Aloe Blacc
Feb 2, 2014
Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III, better known by his stage name Aloe Blacc, is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and musician. He is best known for his singles, "I Need a Dollar" and "The Man," and for co-writing and performing vocals on Avicii's "Wake Me Up," which charted at #1 in 22 countries.
In 2013, Blacc co-wrote the song "Wake Me Up" with Swedish DJ Avicii. With Blacc on vocals, the song reached #1 in 103 countries and became the fastest selling single in the UK, selling 267,000 copies in its first week. In September of that year, Blacc signed with Interscope Records and released an EP, titled Wake Me Up EP. The five-track EP included the songs "Love is the Answer," "Can You Do This," and "Ticking Bomb," as well as an acoustic version of "Wake Me Up." As of November 2013, "Ticking Bomb" is the background music for the new Battlefield 4 game TV advert, and "The Man" is background music for the Beats by Dr. Dre commercials featuring Kevin Garnett, Colin Kaepernick and Richard Sherman.
In October 2013, Blacc released a video for the track, Blacc collaborating with the immigrant rights group, National Day Laborer Organizing Network, the abc* Foundation's Healing Power of Music Initiative, director Alex Rivera, and a cast of actors including Hareth Andrade, a leader in the immigrant youth movement working to stop her own father's deportation, Agustin Chiprez Alvarez, a Los Angeles day laborer, and Margarita Reyes who was deported with her mother as a child despite being born in the US.
Blacc's Interscope/XIX debut, Lift Your Spirit, will be released in 2014, and will feature production by Pharrell, DJ Khalil, and songwriter Harold Lilly, among others.