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Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, dancer and actor. He is regarded as one of the most prominent artists in R&B music, being credited as an evolver of the genre, and often being referred to by contemporaries as the "King of R&B". His R&B has been characterized by several influences from other genres, mainly pop music and hip hop. His lyrics develop predominantly over emotional and hedonistic themes. Brown has had wide comparisons to Michael Jackson for his singing and dancing abilities. In 2004, Brown signed with Jive Records and released his eponymous debut studio album the following year, which was later certified triple Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). With his debut single "Run It!" (featuring Juelz Santana) peaking atop the Billboard Hot 100, Brown became the first male artist since 1995 to have his debut single top the chart. His second album, Exclusive (2007), was met with further commercial success worldwide, and spawned his second Billboard Hot 100 number one "Kiss Kiss" (featuring T-Pain). In 2009, Brown received much media attention after pleading guilty to felony assault of his then-girlfriend, singer Rihanna; he was sentenced to five years of probation and six months of community service, with his personal life and legal issues being highly publicized by media outlets in the following years. This foresaw the release of his third album, Graffiti which was considered to be a commercial failure compared to his previous works. Following Graffiti, Brown released his fourth album F.A.M.E. (2011), which became his first album to top the Billboard 200. The album contained the commercially successful singles: "Yeah 3x", "Look at Me Now" (featuring Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes) and "Beautiful People" (featuring Benny Benassi), and earned him the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. His fifth album, Fortune, released in 2012, also topped the Billboard 200. Following the releases of X (2014) and Royalty (2015), both peaking in the top three of the Billboard 200, his eighth album, Heartbreak on a Full Moon, a double-disc LP consisting of 45 tracks, was certified Gold by the RIAA for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 500,000 after one week, and was later certified double Platinum. Brown's ninth studio album, Indigo (2019) found similar success, debuting atop the Billboard 200. It included the single "No Guidance" (featuring Drake) which broke the record for the longest-running number one on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. Its chart success was outdone with the single "Go Crazy" (with Young Thug) released the following year, which broke Brown's own record for the longest-running number one on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart set previously by "No Guidance". In 2022, his Indigo album spawned a sleeper hit with its song "Under the Influence", which was re-released as a single. Brown has sold over 140 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists. He has gained a cult following, and is one of the highest-grossing African American touring artists of all time. In terms of charts and certifications, Brown holds the record for the most Billboard Hot 100 entries of any male singer in history, the most top 40 hits of any R&B singer in history, the most RIAA Gold-certified singles of any male singer in history, and the most RIAA multi-Platinum singles of any male singer in history. At the end of 2019, Billboard named Brown the third most successful artist of the 2010s decade in R&B and hip-hop music, behind Drake and Rihanna in first and second, respectively. Additionally, Brown has won a total of 199 awards from 513 nominations over the course of his career. Brown has also pursued an acting career. In 2007, he made his on-screen feature film debut in Stomp the Yard, and appeared as a guest on the television series The O.C. Other films Brown has appeared in include This Christmas (2007), Takers (2010), Think Like a Man (2012), Battle of the Year (2013) and She Ball (2021). Early life Christopher Maurice Brown was born on May 5, 1989, in the small town of Tappahannock, Virginia, to Joyce Hawkins, a former day care center director, and Clinton Brown, a corrections officer at a local prison. He has an older sister, Lytrell Bundy, who works in a bank. Music was always present in Brown's life beginning in his childhood. He would listen to soul albums that his parents owned, and eventually began to show interest in the hip-hop scene. Brown taught himself to sing and dance at a young age and often cites Michael Jackson as his inspiration. He began to perform in his church choir and in several local talent shows. Brown said, during a 2023 interview with Shannon Sharpe, that he started to take in consideration music as his job after winning a talent show during a summer camp when he was 11 years old, performing Sisqó’s "Thong Song": "The camp leaders, they laughed, but everybody kinda went crazy in there and I was like 'I think I can do this'." When he mimicked an Usher performance of "My Way", his mother recognized his vocal talent, and they began to look for the opportunity of a record deal. At the same time, Brown was going through personal issues. His parents had divorced, and his mother's boyfriend terrified him by subjecting her to domestic violence. In a 2017 self-documentary, Welcome to My Life, Brown goes into detail about the abusive relationship. Brown said that when he was six, his mother's partner shot himself in the head, but did not die. The gunshot blinded him, the physical impairment only adding to his rage. His mother's partner took his anger and frustration out on Hawkins: "I had to hear my mom get beat up every night. I’d pee on myself, just scared to even walk out into the hallway, because I didn’t want to see nothing". Career 2002–2004: Career beginnings At age 13, Brown was discovered by Hitmission Records, a local production team that visited the gas station where his father worked, while searching for new talent. Around the same time, he performed with one of his production managers’ son, named TJ, for hip hop artist Puff Daddy, but the rapper refused to sign him to his record label Bad Boy Records. Hitmission's Lamont Fleming provided voice coaching for Brown. The team helped to arrange a demo package, under the name of "C. Sizzle", and approached contacts in New York. Tina Davis, senior A&R executive at Def Jam Recordings, heard the demo package that Brown's local team had sent to Def Jam, and among the artists contained in the CD she was impressed by Brown with his track "Whose Girl Is That". Davis later had Brown auditioning in her New York office, and she immediately took him to meet the former president of the Island Def Jam Music Group, Antonio "L.A." Reid, who offered to sign him that day, but Brown refused his proposal because Reid wouldn't talk to his mother. Brow.... Discover the R Chris Wells popular books. Find the top 100 most popular R Chris Wells books.