- Born
- Birth nameCornell Iral Haynes Jr.
- Nickname
- Nelly
- Height5′ 8″ (1.73 m)
- Nelly went to Spain with his father, Air Force Man Cornall Haynes Sr.,
until he was 3 years old, then moved to St. Louis. Nelly's folks
struggled financially and split up when he was 7. As the youngest child
in the neighborhood he grew up getting into trouble with the big kids.
As a result he ended up moving around to live with various family
members. He dreamed of playing pro baseball. In high school he formed a
group called the St. Lunatics. The group consisted of him and some of
his friends (Kyjuan, Murphy Lee, Slo Down, City Spud, and Ali) from
high school. Nelly began listening to artists like Rakim, LL Cool J,
Run-DMC, OutKast, Goodie Mob, and Jay-Z. He became convinced that his
gift for rap could be parlayed into a career. He has his own style of
rap which he likes to describe as a jazz form of hip-hop. The first
song that Nelly and the St. Lunatics made was Gimmie What You Got. The
song "Gimmie What You Got" sold 7,000 units regionally and dominated
airwaves, rising to the number one spot on St. Louis' number one
hip-hop station. After that song the St. Lunatics encouraged Nelly to
go solo and he did. He signed a record deal with Universal
Records.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Kristin <rrcmblover@aol.com>
- ChildrenCornell Haynes III
- ParentsCornell Haynes SrRhonda Mack
- RelativesJackie Donahue(Sibling)City Spud(Sibling)Jamillah Nicole(Niece or Nephew)
- Band Aid
- Wearing sports and other clothing connected to St. Louis, his hometown.
- His hand gesture is an L formed with one or both hands (the L stands for "Lunatics").
- His chants include "E.I., E.I.!" (which means "Yes, bring it on!") and "Uh-oh, uh-oh!"
- His older sister, Jackie Donahue, lost her 3-year battle with leukemia
in March 2005, she was 31 years old. - When his sister Jackie Donahue needed a bone marrow transplant, Nelly
helped her begin the Jes Us 4 Jackie campaign to raise awareness of the
need for more bone marrow and blood stem cell donors. With this
campaign, Nelly and Jackie hope to enroll more donors, especially among
black Americans and other minority groups. - Often wears clothing bearing the logos of St. Louis' sports teams.
- Has started two new trends amongst his fans: wearing sports jerseys
backward (such that one's favorite player's name is on one's chest
rather than back) and wearing a Band-Aid on either cheek. - On Saturday, August 16, 2014, Nelly announced that he had set-up and funded a scholarship fund in Michael Brown's name. It will help to put teenagers, selected by Brown's family, through college. Nelly, along with rapper Tip 'T.I.' Harris, actor Kevin Hart, and NBA Charlotte Hornets professional basketball player Al Jefferson will donate $15,000 per year to the fund.
- "I'm not a big crier. I probably only cried five or six times in my
life and I think four of those times was from my daddy kicking my
butt". - [About the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri] We gotta do something different. Black boys have been dying since we came to this country, ain't nothin' changed. He [Officer Darren Wilson] will not be the last cop to shoot an unarmed black man.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content