Akon Bio
Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973), known professionally as Akon, is a Senegalese-American singer, songwriter, record producer, businessman, and philanthropist. He rose to international prominence in 2004 with the single “Locked Up” and his debut album Trouble, and consolidated his mainstream success with Konvicted (2006), which featured the hits “Smack That” and “I Wanna Love You”. Akon has written and produced for numerous artists, founded the labels Konvict Muzik and KonLive, and guest-performed on many charting singles. He is also widely known for philanthropic projects such as Akon Lighting Africa and for proposing the Akon City development in Senegal.
Early Life and Background
Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam was born on April 16, 1973, in St. Louis, Missouri, to a Muslim family. His mother is dancer Kine Gueye Thiam, and his father is Senegalese percussionist Mor Thiam. Mor Thiam was born into a Toucouleur family of Quranic scholars in Kaolack, Senegal. Akon spent a significant part of his childhood in Senegal, which he has described as his hometown, and he learned to play five instruments, including drums, guitar, and djembe. At age seven, he and his family relocated to Union City, New Jersey, splitting his time between the United States and Senegal before eventually settling in Newark.
When Akon and his younger brother Bu Thiam reached high school, his parents left them on their own in Jersey City and moved the rest of the family to Atlanta, Georgia. Akon attended William L. Dickinson High School in Jersey City. Growing up in New Jersey, he later described difficulties getting along with other children during his early years. His exposure to music at home, combined with his father’s work as a percussionist, helped shape his early interest in songwriting and performance.
Path to Singing
While still in high school, Akon became part of the Refugee Camp, the extended musical family of the Fugees. In 1996, he recorded a single titled “Operations of Nature” that earned him a deal with Elektra Records, but when the song failed to gain traction, the contract fell through. Music mogul Devyne Stephens, president of Upfront Megatainment, first encountered Akon when rapper Lil Zane brought him to Stephens’ rehearsal hall, a place that had previously developed talents such as Usher and TLC. The relationship between Stephens and Akon grew into a mentorship, and Stephens eventually signed him to his production company and began grooming him professionally.
The songs Akon recorded with Stephens drew the attention of Universal’s imprint SRC Records. SRC A&R Jerome “Knobody” Foster recalled being struck by the track “Lonely” and, along with SRC CEO Steve Rifkind, boarded a private plane to Atlanta to meet the young artist. Akon’s solo debut album, Trouble, was released on June 29, 2004, and marked his official breakthrough into the global music scene.
Akon Career
Early Career (1996–2005)
Akon spent the late 1990s and early 2000s developing his sound through label work, mentorship, and guest features. His first charting single as a lead artist, “Locked Up” featuring Styles P, was released in 2004 and reached the number 8 position in the United States and number 5 in the United Kingdom. His 2005 single “Lonely,” which samples Bobby Vinton’s “Mr. Lonely,” reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts in Australia, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Trouble climbed to number one in the United Kingdom in April 2005, and “Lonely” became the longest-running single on The Box’s top ten weekly chart, spanning over fifteen weeks.
In December 2005, Akon’s manager Robert Montanez was killed in a shooting after a dispute in New Jersey. Despite this loss, Akon continued to build his profile with guest features, including his appearance on Young Jeezy’s debut album Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101 on the track “Soul Survivor”. He also collaborated with New Zealand rapper Savage on the single “Moonshine,” which reached number one on the New Zealand charts.
Breakthrough (2006–2008)
Akon launched his new record label KonLive Distribution under Interscope Records and released his second album, Konvicted, in November 2006. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 286,000 copies in its first week, and was eventually certified triple platinum by the RIAA in November 2007. Konvicted stayed in the top twenty of the Billboard 200 for 28 consecutive weeks and peaked at number two on four occasions. The first single “Smack That” featuring Eminem peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks and earned a nomination for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards.
The second single “I Wanna Love You” featuring Snoop Dogg became Akon’s first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, while the third single “Don’t Matter” earned him his first solo number one and second consecutive chart-topper. Konvicted was nominated for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. Akon made history as the first solo artist to concurrently hold the top two positions on the Billboard Hot 100 twice, once with “Smack That” and “I Wanna Love You” in 2006, and again in 2007 with “Don’t Matter” and his guest performance on Gwen Stefani’s “The Sweet Escape”.
In 2008, Akon released his third album, Freedom, on December 2, which spawned the singles “Right Now (Na Na Na),” “I’m So Paid” featuring Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy, “Beautiful” featuring Colby O’Donis and Kardinal Offishall, and “We Don’t Care”. Freedom was certified platinum in the United States. He also co-wrote Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance,” which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards. He co-wrote and recorded “Hold My Hand” with Michael Jackson, the artist’s last known song before his death in June 2009, later included on Jackson’s posthumous album Michael and released as a single in November 2010.
Notable Works and Milestones
Akon is widely recognized for his signature blend of R&B, hip-hop, dance-pop, and Europop, often marked by the opening sound of a jail cell door and the spoken word “Konvict”. His work has earned him multiple Grammy Award nominations, including a nomination for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and recognition for Best Dance Recording. He was listed by Guinness World Records as the number-one selling artist for master ringtones in the world, with 11 million sold by December 2007, and Billboard ranked him number 6 on its list of Top Digital Songs Artists of the decade.
Akon Award Nominations
Akon has received several Grammy Award nominations across his career. His album Konvicted was nominated for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards, while the singles “Smack That” featuring Eminem and “I Wanna Love You” featuring Snoop Dogg were nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. He also earned a nomination for Best Dance Recording at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards for co-writing Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance”. Guest performances on additional Billboard Hot 100 entries brought him two further Grammy Award nominations. The song “All Up 2 You” with Aventura and Wisin & Yandel received two nominations at the Premios Lo Nuestro 2010 for “Urban Song of the Year” and “Video Collaboration of the Year”.
Akon Awards Won
Verified records of major award wins for Akon are not clearly established in the available sources. While Akon has accumulated several nominations, including Grammy Award nominations and Premios Lo Nuestro nominations, a confirmed list of major industry award wins is not consistently documented in the verified inputs.
Akon Family
Akon is the son of Senegalese percussionist Mor Thiam and dancer Kine Gueye Thiam. His father was born into a Toucouleur family of Quranic scholars in Kaolack, Senegal. Akon’s younger brother is Bu Thiam. He has described Senegal as his hometown, having spent a significant part of his childhood there with his extended family.
Personal Life
Akon has been married to Tomeka Thiam since 1996. In a 2007 interview with Blender, he stated that he had five children with three different women, four sons and one daughter, and that he was married to one of them. As of December 2022, he has nine children. In 2023, a woman publicly stated that she was one of four women married to Akon, with the four wives based in Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Africa. On September 11, 2025, Tomeka Thiam filed for divorce. Akon is a Muslim and has stated that he is a teetotaler.