Missy Elliott

Portsmouth and Sista

Melissa Arnette Elliott was born on July 1, 1971, at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Virginia, and graduated from Manor High School in 1990. In 1988 she formed the R&B group Fayze, later renamed Sista, with La'Shawn Shellman, Chonita Coleman and Radiah Scott. DeVante Swing of Jodeci discovered the group and signed it to Elektra through his Swing Mob imprint. Elliott brought her Tidewater collaborators Timbaland and Magoo with her to New York, where Swing Mob was based.

Supa Dupa Fly

In 1996 Elliott set up her own label, The Goldmind Inc., with East West Records. Her debut “Supa Dupa Fly,” produced entirely by Timbaland, came out in July 1997, debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and topped the R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart. The video for “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly),” with its inflated leather suit, set the visual tone for her career. The RIAA certified the album platinum in September 1997, about two months after release, and it earned Grammy nominations for Best Rap Album and Best Rap Solo Performance. “Da Real World” followed in 1999.

Hits of the 2000s

“Miss E... So Addictive” (2001) reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and included “Get Ur Freak On.” “Under Construction” (2002) peaked at No. 3 and sold 2.1 million copies in the United States, led by “Work It,” which reached No. 2 on the Hot 100. “This Is Not a Test!” arrived in 2003, and “The Cookbook” (2005) reached No. 2 with “Lose Control,” a No. 3 Hot 100 single. Across these records Elliott wrote, rapped, sang and co-produced, and she has won four Grammy Awards.

Honors and legacy

Elliott performed at the Super Bowl XLIX halftime show with Katy Perry in 2015. In 2019 she became the first female rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the first to receive the MTV Video Vanguard Award. In 2023 she became the first female rapper inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Her partnership with Timbaland, formed in the Tidewater area, produced some of the most distinctive rap and R&B records and videos of the late 1990s and 2000s.