Michael Africk (born 20 August 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-platinum record producer and software entrepreneur. After signing with

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

Hollywood Records Hollywood Records is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label focuses in pop, rock, alternative, hip hop, and country genres, as well as specializing in mature recordings not suitable for the flagship Walt Disney Records l ...

and releasing a solo album in 1999, he toured with

N'Sync NSYNC (, ; also stylized as *NSYNC or 'N Sync) was an American boy band formed by Chris Kirkpatrick in Orlando, Florida, in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich. Their self-titled debut album was successfully released to Europea ...

and

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...

. He collaborated with

Mai Kuraki (born October 28, 1982) is a Japanese pop and R&B singer-songwriter and record producer. After releasing her US debut single " Baby I Like" in 1999, Kuraki signed with Giza Studio and released her Japanese debut single " Love, Day After Tomorro ...

on several singles, including the platinum ''

Never Gonna Give You Up "Never Gonna Give You Up" is the debut single recorded by English singer and songwriter Rick Astley, released on 27 July 1987. It is one of Astley's most famous songs. It was written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman, and was released as ...

''. Africk also collaborated with her on the album

Delicious Way ''Delicious Way'' (stylized in all lowercase) is the debut album by Japanese recording artist Mai Kuraki. It was released by Giza Studio and Giza Inc. in Japan on June 28, 2000. The album was entirely co-written by Kuraki herself, with the help of ...

which debuted at number one on the

Oricon Albums Chart The Oricon Albums Chart is the Japanese music industry standard albums popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Oricon originally published LP, CT, Cartridge and CD charts prior to the establishment of the Oricon Albu ...

and had the highest first week sales for a debut album in Japanese music history and sixth overall. In 2011, Africk released his second studio album with Japanese record label Northern Music/ Being Music. The album was co-produced by Africk and Louis Bell. Since 2006, he has founded several mobile software companies, most notably Inmoji in 2014.

Career

Musician

Africk sang "Someone Like Me"'','' the theme song for

's animated film ''

Doug's 1st Movie ''Doug's 1st Movie'' is a 1999 American animated comedy film based on the Disney-produced episodes of the animated television series ''Doug''. The film was directed by Maurice Joyce, and stars the regular television cast of Tom McHugh, Fred New ...

'' in 1999. The song was written by William Squier and Jeffrey Lodin, and featured the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In the same year, he released his 11-track self-titled album. Africk was the opening act for

and

, and toured in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. He composed the music for the Japanese

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

series ''

Secret of Cerulean Sand is a 26-episode anime television series. The main character is a 15-year-old English girl named Jane Buxton, who dreams of building a flying machine due to the influence of her brother. The series documents her journey through the Near East t ...

'' (2002). "What Can I Do", his song for the final credits, features

. Africk collaborated with

for the song Baby Tonight, a single from the album

. The album debuted at number one on the

with 2,218,640 units sold, making it the highest first week sales for a debut album in Japanese music history and sixth overall. He collaborated with Kuraki on other songs, including ''

'' from the same album. The song was certified Platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of Japan The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include pr ...

(RIAJ). He composed "Love One Another" with Kuraki for the benefit of the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six minutes ...

victims. The song, featuring his vocals, was released on his self-titled album and Kuraki's album '' Over the Rainbow'' in 2012.

Software entrepreneur

In 2006, Africk started his tech career when he co-founded XLR8 Mobile. He would go on to found Dijit, Echotag, and Openboard as well. Africk founded Inmoji with Perry Tell in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

in May 2014. Inmoji is a

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

company offering a

software development kit A software development kit (SDK) is a collection of software development tools in one installable package. They facilitate the creation of applications by having a compiler, debugger and sometimes a software framework. They are normally specific to ...

to messaging apps and an

extension Extension, extend or extended may refer to: Mathematics Logic or set theory * Axiom of extensionality * Extensible cardinal * Extension (model theory) * Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate * E ...

for

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

s that both create clickable

icons An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...

that enable users to share their favorite

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

s, products, and experiences directly within the apps without leaving the message. Inmoji raised $2.5 million in seed funding in 2015 and $6.5 million in

Series A round A series A round (also known as series A financing or series A investment) is the name typically given to a company's first significant round of venture capital financing. The name refers to the class of preferred stock sold to investors in exchan ...

in 2016. Africk was named one of the 12 Top Tech Leaders To Watch In 2017 by Inc.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Featured artist

Composer

Music videos

Accolades

Japan Gold Disc Awards

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Africk, Michael Living people 1975 births American singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singers