Aloe Blacc

Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III (born January 7, 1979), known professionally by his stage name Aloe Blacc, is an American singer-songwriter and rapper.

He is best known for his singles "I Need a Dollar" and "The Man", which topped the charts in the United Kingdom, and for co-writing and performing vocals on Avicii's "Wake Me Up", which topped the charts in 22 countries, including Australia and the United Kingdom.

Aside from his solo career, Blacc is also a member of hip hop duo Emanon, alongside American record producer Exile.

Blacc was born Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III to Panamanian parents in Southern California's Orange County.

Growing up in Laguna Hills, he began playing a rented trumpet in third grade.

When it made more sense to buy the instrument, Blacc had what he later described as a "very specific moment" in his evolution as a musician.

In 1995, Blacc teamed with hip hop producer Exile and formed Emanon -- 'no name' backwards—which was inspired by the title of the Dizzy Gillespie song "Emanon".

With break-beat loops and jazz samples, Emanon became a mainstay of the indie rap underground, and released their first mixtape in 1996, followed by the EP Acid 9 in 1999.

They subsequently released six projects, the demo album Imaginary Friends (1996), a compilation Steps Through Time (2001) the albums The Waiting Room (2005) and Dystopia (2016) and EPs Acid 9 (1998) and Anon & On (2002) respectively.

Emanon appeared as contestants on a 1998 episode of MTV's The Cut.

A Renaissance and Trustee Scholar at the University of Southern California, Blacc majored in linguistics and psychology and graduated in 2001.

He worked briefly in the corporate sector for Ernst & Young.

Blacc launched his career as a solo artist in 2003, releasing two EPs, and signing to Stone's Throw Records in 2006, after label head Chris Manak (known as Peanut Butter Wolf) heard Blacc and immediately offered him a contract for the 2006 full-length Shine Through.

By then, he had become more focused on songwriting, a change inspired in part by his social consciousness.

"I was uncomfortable with the state of hip hop being largely about the expression of ego. I wondered how I could be more crafty at writing songs in the form of a rap that actually expressed more than ego, style and finesse," he stated.

"I figured I would educate myself to learn more about songwriting and apply that later to hip hop."

Shine Through was Blacc's first full-length album and was released in 2006.

It received significant media attention in the U.S. and abroad.

Pitchfork wrote that Shine Through had "flashes of keen musical interpolation" and signaled "some sort of greatness", NPR named the track "Nascimento" as song of the day, and Absolute Punk noted that Shine Through flows beautifully from one track to the next, infusing old-school funk and soul with a modern essence that makes it incredibly unique

In 2006, Blacc attended the Melbourne Red Bull Music Academy.

Also in 2009, while working on his second album, Blacc toured Europe and the United States with Emanon, and collaborated with the Japanese hip hop producer Cradle on a project called Bee.

"It forced me to be serious about it. I couldn't just do it to get out of the class room," he said in a 2010 interview.

His exposure to LL Cool J in fourth grade was equally significant.

"It wasn't too far off from the trumpet moment...I had a hip hop moment and a musician moment."

In 2010, Blacc released Good Things on Stones Throw Records.

A commercial success, Good Things was certified gold in the UK, France, Germany and Australia, among other countries, and ultimately hit double platinum sales.

In 2011, Blacc contributed a track to the album Red Hot + Rio 2, a follow-up to the 1996 Red Hot + Rio, with all proceeds donated to raise money and awareness to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues.

That summer, Blacc performed on the main stages at major festivals such as Glastonbury and The Falls Festival in Australia with his primary touring band The Grand Scheme.

In 2012, he appeared at the renowned North Sea Jazz festival in Rotterdam, Lollapalooza (Chicago) and Osheaga (Montreal).

In 2012, Blacc joined a music project, Roseaux established by Emile Omar.

Other musicians include Alex Finkin and Clement Petit.

The band released its debut self-titled album Roseaux, with all eleven tracks featuring the vocals of Aloe Blacc.

The album reached #92 in the French Albums Chart.

The debut single, "More Than Material", peaked at #80 on the French singles chart.

Aloe Blacc was introduced to Swedish DJ Avicii by Linkin Park's co-vocalist Mike Shinoda who was a good friend of Avicii.

The single "I Need A Dollar", which was used as the theme song to the HBO series How To Make It in America, reached 1 million in sales in 2013; two additional singles, "Loving You Is Killing Me" and "Green Lights" became European hits as well.

Good Things was praised by the media, receiving positive reviews in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Spin, NME, and Entertainment Weekly, among others.

Shortly after the release of the record, Blacc signed with Simon Fuller's XIX Management.

A fourth album, Bird's Eye View, was recorded but shelved, it is unknown if the material was reworked into their 2016 reunion album Dystopia.

While Emanon was Blacc's primary project during this time period, he additionally toured and recorded with the members of the collective Lootpack and worked with the French jazz group Jazz Liberatorz.