Drake Biography

The Canadian actor and rapper known as Drake was born Aubrey Drake Graham in Toronto, Ontario. Drake was discovered by an agent when he was only fifteen years old, and his first acting role, as Jimmy Brooks on the series Degrassi: The Next Generation, led to a very successful one hundred and forty-five episode run. But Drake had always harbored dreams of becoming a musician, and so in the mid 2000’s he began to write and record his own music.

Drake’s independent debut was the mixtape Room for Improvement. Two more mixtapes followed – Comeback Season (2007) and So Far Gone (2009), bringing singles such as “Replacement Girl,” “Ransom,” and “I Want This Forever” to audiences, but the artist remained unsigned. So Far Gone, however, became one of the most successful self-released collections by a new artist for that year, encouraging Drake to release of his first EP featuring music from some of his mixtapes. The EP, also titled So Far Gone, rose into the top ten on the mainstream charts and brought Drake a Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year in 2010.

Following a bidding war, Drake signed to Young Money Entertainment and released his debut album, Thank Me Later, in 2010. The album featured the top twenty single “Over” and earned Drake his first Grammy Award nomination, for Best Rap Solo Performance. It also rose to the number one spot on the mainstream charts and reached platinum status, a most auspicious beginning for a brand new musician.

Since that time, Drake has released the additional albums Take Care (2011) and Nothing Was the Same (2013.) Notable singles from Drake include: “Marvin’s Room,” “Headlines,” “Make Me Proud,” “The Motto,” “Take Care,” “HYFR (Hell Ya Fucking Right,” “Crew Love,” “Lord Knows,” “Started from the Bottom,” “All Me,” “Pound Cake,” “The Language,” “Too Much,” “Worst Behavior,” “Hotling Bling,” “Summer Sixteen,” and the chart-topping number one hit in collaboration with Wizkid and Kyla, “One Dance.”

Drake has so far earned a staggering twenty-seven Grammy Award nominations with one win. Billboard Magazine has tapped Drake as the “best rapper of 2014.” Drake’s most recent album, Views, arrived in 2016 and featured the singles “Fake Love” and “Two Birds, One Stone.” That year, he also collaborated with Rhianna on her chart-topping hit, “Work.”