Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, dancer and actor. He is one of the most prominent artists in R&B music, being credited as an evolver of the genre, and often being referred to by contemporaries as the "King of R&B". His R&B has been characterized by influences from other genres, mainly pop and hip hop. His lyrics develop predominantly over emotional and hedonistic themes. Brown has had comparisons to Michael Jackson for his singing and dancing abilities.
In 2004, Brown signed with Jive Records and released his eponymous debut studio album the following year, later certified Triple Platinum. With his debut single "Run It!" peaking atop the Billboard Hot 100, Brown became the first male artist since 1995 to have his debut top the chart. His second album, Exclusive (2007), was met with further commercial success worldwide, and spawned his second Billboard Hot 100 number one "Kiss Kiss". In 2009, Brown received media attention after pleading guilty to felony assault of his then-girlfriend, singer Rihanna. He was sentenced to five years probation and six months community service, with his personal life and legal issues being highly publicized by media outlets in the following years. This foresaw the release of his third album, Graffiti which was considered to be a commercial failure. Following Graffiti, Brown released his fourth album F.A.M.E. (2011), which became his first album to top the Billboard 200. The album contained the commercially successful singles: "Yeah 3x", "Look at Me Now" and "Beautiful People", and earned him the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. His fifth album, Fortune, released in 2012, topped the Billboard 200.
Following the releases of X (2014) and Royalty (2015), both peaking in the top three of the Billboard 200, his eighth album, Heartbreak on a Full Moon (2017), a double-disc LP consisting of 45 tracks, was certified Gold for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 500,000 after one week, and later certified Double Platinum. Brown's ninth studio album, Indigo (2019) found similar success, debuting atop the Billboard 200. It included the single "No Guidance" which broke the record for longest-running number one on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. Its chart success was outdone with the single "Go Crazy" released the following year, which broke Brown's own record for longest-running number one. In 2022, his Indigo album spawned a sleeper hit with its song "Under the Influence", which was re-released as a single.
Brown has sold over 140 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists. He has gained a cult following, and is one of the highest-grossing African American touring artists of all time. Brown holds the record for the most Billboard Hot 100 entries of any male singer in history, the most top 40 hits of any R&B singer in history, the most RIAA Gold-certified singles of any male singer in history, and the most RIAA multi-Platinum singles of any male singer in history. In 2019, Billboard named Brown the third most successful artist of the 2010s decade in R&B and hip-hop music, behind Drake and Rihanna. Brown has won 202 awards from 513 nominations and pursued an acting career. In 2007, he made his feature film debut in Stomp the Yard, and appeared as a guest on the television series The O.C. Other films include This Christmas (2007), Takers (2010), Think Like a Man (2012) and Battle of the Year (2013).
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