Musicians - Missy Elliott

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	Musicians - Missy Elliott

Missy Elliott (born Melissa Arnette Elliott on July 1, 1971) is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Formerly known as Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, Elliott dropped the "Misdemeanor" from her stage name in 2003, and now simply goes by "Missy Elliott".

Elliott is one of the first female hip hop superstars, known for a long series of hits including "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)", "She's a Bitch", "Get Ur Freak On", "Lose Control", and "Work It". In addition she has received recognition as one of the most successful songwriters of the modern music era, having crafted a number of hit records for artists such as Aaliyah, 702, Total, Ciara, Nicole Wray and Tweet, often with production-partner and childhood friend Timbaland.

Biography

Elliott was born in Portsmouth, Virginia. In the late-1980s, Elliott, LaShawn Shellman, Chonita Coleman and Radiah Scott formed an R&B group called Sista, for which Elliott served as a singer and songwriter. She recruited her neighborhood friend Timothy "DJ Timmy Tim" Mosley as the group's producer and began making demo tracks. In 1991, Sista caught the attention of Jodeci member/producer DeVante Swing by performing Jodeci songs acapella for him backstage after one of his group's concerts. In short order, Sista moved to New York City, now signed to Elektra Records through DeVante's Swing Mob imprint. Elliott took along with her Mosley, whom DeVante re-christened Timbaland, and their friend Melvin "Magoo" Barcliff.

All 50-plus members of the Swing Mob, among them future stars such as Ginuwine, Playa, and Tweet, lived in a single two-story house in New York and were often at work on material both for Jodeci and for their own projects. Elliott contributed songwriting duties, both credited and uncredited, to the final two Jodeci albums: 1993's Diary of a Mad Band and 1995's The Show, The After Party, The Hotel. Timbaland and DeVante produced a Sista LP, 4 All the Sistas Around the World, which was completed in 1994 but was shelved and never released. By 1995, Swing Mob had folded and many of its members dispersed; Elliott, Timbaland, Magoo, Ginuwine, and Playa remained together, and would collaborate on each others' records for the rest of the decade.

Career

Elliott/Mosley songwriting/production team

After leaving Swing Mob, Elliott and Timbaland began working together as an independent songwriting/production team, and the two of them crafted hit singles for a number of artists between 1995 to 1997. Among these acts were SWV ("Can We?") and 702 ("Steelo" and its remix), but the most notable of them was Aaliyah. Elliott and Timbaland wrote and produced nine tracks for Aaliyah's second album, One in a Million (1996), among them the hit singles "If Your Girl Only Knew", "One in a Million", "Hot Like Fire", and "4 Page Letter". Elliott also contributed background vocals and/or guest raps to nearly all of the tracks on which she and Timbaland worked. One in a Million went double-platinum and made stars out of the production duo. Elliott and Timbaland continued to work together for other artists, later creating hits for artists such as Total ("What About Us", 1997), Nicole Wray ("Make It Hot", 1998), and Destiny's Child ("Get on the Bus", 1998), as well as one final hit for Aaliyah, "I Care 4 U", before her 2001 death.

Solo Career

As a solo rapper, Elliott began her career as a featured vocalist on Gina Thompson's "The Things You Do" and MC Lyte's 1996 single "Cold Rock a Party", both of which were produced by Sean "Puffy" Combs; Combs had hoped to sign Elliott to Bad Boy Records. She instead signed a deal with Elektra Records in 1996 to create her own imprint, The Goldmind Inc., for which she would record as a solo artist. Timbaland was again recruited as her production partner, a role he would hold for every Elliott solo release.

Over a decade after she first began offering songwriting and production services, Missy Elliott is still as widely recognized and respected by her peers, mainstream and underground, as ever: Most recently, Elliott has provided production work, to Ciara and was a featured rapper on Ciara's second single, a Jazze Pha production, "1, 2 Step".

With UPN, Missy started her own reality show, The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott. Although the series never made impressive ratings, it did maintain a solid audience. The winner, Jessica Betts, plans to release her album in 2006.

Albums

Supa Dupa Fly

Her debut album, released in mid-1997, was Supa Dupa Fly, which included "Da Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)", a blockbuster hit that established Missy as a major force in popular music. Other singles included "Beep Me 911," which featured 702, Timbaland, and Magoo; "Hit 'Em wit da Hee," featuring rapper LiL Kim and Timbaland; and "Sock It 2 Me," a moderate hit which featured rhymes from Da Brat and a cameo by Lil' Kim in the Mega Man-inspired music video. The critical acceptance of Supa Dupa Fly was mixed, though generally positive; many critics commented that the album tracks, some of which sampled Missy / Mosley hits such as "Can We" and "One in a Million", were far inferior to the singles. 1997 also saw Elliott perform on Lil Kim's girl-power anthem, a hit remix of her song, "Not Tonight". The song's remix also featured Da Brat, Angie Martinez and Left Eye, in addition to Lil Kim and Elliott; the five women performed it live at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards show.

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