Chris Brown was born in Tappahanuk, Virginia, USA, on May 5, 1989. His father was a corrections officer at the local prison. His mother was the former director of a day care centre. His older sister Lytrell Bundy now works in a bank. He came from a family of church goers and says he had more church clothes than school clothes He grew up listening to Michael Jackson and Usher. He always loved music and taught himself to sing and dance. He studied at Essex High School, Virginia until 2005 when he moved to New York to pursue his music.

FACT 1: Brown’s road to stardom began with his singing as a child in the church choir. He had rehearsals three times a week with the whole band. These were his music lessons. When he was about 10 he did his first performance in the church. He sang ”His Eye on the Sparrow” He got very emotional and started to cry. His mother told him that he had experienced the Holy Ghost.

FACT 2: Soon after he turned 11, he was discovered by Hitmission Records, at a local gas station. They provided voice coaching and made a demo package that was promoted in New York. New York was impressed by his singing and he eventually chose Jive as his record label. Jive was also the label for the up- coming artists Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. In 2005 he released his number one hit single ‘Run It’ (with Tyga)

FACT 3: In 2007 Chris founded the record label CBE. CBE is an acronym with two meanings, Chris Brown Entertainment or Culture Beyond your Evolution. His label has signed Kevin McCall, singer Sabrina Antoinette, Sevyn Streeter and rock group U.G.L.Y.

FACT 4: His other releases are Chris Brown (2005), Exclusive (2007), Graffitti (2009), FAME (2011), Fortune (2012), X (2014) and Fan of a Fan: The Album

FACT 5: Besides being a star singer, he acted in many movies and TV serials. He played the lead role in ‘This Christmas’ and had a supporting role in ‘Stomp the Yard’ ‘Takers’ and ‘Think like a Man’. His TV appearances include ‘one on One’ and ‘The O.C.’

FACT 6: On Feb 8^th 2009 Chris and his girlfriend Rihanna got into an argument that escalated into violence. Rihanna suffered facial injuries and had to be hospitalized. Chris turned himself in to the LAPD Wilshire Station. As per protocol the police withheld Rihanna’s name, but the Press soon got hold of the information and pictures of Rihanna’s battered became available. Following his arrest, several commercial advertisements featuring Chris were withdrawn and so were his songs from the radio stations.

FACT 7: On June 22, 2009, Brown pleaded guilty to the felony and accepted a plea deal of 5 years formal probation, 1 year domestic violence counselling, 6 months community service. Domestic violence experts considered the plea deal too lenient. As Chris was a role model for the youth, many experts felt that the consequences of his actions should have been graver. The wrong message was being sent out to the youth. However the executive director of Peace Over Violence said that Chris should be given credit for owning up.

FACT 8: Chris was denied a visa to the UK in June 2010, as he was guilty of serious criminal violence. His concerts in UK and the Irish Republic were cancelled. In Feb 2015, he was denied entry into Canada and concerts in Montreal and Toronto were cancelled.

FACT 9: Chris and Rihanna officially broke up in May 2013 and in March 2015 he became the father of a baby girl Royalty. Nia Amey is the baby’s mom

FACT 10: There are 354,112 people in USA called Chris. It is the 178^th most popular name. There are 1,639,538 people in the US with the last name Brown. It is the 4^th most popular surname. There are 1,812 people with the name Chris Brown, but if you ask anyone if they have heard of Chris Brown, they’re sure to say ‘Yes, Rihanna’s boyfriend.’