Childish Gambino Biography

Born Donnie Glover, Childish Gambino is an American rapper, producer, songwriter, and DJ. The Grammy-nominated artist is also a known actor.

Early Life

Donald McKinley Glover was born in Edwards Air Force Base, California on September 25, 1983. He graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts gaining a drama writing degree in 2006.

Career in Acting and Music

While serving as a writer on the comedy series “30 Rock” and being nominated for a Writers Guild award in 2006, Gambino released an independent album titled “Sick Boi”. In 2009, followed the “Poindexter” project, independent as the first. On his next record, however, he felt he had to be more honest and talked about personal subjects regarding bullying, suicide, and alcoholism. The record was released in 2010 as “Culdesac”. Following a supportive but failed fan campaign to make Glover the next and first African-American Spider-Man, he made available the EP “Be Alone” on his website. Donnie supported the project with a tour and a first music video for one of the singles. Under the label Glassnote Records, he released the album “Camp” in late 2011. After some touring and performing, he revealed a free digital mixtape “Royalty”.

Rising Success

Gambino’s first breakthrough song was his feature “Trouble” with Leona Lewis which reached spot 7 in the UK Single chart. Glover decided to leave the comedy series “Community” that he had been part of since 2009 and focus on his upcoming album “Because the Internet” released 2013.  For the first time, he received gold certification for singles “Heartbeat” and “3005” and later for the album itself. Gambino was also nominated for the first time for 2 Grammys with this album in 2014. As a producer and actor, he won 2 Golden Globes for the comedy show “Atlanta”. He changed style from hip-hop to funk with the reveal of his 2016 third album “Awaken, My Love!”.

Photo credit: BBC