THE PRINCE OF R&B MUSIC: CHRIS BROWN

In 2005, a 16 year old small town, self taught hip hop artist took the music world by storm, topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart and becoming the first male in over a decade to do so with a debut single. And just like that Chris Brown had arrived! With his self titled album going double platinum, this R&B singer was just getting started. By the end of the decade, he has already established himself as one of the most successful pop stars active in the industry. He has a whole bunch of Top Ten singles and platinum albums to his credit, is constantly compared to a legend like Michael Jackson and already has several acting roles under his belt. Born as Christopher Maurice Brown in the small town of Tappahannock, Virginia, Chris got mesmerized by hip hop at a very early age. On discovering his singing abilities, he moved to New York where his talent was discovered by Tina Brown, who later went on to become his manager. The Jive label won the bid war for him, and lined up writing heavy weights like Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox to create songs for his debut album. Their lyrics and Chris’s vocals, together, was exactly the explosive combination needed to launch him to superstardom. It wasn’t just ‘Run it’ ruled the billboard charts that year. Two other Chris Brown songs ‘Yo (Excuse Me Miss)’ and ‘Say Goodbye’ reached the top ten and his debut album ‘Chris Brown’ recorded 154,000 copies, eventually going on to be certified as double platinum. He also released a DVD-‘Chris Brown's Journey’, featuring scenes of his tours, bloopers and behind the scenes footage of several Chris Brown music videos. His second album ‘Exclusive’ was even more successful which included the number one single ‘Kiss Kiss’ and two other Top Five hits. He has also collaborated on many other hit singles including “No Air” with Jordin Sparks, “Shorty Like Mine” featuring rapper Bow Wow and “Shawty Get Loose” alongside Lil Mama and T-Pain. His momentum slowed down a little though when, in 2009, he pleaded guilty to assaulting girlfriend Rihanna, and his numbers were taken off the air from several radio stations and television channels. In the case he was sentenced to five years probation and six months of community service. Although he issued a statement and apology for his actions, he went on to maintain a low public profile for several months and did not even appear at the Grammy awards where he was scheduled to perform. All this had little effect though on his singing and acting career. He got several acting offers and started appeared in ‘Stomp The Yard’ and ‘This Christmas’. He also has a recurring character in several episodes of ‘The O.C.’. Soon after the 2011 Grammy ceremony, he released his fourth album, F.A.M.E., which already had four singles on the charts. The album’s single ‘Look at me now’ was an instant hit, topping the charts and became one of the most successful Chris Brown music video. In the 2012 Grammys, Brown won the Award for Best R&B Album.