About Akon
Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam , known mononymously as Akon , is a Senegalese-American singer, songwriter, record producer and businessman. An influential figure in modern world music, he rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of his debut single "Locked Up" . Styled in hip hop, it preceded the release of his debut studio album Trouble , which became his commercial breakthrough and spawned the R&B-styled follow-up, "Lonely" the following year.
His second album, Konvicted was met with continued success and yielded a Grammy Award nomination for Best Contemporary R&B Album, while its lead singles: "I Wanna Love You" and "Smack That" both received nominations for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. The songs 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 was supported by the top ten lead single, "Right Now ". His fourth album, El Negreeto explored reggaeton and Latin music.
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. In addition, he holds a separate career in production and songwriting predominantly for artists on the labels, but also for other mainstream artists including Michael Jackson, Snoop Dogg, Lionel Richie, Leona Lewis, Sean Paul, Whitney Houston, Mario, and Estelle, among others.
Akon has since been prolific in charitable and philanthropic endeavors. He launched the non-profit Akon Lighting Africa in 2014, and has began development on his own city in Senegal, which is scheduled for competition in 2028. Forbes ranked Akon 80th in the Forbes Celebrity 100 in 2010 and 5th in the 40 Most Powerful Celebrities in Africa list, in 2011. Billboard ranked Akon No. 6 on the list of Top Digital Songs Artists of the decade. He was listed by Guinness World Records as the number-one selling artist for master ringtones in the world, with 11 million sold by December 2007.
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 , and his father is percussionist Mor Thiam. Mor Thiam was born to a Toucouleur family of Quranic scholars in Kaolack, Senegal. 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 older brother 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. Dickinson High School in Jersey City.
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. The relationship between Stephens and Akon began as a friendship and mentorship, with the young artist regularly stopping by to ask for advice, with Stephens eventually signing him to his production company and began grooming him professionally. The songs Akon recorded with Stephens were brought to the attention of Universal's imprint SRC Records. In an interview with HitQuarters SRC A&R Jerome "Knobody" Foster said, "What caught my attention right away was "Lonely", and I said, 'this kid is official – this is a huge record." Foster and SRC CEO Steve Rifkind immediately boarded a private plane to Atlanta to meet the young artist. Akon knew of Foster's work as producer Knobody and so there was a mutual respect for one another and the pair hit it off.
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