Nelly Furtado

Nelly Furtado

Early life
Furtado was born on December 2, 1978, in the Canadian city of Toronto, Ontario to Portuguese parents, Maria Manuela and António José Furtado, both immigrants from Portugal's Azores archipelago.[1] Her parents were born on São Miguel Island and immigrated to Canada in the late 1960s.[2] Furtado has a strong connection with Portuguese culture. At age four she began performing and singing in Portuguese.[1][2] She was named after Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim.

Raised in a Roman Catholic home, Furtado first sang at the age of four when she performed a duet with her mother at a church on Portugal Day. Although remaining unclear about her religious beliefs, she still affirms a belief in God, the Ten Commandments, and in avoiding the Seven Sins.She began playing instruments at the age of nine, learning the trombone, ukulele, and, in later years, the guitar and keyboards. At the age of 12, she began writing songsand as a teenager, she performed in a Portuguese marching band.Furtado has acknowledged her family as the source of her strong work ethic; she spent eight summers working as a chambermaid with her mother, who was a housekeeper in Victoria.She has stated that coming from a working class background has shaped her identity in a positive way.

Musical career

Early career
The first musicians Furtado interacted with were underground rappers and DJs.[7] During a visit to Toronto the summer after eleventh grade, Furtado met Tallis Newkirk, member of the hip hop group Plains of Fascination. She contributed vocals to their 1996 album, Join the Ranks, on the track "Waitin' 4 the Streets".After graduating from Mount Douglas Secondary School in 1996, she moved to Toronto. The following year, she formed Nelstar, a trip hop duo with Newkirk. Ultimately, Furtado felt the trip-hop style of the duo was "too segregated" and believed it did not represent her personality or allow her to showcase her vocal ability. She left the group and planned to move back home.
Before moving, however, she performed at the 1997 Honey Jam, an "all-female urban" talent show.Her performance attracted the attention of The Philosopher Kings singer Gerald Eaton (aka Jarvis Church), who then approached her to write with him. He and fellow Kings member Brian West helped Furtado produce a demo. She left Toronto, but returned again to record more material with Eaton and West. The material recorded during these sessions led to her 1999 record deal with DreamWorks Records, where she was signed by A&R executive Beth Halper, partner of Garbage drummer and record producer Butch Vig.Furtado's first single, "Party's Just Begun (Again)", was released that year on the Brokedown Palace: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

2000–2002: Whoa, Nelly!
Furtado continued the collaboration with Eaton and West, who co-produced her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, which was released in October 2000. Following the release of the album, Furtado headlined the "Burn in the Spotlight Tour" and also appeared on Moby's Area:One tour.
The album was an international success, supported by three international singles: "I'm like a Bird", "Turn off the Light", and "...On the Radio (Remember the Days)". It received four Grammy Award nominations in 2002, and her debut single won for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Furtado's work was also critically acclaimed for her innovative mixture of various genres and sounds. Slant Magazine called the album "a delightful and refreshing antidote to the army of 'pop princesses' and rap-metal bands that had taken over popular music at the turn of the millennium".
The sound of the album was strongly influenced by musicians who had traversed cultures and "the challenge of making heartfelt, emotional music that's upbeat and hopeful".According to Maclean's magazine, Whoa, Nelly! had sold five million copies worldwide as of August 2006.Portions of the song "Scared of You" are in Portuguese, while "Onde Estás" is entirely in Portuguese, reflecting Furtado's Portuguese heritage. The International Release of "Whoa Nelly" featured fellow Canadian Esthero on the song titled "I Feel You".
In 2002, Furtado appeared on the song "Thin Line", on underground hip hop group Jurassic 5's album Power in Numbers. The same year, Furtado provided her vocals to the Paul Oakenfold's song "The Harder They Come" from the album "Bunkka" and also made the song "These words are my own". She also had a collaboration with Colombian artist Juanes, in the song "Fotografia" where she showed her diversity of yet another language.

2003–2005: Folklore
Furtado's second album, Folklore, was released in November 2003. The final track on the album, "Childhood Dreams", was dedicated to her daughter, Nevis. The album includes the single "Força" (meaning "strength" or "carry on" in Portuguese), the official anthem of the 2004 European Football Championship. Furtado performed this song in Lisbon at the championship's final, in which the Portugal national team played.The lead single is "Powerless (Say What You Want)" and the second single is the ballad "Try". The album was not as successful as her debut, partly due to the album's less "poppy" sound,as well as underpromotion from her label DreamWorks Records. DreamWorks had just been sold to Universal Music Group. In 2005, DreamWorks Records, along with many of its artists including Furtado, was absorbed into Geffen Records.
"Powerless (Say What You Want)" was later remixed, featuring Colombian rocker Juanes, who had previously worked with Furtado on his track "Fotografía" ("Photograph"). The two would collaborate again on "Te Busqué" ("I searched for you"), a single from Furtado's 2006 album Loose.

2006–2008: Loose
Furtado's third album, Loose, was released in June 2006. She named it after the spontaneous, creative decisions she made while creating the album.Some have labeled her a "sellout" for seemingly abandoning her folk and rock roots in favour of hip hop and R&B, while others have accused her of attempting to "sex up" her music and appearance to sell more records.In this album, primarily produced by Timbaland, Furtado experiments with sounds from R&B, hip hop, and 1980s music.Furtado herself describes the album's sound as punk-hop, described as "modern, poppy, spooky" and as having "a mysterious, after-midnight vibe... extremely visceral".She attributed the youthful sound of the album to the presence of her two-year-old daughter.The album received generally positive reviews from critics,with some citing the "revitalising" effect of Timbaland on Furtado's music,and others calling it "slick, smart and surprising".

Nelly performing at Rock am Ring in 2006
Loose has become the most successful album of Furtado's career so far, as it reached number one not only in Canada and the United States, but also several countries worldwide. The album produced her first number-one hit in the United States, "Promiscuous", as well as her first number-one hit in the United Kingdom, "Maneater". The single "Say It Right" eventually became Furtado's most successful song worldwide, due to its huge success in Europe and in the United States, where it became her second number-one hit. "All Good Things (Come to an End)" became her most successful song in Europe, topping single charts in numerous countries there.
On February 16, 2007, Furtado embarked on the "Get Loose Tour". She returned in March 2007 to her hometown of Victoria to perform a concert at the Save-On Foods Memorial Centre. In honour of her visit, local leaders officially proclaimed March 21, 2007, the first day of spring, as Nelly Furtado Day.After the tour, she released her first live DVD/CD named Loose the Concert.On April 1, 2007, Furtado was a performer at and host of the 2007 Juno Awards in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She won all five awards for which she was nominated, including Album of the Year and Single of the Year. She also appeared on stage at the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium in London on July 1, 2007, where she performed "Say It Right", "Maneater", and "I'm like a Bird".
In 2007, Furtado and Justin Timberlake were featured on Timbaland's single "Give It to Me",which became her third number-one single in the U.S. and second in the UK. In late 2008, Furtado collaborated with James Morrison on a song called "Broken Strings" for his album "Songs for You, Truths for Me". The single was released on December 8and peaked at #2 on the UK Singles Chart in early January.
In 2007, Furtado leaked plans to Flare regarding a song she was set to duet for Kylie Minogue's return. However, the song was not featured on her album X but Minogue says the aforementioned song "is still outstanding" and has plans to pursue it. She said "I am looking forward to getting in the studio and doing it because I know Nelly and I would have a great time together".

2009–present: Mi Plan and fifth Studio album

Mi Plan co-writer Alex Cuba
On December 31, 2008, El Diario La Prensa posted an article that Furtado is planning on recording songs in English and Spanish for her upcoming album and that it is "expected to launch on September 15, 2009".
Furtado made a guest appearance on Flo Rida's new album, R.O.O.T.S., which was released on March 31, 2009. The track is titled "Jump".Furtado has also made a guest appearance on Divine Brown's Love Chronicles, co-writing and singing on the background of the song "Sunglasses".
In early March, a song called "Gotta Know" leaked onto the Internet and was said to be Nelly's. As response, on March 4, 2009, Furtado stated on her MySpace blog that the song is not hers and that she is recording two new albums: one in Spanish, and the other in Portuguese.[34] Nelly Furtado announced via the Perez Hilton blog, that the Spanish album would be titled Mi Plan and the first single titled "Manos Al Aire" (in Spanish, meaning "Hands in the Air").The album will have twelve new songs, all in Spanish, as stated by Nelly in a message left in her official website The second single "Más" was released on July 21, as it was announced on Nelly's official myspace. The third single "Mi Plan" (ft. Alex Cuba) was released on iTunes on August 11, 2009 and "Bajo Otra Luz" (ft. Julieta Venegas and La Mala Rodriguez) is the fourth and final countdown single and it was released on September 1, 2009. She also invited the Mexican star Alejandro Fernandez to sing a duet song named "Sueños" ("Dreams").The videoclip for "Manos Al Aire" premiered on July 29 on It's On with Alexa Chung.
She made a guest appearance on Canadian singer k-os's new album Yes!, collaborating alongside Saukrates on the song "I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman," released in early July 2009. Nelly Furtado will make a guest appearance on Tiësto's single "Who Wants To Be Alone"on his new album Kaleidoscope which was released on October 6, 2009.
Nelly was also invited to record "Manos Al Aire" in Simlish for the new Sims 3 expansion, World Adventures
In a recent video, Nelly said "I’m also writing an English album," she says "Timbaland and I hooked up in the studio about three months ago and we wrote 20 songs in two days. It was really inspired. I think maybe some of that material will be on my English album." On December 15, 2009, Nelly announced on her Twitter page that her new English album would be released May 25, 2010.She recently worked with Timbaland on the song "Morning After Dark", which is featured on his new album Timbaland Presents Shock Value 2 as the lead single and was released internationally in late 2009.

Record labe
She has formed her own record label, Nelstar, in conjunction with Canadian independent label group Last Gang Labels. The first act signed to Nelstar is Fritz Helder & the Phantoms.Furtado released her first Spanish single 'Manos Al Aire' on the new label.

Music influences
During her pre-teenage to teenage years, Furtado embraced many musical genres, listening heavily to mainstream R&B, hip hop, alternative hip hop, drum and bass, trip hop, world music (including Portuguese fado, Brazilian bossa nova and Indian music), and a variety of others.Her influences have included Jeff Buckley, Portishead, Janet Jackson, Oasis, Caetano Veloso, Esthero, Amalia Rodrigues, Björk, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Cornershop, TLC, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Digable Planets, De La Soul, Radiohead, Kylie Minogue, Madonna, Shakira, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Verve, U2, Enya and Beck.
Furtado's music has also been influenced by her current residence, Toronto, which she calls "the most multicultural city in the entire world" and a place where she "can be any culture". Regarding Toronto's cultural diversity, she has said that she did not have to wait for the Internet revolution to learn about world music; she began listening to it at the age of five and continues to discover new genres.
“
I always know there's a new genre left to discover. For me, it's like a metaphor for life. I feel like if you can get down with any style of music, you can get down with any style of person. So it's fun for me—I get to expose my fans to different vibes and they, in turn, open their minds too. I'm always undergoing mind-opening.
”
Personal life
On September 20, 2003, in Toronto, Furtado gave birth to a daughter, Nevis, whose father is Jasper Gahunia [AKA DJ Lil' Jazz, Canadian DMC Champion 1998]. Furtado and Gahunia, who had been good friends for several years, remained together for four years until their breakup in 2005. Furtado told Blender magazine that they continue to be good friends and jointly share responsibility of raising Nevis.
In June 2006, in an interview with Genre magazine, when asked if she had "ever felt an attraction to women", Furtado replied "Absolutely. Women are beautiful and sexy".Some considered this an announcement of bisexuality,but in August 2006, she stated that she was "straight, but very open-minded".In November 2006, Furtado revealed that she once turned down US$ 500,000 to pose fully-nude in Playboy.
In July 2007 it was reported that Furtado was engaged to Cuban sound engineer Demacio "Demo" Castellón. He worked with her on Loose.On October 17, 2008, it was reported in People Magazine that Furtado and Castellón have been married since July 19, 2008.Furtado confirmed to Entertainment Tonight that she married Castellón on July 19, 2008.[citation needed]
Furtado Is Promoting a new line of Henna Tattoos In 2009.[citation needed]

Philanthropy
For World AIDS Day in 2006, Furtado, Enrique Iglesias, Kanye West, Kelly Rowland, Snoop Dogg and Kelly Clarkson teamed up with MTV, BET, and Nike to perform at an AIDS awareness concert in South Africa.Furtado also hosted a program about AIDS on MTV, which also featured celebrity guests Alicia Keys and Justin Timberlake.
Nelly also donated money to save the Sooke Potholes in her hometown Victoria, B.C.

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David Guetta

David Guetta

David James Guetta (pronounced GET-ah; born 7 November 1967) is a Grammy-nominated French DJ. Vocals for his songs have been performed by a variety of notable artists including Chris Willis, Cozi Costi, Kelly Rowland, Akon, and Will.i.am. In 2009, Guetta produced the Black Eyed Peas song "I Gotta Feeling" for their album The E.N.D. A remix of the song is also included on his most recent album One Love. He also made 2 remixes of another single from the album, "Boom Boom Pow", as "Boom Boom Guetta" and "Boom Boom Wow".

In 2008, he was elected as World DJ No. 5 and best house DJ by the British DJ magazine.

In 2009, Guetta was named the number 3 DJ in the world by DJ Mag.

Early life

Guetta was born and raised in Paris. His father was a restaurateur. At the age of 13 David Guetta began to mix his first mint vinyls at home and then at 14, he started organizing parties in his basement.

Career

Early career

David Guetta's career started at the age of 17, when he began playing hip-hop and house music in the nightclubs of Paris. Originally influenced by the hip-hop DJs he heard on France's Radio 7 station, he began DJing at Broad, a gay club in Paris. From 1988 to 1990, Guetta was a DJ playing house music on Paris's Radio Nova. In 1990, he released "Nation Rap", a hip-hop collaboration with French rapper Sidney Duteil.

In the early 1990s, he was influential in the rise of house music and acid house in Paris, playing in clubs such as Le Central in Champs Elysées and the Rex Club. It was during this time that Guetta met American singer Robert Owens,^[8] who was touring in Europe, and played him one of his own demos. The singer liked one so much that he decided to sing the vocals for it. Released in 1994, Guetta's first single, "Up & Away", was a minor club hit and is considered as one of the pioneering records of the French house genre. Also that year, David met his wife Cathy Guetta DJing at Les Bains Douches and together they organised parties at the Bataclan theatre in Paris. In 1995, David Guetta became the artistic manager at Le Palace nightclub and he continued to organise successful parties there and in other clubs, such as the "Scream" parties in Les Bains Douches

Since 1996, David Guetta has also held events in Ibiza. "We were the first French to organise in Ibiza" he remembers, "It was different back then. The English DJs were laughing at us, but I was friends with Daft Punk and Cassius and one day they became famous".

Debut album and success

In 2001, David Guetta and Joachim Garraud founded Gum Productions and in the same year Guetta's first hit single, "Just a Little More Love", featuring American singer Chris Willis and produced by Garraud, was released. Guetta's debut album Just a Little More Love was released in 2002 on Virgin Records and sold over 250,000 copies. The follow-up single, "Love Don't Let Me Go", was released in 2002. Other singles from the album include "People Come, People Go" featuring Chris Willis and "Give Me Something" featuring Barbara Tucker.

Guetta's second album, Guetta Blaster, was released in 2004 and contained the US Dance number 1^{[citation needed]} "The World is Mine" featuring JD Davis. In 2006 "Love Don't Let Me Go" was released as a mash-up with the Tocadisco remix of "Walking Away" by The Egg. The single, "Love Don't Let Me Go (Walking Away)" charted higher than the original release of the song.

Pop Life

In 2007, Guetta's third album Pop Life was released. The album was successful in the UK and Ireland as well as in mainland Europe. The lead single "Love Is Gone" reached Number 1 on the American Dance Chart and charted on the Billboard Hot 100.

He played in many countries around the world to promote the album. He played in Mauritius in January 2008, accompanied by French rapper JoeyStarr of the French rap group NTM. In the same year, he and his wife Cathy also planned a new event which took place in the Stade de France on 5 July 2008. The event was called "UNIGHTED" which was sponsored and presented by BURN Energy Drinks.^{[citation needed]} He performed with Tiësto, Carl Cox, Joachim Garraud and Martin Solveig in front of 40,000 spectators.

One Love and producing for other artists

David Guetta's fourth studio album, One Love, was officially released onto the iTunes store on 21 August 2009, and was released on CD on 24 August 2009 in Europe and 25 August in the United States. His second single from the Album, Sexy Bitch went to number 1. When Love Takes Over featuring Kelly Rowland is another hit song off the album, the song has so far peaked at number 1 in 10 countries. Guetta also produced The Black Eyed Peas' worldwide smash hit "I Gotta Feeling". Now David Guetta is working on Britney Spears and Kelly Rowland 2010 upcoming albums. Also Guetta is now nominated for five grammys, three for his own album and two for his work with the Black Eyed Peas.

Personal life

David Guetta is married to Cathy Guetta, and they have two children, Tim Elvis (born 2004) and Angie (born 2007). He is also the half-brother of the journalist Bernard Guetta

Chris Brown

Chris Brown
Brown performing at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre
Background information
Birth name	Christopher Maurice Brown
Born	May 5, 1989 (1989-05-05) (age 20)
Origin	Tappahannock, Virginia, United States
Genres	Pop, dance-pop, R&B, hip hop, dance
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, dancer, actor
Years active	2005–present
Labels	Jive, Zomba

Christopher Maurice "Chris" Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American recording artist and actor. He made his recording debut in late 2005 with the self-titled album Chris Brown at the age of 16. The album featured the hit single "Run It!", which topped the Billboard Hot 100, making Brown the first male artist since Montell Jordan to have his debut single top the chart in 1995. album has sold over two million copies in the United States and was certified double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Brown's second studio album, Exclusive was released worldwide in November 2007. It spawned two successful singles; his second U.S. number one hit, "Kiss Kiss" featuring T-Pain and "With You", which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Brown has released a deluxe version of his album called the The Forever Edition. The first single from it, "Forever", was released in May 2008 and reached number two on Billboard Hot 100.^[5] Exclusive has been certified Platinum by the RIAA.

In addition to his solo commercial success, Brown has been featured on several hits such as "No Air", a duet with singer Jordin Sparks, "Shortie like Mine" with the rapper Bow Wow and "Shawty Get Loose" alongside Lil Mama and T-Pain. The songs have peaked on number three, number nine and number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 respectively. Due to his dance routines, Brown has been compared to renowned R&B artists such as Usher and Michael Jackson, citing both as large influences on his music.^[9] In 2009, Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault of singer Rihanna, and was sentenced to five years probation and six months of community service.

1989–2004: Early life and career beginnings

Christopher Maurice Brown was born on May 5, 1989, in the small town of Tappahannock, Virginia to Joyce Hawkins, a former day care center director, and Clinton Brown, a corrections officer at a local prison. The youngest child of the couple, he has an older sister who works in a bank. Since his childhood, music was something which always had been present in Brown's life. He used to listen soul albums that his parents had owned, but eventually, Brown began to show interest in the hip-hop scene.

Brown taught himself to sing and dance at a young age, often citing Michael Jackson as his inspiration. He then began to perform in his church choir and in several local talent shows. While mimicking an Usher performance, his mother recognized his vocal talent and they began to look for opportunities of a record deal. At the same time, Brown had been through personal issues. His parents had already been divorced, and he said his mother's boyfriend made him terrified all the time, due to the domestic violence his mother endured from her boyfriend.

At the age of 13, Brown was discovered by a local production team who visited his father's gas station while searching for new talent. singer then, moved to New York. In 2004, Tina Davis—then-senior A&R executive at Def Jam Recordings—discovered him while he was working with some local producers. She loved what she heard and saw when Brown auditioned in her office at Island Def Jam Records in New York. She immediately took him to meet the former president of the Island Def Jam Music Group Antonio "L.A." Reid, who offered to sign him at the same day. "I knew that Chris had real talent," says Davis. "I just knew I wanted to be part of it."

The negotiations with Def Jam lasted two months, until Davis lost her job due to a corporate merger. Brown then asked her to be his manager. Davis accepted, starting to "promote" the singer to labels such as Jive Records, J-Records and Warner Bros. Records. He ultimately choose Jive, due to its successful work with then-young acts such as Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. Brown claims, "I picked Jive because they had the best success with younger artists in the pop market, [...] I knew I was going to capture my [African American] audience, but Jive had a lot of strength in the pop area as well as longevity in careers."

2005–2006: Debut album and touring

Brown performing at KISS 106.1 Seattle Jingle Bell Bash 8

After being signed to Jive Records in 2004, Brown started the recording process in February 2005. By May, there were 50 songs already recorded, 14 of which were picked to the final track listing. The singer worked with several producers and songwriters—Scott Storch, Cool & Dre and Jazze Pha among them—commenting that they "really believed in [him]". Brown also made some input on the album, receiving co-writing credits of five tracks. "I write about the things that 16 year olds go through every day," says Brown. "Like you just got in trouble for sneaking your girl into the house, or you can't drive, so you steal a car or something." The whole album took less than eight weeks to produce, being released on November 29, 2005. Self-titled Chris Brown, it debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 154,000 copies.^[20] Chris Brown was a relative commercial success with the time; selling over two million copies in the United States—where it was certified two times platinum by the RIAA—and three million copies worldwide. The album's lead single, "Run It!", made Brown the first male act (since Montell Jordan in 1995) to have his debut single to reach the summit of the Billboard Hot 100—later remaining for four additionally weeks. Three of the other singles—"Yo (Excuse Me Miss)," "Gimme That" and "Say Goodbye"—peaked within the top twenty at the same chart.

On June 13, 2006, Brown released a DVD entitled, Chris Brown's Journey, which shows footage of him traveling in England and Japan, getting ready for his first visit to the Grammy Awards, behind the scenes of his music videos and bloopers.

On August 17, 2006 to further promote the album, Brown began his major co-headlining tour, The Up Close and Personal Tour. Due to the tour, production for his next album was pushed back two months. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital received $50,000 in ticket proceeds from Brown's 2006 "Up Close & Personal" tour. Brown was also the opening act for R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles on the Australian leg of her The Beyoncé Experience tour.

2007–2008: Acting debut and Exclusive

Brown has made appearances on UPN's One on One and The N's Brandon T. Jackson Show on its pilot episode. In addition, Brown landed a small role as a band geek in the fourth season of Fox's The O.C. in January 2007. Brown then made his film debut in Stomp the Yard, alongside Ne-Yo, Meagan Good and Columbus Short in January 2007. Brown next appeared in This Christmas, a family drama starring Regina King, released on November 21, 2007. On July 9, 2007, Brown was featured in an episode of MTV's My Super Sweet 16 (for the event, it was retitled: Chris Brown: My Super 18) celebrating his eighteenth birthday in New York City. Brown also guest-starred on Disney's The Suite Life of Zack & Cody as himself. Brown is expected to star in the basketball drama film Phenom.

Brown performing at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre

Shortly after ending his summer tour with Ne-Yo, Brown quickly began production for his second studio album, Exclusive, which was released in November 2007. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200, selling 294,000 copies in its first week. It has sold 1.9 million copies in the United States.

According to MTV News, Brown stated: "I am still going to keep it so my younger fans can continue to listen to my music, but I got a couple of joints on there that's for some of the older people." The album's first single, "Wall to Wall", debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 96, and peaked at number 79 and number 22 on the Billboard R&B and Hip-Hop Chart becoming his lowest charting song to date. "Kiss Kiss", featuring and produced by T-Pain, was released as the second single. "Kiss Kiss," became more successful surpassing the success of "Wall To Wall," reaching number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 to become Chris' second number one single and his highest chart peak since "Run It!" in 2005.

On December 4, 2007, Brown released the third single from "Exclusive," entitled "With You", a song produced by Stargate. "With You" reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and had entered the charts in various countries around the world, becoming one of Brown's most successful released to date, entering the top ten in New Zealand, Singapore, Canada, the United States, Cyprus, Ireland, France, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, and Australia.

Brown re-released Exclusive on June 3, 2008 as a deluxe edition, renamed Exclusive: The Forever Edition, seven months after the release of the original version. The re-released version featured four new tracks, including the single "Forever" which reached number two on Billboard Hot 100.

In support of the album, Brown embarked on his The Exclusive Holiday concert tour, visiting over thirty venues in United States. He started the tour in Cincinnati, Ohio, on December 6, 2007 and concluded it on February 9, 2008 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The documented footage was released on June 3, 2008 as the double disc of Exclusive: The Forever Edition. He performed "With You" at the BET Awards '08 in June 2008. He was then joined by Ciara to dance with him to a snippet of the song "Take You Down".

Brown, alongside The Game, is featured on Nas' untitled album on "Make the World Go Round", co-produced by the The Game and Cool & Dre.^[34] He is also featured alongside Sean Garrett for Ludacris' single "What Them Girls Like" off Ludacris's album Theater of the Mind. He was also featured on T-Pain's third single "Freeze" off T-Pain's new album Thr33 Ringz. Brown was named the top artist of 2008 by Billboard magazine. Brown lent his efforts to promote the Math-A-Thon benefiting that hospital by starring as the host in a film to promote it. Brown released his single "Take You Down" in January 2009 in the UK and Ireland.

2009–present: Graffiti and domestic violence case

Since 2008, Brown started to work on a upcoming studio album. According to him, he will experiment a different musical direction for his new album—currently titled Graffiti—while hoping to emulate fellow American singers Prince and Michael Jackson. He says, "I wanted to change it up and really be different. Like my style nowadays, I don't try to be typical urban. I want to be like how Prince and Michael [Jackson] and Stevie Wonder were. They can cross over to any genre of music." Brown debuted his lead Graffiti single "I Can Transform Ya" on 29th of September as a digital download and the music video debuted on MTV on 27th October 2009. Brown also confirmed that his next single was called "Crawl". Brown released the Crawl music video on 13th November 2009. Graffiti would follow with a December 15, 2009 release.

Brown turned himself in to the Los Angeles Police Department's Wilshire station on February 8, 2009, and was booked on suspicion of making criminal threats, while under investigation for domestic violence charges, following an argument with an unidentified woman. The police report did not name the female in the incident as is policy, but stated that the she had "suffered visible injuries". However, various news media such as the Los Angeles Times, CNN, and MSNBC said that sources had identified the alleged victim as his girlfriend and fellow R&B singer Rihanna. Following his arrest, several of his commercial ads were suspended, his music was withdrawn from multiple radio stations, and he withdrew from public appearances, including one at the 2009 Grammy Awards, where he was replaced by Justin Timberlake and Al Green. later released a statement saying, "Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired."

On March 5, 2009, Brown was charged with felony assault and making criminal threats. was arraigned on April 6, 2009, and pleaded not guilty to one count of assault and one count of making criminal threats. On June 22, 2009, Brown pleaded guilty to a felony and accepted a plea deal of community labor and five years' formal probation. Domestic violence counseling is also part of the deal by Judge Patricia Schnegg in court. Several organizations against domestic violence expressed criticism over the plea deal, advocating the punishment was not severe enough for the crime; the level of Brown's influence over youth also came under scrutiny. On July 20, 2009, Brown released a two-minute video on his official YouTube page apologizing to fans and Rihanna for the domestic altercation, expressing the incident as his "deepest regret" and saying that he has repeatedly apologized to Rihanna and "accepts full responsibility". Brown said he wanted to speak out earlier about the case but was advised by his attorney not to until the legal ramifications were settled. On August 25, Brown was sentenced to five years of probation, one year of domestic violence counseling, and six months of community service; the judge retained a five-year restraining order on Brown, which requires him to remain 100 yards away from Rihanna, 10 yards at public events.

On September 2, 2009, Brown spoke about the domestic violence case in a pre-recorded Larry King Live interview, his first public interview about the matter. He was accompanied in the interview by his mother and attorney Mark Geragos, as he discussed growing up in a household rampant with domestic violence; his mother had been repeatedly assaulted by his stepfather. Brown said of hearing details of what transpired the night of his own assault, his physical altercation with Rihanna, "I'm in shock, because, first of all, that's not who I am as a person, and that's not who I promise I want to be." Brown's mother, Joyce Hawkins, said Brown "has never, ever been a violent person, ever" and that she does not believe in the cycle of violence.^[62] Brown described his relationship with Rihanna as having been like Romeo and Juliet during widespread media reports of the domestic violence case, and that it was the media that drove them apart following news of the assault. He said he did not remember assaulting Rihanna but realized it occurred and is sorry for his actions that night. Following criticism of saying he did not remember, Brown later said in a statement, "Of course I remember what happened. Several times during the interview, my mother said that I came to her right afterwards and told her everything." Brown said despite this, "[that night] was and still is a blur". Earlier in the Larry King Live interview, he said that it is "tough" for him to look at the famous photograph released of Rihanna's battered face, which may be the one image to haunt and define him forever, and that he still loves her. "I'm pretty sure we can always be friends," said Brown, "and I don't know about our relationship, but I just know definitely that we ended as friends." In addition, he stated he does not feel that his career is over.

Brown appeared on 20/20 for an in-depth interview airing December 04, 2009. In the interview, which was conducted by Good Morning America's Robin Roberts, Brown further discussed his assault of Rihanna.

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