Aliaume Damala Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973), known as Akon, is a Senegalese-American singer, songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur, philanthropist and actor from New Jersey. He came to limelight in 2004 with the release of “Locked Up”, the first single from his debut album, Trouble.
He has since founded two successful record labels, Konvict Muzik and KonLive Distribution. The labels have served as a fame driver for many successful acts, such as Lady Gaga, T-Pain, R. City, Kardinall Offishall, and Red Café.
He is the first solo artist to hold both the number one and two spots simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 charts twice. Akon has had four songs certified as 3× platinum, three songs certified as 2× platinum, more than ten songs certified as 1× platinum and more than ten songs certified as gold in digital sales. Akon has composed songs in other languages including Tamil, Hindi, and Spanish. He was listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the #1 selling artist for master ringtones in the world.
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 Awards nominations. He has released 6 solo albums and has handled the majority of production on his solo work and guest features.
Forbes ranked Akon 80th (Power Rank) in Forbes Celebrity 100 in 2010 and 5th in 40 Most Powerful Celebrities in Africa list, in 2011. Billboard ranked Akon No. 6 on the list of Top Digital Songs Artists of the decade.
Akon started his philantropy project Akon Lighting Africa in 2014 which provides electricity in 15 countries of Africa.
He also launched his own charity for underprivileged children in Africa called Konfidence Foundation.
In 2018, Akon announced he was working with the Senegalese government to build a tourist-city with a cryptocurrency-based economy named Akon City.
