- Hip Hop/Pop singer, born in 1989 in Tappahannock Virginia.
- As a child, he sang at his church choir and in local talent contests. When he sang Usher’s My Way, his mother realized that he had the talent to perform as a career.
- At 13, a local production team discovered Brown, and offered to provide vocal coaching. They put together demo songs, and shopped the tape to record companies. By 2004, he was signed by a record company who felt his voice had great potential.
- In early 2005, he moved to New York to work on his first album. In 3 months, he had 50 songs recorded – and he had just turned 16 years old. 14 songs were chosen for the album, the self titled Chris Brown, which was released that November. It debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 chart, and 4 singles peaked in the top 20 – Run It! (at #1), Yo (Excuse Me Miss), Gimme That, and Say Goodbye.
- His second album, Exclusive, was released in 2007. The single Kiss Kiss (featuring T-Pain) reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, giving him his second #1 song, and his first as a co-writer. Hit maker at 18 years old!
- Brown has released 8 studio albums, and a ninth is due to be released in July this year. All of the albums have made the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart, and 2 – Fortune and F.A.M.E. reached #1. He has released 106 singles (some as lead, some as a featured artist) – 82 of them have hit the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the seventh most of all time. His album F.A.M.E. earned him a Grammy award for Best R&B Album.
- He cites Michael Jackson as his primary influence, along with Usher, Marvin Gaye, R. Kelly and New Edition.
- He has performed in 5 films, including the lead role in the 2007 Christmas romantic musical-comedy called This Christmas. He has appeared in 9 TV shows, appearing as himself in 6 of these.
- Brown has endured much personal drama in his young life, most notably, his felony assault in 2009 to his then girlfriend Rihanna. There have been several other incidents of violence, and as recently as last August, he was briefly jailed after a woman called 911 to report that she was threatened with a gun by Brown. He currently is banned from entering the UK or Australia due to his past brushes with the law. Too bad – 28 years old, dominant hip hop music, but apparently, bad guy.
- Here’s Brown’s first hit, Run It! You’ll definitely hear the Michael Jackson influence in this song. Early in the song, note the short cover of the song I Know What Boys Like, the one-hit wonder by The Waitresses in 1982.