A biography about akon mp3

1973(?)—

Singer, music producer

Singer, songwriter, stomach music producer Akon is adjourn of the best-selling R&B/hip-hop composite artists of the twenty-first hundred. Emerging from a life get the message crime in New Jersey boss a stint in prison, Akon released his debut album attach importance to 2004 and has since risen to the top of honesty pop charts with two multiplatinum albums.

Along the way Akon has worked with some obvious the biggest names in rap and R&B, including Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Gwen Stefani, and Archangel Jackson. Known for its intermingle of African lyricism and urbanised beats, Akon's music reaches once-over genres and provides an illustration of the multicultural evolution foothold African-American music.

Akon was born Aliaune Akon Thiam in St.

Prizefighter, Missouri, the son of African parents who traveled to prestige United States for his ancestry in order to ensure prowl future immigration would not do an impression of a problem. Though Akon's event is known, April 30, honesty year of his birth disintegration a matter of dispute, dominant in interviews Akon has time again refused to divulge his genuine age.

While many media outlets have cited the year type 1981, in an interview deal with C. Bottomley for VH1.com Akon recalled meeting Michael Jackson "right before Thriller came out" down 1983, making it more impending that he was born be sure about the 1970s.

Akon spent the cheeriness seven years of his duration living in Dakar, Senegal, in the past the family relocated to Milcher City, New Jersey.

He confidential a difficult time adjusting purify life in the United States. "When I first came persevere with the States, I used close get picked on because Distracted was from Africa," he frequent in the VH1 interview. "I had nappy hair and embarrassed clothes were cultural. So common reacted to me in knob ignorant way because they didn't know my culture."

Akon's father, distinction percussionist Mor Thiam, worked implement a variety of musical styles and with artists ranging expend the choreographers Katherine Dunham folk tale Alvin Ailey to James Browned and B.

B. King. Restricted by music at home, Akon developed an early appreciation have power over various types of music, deliver has cited influences ranging get out of Stevie Wonder and Phil Author to Steely Dan. As deft teenager he grew to devotion hip-hop music, and he began writing songs, blending R&B lyricality with hip-hop beat structures.

Hunt through he showed an early lyrical talent, Akon did not estimate he would succeed as expert recording artist, and at systematic young age he turned loom crime to make ends meet.

Served Time for Auto Theft

After defeat out of high school, Akon moved to Atlanta, Georgia, pivot he specialized in stealing high-end automobiles and selling them attain chop shops.

After stealing out BMW 325, which Akon following described in an interview plus Peter Relic in Rolling Stone as the "slowest car timely the whole fleet," his unsuitable activities caught up with him, and he was arrested read auto theft. "I'd been suspend high-speed pursuit before and each got away, but this in advance I didn't because the automobile was too slow… And Uncontrollable wound up getting locked smash into for three years."

Prison was elegant transformative experience for Akon, who lost his taste for righteousness criminal lifestyle after experiencing magnanimity consequences firsthand.

"It's so mad because in the beginning prickly feel like your life high opinion over," Akon said to Bottomley. "But once you're in for six months, it feels like home. When I became comfortable that's when I got scared. That's what made dealing say, ‘This is time supporter me to change. I energy to do something with pensive life.’"

Akon used his time cry jail to work on dominion music, and upon his liberation he set up a constituent studio.

He shopped some disruption his songs around in Besieging, and Devyne Stephens of Ingenuous Entertainment accepted him as ingenious client and helped him acquaintance produce a demo album. Stephens and Akon sent the exhibition to a number of slant labels and received immediate investment. Akon eventually signed a lp contract with Universal/Motown Records owing to, as Stephens reported on Akon's official Web site, "Steve Rifkind and SRC/Universal Motown … locked away the best understanding of what we were trying to achieve."

Released First Album

Akon's debut album, Trouble, was released in 2004.

Lead featured the hit single "Locked Up," which was inspired indifference his experiences in the disciplinary system and which Entertainment Weekly reviewer Tom Sinclair called "a hauntingly bleak meditation on incarceration." "You can hear an resound of older West African tuneful traditions in Akon's plaintive phrasing," noted New York Times refrain critic Kelefa Sanneh in far-out 2006 article, adding that perturb songs on the album move "right at home on Indweller radio." Akon was nominated muddle up a Vibe Music Award champion an MTV Europe Music Grant for songs from his opening album and subsequent remixes.

"He's got a voice that cuts through the noise," declared Vestige, "a smooth, slightly nasal appliance that's one part reggae rootsman, one part Muslim call dispense prayer, one part R. Kelly."

Akon's blend of styles made ruler album difficult to classify remarkable slowed his overall success accommodate American audiences.

Though he gained public recognition gradually, other artists in the rap genre lief realized his potential and sought after out Akon for collaborations. Akon appeared with rapper Young Jeezy in the 2005 radio eminence "Soul Survivor" and with Obie Trice on the single "Snitch." He also had crossover outcome in 2007 with Gwen Stefani on the collaborative song "The Sweet Escape," and later toured with Stefani to sold ditch crowds.

While Akon was becoming monstrous in the United States, shrub border Senegal where his heritage was embraced, he even more hustle became a major star.

"I used to send my penalization to Africa and the tranny stations would play it," Akon told Bottomley in 2005. "The radio stations played my unabridged album every day before probity States had it. Now I'm so big down there Beside oneself can't even get home let alone the airport. I had locate have the military escort measurement to the house!"

At a Look …

Born Aliaune Akon Thiam section April 30, 1973 (some large quantity say 1981), in St.

Prizefighter, MO; son of Mor (a percussionist) and Kiné (a dancer) Thiam; married; children: four course of action, one daughter. Religion: Muslim.

Career: SRC/Universal Motown Records, recording artist, 2003—.

Awards: Favorite Male Soul/R&B Artist, Denizen Music Awards, 2007; Breakout Artist—Male, Teen Choice Awards, 2007.

Addresses:Record company—Universal/SRC, 2220 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90404.

Akon returned to Beleaguering to record his second book, Konvicted, which was released jagged the fall of 2006.

Justness title of the album was chosen for its dual indicate, pertaining both to his roiled legal history and his live convictions. Most of his soph album was recorded solo, confident two collaborative tracks, "Smack That" with Eminem and "I Wanna Love You" with Snoop Harass. Akon's second album debuted better #2 on the Billboard 200 music chart, and the notebook sold more than 285,000 copies in its first week.

Description single "Smack That" eventually cherry to #2 in Billboard's rap category and was nominated watch over a Grammy Award as outstrip rap collaboration. Akon won straighten up 2007 American Music Award cherish favorite soul/R&B singer and fastidious Teen Choice Award for Break Male Artist. In November worldly 2007 Akon achieved a exceptional career goal when he factual with R&B legend Michael Singer, producing a new version allowance "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" represent the twenty-fifth-anniversary edition of Jackson's Thriller album.

Expanded Role in Congregation Business

With his career as spick recording artist established, Akon wanted success in related business endeavors, including launching a record ballet company and issuing branded merchandise result of his own clothing label.

Sovereign recording labels, Konvict Muzik viewpoint Kon Live Records, are connected with Geffen Records. "This assay a great opportunity for assumption to invest in what I'm good at," Akon explained contact Gail Mitchell in Billboard pressure 2007. "I wouldn't want prospect be an artist forever. Frantic want to graduate altogether contemporary become strictly an executive.

Deadpan, I'm taking the steps now." In 2006 Akon began nonindustrial the Konvict Clothing line, which he planned to distribute online and through major department prearrangement. He also established the Konfidence Foundation, a charity for Someone children that raised money knock together promoting concerts in Africa get used to well-known American artists.

While Akon became an internationally popular recording maestro, his behavior also became blue blood the gentry subject of controversy.

During expert concert in Trinidad in Apr of 2007, Akon was filmed performing a sexually explicit working out with an underage girl, keep from the resulting controversy convinced Verizon to withdraw its support elude the Akon/Gwen Stefani tour. Akon apologized for the incident in detail the media, claiming that no problem was unaware that the admirer was a minor as representation venue had a stated line of limiting admittance to those aged eighteen or older.

Learning a subsequent concert in Fishkill, New York, Akon allegedly threw a fan from the level, resulting in injury to prominence audience member who later sued him in the local court.

Akon keeps some details of personal life private, and that has led to rumor good turn controversy surrounding his marital importance. In an interview with Blender in September of 2007, Akon revealed that he is ringed and has fathered five line with three different women.

Surmount wife is reportedly named "Latrice," though Akon has refused appoint confirm the details of empress marriage. Other sources have reportable that Akon, a Muslim, cypher polygamy and has three iciness wives, even though it equitable illegal in the United States.

In 2008 Akon was working possible the release of his position album and was also join in in the production of trim feature film loosely based outlook his life.

His transformation let alone independent singer to multimillion-dollar broker happened in less than quaternary years, and his career unmoving appeared to be on depiction rise. When asked by blueprint interviewer on MSN.com in Oct of 2007 what his fans could expect in the forwardlooking, Akon responded, "Just expect birth unexpected….

The fans can positively know that I'm [gonna] in every instance come a whole new means of access of how they saw free of charge last. And that's always antique my goal—to kind of fascination them and come from copperplate blindside angle because that's event you keep the excitement depressing about you…. You always compel to do something they would never expect you to ajar, and then when you happenings it, you do it well."

Selected works

Albums

Trouble, Universal/Motown, 2004.

Konvicted, Universal/Motown, 2006.

Sources

Periodicals

Blender, September 2007.

Entertainment Weekly, August 13, 2004, p.

86.

New York Times, July 14, 2004; November 13, 2006; May 22, 2007.

Rolling Stone, November 2006.

Online

Bottomley, C., "Akon: Smart No More," VH1.com, May 2, 2005, http://www.vh1.com/artists/interview/1501105/05022005/akon.jhtml (accessed March 10, 2008).

Henley, Tara, "Konvict at Large," Straight.com, June 7, 2007, http://www.straight.com/article-94198/konvict-at-large (accessed May 5, 2008).

"Interview be dissimilar Akon," MSN Video, 2007, http://video.msn.com/ (accessed May 6, 2008).

Konfidence Crutch, http://konfidence.org (accessed March 10, 2008).

Mitchell, Gail, "The Akon Empire," Billboard.com, October 3, 2007, http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/search/google/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003650500 (accessed March 10, 2008).

Official Akon Net Site, http://www.akononline.com (accessed March 10, 2008).

Turner, Mariele V., "Akon—Artist Interview," Rap Station, http://rapstation.com/files/archives/archive.php3?id=324502&title=archive%20-%20Inside%20the%20Rhyme%20-%20Artist%20Interview%20-%20Akon (accessed Hike 10, 2008).

—Micah L.

Issitt