Akon rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of "Locked Up", the first single from his debut album Trouble, followed by the second single "Lonely".
63 Facts About Akon
2.
Akon often provides vocals as a featured artist and is currently credited with over 300 guest appearances and more than 35 Billboard Hot 100 songs, resulting in five Grammy Award nominations.
3.
Akon is the first solo artist to hold both the number one and two spots simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 charts twice.
4.
Akon was listed by Guinness World Records as the number-one selling artist for master ringtones in the world.
5.
Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam was born on April 16,1973, in St Louis, Missouri, to a Muslim family.
6.
Akon's mother is dancer Kine Gueye Thiam, and his father is percussionist Mor Thiam.
7.
Akon spent a significant part of his childhood in Senegal, which he described as his "hometown".
8.
Akon learned to play five instruments, including drums, guitar and djembe.
9.
Akon attended William L Dickinson High School in Jersey City.
10.
The relationship between Stephens and Akon began as a friendship and mentorship, with the young artist regularly stopping by to ask for advice, with Stephens eventually signing him to his production company and began grooming him professionally.
11.
The songs Akon recorded with Stephens were brought to the attention of Universal's imprint SRC Records.
12.
Akon knew of Foster's work as producer Knobody and so there was a mutual respect for one another and the pair hit it off.
13.
Akon's album climbed to number one in the UK in April 2005.
14.
When music channel The Box had a top ten weekly chart, which was calculated by the number of video requests, Akon's "Lonely" became the longest-running single on the top of the chart, spanning over fifteen weeks.
15.
Akon was then featured on two other singles, P-Money's "Keep on Callin'" off the album Magic City, and the other with New Zealand rapper Savage with the single "Moonshine", which had become a success in both New Zealand and Australia, reaching number one in the New Zealand charts.
16.
Akon started his new record label KonLive Distribution under Interscope Records.
17.
On October 5,2006, Akon broke a record on the Hot 100, as he achieved the largest climb in the chart's 48-year-history with "Smack That" jumping from number 95 to 7.
18.
In February 2007, Akon launched his clothing line Konvict Clothing.
19.
Akon produced and featured on Gwen Stefani's "The Sweet Escape" which has reached No 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
20.
Akon later recorded a remix of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" by Michael Jackson for the 25th-anniversary rerelease of Jackson's Thriller.
21.
Akon was the executive producer of Kardinal Offishall's fourth solo album Not 4 Sale.
22.
The first single "Dangerous", which featured Akon peaked at No 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
23.
Akon co-wrote Kon Live artist Lady Gaga's hit "Just Dance", and which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards.
24.
Akon finished work on the song for Jackson's posthumous album, Michael, and it was released as a single in November 2010.
25.
Akon co-wrote and recorded "Put It on My Tab" with New Kids on the Block for their 2008 reunion album The Block.
26.
Akon co-wrote and produced Leona Lewis' single "Forgive Me" and worked with X Factor 2008 winner Alexandra Burke on her debut album.
27.
Akon later worked with Whitney Houston for her 2009 comeback album I Look to You, appearing on the track "Like I Never Left".
28.
Akon co-produced singer Natalia Kills' debut single, "Mirrors", from her debut album, Perfectionist.
29.
Akon produced and recorded "Oh Africa" for the 2010 World Cup with Pepsi.
30.
Akon performed the song during the 2010 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
31.
Akon travelled to Jamaica to work with Damian, Julian and Stephen Marley.
32.
Around the same time, Akon collaborated with Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg on "Kush", charting on number 36 on the Billboard charts.
33.
Akon contributed "We Are the World: 25 for Haiti", a charity single in aid of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
34.
Later that year, on November 11,2013, Akon released a standalone single titled "So Blue".
35.
On January 1,2015, Akon released five singles from Stadium.
36.
Akon announced that the album would be a quintuple album, broken up into five genres.
37.
In November 2015, Akon announced via his official website that he was planning to release his fourth album Stadium in four versions: Stadium-Island, Stadium-Urban, Stadium-World and Stadium-House.
38.
In 2018, he collaborated with reggaeton singer Ozuna on the bilingual single "Comentale", the first time that Akon sang in Spanish in a Latin song.
39.
In May 2019, Akon released his first Latin single "Get Money", featuring Puerto Rican rapper Anuel AA.
40.
On September 6,2019, Akon released "Como No" featuring Mexican-American singer Becky G, as the lead single from El Negreeto.
41.
Akon started a project Akon Lighting Africa in 2014 which provides electricity in 15 countries of Africa.
42.
Akon launched his own charity for underprivileged children in Africa called Konfidence Foundation.
43.
Akon was included as a guest appearance in Pitbull's "I Believe That We Will Win " official music video, in which all proceeds from the song's sales, streaming and views are being donated to Feeding America and the Anthony Robbins Foundation as relief to those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
44.
On January 13,2020, Akon shared on Twitter that the agreements for the city have been finalized and the project is underway.
45.
On September 1,2020, Akon told a news conference that he had laid the first stone of the $6 billion city.
46.
Akon has confirmed that a reality television show is in the works.
47.
Akon has said that people have mistaken his brothers for him many times in Atlanta, which is what the show is based on.
48.
In 2006, it was announced that Akon is planning to work on a full-length movie titled Illegal Alien, which will be based on his life.
49.
Akon confirmed in an August 2007 interview with the Polish website INTERIA.
50.
On November 30,2007, Akon entered the Big Brother house in Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Edition 2 as a guest.
51.
Akon appeared on the edition of November 17,2008, of WWE Raw, with Santino Marella citing him in his speech.
52.
Akon made his acting debut appearing alongside an ensemble cast in the 2012 Nigerian-American film Black November.
53.
Akon says he wishes to keep his family protected from the public eye.
54.
Akon stated on the show that he is a fan of the English Premier League club Chelsea FC.
55.
Akon has stated that he was part of an auto-theft ring and spent four years in prison from 1999 to 2002.
56.
However, in April 2008, The Smoking Gun website challenged his claim with court records and interviews with detectives involved in Akon's case, concluding that he was not convicted of any crime and did not serve time in prison.
57.
Akon responded to the report by saying that he never spent 3 years in prison, but had many shorter sentences that add up to three years.
58.
Verizon decided not to sponsor The Sweet Escape Tour where Akon was to be the opening act for Gwen Stefani.
59.
Akon asked the crowd to identify who threw the object and that he be brought on stage.
60.
Akon then pulled him up from the crowd and hoisted him across his shoulders.
61.
Akon has said that the incident was staged and that he in fact used the act to set up for the next record.
62.
Charges of endangering the welfare of a minor, a misdemeanor, and second-degree harassment, a violation, were filed, according to police Chief Donald F Williams, and Akon was arraigned on the two charges on December 3,2007, in the town of Fishkill Court.
63.
In 2010, Buddhist groups in Sri Lanka vehemently protested a planned concert by Akon, saying his music video with Guetta for "Sexy Chick" insulted Buddhism because of the Buddha statue that can be seen several times in the background.