71 Facts About Frank Ocean

1.

Frank Ocean's works are noted by music critics for featuring avant-garde styles and introspective, elliptical lyrics.

2.

Frank Ocean has won two Grammy Awards and a Brit Award for International Male Solo Artist among other accolades, and his two studio albums have been listed on Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

3.

Frank Ocean began his musical career as a ghostwriter, prior to joining the hip hop collective Odd Future in 2010.

4.

Frank Ocean was named by Time as one of the world's most influential people in 2013.

5.

Frank Ocean self-released his second studio album, Blonde, a day after Endless release.

6.

From 2017 onwards, Frank Ocean released sporadic singles, worked as a photographer for magazines, launched the fashion brand Homer, and started Homer Radio.

7.

Frank Ocean was born Christopher Edwin Breaux on October 28,1987, in Long Beach, California.

8.

Frank Ocean's father is Calvin Edward Cooksey and was a singer and keyboardist, and his mother is Katonya Breaux Riley who later worked as a residential contractor.

9.

Frank Ocean was raised by his mother after his parents divorced when he was six years old.

10.

Frank Ocean has a younger brother named Ryan Breaux who died in a car accident in 2020.

11.

Frank Ocean was raised Christian, including a brief time as a practicing Catholic.

12.

Frank Ocean would take Ocean to these meetings, which was the inspiration behind Ocean's song "Crack Rock" from Channel Orange.

13.

Frank Ocean gave him the nickname Lonny, which Frank Ocean still uses today.

14.

Frank Ocean died in 2010 and Frank Ocean dedicated a song to him called "There Will Be Tears" on his mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra.

15.

Frank Ocean stayed there for a brief time before dropping out to focus on his music career.

16.

In 2006, Frank Ocean moved to Los Angeles to pursue his music career, working at various fast-food and service jobs to support himself.

17.

In less than three years, he established himself as a songwriter under the name Lonny Breaux, getting the first name 'Lonny' after his grandfather named Lionel, whom Frank Ocean hung out with often in his childhood.

18.

Frank Ocean adopted the stage name Frank Ocean, getting the name from Frank Sinatra and the 1960s film Ocean's 11, which Sinatra starred in.

19.

Frank Ocean felt neglected by the label, and began working on a mixtape on his own without their input.

20.

On February 16,2011, Frank Ocean self-released the resulting mixtape, Nostalgia, Ultra online for free.

21.

The mixtape made Frank Ocean widely known and led to his collaborations with rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West.

22.

Frank Ocean first appeared in Tyler, the Creator's music video for the single "She", from Tyler's debut studio album Goblin.

23.

In June 2011, Frank Ocean revealed that he would work on the upcoming Kanye West and Jay-Z collaborative album, Watch the Throne.

24.

Frank Ocean co-wrote and featured on two tracks: "No Church in the Wild" and "Made in America".

25.

In September 2011, a music video directed by High5Collective for Frank Ocean's version was released, yet the song still appeared on Kelly's debut EP Every Girl.

26.

Frank Ocean released the cover art for his debut studio album's lead single, titled "Thinkin Bout You", revealing the song would be released to digital retailers on April 10,2012.

27.

In 2012, Frank Ocean released his debut studio album Channel Orange to universal acclaim from critics, who later named it the best album of the year in the HMV's Poll of Polls.

28.

The songs about unrequited love in particular received the most attention, partly because of Frank Ocean's announcement prior to the album's release, when he revealed that his first love was a man.

29.

Frank Ocean promoted the album with his 2012 Summer Tour, which featured final appearances at the Coachella and Lollapalooza festivals.

30.

At the 2013 Brit Awards, Frank Ocean won the Brit Award for International Male Solo Artist.

31.

On May 28,2013, Frank Ocean announced the You're Not Dead.

32.

Frank Ocean had been scheduled to perform at the first night of OVO Fest on August 4,2013; however he was forced to cancel his appearance due to a small vocal cord injury.

33.

In February 2013, Frank Ocean confirmed that he had started work on his second studio album, which he confirmed would be another concept album.

34.

Frank Ocean revealed that he was working with Tyler, the Creator, Pharrell Williams, and Danger Mouse on the record.

35.

Frank Ocean later stated that he was being influenced by The Beach Boys and The Beatles.

36.

Frank Ocean stated he was interested in collaborating with Tame Impala and King Krule and that he would record part of the album in Bora Bora.

37.

On November 29,2014, Frank Ocean released a snippet of a new song supposedly from his upcoming follow-up to Channel Orange called "Memrise" on his official Tumblr page.

38.

In February 2016, Frank Ocean was featured on Kanye West's album The Life of Pablo on the track "Wolves" along with Vic Mensa and Sia.

39.

That date turned out to be inaccurate, though in a Reddit AMA session, his collaborator Malay said that Frank Ocean is a perfectionist, constantly tweaking things, and that his art cannot be rushed.

40.

Frank Ocean describes his negotiations with the label as a "seven-year chess game", while adding that he had replaced many of his representatives during the process, as well as having to buy back all of his master recordings that previously belonged to Def Jam.

41.

At midnight Pacific time on August 20,2016, a music video for a song titled "Nikes" was uploaded to Frank Ocean's Connect page on Apple Music and later to his own website.

42.

Rather than going on a typical promotional tour playing radio festivals and appearing on television shows, Frank Ocean spent a month after the release of Blonde, traveling to countries such as China, Japan and France.

43.

The song was released on February 23,2017, and featured on the first episode of Frank Ocean's Beats 1 radio show, Blonded Radio.

44.

In October 2017, Frank Ocean published a photo essay titled "New 17" to British magazine i-D.

45.

In November 2017, Frank Ocean hinted via Tumblr that his fifth project was complete.

46.

Frank Ocean's voice appears in the video game Grand Theft Auto V, as he plays himself hosting an in-game radio station called Blonded Los Santos 97.8 FM.

47.

On February 14,2018, Frank Ocean released "Moon River", a cover of the song performed by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film, Breakfast at Tiffany's.

48.

In September 2018, it was reported that Frank Ocean took legal action against Scott through a cease and desist letter.

49.

Frank Ocean later confirmed through a Tumblr post that the dispute was about social issues, not music, and had since been resolved between the two artists.

50.

However, on February 25,2020, Frank Ocean announced that he will replace "Little Demon" with an unreleased song which would be released on February 28,2020.

51.

Frank Ocean was set to headline at Coachella in October 2020.

52.

On September 13,2021, New York, Frank Ocean attended the Met Gala.

53.

Frank Ocean's accessories included a hat embroidered with "Dreamcore", a play on the animation company DreamWorks, and a necklace by his luxury jewelry label, Homer.

54.

On December 25,2021, Frank Ocean released a new 9-minute untitled song on his Beats 1 radio show Blonded Radio featuring music contribution from Cory Henry.

55.

In June 2022, it was announced that Frank Ocean was in talks to direct his first feature film, with A24 producing.

56.

On January 10,2023, Coachella announced Frank Ocean will be headlining the festival on April 16 and 23, his first live performances since 2017.

57.

The effort Frank Ocean gave to his performance was seen as mediocre by many and disappointing for an artist that had not performed live music in six years.

58.

Frank Ocean would go on to cancel his appearance at the festival's second weekend, citing a leg injury.

59.

Frank Ocean's music has been characterized by music writers as idiosyncratic in style.

60.

Frank Ocean's compositions are often midtempo, feature unconventional melodies, and occasionally have an experimental song structure.

61.

Frank Ocean is among the most acclaimed artists of his generation.

62.

Frank Ocean was included in the 2013 edition of the Times list of the 100 most influential people in the world and the 2017 edition of the Forbes 30 Under 30.

63.

Frank Ocean has been one of the more fascinating figures in contemporary music since his early-2010s arrival.

64.

On May 1,2017, Frank Ocean attended annual Met Gala as a special photographer for Vogue.

65.

Frank Ocean wrote an open letter, initially intended for the liner notes on Channel Orange, that preemptively addressed speculation about his attraction in the past to another man.

66.

In June 2016, following the Orlando nightclub shooting that killed 49 people, Frank Ocean published an essay expressing his sadness and frustration.

67.

Frank Ocean mentioned that his first experience with homophobia and transphobia was with his father when he was six years old, and related how many people pass on their hateful values to the next generation and send thousands of people down suicidal paths.

68.

Frank Ocean sampled The Eagles' 1977 "Hotel California" on his track "American Wedding", which was featured on his debut mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra.

69.

Frank Ocean's cousin claimed that he was attacked by a member of Brown's entourage during the incident.

70.

In March 2014, Frank Ocean was set to perform a cover of the song "Pure Imagination" in a Chipotle Mexican Grill commercial which was due to promote responsible farming.

71.

Frank Ocean effectively honoured the arrangement by repaying Chipotle via cashier's check in the sum of $212,500.00.