Missy Elliott

Melissa Arnette "Missy" Elliott (born July 1, 1971 in Portsmouth , Virginia ) is an American rapper , singer and music producer .

Missy Elliott became one of the first female hip hop superstars . As a rapper / singer, she had several hits such as One Minute Man , All N My Grill and Get Ur Freak On . In addition, she is considered one of the most successful songwriters and producers in the hip hop and R'n'B scene. She wrote hits for Aaliyah , Christina Aguilera , Destiny's Child , Monica , Pink , Janet Jackson , Mýa , Mariah Carey , Tweet and Whitney Houston , among others - often together with her producer partner Timbaland , with whom she has been friends since childhood.

In 2005 she renounced her middle name Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott.

biography

Early career

In the late 1980s, Elliott, LaShawn Shellman, Chonita Coleman and Radiah Scott formed the R&B band Sista . Missy Elliott sang and wrote for the group and introduced her colleagues to childhood friend Timothy "DJ Tiny Tim" Mosley , who started producing demo tracks with them early on as an executive producer. In 1991, Jodeci producer DeVante Swing became aware of the group when they sang a cappella songs by Jodeci for him after a concert by his group. Shortly thereafter, Sista moved with Mosley - who Swing renamed Timbaland - and friend Melvin "Magoo" Barcliff to New York, where they signed a contract with DeVante's Elektra sub-label Swing Mob .

Swing formed Swing Mob , 20 musicians and artists - including future stars Ginuwine , Playa and Tweet - who all lived in a two-story building in New York and worked together on both Jodeci material and their own publications. At that time Missy contributed tracks for the last two Jodeci albums Diary of a Mad Band (1993) and The Show, the After Party, the Hotel (1995). Meanwhile, Timbaland and DeVante produced the Sista LP 4 All the Sistas Around the World (1994) .

Elliott / Mosley Producer Team

After leaving Swing Mob, Missy and Timbaland began working together as an independent songwriter / producer team. A number of hit singles such as Can We? for SWV or Steelo for 702 . Most important was the activity for Aaliyah . Elliott and Timbaland wrote and produced nine tracks for Aaliyah's second album, One in a Million (1996), including hits If Your Girl Only Knew , One in a Million , Hot Like Fire , and 4-Page Letter . Missy also contributed background vocals and / or rap passages to all of the tracks she and Timbaland produced on the album. With the success of the singles and the double-platinum album, the producer duo became well-known stars. They later produced other tracks for Total ( What About Us ), Nicole Wray ( Make It Hot ) and Destiny's Child ( Get on the Bus ). The Rolling Stone praised their songwriting partnership with rank 96 of the 100 best songwriters of all time .

Solo career

In 1996, Missy first appeared as a guest rapper and background singer on MC Lyte's 1996 single, Cold Rock a Party . The song was produced by P. Diddy , who hoped to get her to sign with Bad Boy Records . Against all odds , however, Elliott signed with Elektra Records that same year , where she got her own sub-label Goldmind , on which her previous solo releases have appeared.

First successes

In 1997 Missy Elliott released her debut album Supa Dupa Fly in collaboration with friend and producer Timbaland . The first release Da Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) became a worldwide chart success and made it a recognized figure in the music business - especially in hip-hop. The criticism was generally positive and although the sales figures refuted their theories, many critics noted that the album tracks were musically far inferior to the singles released. That same year, Elliott made a guest appearance in the remix of Lil 'Kim's girl power anthem Not Tonite, alongside Da Brat , Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes and Angie Martínez . The five appeared together at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards .

In 1999 she released her second album. Da Real World was just as successful as the debut. On it, the single "All N My Grill" were in collaboration with protégé Nicole Ray and Big Boi of OutKast , and other extractions as "She's a Bitch" and "Hot Boyz" with Nas , Eve and Lil 'Mo .

Further career

2001 followed with Miss E… So Addictive to date Missy's greatest success. The singles "Get Ur Freak On" and "One Minute Man" (featuring Ludacris & Trina or Jay-Z ) became hits worldwide and, in addition to two Grammys, also earned the album several platinum awards. In the course of the success, two more singles were then released: The ballad "Take Away" (with tweet and Ginuwine ), which was considered a homage to Aaliyah , who died shortly before , and the up-tempo track "4 My People", the is one of Missy's most successful releases.

In 2002 she came back with Under Construction , her fourth album. This long-player, which is primarily dedicated to a new edition of old-school hip-hop, is still considered Elliott's best-selling and best-known production and has been celebrated by critics of the music press. With "Work It", Elliott's most successful single ever, and "Gossip Folks", a duet with Ludacris, which, among other things, addressed her significant weight loss in the same year, further hits were added to her career.

Less than eleven months later, in November 2003, their next long player, This Is Not a Test, was already in stores. However, the mediocre success of the first single “Pass That Dutch” and the lack of a promotion caused mostly disappointing sales figures. The follow-up single "I'm Really Hot" was hardly heard either and consequently could not score high in the charts.

After more or less inconspicuous collaborations with Christina Aguilera , Beyoncé, Timbaland and Tweet, Missy finally returned to the public eye in spring 2005 at the side of Ciara and “ 1, 2 Step ”. At the same time she finished work on her sixth studio album The Cookbook , which was released in early July 2005 and produced the extremely successful pre-single "Lose Control", another collaboration with Ciara and Fatman Scoop . In autumn 2005 and spring 2006, the ballads "Teary Eyed" and "We Run This" followed, two more singles, which were less successful in the charts than "Lose Control", but contributed to the success of the album. A total of 2 million CDs went over the counter.

In September 2006, Elliot's first best-of album, Respect ME , was released exclusively in Europe. It became the most successful album of her entire career in the UK. With number 7 in the UK album charts and 500,000 CDs sold, it became one of the most successful best-of albums of 2006.

At the beginning of 2008 Missy Elliott announced her new album “Block Party”, first releasing the songs “Ching a Ling” and “Shake your pom-pom” for the film “Step Up 2”. Throughout 2008, the release of the album was repeatedly postponed. It wasn't until the end of 2008 that she announced that she was not satisfied with the material for “Block Party” and that she would have to rework the album. In 2009, however, it became quiet around her. The song "Best Best", which should also be included on "Block Party", was released on the Internet in 2009 and received only moderate response. There was neither a video nor was the song played on the radio.

In the years that followed, Missy Elliott remained quiet, even though she always stated that she worked in the studio. In 2011, she spoke about her illness and the difficulties it caused. Elliott has Basedow's disease , an autoimmune disease of the thyroid. In the summer of 2011, she announced that her new album Block Party would be produced mainly by Timbaland, and another new song appeared on the internet with “Put it on ya”. As a result, announced release dates for the album have been postponed. In September 2012, two more "Buzz Singles", "9th Inning" and "Triple Threat" were released, which deal with their upcoming comeback - the album, announced since 2008, has not been released to this day.

On February 1, 2015, Missy Elliott performed alongside Katy Perry and Lenny Kravitz during the half-time break of Super Bowl XLIX and sang her hits Get your Freak on and Lose Control , among others . Her comeback single WTF (Where They From) with Pharrell brought her success as in her previous years. The song was very successful in the worldwide charts. Her next release was called I'm Better with Lamb. Another version of the song with Lil Kim , Eve and Trina was released on the internet.

For Ghostbusters - remake was in 2016 with Fall Out Boy , a new version of the theme song recorded. The Time Magazine and the Los Angeles Times were not thrilled with this cover. For 2019, Elliott has announced a new album and her comeback on her Instagram account. In collaboration with Fat Joe , she released the remix for Ciara's Level Up . On August 22nd, 2019 she released her new EP Iconology . At the same time she released a music video for one of the songs, "Throw It Back".

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
year	title	DE	AT	CH	UK	US	R&B	Remarks
1997	Supa Dupa Fly	-	-	-	UK- silver UK	US3 platinum (37 weeks)US	R&B1 (41 weeks) R&B	First published: July 15, 1997 Sales: + 2,500,000
1999	Because Real World	DE20 (16 weeks) DE	-	CH42 (8 weeks) CH	UK42 silver (6 weeks)UK	US10 platinum (39 weeks)US	R&B1 (42 weeks) R&B	First published: June 22, 1999 Sales: + 1,060,000
2001	Miss E ... So Addictive	DE12 (19 weeks) DE	AT23 (17 weeks) AT	CH16 (23 weeks) CH	UK10 platinum (42 weeks)UK	US2 platinum (43 weeks)US	R&B1 (47 weeks) R&B	First published: May 15, 2001 Sales: + 5,300,000
2002	Under construction	DE19 (18 weeks) DE	-	CH26 (12 weeks) CH	UK23 gold (30 weeks)UK	US3 × 2 Double platinum (35 weeks)US	R&B2 (43 weeks) R&B	First published: November 12, 2002 Sales: + 3,300,000+
2003	This is not a test	DE37 (7 weeks) DE	AT67 (2 weeks) AT	CH25 (7 weeks) CH	UK49 gold (10 weeks)UK	US13 platinum (19 weeks)US	R&B3 (21 weeks) R&B	First published: November 25, 2003 Sales: + 1,100,000
2005	The Cookbook	DE19 (10 weeks) DE	AT34 (9 weeks) AT	CH8 (11 weeks) CH	UK33 (6 weeks) UK	US2 gold (17 weeks)US	R&B2 (22 weeks) R&B	First published: July 5, 2005 Sales: + 500,000

Filmography

1997: Family Matters
1997: The Wayans Bros.
2001: Pootie Tang
2003: Honey with Jessica Alba
2004: Big Sharks - Small Fish (voice and song)
2004: Fade to Black, a documentary about the rapper Jay-Z (as herself)
2005: Just for Kicks
2008: Step Up 2 (Soundtrack)
2016: Star (TV series, 2 episodes)

Awards (selection)

Grammy Award

2002: Best solo performance - Rap: "Get Ur Freak On"
2003: Best female solo performance - Rap: "Scream aka Itchin"
2004: Best female solo performance - Rap: "Work It"
2006: Best short music video: "Lose Control"

American Music Awards

2003: Most popular rap / hip-hop artist
2005: Most popular rap / hip-hop artist

BET Awards

2002: Best Hip Hop Artist
2003: Best Hip Hop Artist
2004: Best Hip Hop Artist
2005: Best collaboration: "1, 2 Step" (with Ciara )
2006: Best Hip Hop Artist

MTV Video Music Awards

2001: Video of the year: “Lady Marmalade” sung by Christina Aguilera , Lil 'Kim, Mýa and Pink
2001: Best video from a film: “Lady Marmalade” sung by Christina Aguilera, Lil 'Kim, Mýa and Pink
2003: Best Hip-Hop Video: "Work It"
2003: Video of the year: "Work It"
2005: Best Dance Video: "Lose Control"
2005: Best Hip-Hop Video: "Lose Control"
2006: Best Special Effects in a Video: "We Run This"
2019: Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award

literature

Henry Keazor, Thorsten Wübbena: Video Thrills the Radio Star. Music videos: history, themes, analysis. Transcript-Verlag, Bielefeld 2005, ISBN 3-89942-383-6 , pp. 82-86 and 96-104.
Michael Rappe: Under Construction. Context-related analysis of Afro-American pop music (= Musicolonia. Vol. 6). 2 volumes. Dohr, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-936655-67-4 (also: Kassel, University, dissertation, 2009).

Web links

Commons : Missy Elliott - collection of images, videos and audio files

Missy Elliott's website
Missy Elliott at Discogs (English)
Missy Elliott at Allmusic (English)
Biography, discography, tour dates and further information. In: warnermusic.de
Missy Elliott at laut.de
Literature by and about Missy Elliott in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

↑ The 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. Rolling Stone , August 2015, accessed August 7, 2017 .
↑ https://www.highsnobiety.com/2017/05/24/missy-elliott-im-better-remix/
↑ Melissa Locker: Fall Out Boy Is Here to Ruin the Ghostbusters Theme Song. In: time.com. June 23, 2016. Retrieved July 9, 2016 .
↑ Randall Roberts: Exactly how bad is Fall Out Boy's new 'Ghostbusters' theme song? In: latimes.com. June 23, 2016. Retrieved July 9, 2016 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c worldwide sales of some of Missy Elliott's albums

personal data
SURNAME	Elliott, Missy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Elliott, Melissa Arnette (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American rapper, singer and producer
DATE OF BIRTH	July 1, 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH	Portsmouth , Virginia , USA

[1] The 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. Rolling Stone , August 2015, accessed August 7, 2017 .

[2] ttps://www.highsnobiety.com/2017/05/24/missy-elliott-im-better-remix/

[3] Melissa Locker: Fall Out Boy Is Here to Ruin the Ghostbusters Theme Song. In: time.com. June 23, 2016. Retrieved July 9, 2016 .

[4] Randall Roberts: Exactly how bad is Fall Out Boy's new 'Ghostbusters' theme song? In: latimes.com. June 23, 2016. Retrieved July 9, 2016 .

[Verkäufe-5] worldwide sales of some of Missy Elliott's albums