Eminem

Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, on October 17, 1972, as the sole child of Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr. and Deborah Rae "Debbie" (née Nelson). He is descended from English, Scottish, German, German-Swiss, Polish, and Luxembourgian ancestors. During her 73-hour labor with him, his mother nearly died. Before they split up, Eminem's parents were in a band called Daddy Warbucks, who played at Ramada Inns around the Dakota–Montana border. After having two further children, Michael and Sarah, Eminem's father, Bruce Jr., left the family and moved to California. Debbie Samara, his mother, subsequently had a son called Nathan "Nate" Kane Samara.

Eminem used to write letters to his father when he was a teenager. Debbie stated that they were all stamped "return to sender." A bully called D'Angelo Bailey seriously wounded Eminem's skull as a youngster in an assault, which Eminem subsequently described (with hilarious exaggeration) in the song "Brain Damage." Debbie filed a lawsuit against the public school in 1982 over this. The complaint was rejected the following year by a Macomb County, Michigan judge who ruled that the schools were exempt from legal action. Eminem and his mother spent much of their childhood in a working-class, predominantly black Detroit area. He and Debbie were one of three white families on their street, and Eminem was beaten multiple times by black teenagers.

Detailed information:
Active years: 1996- present
Main genre: Hip Hop
Best-selling album: The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
Best-selling single: Love The Way You Lie (2010)