Dawn Angeliqué Richard (born August 5, 1983) is an American singer from New Orleans, Louisiana. She started her career after auditioning for Making the Band 3 in 2004. During this time, Richard became a member of girl band Danity Kane, from 2005 to 2009, and reformed the group with 3 of the original 5 members in late 2013. In 2009, Richard formed the R&B duo Dirty Money with fellow singer-songwriter Kalenna Harper, which was joined by label boss Sean "Diddy" Combs to form Diddy – Dirty Money. With the group, they released their only album, Last Train to Paris (2010) to commercial success, following up with two mixtapes before their disbandment in 2012. With Danity Kane, Richard released three studio albums.[2]
In 2005, she first embarked on a solo career with her debut studio album, Been a While. In 2011, following her departure from Bad Boy Records, Richard re-emerged as a soloist performing as DΔWN, later to be stylized as DAWN.[3] She independently released a trilogy of studio albums: Goldenheart (2013), Blackheart (2015), and Redemption (2016), which experimented with alternative dance and electronic influences. Richard later released her fifth and sixth albums, New Breed (2019) and Second Line (2021) to critical acclaim. In 2018, she co-produced and starred in the erotic action thriller Kinky, which was critically panned.[4]
