Chris Brown (entertainer)

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Chris Brown

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Img_capt = Chris Brown performing at KISS 106.1 Seattle Jingle Bell Bash 8.
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Christopher Maurice Brown
Alias =
Born = birth date and age|1989|5|5
Origin = Tappahannock, Virginia, United States
Genre = R&B, pop, dance, hip hop
Occupation(s) = Singer, dancer, actor
Years_active = 2005–present
Label = Jive, Zomba, LBW
Associated_acts =
URL = [http://www.chrisbrownworld.com/ ChrisBrownWorld.com]

Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) [ [http://www.tv.com/chris-brown/person/1902/summary.html Chris Brown] ] is a Grammy-nominated American R&B and pop singer-songwriter, dancer, music video director and actor. He made his recording debut in late 2005 with "Chris Brown" at the age of 16. The album featured the hit single "Run It!", which topped the "Billboard" Hot 100, making Brown the first male artist to have his debut single to top the chart. [http://acharts.us/song/891 Chris Brown - Run It! Chart Track] . "Accharts." Accessed August 14, 2008.] The album sold two million copies in the United States and was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the RIAA.cite web
url=http://www.singersroom.com/news/entertainment-story-1296.asp|title=Chris Brown’s Sophomore Album Exclusive Certified Platinum|author=Singersroom News|publisher= [http://www.singersroom.com Singersroom] |date=2007-12-21|accessdate=2008-08-14]

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. [cite web|url=http://au.launch.yahoo.com/071101/11/1gv7e.html|title=R&B singer Chris Brown tops U.S. singles chart|author=Reuters|publisher= [http://au.launch.yahoo.com/ Yahoo! 7 Music] |date=2007-11-02|accessdate=2008-08-14] [ [http://acharts.us/song/30147 Chris Brown - With You Chart Track] . "Accharts." Accessed August 14, 2008.] His latest single, "Forever", was released in May 2008 from the deluxe "Exclusive: The Forever Edition" and has peaked at number two on "Billboard" Hot 100. [http://acharts.us/song/35202 Chris Brown - Forever Chart Track] . "Accharts." Accessed August 14, 2008.] "Exclusive" has gone platinum, selling over one million units.

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. [ [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/chart_display.jsp?f=Pop+100&pageNumber=Top+11-50&g=Singles Billboard - Updated Album Charts from the most Trusted Music Magazine] ] [ [http://acharts.us/song/11170 Shortie like Mine Chart Track] . "Accharts." Accessed August 16, 2008.] [ [http://acharts.us/song/33939 Lil Mama and Chris Brown - Shawty Get Loose - Music Charts] . "Accharts." Accessed August 16, 2008.] Due to his vocal and 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. [cite web
url=http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/hiphopmediatraining/19398/usher-has-chris-brown-taken-your-spot|title=Usher, Has Chris Brown Taken Your Spot?|author= Billy Johnson, Jr.|publisher= [http://music.yahoo.com/ Yahoo! Music] |date=2008-05-01|accessdate=2008-08-16]

Biography

Early life

Brown was born and raised in the small town of Tappahannock, Virginia, the son of Joyce Hawkins and Clinton Brown.Bill Lamb. [http://top40.about.com/od/artistsac/p/chrisbrown.htm Chris Brown - Profile of Top Pop Star Chris Brown] "About.com". Accessed October 11, 2008.] [http://www.people.com/people/chris_brown/biography Chris Brown Biography] ] He began dancing at the age of two. [http://www.usmagazine.com/chris_brown_profile Celebrity Bios - Chris Brown] "Us Magazine". Accessed October 11, 2008.] He was influenced by the artists his parents played on the home radio, such as Michael Jackson, Sam Cooke, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Anita Baker and Aretha Franklin. Before becoming a vocalist, he was interested in becoming a rapper, but became a vocalist when his mother pointed out his singing voice.

At the age of thirteen, Brown and his mother began looking for opportunities of a record deal. He was discovered by a local production team who visited his father's gas station searching for new talent. At the age of 15, Brown was then sent to perform for L.A. Reid and was subsequently signed in 2004 to Jive Records. By early 2005, Brown began work for his debut album, working with the likes of Scott Storch, The Underdogs, Dre & Vidal, Bryan-Michael Cox, Bow Wow, and Jermaine Dupri.

Music career

"Chris Brown": (2005—2006)

Brown left school in late 2004 to begin working on his self-titled debut album which was released on November 29, 2005. The album debuted at #2 on the "Billboard" 200 selling over 155,000 copies in first week of sales. [ [http://www.newsday.co.tt/features/0,81475.html Chris Brown in town for concert] "News Day". Accessed July 8, 2008.] His debut single, "Run It!", was #1 in the United States, New Zealand, and Australia. Following "Run It!", "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)" became Brown's second top 10 hit in the U.S., [ [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=367&cfgn=Singles&cfn=Hot+R%26amp%3BB%2FHip-Hop+Songs&ci=3064862&cdi=8562780&cid=03%2F18%2F2006 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs - Yo (Excuse Me Miss)] "Billboard". Accessed May 18, 2008.] peaking at #7, and #13 in the UK. [ [http://acharts.us/song/7190 Chris Brown - Yo (excuse Me Miss) - Music Charts] "aCharts". Accessed May 18, 2008.] 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, originally not featured on the album, but was later included. The single debuted on the U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100 at #80 and climbed the charts quickly peaking at #15. Brown also co-directed his music videos for "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)" and "Gimme That". His fourth single is the ballad "Say Goodbye", which is also a part of the "Step Up" soundtrack. On June 13, 2006, Brown released a DVD entitled, "Chris Brown's Journey", which shows footage of him traveling in England and Japan, getting ready for his first visit to the Grammy Awards, behind the scenes of his music videos and bloopers.

On August 17, 2006 to further promote the album, Brown began his major co-headlining tour, "The Up Close and Personal Tour". Due to the tour, production for his next album was pushed back two months. Brown was also the opening act for R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles on the Australian leg of her "The Beyoncé Experience" tour.

"Exclusive": (2006—present)

Shortly after ending his summer tour with Ne-Yo, Brown quickly began production for his second studio album, "Exclusive", which was set to be released on August 28, 2007 until it was pushed to November 6, 2007. The album debuted at number 4 on the "Billboard" 200 and number 2 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums selling nearly 300,000 copies in its first week domestically, 140,000 more copies than his debut album.

According to MTV News, Brown stated: "I am still going to keep it so my younger fans can continue to listen to my music, but I got a couple of joints on there that's for some of the older people." The album's first single, "Wall to Wall", debuted on the 'Billboard" Hot 100 at #96, and peaked at #79 and #22 on the Billboard R&B and Hip-Hop Chart becoming his lowest charting song to date."Kiss Kiss", featuring and produced by T-Pain, was released as the second single. "Kiss Kiss", has become more successful surpassing the success of "Wall To Wall", reaching #1 on the U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100 to become Chris' second #1 single and his highest chart peak since "Run It!" in 2005. On December 4, 2007, Brown released the third single from "Exclusive", entitled "With You", a song produced by Stargate. So far, "With You" has reached #2 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and has entered the charts in various countries around the world, becoming one of Brown's most successful released to date, entering the top ten in Croatia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Bulgaria, Brazil, Canada, the United States, Cyprus, Ireland, France, the United Kingdom, Malta, Malaysia, Australia, and the United World Chart.

Brown re-released "Exclusive" on June 3, 2008 as a deluxe edition, renamed "", seven months after the release of the original version. The re-release version features four new tracks, including the new single "Forever" which has reached number 2 on Billboard Hot 100 so far.

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 "".

Brown is featured on the forthcoming Nas album on a track featuring The Game, co-produced by the The Game and Cool & Dre. [ [http://media.hurricane-game.net/play.php?vid=263 Game explains Chris Brown appearance on Nas album] ]

Brown performed "With You" at the BET Awards '08 on June 24, 2008. He was then joined by Ciara to dance with him to a snippet of the song "Take You Down".

Chris Brown will be featuring along side Sean Garrett for Ludacris's hit single "What Them Girls Like" off Ludacris's album Theater of the Mind.

Acting career

Brown has made appearances on UPN's "One on One" and The-N's "The 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. [ [http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1539927/20060831/story.jhtml Chris Brown To Play 'Band Geek' On 'The O.C.' - News Story | Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV News ] ] Brown then made his film debut in the dance movie "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" celebrating his 18th birthday in New York. Brown was on Disney's "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" where he guest-starred as himself; the episode also guest-starred The Cheetah Girls.

Charity work

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital received $50,000 in ticket proceeds from Brown's 2006 "Up Close & Personal" tour. In 2008, Brown lent his efforts to promote the Math-A-Thon benefiting that hospital by starring as the host in a film to promote it. [ [http://www.mathathon.org/chris_10_07.shtml St. Jude Children's Research Hospital] ]

Discography

Albums

* "Chris Brown" (2005)
* "Exclusive" (2007)
* "Grafitti" [ [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/music/news/e3i334de7572cef8d49dca435c90cabbb30] ] (2009)

Videos/DVDs

* 2006: "Chris Brown Journey"
* 2008: ""

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* [http://www.chrisbrownworld.com/ Chris Brown's official website]
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* [http://www.youtube.com/user/ChrisBrownTV Chris Brown] at YouTube