Dawn Angeliqué Richard (born August 5, 1983), is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer, model and animator. Richard started her career after auditioning for Making the Band 3 in 2004. During this time, Richard became a member of American 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 joined the duo Dirty Money with fellow singer-songwriter Kalenna Harper, and label boss Sean "Diddy" Combs to form Diddy – Dirty Money. With the group, they released the highly successful album Last Train to Paris, as well as two additional mixtapes before their disbandment in 2012.
In 2011, following her departure from Bad Boy Records, Richard began her career as a solo artist, performing first as DΔWN, more recently as DAWN. Her debut album Goldenheart was released on January 15, 2013, by Our Dawn Entertainment; it received universal acclaim from music critics. In 2015 Richard's second album Blackheart peaked at number two on Billboard's Dance/Electronic charts. On November 18, 2016 Richard released the final installation to her album trilogy, Redemption.