Giveon Dezmann Evans ( born February 21, 1995),

mononym A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. A mononym may be the person's only name, given to them at birth. This was routine in most ancient societies, and remains ...

ously known as Giveon (stylized as GIVĒON), is an American R&B singer and songwriter. He rose to prominence with his 2020 song " Chicago Freestyle" (with

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...

), which peaked at number 14 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. That same year, Giveon signed with

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

to release two extended plays: the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

-nominated '' Take Time'' and '' When It's All Said and Done''; the former was preceded by the single "

Heartbreak Anniversary "Heartbreak Anniversary" is a song by the American singer and songwriter Giveon. It was released on February 21, 2020, as the second single from his debut EP, '' Take Time'' (2020). Written from the perspective of a friend of Giveon's, the down ...

", which peaked at number 16 on the chart and received quintuple platinum certification by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA). Evans guest performed alongside

Daniel Caesar Ashton Simmonds (born April 5, 1995), known professionally as Daniel Caesar, is a Canadian singer and songwriter. After independently building a following through the release of two EPs, ''Praise Break'' (2014) and ''Pilgrim's Paradise'' (2015) ...

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Regarded as a pop icon, he is recognized for his multi-genre musical performances. He was discovered by record executive Scooter Braun in 2008 and subsequently brought to the U ...

's 2021 hit single "

Peaches The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and the glossy-skinned, non-fuzzy varieties called nectarines. Peac ...

", which debuted atop the ''Billboard'' Global 200, ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

, and received four

nominations. That same year, his two EPs were bundled into the compilation album ''When It's All Said and Done.... Take Time'' (2021), which peaked at number five on the ''Billboard'' 200. In 2021 he guest performed alongside Lil durk in drakes song "in the Bible" Which peaked at number 7 in the billboard hot 100 becoming his second top ten song on the chart. His debut studio album, '' Give or Take'' (2022), peaked at number 11 on the billboard 200.

Early life

Giveon Dezmann Evans was born in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

. He and his two brothers grew up in a home with a single mother; he realized his passion for music at a young age, often singing at birthday parties. He credits his mother with pushing him to explore this early love for music and protecting him and his brothers from the pressures of gang culture and poverty. He attended

Long Beach Polytechnic High School Long Beach Polytechnic High School, founded in 1895 as Long Beach High School, is a four-year public high school located at 1600 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach, California, United States. The school serves portions of Long Beach, including Bixby ...

, and took a music education program at the

Grammy Museum The Grammy Museum is any of a group of museums containing exhibits relating to winners of the Grammy Award for achievement in recording. The museums in this group include: *The Grammy Museum at L.A. Live, which opened in 2008 in Los Angeles, Cali ...

at age 18, where he fell in love with

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

, whose bellowing voice was inspiring to the teenager. Giveon listened to R&B and soul and was also greatly inspired by Drake. Giveon fell in love with

Barry White Barry Eugene White (né Carter; September 12, 1944 – July 4, 2003) was an American singer and songwriter. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and ...

and

music through a Recording Academy program where kids got to learn about music history. Giveon was inspired by 1960s jazz and wanted to modernize what he heard.

Career

2018–2019: Career beginnings

Giveon self-released his debut single "Garden Kisses" in August 2018. Shortly after that he was discovered by

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

record producer

Sevn Thomas Rupert "Sevn" Thomas Jr. (born July 7, 1991) is a Canadian record producer, songwriter and singer. He has produced and written numerous hit songs including Rihanna's "Work", Drake's " Pop Style" and " Chicago Freestyle," Travis Scott's " Wake Up ...

, who found him on a random playlist on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...

, and later signed him to his record label Not So Fast and

. After signing, he started to perform his original songs at different live venues, including "Like I Want You", before recording them professionally. In November 2019, he released the single "Like I Want You" shortly before serving as an opening act for

Snoh Aalegra Snoh Sheri Nowrozi (born Shahrzad Fooladi, 13 September 1987), better known by her stage name Snoh Aalegra (), is a Swedish singer-songwriter. Her debut album, ''Feels (Snoh Aalegra album), Feels,'' was released in 2017, followed by ''Ugh, Those ...

on her '' Ugh, A Mini Tour Again'' of Europe and North America''.''

2019–present: "Chicago Freestyle" and extended play releases

In 2019, Giveon toured with Snoh Aalegra, where Giveon would often freestyle as he only had two songs out at the time. Giveon's manager sent his freestyle performance from

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. It led to their collaboration "Chicago Freestyle", which is how the single got its name. In February 2020, he was featured on

's single " Chicago Freestyle", which had only been uploaded to

and

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

at the time. In March 2020, he released his debut EP, '' Take Time'', which was executive produced by Thomas. The EP topped ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'''s

Heatseekers Albums The Heatseekers charts were "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales b ...

chart, earning Giveon his first charting project. ''Take Time'' also received acclaim from contemporary music critics who called it "breathtaking" and "polished". In May 2020, " Chicago Freestyle" was released on streaming platforms, alongside Drake's mixtape, ''

Dark Lane Demo Tapes ''Dark Lane Demo Tapes'' is the sixth mixtape by Canadian rapper Drake (musician), Drake. The mixtape is a compilation of songs that were released on SoundCloud or Music leak, leaked on the internet, as well as new songs, and is considered a "war ...

''. The song peaked at number 14 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, earning Giveon his first ''Billboard''-charting single. It also became a top 40 single in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland. In September 2020, Giveon announced the release of his four track second

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

(EP), ''When It's All Said and Done'', and released its lead single, "Stuck on You". After being released on October 2, 2020, the EP debuted at number 93 on the ''Billboard'' 200. With a rapid increase of mainstream attention, Giveon's singles "Stuck on You" and "Like I Want You" began to enter a number of ''Billboard''s R&B charts in late 2020, with the latter later being

certified gold Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

in December 2020. During that time, Giveon earned his first

nomination when ''Take Time'' was nominated for

Best R&B Album The Grammy Award for Best R&B Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works on albums in the Contemporary R&B, R&B mus ...

at the 2021 Grammy Awards. He also made his debut television performance on ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', sometimes shortened to ''JKL'', is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show tapes and is based out of the Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywo ...

'', performing "Stuck on You". During the week of February 27, 2021, Giveon earned his second and third ''Billboard'' Hot 100 entries with "

" and "Like I Want You", entering the chart at numbers 74 and 95, respectively. On March 12, he released the compilation album, ''When It's All Said and Done... Take Time'', a combination of his first two EPs, which included a new song titled "All to Me". Just a week later, he was featured alongside

's hit single "

" from his album ''

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

''. On September 16, 2022, Epic Records revealed that Giveon recorded a track for the film ''

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

'' called “Time,” co-written by

. On November 3, 2023, Giveon released two Christmas songs that consisted of two covers, "O Christmas Tree" and "The First Noel". Since then, Giveon has appeared as a feature on Ayra Starr's "Last Heartbreak Song" which was released on May 31, 2024, and on Teddy Swims's single "Are You Even Real" which was released on January 10, 2025. He then kicked off his latest era by releasing the single "Twenties" on February 7th, 2025.

Artistry

Giveon is known for his

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

vocals. He is inspired by jazz music from the 1960s and 1970s. He cites

Frank Ocean Frank Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987) is an American singer and songwriter. He has been credited by several music journalism, music critics as a pioneer of the alternative R&B genre. Ocean has won two Grammy Awards and a B ...

Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (; born 5 May 1988) is an English singer-songwriter. Regarded as a British cultural icon, icon, she is known for her mezzo-soprano vocals and sentimental songwriting. List of awards and nominations received by Adele, ...

, and

Sampha Sampha Lahai Sisay (born 16 November 1988) is a British singer, songwriter, musician and record producer from Morden, South London. Sampha has collaborated with Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, SBTRKT, Jessie Ware, Alicia Keys, Gorillaz, ...

as some of his biggest influences.

Discography

;Studio albums *'' Give or Take'' (2022)

Tours

Headlining * Timeless Tour (2021) – Giveon's first tour, consisting of fourteen different shows spread throughout North America. One show was outside of the United States, in Toronto, Canada where Drake made an appearance. * Give or Take Tour (2022) – Began on August 22, 2022, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and ended on October 21, 2022, in Toronto, Canada. The tour included North-American locations and Canadian locations in Montreal and Toronto. After the presale, Giveon added more tour dates, extending the tour by six shows. Supporting * Ugh, A Mini Tour Again (2019) – The Ugh, A Mini Tour Again was a North American fall tour by Swedish singer Snoh Aalegra, held in support for her second studio album, "Ugh, Those Feels Again". The tour began on November 21, 2019, in Chicago, Illinois, and ended on December 7, 2019, in Los Angeles, California – spanning a total of 7 dates.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Giveon 1995 births Living people African-American male singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters American contemporary R&B singers American baritones 21st-century African-American male singers 21st-century American male singers Singers from Los Angeles MTV Video Music Award winners Musicians from Long Beach, California Singer-songwriters from California Long Beach Polytechnic High School alumni Epic Records artists