Akon

Akon, born Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam at St. Louis, Missouri, on 16 April 1973, is a Senegalese-American singer, songwriter, record producer and businessman. ¹ He broke through with his debut album Trouble (2004) and founded the record labels Konvict Muzik (2004) and KonLive Distribution (2007), through which he signed acts including Lady Gaga and T-Pain. ¹ Guinness World Records listed him as the best-selling artist for master ringtones in the world, with 11 million sold by December 2007. ¹

He was born to a dancer mother, Kine Gueye Thiam, and a Senegalese percussionist father, Mor Thiam, and at seven moved with his family to Union City, New Jersey, splitting his time between the United States and Senegal until settling in Newark. ¹ Alongside his solo career he has guest-performed on many other artists' records, and holds a separate career in production and songwriting for artists including Michael Jackson, Snoop Dogg, Lionel Richie and Whitney Houston. ¹ Forbes ranked him 80th in its Celebrity 100 in 2010 and 5th in its 2011 list of the 40 Most Powerful Celebrities in Africa, and Billboard ranked him number 6 among the Top Digital Songs Artists of the decade. ¹

His philanthropy includes the non-profit Akon Lighting Africa, launched in 2014 to provide electricity in 15 countries of Africa. ¹ In 2018 he announced Akon City, a planned tourist city in Senegal with a cryptocurrency-based economy built around his Akoin currency; the agreements were finalised in January 2020 and a construction contract awarded, but the project did not begin construction on schedule, the Senegalese government issued an ultimatum in August 2024, and in July 2025 the project was officially abandoned. ¹

This section sets out different positions as reported in the sources. It is not a verdict by the museum.

His faith as the sources state it. The English article records that he was born to a Muslim family, and states in its personal-life section that "Akon is a Muslim", citing a 2009 magazine piece, and that he has said he is a teetotaler. ¹ The Arabic article likewise gives his birth into a Muslim family. ² Wikidata's religion value is the generic item "Muslim", naming no legal school; no source names a madhhab for him, so his record carries his faith as unknown. ³

The criminal-history account. Akon has stated that he was part of an auto-theft ring and spent three years in prison from 1999 to 2002; in April 2008 The Smoking Gun challenged the claim with court records and detectives' interviews, concluding he had not been convicted of any crime or served prison time, and Akon responded that his shorter sentences added up to three years rather than running consecutively. ¹ The article concludes that he is acknowledged to have fictionalised his criminal history, his only conviction being a 1998 gun charge that resulted in three years' probation. ¹

Family life as reported. He has described himself as a polygamist: in a 2007 interview he said he had five children with three different women and was married to one of them; as of December 2022 he has nine children, and in 2023 a woman publicly stated she was one of four women married to him. ¹

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