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".
Spouse
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.
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
He wears glasses
Cuts his own hair.
Has said that he would like his daughter, Haile 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 Managment 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
In his 2004 song, "Like Toy Soldiers", he stated he no longer wants 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).
Has 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.
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.
