Who Are Anderson .Paak's Parents? His Troubled Backstory Will Shock You

The Breakdown: Anderson .Paak is one of the world’s biggest musicians, and he doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. His parents, Brenda and Ronald, worked hard for their son and his siblings, but he also had a rough start in life. Through it all, he and his siblings made a way that led to his massive success.

Anderson .Paak has become one of the biggest music stars in the world. He’s proven that he was destined to be an icon since his youth when he played the drums for churches across Ventura, Calif. His debut album, Venice, became an underground classic before Malibu propelled the singer/rapper/drummer into fame. Malibu gave the artist his first Grammy nomination, but that was only the beginning.

In 2018, he released his third studio album, Oxnard, which Dr. Dre executive-produced. While the album didn’t receive any Grammy nominations, his standalone single “Bubblin’” won him his first Grammy for Best Rap Performance.

A year later, he released Ventura and won two more Grammys in 2020 for Best R&B Album and Best R&B Performance (“Come Home”). The two albums are portraits of Anderson .Paak’s coming of age, with the former being the yin and the latter being the yang.

Aside from his solo albums, he’s dropped multiple collaborative projects. His first was the album Yes, Lawd!, which was made with producer Knxledge under the moniker NxWorries in 2016. The duo went on to drop a sequel named Why, Lawd? in 2024. The project won Best Progressive R&B Album at the 67th GRAMMY Awards and brought his Grammy total to a whopping nine. His next collaboration came with his long-time band’s self-titled debut album, Free Nationals.

Anderson .Paak’s latest project and collaborative effort came gift-wrapped for the world in An Evening With Silk Sonic. The project was made with all-star pop/R&B singer Bruno Mars and served as proof of the artist’s talent and musicality. The album features a multitude of genre-bending music including R&B, funk, soul, and disco; all in only ten tracks (the first being a spoken intro).

The project, narrated by Funkadelic legend Bootsy Collins, won the two artists four Grammys in 2022. It received incredible critical reception worldwide and a platinum certification from the RIAA. While he’s now known as the artist with “the "Best Teef" in the game, Paak’s life wasn’t always this great. His childhood was riddled with complications. So, who are Anderson .Paak's parents?

Anderson .Paak was born Brandon Paak Anderson in Oxnard, Calif., to Brenda Paak Bills and Ronald Anderson. Brenda was a strawberry broker, and Ronald was a Navy reserve mechanic. The two’s dynamic was tumultuous, to say the least, and it created some pretty scarring memories for the musician.

When .Paak was seven years old, he witnessed his father attacking and almost killing his mother. The young star-to-be couldn’t believe it was his father, Ronald, and must’ve been his uncle, Donald. This is because the two were twins who had a habit of switching places with each other for various reasons. However, he would later learn that it was indeed his father who had committed the offense because his uncle Donald was in prison serving the time that Ronald was supposed to serve.

The twins began switching places at a young age and would fill in for the other at work, school, and even in the military. Ronald was a Korean War veteran, and Donald switched places with him for the first leg of their tour before coming home on leave in 1970.

After their combined time in the military and moving back to Philly, Ronald had four children that he neglected to raise in 1974. By 1980, he moved to California to work as an active-duty Navy mechanic and met Brenda.

The two met in a nightclub, a month after the birth of his fifth child, and fell in love immediately. When Brenda fell pregnant with .Paak, that was when Ronald decided to forego his old habits and settle down to start a family. The marriage changed Ronald for the better, and he became a father to all of his children. His children from Philly would fly to Oxnard for extended familial visits, and they all became a very close blended family.

Unfortunately, this wouldn’t last long. After the birth of their youngest daughter, Fielding, Ronald began his spiral of drug addiction and domestic violence. He became addicted to crack cocaine, and this resulted in a series of events that led to his attempted murder charge against Brenda. That would be the last time that .Paak saw his father.

Amid all the happiness and chaos, Brenda became the owner, rather than partner, of the strawberry brokerage. The mother of four saw massive success in her time as an owner during a time when sexism was still rampant. She eventually was brokering multiple strawberry farms, hired truck drivers to export her produce, and even had contracts with local restaurants.

After remarrying to Dennis Willingham, the couple bought 52 acres of land and began their farm to cut out being the middleman of their strawberry sales. The strawberry farm allotted Brenda and Dennis six-figure salaries, and they were doing well for themselves and their family. Unfortunately, the success came crumbling down not long after.

The couple and their employees had been making promises to investors of returns up to 100%. The coastal California weather was making it increasingly difficult to keep their crops in rotation at times. They soon ended up in debt to 700 investors whom they’d taken money from. These business deals caught up to the couple as investors were demanding their returns.

All this trouble led to Brenda and Dennis receiving a “desist and refrain” order from the California Department of Corporations. Brenda ignored the order and faced even more trouble after attempting to receive $6,500 from a previous investor. They were charged with 78 counts of securities fraud.

Eventually, Brenda gave in and pleaded guilty in court to 22 counts. She faced 15 years in prison and $4 million in restitution. Dennis also pleaded guilty to 20 counts and served time for an undisclosed number of years.

While in prison, the couple filed for divorce and both received a higher education. All of this history gave Brandon more fire and determination to become the artist we know today, but his siblings also played a part in his upbringing.

According to Biography, Brenda was born to a Black father and a Korean mother, making her Afro-Korean. Ronald was a Black man. So, Brandon and his younger sister, Fielding, are both Afro-Korean as well.

The soulful singer is very proud of his Korean heritage. He was married to South Korean singer Jae Lin Chang for 14 years. With two sons in the household, they were intentional about making sure their children were bilingual.

The rest of Brandon’s siblings were a blended family from Brenda and Ronald’s past relationships. He has eight siblings in total.

After Brenda was sent to prison for her fraud charges, .Paak and Fielding were looked after by his older sister Camille for the most part. All of their siblings seemed to have a role in continuing to raise the two, but Camille was the constant. She worked hard to make sure her younger siblings were taken care of, and Brandon even stopped pursuing music at one point to do his part to help his family.