Michael Jackson - Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), better known by his stage name Eminem or Slim Shady, is a Grammy and Academy Award-winning American rapper, record producer and occasional actor. He was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri,[1] and was raised in Warren, Michigan and relocated to Detroit, Michigan around the East 8 Mile Rd. & Schoenherr intersection, the same neighborhood where he met his best friend Proof. Mathers got his big break when his talents were discovered by pioneer rapper and producer Dr. Dre, who signed him to his Aftermath Entertainment label, becoming a crossover sensation with his debut single 'My Name Is' and simultaneously earning respect for his technical and lyrical ability. Eminem is noted for his ability to change his vocal pace and style multiple times within one song without losing the beat, and has been praised for his skill in alliteration and assonance; Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney has praised Mathers for his 'verbal energy' and for arousing popular interest in poetry and lyrics.[1]. Mathers is also infamous for the controversy surrounding many of his lyrics. With the enormous success of his highly acclaimed album The Marshall Mathers LP and its subsequent nomination for four Grammy awards including Album of the Year, critics such as GLAAD denounced his lyrics as homophobic and misogynist, while others protested that it promoted violence. The most recent release from Aftermath was a greatest hits album from Eminem called Curtain Call: The Hits in 2005, a compilation covering many of his previous commercial hit songs, in addition to three new tracks. Mathers has stated that he is taking a break from solo work, but continues to produce and collaborate with fellow Aftermath artists as well as G-Unit artists and rappers under his Shady Records label. In 2003 Eminem was named the second most powerful celebrity on the planet.[2] Most recently, on December 5, 2006, Shady Records released Eminem Presents The Re-Up, an album compiled in mixtape format that features Shady Records artist. Having sold over 70 million albums, he's the best selling music artist of the decade so far [3] and also the most commercially successful hip hop artist in history. Biography Early life By most accounts, the Mathers family was poor. They moved constantly, during which Marshall and his mother often lived in public housing, mobile homes, and under the care of relatives. From time to time they also lived in their car, and in fact this is where Eminem's little brother Nathan Samra-Mathers, was born. During this time, Debbie Mathers was taking the prescription medications Vicodin and Valium; Marshall Mathers later claimed in numerous interviews and songs that his mother was abusing the drugs,[2] to which she retaliated with a lawsuit pressing defamation charges (see below). In the song 'Cleaning Out My Closet' (The Eminem Show, 2002), Mathers also accuses his mother of having Munchausen Syndrome, 'made to believe I was sick when I wasn't.' This was not the first time someone had suggested she had the disorder; a social worker had made similar comments in 1996.[citation needed] Marshall's uncle Ronald 'Ronnie' Polkingharn, who was born three months before him on July 27, 1972, introduced Mathers to hip-hop and the two were best friends. On December 14, 1991, 19-year-old Polkingharn committed suicide, an event which Mathers has said was devastating to him and to his entire extended family. Ronnie Nelson's older brother Steven suffered a stroke as a result of the stress. Mathers was so distraught he abandoned his musical career for a year. References to Ronnie's death appear in several songs, including 'Stan,' 'Cleaning Out My Closet,' 'Mockingbird,' 'How Come,' (by D12) and 'My Dad's Gone Crazy.' Mathers has a tattoo on his upper left arm that says 'Ronnie R.I.P.' Before dropping out of Lincoln High School in Warren at the age of 17 after failing ninth grade three times, Mathers made a number of significant acquaintances at the school, including Evan Perks, a three-time chess champion who was shot in a drive by, the late rapper Proof, who was to become one of his closest friends, and future wife Kimberly Ann 'Kim' Scott, with whom he soon developed a long-term relationship. When she became pregnant, Mathers started working on getting a record deal to support his new family; he discusses this in 'Never 2 Far' (Infinite, 1996), saying 'I got a baby on the way, I don't even got a car.... I still stay with my moms.... We gotta make some hit records or something [because] I'm tired of being broke.' When the Infinite album failed to generate the revenue and acclaim he had hoped for, she ended their relationship, preventing him from seeing his newborn child, a daughter named Hailie Jade Scott (born December 25, 1995); distraught, he attempted suicide with an overdose of Tylenol. After the attempt failed, he resumed his efforts to succeed in the music industry and reconcile with his ex-girlfriend.(Linda Swanna) [3] He ultimately succeeded in doing both, marrying her on June 14, 1999, in Saint Joseph, Missouri. Mathers would go on to mention his daughter extensively in some of his songs, including ''97 Bonnie & Clyde' (The Slim Shady LP, 1999), which takes the form of a one-sided dialogue with Hailie, as well as 'Hailie's Song' (The Eminem Show, 2002), 'Mockingbird' (‘‘Encore’’, 2004), and 'When I'm Gone' (Curtain Call: The Hits, 2005), all of which are proclamations of his love and dedication to her. In addition, he samples her voice in the track 'My Dad's Gone Crazy' (The Eminem Show, 2002). Father of Hailie Jade Tattoo of his daughter Hailie born December 25, 1995 on his right arm Hailie Jade Scott Mathers later changed to Hailie Jade Mathers born December 25, 1995, is the daughter of Marshall Bruce Mathers III (Eminem), a successful rapper, and his two time ex wife Kimberly Anne Scott. Her full name is Hailie Jade Scott. Her last name is Scott because when she was born Kim had full custody of her. The songs 'Mockingbird' on Eminem's album Encore and 'Hailie's Song' on The Eminem Show are dedicated to Hailie. The Slim Shady LP is also dedicated to her. Eminem has two tattoo's dedicated to Hailie. One is on his upper right arm which is a portrait of her. The other one is on his lower right arm that says Hailie Jade. 'Hailie's Song' involves a sample of Hailie's laugh in the second verse. Hailie went to the premiere of 8 Mile with Eminem last year Eminem wrote 'Hailie's Song' so he could keep it in the vault for Hailie to hear when she gets older. That changed when he ended up playing it for Hailie and she really liked it. He said he was a little embarrassed to put it out at first. Hailie joined her father personally in the hook for 'My Dad's Gone Crazy' on the album The Eminem Show. She also features prominently as a character in a number of his other songs, most notably in ''97 Bonnie & Clyde' on The Slim Shady LP, which is a fictional account of Eminem dumping Kim's dead body into a lake, accompanied by Hailie. She is also referenced in Eminem's 2005 single 'When I'm Gone, aswell as Lose Yourself and Forgot About Dre.' Hailie is now 11 years old and is still living with Eminem. Eminem has repeatedly stated she is the most important person in his life. The 'Mockingbird' music video appears to feature home movies of Halie Jade and her cousin, Alaina (referred to as Lainy in the song). The more recent videos have the faces of the girls edited out. Alaina has recently been adopted by Eminem and is now legally Hailie Jade's sister. Hailie also has a half sister named Whitney, whom her mother Kim Mathers concieved after her first divorce from rapper Eminem. Hailie has never met her grandmother. Kim told Eminem to send Hailie to stage school, but he refused because he thinks a normal education is important for Hailie. Eminem makes clean versions of his songs just for Hailie. Hailie has a half younger sister named Whitney who was born last year. Em built a home studio just so he could be at home with Hailie when he's working. Hailie is very close friends with Chloe Greenfield, who played Lilly in 8 Mile. Eminem picks Hailie up from school every day. Hailie's favorite TV shows are Power Puff Girls, Hey Arnold, and Dora the Explorer. Early career Interested in rap from a young age, Eminem began performing as early as 13, later gaining some popularity with the group Soul Intent. In 1996, he released an independent underground album named Infinite The album received no airplay and a mixed critical response, with people claiming Eminem's rapping style sounded too similar to Nas and AZ. It was after this that drugs, drama and negativity spread in his life. Mathers followed Infinite with The Slim Shady EP demo, which saw his lyrics take a decidedly darker turn, in songs like 'No One's Iller' and 'Murder Murder', the latter in which he talks about having to commit crimes to feed his daughter. He became famous in the hip-hop underground because of his distinctive, cartoonish style and the fact that he was white in a predominantly black genre. Fellow rapper Snoop Dogg refers to him as rap's 'great white American hope' in the song 'B I t ch Please II' on Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP. Eminem had done a notable amount of work with fellow Detroit MC Royce da 5'9' early in his career. They referred to themselves as Bad Meets Evil, with Eminem playing the evil and Royce playing the bad in the song of the same name on The Slim Shady LP. Royce da 5'9' and Eminem were considered to be two of the best underground MCs in Detroit and were both respected for their battling skills. The Jay-Z song 'Renagade' uses Eminem's verses from a song originally done with Royce called 'Renegade'. The song's first verse ends with the words, 'Royce, he's the king of Detroit...' which was replaced with Eminem making beat box noises for Jay-Z's 'Renagade' (note that the two songs are spelled sl