Missy Elliott is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. There are five Grammy awards on the celebrity shelf. It seems that these are not the last achievements of the American. She is the only female rap artist to have six LPs certified platinum by the RIAA.
Childhood and youth of the artist
Melissa Arnet Elliott (singer's full name) was born in 1971. The baby's parents were not associated with creativity. They could not imagine that their daughter would someday become an outrageous singer and rap.
Mom took the place of a dispatcher in an energy company, the head of the family is a marine. After his retirement, his father worked as an ordinary welder at the shipyard. When Missy Elliott's dad served, the family lived in Jacksonville. It was in this provincial town that the girl began to sing in the church choir. After the end of the service, the family moved to Virginia.
Melissa loved going to school. She was excellent at science, but even more the girl liked communication with her peers. She was an active schoolgirl. Missy loved to sing and act on stage.
Melissa's childhood can hardly be called happy. Her father was cruel and passed on his mood to her mother and daughter. He beat his mother, mocked her morally, often put her out of the house naked and occasionally put a gun to her temple. One day, my mother could not stand it and deceived that she was going for a walk with her daughter, got on the bus and left one way.
At the age of 8, the girl had another trouble. The fact is that little Elliott was raped by her cousin. Since that time, Melissa had frequent nightmares. Growing up, she admitted that this terrible situation did not break her strong spirit. Although the singer is still wary of the male sex.
Music interested the girl from an early age. She started singing at the age of 7. At first it was a church choir and relatives. She was imbued with the dream of performing on stage and wrote a written appeal to her idol Michael Jackson and his sister Janet, with whom she subsequently collaborated.
In her youth, Elliott met her future producer Timbaland. At the time, he was in a band with Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo. Her wish to sing on stage came true.
The creative path of Missy Elliott
At the beginning of her career, Melissa was part of the Fayze team. The quartet consisted of girls who performed R&B. All members of the team were close friends. The quartet later performed under the name Sista.
The Swing Mob label became interested in the singers' work. The company took the group under its wing. The members of the group not only worked on their own repertoire, but also wrote compositions for other artists.
Elliott did not immediately have solo work. Soon the quartet broke up. Melissa at this stage tried herself as a producer.
“My debut recording was a track written for Raven-Simone. Surprisingly, the composition became a real hit. For me, it was a surprise and a huge uplift. Until that time, I was nothing. And she was the girl from the Cosby Show. These are the things…”, — said about this period of life Melissa.
A week after this event, Melissa's phone was bursting with calls. She called Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson. After a while, she already collaborated with Alia, Nicole, Destiny's Child. And later, with Christina Aguilera, Madonna, Gwen Stefani, Katy Perry.
Debut album presentation
In 1997, the presentation of the debut album took place. The record was so warmly received by music critics and fans that Elliott actively replenished her discography with fresh LPs.
Among the five well-deserved Grammy awards are two for the best performance of Get Ur Freak On and a video clip for the super hit Lose Control. From 1997 to 2015 Melissa has released seven full length albums. In 2015, her discography was expanded with Block Party.
And after such a busy creative life, the American announced that she was going to make a film. For fans, this news came as a surprise. In 2017, Missy was supposed to start filming a biopic. Elliott has several cameo roles in movies and TV shows.
“I wanted to make my films. I want to be a director and personally supervise the filming process. After all, if you move from music to films, you must be sure that you understand this, ”said Missy.
In 2017, a presentation of a new single took place. We are talking about the composition I'm Better. The video clip deserves considerable attention, which included not only banal videos, but also a well-thought-out plot.
Missy Elliott's personal life
Missy Elliott is constantly under the gun of a dozen cameras. No matter how much the singer wanted to hide her personal life from fans and journalists, she did not succeed.
The black superstar was regularly credited with celebrity affairs. Journalists spread rumors that Missy was a lesbian. The list of suggestions included: Olivia Longott, Karrin Steffans, Nicole, 50 Cent and Timbaland.
Missy never confirmed the relationship rumors. The woman tries not to answer questions about her personal life. The only time Elliott officially denied relationship information was in 2018. Then the fans “imposed” on her a relationship with Eva Marcille Pigford.
Elliott does not have an official husband and children. Whether she was once married is also unknown. However, it is known for sure that the star has a certain weakness for expensive cars and houses.
In 2014, fans got a little excited. The fact is that Elliott has lost a lot of weight. Many assumed that the woman had cancer. Missy got in touch and said that she finally took up nutrition and sat down on a healthy diet.
Interesting facts about Missy Elliott
- Missy is a fan of Björk.
- She was part of the DeVante DeGrate production teams along with Timbaland and R&B singer Ginuwine.
- Her record Under Construction was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
missy elliott today
In 2018, journalists found out that Missy recorded a joint composition with Skrillex. In the same year, she recorded tracks with Busta Rhimes and Kelly Rowland. A little later with Ariana Grande, then with Ciara and Fatman Scoop.
A year later, Lizzo presented fans with an interesting collaboration with Missy. In 2019, it became known that Melissa was the first hip-hoper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In the same year, her discography was replenished with the mini-album Iconology.
