Drake - Singers, Timeline and Facts

Aubrey Drake Graham was born on October 24, 1986, in Toronto, Canada. His father, Dennis Graham, worked as a drummer for legendary musician, Jerry Lee Lewis, and his mother, Sandi Graham, was an English teacher and a florist.

Being born to an African-American Catholic father and a white Canadian Jew mother, he has a unique racial and religious background. According to him, he is "more immersed in black culture", while his being Jewish is a "cool twist".

His parents divorced when he was five years old, following which he was raised by his mother in Toronto. His father moved back to America and settled in Memphis, where Drake visited him occasionally.

He spent his early childhood near Weston Road in the city's working-class neighborhood. After his sixth grade, his family moved to Forest Hill, a more affluent neighborhood in the city. Drake, who attended Forest Hill Collegiate Institute and Vaughan Road Academy for high school, later dropped out of school and completed his high school diploma in 2012.

He witnessed hardship early on in his life. His father was arrested while trying to cross the border, his sick mother struggled to support the family, and he faced bullying in his predominantly white school for being the only black Jew.

In 2001, Drake started acting after the father of one of his friends, an acting agent, offered him a role in the Canadian teen drama series 'Degrassi: The Next Generation'. He played the role of Jimmy Brooks, a wheel-chair bound former basketball player, for a total of 145 episodes.

He has acted in a number of other television series over the years, including 'Soul Food', 'Being Erica' and 'Sophie', and also made guest appearances on 'Beyond the Break', 'Saturday Night Live' and 'Punk'd'. He did voice acting for the film 'Ice Age: Continental Drift'.

Following his acting fame, he decided to self-release his debut mixtape, 'Room for Improvement'. He followed it with another mixtape the next year, 'Comeback Season', which contained the single 'Replacement Girl' that earned him widespread recognition as a singer for the first time. He founded October's Very Own label to release the mixtape.

He released his third mixtape 'So Far Gone' as a free download from the website of his record label. It consisted of tracks like 'Best I Ever Had' and 'Successful', featuring Lil Wayne, Trey Songz, and Lloyd among others, and became a commercial success. He released his debut EP by the same name following the success of the mixtape, which made it to No.6 on the 'Billboard 200'.

His debut studio album, 'Thank Me Later', was released on June 15, 2010. The album, which was under production for the past two years, featured artists like Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, and Kanye West. The single 'Find Your Love' reached top-10 on the 'Billboard Hot 100'.

On November 15, 2011, he released his second studio album 'Take Care'. The album contained hit singles like 'Make Me Proud' featuring Nicki Minaj and 'Take Care' featuring Rihanna. He received his first Grammy Award for the album.

His third album, 'Nothing Was the Same' (2013), continued his journey to fame, opening to positive reviews like its predecessors. It was his first full-length album that was released from his own record label, OVO Sound. All of the seven singles of the album became commercially successful.

He released his fourth studio album 'Views' on April 29, 2016. It contained five singles including the Grammy winning track 'Hotline Bling', 'Pop Style' featuring Kanye West and Jay Z, and 'Too Good' featuring Rihanna. Recently, he released a playlist titled 'More Life' on March 18, 2017.

Drake rose to fame with his debut studio album 'Thank Me Later' which debuted at No.1 on the US 'Billboard 200' chart. The album sold 1.83 million copies in the US and received Platinum certification in Canada and US.

His second studio album 'Take Care' also debuted at No.1 on the US 'Billboard 200', selling over 631,000 copies in the first week. The album was Platinum certified in US, UK and Canada.

'Nothing Was the Same', his third studio album, received both critical acclaim and commercial success. It was named 'Best Album of the Year' by multiple magazines. The album sold over 1.78 million copies in the U.S. alone, and received Platinum status in US, UK and Canada.

Till date, Drake has received 3 Grammy Awards from 35 nominations. His album 'Take Care' was named 'Best Rap Album' in 2013, while his song 'Hotline Bling' won two awards in 2017. He has won a total of 80 awards from 330 nominations over the years.

Drake has been romantically linked with a number of women from the entertainment industry. However, he is most known for his on-and-off relationship with the Barbadian singer Rihanna. They first met in 2005, following which he had a crush on her. They later became close and worked together a number of times. However, they apparently broke up after Rihanna rekindled her relationship with Chris Brown.

In June 2012, he got involved in a fight with Chris Brown, reportedly over Rihanna. Brown blamed him on social media and released a song criticizing him. Incidentally, the two later performed together in a comedic skit at the 2014 ESPY Awards, hinting at reconciliation.

In 2012, a girl named Ericka Lee revealed herself to be his ex-girlfriend and claimed that he used her voice in the song 'Marvins Room'. She filed a lawsuit seeking credits and royalties; while Drake's lawyer refuted the claims initially, they reached an out-of-court settlement in 2013.

He started dating singer, Jennifer Lopez, in late 2016. They often post pictures together on their respective social media accounts, however, it has been reported that his attempts at getting Rihanna back has affected his relationship with Lopez.

Drake often credits his father for introducing him to rap. Reportedly, his father shared a cell with a rapper named, Poverty, while in jail, and he used to swap lyrics with him over the phone.