Cornell spent part of his first years in Spain while his father was in the US Military, and moved to St. Louis, Missouri for elementary school. Nelly's parents divorced when he was eight years old. To stay out of trouble he started playing baseball. In 1993 he left his gritty St. Louis hood and settled in the suburban area of University City. He formed a rap group called St.Lunatics with his highschool friends Kyjuan Ali, Murphy Lee and his little brother City Spud. He rapped and played baseball in the St. Louis Amateur Baseball Association and was hoping to play professional ball one day. He also created his own clothing line Vokal before his music took off.
In 1999 Nelly and his group decided that it would be best if he went solo first and then
come out with the group after he signs a deal. City Spud was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison for robbery. He captured the mainstream audiences with his debut album Country Grammar. The album went 9x platinum with the help of his two hit singles Country Grammar and E.I.
In 2001 he Kept his promise to the group and dropped The St.Lunatics debut album Free City, with two hits such as "Summer In The City" and "Midwest Swing".
That year Nelly's sister was diagnosed with Leukemia.
In 2002 he dropped his follow up album Nellyville which established him as a hip-hop superstar. With four singles released from the album, "Hot in Herre", "Dilemma", "Air Force Ones", and "Pimp Juice". He won two grammys for Best Male Rap Solo Performance and shared a Grammy with Kelly Rowland for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. The album went 6x platinum. Ali also released his solo debut Heavy Starch without any major success.
In 2003 Nelly and his sister created Jes Us 4 Jackie campaign, to help find a donor for a bone marrow. He also released a remix album of all his hits called Da Derrty Versions: The Reinvention which went platinum. Murphy lee from the St.Lunatics dropped his solo debut, Murphy's Law. He signed a 1 year contract with Nike to release the limited edition Air Derrty after the success of his single Air Force Ones.
In 2004 he dropped two albums simultaneously, Sweat and Suit. Sweat being a rap album and Suit being an R&B album. Sweat went platinum while the Suit album went 3x platinum with the help of the slow ballad over an over, with country music star Tim McGraw.
He also won a grammy with Murphy Lee and P.Diddy for the song Shake Ya Tailfeather.
In 2005 he appeared in the movie The Longest Yard. On march 24th his sister jackie died from Leukemia. the foundation the set up was not able to find a donor however the foundation was able to find donors for others.
In 2006 he has a new hit with Paul Wall called Grillz. He is also dating Ashanti and enjoying his new success with his female clothing line apple bottoms.
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