Aloe Blacc

Aloe Blacc (2011)

Aloe Blacc (* 7. January 1979 in Los Angeles , California ; actually Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III ) is an American singer , Soul musicians and rappers . His music contains elements from soul, R&B , reggae , hip-hop and jazz .

Career

Blacc began his career in 1995 as a hip-hop MC with the rap group Emanon .

His first solo album Shine Through was released in 2006 on Stones Throw Records . It included a cover version of John Legends song Ordinary People as Gente Ordinaria .

His song I Need a Dollar was used for the opening credits of the HBO television series How to Make It in America . In 2010 the song was in the top 5 of the charts in all German-speaking countries, received a platinum record in Germany for 300,000 units sold and reached 35th place in the German annual charts. In the UK , the song wasn't released until April 2011. After it had been difficult at first, it also made it into the top 10 there in the sixth week of the chart. By June 6, 2011, I Need a Dollar was able to sell 400,000 times in Great Britain.

At the 1LIVE Plan B session, a German-language version was also recorded as an acoustic version with the title I need a euro .

Blacc composed the song At All for Lena Meyer-Landrut , which is featured on her studio album Good News .

Together with the Swedish producer Avicii he recorded the song Wake Me Up , which they presented together at the Ultra Music Festival 2013. The collaboration came after Linkin Park member Mike Shinoda made contact. The song became a Europe-wide success immediately after its release and reached number one in over 15 European countries. The success expanded over the course of the summer, moving up to number one in Australia and New Zealand and number two in the United States. After just a few months, the single achieved six platinum status and two gold status . It ended up becoming one of the best-selling singles of all time.

On April 10, 2019, the song SOS was released as the first posthumous single after Avicii's sudden death in April 2018. Blacc contributed the vocals after being part of the remaining works for the album from the producer duo Kristoffer Fogelmark and Albin Nedler Tim finished being contacted. His name is said to have been mentioned before Avicii's death. Blacc interprets the SOS lines as a description of Avicii's “own struggles” on the one hand, but also as a kind of gift to people who actually need help and cannot find the right words for it on the other.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2010	Good things	DE29 gold (33 weeks)DE	AT36 gold (20 weeks)AT	CH31 (23 weeks) CH	UK8th gold (25 weeks)UK	-	First published: September 28, 2010
2013	Lift your spirit	DE16 (13 weeks) DE	AT43 (2 weeks) AT	CH22 (5 weeks) CH	UK5 (8 weeks) UK	US4 (18 weeks) US	First published: October 25, 2013

More albums

• 2006: Shine Through (First published July 11, 2006)
• 2018: Christmas Funk (first published: November 9, 2018)

EPs

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2013	wake me up	-	-	-	-	US32 (3 weeks) US	First published: October 22, 2013

More EPs

• 2003: The Aloe Blacc EP (first published in 2003)
• 2004: The Aloe Blacc EP 2: Me and My Music (first published September 28, 2004)
• 2013: Energy Live Session: Aloe Blacc & the Grand Scheme (First published: September 24, 2013)
• 2015: Christmas (first published December 11, 2015)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2010	I need a dollar good things	DE4th platinum (37 weeks)DE	AT5 gold (23 weeks)AT	CH5 platinum (41 weeks)CH	UK2 platinum (46 weeks)UK	-	First published: March 16, 2010
2011	Loving You Is Killing Me Good Things	DE12 gold (24 weeks)DE	AT8th gold (22 weeks)AT	CH26 (17 weeks) CH	-	-	First published: March 7, 2011
	Green Lights Good Things	-	AT69 (1 week) AT	-	-	-	First published: September 10, 2011
2013	Wake Me Up (Acoustic) Lift Your Spirit	DE42 (7 weeks) DE	AT71 (1 week) AT	CH23 (8 weeks) CH	UK69 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: September 30, 2013
2014	The Man Lift Your Spirit	DE22 (18 weeks) DE	AT19 (9 weeks) AT	CH40 (14 weeks) CH	UK1 platinum (20 weeks)UK	US8th platinum (20 weeks)US	First published: January 21, 2014
2019	Greatest Show on Earth	-	-	CH54 (5 weeks) CH	-	-	First published: August 23, 2019 with Pegasus

More singles

• 2003: Personal Business
• 2005: Want Me
• 2006: I'm Beautiful
• 2006: Dance for Life
• 2006: Get Down
• 2010: Femme Fatale
• 2010: You Make Me Smile
• 2013: Ticking Bomb
• 2014: The World Is Ours (with David Correy )
• 2014: Hello World
• 2014: Here Today
• 2014: Together (RED)
• 2017: King Is Born
• 2018: My Story (live)
• 2018: Make Way
• 2018: Brooklyn in the Summer
• 2019: Never Growing Up (with Mathieu Koss)
• 2019: Hurt People (with Gryffin )
• 2019: Getting Started (feat.JID)
• 2019: Snitch (with Netsky )
• 2019: Punching in the Dark (with Hellberg )

As a guest musician

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2013	Wake me up! True	DE1 × 4 Quadruple platinum (62 weeks)DE	AT1 × 2 Double platinum (52 weeks)AT	CH1 × 3 Triple platinum (68 weeks)CH	UK1 × 4 Quadruple platinum (72 weeks)UK	US4th × 6 Six-fold platinum (54 weeks)US	First published: June 17, 2013 Avicii feat. Aloe Blacc
2019	SOS Tim	DE8th gold (22 weeks)DE	AT4 (24 weeks) AT	CH3 (25 weeks) CH	UK6th platinum (22 weeks)UK	US68 gold (3 weeks)US	First published: April 10, 2019 Avicii feat. Aloe Blacc
	Never be alone	-	-	CH69 (1 week) CH	-	-	First published: July 26th, 2019 David Guetta & Morten feat. Aloe Blacc

Further guest contributions

• 2010: Where I'm From (MED feat.Aloe Blacc)
• 2011: Days Chasing Days (Blame One feat.Exile, Aloe Blacc & Beleaf)
• 2011: The Sound of Swing (Oh Na Na) (The Kenneth Bager Experience feat.Aloe Blacc)
• 2012: Where Does the Time Go? (The Bamboos feat.Aloe Blacc)
• 2012: Time to Go (Wax Tailor feat.Aloe Blacc)
• 2012: More Than Material (Roseaux feat.Aloe Blacc)
• 2014: Show Me the Way ( Dilated Peoples feat.Aloe Blacc)
• 2015: Something to Believe In ( Fashawn feat. Nas & Aloe Blacc)
• 2015: Verge ( Owl City feat.Aloe Blacc)
• 2016: Candyman ( Zedd feat.Aloe Blacc) (US:gold)
• 2016: Smile (Maya Jupiter feat.Aloe Blacc)
• 2016: Counting On Me (Airplane & Purple Disco Machine feat.Aloe Blacc)
• 2016: SOS (Sound of Swing) (Kenneth Bager vs. Yolanda Be Cool feat.Aloe Blacc)
• 2017: Imperfection ( Gentleman feat.Aloe Blacc)
• 2017: Secrets (Engine-EarZ Experiment feat.Aloe Blacc & Ayanna Witter-Johnson)
• 2017: Carry You Home ( Tiësto feat. Stargate & Aloe Blacc)
• 2018: Milk & Honey (Tropkillaz feat.Aloe Blacc)
• 2019: Truth Never Lies ( Lost Frequencies feat.Aloe Blacc)

Awards for music sales

Golden record  Belgium 2010: for the single I Need a Dollar  Denmark 2012: for the single I Need a Dollar 2013: for streaming I Need a Dollar  Finland 2013: for the single Wake Me Up  France 2020: for the single SOS  Canada 2020: for the single I Need a Dollar  New Zealand 2011: for the single I Need a Dollar 2014: for the single The Man 2019: for the single SOS Platinum record  Australia 2014: for the single The Man 2019: for the single SOS  Belgium 2019: for the single SOS  Denmark 2019: for the single SOS  Italy 2019: for the single SOS  Japan 2017: for the single Wake Me Up  Canada 2013: for the single Wake Me Up  Poland 2020: for the single SOS

2 × platinum record  Australia 2011: for the single I Need a Dollar  Denmark 2014: for the single Wake Me Up 2014: for streaming The Man  Canada 2019: for the single SOS  Mexico 2014: for the single Wake Me Up  New Zealand 2013: for the single Wake Me Up 3 × platinum record  Spain 2018: for the single Wake Me Up 4 × platinum record  Belgium 2016: for the single Wake Me Up 5 × platinum record  Italy 2014: for the single Wake Me Up

6 × platinum record  Denmark 2014: for streaming Wake Me Up 7 × platinum record  Norway 2014: for the single Wake Me Up 8 × platinum record  Netherlands 2014: for the single Wake Me Up 9 × platinum record  Australia 2014: for the single Wake Me Up 13 × platinum record  Sweden 2014: for the single Wake Me Up

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Australia (ARIA)	-	13 × platinum13	910,000	aria.com.au
Belgium (BEA)	gold1	5 × platinum5	175,000	ultratop.be
Denmark (IFPI)	2 × gold2	11 × platinum11	165,000	ifpi.dk
Germany (BVMI)	3 × gold3	5 × platinum5	1,950,000	musikindustrie.de
Finland (IFPI)	gold1	-	34,924	ifpi.fi
France (SNEP)	gold1	-	100,000	snepmusique.com
Italy (FIMI)	-	6 × platinum6th	200,000	fimi.it
Japan (RIAJ)	-	platinum1	200,000	riaj.or.jp
Canada (MC)	gold1	3 × platinum3	280,000	musiccanada.com
Mexico (AMPROFON)	-	2 × platinum2	120,000	amprofon.com.mx
New Zealand (RMNZ)	3 × gold3	2 × platinum2	60,000	nztop40.co.nz
Netherlands (NVPI)	-	8 × platinum8th	160,000	nvpi.nl
Norway (IFPI)	-	7 × platinum7th	70,000	ifpi.no
Austria (IFPI)	3 × gold3	2 × platinum2	100,000	ifpi.at
Poland (ZPAV)	-	platinum1	20,000	bestsellery.zpav.pl
Sweden (IFPI)	-	13 × platinum13	520,000	sverigetopplistan.se
Switzerland (IFPI)	-	4 × platinum4th	120,000	hitparade.ch
Spain (Promusicae)	-	3 × platinum3	120,000	elportaldemusica.es
United States (RIAA)	2 × gold2	7 × platinum7th	8,000,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	gold1	7 × platinum7th	4,300,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	18 × gold18th	100 × platinum100

swell

1. ↑ Aloe Blacc in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)
2. ↑ Gold / platinum database. musikindustrie.de, accessed on January 28, 2014 . 
3. ↑ VIVA Single Annual Charts 2010 - 2010. VIVA.tv, archived from the original on January 10, 2011 ; accessed on January 28, 2014 . 
4. ↑ Aloe Blacc to Release Major Label Debut Ep Wake Me Up on September 24th. prnewswire.com, accessed January 28, 2014 . 
5. ↑ Avicii - The Story Behind The Song "SOS" ft. Aloe Blacc on "YouTube"
6. ↑ ^{a b c d} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US

Web links

Commons : Aloe Blacc  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website (English)