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Aliaune Thiam (born April 16, 1973),better known by his stage name Akon (pronounced /ˈeɪkɒn/) is a Wolof Senegalese-American hip hop and R&B singer-songwriter, rapper, and record producer. Akon rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of his single "Locked Up" from his debut album Trouble. His second album, Konvicted, earned him a Grammy Award nomination for the single "Smack That." He is the founder of Konvict Muzik and Kon Live Distribution. He is well known for singing hooks and has over 155 guest appearances and 23 Billboard Hot 100 songs to his credit. He is the first artist to ever accomplish the feat of holding both the number one and two spots simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 charts twice.

He is the son of the Senegalese percussionist Mor Thiam. He then spent split time between Senegal and America until he was 15, and then permanently moved to Jersey City, New Jersey. He recorded his first song, "Operations of Nature," at the age of fifteen. 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 "Convict."

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 allegedly served a three-year jail sentence for grand theft auto, an experience that supposedly inspired his "Locked Up." "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."

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." 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. On November 19, 2007, the RIAA has certified the Konvicted album triple platinum status with 3 million units sold in th United States. Currently it has sold more than 4 million worldwide.

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 2007 Akon performed in The Sweet Escape Tour with Gwen Stefani. From July to September he embarked on his worldwide Konvicted Tour, and in September, he toured with Rihanna on the Canadian leg of her Good Girl Gone Bad Tour.

Akon co-wrote and recorded "Put It on My Tab" with New Kids on the Block for their 2008 reunion album The Block.

In 2006, Akon started his new record label Kon Live Distribution under Interscope Records. His first signed artist was Ray Lavender.

He was featured on Gwen Stefani's latest album, The Sweet Escape. He made an appearance on the title track and second single, "The Sweet Escape." Akon produced the song. On December 10, 2006, Akon and Stefani appeared as musical guests on Saturday Night Live, however they did not perform the song as Stefani had not yet learned the lyrics. He performed the song live, however, on American Idol on March 28, 2007 due to Gwen Stefani's appearance as a coach the night before. "The Sweet Escape" has reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. It reached #1 on United World Chart and is on the top for eight weeks. The song is also Akon's first #1 on World Chart.

Akon collaborated with Chamillionaire on his mixtape, Mixtape Messiah 2. He is featured on "Ridin' Overseas," which he also produced. The mixtape became available for download on Chamillionaire's website on December 24, 2006.

Akon and Young Jeezy are doing a collaborative album together. In 2006, after their 2005 Akon-produced single, "Soul Survivor," the duo said that there is a lot more to expect from them in the future.

Akon also appeared on Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's album Strength and Loyalty and Three 6 Mafia's eighth studio album, Last 2 Walk, We The Best by DJ Khaled, Fabolous's album, From Nothin' to Somethin', with 50 Cent on some tracks for Curtis, T.I.'s 5th album, T.I. vs. T.I.P., Mario's third solo album Go!, and produced for Daddy Yankee's El Cartel: The Big Boss which was released on June 5, 2007.

In November 2007, Akon recorded a remix of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" with Michael Jackson. In February 2008, the remix was released on the Thriller 25 of Michael Jackson's Thriller. The remix was released as a single and charted in the top 10 in most countries. Akon has mentioned in various interviews that he is also working with Jackson on his upcoming studio album. In July of 2008, a song was leaked on the internet, which is a duet of Michael Jackson and Akon. Entitled "Hold My Hand," the song features both artists singing together over a R&B/Hip-Hop style backing track, more similar to Akon's songs rather than Jackson's. It is not known whether it will be released as a single or as part of Akon's upcoming album or Jackson's rumoured new album. However it has already caused a comotion with websites such as Youtube; many videos have either been muted or deleted due to copyright issues with the song. There is also no official mention of the recording on either artist websites, and it is not included in the tracklist of Akon's upcoming album Freedom.

Akon holds the record for most guest performances on popular television show American Idol with two. He once sang "The Sweet Escape" with Gwen Stefani and three weeks later he sang "Don't Matter" on the show while it was number one on the Billboard charts.

Akon is also credited with producing the track entitled "Echo" on Latin Boy band Menudo's latest album, released in the spring of 2008.

Akon is the executive producer of Not 4 Sale, Kardinal Offishall's fourth solo album, which will be released on September 9, 2008. The street single "Graveyard Shift" features Akon rapping, and Akon also appears on the first official single "Dangerous."