Akon Live in Manila

The R&B superstar AKON is coming for his first ever concert in Manila on November 29 at the Araneta Coliseum. His concert will feature his chart topping hits such as Smack That, I wanna Love You, Don't Matter, Sorry Blame It On Me, Lonely, Shake Down, Mama Africa, Sweet Escape (Duet with Gwen Stefani)and Bartender(Collaboration with T-Pain).

Background

He is the son of jazz percussionist, Mor Thiam. He was born in St. Louis, Senegal, but grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey[11]. He recorded his first song, "Operations of Nature," at the age of fifteen. He was then subsequently jailed for armed robbery and drug distribution charges, and used his time in prison to work on his music. Upon release, Akon began writing and recording tracks in his home studio. The tapes found their way to SRC/Universal, which released Akon's debut LP Trouble in June 2004. The album is a hybrid of Akon's silky, West African-styled vocals mixed with East Coast and Southern beats. Most of Akon's songs begin with the sound of the clank of a jail cell with him uttering the word "Konvict."

2004–2005: Trouble

Akon's solo debut album, Trouble was released on June 29, 2004. It spawned the hit singles "Locked Up" and "Lonely," as well as "Belly Dancer (Bananza)," "Pot Of Gold," and "Ghetto". Akon served a three-year jail sentence for grand theft auto, an experience that inspired his "Locked Up".[7] "Locked Up" reached the top 10 in the U.S. and the top five in the UK. His manager Robert Montanez was shot to death following a dispute in New Jersey in December 2005. "Ghetto" became a radio hit when it was remixed by Green Lantern to include verses from legendary rappers 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. In 2005, he released the single "Lonely" (which samples Bobby Vinton's "Mr. Lonely"). The song reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100, and topped the charts in Australia, the UK and Germany. His album also climbed to number one in the UK in April, 2005. When music channel The Box had a top ten weekly chart, which was calculated by the amount of video requests, Akon's "Lonely" became the longest running single on the top of the chart, spanning over fifteen weeks. Akon then released another single featuring with a New Zealand rapper, Savage with the single Moonshine, which had become a success in both New Zealand and Australia, becoming number one in the New Zealand charts. In 2005, Akon gained more popularity after being featured on Young Jeezy's debut album, Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101, on the song "Soul Survivor" which became a top five hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

2006–2007: Konvicted

In 2006-2007 Akon has had one of the most successful spans any singer has ever enjoyed with eleven songs in the Billboard Hot 100. Akon's second album, entitled Konvicted, was released on November 14, 2006. Konvicted included collaborations with Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Styles P. Late August 2006, Akon released the single "Smack That" featuring Eminem, from the album. This single peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks. The music video for "Smack That" was directed by Raymond Garced. "I Wanna Love You", the second single off Konvicted, was released in September 2006. It is a collaboration between Akon and Snoop Dogg. This single earned Akon his first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, and Snoop's second. "I Wanna Love You" topped the U.S. charts for two consecutive weeks. In January 2007, Akon released his third single "Don't Matter" which earned him his first solo number one and second consecutive Hot 100 chart topper. "Mama Africa" was released as a European single in July 2007, making it the fourth single. It debuted in the UK at number 47. "Sorry, Blame It on Me" is the album's fifth single which debuted in August 2007, on the Hot 100 at number seven, which also happened to be a career best. The song is not available on the original album, but instead part of the Deluxe Edition of Konvicted, which came out August 28, 2007. The sixth and final single was confirmed in an interview by Akon to be "Never Took the Time". [12] Konvicted debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 286,000 copies in its first week. After only six weeks, Konvicted sold more than one million records in the U.S. and more than 1.3 million worldwide. The album was certified platinum after seven weeks, and after sixteen weeks it was certified double platinum. Konvicted was able to stay in the top twenty of the Billboard 200 for 28 consecutive weeks, where it peaked at number two on four different occasions. Currently it has sold more than 2.4 million records in the U.S. and 3.8 million worldwide in 30 weeks.
Akon performing at a 2007 Live Earth concert in New Jersey.
Akon performing at a 2007 Live Earth concert in New Jersey.

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. The leap is fueled by its number six debut on Hot Digital Songs with 67,000 downloads. The record was broken on April 7, 2007 by Beyoncé and Shakira's Beautiful Liar when it jumped from 94 to 3 on the Hot 100, because of their 150,000 digital downloads on the Hot Digital Songs.

In December 2006, Akon's "Smack That" was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, but lost to Justin Timberlake and T.I.'s My Love.

From April to July Akon performed in The Sweet Escape Tour with Gwen Stefani. From July to September he will embark on his worldwide Konvicted Tour. In September, Akon will start on the Canadian leg of the Good Girl Gone Bad Tour with Rihanna.

On August 2, 2007, Akon was scheduled to perform at the Rock tha Block Tour in Australia but had trouble obtaining a visa due to his criminal past. The tour was postponed until late August and his visa was eventually processed but Akon was quoted as saying "Australia is the home of the convicts so it's the last place I would have ever thought it would be a problem".[13]

Akon will release a Platinum Edition of his album Konvicted in UK on October 1.

2008 New Album

It has been reported on Shade 45 that Akon will release a 2008 solo album.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akon