Dawn Richard

Dawn Richard
Richard performing at the House of Blues Houston in January 2019
Background information
Birth name	Dawn Angeliqué Richard
Born	(1983-08-05) August 5, 1983 (age 41) New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Genres	R&B pop electronic[1]
Occupations	Singer songwriter dancer actress
Discography	Dawn Richard discography
Years active	2005–present
Labels	Local Action Our Dawn MBK Creative Artists Agency RED Merge Bad Boy
Formerly of	Danity Kane Diddy – Dirty Money

Dawn Angeliqué Richard (born August 5, 1983) is an American singer from New Orleans, Louisiana. She began her career after auditioning for MTV's Making the Band 3 and subsequently formed the girl group Danity Kane.

The group signed with Sean "Diddy" Combs's Bad Boy Records to release three studio albums until their temporary disbandment in 2009. In June of that same year, Richard formed the musical trio Diddy – Dirty Money with label boss Combs and fellow R&B singer Kalenna Harper. The group released their only album, Last Train to Paris (2010) to critical and commercial success; it was preceded and followed by two mixtapes until their 2012 disbandment. The following year, she reformed Danity Kane with three of its five original members to release one further album–DK3 (2013).^[2]

During her first year with Danity Kane, she pursued a solo career with the release of her debut studio album, Been a While (2005). In 2011, following her departure from Bad Boy Records, Richard re-emerged as a soloist performing as DΔWN, later to be stylized as DAWN.^[3] Released as a trilogy, her next albums: Goldenheart (2013), Blackheart (2015), and Redemption (2016) experimented with alternative dance and electronic influences. Richard's fifth and sixth albums, New Breed (2019) and Second Line (2021) were both met with critical acclaim. In 2018, she co-produced and starred in the erotic action thriller Kinky, which was critically panned.^[4]