Biography
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Kid Rock derives his name from his early years of
rapping in parking lots and bars, when, so Kid Rock
says, people in the audience would remark, "Look at that
white kid rock." He dropped "white," and his stage name
was born. He began his hip-hop career at the age of 15.
He became well-known in a Mount Clemens, Michigan
housing project because of his unique style of rapping.
He later moved to New York City, where he was said to
have lived just below Queen Latifah. He got to know a
lot of the area's rappers and landed a tour deal with
Ice Cube and Too $hort when he was only 18 years old.
One time in 1991, Kid Rock drew 700 people to The
Majestic in Detroit. This show was talked about
constantly in the local scene for almost three years.
In 1989, his first album, on the Jive label, was Grits
Sandwiches for Breakfast, produced by Too $hort, D Nice
and others. This defined his outlandish attitude,
although the album was not a success. When a college DJ
played the song from his album "Yodelin' in the Valley,"
he was fined $25,000 by the FCC. The president of the
university described the song as "the most indecent
thing ever heard". After the release of his first album,
Rock attended an autograph signing at Record Time in
Roseville, Michigan to promote his CD. While there, a
young musician got into an argument with him over his
rise to fame. This young musician was 17-year-old
Marshall Mathers III, who later became famous under the
name of Eminem. The
two formed a friendship that exists to this day, with
each appearing on the others' first successful albums (Eminem
doing the last verse of F--- Off on Devil Without A
Cause and Rock doing the cuts on Just Don't Give A F---
from The Slim Shady LP).
In 1993 The Polyfuze Method was released. In 1996, Early
Morning Stoned Pimp dropped along with the EP, Fire it
Up.
After a whole decade from his first demo, in 1998, he
joined Atlantic Records and released his famous album
Devil Without a Cause. This was his first real success
with the album going 11x platinum in the US, almost
becoming one of the top 50 top selling albums ever. The
Detroit Red Wings, after their victory, chose the
opening phrase from "Early Morning Stoned Pimp" as their
victory chant. Further testament to Rock's popularity
came in the unexpected form of singer Bette Midler doing
a pastiche of his hit single Bawitdaba (in a scat style)
on her television sitcom.
In 2000, Kid Rock released his album The History of
Rock. He had acquired the rights to his indie-label
recordings and remixed or re-recorded the best material
for the album. The only new track was "American Bad Ass"
which was his first single from the album. Later that
year, he joined legendary rock band Phish onstage for
several songs at a concert in Las Vegas.
In 2001 he released his album Cocky which was marketed
as the follow up to his 1998 success. It featured all
new songs, but did not reach the same level of success
due to many fans not appreciating his fusion of country
music into many of the tracks. However, his most
successful single on the album was in fact the most
country influenced. Rock has gained country music
acclaim for such notable performances as "Picture", a
duet with Sheryl
Crow; his performance of "Luckenbach, Texas" on the
Waylon Jennings tribute album I've Always Been Crazy;
and his appearance on Country Music Television's
Crossroads episode with Hank Williams, Jr..
In 2002, Kid Rock released a cover of ZZ Top's "Legs"
exclusively for the album on WWE's SmackDown Records
titled Forceable Entry. The song is still used on WWE
television to this day.
In 2003, Kid Rock returned with a self-titled album
which delved even more into country music. A cover of
Bad Company's "Feel Like Makin' Love" marked the first
single.
Kid Rock's talent can be shown by the fact that on his albums
he is credited for not only vocals but guitar (steel,
rhythm, electric and acoustic), bass, percussion,
mixing, mellotron, keyboard, backing vocals, slide
guitar, scratching, programming, producer and even
banjo. He is famous for his high-energy personality on
and off stage. Kid Rock's music has evolved considerably
over time which has caused him to lose and gain millions
of fans.
Recently, Kid Rock has made cameo appearances in two of
Gretchen Wilson's music videos for the songs "Redneck
Woman" and "All Jacked Up".
Kid Rock is currently preparing to release a live album,
compiled of songs from several different shows instead
of just one, including the shows he did overseas. The
album, which is titled "Live Trucker", will be released
on February 28, 2006. The album's cover pays tribute to
Bob Seger by replicating the cover of his live album
"Live Bullet" released in 1976.
A new studio album from Kid Rock is also in the works.
The current rumor is that there will not be much, if
any, rap on it, because Kid Rock apparently wants to
release 'the ultimate classic rock album'. The album is
supposedly titled, "...and then there was Kid" and will
include a DVD. The new album has no release date as of
yet, but it is estimated that it will be out by the
third quarter of 2006.
Kid Rock has one son, Robert James Ritchie Jr.; born
June 14, 1993 with Kelly South, a Detroit auto worker.
In the fall of 2001, Kid Rock began dating actress and
model Pamela
Anderson. In April 2002, they announced their
engagement but during the fall of 2003, Kid Rock and
Anderson broke up.
Kid Rock is also unique among musical artists of his
genre as he has outspoken conservative-leaning political
views. His main failure has been that he is a supporter of US President George W.
Bush. While this made him seem like an ideal
candidate for participation in the 2004 Republican
National Convention concert, it is generally assumed
that his lyrical content, which is rife with profanity
and s--ual innuendo, discluded his participation in the
event. He was also scheduled to perform during the
re-inauguration party of President Bush, though this was
cancelled, apparently for similar reasons- Kid Rock
spoke of "pimping Barbara Bush," the President's mother,
on a song earlier in his music career.
California pornography company Red Light District claim
to have acquired a 1999 s-- tape in which Kid Rock and
Creed front man Scott Stapp engage in s-- acts with four
groupies which they plan to release in 2006. Counsel for
Kid Rock and Scott Stapp have obtained a temporary
injunction against Red Light District to prevent the
video from being distributed online.