Robin Charles Thicke (born March 10, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, composer, and occasional actor. Thicke's albums are noted for their feature of a predominately R&B sound.
Personal life
Robin was born March 10, 1977 to Canadian actor Alan Thicke and his first wife, Days of Our Lives actress and singer, Gloria Loring. They divorced when he was seven. Throughout his childhood, he would be exposed to music by Bruce Springsteen courtesy of his father, as well as Luther Vandross and Whitney Houston courtesy of his mother.
On June 11, 2005, Thicke married his high school sweetheart, actress Paula Patton, whom he met in a teen club at age 14. In October 2009, the couple announced they are expecting their first child, a boy, in May of 2010.
Music career
Early years
Before his days as a singer-songwriter, Thicke had written songs for 3T's "Sexual Attention" (from 1995's Brotherhood, which Thicke shares co-writing credit with one half of the The Underdogs, Damon Thomas), Color Me Badd's "Sexual Capacity" off the groups 1996 album, Now & Forever. Brownstone's "Around You" (from 1997's Still Climbing) and collaborated with Jordan Knight, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis on several songs in Knight's 1999 album Jordan Knight. As an artist, he recorded and performed solely under his surname, Thicke. He would continue to do so until 2005.
Songwriting, producing and collaborations
Thicke began his songwriting career by penning hits for popular artists such as Christina Aguilera, Mya, Brandy, Marc Anthony, and Jordan Knight.[1] In 2004, Thicke won his first Grammy Award for his contributions on Usher's 2004 release, Confessions. During 2006, Lil Wayne was featured on the track "Shooter," which is a remake from one of his earlier albums; Lil Wayne also has this track on Tha Carter II.
The Thicke original "When I Get You Alone" was performed by Guy Sebastian, the winner of the first Australian Idol 2003 during the competition and at the Idol Grand Final. "When I Get You Alone" was a popular song choice for Sebastian and he put the live idol performance on his four-times platinum debut single "Angels Brought Me Here" which was the fastest selling single in Australia debuting at #1 and immediately breaking an Aria record.[4] In 2004, Thicke co-wrote with Guy Sebastian, the #1 Hit "Out With My Baby" from Sebastian's sophomore album, Beautiful Life. Thicke also produced this single for Sebastian.[5] Thicke was involved in three tracks on Beautiful Life. Other songs Thicke contributed to on the album include "Fiend for You", co-written with Sebastian, and "How", a Robin Thicke original included on the track listing.
In April 2007, Thicke co-wrote a song with Mexican-American singer Angela Via called "Wrong for You," a single from Via's forthcoming album. That same year, Thicke appeared on 50 Cent's album Curtis, which was released on September 11, 2007, on a song called "Follow My Lead". He worked with Ashanti on her fourth studio album, The Declaration, which was released on June 3, 2008.[6][7] Thicke was enlisted by producer Polow da Don to play piano on the Usher track, "Love in This Club".[8] Also that year, Thicke reunited with Lil Wayne and was featured on his album Tha Carter III on a track entitled "Tie My Hands", which Thicke also produced.
At the 2009 Grammy Awards, Thicke was most recently recognized for his work on Lil Wayne’s sixth studio album Tha Carter III, as well as Jennifer Hudson’s self titled debut album. Thicke wrote and produced the song "Tie My Hands" on Tha Carter III, which went on to win Best Rap Album. Thicke wrote and produced the song "Giving Myself" for the album Jennifer Hudson, which went on to win Best R&B Album.
2002–2004: Early commercial success
In 2000, Thicke, who simply went by his last name, went to work on material for his debut album, initially entitled Cherry Blue Skies. The album focused more on soul, than his pop-offerings for other artists.
In 2002, Thicke released his debut single "When I Get You Alone." The track samples Walter Murphy's "A Fifth of Beethoven," which itself is a disco rendition of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. The music video for the song features an unshaven Thicke with long, wild hair as a courier racing through the streets of Manhattan on a bicycle. It received some rotation on MTV2 and BET's Rated Next and was spun moderately on urban radio. Globally, however, "When I Get You Alone" became a chart success when it peaked within the top 20 in Australia, Belgium, and Italy, and reached the top ten of the singles charts in New Zealand and the top three in the Netherlands. The tune was featured for the soundtrack of Agent Cody Banks.
The moderate success was enough to signal the release of the album, with its name changed to A Beautiful World. Despite the release of a second single, "Brand New Jones", the album received very little promotion, and debuted at a low number 152 on the Billboard 200, eventually selling 63,000 copies domestically.
Runner-up Blake Lewis performed it during the 2007 season of American Idol when the top 3 chose a song to sing. Lewis has often put Robin Thicke in his list of musical influences in interviews and on the American Idol website.
2005–2007: The Evolution of Robin Thicke
In 2005, Thicke performed as a guest on the remix of Will Smith's song, "Switch". After being signed to The Neptunes label, Star Trak, he began working on his second album entitled The Evolution of Robin Thicke. The first single, "Wanna Love U Girl", featured producer Pharrell and experienced chart success on urban radio in the United Kingdom. For the video, Thicke changed his appearance, cutting off his trademark long hair. In 2006, a remix version of the song was filmed with rapper Busta Rhymes. Nearly a year after the single was released, the album was released on October 3, 2006. The Evolution of Robin Thicke includes songs with Lil' Wayne and Faith Evans (on "Got 2 Be Down"), as well as Pharrell. To promote the album Thicke toured with India.Arie, and then opened for John Legend in late 2006.
His second single, the ballad "Lost Without U," began getting a lot of radio airplay in Urban & Rhythmic stations towards the end of 2006 and early 2007. With the assistance of radio airplay the song became his breakout hit, reaching as high as number fourteen on the Billboard Hot 100, and number one on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, the first Caucasian male artist to top that chart since George Michael.[10] With album sales over 1.5 million copies sold domestically after the re-release as a Deluxe Edition (with three new bonus tracks) on February 13, 2007, The Evolution of Robin Thicke became a commercial success in the United States.
The album peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart,[9] garnering Thicke his first R&B number one album of his career. From February 24, 2007 to March 3, 2007 the single "Lost Without U" and album The Evolution of Robin Thicke simultaneously spent two consecutive weeks at number one on the R&B singles and albums charts respectively. On the March 3, 2007 issue of Billboard magazine, Thicke simultaneously topped four Billboard charts; Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, and Hot Adult R&B Airplay.In March 2007, The Evolution of Robin Thicke was certified Platinum by the RIAA. Thicke and his record label Interscope soon considered potential tracks to be released as the album's next and third single. Thicke's preference was the track "Can U Believe", which peaked at number fifteen on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and at number ninety-nine on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. On October 2, 2007 the track "Got 2 Be Down" was released as the album's fourth official single. The single peaked at number sixty on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks.
Later in 2007, Thicke finished promotion for the album as the featured opening act for the North American leg of Beyoncé's U.S. tour, The Beyoncé Experience. Thicke also performed a one off UK concert in London's Koko Arena on September 24, 2007.
2008–09: Something Else and other projects
Thicke released his third solo album, entitled Something Else, on September 30, 2008. It debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 charts and sold nearly 140,000 records the first week. The first single from the album was "Magic" a further expansion of the sultry, classic R&B sound that powered his 2006 breakthrough, The Evolution of Robin Thicke. "Magic" went on to peak at number two on the Urban AC charts. He followed this success with the second single, "The Sweetest Love", which also peaked at number two on the Urban AC charts and remained in the top five for twelve consecutive weeks.
Speaking in October 2008 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning "Blues & Soul", Thicke explained his reasons for titling his third album "Something Else": "There's so many meanings behind that title. Number one, it reflects what we're going through as a nation here in America. I just felt, with Barack Obama and the new energy he's bringing, that it is time for some fresh hope and new attitudes. Then, in terms of me as an artist, because I'd been singing all these songs about self-reflection - like '2 The Sky' and 'Angels' - I just thought it was time for me to start singing about something ELSE! Also, I felt that - with my music being a little different from everything else you can get out there - the music IN ITSELF is also something different and something else!"
Thicke recently appeared on an episode of ABC’s The Bachelor to perform “Magic” and “The Sweetest Love” for the remaining female contestants. Thicke wrote and produced a track for the movie Precious, a film based on a novel by Sapphire , in which his wife Paula Patton also stars. He is currently co-headlining a U.S. tour with Jennifer Hudson, which began March 31, 2009 in Albany, N.Y., and wraps up 25 shows later in Biloxi, Miss.[14] At the start of the tour, Thicke released "You're My Baby" as the official third single from Something Else, despite filming and releasing an awesome music video for the track "Dreamworld".[14]
2009–present: Sex Therapy and future projects
Billboard.com announced that Thicke would release his fourth studio album in the fall of 2009, which would not be self-produced. The album, titled Sex Therapy, had its release date postponed to winter, being released on December 15, 2009. Jay-Z is featured on the track "Meiple (Me I Play)". The first single from the album was the self-titled track, produced by Polow Da Don and released in October 2009. A new song, called "Shakin' It For Daddy", featuring rapper Nicki Minaj, was leaked on November 7. It was also produced by Polow Da Don.
Earlier in 2009, on October 14, Leighton Meester's debut single "Somebody to Love", featuring Thike, was released.
Thicke told MTV he was glad to have Lil Wayne on the album. He also pointed out that he was featured on Lil Wayne's last two albums, and Lil Wayne was on his last two albums. "We're kind of good luck charms for each other", he said. Thicke says having Lil Wayne on his next album will keep the good luck alive.
Thicke appeared on ABC's New Year's Rockin' Eve on January 1, 2010 and performed three songs from Las Vegas, in a pre-recorded segment
wikipedia.org
crackofdawn.wordpress.com
Personal life
Robin was born March 10, 1977 to Canadian actor Alan Thicke and his first wife, Days of Our Lives actress and singer, Gloria Loring. They divorced when he was seven. Throughout his childhood, he would be exposed to music by Bruce Springsteen courtesy of his father, as well as Luther Vandross and Whitney Houston courtesy of his mother.
On June 11, 2005, Thicke married his high school sweetheart, actress Paula Patton, whom he met in a teen club at age 14. In October 2009, the couple announced they are expecting their first child, a boy, in May of 2010.
Music career
Early years
Before his days as a singer-songwriter, Thicke had written songs for 3T's "Sexual Attention" (from 1995's Brotherhood, which Thicke shares co-writing credit with one half of the The Underdogs, Damon Thomas), Color Me Badd's "Sexual Capacity" off the groups 1996 album, Now & Forever. Brownstone's "Around You" (from 1997's Still Climbing) and collaborated with Jordan Knight, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis on several songs in Knight's 1999 album Jordan Knight. As an artist, he recorded and performed solely under his surname, Thicke. He would continue to do so until 2005.
Songwriting, producing and collaborations
Thicke began his songwriting career by penning hits for popular artists such as Christina Aguilera, Mya, Brandy, Marc Anthony, and Jordan Knight.[1] In 2004, Thicke won his first Grammy Award for his contributions on Usher's 2004 release, Confessions. During 2006, Lil Wayne was featured on the track "Shooter," which is a remake from one of his earlier albums; Lil Wayne also has this track on Tha Carter II.
The Thicke original "When I Get You Alone" was performed by Guy Sebastian, the winner of the first Australian Idol 2003 during the competition and at the Idol Grand Final. "When I Get You Alone" was a popular song choice for Sebastian and he put the live idol performance on his four-times platinum debut single "Angels Brought Me Here" which was the fastest selling single in Australia debuting at #1 and immediately breaking an Aria record.[4] In 2004, Thicke co-wrote with Guy Sebastian, the #1 Hit "Out With My Baby" from Sebastian's sophomore album, Beautiful Life. Thicke also produced this single for Sebastian.[5] Thicke was involved in three tracks on Beautiful Life. Other songs Thicke contributed to on the album include "Fiend for You", co-written with Sebastian, and "How", a Robin Thicke original included on the track listing.
In April 2007, Thicke co-wrote a song with Mexican-American singer Angela Via called "Wrong for You," a single from Via's forthcoming album. That same year, Thicke appeared on 50 Cent's album Curtis, which was released on September 11, 2007, on a song called "Follow My Lead". He worked with Ashanti on her fourth studio album, The Declaration, which was released on June 3, 2008.[6][7] Thicke was enlisted by producer Polow da Don to play piano on the Usher track, "Love in This Club".[8] Also that year, Thicke reunited with Lil Wayne and was featured on his album Tha Carter III on a track entitled "Tie My Hands", which Thicke also produced.
At the 2009 Grammy Awards, Thicke was most recently recognized for his work on Lil Wayne’s sixth studio album Tha Carter III, as well as Jennifer Hudson’s self titled debut album. Thicke wrote and produced the song "Tie My Hands" on Tha Carter III, which went on to win Best Rap Album. Thicke wrote and produced the song "Giving Myself" for the album Jennifer Hudson, which went on to win Best R&B Album.
2002–2004: Early commercial success
In 2000, Thicke, who simply went by his last name, went to work on material for his debut album, initially entitled Cherry Blue Skies. The album focused more on soul, than his pop-offerings for other artists.
In 2002, Thicke released his debut single "When I Get You Alone." The track samples Walter Murphy's "A Fifth of Beethoven," which itself is a disco rendition of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. The music video for the song features an unshaven Thicke with long, wild hair as a courier racing through the streets of Manhattan on a bicycle. It received some rotation on MTV2 and BET's Rated Next and was spun moderately on urban radio. Globally, however, "When I Get You Alone" became a chart success when it peaked within the top 20 in Australia, Belgium, and Italy, and reached the top ten of the singles charts in New Zealand and the top three in the Netherlands. The tune was featured for the soundtrack of Agent Cody Banks.
The moderate success was enough to signal the release of the album, with its name changed to A Beautiful World. Despite the release of a second single, "Brand New Jones", the album received very little promotion, and debuted at a low number 152 on the Billboard 200, eventually selling 63,000 copies domestically.
Runner-up Blake Lewis performed it during the 2007 season of American Idol when the top 3 chose a song to sing. Lewis has often put Robin Thicke in his list of musical influences in interviews and on the American Idol website.
2005–2007: The Evolution of Robin Thicke
In 2005, Thicke performed as a guest on the remix of Will Smith's song, "Switch". After being signed to The Neptunes label, Star Trak, he began working on his second album entitled The Evolution of Robin Thicke. The first single, "Wanna Love U Girl", featured producer Pharrell and experienced chart success on urban radio in the United Kingdom. For the video, Thicke changed his appearance, cutting off his trademark long hair. In 2006, a remix version of the song was filmed with rapper Busta Rhymes. Nearly a year after the single was released, the album was released on October 3, 2006. The Evolution of Robin Thicke includes songs with Lil' Wayne and Faith Evans (on "Got 2 Be Down"), as well as Pharrell. To promote the album Thicke toured with India.Arie, and then opened for John Legend in late 2006.
His second single, the ballad "Lost Without U," began getting a lot of radio airplay in Urban & Rhythmic stations towards the end of 2006 and early 2007. With the assistance of radio airplay the song became his breakout hit, reaching as high as number fourteen on the Billboard Hot 100, and number one on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, the first Caucasian male artist to top that chart since George Michael.[10] With album sales over 1.5 million copies sold domestically after the re-release as a Deluxe Edition (with three new bonus tracks) on February 13, 2007, The Evolution of Robin Thicke became a commercial success in the United States.
The album peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart,[9] garnering Thicke his first R&B number one album of his career. From February 24, 2007 to March 3, 2007 the single "Lost Without U" and album The Evolution of Robin Thicke simultaneously spent two consecutive weeks at number one on the R&B singles and albums charts respectively. On the March 3, 2007 issue of Billboard magazine, Thicke simultaneously topped four Billboard charts; Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, and Hot Adult R&B Airplay.In March 2007, The Evolution of Robin Thicke was certified Platinum by the RIAA. Thicke and his record label Interscope soon considered potential tracks to be released as the album's next and third single. Thicke's preference was the track "Can U Believe", which peaked at number fifteen on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and at number ninety-nine on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. On October 2, 2007 the track "Got 2 Be Down" was released as the album's fourth official single. The single peaked at number sixty on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks.
Later in 2007, Thicke finished promotion for the album as the featured opening act for the North American leg of Beyoncé's U.S. tour, The Beyoncé Experience. Thicke also performed a one off UK concert in London's Koko Arena on September 24, 2007.
2008–09: Something Else and other projects
Thicke released his third solo album, entitled Something Else, on September 30, 2008. It debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 charts and sold nearly 140,000 records the first week. The first single from the album was "Magic" a further expansion of the sultry, classic R&B sound that powered his 2006 breakthrough, The Evolution of Robin Thicke. "Magic" went on to peak at number two on the Urban AC charts. He followed this success with the second single, "The Sweetest Love", which also peaked at number two on the Urban AC charts and remained in the top five for twelve consecutive weeks.
Speaking in October 2008 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning "Blues & Soul", Thicke explained his reasons for titling his third album "Something Else": "There's so many meanings behind that title. Number one, it reflects what we're going through as a nation here in America. I just felt, with Barack Obama and the new energy he's bringing, that it is time for some fresh hope and new attitudes. Then, in terms of me as an artist, because I'd been singing all these songs about self-reflection - like '2 The Sky' and 'Angels' - I just thought it was time for me to start singing about something ELSE! Also, I felt that - with my music being a little different from everything else you can get out there - the music IN ITSELF is also something different and something else!"
Thicke recently appeared on an episode of ABC’s The Bachelor to perform “Magic” and “The Sweetest Love” for the remaining female contestants. Thicke wrote and produced a track for the movie Precious, a film based on a novel by Sapphire , in which his wife Paula Patton also stars. He is currently co-headlining a U.S. tour with Jennifer Hudson, which began March 31, 2009 in Albany, N.Y., and wraps up 25 shows later in Biloxi, Miss.[14] At the start of the tour, Thicke released "You're My Baby" as the official third single from Something Else, despite filming and releasing an awesome music video for the track "Dreamworld".[14]
2009–present: Sex Therapy and future projects
Billboard.com announced that Thicke would release his fourth studio album in the fall of 2009, which would not be self-produced. The album, titled Sex Therapy, had its release date postponed to winter, being released on December 15, 2009. Jay-Z is featured on the track "Meiple (Me I Play)". The first single from the album was the self-titled track, produced by Polow Da Don and released in October 2009. A new song, called "Shakin' It For Daddy", featuring rapper Nicki Minaj, was leaked on November 7. It was also produced by Polow Da Don.
Earlier in 2009, on October 14, Leighton Meester's debut single "Somebody to Love", featuring Thike, was released.
Thicke told MTV he was glad to have Lil Wayne on the album. He also pointed out that he was featured on Lil Wayne's last two albums, and Lil Wayne was on his last two albums. "We're kind of good luck charms for each other", he said. Thicke says having Lil Wayne on his next album will keep the good luck alive.
Thicke appeared on ABC's New Year's Rockin' Eve on January 1, 2010 and performed three songs from Las Vegas, in a pre-recorded segment
wikipedia.org
crackofdawn.wordpress.com
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