Carroll was born in Chicago in 1968. As a boy, he learned to sing while a member of his church choir. As a teenager, he was a fan of rock band Kiss, but became interested in house music when he attended a high school dance and spent time watching the DJ perform. Carroll started performing as a DJ in the late 1980s in a club he himself opened. He released his first official record, "My Prayer", in 1993, a track produced by local producers Hula (from the Outhere Brothers), Kay Fingers and Ron Trent. Because of his style of singing like a preacher, he received the nickname "The Minister of Sound".

In 1994, he got his first big break when he attended the Winter Music Conference in Miami. Still an unknown outside Chicago, Carroll walked up to Louie Vega, who gave him a chance to write the lyrics to Barbara Tucker´s "I Get Lifted". This allowed the opportunity to join Mike Dunn and Byron Stingily, also from the Chicago house scene, in the Deep Soul production company as singer, songwriter and producer. He wrote the lyrics for six tracks in Stingily´s album The Purist and also wrote and produced the anthem "The Sermon". In 1996 he met Greek-American producer Spero Pagos, and the two created MOS Productions (for Ministers Of Sound), for the UC/Afterhours label.

On the label, he also met Mazi Namvar, who introduced him to the European house scene. This allowed him to take part in the French house classics "My Love" (produced by Kluster) and "Lucky Star" (produced by Superfunk), both released in 2000. The following year, he opened his own label, Body Music Records. Carroll´s activities as a singer in Europe brought him into contact with Dutch producers Hardsoul in 2003, for whom he wrote and sang in "Back Together", followed in 2004 by "What a Wonderful World" for Bob Sinclar and Axwell, a track that appeared on Sinclar´s 2004 album Enjoy.