Nelly was born in 1974, in Austin, Texas and when his parents divorced, he went to St. Louis, Missouri with his mother. His real name is Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. and he formed his first hip hop group named St. Lunatics, with four friends from High School. Since the group couldn't find success out of St. Louis, they left Nelly to follow a solo career, who made a contract with Universal Music Group.
Nelly's first album "Country Grammar" came out in 2000 and reached no. 3 on the USA album charts, following the success of its homonymous single. Among the hits was the song "Ride wit Me", which also reached the third position on the USA and UK charts. In the meantime, he released with St. Lunatics their only album in the summer of 2001, under the name "Free City" which became an instant success. His second album was named "Nellyville" and came out in 2002. It contains collaborations with the other members of St. Lunatics and with Justin Timberlake. The album reached the top of the US charts, as well as the songs "Hot in Herre" (it won the "Best Male Rap Solo Performance Grammy Award in 2003) and "Dilemma" (with Kelly Rowland) who reached the top of the corresponding chart in the USA. Although Nelly was accused of being a misogynist because of the content of his video clips, the album became six times platinum and he worked with P. Diddy's in "Shake Ya Tailfeather", that later brought to him another Grammy.
His success was continued with the next two albums, "Sweat" and "Suit" that came out in September of 2004. The first entered at the second place of the US charts, while "Suit" managed to reach the top, with the song "My Place" to separate. Another new song, named "Grill" was released in late 2007 and became also no. 1. It is a cooperation with a lot of artists, including Ali from St. Lunatics and Paul Wall. It was followed by Nelly's fifth album, "Brass Knuckles" in 2008. The album includes many collaborations with artists such as Snoop Dogg, Usher, Fergie, Pharrell and more.
Nelly's next album was "5.0" that was released in November of 2010. It contains a lot of songs with famous artists. Among them are DJ Khaled, Chris Brown, T.I., T-Pain, Akon and Kelly Rowland. The song "Just a Dream" entered the top 10 charts in many countries around the world. In 2011, Nelly released a mixtape, that apart from St. Lunatics' appearance, contains the participation of 2 Chainz, T.I. and others. His seventh album "M.O." came out in 2013 and from November of 2014, Nelly appears in the "Nellyville" TV series, which presents parts from his life and his family.
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