Nelly

Two-time Grammy Award-winning rapper and songwriter Nelly began his solo career in 2000 with his debut album Country Grammar, which debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and went on to peak at number one. Country Grammar is Nelly’s best-selling album to date, selling over 8.4 million copies in the United States. His following album Nellyville, produced the number-one hits “Hot in Herre” and “Dilemma” (featuring Kelly Rowland). Other singles included “Work It” (featuring Justin Timberlake), “Air Force Ones” (featuring Murphy Lee and St. Lunatics), “Pimp Juice” and “#1”. With the same-day dual release of Sweat, Suit (2004) and the compilation Sweatsuit (2006), Nelly continued to generate many chart-topping hits including the single “Over and Over” featuring Country music legend Tim McGraw. Sweat debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 342,000 copies in its first week. On the same week of release, Suit debuted at number one, selling around 396,000 copies in its first week on the same chart. Nelly’s fifth studio album, Brass Knuckles, was released in 2008, and produced the singles “Party People” (featuring Fergie), “Stepped on My J’z” (featuring Jermaine Dupri and Ciara) and “Body on Me” (featuring Akon and Ashanti). In 2010, Nelly released the album 5.0. The lead single, “Just a Dream”, was certified triple platinum in the United States. It also included the singles “Move That Body” (featuring T-Pain and Akon) and “Gone” (a sequel to the 2002 single “Dilemma” in collaboration with Kelly Rowland). The Recording Industry Association of America ranks Nelly as the fourth best-selling rap artist in American music history, with 21 million albums sold in the United States. In 2009, Billboard ranked Nelly the number three Top Artist of the Decade.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri Nelly has always stayed true to his Midwest-country roots and in 2013 he teamed up with Country music super stars Florida Georgia Line for the remix to their single “Cruise” which logged 24 weeks at No. 1 on Hot Country Songs, becoming the longest-running No. 1 single on that chart at that time. In 2017 Nelly joined the country music duo’s Smooth tour, performing in stadiums across the country.