From homeless with a baby son to a Grammy-winning number one

Brandon Paak Anderson was born in 1986 in Oxnard, California, to a mother who had been born in South Korea during the Korean War and adopted by an African-American family in Compton. His childhood was hard: at seven he saw his father attack his mother, and during his last year of high school his mother was convicted of major fraud. His first performances were as a drummer at his family's church, and he began producing music from his bedroom as a teenager.

In 2011, he and his wife and infant son became homeless after he was dismissed from a job at a marijuana farm in Santa Barbara. The rapper Dumbfoundead and Shafiq Husayn of Sa-Ra helped him recover by employing him as an assistant, videographer, editor, writer and producer. He released the mixtape O.B.E. Vol. 1 in 2012, having used the stage name Breezy Lovejoy earlier, and he became the drummer for Haley Reinhart. Afterwards he became Anderson .Paak, with the dot standing, he says, for the need to pay attention to detail.

The albums followed: Venice in 2014, Malibu in 2016, which was nominated for a Grammy, and Oxnard in 2018. “Bubblin” won him his first Grammy, for Best Rap Performance, and Ventura won Best R&B Album, with “Come Home”, featuring André 3000, winning Best R&B Performance. “Put Me Thru” dates from 2016, the year of Malibu.

Alongside his solo work, he formed the duo NxWorries with the producer Knxwledge in 2015 and is often joined by the band Free Nationals, who also sing backing vocals. In 2021 he formed Silk Sonic with Bruno Mars, and their debut single “Leave the Door Open” became his first number one on the Billboard Hot 100, collecting four awards at the Grammys, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year. It was a long road from the church drum kit.