Akon (pronounced /ˈeɪkɒn/)[1] (born Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam[2][3] on April 30, 1981)[4][5] is a Senegalese-American hip hop and R&B singer, songwriter, occasional rapper and record producer. Akon rose to fame in 2004 following the release of his single "Locked Up" from his debut album Trouble. His second album, Konvicted, earned him a Grammy Award nomination for the single "Smack That". He is the founder of Konvict Muzik and Kon Live Distribution. He is well known for singing hooks and has over 130 guest appearances and 21 Billboard Hot 100 songs to his credit. He is the only artist to ever accomplish the feat of holding both the number one and two spots simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 charts twice.[6] In a recent interview Akon revealed that he will be performing at the Dick Clark New Year's Show, as well as the halftime show of Super Bowl 42[
Career
Name and age
Akon often goes by the shorter, Aliaune Thiam,[8] though other sources have said his name is Alioune Badara Thiam,[9] and About.com says the long form of his name, "Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam," has not been independently verified.[10] His age has also been under scrutiny recently. Some media institutions reported that he was born in 1981. However the AP has since reported he was born in 1973 and is 34 years old. In a September 2007 interview for an Israeli magazine Akon hinted that he was around 25 or 26.[11]
Background
He is the son of the Senegalese percussionist Mor Thiam. He is a Muslim born in St. Louis, Missouri, but grew up in Senegal until he was 7, split time between Senegal and America until he was 15, and then permanently moved to Jersey City, New Jersey[12]. He recorded his first song, "Operations of Nature," at the age of fifteen. He was then subsequently jailed for armed robbery and drug distribution charges, and used his time in prison to work on his music. Upon release, Akon began writing and recording tracks in his home studio. The tapes found their way to SRC/Universal, which released Akon's debut LP Trouble in June 2004. The album is a hybrid of Akon's silky, West African-styled vocals mixed with East Coast and Southern beats. Most of Akon's songs begin with the sound of the clank of a jail cell with him uttering the word "Konvict."
2004–2005: Trouble
Akon's solo debut album, Trouble was released on June 29, 2004. It spawned the hit singles "Locked Up" and "Lonely," as well as "Belly Dancer (Bananza)," "Pot Of Gold," and "Ghetto". Akon served a three-year jail sentence for grand theft auto, an experience that inspired his "Locked Up".[8] "Locked Up" reached the top 10 in the U.S. and the top five in the UK. His manager Robert Montanez was shot to death following a dispute in New Jersey in December 2005. "Ghetto" became a radio hit when it was remixed by Green Lantern to include verses from legendary rappers 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. In 2005, he released the single "Lonely" (which samples Bobby Vinton's "Mr. Lonely"). The song reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100, and topped the charts in Australia, the UK and Germany. His album also climbed to number one in the UK in April, 2005. When music channel The Box had a top ten weekly chart, which was calculated by the amount of video requests, Akon's "Lonely" became the longest running single on the top of the chart, spanning over fifteen weeks. Akon then released another single featuring with a New Zealand rapper, Savage with the single Moonshine, which had become a success in both New Zealand and Australia, becoming number one in the New Zealand charts. In 2005, Akon gained more popularity after being featured on Young Jeezy's debut album, Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101, on the song "Soul Survivor" which became a top five hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
2006–2007: Konvicted
In 2006-2007 Akon has had one of the most successful spans any singer has ever enjoyed with eleven songs in the Billboard Hot 100. Akon's second album, entitled Konvicted, was released on November 14, 2006. Konvicted included collaborations with Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Styles P. Late August 2006, Akon released the single "Smack That" featuring Eminem, from the album. This single peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks. The music video for "Smack That" was directed by Raymond Garced. "I Wanna Love You", the second single off Konvicted, was released in September 2006. It is a collaboration between Akon and Snoop Dogg. This single earned Akon his first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, and Snoop's second. "I Wanna Love You" topped the U.S. charts for two consecutive weeks. In January 2007, Akon released his third single "Don't Matter" which earned him his first solo number one and second consecutive Hot 100 chart topper. "Mama Africa" was released as a European single in July 2007, making it the fourth single. It debuted in the UK at number 47. "Sorry, Blame It on Me" is the album's fifth single which debuted in August 2007, on the Hot 100 at number seven, which also happened to be a career best. The song is not available on the original album, but instead part of the Deluxe Edition of Konvicted, which came out August 28, 2007. The sixth and final single was confirmed in an interview by Akon to be "Never Took the Time". [13] Konvicted debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 286,000 copies in its first week. After only six weeks, Konvicted sold more than one million records in the U.S. and more than 1.3 million worldwide. The album was certified platinum after seven weeks, and after sixteen weeks it was certified double platinum. Konvicted was able to stay in the top twenty of the Billboard 200 for 28 consecutive weeks, where it peaked at number two on four different occasions. On November 19, 2007, the RIAA has certified the Konvicted album triple platinum status with 3 million units sold in th United States. Currently it has sold more than 4 million worldwide.
On October 5, 2006, Akon broke a record on the Hot 100, as he achieved the largest climb in the chart's 48-year-history with "Smack That" jumping from number 95 to 7. The leap is fueled by its number six debut on Hot Digital Songs with 67,000 downloads. The record was broken on April 7, 2007 by Beyoncé and Shakira's Beautiful Liar when it jumped from 94 to 3 on the Hot 100, because of their 150,000 digital downloads on the Hot Digital Songs.
In December 2006, Akon's "Smack That" was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, but lost to Justin Timberlake and T.I.'s My Love.
On July 7, 2007 Akon performed at the American leg of Live Earth.
From April to July Akon performed in The Sweet Escape Tour with Gwen Stefani. From July to September he will embark on his worldwide Konvicted Tour. In September, Akon will start on the Canadian leg of the Good Girl Gone Bad Tour with Rihanna.
On August 2, 2007, Akon was scheduled to perform at the Rock tha Block Tour in Australia but had trouble obtaining a visa due to his criminal past. The tour was postponed until late August and his visa was eventually processed but Akon was quoted as saying "Australia is the home of the convicts so it's the last place I would have ever thought it would be a problem".[14]
Akon will release a Platinum Edition of his album Konvicted in UK on October 1.
Billboard gave Akon Top Pop Artist Honors. This was because of Konvicted's steady sales and several billboard top 100 rankings.[15]
Other ventures
In 2006, Akon started his new record label Kon Live DistributionInterscope Records. His first signed artist was Earl Ray. under
He was featured on Gwen Stefani's latest album, The Sweet Escape. He made an appearance on the title track and second single, "The Sweet Escape". Akon produced the song. On December 10, 2006, Akon and Stefani appeared as musical guests on Saturday Night Live, however they did not perform the song as Stefani had not yet learned the lyrics. He performed the song live, however, on American Idol on March 28, 2007 due to Gwen Stefani's appearance as a coach the night before. "The Sweet Escape" has reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. It reached #1 on United World Chart and is on the top for eight weeks. The song is also Akon's first #1 on World Chart.
Akon collaborated with Chamillionaire on his mixtape, Mixtape Messiah 2. He is featured on "Ridin' Overseas", which he also produced. The mixtape became available for download on Chamillionaire's website on December 24, 2006.
Akon and Young Jeezy are doing a collaborative album together. In 2006, after their 2005 Akon-produced single, "Soul Survivor", the duo said that there is a lot more to expect from them in the future.[16][17]
Akon also appeared on Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's album Strength and Loyalty and Three 6 Mafia's eighth studio album, Last 2 Walk, We The Best by DJ Khaled, Fabolous's album, From Nothin' to Somethin', with 50 Cent on some tracks for Curtis[18], T.I.'s 5th album, T.I. vs. T.I.P.[19], Mario's third solo album Go![20], and produced for Daddy Yankee's El Cartel: The Big Boss which was released on June 5, 2007.[21]
Akon will be the executive producer of Not 4 Sale, Kardinal Offishall's fourth solo album, which will be released in fall or winter 2007. The first single "Graveyard Shift" features Akon, and Akon also makes his rapping debut in the song.[22]
In November 2007, Akon recorded a remake of Michael Jackson's 1983 hit "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". The remake is reportedly going to be part of the re-release of Thriller.
Akon holds the record for most guest performances on popular television show American Idol with two. He once sang "The Sweet Escape" with Gwen Stefani and three weeks later he sang "Don't Matter" on the show while it was number one on the Billboard charts.
Television and film
Akon has confirmed that a reality television show is in the works. It will be called "My Brother's Keeper" and the point is that Akon's two nearly identical brothers will go around in Atlanta posing as him fooling people into thinking that it is in fact Akon. They will try to get VIP treatment, girls and free things. Akon has claimed that people have mistaken his brothers for him many times in Atlanta which is what the show is based on.[23]
Akon is planning to work on a full-length movie titled Illegal Alien. The film is based on some of the events of his life and actor Mekhi Phifer is set to play him.[3] Besides Akon confirmed in August 2007, in the interview with Polish website INTERIA.PL, that he works on a movie "Cocaine Cowboys", which tells the story of Jon Roberts, the main pilot of Medellin Cartel (Colombian drug traffickers).[24] He was also featured on a Verizon WirelessSnitch along with Obie Trice on a CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode named "Poppin' Tags." commercial and singing
On November 30,2007 Akon entered the Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition 2 as only a guest so the housemates (Mariel, Gladys, Jon, Victor, Donnie, and Ruben) can meet him for only 100 seconds
Fashion
In February 2007, Akon launched his clothing line, Konvict Clothing. It features urban streetwear including denim jeans, hoodies, t-shirts and hats. Aliaune is the upscale version, or high-end line, for males and females, which includes blazers, denim jeans and other items.[25]
Personal life
Akon was born in St. Louis, Missouri instead of Senegal because his family didn;t want him to go through the immigration process. Part of the reason for Akon moving to America was for Akon to pursue a career in basketball, but he injured his knee and was forced to quit. He still enjoys basketball and soccer. He currently splits time residing between Atlanta, Georgia and Dakar, Senegal.
In late 2005, his long time friend and manager Robert Montanez, who Akon referred to as a brother, was killed in a drive-by shooting; the album Konvicted is dedicated to him. Akon was also in the car and was shot in the shoulder, however he made a full recovery.
Akon is of the Muslim faith, it has been reported that he is both a believer and practitioner of polygamy, though such reports are unconfirmed, as Akon has not given a straight answer to questions about the matter.[26][8] He claims to have five children with three different women in an interview with Blender.[11]
He also has his own charity for underprivileged children in Africa called Konfidence Foundation.[27] Akon owns a diamond mine in South Africa and denies the existence of conflict diamonds saying, "I don't even believe in conflict diamonds. That's just a movie. Think about it. Ain't nobody thought about nothing about no conflict diamonds until the movie came out."[28] He also had a previous occupation as a drug dealer but has stated in interviews that he's never used drugs, though some of his lyrics would suggest otherwise. Despite his criminal history, he proclaims that he has turned his life around.
In 2006, he ventured to Africa to play a concert in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.[29]
He owns eleven cars including an orange Lamborghini GallardoSmack That. He also claims to own over 4000 pairs of shoes in an interview with US Weekly. as sung in
