'''Missy Elliott''' (born '''Melissa Arnette Elliott''' on July 1, 1971) is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Elliott was originally known as '''Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott'''. She dropped the "Misdemeanor" from her stage name in 2003, and now simply goes by "Missy Elliott". Missy Elliott is the biggest selling female rapper of all time, with record sales of 17 million total including US, worldwide, and single sales.
Elliott is one of the first female hip hop artists known for a series of hits including "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)", "Hit 'Em Wit Da Hee", "Get Ur Freak On", "One Minute Man", "Work It", and "Lose Control". In addition she has received recognition as one of the most successful songwriters of the modern music era, having crafted a number of hit records for artists such as Melanie B, Aaliyah, 702, Total, Ciara, Nicole Wray and Tweet, often with production-partner and childhood friend Timbaland. She was the fourth female rapper to ever go Platinum, behind Lil' Kim, Foxy Brown and Da Brat.
Biography
Early years
Elliott was born in Portsmouth, Virginia. In the late-1980s, Elliott, LaShawn Shellman, Chonita Coleman and Radiah Scott formed an R&B group called '''Sista''', for which Elliott served as a singer and songwriter. She recruited her neighborhood friend Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley as the group's producer and began making demo tracks. In 1991, Sista caught the attention of Jodeci member/producer DeVante Swing by performing Jodeci songs acapella for him backstage after one of his group's concerts. In short order, Sista moved to New York City, now signed to Elektra Records through DeVante's Swing Mob imprint. Elliott took along with her Mosley, whom DeVante re-christened Timbaland, and their friend Melvin "Magoo" Barcliff.
All 100-plus members of the Swing Mob, among them future stars such as Ginuwine, Playa, and Tweet, lived in a single two-story house in New York and were often at work on material both for Jodeci and for their own projects. Missy Elliot credited as Melissa Elliot wrote and rapped on Raven-Symone's debut album, Here's to Dreams on the leading single "That's What Little Girls are Made of." Elliott contributed songwriting duties, both credited and uncredited, to the final two Jodeci albums: 1993's ''Diary of a Mad Band'' and 1995's ''The Show, The After Party, The Hotel''. Timbaland and DeVante produced a Sista LP, ''4 All the Sistas Around the World'', which was completed in 1994 but was shelved and never released. By 1995, Swing Mob had folded and many of its members dispersed; Elliott, Timbaland, Magoo, Ginuwine, and Playa remained together, and would collaborate on each others' records for the rest of the decade.
After Swing Mob
After
