The Young and the Restless' Darius McCrary (Malcolm Winters) has announced the release of his official first album, The Dissertation of Darius McCrary. The record will have the backing of one of music's legendary R&B divas: Chaka Khan.

Khan, a 10-time Grammy Award winner, will serve as executive producer on the project, due out April 12, 2011.

"This project took a lot of time, hard work, blood, sweat, and tears to complete but it'll all be worth it when I'm finally able to share the musical gifts that God has given me with the world," McCrary said.

Though known best as an actor, McCrary has been performing publicly as a musician for the past few years. In 2009, McCrary assembled a band known as the D List, which consists of five other musicians, including his brother, Donovan McCrary. Shortly after getting together, the D List began hosting private parties at a tucked-away nightclub in Venice, CA. Every Wednesday, the band performs to a packed house, and the resulting fan base has helped the group to be booked at venues across the country.

McCrary cites his personal musical influences as Rick James, Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, the Beatles, George Clinton, Leon Ware, and, of course, Chaka Khan

"This album will appeal to music lovers everywhere. It's not geared towards one particular targeted audience because I believe that music is a universal language that crosses all barriers regardless of if you're black, white, brown, Puerto Rican, Haitian, young or old," McCrary said of the album. "I just wanted to make good music that music lovers would enjoy."