Eminem's Biography.

Date of Birth
17 October 1972, Kansas City, Missouri, USA

Birth Name
Marshall Bruce Mathers III

Nickname
Slim Shady

Height
5' 8" (1.73 m)

Mini Biography

Born Marshall Bruce Mathers III on October 17, 1972, in Kansas City, Missouri. Spent childhood moving back and forth between Kansas City and Metro Detroit. Attended Lincoln High School in Warren 1986-89. Hustled self-made cassettes of his work to places like Record Time in Roseville. His girlfriend (now wife) Kimberly gave birth to daughter Haile Jade on Dec. 25, 1995. He worked at Gilbert's Lodge (a family restaurant) in St. Clair Shores from 1996-1998. Full-length debut, Infinite, released in 1996. The Slim Shady EP was released in 1998. Later that year, Dr. Dre signed Eminem to his Aftermath label after hearing the rapper free styling on a Los Angeles radio station. The Slim Shady LP was released on Feb. 23, 1999 and hit No. 2 on the Billboard charts within weeks. The Slim Shady LP was 3 times platinum. Eminem has now put out his second full length CD, entitled The Marshall Mathers LP.

Mini Biography

Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born on the 17th October 1972, Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Son of a fifteen-year-old mother at the time of his birth and a father who left six month later never to return, Marshall spent his early childhood being shoved back and forth from Kansas City and Detroit. He settled on the Eastside of Detroit when he was 12. Switching schools every two to three months made it difficult to make friends, graduate and to stay out of trouble. Being a rap fan for most of his life, Marshall began rapping at the early age of 4. Rhyming words together, battling schoolmates in the lunchroom brought joy to what was otherwise a painful existence.

At the age of 14, he began to get very serious about his rapping but it wasn't until he was 17 that he actually made a name for himself, becoming M& M, which he would later respell as "Eminem". Being rejected by most fellow rappers because of his race, Marshall grew an anger that flows through his music to this day. After failing the 9th grade for three times in a row, he quit school, but remarks that he doesn't consider himself stupid and doesn't advise that people should follow his example. He says that it just wasn't for him. Forcing himself on radio shows, freestyle battles, Marshall threw himself head first into the rap game, where he was swallowed up most of the time. His very first album was titled "Infinite" and, while the album sold less than a thousand copies, it was the gearing up stages for the rapper who became a millionaire. It was then that his daughter, Hailie Jade Scott, was born on December 25th of 1995 with long time girlfriend Kim Scott. Having nothing to lose at all, flat broke and not knowing where he would be living the next week, Marshall set out to rant about life in general, the set quickly caught the ear of hip-hop's difficult-to-please underground. What came out of this was the Slim Shady EP, the early work for the later Dr. Dre revised Slim Shady LP. Down to nearly his last dime, he went into the 1997 Rap Olympics in Los Angeles, basically hoping to win the $1,500 cash price which he badly needed. After battling for an hour and throwing back every race diss thrown at him, Marshall made it to second place losing in a slip up. Furious that he had lost, Marshall didn't even notice that he had been spotted. In the crowd were a few producers from Interscope, and they were handed a copy of the "Infinite" tape by way of a demo. Dr. Dre got to hear it and eventually tracked him down. The two instantly hit it off, recording four songs in the their first six hours of working - three which made it to his first LP. After the album was finished, Dr. Dre asked Marshall to come work with him on his new album. He helped produce several tracks and was on the best songs of the album.

Now officially making it, Marshall and Dre set to make his second LP. The album became the Marshall Mathers LP and won 3 Grammies and was the first rap album ever to be nominated "Album of the Year", selling more than 8 million records in the United States alone. He also stunned critics when he shot down all homophobic remarks by performing "Stan" with Elton John. Currently working on his third LP, Em has made a movie, 8 Mile (2002), and has gone back and brought his friend with him; D-12. Though 2001 was a rough year for the rapper, being charged with weapon offenses, divorcing his wife, and almost going to prison, Marshall explains his life today in one word. "Claimer".

SpouseKimberly Anne Scott (14 January 2006 - 19 December 2006) (divorced) 1 child
Kimberly Anne Scott (14 June 1999 - 11 October 2001) (divorced) 1 child


Trade Mark

Spells "Eminem" with the second "e" backwards.

Rarely smiles

Trivia

His 2000 album, "The Marshall Mathers LP", sold 1.76 million copies in the first week of release in the U.S., a record for a solo artist.

His wife Kimberly Mathers was granted physical custody of their 5-year-old daughter, continued financial support, a personal driver, and reinstatement of her credit cards. [29 August 2000]

2000 Album "The Marshall Mathers LP" sold a reported 7 million copies. [January 2001]

3rd January 2001: Album "The Marshall Mathers LP" nominated for 4 Grammy awards at The 43rd Annual Grammy Awards (2001) (TV), including: Album of the Year, Best Rap Album, Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for the track "Forget About Dre" with Dr Dre.

Featured in "Entertainment Weekly" magazine (December 22/29, 2000) and was voted #3 for Entertainer of the Year.

Dr. Dre is Eminem's mentor.

Father of Hailie Jade (b. Christmas Day, 1995)

Raised in Detroit, Michigan.

Got joint custody of daughter Hailie Jade. [2001]

With the band D12, Eminem has had a number 10 hit with S**t on you, and a number 2 hit with Purple Hills (originally titled Purple Pills).

The name 'Eminem' came from his initials M(arshall) M(athers).

He has had an operation on his knee, which led to his awkward stance at numerous performances.

Wanted to be a comic book artist

His ex-wife, Kim, has a twin sister named Dawn.

He wears glasses

Cuts his own hair.

Parodied on "Saturday Night Live" (1975) by Chris Parnell.

Has said that he would like his daughter, Hailie Jade, to become an actress.

Has a younger half-brother called Nathan (his mother's son from a later marriage), born in 1986.

Made $29,000,000 in 2002 with The Eminem Show LP, as the CEO of Shady Records, and the Anger Management Tour '02.

On March 23, 2003 his song "Lose Yourself" from the film 8 Mile (2002) became the first rap song to win an Academy Award. He was not in attendance, and one of the song's co-writers, Luis Resto, accepted the Oscar on his behalf.

Won a Juno Award (Canada's Grammy Awards) for International Album of the Year.

The only white person to ever be on the cover of "The Source" and "XXL" magazines.

Adopted niece, Alaina, giving her his last name.

Was the only guest artist appearing on Jay-Z's album, "The Blueprint."

Has a tattoo of his daughter on his right lower shoulder

Born on the same day as Wyclef Jean.

Released song, "Toy Soldiers", in which he states he no longer want to argue with Ja Rule and other members of Murder Inc.

Failed the 9th grade three times until finally dropping out. He said that he was not stupid [which is evident from interviews and his obvious success], but said that he lacked an interest in school. All he wanted to do was rap.

Favorite movie of all time is Scarface (1983).

Have a half sister and a half brother on his dad's side; Sarah and Michael Mathers.

He was voted the 82nd Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Artist of all time by Rolling Stone.

In May 2003, a minor media stir came about when Eminem refused to allow rock parodist 'Weird Al' Yankovic to produce a video for his "Lose Yourself" parody "Couch Potato". Although semi-official statements from Eminem's camp stated that the rapper wasn't being malicious and simply did not want a parody to detract from his image as a serious hip-hop artist, most of the press that covered the story sided with Yankovic. Despite the lack of the music video, the album featuring the parody, "Poodle Hat", earned Yankovic his highest chart debut in "Billboard" (#17) and, in February 2004, his third Grammy Award.

Has custody of his niece Lainie (short for Alaina). Lainie and his daughter Hailie have been brought up together and are considered sisters and he refers to both as his daughters. Lainie was mentioned in the song Mockingbird on the "Encore" album.

Spoofs his character from 8 Mile (2002) in his music video "Just lose it"

Is a Detroit Pistons fan

Has his own record company called Shady Records

The Eminem Show has sold more than eight million albums

To help support his mother, young Marshall worked as a short-order cook at a Michigan family restaurant called Gilbert's Lodge

At the 1997 Rap Olympics in Los Angeles, he came in second.

Announced he is to remarry his ex-wife, Kim Mathers.

He has sold over 65 million records worldwide (February 2006).

Created his own fashion line called Shady Limited.

Filed for divorce less than 3 months after re-marrying his ex-wife.

Hired young actress Karli Filips twice to portray his daughter, Hailie Jade in his music videos for "Lose Yourself" and "Like Toy Soldiers". When they shot the Toy Soldiers video, Eminem had to be reminded Karli had played his daughter once before.

Adopted his ex-wife's, Kim, other daughter with another man. Her name is Whitney.

His "D 12" band mate Proof was best man at his second wedding to Kim Matters.

His "D 12" band mate Proof was killed in a night club shooting at 5 am. [11th April 2006]

Eddie Guzelian, a producer on the hit Disney Channel show American Dragon: Jake Long, wrote in his blog for the show that the character of Jake's little sister was named after Hailie, Eminems daughter. Eddie is a big Eminem fan and was actually listening to one of his albums while creating the character.

Filed for divorce from Kimberly Anne Scott after only 82 days after marrying her for the second time.

Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". Volume 245, pages 121- 122. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2006.

Monday 26th Feb 2001: Winner of Best International Male at the 2001 Brit Awards.

His ancestry is partly German and Swiss-German.

Son of Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr. and wife Deborah R. Nelson (later remarried).

His maternal grandmother Betty Hixson was married five times. He is her grandson from her first marriage.

Ranked #6 on VH1's 50 Greatest Hip Hop Artists.

Is good friends with Jay-Z.

Personal Quotes

"I don't want them once they turn 18" - On Britney Spears & Christina Aguilera

"At this point, I'm like "Come up with something new." I hate the same old questions. But it seems like "white" magazines such as Spin and Rolling Stone focus on my "whiteness" more than Black magazines" --On his colour

"Why is it so hard for people to believe that white people are poor?! I wouldn't say I lived in a ghetto, I'd say I lived in the 'hood. The same friends I had back then are the same people on tour with me now"

"There's a difference between realness and an act, and they're an act, and they know they're an act, and they even say they're an act, they even say they're cornballs, they admit it." --On ICP

"I think my first album opened a lot of doors for me to push the freedom of speech to the limit."

"My family has never been there for me. They expect things because we're blood." --On his family

"Some asshole kept throwing oranges and other fruit at me while I was onstage. Fucker had an arm like a major league pitcher..." --About one of his concerts.

"Don't do drugs, don't have unprotected sex, don't be violent. Leave that to me."

"I had too much NyQuil and Vivarin again. Lost my stomach all over the place."

"Never take ecstasy, beer, baccardi, weed, pepto bismol, vivarin, tums, tagamet hb, xanax, and valium in the same day. It makes it difficult to sleep at night."

"Sometimes I'm real cool, but sometimes I could be a real asshole. I think everyone is like that."

"I would never fucking put them in a rhyme. I don't even want them wondering if I was trying to diss them. I got a lot of love for them. I grew up on that shit. The other rappers, whatever." --On the Beastie Boys.

"All my life I've been dealing with my race because of where I grew up [Detroit] and being in the rap game. I'm at a boiling point...Anybody who pulls the race card is getting it right back in their face."

"I get offended when people say, `So, being a white rapper...and growing up white...after being born white...' It's all I ever hear!"

"You can't control who likes you. If I got Backstreet Boy fans what am I supposed to do? Turn them away? Whoever likes my stuff, likes my stuff but just know Slim Shady is hip hop, I grew up on hip hop, it's the music I love and it's the music I respect. I respect the culture...that's me"

"It doesn't exactly feel like a shock, but it's all new to me, and I'm taking it in as it comes." --On his rise to stardom.

"A lot of my rhymes are just to get chuckles out of people. Anybody with half a brain is going to be able to tell when I'm joking and when I'm serious."

"A bunch of girls, swinging from a nice chandelier, landing on top of me naked...while I lay in a pool of steaming hot water!" --On his spring break fantasy

"I try not to look at it that way. Being white. I don't wake up every day and look in the mirror, 'Oh. I'm white'."

"My father? I never knew him. Never even seen a picture of him."

"Slim Shady is just the evil thoughts that come into my head. Things I shouldn't be thinking about. Not to be gimmicky, but people should be able to determine when I'm serious and when I'm fuckin around. That's why a lot of my songs are funny. I got a warped sense of humor I guess." --On his alter-ego, Slim Shady.

"There was a while when I was feeling like, 'Damn, if I'd just been born black, I would not have to go through all this'."

"When I was 9 years old, my uncle put me on to the Breakin' soundtrack. The first rap song I ever heard was Ice-T, 'Reckless.' From L.L. to the Fat Boys, and all that shit, I was fascinated. When L.L. first came out with 'I'm Bad', I wanted to do it, to rhyme. Standing in front of the mirror, I wanted to be like L.L." --On his influences.

"I'm not alone in feeling the way I feel. I believe that a lot of people can relate to my shit--whether white, black, it doesn't matter. Everybody has been through some shit, whether it's drastic or not so drastic. Everybody gets to the point of 'I don't give a fuck'."

"It was an honor to hear the words out of Dre's mouth that he liked my shit. Growing up, I was one of the biggest fans of N.W.A, from putting on the sunglasses and looking in the mirror and lipsinking, to wanting to be Dr. Dre, to be Ice Cube. This is the biggest hip-hop producer ever."

"I had nothing to lose, but something to gain. If I made an album for me and it was to my satisfaction, then I succeeded. If I didn't, then my producers were going to give up on the whole rap thing we were doing. I made some shit that I wanted to hear. The Slim Shady EP, I lashed out on everybody who talked shit about me."

"I do say things that I think will shock people. But I don't do things to shock people. I'm not trying to be the next Tupac, but I don't know how long I'm going to be on this planet. So while I'm here, I might as well make the most of it."

"Anybody with a sense of humour is going to put on my album and laugh from beginning to end."

"Saving Private Ryan was probably the illest, sickest movie I've ever watched, and I didn't see anybody criticizing that one for violence."

"I grew up listening to 2 Live Crew and N.W.A. and I never went out and shot nobody."

"I don't like rap anyways, I'm just trying to get my porno career started."

"We just kept moving back and forth because my mother never had a job. We kept getting kicked out of every house we were in. I believe six months was the longest we ever lived in a house."

"I had this whole Slim Shady concept of being two different people, having two different sides of me. One of them I was trying to let go, and I looked at the mirror and smashed it. That was the whole intro of the Slim Shady EP. Slim Shady was coming to haunt me, was coming to haunt Eminem."

"Whoever likes my stuff, likes my stuff. But just know Slim Shady is hip hop. I grew up on hip hop, it's the music I love and it's the music I respect. I respect the culture...that's me."

"If I said in one of my songs that my English teacher wanted to have sex with me in junior high, all I'm saying, is that I'm not gay, you know? People confuse the lyrics for me speaking my mind. I don't agree with that lifestyle, but if that lifestyle is for you, then it's your business." --On homosexuality.

"I don't like to give the sob story: growing up in a single-parent home, never knew my father, my mother never worked, and when friends came over I'd hide the welfare cheese. Yo, I failed ninth grade three times, but I don't think it was necessarily 'cause I'm stupid. I didn't go to school. I couldn't deal."

(On if he let's his daughter listen to his music) Yeah, I do. Not all of it I play for her. Some songs, got a lot of cussing, especially the one she's on. So I make her a clean version. 'Cause I protect my Child! Not yours! Rest of the kids I don't care about - buy my album, go murder, rape, pillage, kill!"

(On his Oscar and why he didn't go to the show) "I'm thankful for it, I'm not ungrateful. I'm very grateful. I just don't choose to rub elbows with the whole Hollywood scene. It's not me. If there is just one award show you don't go to you gonna look ungrateful. Period. But me, I just don't like to go to places where I feel outta my element. And me sitting there with a bunch of movie stars and actors, I don't belong. I rap and do hip-hop, the music that I love. I'm about the music. The grammy's are about as far as I'm goin' go outside my element. It's still cool that I got it."

"Infinite was me trying to figure out how I wanted my rap style to be, how I wanted to sound on the mic and present myself. It was a growing stage. I felt like Infinite was like a demo that just got pressed up."

"I think my first album opened a lot of doors for me to push the freedom of speech to the limit."

"Anybody with a sense of humor is going to put on my album and laugh from beginning to end."

"I don't have to say anything to my fans about my music and try to explain it, because they get it, and that's why they are fans, do you know what I mean?"

"Though I'm not the first king of controversy, I am the worst thing since Elvis Presley, to do Black Music so selfishly and use it to get myself wealthy."

"I remember once when I was 16 he came to my house, we were living on the east side of 8 mile, he came over with a brand new pair of shoes and he threw them at my feet and said 'Put those on', and I said 'why'? He said 'Because I'm tired of you wearing them dirty ass shoes'" His eulogy on the late Proof

Salary8 Mile (2002) $3,000,000


Where Are They Now

(September 2003) Working on his fourth LP

(November 2004) Released his fourth album, "Encore" on November 12th.

(August 2005) Announced that he isn't retiring from the hip hop industry, but is taking a break to focus on his family.

(December 2005) Released an album called "Curtain Call: The Hits" which is a collection of his greatest hits, with 3 new songs.

(September 2006) Preparing to release a new album entitled 'The Re-Up' under his record label, Shady Records. It will feature new material from Eminem as well as songs from up-and-coming Shady Records artists, such as Stat Quo, Ca$his and Bobby Creekwater. It will also feature Obie Trice, D12, G-Unit and other artists on Shady and G-Unit Records. The first single from 'The Re-Up' will be "You Don't Know" by Eminem, 50 Cent, Ca$his and Lloyd Banks. The album is slated for release in December of 2006 and is executive produced by Eminem.