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MISSY ELLIOT MUSIC CAREER

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 Melissa Arnette "Missy" Elliott (born July 1, 1971), sometimes nicknamed as Misdemeanor,[3][4] is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She began on her musical career as a member of the R&B girl group Sista during the 1990s, who were part of the larger musical collective Swing Mob—led by DeVante Swing of Jodeci. The former group's commercially unsuccessful debut album, 4 All the Sistas Around da World (1994), was released by Elektra Recordsand met with positive critical reception. She collaborated with album's producer and Swing Mob cohort Timbaland to work in songwriting and production for other acts, yielding commercially successful releases for 702, Aaliyah, SWV, and Total. She then re-emerged as a solo act with numerous collaborations and guest appearances by 1996, and in July of the following year, she released her debut studio album, Supa Dupa Fly(1997).

Missy Elliott
Elliott in 2015
Elliott in 2015
Background information
Birth nameMelissa Arnette Elliott
Also known asMisdemeanor
BornJuly 1, 1971 (age 53)
Portsmouth, Virginia, U.S.
Genres
Occupations
  • Rapper
  • singer
  • songwriter
  • record producer
Discography
Years active1988–present
Labels
Formerly ofSwing Mob · Sista
Websitemissy-elliott.com

As her mainstream breakthrough, the album was met with critical and commercial success, peaking at number three on the Billboard 200 and spawning the Billboard Hot 100-top 20 single "Sock It 2 Me" (featuring Da Brat).[5] Her second album, Da Real World (1999) produced the singles "She's a Bitch", "All n My Grill" (featuring Big Boi and Nicole Wray), and "Hot Boyz" (remixed featuring Lil' MoNasEve and Q-Tip). The latter song set a 19-year record for most weeks atop the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs by January 2000 (until Lil Nas X's 2019 single "Old Town Road"), and spent 18 weeks atop the Hot Rap Songs chart from December 1999 to March 2000. Her third and fourth albums, Miss E... So Addictive (2001) and Under Construction (2002) made her the sole recipient of both Grammy Awards for Best Female Rap Solo Performancewith their respective songs "Scream a.k.a. Itchin" (featuring Timbaland) and "Work It". Furthermore, the albums peaked at numbers two and three on the Billboard 200, respectively, while "Work It" peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.

Her fifth album, This Is Not a Test! (2003) was followed by The Cookbook (2005), her sixth album which matched Under Construction as her highest charting release while spawning the Hot 100 top three single, "Lose Control" (featuring Ciara and Fatman Scoop).[6] Following a long-term hiatus, her debut extended play, Iconology(2019) marked her first release in 14 years.

Elliott has received numerous accolades, including four Grammy Awards.[7][8][9] Her overall discography has sold 40 million records worldwide,[10] making her the best-selling female rapper in Nielsen Music history according to Billboard.[11] She was the first female rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and received the MTV VMAs Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award for her impact on the music video landscape.[12][13] In 2020, Billboard ranked her at No. 5 on their list of the 100 greatest music video artists of all time.[14] In 2021, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2023, she became the first female rapper to be nominated and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[15][16][17]

Early life

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Melissa Arnette Elliott[18] was born on July 1, 1971,[19] at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth in Portsmouth, Virginia,[20][21] the only child of power company dispatcher Patricia and former Marine Ronnie Elliott.[18][22][23] She grew up in an active church choir family, where singing was a normal part of her youth. At the age of four, she wanted to be a performer, with biographer Veronica A. Davis later writing that she "would sing and perform for her family". In later years, she feared no one would take her seriously because she was always the class clown.[24]While her father was an active Marine, the family lived in a manufactured home community in Jacksonville, North Carolina.[24][21] She blossomed during this part of her life, enjoying school for the friendships that she formed even though she had little interest in schoolwork. When her father returned from the Marines, the family moved back to Virginia, where they lived in extreme poverty.[22]

Life in Virginia saw many hardships, and Elliott has talked about seeing her mother suffer domestic abuse at the hands of her father; she refused to attend sleepovers at her friends' homes out of fear that she would find her mother dead upon returning home.[25] When she was eight, she was sexually abused by a cousin. In one violent incident, her father dislocated her mother's shoulders; during another, Elliott herself was threatened by her father with a gun.[25] When Elliott was 14, her mother decided to end the situation and fled with Elliott on the pretext of taking a joyride on a local bus. In reality, the pair had found refuge at a family member's home, where their possessions were stored in a loaded U-Haul truck.[22] Elliott told her mother that she feared her father would kill them both for leaving.[24] She later stated, "When we left, my mother realized how strong she was on her own, and it made me strong. It took her leaving her home to be able to realize that."[22][24] She and her mother lived in the Hodges Ferry neighborhood of Portsmouth,[21] where Elliott graduated from Manor High School in 1990.[18] She later said that she occasionally speaks to her father, but has not forgiven him for abusing her mother.[22][24]

Career

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1988–1995: Sista and career beginnings

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Two persons seated and one standing over a mixing board; at the far right is Timabland
Elliott's childhood friend Timbaland (pictured in 2012, far right) helped define her sound and the two have continued working together for decades

In 1988, Elliott formed an all-women R&B group called Fayze (later renamed Sista)[26] with friends La'Shawn Shellman, Chonita Coleman, and Radiah Scott.[27] She was introduced to her neighborhood friend Timothy Mosley (Timbaland)by Melvin Barcliff (Magoo) who was trying to recruit his Dj Timbaland to be the group's producer and began making demo tracks, among them included the 1991 promo "First Move".[28]Later in 1991, Fayze caught the attention of Jodecimember and producer DeVante Swing[18] by performing Jodeci songs a cappella for him backstage after one of his group's concerts. In short order, Fayze moved to New York City and signed to Elektra Records through DeVante's Swing Mob imprint and also renaming the group Sista. Sista's debut song was titled "Brand New", which was released in 1993[29] Elliott took Mosley & Barclif whom DeVante re-christened the duo as Timbaland & Magoo.

All 20-plus members of the Swing Mob—among them future stars such as GinuwinePlaya, and Tweet[30]—lived in a single two-story house in New York and were often at work on material both for Jodeci and their own projects.[23] While Elliott wrote and rapped on Raven-Symoné's 1993 debut single, "That's What Little Girls Are Made Of",[4] she also contributed, credited and uncredited, to the Jodeci albums Diary of a Mad Band (1993) and The Show, the After Party, the Hotel (1995). Timbaland and DeVante jointly produced a Sista album, entitled 4 All the Sistas Around da World (1994). Though videos were released for the original and remix versions of the single "Brand New", the album was shelved and never released.[28] One of the group's tracks, "It's Alright" featuring Craig Mack did however make the cut on the soundtrack of the 1995 motion picture Dangerous Minds but by the end of 1995, Swing Mob had folded and many of its members dispersed. Elliott, Timbaland, Magoo, Ginuwine, and Playa remained together and collaborated on each other's records for the rest of the decade as the musical collective The Superfriends.[31][32][33]

1996–1998: Supa Dupa Fly

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Aaliyah smiling
Elliott began collaborating with other artists in the late 1990s, including Aaliyah (pictured in 2000).

After leaving Swing Mob, Elliott and Timbaland worked together as a songwriting/production team, crafting tracks for acts including SWV702, and most notably Aaliyah.[30] The pair wrote and produced nine tracks for Aaliyah's second album, One in a Million (1996), among them the hit singles "If Your Girl Only Knew", "One in a Million", "Hot Like Fire", and "4 Page Letter".[29] Elliott contributed background vocals and/or guest raps to nearly all of the tracks on which she and Timbaland worked. One in a Million went double platinum and made stars out of the production duo. Elliott and Timbaland continued to work together for other artists, later creating hits for artists such as Total ("What About Us?"; 1997), Nicole Wray ("Make It Hot"; 1998), and Destiny's Child ("Get on the Bus"; 1998), as well as one final hit for Aaliyah, "I Care 4 U", before her death in 2001. Elliott also wrote the bulk of Total's second and final album Kima, Keisha, and Pam and Nicole Wray's debut Make It Hot (both released in 1998). Elliott began her career as a featured vocalist rapping on Sean "Puffy" Combs's Bad Boy remixes to Gina Thompson's "The Things That You Do", (which had a video featuring cameo appearances by Notorious B.I.G and Puff Daddy), MC Lyte's 1996 hit single "Cold Rock a Party" (backup vocals by Gina Thompson), and New Edition's 1996 single "You Don't Have to Worry". In 1996, Elliott also appeared on the Men of Vizion's remix of "Do Thangz" which was produced by Rodney Jerkins (coincidentally the producer of the original version of "The Things That You Do").

Combs had hoped to sign Elliott to his Bad Boyrecord label. Instead, she signed a deal in 1996 to create her own imprint, The Goldmind Inc., with East West Records, which at that time was a division of Elektra Entertainment Group, for which she would record as a solo artist.[30] Timbaland was again recruited as her production partner, a role he would hold on most of Elliott's solo releases. Missy continued to work with other artists and appeared on LSG's song "All the Time" with Gerald Levert, Keith Sweat, Johnny Gill, Faith Evans, and Coko in 1997 on Levert Sweat Gill classic album. The same year, she rapped in "Keys To My House" with old friends group LeVert. In the center of a busy period of making guest appearances and writing for other artists, Elliott's debut album, Supa Dupa Fly, was released in mid-1997; the success of its lead single "The Rain" led the album to be certified platinum.[29]Elliott wore an oversized trash-bag looking jumpsuit in the music video, and at Lilith Fair, an outfit media articles have considered one of her most recognizable "fashion moments".[34][35 

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