Post Malone

Austin Richard Post (born July 4, 1995), known professionally as Post Malone, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Known for his variegated vocals, Malone has gained acclaim for blending genres and subgenres of hip hop, pop, R&B, and trap. His stage name was derived from inputting his birth name into a rap name generator.

Malone began his music career in 2011 and gained recognition with his 2015 debut single "White Iverson", which peaked at number 14 on the US *Billboard* Hot 100. Malone signed a recording contract with Republic Records and released his debut album *Stoney* (2016); it contained the diamond single "Congratulations" (featuring Quavo) and set the record for most weeks (77) on the US *Billboard* Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. His second album, *Beerbongs & Bentleys* (2018), debuted at number one on the US *Billboard* 200 and set several streaming records. It also contained the US number-one singles "Rockstar" (featuring 21 Savage) and "Psycho" (featuring Ty Dolla Sign) and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 61st Grammy Awards.

His third number one, "Sunflower" (with Swae Lee), was the promotional and lead single to the soundtrack for the film *Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse* (2018), and was included on Malone's third album, *Hollywood's Bleeding* (2019); the album was his second number one, and "Sunflower" became the highest-certified song in RIAA history at 17x platinum. Its second single, "Circles", became his fourth US number-one song, and spent 61 weeks on the Hot 100. It was also the most-played radio song of 2020. His fourth album, *Twelve Carat Toothache*, was released in June 2022, spearheaded by the US top-ten singles "I Like You (A Happier Song)" (featuring Doja Cat) and "One Right Now" (with the Weeknd).

Among the best-selling music artists with over 80 million records sold, Malone has won 10 *Billboard* Music Awards, three American Music Awards, and one MTV Video Music Award, and received nine Grammy Award nominations. He holds several *Billboard* chart records: he is the first solo lead artist to top both the Rap Airplay and Adult Contemporary charts, while "Circles" set the record for longest climb to number one (41 weeks) on the Adult Contemporary chart by a solo artist.

### Early Life

Austin Richard Post was born on July 4, 1995, in Syracuse, New York. He was raised by his father, Richard Post, and his stepmother, Jodie. His father had been a DJ in his youth and introduced Malone to many different genres of music including hip hop, country, and rock. When Malone was nine years old, he and his family moved to Grapevine, Texas, after his father became the manager of concessions for the Dallas Cowboys. Malone began to play the guitar and auditioned for the American band Crown the Empire in 2010, but was rejected after his guitar strings broke during the audition. He credited his initial interest in learning guitar to the video game *Guitar Hero*.

Malone has always had a love for alternative rock music, and appeared for a DJ set at Emo Nite in Los Angeles, California, in June 2017, playing songs by American alt-rock band My Chemical Romance at the event. According to Malone, his first foray into professional music began when he was in a heavy metal band. He says soon afterwards he transitioned to softer rock as well as hip hop, before beginning to experiment on FL Studio.