Nelly

For the Canadian Singer-Songwriter, see Nelly Furtado.

Nelly
File:Nelly01.jpg
Background information
Origin	St. Louis, Missouri
Years active	2000-present

For other uses, see Nelly (disambiguation).

Cornell Haynes Jr. (born November 2, 1974) is an American rapper turned singer from St. Louis, Missouri who experienced massive populaity in the early 2000s. Best known by his stage name, Nelly, he is one of the best-selling rappers of all-time, with over 30 million albums sold worldwide. He has also achieved three number-ones in the UK (four including his vocal contribution to Nasty Girl by Notorious B.I.G), four U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number one singles, and four Grammy Awards.

Personal background

Born in Austin, Texas, but raised in 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 US Military. Raised in suburban University City, Nelly formed the St. Lunatics with his friends in the surrounding area. After much frustration and failed attempts, they decided Nelly would have a better shot at success as a solo act. He was soon picked up by Universal Music Group. 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 Jes Us 4 Jackie campaign, a search for a bone marrow donor. Although the search was unsuccessful for Jackie, who died March 24, 2005 of complications from leukemia when she was 31, 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. Nelly also has 2 children: Chanel, who is 12 years old, and Cornell Haynes III, who is also known as Tre, who is 7. Nelly has been linked to Grammy Award-winning singer/actress Kelly Rowland and was currently dating Ashanti as of 2003.

Music career

Nelly first came to mainstream audiences with the song, "Country Grammar" (2000) and released Free City with the St. Lunatics in 2001. Country Grammar established him as one of the most successful rappers of the early 2000s with the help of an image one part handsome boy-next-door and one part tough gangster. From the beginnings of his hip/hop career, the lyrics of "Country Grammar" explored this dichotomy, posing the question: "Who says pretty boys can't be wild niggaz?" and containing references to gun violence and drug use while also sending shout outs to billionaires Bill Gates and Donald Trump, as well as fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter. The album Country Grammar, debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 40. Nelly and Country Grammar were nominated for two 2001 Grammy Awards--Best Rap Album and Best Rap Solo Performance. On July 18, 2001, it was certified 7x platinum. "Ride Wit Me", off the Country Grammar album, was nominated for three 2001 MTV Video Music Awards--Best Male Video, Best Rap Video, and Viewer's Choice; the album won the Best Rap Video award. Nelly was also named "Best New Artist" at the 1st Annual BET Awards in 2001. Other recognitions in 2001 include winning the Favorite New Male Artist award at the 2001 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards and being named one of People's "Breakthrough Stars of 2001".

File:Nelly - Sweat Suit - CD cover.jpg

Nelly on his double album Sweat/Suit (2005)

In 2002, his sophomore album, Nellyville, debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 714,000+ units. It stayed at #1 for 3 weeks. After only a month, it was certified triple platinum. Hot in Herre was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 7 weeks, followed immediately by "Dilemma", featuring Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child, which was #1 for 10 weeks. "Dilemma" was the first ever rap song to stay at #1 for 10 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2002 he also won the American Music Award for "Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist", as well as winning 6 Billboard Music Awards (Artist of the Year, Male Artist of the Year, Male Hot 100 Artist of the Year, Male R&B/Hip-Hop Artist of the Year, Rap Artist of the Year, and Rap Track of the Year for "Hot in Herre") and receiving nominations in 8 other categories.

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 1-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. 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.”

In 2003, Nelly received two Grammys for Best Male Rap Solo Performance and shared a Grammy with Kelly Rowland for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, and he also won the 2003 American Music Award for "Fan's Choice" and received 4 other nominations.

In the following year, 2004, Nelly 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 & P. Diddy. On September 14, 2004, Nelly released two albums simultaneously, Sweat and Suit. Suit, an R&B-oriented album, debuted at #1 on the Billboard albums chart, and Sweat, a rap-oriented album, debuted at #2 on 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. In 2005, he scored another #1 hit with "Grillz".

Nelly's entire song catalogue - including hits he has co-written with Tim McGraw and 'N Sync - is published by BMG Music Publishing.

Nelly has caused many controversies, including the fact that he doesn't write his own lyrics. He is one of the few notorious rappers to be remembered with an artifical voice, due to post production techniques and third party writers, who would write most of his material for him. Although proven, it is not a well known fact that such a famous rapper would look elsewhere for writers in the music industry.

Nelly feuded with legendary rapper KRS-One. During the feud, Nelly used the angle that KRS-One was a tired and old rapper, past his prime. KRS-One on the other hand, called Nelly out for being a bubble gum pop artist(Which Nelly fired back by calling KRS a hypocrite when it comes to commericial references). While many believe that KRS-One easily beat Nelly technically and lyrically, some believe Nelly got the best of KRS-One due to the fact that Nelly is still selling records while KRS-One is not. This feud was even referenced by rapper Chino XL in his song "B-Boy". In it, Chino XL states "Nelly battling KRS-One, we gotta stop him! What's next? Beyonce battling Rakim?"

Acting career

Nelly featured in the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard with Adam Sandler. The film debuted at #1 at the box office and became the MTV studios most successful release grossing over 100+ Million USD in the states alone.

Net Worth

Recently confirmed, Nelly was in the top 10 wealthest hiphop entertainers he and Jermaine Dupri tied at 10th place both grossing $60 Million.

Business endeavors

He started his own clothing line called Vo'Kal Clothing before his music career took off with his cousin Yomi Martin, and he and his crew have often had its logo featured prominently on their clothing in music videos and public appearances. He also has a clothing line for women called Apple Bottoms.

Nelly is also a co-sponsor of the non-carbonated sports energy drink, Pimp Juice. The company also holds many contests, many of which have prizes of beating him in public. Nelly is also part owner of the NBA expansion team Charlotte Bobcats with BET founder Robert Johnson and NBA legend Michael Jordan.

Trivia

• Performed "Walk This Way" with Aerosmith and Britney Spears at the 2001 Super Bowl Halftime Show.
• Usually wears clothing bearing the logos of St. Louis sports teams.
• His trademark chants include "E.I., E.I.!" (which means "Yes, bring it on!") and "Uh-oh, uh-oh!"
• His trademark hand gesture is an L formed with one or both hands (the L stands for "Lunatics").
• Has three tattoos: "Lunatic" (above his navel), a human heart appearing to emerge from his chest (upper left chest), and five playing cards which spell out Nelly and dice (right arm).
• Nelly's "Ride Wit Me" music video is based on the 1977 movie Smokey and the Bandit.
• Has started two new trends amongst his fans: wearing sports jerseys backward (such that one's favorite player's name is on one's chest rather than back) and wearing a Band-Aid on either cheek.
• Wears Band-Aid on cheek in order to express solidarity with his incarcerated brother, City Spud (Lavell Webb).
• Nelly is tied with Sir Elton John for the most consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 by a male solo artist.
• Ranked #39 on Entertainment Weekly's 2002 "101 Most Powerful" List
• Featured in Teen People's "25 Hottest Stars Under 25" issue in 2001 and 2002
• Attended the same high school, University City Senior High School, as athlete Bernard Gilkey, actors Edgar L. Davis and Leonard Roberts, Disney animator Marlon West, and jazz musicians Peter Martin, Todd Williams, Jeremy Davenport, and Neil Caine.
• Nelly was also an accomplished high school baseball player and was drafted to play baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates at one point in his life.
• Nelly's daughter can be heard on the intro to his song "Die For You", taken from the album "Suit".

Discography

Albums

Year	Album	U.S.	UK	Sales Certification
2000	Country Grammar	1	14	9x Platinum
2002	Nellyville	1	2	6x platinum
2003	Da Derrty Versions: The Reinvention	2	-	Platinum
2004	Suit	1	8	3x Platinum
2004	Sweat	2	11	2x Platinum
2005	Sweat / Suit (two albums repackaged into one - international version)	-	41	Gold
2006	Sweatsuit (two albums repackaged into one - U.S. only, with new tracks)	26	-	Gold

Singles

Year	Song	U.S. Hot 100	U.S. R&B	U.S. Rap	UK singles	Album
2000	"(Hot Shit) Country Grammar"	#7	#5	#1	#7	Country Grammar
2000	"E.I."	#15	#10	-	#11	Country Grammar
2001	"Ride wit Me" (featuring City Spud)	#3	#34	-	#3	Country Grammar
2001	"Batter Up" (featuring Murphy Lee and Ali)	-	#76	-	#28	Country Grammar
2001	"#1"	#22	#20	-	-	Nellyville / Training Day Sountrack
2001	"Where The Party At?" (Jagged Edge featuring Nelly)	-	#3	-	#25	Jagged Little Thrill
2002	"Hot in Herre"	#1	#1	#1	#4	Nellyville
2002	"Dilemma" (featuring Kelly Rowland)	#1	#1	#1	#1	Nellyville
2002	"Girlfriend" ('N Sync featuring Nelly)	#5	-	-	#2	Celebrity
2002	"Air Force Ones" (featuring Kyjuan, Murphy Lee and Ali)	#3	#4	#1	-	Nellyville
2003	"Work It (Nelly song)" (featuring Justin Timberlake)	-	-	-	#7	Nellyville
2003	"Pimp Juice"	#58	-	-	-	Nellyville
2003	"Shake Ya Tailfeather" (with P. Diddy and Murphy Lee)	#1	#3	#1	#10	Bad Boys II Soundtrack
2003	"Iz U"	-	#51	#23	#36	Da Derrty Versions: The Reinvention
2003	"Work It (Reinvention)" (featuring Justin Timberlake)	#58	-	-	-	Da Derrty Versions: The Reinvention
2004	"Flap Your Wings"	#52	#18	#14	#1	Sweat
2004	"My Place" (featuring Jaheim)	#4	#4	#2	#1	Suit
2004	"Tilt Ya Head Back" (featuring Christina Aguilera)	#58	-	-	#5	Sweat
2004	"Over and Over" (featuring Tim McGraw)	#3	#51	#7	#1	Suit
2005	"I Wish I Didn't Know" (featuring Alsou)	-	-	-	#68	-
2005	"N Dey Say"	#64	-	-	#6	Suit
2005	"Errtime" (featuring Jung Tru and King Jacob)	#24	-	-	-	The Longest Yard Soundtrack
2005	"Fly Away"	-	-	-	-	The Longest Yard Soundtrack
2005	"Grillz" (featuring Paul Wall, Ali, and Gipp)	#1	#2	#1	#24	Sweatsuit
2005	"Nasty Girl" ( Notorious B.I.G. featuring P. Diddy, Nelly, Jagged Edge and Avery Storm)	#46	#38	-	#1	Sweatsuit / Duets: The Final Chapter
2006	"Call on Me" (with Janet Jackson) 1	#25	#6	-	-	20 Y.O.
Notes: Currently active on worldwide music charts

Grammy Award History

Career Stats

• Career Wins: 4
• Career Nominations: 11

Year	Category	Genre	Title	Result
2001	Best Rap Album	Rap	"Country Grammar"	Won
2001	Best Rap Solo Performance	Rap	"Country Grammar"	Nominated
2002	Best Rap/Sung Collaboration	Rap	"Where's The Party At"	Nominated
2002	Best Rap Solo Performance	Rap	"Ride With Me"	Nominated
2003	Best Rap Album	Rap	Nellyville	Nominated
2003	Best Rap/Sung Collaboration	Rap	"Dilemma"	Won
2003	Best Male Rap Solo Performance	Rap	"Hot In Herre"	Won
2003	Record of the Year	General	Dilemma	Nominated
2003	Album of the Year	General	Nellyville	Nominated
2004	Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group	Rap	"Shake Ya Tailfeather"	Won

External links

• Official site
• Nelly Fansite
• Nelly Web