game" by any means, but he does offer smooth, soulful sound fans of '90's R&B greats such as Keith Sweat and K-Ci & JoJo will enjoy.

Take a listen to "Lovaholic" featuring rapper Ace Hood and "Unbreakable" and share your thoughts in the comments below.

Lovaholic