Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973), most famously known as Akon, is a Senegalese-American singer, songwriter, record producer, businessman, and philanthropist.
An influential figure in world music, he rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of his single "Locked Up" (featuring Styles P).
His second album, Konvicted (2006), was met with continued success and was nominated for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards, while its lead singles, "I Wanna Love You" (featuring Snoop Dogg) and "Smack That" (featuring Eminem), both received nominations for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.
The songs simultaneously peaked at numbers one and two on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively, along with two of his singles released the following year: "Don't Matter" and his guest performance on Gwen Stefani's "The Sweet Escape"; this made Akon the first solo artist to concurrently hold the top two positions on the chart twice.
His third album, Freedom (2008), was supported by the top ten single, "Right Now (Na Na Na)", as well as the top 40 singles "I'm So Paid" (featuring Lil Wayne and Jeezy) and "Beautiful" (featuring Colby O'Donis and Kardinal Offishall).
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Along with his solo career, Akon has guest performed on 23 Billboard Hot 100 entries for other artists-such activity earned him two additional Grammy Award nominations.
Akon founded the record labels Konvict Muzik in 2004 and KonLive Distribution in 2007, through which he has signed commercially successful acts including Lady Gaga, T-Pain, R. City, Kardinal Offishall, Jeffree Star and French Montana, among others.
Akon has since been prolific in charitable and philanthropic endeavors. He launched the non-profit Akon Lighting Africa in 2014 and has begun development on his own city in Senegal, which is scheduled for completion in 2028.
Early Life and Background
Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam was born on April 16, 1973, in St. Louis, Missouri, to a Muslim family.
His mother is dancer Kine Gueye Thiam (née Gueye), and his father is Senegalese percussionist Mor Thiam. Mor Thiam was born to a Toucouleur family of Quranic scholars in Kaolack, Senegal, a francophone country in West Africa.
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Akon spent a significant part of his childhood in Senegal, which he described as his "hometown". Akon learned to play five instruments, including drums, guitar and djembe. At age seven, he and his family relocated to Union City, New Jersey, splitting his time between the United States and Senegal until settling in Newark.
Growing up in New Jersey, Akon had difficulties getting along with other children. When he and his younger brother, Bu Thiam, reached high school, his parents left them on their own in Jersey City and moved the rest of the family to Atlanta, Georgia. Akon attended William L.
Early Career
When still in high school, he became part of the Refugee Camp, the extended musical family of the Fugees.
In 1996, he recorded a single, "Operations of Nature", that earned him a deal with Elektra Records-but when the song failed to catch on in the United States, the record deal went by the wayside as well.
"That was the turning point for my music, especially the music career.
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Music mogul Devyne Stephens, the president of Upfront Megatainment, first heard about Akon when rapper Lil Zane brought him along to Stephens' rehearsal hall, a place that at the time saw talents such as Usher and TLC being developed.
Breakthrough Success
Akon's solo debut album, Trouble, was released on June 29, 2004. It spawned the singles "Locked Up", "Lonely", "Belly Dancer (Bananza)", "Pot of Gold" and "Ghetto". "Locked Up" reached the number 8 position in the US and number 5 in the UK.
"Ghetto" became a radio hit when it was remixed by DJ Green Lantern to include verses from rappers 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. The album is a hybrid of Akon's silky, West African-styled vocals mixed with East Coast and Southern beats.
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 number of video requests, Akon's "Lonely" became the longest-running single on the top of the chart, spanning over fifteen weeks.
Akon was then featured on two other singles, P-Money's "Keep on Callin'" off the album Magic City, and the other with New Zealand rapper Savage with the single "Moonshine", which had become a success in both New Zealand and Australia, reaching number one on the New Zealand charts.
A year later in 2005, he made his first critically acclaimed guest appearance on Young Jeezy's debut album Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101, with the song "Soul Survivor".
Konvicted and Continued Success
Akon started his new record label KonLive Distribution under Interscope Records.
His second album, Konvicted, was released in November 2006 and 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 US.
The album was certified platinum after seven weeks, and after sixteen weeks it was certified double platinum. It stayed in the top twenty of the Billboard 200 for 28 consecutive weeks and peaked at number two on four occasions.
The album included collaborations with Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and Styles P. The first single "Smack That" (featuring Eminem) was released in August 2006 and peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks.
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 was fueled by its number six debut on Hot Digital Songs with 67,000 downloads. The record has since been broken several times.
"I Wanna Love You", featuring Snoop Dogg, was the second single released in September, it would go on to earn Akon his first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, and Snoop's second. "I Wanna Love You" topped the US charts for two consecutive weeks.
In January 2007, a third single "Don't Matter" which earned him his first solo number one and second consecutive Hot 100 chart-topper was released. "Mama Africa" was released as a European single in July 2007, making it the fourth overall single from the album.
Other Ventures and Collaborations
In February 2007, Akon launched his clothing line Konvict Clothing. It features urban streetwear including denim jeans, hoodies, T-shirts and hats.
He produced and featured on Gwen Stefani's "The Sweet Escape" which has reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Akon performed at the American leg of Live Earth. He later recorded a remix of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" by Michael Jackson for the 25th-anniversary rerelease of Jackson's Thriller. He also worked with bachata group Aventura and Reggaeton duo Wisin & Yandel on All Up 2 You.
The song received two nominations at the Premios Lo Nuestro 2010 for "Urban Song of the Year" and "Video Collaboration of the Year".
Senegal
Akon co-wrote and recorded "Put It on My Tab" with New Kids on the Block for their 2008 reunion album The Block.
He also co-wrote and produced Leona Lewis' single "Forgive Me" and worked with X Factor 2008 winner Alexandra Burke on her debut album. He later worked with Whitney Houston for her 2009 comeback album I Look to You, appearing on the track "Like I Never Left".
Akon collaborated with Pitbull on the single "Shut It Down" from the album "Rebelution" and worked with Matisyahu to remix his single "One Day" on his album Light.
He also co-produced singer Natalia Kills' debut single, "Mirrors", from her debut album, Perfectionist.
David Guetta collaborated with Akon in "Sexy Bitch", the first house track by Akon. The song reached number 1 in more than six countries and charted at 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. A single, "Angel", produced by Guetta, was released in September 2010, which peaked at number 56 on the US Billboard charts, significantly lower than his previous outings.
Akon travelled to Jamaica to work with Damian, Julian and Stephen Marley. Around the same time, Akon collaborated with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg on "Kush", charting on number 36 on the Billboard charts.
He also contributed "We Are the World 25 for Haiti", a charity single in aid of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
Later Career and Ventures
On January 1, 2015, Akon released five singles from Stadium. In late 2017, he released a collaborative mixtape with Konvict signees entitled Konvict Kartel Vol. 2.
In 2018, he collaborated with reggaeton singer Ozuna on the bilingual single "Coméntale", the first time that Akon sang in Spanish in a Latin song.
In May 2019, Akon released his first Latin single "Get Money", featuring Puerto Rican rapper Anuel AA.
It was intended to be the lead single for his fourth album El Negreeto but didn't appear on the final version of the album. The album was expected to be released on August 30, 2019, but was pushed back and released on October 4, 2019.
A suit has been brought against Akon in the United States by Devyne Stephens for a debt of almost 4 million dollars borrowed as part of the implementation of his futuristic city project.
Other Appearances
On November 30, 2007, Akon entered the Big Brother house in Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Edition 2 as a guest.
Akon made his acting debut appearing alongside an ensemble cast in the 2012 Nigerian-American film Black November.
Akon is said to be a polygamist.
