Giveon

Giveon Dezmann Evans was born on February 21, 1995, and raised on the East Side of Long Beach, California. He grew up in a household headed by a single mother alongside his two brothers. His mother encouraged his musical talent from an early age, frequently asking him to sing at family gatherings and birthday parties while sheltering her children from neighbourhood gang pressures and poverty. During his childhood, he listened to classic soul and R&B artists such as Anita Baker, Sade, and Mary J. Blige.

He attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School. When his voice deepened during his teenage years, he initially felt insecure about his vocal range. At age 18, he participated in a music education program at the Grammy Museum, where he was exposed to music history and the deep, commanding voices of artists such as Frank Sinatra and Barry White. The experience encouraged him to embrace his natural baritone register and inspired his ambition to modernize mid-twentieth-century soul and jazz arrangements. Before pursuing music as a full-time profession, he worked at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company and operated a dog-walking business.

Giveon self-released his debut single, "Garden Kisses," in August 2018. Canadian producer Sevn Thomas discovered the track on a SoundCloud playlist and signed him to his imprint, Not So Fast, in partnership with Epic Records. In late 2019, Giveon released the single "Like I Want You" and joined Swedish singer Snoh Aalegra as an opening act on her North American and European tour. Because he had released only two original songs at the time, he frequently performed freestyles during his sets to extend his stage time.

During a tour stop in Chicago, Giveon's manager, Simon Gebrelul, recorded one of his live freestyles and shared the footage with Drake. Drake used the melody and vocal idea to construct the hook for the track "Chicago Freestyle." Released commercially in May 2020 on Drake's mixtape Dark Lane Demo Tapes, the song reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, providing Giveon with his initial mainstream breakthrough.

In March 2020, Giveon released his debut extended play, Take Time, executive produced by Sevn Thomas. The project topped Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart and earned a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Album. The EP's second single, "Heartbreak Anniversary," became a sleeper hit, eventually peaking at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earning a quintuple platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In October 2020, he released his second EP, When It's All Said and Done, which he supported with a television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live! performing the single "Stuck on You."

In early 2021, Giveon combined his first two EPs into the compilation album When It's All Said and Done... Take Time, which debuted at number five on the Billboard 200. That same month, he appeared alongside Daniel Caesar as a featured artist on Justin Bieber's single "Peaches." The track debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard Global 200, earning four Grammy nominations, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Later that year, he collaborated with Drake and Lil Durk on "In the Bible," securing his second top-ten entry on the Hot 100, and won Best New Artist at the 2021 BET Awards.

Giveon released his debut studio album, Give or Take, on June 24, 2022. The record debuted at number 11 on the Billboard 200 and featured production contributions from Cardo Got Wings, Boi-1da, Jahaan Sweet, Roget Chahayed, Sevn Thomas, and Giveon himself. The album was supported by the platinum-certified single "For Tonight" and the gold-certified tracks "Lie Again" and "Lost Me." Later in 2022, he contributed the Drake co-written ballad "Time" to the soundtrack for the feature film Amsterdam and completed his North American headlining Give or Take Tour.

Following his debut album campaign, Giveon took part in several prominent guest collaborations. In 2024, he was featured on Nigerian singer Ayra Starr's R&B ballad "Last Heartbreak Song," which earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Afrobeats. In early 2025, he partnered with Teddy Swims on the duet "Are You Even Real?"

On July 11, 2025, Giveon released his second studio album, Beloved, which debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200 and received critical praise for its 1970s soul influences. The album was preceded by the singles "Twenties" and "Rather Be." To support the release, he embarked on an extensive international headlining run titled Dear Beloved, The Tour.