AP Dhillonਏਪੀ ਢਿੱਲੋਂ

Early life

Amritpal Singh Dhillon was born on 10 January 1993 in the village of Mullianwal in Gurdaspur district, Punjab. His grandmother largely raised him and his sister, and the family struggled to make ends meet. He studied at Little Flower Convent School and went on to earn a degree in civil engineering from a college affiliated with I.K. Gujral Punjab Technical University in Kapurthala.

In 2015 his father sent him to Canada to pursue a diploma in Business Administration and Management at Camosun College in British Columbia. Landing on Vancouver Island without friends and barely speaking English, he worked as a sales associate at Esso and later at Best Buy in Victoria before turning seriously to music.

Career

Dhillon began in 2019 with the single 'Fake' alongside Shinda Kahlon, released on their own independent label, Run-Up Records. A run of singles followed — 'Deadly', 'Droptop', 'Majhail' — that entered the UK Asian charts published by the Official Charts Company. In September 2020 he released 'Brown Munde' with Gurinder Gill, Gminxr and Shinda Kahlon. The track debuted at number one on the UK Asian chart, entered the Apple Music chart in Canada, and its video has crossed 700 million views on YouTube, becoming an anthem of Punjabi pride worldwide.

In 2020 he also released the collaborative album Not by Chance with Gurinder Gill and Money Musik, followed by the Hidden Gems EP in 2021. His solo single 'Insane' and the album The Brownprint (2024), which ranked at number 26 on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart, cemented his standing. In 2023 he performed at the Juno Awards in Edmonton, becoming the first Punjabi-Canadian to perform at the ceremony, and in the same year his Amazon documentary AP Dhillon: First of a Kind chronicled his rise.

Music style

Dhillon's sound fuses Punjabi lyrics with trap drums, R&B melodies and hip-hop cadences — a 'desi trap' style built with his close collaborators Gurinder Gill and producer Gminxr. Working as an independent unit under Run-Up Records, the trio proved that Punjabi acts could reach global charts without a major label.

Personal life

Based in Victoria, British Columbia, Dhillon keeps his family life out of the spotlight. He has spoken openly in his documentary about loneliness, adjustment struggles and self-belief during his early years in Canada.

Legacy

Alongside Karan Aujla and Shubh, AP Dhillon belongs to the generation that took Punjabi music from regional charts to Billboard and Spotify global rankings. 'Brown Munde' became a cultural slogan for young Punjabis across the diaspora — proof that an independent artist singing in Punjabi could become a worldwide pop act.