Akon

Akon
Akon in 2019
Born	Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam (1973-04-16) April 16, 1973 (age 51) St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Other names	Akon El Negreeto
Citizenship	United States Senegal
Occupations	Singer songwriter rapper record producer entrepreneur philanthropist
Years active	1996–present
Organization	Akon Lighting Africa
Agent	Johnny Wright
Works	Discography filmography production
Children	9
Parents	Mor Thiam (father) Kine Gueye Thiam (née Gueye, mother)
Awards	Full list
Musical career
Origin	Newark, New Jersey, USA
Genres	R&B hip hop pop dancehall reggae
Labels	Akonik BMG Atlantic Konvict KonLive Republic Universal Motown SRC UpFront
Website	akon.com

Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam (/ˈeɪkɒn/; born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and entrepreneur. Akon began his career as a singer-rapper, with his big break arriving in 2004 with the release of the singles "Locked Up" and "Lonely." Both songs achieving great success, leading up to an album deal with Universal Motown. In the 2010s, Akon branched out onto philanthropy (Akon Lighting Africa), property development (Akon City in Senegal), television/movie production, politics, and others.

He grew up in Senegal but at age 7, his family settled in New Jersey. His father, Mor Thiam was a successful jazz percussionist. Soon after moving back to the United States, Akon discovered hip-hop for the first time. Akon has collaborated with and produced for some of the biggest names in the music industry.

Akon has been nominated for many awards including 5 Grammy Awards, 3 American Music Awards winning 1 and 4 MTV Video Music Awards. Billboard ranked Akon number 6 on the list of Top Digital Songs Artists of the decade.^[1]

Akon had been friends with Michael Jackson until his death. Akon released a tribute song called "Cry Out Of Joy". In 2010, a song that Akon sung with Jackson, "Hold My Hand", was released. It was also released on Michael.

R&B star Akon entered the Congo Mining sector in a Joint Venture with a State owned company in accordance to Times Live in January 2021. ^[2]

• Trouble (2004)
• Konvicted (2006)
• Freedom (2008)
• El Negreeto (2019)
• Akonda (2019)
• Konnect (TBC)^[3]
• The Konnection (TBC)^[3]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Akon

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Akon.

• Official website
• Akon on IMDb
• Akon at AllMusic

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