Chris Brown Biography

Born as Christopher Brown on May 5, 1989 in Tappahannock, Virginia, he has been drawn to music since his childhood and was heavily influenced by the sounds of Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and Anita Baker. However, it was not until the age of 11 that he actually possessed an amazing voice, thanks to his mother who quickly noticed her son's talent after she heard him singing around their house.

Encouraged by this supportive woman to see some local producers, the thirteen-years-old boy satisfyingly made his way to get the attention of a small production team so that they agreed to help him record a few songs as his demo. "There were ups and downs," he described the process. "But I loved it and I knew I wanted to do it."

Convinced that he could flourish his career in New York City, Chris went to this dazzling metropolis with the companion of his team. Trying to look for a reliable record company, he finally got the chance to audition in front of Tina Davis and Antonio "L.A." Reid of Def Jam. Impressed with his talent, Davis, who later resigned from the label, afterwards signed to be his manager and took him to other companies, like Warner Bros, Atlantic, and Jive which he finally concluded to join in.

Soon after, he put full concentration to work on his first album, recording almost 50 songs over six months, and it's all worth it. From those compositions, roughly 15 tracks were picked to be inserted in this initial effort, including "Run It!" which successfully became a hit all over U.S.

In the wake of the achievement, Chris boldly tried his hand at acting, first appearing in TV movie "Christmas in Washington" (2006) before making his big screen debut in musical drama "Stomp the Yard" alongside fellow R&B singer Ne-Yo, Columbus Short, and Meagan Good. The flick delightfully turned out to score considerably well in the box-office as it quickly pulled over $61 million in domestic market only despite unfavorable reviews from critics.

This satisfying result consequently paved the young artist's way in the film industry, and so enabled him to take major roles in the 2007 movies like "After School" and "This Christmas", and even the lead in upcoming sports drama "Phenom". He has also appeared in "Think Like a Man", "Takers", "Into the Woods" and "Blood Rogues". On TV, he guests on "The O.C." and "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" among others.

In line with his acting career, his career in music continued to thrive on with the work of sophomore album titled "Exclusive"(2007). First single "Wall to Wall" peaked at #22 in Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and continued to climb to the top.

Chris Brown really has come with a loud thud into the R&B music scene. Being extremely busy going around U.S. and across the globe to hold some shows, he has become one of the year's sensational acts in American music industry with his genuine style and creativity.

Unfortunately, his image was marred with his bloody altercation with then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009 on the eve of Grammy Awards. He was sentenced to five years of probation and six months of community service after pleading guilty to assault. His career dimmed since then, but not entirely.

His third album "Graffiti" which was released at the end of that year climbed to No. 7 on Hot 200. The singles like "I Can Transform Ya" and "Crawl", however, had much hard time to make it to the top 10 on the U.S. singles chart with the former reaching the highest peak at No. 20. To make it worse, he was denied entry to the U.K. for the album promo show following his altercation with RiRi.

He stayed low key the next two years, but continued to make music and perform in live shows while undergoing his community service and probation. After a series of mixtapes came his fourth set "F.A.M.E." in 2011 which features hottest music acts like Lil Wayne, Justin Bieber and Wiz Khalifa.

Unfortunately his effort to stay out of trouble was ceased when he displayed violent antics on "Good Morning America". Luckily for him, it unaffected his album sales as it performed a lot better than its predecessor, giving him his first No. 1 album on Hot 200. Similar thing happened with the single. He returned to the top 10 on Hot 100 at No. 6 with "Look at Me Now" featuring Weezy and Busta Rhymes. On top of that, he got 3 Grammy nominations for his work.

2012 was a hectic year for Brown both professionally and personally. While his career was back on track, he was hit with repeated negative publicity over his hot-tempered behavior. He was involved in a series of altercation with fellow stars including Drake and Frank Ocean and faced complaints over parking spot and noise party from his neighbors.

His trouble that got the most attention was the allegations that he faked report on his community service hours. The D.A. suspected in his report that he was actually somewhere else doing show on the date he was supposed to do his court-mandated work. He was in jeopardy of violating his court orders.

Amidst the somewhat chaos in his personal life, he managed to release a new album "Fortune" and it hit the high note just like his previous effort. It marked his second chart topper. He scored two top-10 singles with "Don't Wake Me Up" and "Turn Up the Music". This year also marked his return to the Grammy show with a live performance.

In 2013, Brown reconciled with ex-girlfriend RiRi after she confessed in an interview with Oprah Winfrey. Their reunion gradually turned into romance, prompting him to break up with his girlfriend Karrueche Tran whom he began dating since 2011.

The reconciled couple took their romance to the recording booth. She is featured in his album, and vice versa. However, before his album "X" was released, they abruptly broke up, with him saying he couldn't be "wifey-ing" someone as young as her. As if dealing with a tumultuous relationship was not enough, he was faced with a neighbor complain over his "monster" graffiti painted on his house wall. While vehemently defending it as an art, he finally removed it.

Despite the distraction in his love life, he kept his focus on music through the sixth studio album set for July 16, 2013 release. "Fine China" and "Don't Think They Know" which samples Aaliyah's vocals have so far been released, but none broke into the top 10 on the Hot 100 chart. RiRi will still be featured on the album despite their breakup. He's now back on together with Tran.

Following the release of his album "X" in 2014, Brown returned to the studio with friend and frequent collaborator Tyga for a follow-up to their 2010 mixtape "Fan of a Fan". In early 2015, they released the record titled "Fan of a Fan: The Album".

A few months later, Brown made headlines again after it was revealed that he'd secretly fathered a daughter named Royalty. His kid caused another breakup with Tran, but inspired his seventh studio album which he titled "Royalty" after his little girl. The album is set for release on December 18. It has been preceded by a bunch of tracks including "Liquor", "Zero", "Back to Sleep", "Wrist" and "Anyway".

"Royalty" was released on December 18 as scheduled. Receiving mixed reviews from music critics, his seventh studio album debuted at No. 3 on Billboard 200 with 184,000 album units, becoming the second best-selling album of the week. On Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, "Royalty" arrived at No. 1 and marked his sixth solo album to debut on the chart.

Brown quickly got back to work following the release of the album, reuniting with Denny Benassi on the record producer's song "Paradise" as well as announcing his next album title, "Heartbreak on a Full Moon". During the promotion for the album, Brown was hit with legal troubles again after a woman called the police on August 30, 2016 to report that the singer had threatened her with a gun inside his house.

Insisting that he was innocent, he posted videos on Instagram to rail against the police and the media coverage of the activity at his house. In one of the videos, he called the police "idiots" and "the worst gang in the world." He was later arrested and released from jail on $250,000 bail. On September 1, Brown's lawyer Mark Geragos claimed that "nothing was found to corroborate her statement."

Brown returned to work on "Heartbreak on a Full Moon" after that, unleashing the double-album project on October 31, 2017 to positive reviews. It arrived at No. 3 on Billboard 200 chart and was certified double platinum by the RIAA. In the following year, Brown announced a couple of collaborative projects with both Rich the Kid and Joyner Lucas. The projects, however, are yet to be released. Instead, Brown began the roll-out for his ninth album "Indigo" in early 2019. One of the singles off the album, "No Guidance" featuring Drake, launched at No. 9 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

"Indigo" is set to be released on June 28. Prior to the release, Brown made several headlines due to his personal life. In January, he was arrested by police in Paris after being accused of aggravated rape by a 24-year-old woman. After being released from custody with no charges, he filed a defamation lawsuit against his accuser. Later in June, Brown was back in the news after he was rumored to be expecting a baby with girlfriend Ammika Harris. This rumor, however, has yet to be confirmed.