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Chris Brown, better known as Chris Breezy or by his legal name, Christopher Maurice Brown, was born in Tappahannock, Virginia on May 5th, 1989, and has become one of the biggest musical sensations in his generation, even being compared to pop kings like Michael Jackson. However, unlike the upbringing of those legendary pop icons who were groomed from a young age into becoming an unforgettable on-stage presence, Brown taught himself to sing and dance by watching talents such as Usher and Michael Jackson. Despite his image being smeared with the unfortunate events that led to the breakup of his relationship with music artist and entrepreneur, Rihanna, Brown has amassed a great deal of fortune, even being labeled by Billboard as the most influential and successful R&B singer ever! But his success was not only limited to music. He has also been present in a few movies with some of Hollywood's greatest actors. With that said, let's see how Chris Brown grew his $50 million net worth as a musician and an actor.
Minting Millions From Music Career
Despite a less-than-ideal upbringing, the highly talented Chris Brown found solace in music and dance, showcasing his skills in the church choir and at local talent shows. it was while doing a rendition of Usher's My Way that Brown's mother was convinced of his vocal talent and began searching for a record deal for the upcoming artist. His mother's efforts got him discovered by a local production team called Hitmission Records who helped to enhance the young prospect's talent with voice coaching while also seeking contacts in New York to get him a record deal.
Shortly after graduating from Essex High School in 2004, the Wall to Wall singer also made his way out to New York to pursue his music career. While there, he met with the senior A&R executive at Def Jam Records, Tina Davis, who was so starstruck by Brown's performance that she immediately introduced him to the former president of the Island Def Jam Music Group, Antonio "L.A." Reid, who proposed to sign Brown straight away. However, Chris Breezy denied the proposal and instead asked Tina Davis to be his manager, to which she agreed, and began marketing him to labels such as J-Records, Warner Bros. Records, and Jive Records.
He ultimately chose the latter, since Jive had a track record of exploring the careers of promising talents such as Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. By the age of sixteen, Brown had already recorded his first album entitled Chris Brown, and his hit single, Run It, debuted at number one on the Billboard charts while the album itself debuted at number two on Billboard 200, selling 3 million copies in the U.S. and 6 million worldwide.
The albums that followed included Exclusive, released in 2007, which debuted at number four on the Billboard charts with his hit single, Kiss Kiss featuring T-Pain, being his second Hot No. 1 hit on the Billboard charts. Then in 2009, he released his third album entitled Graffiti, with the lead single, I Can Transform Ya, featuring Lil' Wayne and Swizz Beatz, which sold 560,000 copies worldwide. Then came his fourth album, F.A.M.E. which became his first album to top the Billboard 200, also earning a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. The following year, he released his fifth album, Fortune, in 2012 along with Fan of A Fan: The Album, Royalty, and Heartbreak on a Full Moon in 2017. His last two album releases were Indigo in 2019 and Breezy in 2020. According to RCA Records, to date, Chris Brown has accumulated over 100 million album sales, 10 billion audio streams, and 6.6 billion video streams at just 33 years old. And he shows no signs of stopping!
Making Moves In The Movie Industry
Like so many other music artists who have attained his level of notoriety, it only makes sense that he would appear in a few movies, right? It seems to be a given with popular artists to eventually end up in a Hollywood film, and that's exactly the route Chris Brown took. Early in his career, he released a DVD called Chris Brown's Journey in 2006 which captured footage of him traveling on tour to England and Japan and basically showed his early rise to success. He also starred in the drama film, Phenom, alongside Vanessa Williams, Sherri Shepherd, and Dennis Haysbert. He then appeared in the 2007 musical drama, Stomp The Yard, starring Columbus Short and Meghan Good, grossing $75.5 million worldwide.
In the same year, he starred in a movie that has gone into the "Christmas classic" category named This Christmas, featuring an electric ensemble of actors and actresses, such as Idris Elba, Delroy Lindo, Loretta Devine, Lauren London, Mekhi Phifer, Regina King, and many others. The film grossed $498 million on a $13 million budget. His next major film was in 2010 in the action thriller, Takers, co-starring again with Idris Elba, Paul Walker, Matt Dillon, Michael Ealy, rapper T.I., and Zoe Saldana, earning almost $70 million internationally. He also made an appearance in Think Like A Man (2012), which grossed $96.1 million, and a 2017 documentary called Chris Brown: Welcome To My Life.
Real Estate And Other Ventures
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Chris Brown has invested in Burger King and owns at least 14 of their restaurants. While he may not be as business-savvy as Michael Jordan in the food business, that's still a hefty number of franchises to own! In addition, he launched a clothing line in 2012 called Black Pyramid which, according to sources, has garnered more than $4 million since its launching. Also, in 2007 the artist has been operating under his own record label under Interscope called CBE, or Chris Brown Entertainment.
Brown's luxury homes have been anything but modest. Between 2011 and 2015, he lived in a Hollywood Hills home that cost $1.5 million which he vacated due to contentions with neighbors for the graffiti he added to the structure's exterior. Then in 2014, he bought an 8,000 square foot home on 0.75 acres of property for $4.35 million, which he still occupies as his main residence to date.
Sources: Mama of 3 Munchkins, RCA Records, Celebrity Net Worth