1995–2002: Early career In 1995, Aloe Blacc teamed with hip hop producer
Exile and formed
Emanon—"no name" backwards—which was inspired by the title of the
Dizzy Gillespie song "Emanon". They subsequently published six projects: the demo album
Imaginary Friends (1996), a compilation called
Steps Through Time (2001), the albums
The Waiting Room (2005) and
Dystopia (2016), and the EPs
Acid 9 (1998) and
Anon & On (2002). A fourth album, ''Bird's Eye View'', was recorded but shelved. While Emanon was Aloe Blacc's primary project during this period, he additionally toured and recorded with the members of the collective Lootpack and worked with the French jazz group Jazz Liberatorz. Emanon appeared as contestants on a 1998 episode of
MTV's
The Cut.
2003–2009: Shine Through Aloe Blacc launched his career as a solo artist in 2003, releasing two EPs and signing to
Stones Throw Records in 2006, after label head
Chris Manak heard him sing and immediately offered him a contract for the 2006 full-length
Shine Through.
NPR named the track "Nascimento" as song of the day, and
Absolute Punk noted that
Shine Through flows beautifully from one track to the next, infusing old-school funk and soul with a modern essence that makes it incredibly unique. Also in 2009, while working on his second album, Aloe Blacc toured Europe and the United States with Emanon and collaborated with the Japanese hip hop producer
Cradle on a project called Bee. In 2006, Aloe Blacc attended Melbourne's
Red Bull Music Academy.
2010–2011: Good Things In 2010, Aloe Blacc released
Good Things on Stones Throw Records. A commercial success, the album was certified gold in the UK, France, Germany, and Australia, among other countries, and ultimately hit double platinum sales. The single "
I Need A Dollar", which was used as the theme song to the
HBO series
How to Make It in America, reached one million in sales in 2013. Two additional singles, "Loving You Is Killing Me" and "Green Lights", became European hits as well.
Good Things was praised by the media, receiving positive reviews in the
Los Angeles Times,
The New York Times,
Spin,
NME, and
Entertainment Weekly, among others. Shortly after the release of the record, Aloe Blacc signed with
Simon Fuller's XIX Management. In 2011, Aloe Blacc contributed a track to the album
Red Hot + Rio 2, a follow-up to the 1996
Red Hot + Rio, with all proceeds donated to raise money and awareness to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues. That year, he performed on the main stages at major festivals such as
Glastonbury and
Falls Festival in Australia with his primary touring band, the Grand Scheme. In 2012, he appeared at the
North Sea Jazz festival in Rotterdam,
Lollapalooza in Chicago, and
Osheaga in Montreal.
2012–present: Major label debut Lift Your Spirit In 2012, Aloe Blacc contributed vocals to the debut album by the French music project
Roseaux, established by Emile Omar. Aloe Blacc was introduced to Swedish DJ
Avicii by
Linkin Park's co-vocalist
Mike Shinoda. As a result, in 2013, Aloe Blacc co-wrote the song "
Wake Me Up" with Avicii. He also collaborated with Avicii on a track called "Liar Liar" that featured
Blondfire. In September of that year, Aloe Blacc signed with
Interscope Records and released an EP, titled
Wake Me Up. The five-track album included the songs "Love Is the Answer", "Can You Do This", and "Ticking Bomb", as well as an acoustic version of "Wake Me Up". "Ticking Bomb" was used as the background music in a
Battlefield 4 TV ad, and "The Man" appeared in
Beats by Dr. Dre commercials featuring
Kevin Garnett,
Colin Kaepernick,
Richard Sherman, and
Cesc Fàbregas. In October 2013, Aloe Blacc released a music video for the track "Wake Me Up", in collaboration with the immigrant rights group
National Day Laborer Organizing Network and the ABC* Foundation's Healing Power of Music Initiative. The director was
Alex Rivera, and the cast consisted of immigrant activists. Aloe Blacc's Interscope/XIX debut,
Lift Your Spirit, was released in November 2013 and featured production by
Pharrell,
DJ Khalil, and songwriter Harold Lilly, among others. In the UK, he helped promote his album by performing tracks from it on
Later... with Jools Holland. Aloe Blacc features on the song "The World Is Ours", from
One Love, One Rhythm, a compilation album released for the
2014 FIFA World Cup, held in Brazil in June and July 2014. Also in 2014, it was announced that Aloe Blacc would be the guest advisor for
Adam Levine's team on
season 6 of
The Voice. On May 5, 2015, a sneak peek of
Owl City's single "
Verge", featuring Aloe Blacc, aired on
ESPN's
Draft Academy. The song was released on May 14. In February 2016, Aloe Blacc announced his contribution to the film
Race, a song called "Let the Games Begin". In 2016, Exile and Aloe Blacc released their first album as Emanon since 2005, titled
Dystopia, which features guest rappers
Blu and Cashus King. In 2017, Aloe Blacc provided vocals for the
Tiësto song "
Carry You Home". On May 20, 2018, he performed "Wake Me Up" with
Tiësto as part of a tribute to Avicii at
Electric Daisy Carnival. A
posthumous song with Avicii, titled "
SOS", was released on April 10, 2019. The following month, on May 16, Aloe Blacc was featured on a song with
Gryffin, titled "Hurt People". In 2020, he competed in
season four of
The Masked Singer as "Mushroom" and finished in second place, behind
LeAnn Rimes as the "Sun". In March 2024, Aloe Blacc featured on an
Afro tech remix of
Ben E. King's 1961 single "
Stand By Me", titled "Darling", by South African DJ and record producer Shimza. In May 2024, he announced that he would release a two-part series of EPs, titled
Rock My Soul, consisting of soul covers of rock songs. The first volume was released on June 7 and the second on June 28. ==Philanthropy==