Chris Brown is a massive name globally in the R&B and hip-hop music genre, as well as a force to be reckoned with in the American music industry.
Since the beginning of his career, he has been able to attain great heights in the American music industry and receive many awards and recognition all over the world.
Table of Contents
Biography
Who is Chris Brown?
Chris Brown is an American R&B singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. According to Billboard, Brown is one of the most successful R & B artists of his generation and is often referred to as the King of R&B. Since making his debut in 2005, Chris Brown has released nine studio albums, several of which have gone multi-platinum.
How old is Chris Brown?
Christopher Maurice Brown was born on May 5, 1989, which puts his age as of 2022 at 33 years. He has been in the music industry for at least 17 years.
Early Life & Family Background
Christopher Maurice Brown was born in the small town of Tappahannock, Virginia, to Joyce Hawkins, a former day care centre director, and Clinton Brown, a corrections officer at a local prison. He has an older sister, Lytrell Bundy.
His family was quite religious, and Brown used to go to church every day. He wore more church clothes than school clothes. 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 an interest in the hip-hop scene. He loved the smooth sounds of soul and R&B music. Growing up, Chris constantly found himself getting into his parents’ music collection, as did many of the kids born in the 80’s and early 90’s.
Chris learned to sing and dance while growing up and citing Usher and Michael Jackson as his inspiration and role models.
Brown’s parents separated when he was 7 years old and, according to a 2007 interview in Giant magazine (Jezebel), his mom remarried and moved Brown into a trailer with her and her second husband. Brown explained, “He used to hit my mom…He made me terrified all the time, terrified like I had to pee on myself. I remember one night when he made her nose bleed. I was crying and thinking, ‘I’m just gonna go crazy on him one day. I hate him to this day.”
Education
There is not much information about Brown’s educational background. Brown has gone to Essex high school where he studied for a few years before dropping out from his school to pursue a career in singing and dancing. He went ahead to become a major name in the music industry worldwide.
Music Career
Chris Brown’s career in the music industry has been an interesting and long run, and we are here to tell you all about it.
His career began with him singing in the church choir, but his mother first recognized him for his vocal talent after seeing him perform a rendition of singer, Usher’s “My Way”. She then decided to look for a record deal for her son.
At age 13, Brown was discovered by Hit Mission Records, a local production team that visited his father’s gas station while searching for new talent. Hit mission’s Lamont Fleming provided voice coaching for Brown, and the team helped to arrange a demo package, under the name of “C. Sizzle”, and approached contacts in New York, where Brown started to sojourn, to seek a record deal. Brown refused to sign with Def Jam Recordings. Tina Davis, senior A&R executive at Def Jam Recordings, was impressed when Brown auditioned 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. “I knew that Chris had real talent,” says Davis. I just knew I wanted to be part of it.
The negotiations with Def Jam continued for two months and ended when Davis lost her job due to a corporate merger. Brown asked her to be his manager, and once Davis accepted, she promoted the singer to other labels such as Jive Records, J-Records and Warner Bros. Records. Brown ultimately chose Jive due to its successful work with then young acts such as Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. Brown stated.
After signing to Jive Records in 2004, Brown began recording his self-titled debut studio album in February 2005. By May, there were 50 songs already recorded, 14 of which were picked for the final track listing. The singer worked with several producers and songwriters—Scott Storch, Cool & Dre, Sean Garrett, and Jazze Pha. Brown co-wrote half of the tracks. The entire album was completed in less than eight weeks.
The self-titled Chris Brown album was released on November 29, 2005, and it was a success, debuting at number 2 on the Billboard 200 with sales of over 154,000 copies within the first week. The self-titled album would go on to sell over 2 million copies and be certified as double platinum by the Recording Industry Artists of America.
His single “Run It!” was popular enough to make Brown the first male artist to debut at number one on the Billboard charts since Montell Jordan in 1995. In 2007, Brown released his second album, “Exclusive”, which debuted at number four on the Billboard charts. “Exclusive” also spawned his second Hot No. 1 hit on the Billboard charts, “Kiss Kiss”. Chris released his third album, Graffiti, in 2009. He released the album F.A.M.E. in 2011, which became his first album to top the Billboard 200. The album also earned him a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. His fifth album, “Fortune”, was released in 2012, once again topping the Billboard 200. Brown released X, also in 2012, a collaboration album called Fan of a Fan: The Album in 2015, Royalty, also in 2015 and Heartbreak on a Full Moon in 2017. Brown’s ninth studio album, Indigo came out in 2019 and it became his third number-one album to debut on the Billboard 200.
In December 2019, Brown revealed that he had started working on new material for his tenth studio album. Later, on April 29, 2020, Brown announced the release of a collaborative mixtape with Young Thug, Slime & B. The mixtape was released on May 5, 2020, and features the hit single “Go Crazy,” which peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Brown’s first song to spend one full year on the chart. In April 2021, “Go Crazy” broke the record for the longest running No. 1 song on R&B/Hip-Hop airplay, a record that was previously held by Brown’s 2019 hit single “No Guidance”.
On May 1, 2020, Brown was featured on Drake’s Darklane mixtape on the track “Not You Too.” The song earned Brown his 100th career entry on the US Billboard Hot 100, as it entered and debuted at number 25.
On July 9, 2020, Brown announced via Instagram that the title of his tenth album would be Breezy, a reference to his stage nickname. On August 2, 2021, he announced on his Instagram that his Breezy album would be accompanied by a short film of the same name.
On June 17, 2022, one week ahead of the album release, Brown released the audio for an Afrobeat-infused collaboration with Wizkid titled “Call Me Every Day”. The song was co-produced by DJ Tunez, Blaise Beatz, and Leon Youngblood.
On August 24, 2022, Brown released a music video for his single “Call Me Every Day” featuring Wizkid.
Brown has toured to support all his albums. He was the opening act for Beyoncé Knowles on portions of her The Beyoncé Experience tour and supported Rihanna on her Good Girl Gone Bad tour. To date, he has sold more than 100 million albums and singles worldwide. Chris Brown is one of the world’s bestselling artists.
Acting Career
In 2007, Chris Brown saw his acting career start to take off with his role in the TV series The O.C. and then with his film debut in the movie “Stomp the Yard” and in other film and television series. Here is a comprehensive list:
Film
Year | Title | Role |
---|---|---|
2007 | Stomp the yard | Duron Williams |
2007 | This Christmas | Michael “Baby” Whitfield |
2010 | Takers | Jesse Attica |
2012 | Think | Alex |
2013 | Battle of the year | Rooster |
2017 | Chris Brown: welcome to my life | Himself |
2020 | She Ball | T.A.K.O. |
Television Series
Year | Title | Role | Seasons & Episodes |
---|---|---|---|
2006 | One on One | Himself | “Recipe for Disaster” (season 5, episode 17) |
2006 | Christmas in Washington | Guest Star | |
2007 | Chris Brown: Journey to South Africa | A documentary of Brown’s first trip to Africa | |
2007 | The O.C | Will Tutt | “The My Two Dads” (season 4, episode 9) “The French Connection” (season 4, episode 10) “The Dream Lover” (season 4, episode 11) |
2008 | The suite life of Jack Cody | Himself | “Doin’ Time in Suite 2330” (season 3 episode 20) |
2011 | Tosh. O | Season 3, episode 10 | |
2015 | Real husbands of Hollywood | Season 4, episode 4 | |
2017 | Black-Ish | Rich Youngsta | Guest Star |
Record Label
Throughout the years, Chris Brown has been affiliated with a variety of records labels, including Jive Records, Zomba Record of Companies and LBW Entertainment. He is currently signed to RCA Records and has been since 2019.
REAL NAME | CHRISTOPHER MAURICE BROWN |
STAGE NAME | CHRIS BROWN |
DATE OF BIRTH / AGE | 5 MAY 1989 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | TAPPAHANNOCK VIRGINIA, UNITED STATE |
NETWORTH 2022 | $ 60 MILLION |
HEIGHT | 180CM |
PARENTS | CLINTON BROWN & JOYCE HAAWKINS |
SCHOOL | ESSEX HIGH SCHOOL |
RELIGION | CHRISTIANITY |
NATIONALITY | AMERICAN |
PROFESSION | SINGER, SONGWRITER, GRAFFITI ARTIST AND DANCER |
ZODIAC | TAURUS |
SOCIAL MEDIA: TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM | 32.2 MILLION AND 119 MILLION |
RECORD LABEL | RCA RECORDS |
RELATIONSHIP STATUS | SINGLE |
Chris Brown Songs
Since he started making music professionally, he has been able to put out 10 albums in the space of almost 20 years and these songs have gone ahead to top various charts as well as earn him many nominations and awards. Let’s look at his entire discography:
Albums
TITLE | CHRIS BROWN |
RELEASE DATE | NOVEMBER 29, 2005 |
LABEL | JIVE RECORDS |
INSPIRATION | The album focuses on teenage love and his life as a16 year old teenager. |
SONGS | Intro, Run it (feat Juel Santana), Yo (excuse me miss), Young love, Gimme that, Your Man Aint Me, Winner, Aint no way (you won’t love me), Whats my name (feat Noah), Is this love, Poppin(main), Just fine, Say Goodbye, Run it! Remix (feat Boo Wow & Jermaine Dupril), So glad, Seen the light (feat Rico Love), Gimme that Remix (feat Lil Wayne). |
TITLE | EXCLUSIVE |
RELEASE DATE | November 6, 2007 |
LABEL | CBE, JIVE RECORDS |
INSPIRATION | Exclusive is an R&B record that contains slight influences of pop and electro-hop. Lyrically it revolves around romance. |
SONGS | Throwed, Kiss Kiss (feat T-Pain), Take you down, With you, Picture perfect (feat Will.i.am), Hold up (feat Big Boi), You, Damage, Wall to Wall, Help me, I wanna be, Gimme Whatcha Got, I’ll call ya, Lottery, Get at ya, Mama, Nice (feat The Game), Down(feat Kanye West). |
TITLE | GRAFFITI (EXPANDED EDITION) |
RELEASE DATE | December 8 2009 |
LABEL | JIVE RECORDS |
INSPIRATION | Primarily an R&B outing blended with pop and hip hop, Graffiti incorporates elements of goth rock, synthpop and Euro disco, with its production showing a heavy usage of synthesizers. Its lyrical content has been described as two-sided, with its themes varying from remorseful regret, desire, affection and a playboy lifestyle. |
SONGS | “I Can Transform Ya” (featuring Lil Wayne and Swizz Beatz), “Sing Like Me”, “Crawl” “So Cold”, “What I Do” (featuring Plies), “Famous Girl”, “Take My Time” (featuring Tank), “I.Y. A”, “Pass Out” (featuring Eva Simons), “Wait” (featuring Trey Songz and The Game), “Lucky Me”, “Fallin Down”, “I’ll Go”, “Girlfriend” (featuring Lupe Fiasco), “Gotta Be Ur Man”, “For Ur Love”, “I Need This”, “I Love U” (featuring Ester Dean), “Brown Skin Girl” (featuring Sean Paul and Rock City), “Chase Our Love”, “Graffiti”. |
TITLE | F.A.M.E |
RELEASE DATE | March 18, 2011 |
LABEL | JIVE RECORDS |
INSPIRATION | The lyrical content concentrates on finding positivity in life |
SONGS | “Deuces” (featuring Tyga and Kevin McCall), “Up to You”, “No Bullshit” (featuring Kevin McCall), “Look at Me Now” (featuring Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes), “She Ain’t You”, “Say It with Me” “Yeah 3x”, “Next to You” (featuring Justin Bieber), “All Back”, “Wet the Bed” (featuring Ludacris), “Oh My Love”, “Should’ve Kissed You”, “Beautiful People” (Main version featuring Benny Benassi), “Bomb” (featuring Wiz Khalifa), “Love the Girls” (featuring Game and Eva Simons), “Paper, Scissors, Rock” (featuring Timbaland and Big Sean), “Beg for It”, “Champion” (Chipmunk featuring Chris Brown). |
TITLE | FORTUNE |
RELEASE DATE | JULY 3, 2012 |
LABEL | RCA RECORDS |
INSPIRATION | The lyrical content concentrates on sexual adventures, narcissism, clubbing and romantic love. |
SONGS | “Turn Up the Music”, “Bassline”, “Till I Die” (featuring Big Sean and Wiz Khalifa), “Mirage” (featuring Nas), “Don’t Judge Me”, “2012”, “Biggest Fan”, “Sweet Love”, “Strip” (featuring Kevin McCall), “4 Years Old”, “Party Hard / Cadillac (Interlude)” (featuring Sevyn), “Don’t Wake Me Up”, “Trumpet Lights” (featuring Sabrina Antoinette). |
TITLE | X |
RELEASE DATE | September 16,2014 |
LABEL | CBE ENTERTAINMENT AND RCA RECORDS |
INSPIRATION | Its lyrical content focuses on falling in love, internal conflict and sexual desire. |
SONGS | “X” “Add Me In”, “Loyal” (featuring Lil Wayne and Tyga), “New Flame” (featuring Usher and Rick Ross), “Songs on 12 Play” (featuring Trey”101 (Interlude)”, “Drown in It” (featuring R. Kelly), “Came to Do” (featuring Akon), “Stereotype”, “Time for Love”, “Lady in a Glass Dress (Interlude)”, “Autumn Leaves” (featuring Kendrick Lamar), “Do Better” (featuring Brandy), “See You Around”, “Don’t Be Gone Too Long”, “Body Shots”, “Drunk Texting” (featuring Jhené Aiko), “Love More” (featuring Nicki Minaj), “Don’t Think They Know” (featuring Aaliyah), “Fine China”, “No Lights”. |
TITLE | ROYALTY |
RELEASE DATE | December 18, 2015 |
LABEL | CBE ENTERTAINMENT AND RCA RECORDS |
INSPIRATION | Its lyrical content was described by Brown as a “representation of where i was in my life at that point”. |
SONGS | “Back to Sleep”, “Fine by Me”, “Wrist” (featuring Solo Lucci), “Make Love”, “Liquor” “Zero”, “Anyway” (featuring Tayla Parx), “Picture Me Rollin”, “Who’s Gonna (Nobody)”, “Discover”, “Little Bit”, “Proof”, “No Filter”, “Day One”, “Blow It in the Wind”, “KAE”, “U Did It” (featuring Future), “The 80s”, “Blue Jeans”. |
TITLE | HEARTBREAK ON A FULL MOON |
RELEASE DATE | October 31, 2017 |
LABEL | RCA RECORDS |
INSPIRATION | Its sound has been described for the most part as dark and soulful. The songs on the album display every emotional aspect, and what’s been on the singer’s mind, following a heavy-hearted breakup. Its themes include regret, love transforming into hate, the difficulty in managing emotions, the impossibility of getting over someone, and how a reckless lifestyle can’t numb the pain of a heartbreak. |
SONGS | “Lost & Found”, “Privacy”, “Juicy Booty” (featuring Jhené Aiko and R. Kelly), Questions “Heartbreak on a Full Moon”, “Roses” “Confidence”, “Rock Your Body”, “Tempo”, “Handle It” (featuring Dej Loaf and Lil Yachty), “Sip”, “Everybody Knows”, “To My Bed”, “Hope You Do”, “This Ain’t”, “Pull Up”, “Party” (featuring Gucci Mane and Usher), “Sensei” (featuring A1), “Summer Breeze”, “No Exit”, “Pills & Automobiles” (featuring Yo Gotti, A Boogie wit da Hoodie and Kodak Black), “Hurt the Same”, “I Love Her”, “You Like”, “Nowhere”, “Other Niggas”, “Tough Love”, “Paradise”, “Covered in You”, “Even”, “High End” (featuring Future and Young Thug), “On Me”, “Tell Me What to Do”, “Frustrated””Enemy”, “If You’re Down”, “Bite My Tongue”, “Run Away”, “This Way”, “Yellow Tape”, “Reddi Wip”, “Hangover”, “Emotions”, “Only 4 Me” (featuring Ty Dolla), “Grass Ain’t Greener”. |
TITLE | INDIGO |
RELEASE DATE | June 28, 2019 |
LABEL | RCA RECORDS |
INSPIRATION | Its topics focus on spiritual love, sex, energy and vibrations, outlining a positive turn that follows a bad period in a person’s life. |
SONGS | “Lower Body” (featuring Davido), “Overtime”, “Under the Influence”, “Nosedive” (featuring DaniLeigh), “Flashbacks”, “Problem with You”, “Going at It”, “Technology”, “Tell Me How You Feel” (featuring Tory Lanez), “Indigo”, “Back to Love”, “Come Together” (featuring H.E.R.), “Temporary Lover” (featuring Lil Jon), “Emerald / Burgundy” (featuring Juvenile and Juicy J), “Red””All I Want” (featuring Tyga)”, “Wobble Up” (featuring Nicki Minaj and G-Eazy), “Need a Stack” (featuring Lil Wayne and Joyner Lucas), “Heat” (featuring Gunna), “No Guidance” (featuring Drake), “Girl of My Dreams”, “Natural Disaster / Aura”, “Don’t Check on Me” (featuring Justin Bieber and Ink), “Sorry Enough””Juice”, “You Like That”, “Troubled Waters”, “Take a Risk”, “Lurkin'” (featuring Tory Lanez), “Trust Issues / Act In”, “Cheetah”, “Undecided”, “BP / No Judgement”, “Side Nigga”, “Throw It Back”, “All on Me”, “Sexy” (featuring Trey Songz), “Let’s Smoke”, “Early 2K” (featuring Tank), “Dear God”, “Part of the Plan”, “Play Catch Up”. |
TITLE | BREEZY |
RELEASE DATE | June 24 2022 |
LABEL | RCA RECORDS |
INSPIRATION | The artist give an hopeful introspection over their emotional struggles caused by their personal life’s harshest challenges |
SONGS | “Till the Wheels Fall Off” (featuring Lil Durk and Capella Grey), “C.A.B. (Catch a Body)” (featuring Fivio Foreign), “Pitch Black”, “Possessive” (featuring Lil Wayne and Yung Bleu), “Addicted” (featuring Lil Baby), “Call Me Every Day” (featuring Wizkid), “Closure” (featuring H.E.R.), “Need You Right Here” (featuring Bryson Tiller), “Sex Memories” (featuring Ella Mai), “Hmhmm” (featuring EST Gee), “Psychic” (featuring Jack Harlow), “Show It” (featuring Blxst), “Sleep at Night”, “Passing Time”, “WE (Warm Embrace)”, “Forbidden”, “Bad Then a Beach” (featuring Tory Lanez), “Survive the Night”, “Dream” “Slide”, “Harder”, “On Some New Shit”, “Luckiest Man”, “Iffy”, “Hit My Line”, “Inner Peace” (featuring Anderson Paak), “Talm’ Bout”, “Hate Me Tomorrow”, “Hate Being Human”, “Nobody Has to Know” (featuring Davido), “Special Delivery”, “Petty”, “In the City”. |
Other songs and major collaborations
- David Guetta ft Chris Brown and Lil Wayne – I can only imagine
- Kid ink ft Chris Brown – Show me
- Sevyn Streeter ft Chris Brown – It wont stop
- Jordin Sparks ft Chris Brown- No Air
- Dj Khaled ft Chris Brown, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne – Take it to the head.
- Nas ft Chris Brown and The Game – Make the world go round.
- Pitbull ft Chris Brown – International Love
- Tyga ft Chris Brown – For the Road
- Bow Wow ft Chris Brown- Shortie like mine
- Sean Kingston ft Chris Brown and Wiz Khalifa – Beat it.
- Nicki Minaj ft Chris Brown- Right by my side.
- Pusha T ft Chris Brown – Sweet
- Serenade.
Collaborations with Afrobeats Artists
- Wizkid Ft Chris Brown, Trey Songz, and French Montana – Shabba
- Ayo Jay ft Chris Brown Remix – Your Number
- Wizkid Ft Chris Brown – African Bad Gyal
- Davido Ft Chris Brown – Blow My Mind
- Chris Brown Ft Davido – Lower Body
- Davido Ft Chris Brown and Young Thug – Shopping Spree
- Rema Ft Chris Brown – Time & Affection
- Fireboy FT Chris Brown- Diana
Chris Brown Net worth
According to research, Chris Brown has earned an estimated total career income of $125 million. Brown is one of the world’s best-selling music artists, having sold over 197 million records worldwide. As Brown lives in the state of California, he will have had to pay around 49% in taxes on his career income. After taxes, his career earnings are estimated to be around $63.75 million dollars, having paid $61.25 million dollars in taxes.
In real estate, Brown bought a $4.35 million property in Tarzana, California in 2014. He was previously residing in a Hollywood Hills home he purchased for $1.5 million in or around 2011. It is speculated that Brown kept some of his money invested in securities.
Chris Brown has a net worth of around $60 million dollars.
Relationships
Chris Brown is not married but has three children. Chris Brown is not dating anyone currently but has had so many romantic relationships since the beginning of his career. He has not previously been engaged.
Relationship with Wizkid
Wizkid and Chris Brown rather surprised everyone with a collaboration which was released on Thursday, June 16th, 2022, and Chris Brown revealed how much this single meant to him.
In an interview, he spoke about his fifteen-year relationship with the Afrobeats genius Wizkid although Breezy claims this is the first time they actually collaborated on a single even though they had recorded some fun songs.
“He’s been my friend for 15 years plus. We always like play studio and some fun sh*t but this time we made a real, real record, And I feel like it’s dope,” Breezy says.
Social Media
Being a very important artist in the music industry, he has been able to gather quite a large following on all his social media platforms. His official Instagram page (@chrisbrownofficial) has 119 million followers, and his official Twitter account (@chrisbrown) has 32.2 million followers.
Awards and Nominations
Chris brown has over 450 nominations from different awards both locally & internationally. He has won over 100 awards. He is recognized globally for his music and even holds a Grammy Award for his album “F.A.M.E”.
Controversies
Chris Brown is not new to controversies and bad public image and one can say it’s a miracle that his fanbase has stayed by his side throughout the perils of his personal life. This should speak volumes about his status as a performer and entertainer.
Rihanna Assault
On February 8, 2009, Brown was arrested and charged with making criminal threats against his then-girlfriend, R&B singer Rihanna. The two had an argument which had escalated to physical assault and left Rihanna with injuries that required medical attention. After his arrest, several commercials and TV shows featuring him were suspended, and he withdrew from public appearances.
He was sentenced to one year of domestic violence counseling, six months of community service, five years of probation, and a five-year restraining order from Rihanna. A month later he was charged with felony assault. He pleaded guilty in June 2009. The next year, Brown applied for a visa to enter the UK to do a tour of British cities but was denied on account of “being guilty of a serious criminal offense.” On March 11, Brown became violent in his dressing room on a commercial break after he was interviewed by Robin Roberts of Good Morning America and was asked about the restraining order and the Rihanna situation. He threw an object through a window that overlooked Times Square, then stormed out of the building shirtless. Brown’s probation ended formally on March 20, 2015.
Other Legal Issues
Chris has been involved in scuffles and altercations with Drake, Tony Parker, and Frank Ocean. In July 2013, Brown was charged with an alleged hit-and-run in L.A. The charges were later dropped, but he had 1,000 additional community service hours added to probation. Brown was arrested in Washington DC in October 2013 for felony assault after refusing to take a photo with two men. Brown was released after 36 hours in a Washington jail and voluntarily checked into a rehab facility. After he completed 90 days, a judge ordered him to remain until April 23, 2014. On March 14, 2014, Brown was kicked out of the rehab center for rule violation and sent to Northern Neck Regional Jail. At his May 9, 2014 court date, he was sentenced to 131 days in jail, but was given credit for time already spent in rehab and jail. Brown was released on June 2, 2014 due to overcrowding.
Brown is prohibited from possessing a firearm due to his previous felony assault conviction. On August 30, 2016, a call was made to the police from a woman who claimed that Brown had threatened her with a gun in his house. Brown refused entry to the cops when they showed up and a stand-off ensued that provoked the action from the LAPD robbery-homicide division and the SWAT team. He was arrested, and charges were later dropped.
Brown is banned from entering the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan due to his criminal record.
Conclusion
Being a well-known entertainer around the world is one thing but combining that popularity with several successful business enterprises is an accomplishment in and of itself. Chris Brown possesses the talent and financial savvy required to follow in the footsteps of similarly wealthy entertainers like Jay-Z.