Frank Ocean biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Famed musician Frank Ocean was born Christopher Lonny Breaux on October 28, 1987, in Long Beach, California. When he was a child, Breaux’s family moved to New Orleans, where he spent the majority of his youth. He was exposed to the jazz scene there, and also listened to his mother’s R&B CDs.

While in high school, Ocean began recording music and worked various odd jobs to pay for the studio time. After graduating from high school in 2005, he enrolled at the University of New Orleans. However, in August of that year, Hurricane Katrina hit and wreaked havoc on the region. Amidst the chaos, the facility where Ocean was recording at the time was badly flooded and looted, prompting him to set aside his academic ambitions and take some time to pursue his musical goals.

Los Angeles

Ocean moved to Los Angeles to continue his recording projects, intending to stay only a short while. However, as he continued to make meaningful contacts within the music industry, he decided to extend his stay. To make money during this time, Ocean worked processing insurance claims. Eventually, he got a songwriting deal and began collaborating with producers. He contributed to the writing of the Justin Bieber track “Bigger” in 2008, and the following year he co-wrote the track “I Miss You” with Beyoncé Knowles for her album 4.

That same year, Ocean began to work with the Los Angeles–based hip-hop collective Odd Future, most notably with Tyler, the Creator, who encouraged Ocean in his songwriting. Around this time, he also met producer Tricky Stewart, who helped land Ocean a contract with Def Jam as a solo artist. The following year, Ocean officially changed his name to Christopher Francis Ocean, believing that the new name would look better on magazine covers.

Breakout Success

In February 2011, Ocean released a mixtape titled nostalgia, ULTRA. He released the recordings as a free download on his Tumblr site, without Def Jam’s knowledge, announcing via Twitter that he had done so because the label had not been supportive of his efforts after signing him. Ocean’s self-released recording featured a mixture of both originally composed music and heavy samples of tracks from the likes of Coldplay, the Eagles and MGMT. The album was widely acclaimed, and received enthusiastic reviews from NPR, Rolling Stone and the BBC, among many others. Also impressed with his efforts were superstars Jay-Z and Kanye West, who, at Beyoncé’s prompting, enlisted Ocean to contribute vocals for two tracks from their August 2011 album, Watch the Throne.