| Robert James Ritchie (born January 17, 1971 in Romeo, Michigan) - American singer, musician, composer & actor, known under the stage name Kid Rock, who achieved wide popularity in the late 90's & early 2000. After four unsuccessful releases, Kid Rock "blew up" hit parades of America in 1998 with his album "Devil Without a Cause", with around 11 millions copies sold. Kid Rock was nominated five times for Grammy. Approximately 22 million copies of his albums were sold only in USA. Kid Rock is famous for his scandalous high-profile life & marriage to Pamela Anderson.
Robert James Ritchie was born in Romeo, Michigan state. Since childhood, the boy was fond of rock music, hip-hop & electronic music. At the age of 14, he decided to try his hand at being DJ & hip-hop culture, by taking stage name Kid Rock. Robert performed in clandestine parties in nearby towns. Later, his demos caught eye of recording companies & Ritchie was offered to sign a contract for $ 100 000 with "Jive Records" company.
In 1990, Kid Rock recorded his debut album "Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast", which was not a success. Songs, rich with indecent texts, were refused by radio station of America for broadcasting. But Rock did not give up & performs in opening act for "Ice Cube" & "Too Short". Later, he moved to Brooklyn where he recorded next two albums "The Polyfuze Method" (1993) & "Fire It Up!" (1994) in the studio "Continuum Records", which also turned out to be failures.
After that, Kid Rock worked hard to release his next LP "Early Mornin 'Stoned Pimp" (1996) on his own label "Top Dog". For the first time, album attracted the attention of listeners & in 1998, Rock signed contract with "Atlantic Records" for distribution of album "Devil Without a Cause". Album stood at fifth place of Billboard hit parade & made Kid Rock a superstar. Crazy combination of rap, metal & country-music found its audience. "Bawitdaba", "Cowboy" & ballad "Only God Knows Why", became hits on radio & MTV. 11 million copies of album were sold.
In 1999, Rock performed at festival "Woodstock-99" along with stars of nu-metal & rap-metal, such as "KoRn" & "Limp Bizkit". The following year, musician starred in the movie "Joe Dirt" & recorded an album "History of Rock", which also became a very popular album. Songs of previous albums "The Polyfuze Method", "Fire it Up!" & "Early Mornin 'Stoned Pimp" were included in the album "History of Rock". The only new song was "American Bad Ass". On November 16, 2000, Joe C died, famous dwarf member of Kid Rock & it was hard for Kid Rock to digest the news. The following year, Rock was romantically involved with Pamela Anderson. Their romance was often a subject of discussion in media & Rock with Pamela were together seen on covers of various tabloids.
In 2001, another album "Cocky" of Kid Rock was released. Singles "Forever", "Lonely Road of Faith", "You Never Met a MotherFucker Quite Like Me" & "Picture" were released. Country-trend of album was particularly evident in song "Picture", recorded with Sheryl Crow. Song was a super hit & Rock found recognition in the world of audience of country-music. More trends of country-music were used by Kid Rock in his album "Kid Rock" (2003). Cover for song "Feel Like Makin 'Love" of group "Bad Company" was main hit. On December 31, 2003, Rock was the host of show " Christmas with Kid Rock" , which was broadcasted on music channel "VH1".
In 2006, Kid Rock released his first concert album "Live Trucker", which was recorded during a tour in 2004. In November 2007, Kid Rock recorded album "Rock N 'Roll Jesus", which was produced by Rob Cavallo (Green Day, Goo Goo Dolls). For the first time in entire career of Kid Rock, album occupied first spot of Billboard hit-parade. Album consists of elements of country-music, hard-music, Jazz & gospel music. In August 2008, album went double platinum. Single "All Summer Long" was in the Top-40 hit list in U.S. In April 2009, Kid Rock appeared in one of the famous American wrestling-event "Wrestlemania". |
American singer-songwriter and rapper Kid Rock turns big 40 today. Rock actually started celebrating on Saturday in a big way by taking the stage in Detroit, Michigan in front of tens of thousands of fans.
Rock was joined on stage by Sheryl Crow, Martina McBride, Joseph "Rev Run" Simmons of Run D.M.C. fame, Uncle Kracker and Anita Baker. The concert, which lasted three hours, kicked off with the Beatles' "Birthday" song to commemorate the rocker's big age milestone. Talk show hosts Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno appeared on two oversized video screens on either side of the stage in taped messages wishing the musician a happy birthday. O'Brien told Rock: "Happy 40th birthday ... and rock on Detroit!"
Today we offer you some facts you might not know about Kid Rock:
