Until the eve of the 51st Grammy Awards last February, Chris Brown was known as a squeaky-clean R&B singer with all the right moves and two hit albums, whose hot girlfriend was also topping the charts.
That changed in an instant when it was revealed that Brown lost control of himself early that February morning and beat up his then girlfriend, Rihanna, during an argument.
Brown was charged with felony assault and the public turned from him as images of Rihanna's bruised, puffy face began to circulate the Web. Advertisers pulled television commercials he had appeared in, and radio stations took Brown's songs out of their rotation.
In June, he pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargain that sentenced him to five years of probation, with community service and domestic-violence counseling. He then started the long road to redemption, appearing on Larry King Live in August. With his mother by his side, Brown told King that he had been abused as a child.
"I used to be scared to go to bed," Brown said during the interview. Brown's mother acknowledged in the same interview that the singer's step-father had been abusive.
This week, the singer released his third album, "Graffiti," and he's on a tour that stops Saturday in Wallingford. It appears his Connecticut fans have not completely shied away from him, because the 7:30 p.m. concert at The Oakdale theater is sold out.
It's dubbed the "Fan Appreciation" tour, Billboard reports, and some of the proceeds will be donated to two charities.
Although "Graffiti" steers clear of explicit mentions of his woes, Brown has taken up the incident in his music, reports The Hartford Courant.
He released the song "Changed Man" on YouTube just before his sentencing in August. The song doesn't mention Rihanna by name, but she is widely assumed to be the subject of the tune as Brown vows to "make it up to you/Show the world I'm a changed man." But the tune isn't included on "Graffiti."
Brown has said his influences come from stars like Stevie Wonder, but unfortunately he is likely to be forever remembered as more of an Ike Turner figure.
