Aubrey Drake Graham is a Canadian rapper, singer, and actor. Gaining recognition by starring in the teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001–08), Drake pursued a career in music releasing his debut mixtape Room for Improvement in 2006; he subsequently released the mixtapes Comeback Season (2007) and So Far Gone (2009) before signing with Young Money Entertainment.
Drake first came to prominence in the teen soap Degrassi: The Next Generation in the role of Jimmy Brooks, a wheelchair-bound character he played for seven years. After leaving the show he became one of the biggest rappers on the planet after signing a deal with Lil Wayne’s label Young Money Entertainment.
Aubrey Drake Graham was born on October 24, 1986, in Toronto, Ontario. His father, Dennis Graham, is African-American and a practicing Catholic from Memphis, Tennessee, who worked as a drummer, performing alongside country musician Jerry Lee Lewis. His mother, Sandra Graham ( is a Canadian of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage who worked as an English teacher and florist.
Dennis Graham performed at Club Bluenote in Toronto, where he met Sandra Sher, who was in attendance.
Drake is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, having American citizenship due to his American father. In his youth, he attended a Jewish day school and became a bar mitzvah.
He attended Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, where he demonstrated an affinity for the arts, first acting while an active student at the school.
He later attended Vaughan Road Academy in the city’s multicultural Oakwood–Vaughan neighbourhood. Due to the economic status associated with the neighbourhood, Drake was often bullied at school for his racial and religious background, and upon realizing that his busy class schedule was detrimental to his burgeoning acting career, Drake dropped out of school. He later graduated in October 2012.
Full Name: Aubrey Drake Graham
Date of Birth: October 24, 1986
Age: 35
Birth Place: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nationality: Canada, United States
Profession: Rapper, Singer, Songwriter, Actor, Businessman
Networth: $200 million
Personal Life:
Drake has a close friendship with Adele, and was in an on-again, off-again relationship with Rihanna from 2009 to 2016. He has mentioned the relationship in every one of his studio albums, and when presenting Rihanna with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award in 2016, he said “she’s a woman I’ve been in love with since I was 22 years old.” On his relationship with her, he said on the talk show “The Shop”.
Drake is a father to one son named Adonis, who was born on October 11, 2017, to French painter[ and former model Sophie Brussaux.
Brussaux’s pregnancy was the subject of several rumours after featuring in a TMZ article in early 2017. After the nature of the pair’s relationship was discussed in Pusha T’s “The Story of Adidon”, Drake confirmed his fatherhood on the album Scorpion in 2018, citing a desire for his child’s privacy.
Career:
While he was still appearing on Degrassi, Drake began attempting to cross over into the world of hip hop. He released his first mixtape, Room for Improvement, in 2006, achieving modest sales of approximately 6,000 copies.
He followed that with the 2007 release of another mixtape, Comeback Season, on his own October’s Very Own imprint (later to be shortened to OVO). This included Drake’s first hit single and music video, “Replacement Girl,” which was featured as the New Joint of the Day on BET’s popular hip-hop TV show 106 & Park. More significantly, the song contained a version of Brisco and Flo Rida’s “Man of the Year,” which featured Lil Wayne.
Drake decided to leave Wayne’s verses and hook intact while he provided the rest of the lyrics himself. This caught the attention of Jas Prince, son of Rap-A-Lot Records founder James Prince, who decided to play Drake to Lil Wayne himself.
In November 2011, he released his second studio album, Take Care, which included the songs “Headlines,” “Make Me Proud” and “The Motto.” The album was universally acclaimed, winning the 2013 Grammy award for best rap album, among several other honors.
Achievements:
Drake is the highest-certified digital singles artist ever in the United States, having moved 142 million units based on combined sales and on-demand streams. His highest-certified single is “God’s Plan” (11× Platinum), followed by “Hotline Bling”, which was certified 8× Platinum.
He holds several Billboard Hot 100 chart records; he has the most charted songs of any artist the most simultaneously charted songs in a single week (27), the most debuts in a week (22), the most top 10 singles (54), the most top 10 debuts in a week (9), the most top 10 debuts (39), and the most continuous time on the chart (431 weeks).
Drake became the second act to occupy the entire Hot 100’s top five in a single week, the other act being The Beatles in 1964.
As of 2021, Drake has won four Grammy Awards from 47 nominations.
He has also won a record 29 Billboard Music Awards. In 2017, he surpassed Adele’s record for most wins at the Billboard Music Awards in one night, winning 13 awards from 22 nominations.
He was named Artist of the Decade at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards.
He has been ranked by Complex on their “Best Rapper Alive Every Year Since 1979” list, awarding Drake the accolade in 2011, 2012, and 2015.
Endorsements:
Drake signed several endorsement deals with various companies, notably gaining one with Sprite following his mention of drinking purple drank, a concoction that contains Sprite as a key ingredient.
Drake was also endorsed by fast-food restaurants Burger King and Whataburger. Business magazine Forbes commented his endorsement deals and business partnerships “combined heavily” for Drake’s reported pre-tax earnings at $94 million between June 2016 to June 2017, being one of the highest-paid celebrities during that period.
