1. Christopher Maurice Brown was born on May 5,1989 and is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor.
156 Facts About Chris Brown
1. 2.
Chris Brown's singing and dancing skills have often been compared favorably to those of Michael Jackson.
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In 2009, Chris Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault of singer Rihanna, who was then his girlfriend, and was sentenced to five years probation and six months community service.
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Chris Brown has sold over 140 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists.
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Chris Brown has gained a cult following, and is one of the highest-grossing African American touring artists of all time.
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Chris Brown has won 209 awards from 534 nominations over the course of his career.
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Christopher Maurice Brown was born on May 5,1989, in Tappahannock, Virginia, to Joyce Hawkins, a former day care center director, and Clinton Brown, a corrections officer at a local prison.
8.
Chris Brown has an older sister, Lytrell Bundy, a bank employee.
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Music was always present in Chris Brown's life beginning in his childhood.
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Chris Brown would listen to soul albums that his parents owned, and eventually began to show interest in the hip-hop scene.
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Chris Brown's parents had divorced when he was 6 years old, and his mother's boyfriend terrified him by subjecting her to domestic violence.
12.
Chris Brown said that when he was six, his mother's partner shot himself in the head, but did not die.
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Chris Brown taught himself to sing and dance at a young age and often cites Michael Jackson as his inspiration.
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Chris Brown began to perform in his church choir and in several local talent shows.
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At age 16, Chris Brown dropped out of Essex High School in Virginia in late 2004 or early 2005 to relocate and pursue a music career.
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At age 13, Chris Brown was discovered by Hitmission Records, a local production team that visited the gas station where his father worked, while searching for new talent.
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Chris Brown then started to sojourn in Harlem, New York City, to seek a record deal.
18.
Chris 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.
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Chris Brown sold over three million copies in the US and was certified three times platinum by the RIAA; worldwide, it sold six million copies.
20.
In January 2007, Chris Brown landed a small role as a band geek in the fourth season of the American television series The OC.
21.
Chris Brown then made his film debut in Stomp the Yard, alongside Ne-Yo, Meagan Good and Columbus Short on January 12,2007.
22.
On July 9,2007, Brown was featured in an episode of MTV's My Super Sweet 16 celebrating his eighteenth birthday in New York City.
23.
Shortly after ending his summer tour with Ne-Yo, Chris Brown quickly began production for his second studio album, Exclusive.
24.
In November 2007, Chris Brown starred as a video host for St Jude Children's Research Hospital's Math-A-Thon program.
25.
Chris Brown showed his support by encouraging students to use their math skills to help children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases.
26.
On November 21,2007, Brown appeared as a leading role in This Christmas, a family drama starring Regina King.
27.
Chris Brown contributed to the soundtrack of the movie, that contains his cover versions of "Try a Little Tenderness" and "This Christmas", the latter has been certified platinum by the RIAA.
28.
In March 2008, Chris Brown was featured on Jordin Sparks' single "No Air", which received worldwide success, peaking at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
29.
Chris Brown made a guest appearance on David Banner' single "Get Like Me" alongside Yung Joc.
30.
In 2008, Chris Brown did of a commercial spot for Doublemint gum, creating a jingle commissioned by an advertising company working for Wrigley.
31.
Chris Brown first created the short version for the commercial, then extended and expanded it into a full song, "Forever", during another recording session.
32.
In 2008, Chris Brown began work on his third studio album, announced to be called Graffiti, promising to experiment with a different musical direction inspired by singers Prince and Michael Jackson.
33.
Chris Brown said that his decision to entirely direct and write his albums and songs came from the fact that he wanted to give his "own perspective of the music [he] wanted to make" and by his wanting to "verbalize whatever [he] was going through".
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Critics noted that with the album's sound Chris Brown aimed to expand his music beyond the genres of his previous works.
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Chris Brown later released the solo track "No BS" as his second single from Fan of a Fan, and decided to include the two singles from the mixtape as anticipation singles for his next album.
36.
Stereogum while critiquing Chris Brown's public image during a review, praised his musical ability and the track, stating that "It brings me no joy to report that 'Look At Me Now' is a 10".
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Steve Jones of USA Today said that the album showed "a more mature, confident and adventurous Chris Brown who has emerged in the wake of all the drama, and he has delivered the strongest album of his career".
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Chris Brown won three awards at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards, including the People's Champ Award, Reese's Perfect Combo Award and Best Hip Hop Video for "Look at Me Now".
39.
On March 26,2013, Chris Brown announced the release of X, in various interviews and listening sessions.
40.
When paramedics arrived, Chris Brown allegedly refused to receive treatment and refused to be transported to the local hospital.
41.
Chris Brown revealed in 2022, that at the time, when he was on the way to go to the counseling, he received a phone call from Prince, that told him to "don't lose focus", wanting a conversation with him about "being special".
42.
Chris Brown described the phone call as "one of [his] most influential" moments.
43.
However, at his May 9,2014, court date, Chris Brown was ordered to serve 131 days in jail for his probation violation, and the collaboration ended up never being released, furthermore, the album was again delayed due to Chris Brown's prison sentence.
44.
Chris Brown said in a 2022 interview, that following his release from jail he experienced more episodes of fans explaining to him how some of his records helped them through life-changing situations, making him realize that he was making music for an "actual purpose".
45.
On February 24,2015, Chris Brown released his first collaborative studio album with Tyga, titled Fan of a Fan: The Album.
46.
In early 2015, Chris Brown embarked on his Between the Sheets Tour with Trey Songz.
47.
In spring 2015, Chris Brown was featured on DJ Deorro's song "Five More Hours", which received worldwide success.
48.
On October 13,2015, Chris Brown announced that Royalty would be released on November 27,2015.
49.
The mixtape is composed by previously unreleased tracks that Chris Brown recorded in different studio sessions between 2012 and 2015.
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Chris Brown directed and released eight music videos for the songs of Royalty, serializing them to construct a linear story.
51.
Chris Brown started working and recording tracks for his next album few weeks before the release of Royalty, in late 2015.
52.
Chris Brown built a recording studio inside of his home to work on the album.
53.
Around this time, Chris Brown decided to create Heartbreak on a Full Moon as a 40-track album.
54.
On October 25,2017, Chris Brown organized with Tidal a free pop-up concert in New York City to perform the singles on the album and promote it.
55.
Chris Brown eventually embarked on his US "Heartbreak on a Full Moon Tour" in June 2018 to further promote the album.
56.
On January 31,2018, shortly after President Donald Trump's 2020 State of the Union Address, Chris Brown released for free the track "State of the Union", a ballad where he expresses a message about social harmony.
57.
On March 15,2018, Chris Brown was featured on Lil Dicky's hit single "Freaky Friday".
58.
On January 4,2019, Chris Brown released "Undecided" as its lead single.
59.
On October 4,2019, Chris Brown eventually released a deluxe version of Indigo entitled Indigo Extended, which included 10 additional songs, making the extended version a total of 42 songs.
60.
On June 10,2019, Chris Brown announced an official headlining concert tour "Indigoat Tour" in which he performed the album throughout the US.
61.
In December 2019, Chris Brown revealed that he started working on new material for his tenth studio album.
62.
On May 1,2020, Chris Brown was featured on Drake's Dark Lane Demo Tapes mixtape, on the track "Not You Too".
63.
On July 9,2020, Chris Brown announced via Instagram that the title of his tenth album would be Breezy, a reference to his stage nickname.
64.
Chris Brown performed at Drai's After Hours Nightclub at The Cromwell Las Vegas Hotel and Casino on June 11,2022 in Las Vegas to mark the launch of his new multi-year residency at the venue.
65.
On June 17,2022, one week ahead of the album release, Chris Brown released the audio for an Afrobeats collaboration with Nigerian singer Wizkid titled "Call Me Every Day".
66.
On September 4,2022, Chris Brown won international artiste of the year at the 15th annual Headies awards.
67.
On October 14,2022, Chris Brown appeared as a special guest at Usher's Las Vegas Residency to perform few songs.
68.
On November 16,2022, Brown released two Christmas themed songs, "No Time Like Christmas" and "It's Giving Christmas".
69.
On November 18,2022, Chris Brown took to his Instagram page to announce that the American Music Awards had canceled his scheduled tribute performance to Michael Jackson in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the 1982 album Thriller.
70.
Chris Brown shared rehearsal footage of the cancelled tribute and stated the performance was cancelled for unknown reasons.
71.
In January 2023, Chris Brown surpassed Elvis Presley for the most RIAA gold-certified singles among all male vocalists in history, after previously passing Presley for the most Billboard Hot 100 entries among all male vocalists.
72.
In June 2023, Chris Brown released "Summer Too Hot", the lead single of his eleventh album.
73.
Chris Brown announced that his next album would be titled 11:11, revealing the album's concept being connected to the homonym numerological belief.
74.
On October 20,2023, Chris Brown released the Afrobeats song "Sensational" featuring Nigerian artists Lojay and Davido, as 11:11's second single.
75.
On October 21,2023, Chris Brown clarified that the album would actually contain 22 songs as opposed to the 11 he had stated previously.
76.
On November 6,2023, Chris Brown confirmed that there would be 7 featured artists on the album, including Lojay, Davido, Future, Fridayy, Byron Messia and 2 other artists who were listed as hidden features prior to its release.
77.
On November 7,2023, Chris Brown released the single "Nightmares" featuring Byron Messia.
78.
Towards the end of 2023, Chris Brown headlined different concerts in the Middle East.
79.
In December 2023, Vevo reported that Chris Brown was the 6th most watched artist in the US and 10th most watched artist globally for the 2023 calendar year, amassing 413.7 million views in the US and 1.4 billion views globally.
80.
On March 5,2024, Chris Brown announced "The 11:11 Tour", a North American arena tour featuring singers Ayra Starr, Muni Long and Maeta as supporting acts.
81.
The rapper responded the following day with "Tender", a diss track aimed at Chris Brown, leading the latter to release "Weakest Link" the following week.
82.
HipHopDX praised Chris Brown's rapping on "Weakest Link", adding that the singer "has taken his disdain for Quavo to a whole different level with the release of ['Weakest Link'], on which he takes some deeply personal shots at his adversary".
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Chris Brown recorded over 90K attendees each night and sold out the first of the two shows in less than two hours.
84.
On January 23,2025, Chris Brown released a music video for his Grammy-nominated song "Residuals" from the 11:11.
85.
On March 27,2025, Chris Brown announced a stadium world tour titled the "Breezy Bowl XX" with special guests Summer Walker and Bryson Tiller, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his self-titled album.
86.
Chris Brown has cited a number of artists as his inspiration, predominantly Michael Jackson.
87.
Chris Brown has cited Naughty by Nature, Tupac, Lil' Wayne and Rakim as his hip-hop influences.
88.
Stereogum stated that "Chris Brown's voice is an undeniably powerful instrument, one of those endlessly elastic soulful tenors, and he knows exactly how to flex it without flaunting it".
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Chris Brown mentioned MC Hammer as an inspiration to his dancing style.
90.
Chris Brown said that he painted since his childhood, saying "my first approach with it was painting school walls" saying that he has always been captivated by the fact that drawing and painting "gives you the chance to express yourself in whatever way, showing to the world your own dimension".
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Chris Brown has produced street art under the pseudonym Konfused, partnering with street artist Kai to produce works for the Miami Basel.
92.
Chris Brown has made graffiti works for different cities worldwide, including Los Angeles, London and Amsterdam.
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Chris Brown's painting and dancing abilities were shown at the same time when Brown, partnering with Spotify's Rap Caviar, painted Heartbreak on a Full Moons album cover, mostly from dancing around the canvas.
94.
Chris Brown portrayed Will Tutt in three episodes on the Fox television series The OC.
95.
Chris Brown has continued to act inconsistently in films such as the heist thriller, Takers, which he executive produced, the romantic comedy Think Like a Man, and the dance film Battle of the Year.
96.
Chris Brown produced and starred in a documentary on himself entitled Welcome to My Life.
97.
Chris Brown returned to film playing a supporting role in the sports comedy film She Ball.
98.
Chris Brown made a guest starring appearance as a rapper in the ABC sitcom Black-ish in the Season 3 episode, "Richard Youngster".
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Chris Brown has sold over 140 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists.
100.
Chris Brown is one of the highest-grossing African American touring artists of all time.
101.
Chris Brown is one of the best selling digital artists of all time.
102.
Chris Brown has sold over 40 million albums worldwide since his debut, including 18 million in the US.
103.
Subsequently in July 2022, Chris Brown surpassed Elvis Presley, for the most Billboard Hot 100 entries among male singers.
104.
Chris Brown achieved the record by earning his 51st top 40 hit with his single "Under the Influence".
105.
In January 2023, Chris Brown broke Elvis Presley's record for the most gold certified singles by the Recording Industry Association of America among all male vocalists.
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Chris Brown did so after scoring his 56th gold-certified single with "Call Me Everyday".
107.
In February 2023, Chris Brown became the first male vocalist in RIAA history to score 20 multi-platinum singles in the US.
108.
In November 2024, Chris Brown became the first male vocalist in RIAA history to score over 40 platinum singles in the US.
109.
In January 2024, Chris Brown became the first artist in the 21st century to have charted on the Billboard Hot 100 for at least 20 distinct and consecutive calendar years.
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In terms of awards and accolades, Chris Brown has won a total of 209 awards from 534 nominations over the course of his career.
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Chris Brown is the second most decorated artist in the history of the BET Awards, behind Beyonce.
112.
Chris Brown is tied with Bruno Mars as the second most decorated artist in the history of the Soul Train Awards, behind Beyonce.
113.
Chris Brown won his Headies in the category of international artiste of the year, which was designed to recognize non-African artists or groups with outstanding achievements and impact on Afrobeats.
114.
From 2007 to 2009, Chris Brown dated singer Rihanna until their highly publicized domestic violence case.
115.
Later during the same year, Chris Brown began dating Karrueche Tran.
116.
In February 2012, Rihanna and Chris Brown released remixes to their singles "Turn Up the Music" and "Birthday Cake", leading observers to speculate about their relationship.
117.
Rihanna and Chris Brown collaborated again on "Nobody's Business", a duet song off Rihanna's Unapologetic album.
118.
Chris Brown subsequently reunited with Tran but they split up shortly aftwards.
119.
In 2013, Chris Brown was sentenced to 90 days in rehab by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to fulfill the terms of his probation for the Rihanna incident.
120.
Former members of Chris Brown's team told Billboard that he was using cocaine, Xanax, marijuana, molly and lean.
121.
On June 22,2009, Chris Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault and accepted a plea deal of community labor, five years of probation, and domestic violence counseling.
122.
Chris Brown was ordered to attend one year of domestic violence counseling and undergo six months of community service; the judge retained a five-year restraining order on Brown, which required him to remain 50 yards away from Rihanna, reduced to 10 yards at public events.
123.
On March 20,2015, Chris Brown's probation ended, formally closing the felony case emanating from the Rihanna assault that happened over six years prior.
124.
Chris Brown himself tweeted about the incident and publicly criticized Drake weeks later.
125.
In January 2013, Chris Brown was in an altercation with Frank Ocean over a parking space outside a recording studio in West Hollywood.
126.
Police officers in Los Angeles said Chris Brown was under investigation, describing the incident as "battery" due to Chris Brown allegedly punching Ocean.
127.
In July 2013, Chris Brown's probation was revoked after he was involved in an alleged hit and run in Los Angeles.
128.
Chris Brown was released from court and scheduled to reappear in August 2013 to learn whether he would serve time in prison.
129.
The charges would later be dropped, but Chris Brown would have 1,000 additional hours of community service added to his probation terms.
130.
Chris Brown spent 36 hours in a Washington jail and was taken to court in shackles.
131.
Chris Brown was released and ordered to report to his California probation officer within 48 hours.
132.
The deal was if Chris Brown left rehab, he would go to jail.
133.
On March 14,2014, Chris Brown was kicked out of the rehab facility and sent to Northern Neck Regional Jail for violating internal rules.
134.
Chris Brown was expected to be released on April 23,2014, but a judge denied his release request from custody either on bail or his own recognizance.
135.
At his May 9,2014, court date, Chris Brown was ordered to serve 131 days in jail for his probation violation.
136.
Chris Brown was sentenced to serve 365 days in custody; however, the judge gave him credit for 234 days he had already spent in rehab and jail, as well as credits for good behavior while behind bars.
137.
In June 2016, Chris Brown was sued for assault, false imprisonment and battery by Mike G, the singer's former manager, hired in 2012 to help him repair his public image.
138.
Subsequently, Chris Brown accused Mike G on his social media accounts of stealing money while working for him, being fired for it, an accusation that the manager later denied.
139.
Chris Brown eventually reached a settlement with Greensleeves for copyright infringement.
140.
Police were called, but Chris Brown denied them entry without a warrant.
141.
Chris Brown was arrested and later released from jail on $250,000 bail.
142.
Chris Brown denied the allegations and later submitted text messages and voicemails to the Miami police department which implied a consensual relationship with the accuser.
143.
In 2007, Brown founded the record label CBE, under Interscope Records.
144.
In October 2009, Chris Brown founded a lifestyle website, Mechanical Dummy, with the purpose of curating and promoting current trends in the world of technology, music, culture, fashion, style and emerging brands.
145.
Chris Brown has stated in 2015 he owned fourteen Burger King restaurants, later revealing in 2022 that he sold the portfolio.
146.
In May 2012, Chris Brown partnered with famed artist Ron English to create a limited-edition toy and sculpture line, "Dum English", which they debuted at the Toy Art Gallery in Los Angeles.
147.
In May 2022, Chris Brown partnered with Los Angeles based clothing brand Renowned and an online media company BlackNFTArt, to launch a NFT collection, "The Auracles", with accompanying physical streetwear pieces.
148.
In July 2022, Chris Brown released a NFT collection, "The Breezyverse", consisting of 10,000 3D animated NFTs with sound and visual effects implemented on the Ehtereum blockchain.
149.
In September 2023, Chris Brown partnered with California based cannabis brand and dispensary Originals, to launch Bussin, a recreational cannabis brand.
150.
In 2012, Chris Brown launched a streetwear clothing line called Black Pyramid, in collaboration with the founders of the Pink + Dolphin clothing line.
151.
On December 11,2015, the Japanese fashion brand A Bathing Ape revealed that Chris Brown would become the face of the brand's high end range, BAPE Black Label.
152.
In 2016, Chris Brown partnered with German streetwear company Snipes, for a summer capsule collection designed in collaboration with the singer.
153.
In May 2023, Chris Brown partnered with German 3D printed footwear company Zellerfeld, designer Nos Ailes, and streetwear and culture company The Auracles to launch his own line of 3D printed slides, NAMI.
154.
Chris Brown is one of the highest grossing African American touring artists of all time.
155.
In February 2023, Pollstar reported that Chris Brown had grossed $166 million from 284 shows between 2006 and 2022.
156.
Chris Brown subsequently grossed $34 million from his Under The Influence tour in 2023 and $82 million from his 11:11 tour in 2024.