Singles : Kid Rock : Detroit, Michigan
Singles : Kid Rock : Detroit, Michigan
Listen To Kid Rock : Detroit,
Michigan
Who Is Kid Rock?
Kid Rock was born Robert Ritchie
on January 17, 1971 in Romeo, Michigan, a small rural town north of the Detroit
metro area. He is known as a performer of rap music, notably combining rap with
the sounds of more traditional rock music and even country music. This third of
four children felt bored to live in such small town without nothing to do,
except the routine Sunday ceremony at church his Catholic family forced him to
attend. Because of that he immersed himself in rap music, learned to
break-dance, and began making the talent-show rounds in Detroit.
And it was in 1988 when Rock got
a chance to record his first demos, which eventually scored an opening slot at
a Boogie Down Productions gig. That demos led him to a contract with Jive
Records, which issued his debut album namely "Grits Sandwiches for
Breakfast," released in 1990. Produced by Kid Rock, Too $hort, and D-Nice,
the album was heavily derivative of "Licensed to Ill," the Beastie
Boys debut album released in 1986, by which Rock briefly became notorious when
a New York college radio station aired the album's profanity-laced ode to oral
sex, "Yodelin' in the Valley." Yet, after sometimes of cooperation,
Jive finally dropped him mainly because they didn't see "more" than
his tour with Too $hort and Ice Cube.
After such decision, Rock moved
to Brooklyn, where he hooked up with the small Continuum label and moved his
brand of rap further into hard rock with "The Polyfuze Method,"
released in 1993. Commenting this, there were some critics praising the
record's humor and eclecticism, while others dismissed it as awkward and
forced. Won't take those things too serious, Rock released Top Dog imprint,
which was also distributed by Continuum. After that he eventually returned to
the Detroit area and began work on another album; recorded on a shoestring
budget, "Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp," which was released in 1996.
Though had no money left in his pocket that he sometimes was forced to sell the
illegal recordings of his own music performance, still he wished to set a
full-fledged backing band, which he dubbed Twisted Brown Trucker.
Found neither fame nor success
with his band, Rock won't miss the chance to work under Atlantic Records who
decided to sign him. Soon then he produced "Devil Without a Cause"
that didn't do much upon its initial release in August 1998, 'till a big
promotional held by the label and MTV's help favorably made the album's second
single and video, "Bawitdaba," a nationwide smash. To add, one of
"Devil Without a Cause" singles namely "Cowboy" had also
achieved similar success, and after a decade of trying, Kid Rock could
obviously be a superstar with a Top Five, seven-times-platinum album and a gig
at Woodstock '99. While considering such action to follow up the success of the
album, Rock surprisingly acquired the rights to his indie-label recordings,
encouraged him to remix or re-record the best material for "The History of
Rock," which was released in the summer of 2000 and featured some new
songs as well.
Facing such deep mourning due to
the death of his band member, Joe C, still Rock continued working on his
follow-up to "Devil Without a Cause." During this period of time, he
was romantically linked to Pamela Anderson, having an infidelity with her, who
at that time was still married to musician Tommy Lee. The scandal had sent a
shock to public worldwide, caused the media to focus more on his affair than
his musical career, which many magazines were beginning to ridicule. In 2001,
Rock was left by his DJ, Uncle
Kracker, who had a successful solo career, after which he was still able to
complete "Cocky" and release one of its tracks "Forever"
that became a success on rock radio. A year after, that was in the fall of
2003, Rock returned with a self-titled effort that leans heavily on country. A
cover of Bad Company's "Feel Like Makin' Love" marked its first
single. Absent from the studio for four years, he came up with his first live
album "Live Trucker" in February 2006.
On his personal life, Rock has
undergone an on-off relationship with former Playboy model Pamela Anderson
before finally legalized their marriage on July 29, 2006 onboard a yacht off
the shore of Saint-Tropez, France. It was reported that Pamela was having Kid's
baby but suffered miscarriage. Sadly, the knot only lasted briefly as the
couple shockingly concluded to end it with each filing divorce in Los Angeles
Superior Court on November 27th the same year, citing irreconcilable
differences as their main reason to have the separation. On February 1st the
next year Los Angeles Superior Court Judge signed a divorce judgment,
officially ended the couple's four months marriage with the court documents
stated neither party would be legally allowed to marry others until after May
28th, due to a minimum six-month waiting period. Not long after that, Rock
dated May Andersen, a Sports Illustrated and Victoria's Secret model.
Lying low on his personal life
and worked on another music project, Kid found himself tangled in religious
issues. His 2007 album titled 'Rock & Roll Jesus' contains gospel-like
materials plus a shift to rock. The singer that embarked as a rapper left only
one song "Sugar" to contain rapping, the rest are done either in rock
or country. The album was released on October 9, 2007 debuting at #1 on Billboard
Hot 200 chart after selling 170,000 copies in the first week. 'Rock & Roll
Jesus' became Kid's first and only album to have peaked at such position.
However, with the success came a sad news. His long-time manager Ed
"Punch" Andrew decided to retire as soon as the album was put in
shelves.
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