Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), better known by his stage name Eminem (often styled "EMINƎM"), is an American rapper, record producer and actor. Eminem quickly gained popularity in 1999 with his major-label debut album, The Slim Shady LP, which won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. The following album, The Marshall Mathers LP, became the fastest-selling solo album in United States history. It brought Eminem increased popularity, including his own record label, Shady Records, and brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition.
The Marshall Mathers LP and his third album, The Eminem Show, also won Grammy Awards, making Eminem the first artist to win Best Rap Album for three consecutive LPs. He then won the award again in 2010 for his album Relapse, giving him a total of 11 Grammys in his career. In 2002, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Lose Yourself" from the film, 8 Mile, in which he also played the lead. "Lose Yourself" would go on to become the longest running No. 1 hip-hop single. Eminem then went on hiatus after touring in 2005. He released his first album since 2004's Encore, titled Relapse, on May 15, 2009. Eminem is the best-selling artist of the decade on the US Nielsen SoundScan, and has sold more than 80 million albums worldwide to date, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world. In 2010 Eminem released his seventh studio album Recovery. It became Eminem's sixth consecutive number-one album in the US and achieved international commercial success, charting at number one in several other countries. It stayed at number-one on the US Billboard 200 chart for five consecutive weeks.
Eminem was ranked 82nd on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All-Time. He was also named the Best Rapper Ever by Vibe magazine in 2008. Including his work with D12, Eminem has achieved nine No. 1 albums on the Billboard Top 200, 7 solo (6 studio albums, 1 compilation) and 2 with D12. Eminem has had 13 number one singles worldwide. In December 2009 Eminem was named the Artist of the Decade by Billboard magazine. His albums The Eminem Show, The Marshall Mathers LP, and Encore (in order) ranked as the 3rd, 7th, and 40th best-selling albums of the 2000-2009 decade by Billboard magazine. According to Billboard, Eminem has two of his albums among the top five highest selling albums of the 2000s. In the UK, Eminem has sold over 12.5 million records.
Eminem was born Marshall Bruce Mathers III on October 17, 1972 in Saint Joseph, Missouri, as the son of Deborah Nelson Mathers-Briggs and Marshall Bruce Mathers, Jr. He is of Scottish, English, German, Swiss, and Polish ancestry. He was raised as an only child by his poverty-stricken mother, as his father had left the family before his son's second birthday and never again came into contact with them. By the age of 12, Mathers and his mother had moved between various cities and towns in Missouri (including Saint Joseph, Savannah, and Kansas City)before they settled in Warren, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit.
After procuring a copy of the Beastie Boys album Licensed to Ill as a teenager, Mathers became interested in hip hop, performing amateur raps at age 14 under the pseudonym "M&M" and joining the group called "Bassmint Productions" and released their first EP, Steppin' Onto The Scene. They later changed their name to "Soul Intent" and around 1995 they released their first single called "Fuckin' Backstabber" under the record label Mashin' Duck Records. Although he was enrolled at Lincoln High School in Warren, he frequently participated in freestyle battles at the now-defunct Osborn High School on Detroit's east side, gaining the approval of underground hip hop audiences. After repeating the ninth grade twice due to truancy and near-failing grades, he dropped out of high school at age 17.
Musical career
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