Drake (musician)

Aubrey Drake Graham, known professionally as Drake, is a Canadian rapper, singer, and actor born on October 24, 1986. He is credited with popularizing R&B sensibilities in hip-hop through rap-singing. Drake first gained recognition playing Jimmy Brooks on the teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation before establishing a record-breaking career as one of the world's best-selling music artists.

Drake was born in Toronto, Ontario, to Dennis Graham, an African-American drummer, and Sandra Sher, a Canadian Ashkenazi Jew who worked as an English teacher and florist. He holds dual United States and Canadian citizenship. After his parents divorced when he was five, Drake remained in Toronto with his mother and spent summers in Memphis with his father. Raised in the Toronto neighbourhoods of Weston and Forest Hill, he played minor hockey and attended high school at Forest Hill Collegiate Institute and Vaughan Road Academy, eventually obtaining his high school diploma in 2012.

Drake began his entertainment career on Degrassi: The Next Generation from 2001 to 2008. While acting, he independently released his debut mixtape, Room for Improvement, in 2006, followed by Comeback Season in 2007. His third mixtape, So Far Gone (2009), marked his mainstream breakthrough behind the success of the single "Best I Ever Had." Following a major label bidding war, Drake signed with Young Money Entertainment in June 2009.

Drake's debut studio album, Thank Me Later, released in 2010 and topped the Billboard 200. He followed it with Take Care (2011), which won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, and Nothing Was the Same (2013). His 2016 album Views spent 13 weeks atop the Billboard 200 and spawned "One Dance," the first song to reach one billion Spotify streams. Subsequent releases include Scorpion (2018), Certified Lover Boy (2021), and Iceman (2026). In 2026, he became the first artist to occupy the top three spots on the Billboard 200.

As an entrepreneur, Drake founded the record label OVO Sound, the production company DreamCrew, and the fragrance house Better World. He heads the OVO fashion brand, co-owns the gaming organization 100 Thieves, and collaborates with Nike, Inc. on Nocta. In 2013, he became the global ambassador for the Toronto Raptors. He also partnered with Brent Hocking on Virginia Black bourbon whiskey and collaborated with Apple Music on its 2015 launch.

Drake is the highest-certified digital singles artist in the United States, with over 170 million units sold worldwide. His accolades include 5 Grammy Awards, 6 American Music Awards, 41 Billboard Music Awards, 2 Brit Awards, and 3 Juno Awards. Named Artist of the Decade for the 2010s by Billboard, Drake holds records among male solo artists for his 15 Billboard 200 number-one albums and 14 Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles.