Chris Brown Biography

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Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989 in Tappahannock, Virginia) American R&B singer, dancer, and an occasional actor who rose to fame in 2005 with his top-charting Scott Storch-produced debut single “Run It!”, featuring Juelz Santana. At the tender age of 16, the 6’1 Brown became the youngest male to have a #1 hit on the Top 100 Billboard Chart. As of September 16, 2006, the album has sold 1,533,121 units in the U.S. and three million worldwide.

Brown’s second studio album, Exclusive was released worldwide in November 2007. It spawned two successful singles; his second U.S. number one hit, “Kiss Kiss” featuring T-Pain and “With You”, which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Brown has released a deluxe version of his album called The Forever Edition. The first single from it, “Forever”, was released in May 2008 and reached number two on Billboard Hot 100. Exclusive has been certified Platinum by the RIAA. The third studio album, titled Graffiti, was released on December 15, 2009. The first official single was “I Can Transform Ya”, featuring Lil Wayne and Swizz Beatz, which peaked at number-twenty on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Brown’s eighth Top 20 hit on that chart.

In addition to his solo commercial success, Brown has been featured on several hits such as “No Air”, a duet with singer Jordin Sparks, “Shortie like Mine” with the rapper Bow Wow and “Shawty Get Loose” alongside Lil Mama and T-Pain. The songs have peaked on number three, number nine and number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 respectively. Due to his dance routines, Brown has been compared to renowned R&B artists such as Usher and Michael Jackson, citing both as large influences on his music. In 2009, Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault of singer Rihanna, and was sentenced to five years probation and six months of community service.

Chris Brown was born to Clinton Brown and Joyce Hawkins in the small town of Tappahannock, Virginia. He gained his love of music at an early age and was influenced by the sounds his parents played on the home radio such as Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Sam Cooke, Donny Hathaway, Aretha Franklin, and Anita Baker. Before singing, Brown was more drawn to becoming a rapper.

By the age of 11, he (and eventually a number of females) finally discovered his unknown vocal talents just by singing along to Usher records. Brown, at 13, was then discovered by local producers who visited his father’s gas station looking for some talent. From there, he soon began his recording career.

Brown got his big break when his local production team had connections with major record labels. He then flew to New York and auditioned for Def Jam Vice President Tina Davis, who currently works as his manager . The mere 15 yr. old Brown was sent to L.A. Reid to perform for him in 2004. Davis took Brown to many record labels such as Warner Bros., and Jive.

Brown ended up choosing Jive Records because he felt it was in his best interest. About two or three months later, Brown began recording his debut self-titled album in early 2005. Brown worked with the likes of Scott Storch, The Underdogs, Dre and Vidal, Bryan Cox, Bow Wow, Jermaine Dupri in production for his album. He originally recorded 50 cuts, and chose 13 cuts for the album.

By mid 2005, Brown came out with his debut single, “Run It!” which was #1 in the United States and abroad. The song became an instant hit in the summer of that year. His highly anticipated self-titled debut album was released on November 29, 2005 and is now certified platinum. It debuted at #2 on the charts selling over 155,000 copies in the first week of sales. Following “Run It!”, “Yo (Excuse Me Miss)” became Brown’s second top 10 hit in the US, peaking at #7 and #13 in the UK. It has been certified platinum by the RIAA.

His third single “Gimme That” was released in March 2006 which featured Lil’ Wayne for a remix that is not featured on his album. The song was written by Sean Garrett and produced by Scott Storch. The single debuted on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at #80 and climbed the charts quickly.

Chris also co-directed his music videos for “Yo (Excuse Me Miss)” and “Gimme That”. The fourth, and current single off his album is the heart-breaking ballad “Say Goodbye” which is also featured in the [[Step Up]] Soundtrack.

Brown will start production for his sophomore album by the end of 2006 and is set to release by May of 2007.

On June 13, 2006, a DVD was released entitled Chris Brown’s Journey. It features Brown touring in the UK and Japan, rehearsals, getting ready for his first visit to the 2006 Grammy Awards, behind the scenes of his music videos, bloopers and much more. The DVD is certified gold with more than 500,000 copies sold.

On August 17, 2006, Brown started his Up Close and Personal Tour featuring Ne-Yo, Lil Wayne, Cherish, Juelz Santana, and Dem Franchise Boyz in Cincinnati, Ohio. The tour is still going on in several states and cities throughout the United States.

Acting Career: Other than his music career, Brown has begun some acting. He made a short appearance on UPN’s One on One in March 2006. He also has made his way to movies.

Brown is slated to make his silver screen debut in Stomp The Yard (originally titled: Steppin’) along with Ne-Yo and Meagan Good, which is set to hit theatres by January 12, 2007. Production for the movie began in June 2006. In the movie, Brown will portray an ambitious dancer and the younger brother of the lead character.

Brown has made appearances on UPN’s One on One and The N’s Brandon T. Jackson Show on its pilot episode. In addition, Brown landed a small role as a band geek in the fourth season of Fox’s The O.C. in January 2007. Brown then made his film debut in Stomp the Yard, alongside Ne-Yo, Meagan Good and Columbus Short in January 2007. Brown next appeared in This Christmas, a family drama starring Regina King, released on November 21, 2007.

On July 9, 2007, Brown was featured in an episode of MTV’s My Super Sweet 16 (for the event, it was retitled: Chris Brown: My Super 18) celebrating his eighteenth birthday in New York City. Brown also guest-starred on Disney’s The Suite Life of Zack & Cody as himself. Brown is expected to star in the basketball drama film Phenom.

Brown re-released Exclusive on June 3, 2008 as a deluxe edition, renamed Exclusive: The Forever Edition, seven months after the release of the original version. The re-released version featured four new tracks, including the single “Forever” which reached number two on Billboard Hot 100.

In support of the album, Brown embarked on his The Exclusive Holiday concert tour, visiting over thirty venues in United States. He started the tour in Cincinnati, Ohio, on December 6, 2007 and concluded it on February 9, 2008 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The documented footage was released on June 3, 2008 as the double disc of Exclusive: The Forever Edition. He performed “With You” at the BET Awards ’08 in June 2008. He was then joined by Ciara to dance with him to a snippet of the song “Take You Down”.

Brown, alongside The Game, is featured on Nas’ untitled album on “Make the World Go Round”, co-produced by The Game and Cool & Dre. He is also featured alongside Sean Garrett for Ludacris’ single “What Them Girls Like” off Ludacris’s album Theater of the Mind. He was also featured on T-Pain’s third single “Freeze” off T-Pain’s new album Thr33 Ringz. Brown was named the top artist of 2008 by Billboard magazine. Brown lent his efforts to promote the Math-A-Thon benefiting that hospital by starring as the host in a film to promote it. Brown released his single “Take You Down” in January 2009 in the UK and Ireland.

Brown appeared on 20/20 for an in-depth interview airing December 4, 2009. In the interview, which was conducted by Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts, Brown further discussed his assault of Rihanna. In June 2010, Brown’s application for a visa to enter the UK was refused on the grounds of him “being guilty of a serious criminal offence.” Brown had been planning to do a tour of British cities as part of a European tour but Sony stated that due to “issues surrounding his work visa” the tour was to be postponed. The British Home Office confirmed that Brown was refused permission on the grounds of being guilty of a serious criminal offence – his assault on ex-girlfriend Rihanna.

While performing a Michael Jackson Tribute at the 2010 BET Awards, Brown started to cry and fell to his knees while singing Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror”. The performance and his emotional turmoil resonated with several celebrities. Trey Songz commented at the after party ” He left his heart on the stage. He gave genuine emotion. I was proud of him and I was happy for him for having that moment” Jermaine Jackson, Micheal’s brother expressed similar sentiments stating “it was very emotional for me, because it was an acceptance from his fans from what has happened to him and also paying tribute to my brother” Later on in the night during an acceptance speech Brown stated “I let y’all down before, but I won’t do it again…I promise”

Brown stars alongside an ensemble cast including Matt Dillon, Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Hayden Christensen and T.I. in the crime thriller Takers, and also serves as executive producer of the film.

Brown has also announced on Twitter that he has begun work on his Fourth studio album set for a 2011 release. He officially announced that his next album was called F.A.M.E, on Radio station KPEZ. He has stated that he has been collaborating with artists such as Drake.

In mid-September, Brown got a tattoo of the album title on his arm. In many reliable new articles, blogs, and more sources, FAME stands for Forgiving All My Enemies, and it will be released sometime in late 2010 or early 2011, as will the two lead singles. The first, Brown announced, would be a track called “Yeah 3x”, which Brown said was a fun dance-type track. “And there’s “Calypso”, which Brown said via Twitter also stating that the track had been produced by Polow Da Don, with Brown also saying that it’s something “the ladies have been missing from me.” On 25th September, Brown released the full version of his Lead single Yeah 3x. On August 4, 2010 Chris released a remix of the female rapper Nicki Minaj single “Your Love”.

Brown’s new music video titled Matrix, directed by Colin Tiley, is set to debut some time in September 2010. The Music video has been shot and is now awaiting release along with another video off Brown’s Fan of a Fan Mixtape. Ain’t thinkin Bout You which feature’s American rapper Bow Wow, was tweeted by Brown to be released on Sunday 29 August. The tweet was later removed and no other release date has yet been confirmed.