Brown's record label spokesman did not respond to The Times' request for comment. Brown finished 2008 as the fourth-best selling artist in the digital realm, posting 6.8 million tracks sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
In a 2007 interview with Giant magazine, Brown said his mother had been physically abused by his stepfather.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday, February 10, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 37 words Type of Material: Correction
Chris Brown troubles: In some copies of Monday's Calendar section, an article about Chris Brown being arrested in an alleged assault case on Sunday stated that he is a native of Tappahannock, Wash. Tappahannock is in Virginia.
"He used to hit my mom," he was quoted as saying in the Giant article. "He made me terrified all the time, terrified like I had to pee on myself. I remember one night he made her nose bleed. I was crying and thinking, 'I'm just gonna go crazy on him one day . . . ' I hate him to this day."
In the same interview, he said he had studied martial arts, which he used to defend himself once in a fight with several classmates. Brown said after his mother broke up the fight, he urged her not to go to the police. "Don't go to no cops pressing no charges," he reported begging her, "like we don't do that in the hood."
Teen debut
Brown's 2005 debut album, released when he was 16, earned the Tappahannock, Wash., native comparisons to a young Michael Jackson, both for his elastic vocal skills and his electrifying dance moves.
Rihanna burst out of Barbados the same year with a hit debut album, "Music of the Sun." Her 2007 single "Umbrella" was one of the biggest hits of that year. Her latest album, "Good Girl Gone Bad," made her an international star.
They attended last year's Grammy Award ceremony together.
randy.lewis@latimes.com; andrew.blankstein@ latimes.com
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Times staff writers Chris Lee, Mark Medina and Ari B. Bloomekatz contributed to this report.
