|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Cornell Haynes Jr. (born November 2, 1974), best known by his stage name Nelly, is a Grammy Award winning rapper from St. Louis, Missouri, who experienced his most notable popularity in the early 2000s. He is one of the best-selling rappers of all-time, with over forty million albums sold worldwide. He has also achieved three number ones in the United Kingdom (four including his vocal contribution to "Nasty Girl" by Notorious B.I.G.), four U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles, and three Grammy Awards. When Nelly first debuted nationally in summer 2000, he seemed like a novelty, but it quickly became apparent that he was, in fact, an exceptional artist, a rapper with truly universal appeal. He wasn't from the East or West Coast, and wasn't really from the Dirty South, either. Rather, Nelly was from St. Louis, a Midwestern city halfway between Minneapolis and New Orleans. His locale certainly informed his rapping style, which was as much country as urban, and his dialect as well, which was, similarly, as much Southern drawl as Midwestern twang. Plus, Nelly never shied away from a pop-rap approach, embracing a singalong vocal style that made his hooks incredibly catchy. As a result, Nelly became an exceptional rapper capable of crossing all boundaries, from the Dirty South to the TRL crowd and everything in between. His first hit, "Country Grammar (Hot...)," became a summer anthem, and many more hits followed. In particular, his popularity peaked in summer 2002, when he topped seemingly every Billboard chart possible with his Nellyville album and its lead single, "Hot in Herre." Born in Austin, Texas and raised in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri, Nelly's accent exhibits a great deal of influence from this Midwestern upbringing, as his midwest twang mixed with a southern drawl is a result of growing up in the hybrid southern-midwest city of St. Louis. Nelly also spent part of his first years in Spain while his father was in the U.S. Military. He has a brother by the name of C-LO ENT Raised in University City, Nelly formed the St. Lunatics with his friends in the surrounding area. After much frustration and failed attempts, it was suggested that Nelly would have a better shot at success as a solo act, to gain recognition first as a soloist and then bring in the rest of his group, the St. Lunatics in the time to come. He was soon signed by Universal Music Group. And like so many of his contemporaries, a change in circumstance at a pivotal time in his life may have changed the course of Nelly's life. In his case, when he was a teenager, Nelly was taken away from those streets when his mother moved to nearby suburban University City. It was there that he shifted his attention to playing baseball, storytelling, and writing rhymes. With some high-school friends, Nelly formed the St. Lunatics, who scored a regional hit in 1996 with a self-produced single, "Gimmie What You Got." Frustrated with failed attempts to land a record deal as a group, they collectively decided that Nelly would have a better chance as a single act. The rest of the group could follow with solo albums of their own. His unique Midwest/Southern style still shines through and he continues to proudly acknowledge his St. Louis roots. In 2001, Nelly's sister Jacqueline "Jackie" Donahue was diagnosed with leukemia. In 2003, Nelly and Jackie started the Jus Us 4 Jackie campaign, a search for a bone marrow donor. Although the search was unsuccessful for Jackie, (she died March 24, 2005 of complications from leukemia when she was thirty-one) the foundation was able to find matches for others, including two children from Jackie's hometown of St. Louis. Nelly has continued charity work related to this illness in her memory. The gamble paid off, and soon Nelly caught the attention of Universal, who released his debut album, Country Grammar, in 2000. What distinguished Nelly's take on rap from others was his laid-back delivery, deliberately reflecting the distinctive language and Southern tone of the Midwest. The album featured contributions from the St. Lunatics as well as the Teamsters, Lil' Wayne, and Cedric the Entertainer, and spent seven weeks on top of the U.S. album charts. All along, Nelly's goal was to put his hometown of St. Louis and the St. Lunatics on the hip-hop map. Though Nelly had become a star as a solo artist as planned, he said that he is and always will be a member of the St. Lunatics, a collective that also includes Big Lee, Kyjuan, Murphy Lee, and City Spud. Nelly fulfilled his promise in 2001 with the release of Free City, the debut St. Lunatics album featuring the hit single "Midwest Swing." The rapper Nelly has two children, a daughter Chanell Haynes (born 27 February 1994), a son Cornell Haynes III, (born 2 March 1999). "Weird Al Yankovic" parodied Nelly's Hot in Herre; Nelly liked it so much he donated clothes to Al and his band to wear on stage while performing the song. In early 2003, Nelly released the controversial single, "Air Force Ones". MTV, MTV2, MuchMusic, and VH1 refused to air the video due to product placement for Nike's popular sneakers of the same name. BET, however, played it. (Nike and Nelly agreed on a one-year deal in 2003 to release a limited-edition sneaker called the "Air Derrty" which was a retro remake of Charles Barkley's signature sneaker the Nike Air Max2 CB '94 which was released on June 13, 2003 at select NIKE town stores and was limited to 1,000 pairs. He later made a deal with Reebok, stating, “I’ve always been into sneakers and throughout my career I’ve always wanted to have a signature pair of sneakers that truly reflect my personal style. It made the most sense for me to partner with Reebok because they fully understand and respect the culture of sports, music and entertainment.” The following summer Nelly returned with his second album, Nellyville, and lived up to his self-proclaimed "#1" billing. The album topped the Billboard album chart while the Neptunes-produced lead single, "Hot in Herre," remained atop the singles chart. In all, Nelly impressively held the number one spot on ten different Billboard charts the week of Nellyville's release. Few rap artists could boast such numbers, and Nelly surely savored his number one status, particularly after being dismissed as a novelty two summers earlier when he debuted. You could call him a pop-rapper if you liked, but you surely couldn't challenge his number one status. After all, his hit streak continued unabated, with "Iz U" (from his stopgap Derrty Versions remix album) and "Shake Ya Tailfeather" (from the Bad Boys II soundtrack) keeping him in the spotlight while he readied his double-disc Sweatsuit project (following the lead of OutKast and R. Kelly, who had both recently released very successful two-disc sets). The seperately released double album dropped in fall 2004, preceded perfectly by a pair of red-hot singles: "My Place" (a slow jam) and "Flap Your Wings" (a club jam). A stroke of commercial (and to an extent, creative) genius, the superstar-laced project catapulted Nelly back atop the pop-rap world. At the 2003 Grammys, he received two awards; one for Best Male Rap Solo Performance, and another shared with Kelly Rowland for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. He also won the 2003 American Music Award for "Fan's Choice" and received four other nominations. In the following year, 2004, he won his third Grammy for Murphy Lee's number-one hit single "Shake Ya Tailfeather" from the Murphy's Law CD. "Shake Ya Tailfeather" featured Nelly and P. Diddy. On September 14, 2004, Nelly released two albums simultaneously, Sweat and Suit. Suit, an R&B-oriented album, debuted at number one on the Billboard albums chart, and Sweat, a rap-oriented album, debuted at number two in the same week. From the Suit album, the slow ballad "Over and Over", an unlikely duet with country music star Tim McGraw, became another crossover hit. Nelly performed the song with McGraw on the latter's CBS Television concert special in 2004. "Heart of a Champion" is a song by the rapper Nelly, released in 2004, from the album Sweat. In the song Nelly raps about how he is at the top of his game and has the drive and will to succeed in life. This song is frequently played at sporting events. Despite not being a single from the album, it is most certainly one of the most popular songs Nelly has ever recorded, especially amongst athletes. In 2005, he released Sweatsuit, a U.S-only compilation album consisting of tracks from Sweat and Suit, as well as three new tracks including "Grillz", which he scored another number-one hit with. In 2005 Nelly recorded a song with Eurovision Song Contest star Alsou. The song, called "Wish I Didn't Know", was never officially released, but was leaked and now can be found online. Also in 2005, Nelly was featured on the Notorious B.I.G.'s song Nasty Girl, and Mariah Carey’s album track, "To The Floor". "Nasty Girl" was on the Notorious B.I.G's posthumously released album Duets: The Final Chapter, and was also put on Sweatsuit. Then in 2006, he was featured on "Call on Me", Janet Jackson's first single from her 20 Y.O. album. In 2007 Nelly was also featured on R. Kelly's CD Double Up on a song called "Tryin' to Get a Number". Also in 2007, Nelly also contributed to Ashanti's track Switch, and T.I.’s song "Show It To Me", on his "T.I. Vs. T.I.P." album. Nelly has sold over 40 millions copies worldwide. Nelly was part of a clothing line created with cousin Yomi Martin called Vokal. Vokal was actually a prototype line started by another St. Louis businessman. Nelly and his crew have often had its logo featured prominently on their clothing in music videos and public appearances. Vokal, in its earliest stages can be seen on various people in Nelly's video for "Country Grammar", including the small children dancing. What once started as a means of funds and support for the St. Lunatics, the line later grew into a million-dollar business venture for Nelly years later. The line has since slowed down and can now mainly be found on the Internet. More recently, Yomi Martin has said that Vokal will make a full launch once again near the end of 2007. He also has a clothing line for women called "Apple Bottoms", which has gained national notoriety and success for Nelly with millions in sales and a successful year in 2006. Nelly is also a co-sponsor of the non-carbonated sports energy drink, Pimp Juice. Nelly is also part owner of the NBA expansion team Charlotte Bobcats with B.E.T. founder Robert L. Johnson and NBA legend Michael Jordan. He was featured in the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard starring Adam Sandler and Chris Rock. This hit was a smaller blockbuster and racked up a good promising future for this hip hop star. The film debuted at number three at the American box office behind Star Wars Episode III and Madagascar (the latter of which also stars Chris Rock) and became MTV Films' most successful release grossing over a hundred million U.S. dollars in the U.S. alone. Nelly also completed a song for the soundtrack, appropriately titled "The Longest Yard." Nelly's first film was called Snipes with Zoë Saldaña. Because of a lack of adequate funds, the film was never widely released in cinemas, but has since made a VHS and DVD release, and can be ordered through major retailers. The film has also been featured on BET. It was filmed very early in the St. Lunatic member's career. Two of Nelly's songs were featured in General Motors different commercials that premiered during Super Bowl XLI. The songs were E.I. and Hot In Herre. The commercials are now regularly played. Nelly also sponsors a St. Louis area AAU basketball team called the Derrty Ballers. Nelly has amassed a large collection of cars, including a Rolls Royce Phantom, Bentley Continental Gt, Ferrari 360, and a Lamborghini Murcielago. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Celebrities Guide 
| WhoABC
Home : Disclaimer
: Terms
: Privacy
Policy : Contact
Us : Links All original content Copyright Celebrities Guide, WhoABC.com © 2004 - 2008. All Rights Reserved |