Date of Birth

24 December 1986, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Birth Name

Aubrey Drake Graham

Nickname

Aub
Drizzy Drake
Champagne Papi
6 God

Height

5' 11¾" (1.82 m)

Mini Biography

Aubrey Drake Graham was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Dennis Graham, an African-American musician born in Memphis, Tennessee, and Sandi (Sher) Graham, a Canadian Jewish educator. As a young man, Drake appeared in several commercials, for such retailers as Sears and GMC. In 2001, Drake rose to fame playing the role of "Jimmy Brooks", a character on Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001), a basketball star who is confined to a wheelchair after being shot by a classmate. In 2006, Drake launched his music career by releasing his first mix tape, "Room for Improvement". Three years later, his third mix tape, "So Far Gone", garnered him critical and commercial success, and, the following year, he released his official debut album, "Thank Me Later", to generally positive reviews. Aubrey Drake Graham has established himself as a multi-talented young Canadian, and the entertainment industry has great expectations for him.

Trivia

• Favorite actor is Denzel Washington.
• Favorite band is N.E.R.D..
• Favorite book is the autobiography of Quincy Jones.
• Favorite movies are Rounders (1998) and Two Can Play That Game (2001).
• Good friends with Al Mukadam.
• Mother's name is Sandi.
• Tore his ACL while playing basketball.
• His father is African-American, and his mother, who is caucasian and Canadian, is Ashkenazi Jewish (of Latvian Jewish and Russian Jewish descent). Drake was raised in his mother's faith.
• As a child in Toronto Canada, Drake studied at an acting school called the "Young Peoples Theater".
• Moved from Toronto in Canada to the United States to pursue a rap career. He's now rapping as a solo rapper, using his middle name Drake. [July 2009]
• Working on the fourth season of Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001). [August 2004]
• Wrote the song Views from the 6 (which became remixed into U With Me on the titular album 'VIEWS') about his on/off relationship with Rihanna.
• Can speak Spanish.
• His uncle, Larry Graham, is the one who convinced Prince to become a Jehovah's Witness.
• After many of his hits peaking at number 2, he finally scored his first number 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 as the main artist with his song 'One Dance'. Justin Timberlake took his spot the next week, but One Dance prevailed and returned to number one and stayed there over 10 weeks.
• Drake holds the record for most entries into the Billboard Hot 100 in one week with 20, he had previously matched The Beatles record with 14, a record that was then usurped by Justin Bieber who had 17.
• Presented Rihanna, with her MTV Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award and professed his love for her.
• Created his own record label called OVO Sound/[2012].
• According to Forbes, has a estimated net worth of 90 million.[May 2017].
• For 430 weeks straight, or 8 years, until August 2017, Drake had at least one song, whether as lead or featured artist, in the Billboard Hot 100.
• Told Rolling Stone that he doesn't like that Jay-Z exclusively raps about fine art, but he hopes to also own some one day.
• Before he bought his California home ($20 million less than the original price) he had it saved on his desktop for years as an aspiration.
• Originally met Rihanna when she was shooting the video for her first single Pon De Replay in Toronto.
• Collects Hermès Birkin bags, for the woman he ends up with.
• Began a hiatus from music after More Life to focus on film and television.
• Though Drake is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States, he only resides in the States for tax purposes.
• He has a Swedish tattoo "Oktober Lejonhjärta" dedicated to Elizabeth and Victoria Lejonhjärta, Afro-Swedish twin models (also born in October) he frequently works with.
• Is the first artist to reach a billion streams in one week, after the release of his 5th album "Scorpion".
• Has a son named Adonis with French sculptor Sophie Brussaux.
• Does not consider himself to be religious, but he said talks to God daily.
• Only receives $8.25 in royalties from Degrassi.
• Has two dogs named Diamond and Winter.
• As of 4 October 2018, he was ranked No. 1 as Spotify's most streamed artist with 52 million monthly listeners.
• Is a huge fan of Adele.
• Is such a Harry Potter fan that he pursued a $160,000 original first edition copy of The Sorcerer's Stone.
• Has tattoos of Aaliyah, Denzel Washington, multiple tattoos of Sade, Robin Givens, Lil Wayne, Skepta, Popcaan, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and his late friend Fif.
• Appeared in exactly 100 episodes of "Degrassi: The Next Generation.".
• Born at 2:31 AM (EDT).

Trademarks:

• Bright smile
  
• Often raps and sings about his relationships, with atmospheric production
  
• Dysprosody: he, controversially, often adopts pseudo-foreign accents which have included Jamaican Patois ("Views"), Spanish ("What a Time to be Alive"), and British ("More Life").
  
• Often features voicemails on songs (e.g. "Look What You've Done", "Marvin's Room", "How Bout Now", "Can't Have Everything")
  

Quotes

• [on Rihanna] I don't even know if I wrote a rap song in that whole nine months, because I wasn't a rapper anymore. I didn't believe in myself. I was someone else's property. I was a pawn. You know what she was doing to me? She was doing exactly what I've done to so many women throughout my life, which is show them quality time, then disappear. I was like, 'wow, this feels terrible.'
• Real men stay faithful. They don't have time to look for other women because they're too busy looking for new ways to love their own.
• Part of me is being in touch with emotion. That's all I write about. If I didn't write about my emotions, I don't know what else I would write about. Let that be the worst thing in my life please, not something like drug charges and God knows what else. I don't get myself into trouble, so if the negative feedback that I do get is the worst thing that's going to happen to me, then so be it.
• [observation, 2014] To be recognized in any capacity for the music that we make is great, but I don't think Grammys make or break an artist. I don't think anybody should live or die by the Grammys.. If I go home with no Grammys, I still feel great about what we did.
• Rap lyric: 'But do I ever come up in discussion/ Over double-pump lattes and low-fat muffins?'
• [on a certain Bajan pop singer]: You know what she was doing to me? She was doing exactly what I've done to so many women throughout my life, which is show them quality time, then disappear. I was like, 'Wow, this feels terrible."
• No matter how dirty your past is, your future is still spotless.
• As life takes shape and teaches you your own lessons, I end up in this situation where I don't have the fairy tale, like, 'Oh, Drake started a family with Rihanna and this is like so perfect.' It looks so good on paper. By the way, I wanted that too at one time.