Remixed by DJ Volume / Ultimix

Missy Elliott (born Melissa Arnette Elliott on July 1 , 1971 ) is an American singer , rapper , songwriter , and record producer . She is also known as Missy " Misdemeanor " Elliott althought Elliott dropped the "Misdemeanor" from her stage name in 2003, and now simply goes by "Missy Elliott".

Elliott is one of the first female hip hop superstars, known for a long 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 Aaliyah , 702 , Total , Ciara , Nicole Wray and Tweet , often with production-partner and childhood friend Timbaland .

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 "DJ Timmy Tim" 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 50-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. 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 leaving Swing Mob, Elliott and Timbaland began working together as an independent songwriting/production team, and the two of them crafted hit singles for a number of artists between 1995 to 1997. Among these acts were SWV ("Can We?") and 702 ("Steelo" and its remix ), but the most notable of them was Aaliyah . Elliott and Timbaland wrote and produced nine tracks for Aaliyah's second album, One in a Million (1996), among them the hit singles "If Your Girl Only Knew", "One in a Million", "Hot Like Fire", and "4 Page Letter". Elliott also contributed background vocals and/or guest raps to nearly all of the tracks on which she and Timbaland worked. One in a Million went double- platinum and made stars out of the production duo. Elliott and Timbaland continued to work together for other artists, later creating hits for artists such as Total ("What About Us", 1997), Nicole Wray ("Make It Hot", 1998), and Destiny's Child ("Get on the Bus", 1998), as well as one final hit for Aaliyah, "I Care 4 U", before her 2001 death.

As a solo rapper, Elliott began her career as a featured vocalist on Gina Thompson's, "The Things You Do" and MC Lyte 's 1996 single "Cold Rock a Party", both of which were produced by Sean "Puffy" Combs ; Combs had hoped to sign Elliott to Bad Boy Records . She instead signed a deal with Elektra Records in 1996 to create her own imprint, The Goldmind Inc. , for which she would record as a solo artist. Timbaland was again recruited as her production partner, a role he would hold for every Elliott solo release.

Over a decade after she first began offering songwriting and production services, Missy Elliott is still as widely recognized and respected by her peers, mainstream and underground, as ever. Most ently, Elliott has provided production work, to Ciara and was a featured rapper on Ciara's second single, a Jazze Pha production, "1, 2 Step".

With UPN , Missy started her own reality show, The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott . Although the series never made impressive ratings, it did maintain a solid audience. The winner, Jessica Betts , plans to release her album in 2006.

Her sixth solo album, The Cookbook was released in July 2005 and debuted at number two on the US charts. Its first single, " Lose Control ", which featured Ciara and Fatman Scoop , became a Top 10 hit in the early summer (peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 ), and the other album tracks featured guest appearances from Mike Jones , Fantasia , M.I.A , Slick Rick , Mary J. Blige , and Pharrell Williams . The video for "Lose Control" garnered Elliott six 2005 MTV VMA award nominations, ultimately winning two awards in the categories Best Dance Video and Best Hip-Hop Video in August. After the VMA's, Missy released "Teary Eyed" which never saw chart action although the video charted on MTV's Total Request Live for a few weeks.

In early September, Missy tore her Achilles tendon while shooting the music video for her song " We Run This ", requiring surgery and a long recovery, thus dampening promotion efforts for The Cookbook . In November 2005 , Elliot won Best Female Hip Hop Artist at the 2005 American Music Awards, defeating colleagues Lil' Kim and Trina. Also in November, Missy's remixed version of Ashlee Simpson 's "L.O.V.E." (from her sophomore effort, I Am Me ) was included on the CD single.

Elliot premiered her own reality show on the UPN Network, The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott in mid-2005. Although the series never made impressive ratings, it did maintain a solid audience. The winner, Jessica Betts , plans to release her album in 2006.

In December, Missy was nominated for 5 Grammy Awards, including two for "Lose Control" (Best Short From Video and Best Rap Song), one for The Cookbook (Best Rap Album), one for writing Fantasia's "Free Yourself" (Best R&B Song), and one for "1,2 Step" with Ciara (Best Rap/Sung Collaboration). Missy was also just recently been nominated for Best International Female Artist at this years Brit Awards .

In early 2006 , Elliott's single and video for "We Run This" was released with heavy airplay on VH1 , MTV , and BET . It also will be featured on the soundtrack to the gymnastics-themed film Stick It . As for future releases in 2006, Missy stated she'll be putting out a Greatest Hits record with 3 new tracks. British merchandise giant HMV has the album, entitled "Respect Me Best of," being released June 19 with the single "123" being available for purchase June 5.

This text is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Missy Elliott".