Aloe Blacc

Emanon and the Underground

Aloe Blacc was born Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III on January 7, 1979, in Orange County, California, to Panamanian parents. He grew up in Laguna Hills. Before he was known as a soul singer, he was a rapper. In 1995 he formed the Los Angeles duo Emanon with producer Exile. They built a following in the West Coast underground with an early mixtape, the EP Acid 9 (1999), Anon & On (2002) and the album The Waiting Room (2005), and they reunited for Dystopia in 2016. Blacc also appeared on MTV's The Cut in 1998. Meanwhile he studied linguistics and psychology at the University of Southern California, graduating in 2001, and worked briefly at the accounting firm Ernst & Young before going into music full time.

Stones Throw: Shine Through

His solo debut, Shine Through, was released on July 11, 2006, by Stones Throw, the Los Angeles label known for Madlib, J Dilla and MF DOOM. Blacc produced most of the album himself, with Madlib and Oh No each contributing, and he moved between hip hop, soul, R&B and reggae across its hour-long running time. Some of the songs went back to 2002. The record showed him singing more and rapping less, which set up what came next.

Good Things and the Soul Breakout

Stones Throw also released Good Things in September 2010. Produced by the Truth & Soul team, it was a straight retro-soul album, and it did far better in Europe than anything Stones Throw had issued before. "I Need a Dollar" reached No. 2 in the UK and Ireland, and a cut of it became the theme for HBO's How to Make It in America. The album reached No. 8 on the UK chart.

Pop Success and Beyond

In 2013 Blacc co-wrote and sang Avicii's "Wake Me Up." He was not credited as the featured artist on the original release, but the song reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. His major-label album Lift Your Spirit (Interscope, 2013) gave him "The Man." That song borrows a line from Elton John's "Your Song," and it went to No. 1 in the UK and No. 8 in the US. Lift Your Spirit earned a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Album. He released All Love Everything in 2020, finished second on The Masked Singer that same year, and put out Rock My Soul, a set of soul covers of rock songs, in 2024. He is also known for his work with the anti-malaria charity Malaria No More.