Aliaune Badara Akon Thiam better known by his middle and stage name Akon is a Senegalese-American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, businessman, and philanthropist. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of “Locked Up”, the first single from his debut album Trouble. His second album, Konvicted, earned him a Grammy Award nomination of the single “Smack That”. He has since founded two record labels, Konvict Muzik and Kon Live Distribution.
Akon often sings hooks for other artists and is currently accredited with over 200 guest appearances and 32 Billboard Hot 100 songs. He is the first solo artist to accomplish the feat of holding both the number one and two spots simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 charts twice.
Background Akon has claimed in interviews that his full name is Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam although there is some ambiguity and debate about Akon’s legal name and birth date. Akon is usually credited as Aliaune Thiam. In addition to the longer form, Akon’s full name has been reported both as Aliaune Badara Thiam and Alioune Badara Thiam and About.com claims that this middle name has never been independently verified.Inregards to his birth date, some media institutions have reported that Akon was born in 1981. Other sources, including the AP, have indicated that Akon was born in 1973 and was delivered by Senegalese doctor Magueye Seck. Legal documents released by The Smoking Gun list Akon’s name as Aliaune Damala Thiam and his date of birth as 1973-04-30[8] or 1973-04-16,however the BBC states he was born on 14 October 1981. According to the Smoking Gun article, “By all indications, he was born April 16, 1973.”When asked his age during an interview with VIBE, Akon reportedly responded, “The only thing I hide is my age… before I lie to you, I’d rather say nothing.”It has since been reported by many media outlets that his birth certificate reads that he was born in 1977. Early life As the son of famed Senegalese percussionist Mor Thiam, Akon was raised in a musical setting and taught to play several instruments including the djembe. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. so that he would not have to go through the immigration process, but he lived in Dakar, Senegal until the age of 7, split time between America and Senegal until he was 15, then he moved permanently to Jersey City, New Jersey.During Akon’s alleged time in jail for 3 years, he began to understand his music abilities and developed an appreciation for his musical background. Akon’s unique blend of West African-style, skills and moves eventually caught the ears of executives at Universal. Akon began writing and recording tracks in his home studio. The tapes found their way to SRC/Universal, which released Akon’s debut LP Trouble in June 2004. The album is a hybrid of Akon’s silky, West African-styled vocals mixed with East Coast and Southern beats. Most of Akon’s songs begin with the sound of the clank of a jail cell’s door with him uttering the word “Konvict”. Personal life Akon is a Muslim, as he explains he has never drunk alcohol due to his faith. He has also been rumored to have three wives, however he has since revealed that he only has one, named Tomeka. Akon claims he has six children three different women in an interview with Blender. Akon claims to have great relationships with all his children, and that he wishes to keep his family protected from the public eye. He also states that his religion made him a better person, and provides guidance to how he acts among others in life. He also has his own charity for underprivileged children in Africa called Konfidence Foundation. Akon owns a diamond mine in South Africa and denies the existence of conflict diamonds (Otherwise casually referred to as ‘blood diamonds’), saying, “I don’t even believe in conflict diamonds. That’s just a movie. Think about it. Ain’t nobody thought about nothing about no conflict diamonds until the movie came out.”However, he has since stated that he does accept that blood diamonds exist, and that he is partial-owner of an African mine that is dedicated to avoiding use of blood diamonds while also donating profits to local communities. He allegedly had a previous occupation as a drug dealer but has stated in interviews that he’s never used drugs, though some of his lyrics would suggest otherwise. Despite his alleged criminal history, he proclaims that he has turned his life around.$PAGE$
Career 2004–05: Debut: Trouble Akon’s solo debut album, Trouble was released on June 29, 2004. It spawned the singles “Locked Up” and “Lonely”, “Belly Dancer (Bananza)”, “Pot Of Gold”, and “Ghetto.” The album was the first release of his new record label Konvict Music. The inspiration for his debut single allegedly came from his three-year stint in prison for ‘grand theft auto’. “Locked Up” reached the top 10 in the U.S. and the top five 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. 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 amount of video requests, Akon’s “Lonely” became the longest running single on the top of the chart, spanning over fifteen weeks. Akon then released another single featuring with a New Zealand rapper, Savage with the single Moonshine, which had become a success in both New Zealand and Australia, becoming number one in the New Zealand charts. 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.” In December the same year his manager, Robert Montanez was killed in a shooting after a dispute in New Jersey. 2006–08: Konvicted Akon’s second album, Konvicted was released on November 14, 2006. It 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. “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 U.S. 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 reaching just 47 in the UK. To coincide with the release of the Platinum (deluxe) edition of the album “Sorry, Blame It on Me” was the album’s fifth single, debuted in August 2007 on the Hot 100 at number seven. The deluxe version was fully released on August 28, 2007. The final single was confirmed by Akon to be “Never Took the Time.”[20] Konvicted 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 U.S. and more than 1.3 million worldwide. 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 different occasions. On November 20, 2007, the RIAA certified the album ‘triple platinum’ with 3 million units sold in the US. It has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide. 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. In December 2006, Akon’s “Smack That” was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, but lost to Justin Timberlake and T.I.’s “My Love”.$PAGE$ 
Projects with other artists In 2006, Akon started his new record label Kon Live Distribution under Interscope Records. His first signed artist was Ray Lavender. He was featured on Gwen Stefani’s latest album, The Sweet Escape. He made an appearance on the title track and second single, “The Sweet Escape.” Akon produced the song. On December 10, 2006, Akon and Stefani appeared as musical guests on Saturday Night Live, however they did not perform the song as Stefani had not yet learned the lyrics. He performed the song live, however, on American Idol on March 28, 2007 due to Gwen Stefani’s appearance as a coach the night before. “The Sweet Escape” has reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Akon collaborated with Chamillionaire on his mixtape, Mixtape Messiah 2, featuring on the track “Ridin’ Overseas” which he also produced. The mixtape was available for download on Chamillionaire’s website from December 24, 2006. In 2006, after their 2005 Akon-produced single, “Soul Survivor,” the duo said that there is a lot more to expect from them in the future. The pair announced there are currently plans for a collaborative album. Akon also appeared on Bone Thugs-n-Harmony’s album Strength and Loyalty and Three 6 Mafia’s eighth studio album, Last 2 Walk, We The Best by DJ Khaled, Fabolous’s album, From Nothin’ to Somethin’, with 50 Cent on some tracks for Curtis,T.I.’s 5th album, T.I. vs. T.I.P. Mario’s third solo album Go!,and produced for Daddy Yankee’s El Cartel: The Big Boss which was released on June 5, 2007. On July 7, 2007 Akon performed at the American leg of Live Earth. In November 2007, Akon recorded a remix of “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” with Michael Jackson. In February 2008, the remix was released on the 25th anniversary rerelease of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. In August 2009, Akon released another version of Beautiful featuring BoA, a popular and legendary Korean singer. However, this version was for the Japan Market. Legal difficulties In April 2007, Akon drew criticism for having a racy dance with Danah (Deena) Alleyne, a preacher’s daughter aged 15 at the time, at a club in Trinidad and Tobago, as part of a fake contest, despite the club’s claim to have a 21 years and over age limit. The incident was filmed by Akon’s crew and later uploaded to the Internet. On April 20, 2007 local media, channel TV6, aired the video clip publicly. Amid criticism on the radio, television, and from the blogosphere, Verizon Wireless removed ringtones featuring Akon’s songs. Verizon also decided not to sponsor The Sweet Escape Tour where Akon was to be the opening act for Gwen Stefani. However, Universal Music Group did not take action against Akon, but rather simply ordered the video clip be removed from video-sharing site YouTube due to copyright infringement. Conservative commentator and Parents Television Council founder Brent Bozell called this “corporate irresponsibility. Political commentators Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham, and Bill O’Reilly criticized Akon for “degrading women.”Malkin uploaded commentary about Akon to YouTube, using footage from music videos and the Trinidad concert, and Universal Music Group then forced its removal by issuing a DMCA takedown notice. The Electronic Frontier Foundation joined Malkin in contesting the removal as a misuse of copyright law, citing fair use. In May 2007, UMG rescinded its claim to the video, and the video returned to YouTube. On June 3, 2007, at WSPK’s KFEST concert at the Dutchess Stadium in Fishkill, New York, a concert attendee threw an object towards Akon on stage. Akon asked the crowd to identify who threw the object and that he be brought on stage. Security staff grabbed the young man and took him up to the stage. Akon then pulled him up from the crowd and hoisted him across his shoulders. The singer then tossed the attendee back into the crowd from his shoulders. Video of the incident was reviewed by Fishkill police. Akon has claimed that the incident was staged and that he in fact used the act to set up for the next record. Charges of endangering the welfare of a minor, a misdemeanor, and second-degree harassment, a violation, were filed, according to police Chief Donald F. Williams, and Akon was arraigned the two charges on December 3, 2007 in the town of Fishkill Court. 2008-present: Freedom Akon released his new album Freedom on December 2, which spawned four singles: “Right Now (Na Na Na)”, “I’m So Paid” (featuring Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy) ,”Beautiful” (featuring Kardinal Offishall and Colby O’Donis) and We Don’t Care. The album has reached gold status by selling over 600,000 albums.