Nelly

Origins

Nelly was born Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. on November 2, 1974, in Austin, Texas, and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. As a teenager he moved with his mother from St. Louis to University City, a suburb on the city’s western edge. In high school he formed the St. Lunatics with childhood friends Ali, Murphy Lee, Kyjuan, Slo Down and his half-brother City Spud. The group’s 1996 single “Gimme What U Got” gained local radio play and a following in the city,.

Breakthrough

Nelly signed a solo deal with Universal Records in 1999, and other St. Lunatics members appear throughout his first album. His debut album, “Country Grammar”, was released on June 27, 2000. Built largely on production by Jason “Jay E” Epperson, it paired a sing-song Midwestern delivery with regional slang, and the title track drew on the children’s playground chant “Down Down Baby”. The album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 235,000 copies sold and reached No. 1 the following week, holding the top spot for five weeks. Its singles “Country Grammar (Hot S***)” (No. 7), “E.I.” (No. 16) and “Ride wit Me” (No. 3) all reached the Billboard Hot 100, and the RIAA later certified the album diamond.

Key records

“Nellyville” (2002) debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 715,000 copies sold in its first week and was certified six times platinum in June 2003. Its lead single “Hot in Herre” spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 and won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rap Solo Performance in 2003. The follow-up “Dilemma”, a duet with Kelly Rowland, replaced it at the top and held No. 1 for ten non-consecutive weeks. In 2004 he released two albums on the same day, “Sweat” and “Suit”, which debuted at No. 2 and No. 1 respectively. “Suit” included “Over and Over”, a duet with country singer Tim McGraw.

Later career and legacy

Nelly has continued to record and tour, working with labels including Universal, Columbia and Republic, and in April 2013 he appeared on the remix of Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise”. Over his career he has won three Grammy Awards. His success brought the St. Lunatics a Universal deal of their own and helped open a path for other St. Louis rappers, including Chingy and J-Kwon, who reached the national charts in the years that followed. “Country Grammar” remains one of the highest-certified rap albums in the United States and is widely credited with putting St. Louis on the national rap map.