The career of soulful singer/songwriter Frank Ocean began with a harsh push from a force beyond his control. In 2005 Ocean, born Christopher Breaux, was attending the University of New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. The displaced singer left his hometown for Los Angeles, where he began to record song demos. On the strength of those demos, Ocean began to find gigs as a songwriter-for-hire, eventually working for Justin Bieber, John Legend and Brandy, among others. By 2009 Ocean was networking with like-minded producers and writers on the L.A. scene as a member of the hip-hop collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All. Odd Future's mixtapes began garnering attention from hip-hop tastemakers, but in 2011 Ocean broke from the pack with a solo mixtape, Nostalgia, Ultra. Later that year he continued to raise his profile by penning "I Miss You" on Beyonce's 4 album and providing vocals on Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch The Throne. Ocean released his highly anticipated major label debut, Channel Orange, on Def Jam records in July 2012. The album, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, features production by Ocean, Malay, Om'Mas Keith, Pharrell, and Shea Taylor, and includes the open-hearted Top 40 hit "Thinkin Bout You," "Pyramids" and "Sweet Life." Ocean garnered six 55th GRAMMY nominations, including Best New Artist, Album Of The Year and Record Of The Year.