Kid Rock

Kid Rock
Kid Rock performs for military men and women as part of a USO show onboard Camp Phoenix.
Kid Rock performs for military men and women as part of a USO show onboard Camp Phoenix.
Background information
Birth name Robert James Ritchie
Born January 17, 1971 (1971-01-17) (age 38)
Romeo, Michigan
Genre(s) Hard rock, Southern rock, Rap rock, Heavy metal, Country rock, Blues rock, Hip hop
Occupation(s) Musician, singer-songwriter, actor
Instrument(s) Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Banjo, Keyboards, Piano, Drums, Harmonica, Turntables, Organ, Talkbox, Mellotron, Synthesizer, Dobro
Years active 1982–present
Label(s) Atlantic
Jive
Top Dog
Continuum Records
Website www.KidRock.com

Robert James Ritchie (born January 17, 1971 in Romeo, Michigan), known by his stage name Kid Rock, is an American musician and actor known for his over-the-top persona and his ability to mix rap with rock, blues and country music. He has sold over 25 million records to date.

For a decade before his breakthrough into stardom, he lived a secluded small-town life; releasing obscure albums for his local fan base. His debut album, Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast, was released on Jive Records in 1990 and earned him attention, due to the raunchiness of the lead single, "Yo Da Lin In The Valley". However, Jive dropped him from the label. Next, he signed with Continuum Records based out of Brooklyn, NY and released The Polyfuze Method in 1993 and Fire It Up in 1994. After Continuum went bankrupt he went independent, starting Top Dog Records. At Top Dog Records, he sold bootleg dubs of his own records to pay his rent. He would work as a janitor at Detroit's famed White Room Studios to get recording time for his 1996 release Early Morning Stoned Pimp. He had to request a loan from his father to press the album. His father gave him the lifeline he needed. After E.M.S.P garnered him local attention, he sat up a showcase concert on March 30,1997 at Detroit's State Theatre. The only label to show up was Atlantic Records and luckily for Kid Rock they signed him.

In 1997 to 1998, the rap-metal music scene was booming with artists such as Korn, Rage Against the Machine and Limp Bizkit. Kid Rock and Atlantic would capitalize in 1998 when he released his debut mainstream album Devil Without A Cause. It sold 11 million albums behind the hits, "Bawitdaba", "Cowboy", and "Only God Knows Why".

In 2000, he released The History of Rock which was a compilation of remixed and mastered versions of songs from old albums as well as the hit "American Bad Ass". In 2001, he released Cocky. After a slow start, his country crossover hit "Picture" with Sheryl Crow resurrected the album and it went gold as a single and pushed the album's sales to more than 4 million. His 2003 self-titled release failed to chart a major hit. It was followed by Live Trucker in 2006, which was a live greatest hits album.

In 2008, Kid Rock toured the U.S. and Europe promoting his latest release, Rock N Roll Jesus, backed in particular by the album's third single, "All Summer Long". It peaked at Number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Number 4 on The Hot Country 100. It was his first worldwide smash hit charting number one in Austria, Australia, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The album has been certified double platinum in the U.S. and platinum in Canada and Germany.[1][2]

Contents

Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast

Ritchie's career began at age eleven when his high school friend Randy Handlovsky found a breakdance crew (referred to as b-boy) for him to join, called the Furious Funkers. They would dance anywhere they could for money. After the success of Run-D.M.C. and The Beastie Boys, he bought a cheap belt-driven turntable and honed his craft. In high school, Ritchie DJed at parties for beer. He eventually joined Bo Wisdom of Groove Time Productions, in Mt. Clemens, Michigan to perform basement parties for thirty dollars a night. It was then that he was given his stage name; club goers dubbed him with the moniker "Kid Rock" after they had enjoyed watching "that white kid rock."

In addition to DJing, Rock started rapping and joined a local hip hop group The Beast Crew comprised of The Blackman, Champtown, KDC, Crisp and Doc Rounce Cee. Rock also became friends with producer D-Nice of the legendary hip-hop group Boogie Down Productions. When Rock opened for BDP one night, D-Nice invited an A&R representative from Jive Records to see him perform. This meeting led to a demo deal, which developed into a full record contract. Against his parents' wishes, Rock signed the deal at the age of seventeen. Despite his new record deal, he had a falling out with The Beast Crew when he signed over fellow member Champtown (the two have become friends again since).They also left his vocals in on tracks on their debut underground album "Chapter 1: He Don't Want Us No More" , against his wishes. Rock later became part of the Straight From The Underground Tour, where he found himself alongside several heavyweights of rap including Ice Cube, Too Short, D-Nice, and Yo-Yo.

In December 1990, Kid Rock released his debut album Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast on Jive Records. The lead single "Yo Da Lin In The Valley" was banned by the FCC for its fixation on oral sex, and received at the time the largest non-commercial radio fine of all time at $23,750 fined to SUNY Cortland Radio (WSUC-FM).[3] Jive released Kid Rock from their roster in 1991.[4]

Restarting on an independent label

In 1992, Kid Rock was picked up by an independent record label, Continuum Records, which released his second album The Polyfuze Method the following year. The album was more rock oriented with Rock teaching himself how to play several different instruments including gutair,drums,keyboard and organ. While the album saw some local college radio success at Central Michigan University with the track "Back From The Dead", the lead single, "U Don't Know Me", failed to chart, and the music video received little airplay on any major music video channels. After releasing an EP called Fire It Up! in 1994, Continuum went bankrupt and Rock was left again without a record deal.

He moved back to Detroit where his on-again/off-again relationship with Kelly South resulted in the birth of his son, Robert James Ritchie Jr. Kid Rock gained custody of his son and knew he really had to do something with his music to help out his son. Kid Rock started his own label, Top Dog Records, and released monthly demo tapes dubbed The Bootleg Series, which featured demos of him and other up-and-coming rappers in the Detroit area. He signed on Curt Hauer, Dave Long, and the Cook twins to be his "Top Dog Interns". The interns helped him promote his shows and design his own merchandise line in the Detroit area. Around the same time, Kid Rock formed his back-up band Twisted Brown Trucker, later recruiting Joe C., who he met at a 1994 concert, as part of the group. In 1995, Rock took a job as a janitor at Whiterooms Studios in order to pay studio fees. When he wasn't working, Kid Rock recorded the material that would eventually make up his fourth album, Early Morning Stoned Pimp. The album was released in 1996, and Kid Rock sold 14,000 copies out of the trunk of his car and after concerts.

While Kid Rock was now popular in Michigan and controlling his own label, he felt he needed to get attention from a major label. In December 1996, Lava/Atlantic Records A&R man Andy Karp, traveled to Cleveland to see Rock perform at a small club called The Grog Shop. On March 30, 1997, Rock performed a special showcase concert to attract major label attention. Jason Krause had added pressure he had just joined the band hours before the show. While many of the major labels were invited, the only attendees were Karp and Lava President Jason Flom (Lava/Atlantic Records). Following the performance, record executives said they loved him but expressed doubts about the strength of his material. Kid Rock returned to the studio and cut a six song demo tape; the first two songs on the tape were "Somebody's Gotta Feel This" and "I Got One For Ya". After hearing the two songs, Jason Flom supported Karp in signing Kid Rock to a record deal for $100,000, without even hearing the rest.[5]

Devil Without a Cause

In 1997, Kid Rock added drummer/vocalist Stefanie Eulinberg to his band, joining Kenny Olson, Jason Krause, Jimmie Bones, Uncle Kracker, Misty Love, Shirley Hayden and Joe C.. In August 1998, Atlantic released Devil Without a Cause behind the single "Welcome 2 The Party". Kid Rock went on the Vans Warped Tour to support the album.

Audiences ignored "Welcome 2 The Party" and Devil sat on the shelves collecting dust for eight months. While sales nationwide lagged, his performance on the 1998 Warped Tour in Northampton, Massachusetts stimulated regional interest in Massachusetts and New England. This led to substantial airplay in the summer and fall of 1998 on rock staples in Massachusetts WZLX and WAAF. In December 1998, after meeting Carson Daly, he got an offer to perform on MTV Fashionably Loud in Miami, giving the nation its first taste of Kid Rock. From there, MTV took him under their wing as he performed on MTV's Wanna B A VJ and was the DJ for TRL on the Spring Break Special as well as a judge on Say What Karaoke. This sparked him to gold status by April 1999[6], which is when he decided to launch his profile in the UK[7].

In May 1999, he released the song "Bawitdaba" to radio outlets, and proceeded to blow up overnight. By June, the album had gone platinum.[6] Kid Rock went on the Limptropolis Tour with fellow rap-rockers Limp Bizkit and Staind in the same month, his first major tour. By the time he made his career defining performance at Woodstock 1999 on July 27, 1999, he was double platinum.[6] The following single "Cowboy" was an even bigger hit. It was an oddball mix of southern rock and old school rap that found its way into the Top 40. Rock helped create one of the most memorable moments in MTV history with his 1999 Video Music Awards medley with Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith who rejoined to perform the seminal rap-rock version of "Walk This Way", the same song that revived Aerosmith's career in the 1980s. Rock's next single, the southern rock ballad "Only God Knows Why", became a top 20 hit on Billboard's Hot 100 Charts and a Top 10 on the Top 40 Charts. After the final single "Wasting Time" was released, Devil Without A Cause had gone seven times platinum and was nominated for three Grammy Awards. It was certified 11 times platinum by the RIAA on April 17, 2003.[6]

He was nominated as Best New Artist at the 1999 Grammy Awards losing out to Christina Aguilera. He was also nominated for Bawitdaba for Best Hard Rock Performance, losing to Metallica's "Whiskey In A Jar".

The History of Rock

After reacquiring the rights to his early material in 2000, Rock released The History of Rock, a collection of remixed and re-recorded songs from The Polyfuze Method and Early Mornin Stoned Pimp. The only new track, "American Bad Ass", sampled the Metallica track "Sad But True". The song was later used as pro wrestler The Undertaker's entrance song in the World Wrestling Federation.

"American Bad Ass" was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 2000s Grammy Awards. Losing out to Rage Against The Machine's "Guerilla Radio".

In mid-2000, Rock joined the Summer Sanitarium Tour with Metallica, Korn, Powerman 5000, and System of a Down. Kid Rock filled in for James Hetfield of Metallica, singing vocals on the songs "Enter Sandman", "Sad But True", and "Nothing Else Matters" and the turntables for "Fuel", for three shows after Hetfield injured his spine riding a jet ski on Lake Lanier the day before the Atlanta concert. Later that year, he joined Phish on stage for several cover songs at a concert in Las Vegas. Rock recorded a few songs with the legendary blues artist Robert Bradley and Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise in 2000 on their album Time To Discover.

On Novemeber 16,2000 Joseph "Joe C" Callejua would pass away in his sleep from Celiac Disease in Taylor, MI. The disease stunted his growth and forced him to take 80 pills a day. Joe C's final song was "Cool Daddy Cool" off the Osmosis Jones soundtrack.

In early 2001, Rock inducted Aerosmith into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and performed "Sweet Emotion" at the induction ceremony. The same year, Rock landed his first acting role in the David Spade white trash comedy Joe Dirt.

Cocky

Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock in 2003

In early 2001, Rock began dating Playboy playmate and actress Pamela Anderson, after the two met at a VH1 tribute to Aretha Franklin. By April 2002, he and Anderson were engaged, but the engagement was later called off.[8] In November, Rock released Cocky, which was marketed as the official follow up to Devil Without a Cause. The first single, "Forever", featured his standard rap-rock sound. It was followed by the singles "Lonely Road of Faith" and "You Never Met a Motherfucker Quite Like Me". By November 2002, album sales lagged far behind Devil Without A Cause at barely over a million copies sold.

However, the release of "Picture", a country-influenced duet with Sheryl Crow, introduced Rock to a wider audience. "Picture" was ultimately the most successful single on the album, and was eventually certified gold, with album sales reaching 4 million.[6] Interestingly, neither his record company nor Sheryl Crow's wanted anything to do with "Picture" as a single. Allison Moorer remade the song for the single version after Rock released the song against his label's wishes. Once it began to climb the country charts, Sheryl Crow's label caved and the original version was released. [9]

On December 14, 2001, CMT aired an episode of Crossroads featuring Rock with Hank Williams, Jr. The episode drew 2.1 million viewers, a record on CMT.[10] At the end of 2002, Uncle Kracker left the band to pursue a solo career and Detroit underground rapper Paradime replaced him. Kid Rock also made his second movie, Biker Boyz, with Laurence Fishburne.

A New Direction

In 2003, Kid Rock returned with an eponymous album, almost stripping away the accustomed rap rock sound that he had created, opting for southern rock and country ballads instead. The album's lead single was a cover of Bad Company's "Feel Like Makin' Love". A media blitz accompanied the single capped off by the VH-1 special called A Kid Rock Christmas, which aired on December 14, 2003. He would release "Cold And Empty" ,"Jackson, Mississippi" and "I Am" to minor success on radio .The David Allan Coe penned "Single Father", became his second charting country song,although like the other singles it was minor hit at #50.[6]. Kid Rock would be his lowest selling mainstream studio album of his career with 1.4 million copes sold.

Kid Rock was involved in the halftime show controversy at Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston, Texas on February 1, 2004. He was criticized by war veterans for his choice of wearing the American flag as a poncho.

The following month, Kid inducted Bob Seger into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In September, Kid Rock filled in for Johnny Van Zant, the lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd on the band's hit Sweet Home Alabama at the Hurricane Katrina benefit concert.[11]

Live Trucker

Kid Rock in concert on September 16, 2006 in Denver, Colorado.

On February 28, 2006, Kid Rock released his first live album, Live Trucker, comprising songs from his homestead performances in Clarkston (on September 1, 2000, and August 26 through August 28, 2004), and Detroit's Cobo Hall (March 26, 2004). The album contained the last two performances of Joe C. on "Devil Without a Cause" and "Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp", as well as Kid duetting with country star Sheryl Crow on "Picture". He brought Detroit's favorite son Bob Seger back from semi-retirement during his pre-Super Bowl concerts on February 2 and 3, 2006 in Detroit. The two performed a rousing version of Seger's "Rock 'N' Roll Never Forgets" on both nights. Kid Rock would appear on Bob Seger's much anticipated, ten years in the waiting, Face The Promise, on a Vince Gill cover of "Real Mean Bottle", a tribute to country legend Merle Haggard.

Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson resumed their on-again, off-again relationship, culminating in a surprise wedding in July 2006 after it was reported Anderson was pregnant. They divorced 5 months later after Kid Rock stated she lied about having a miscarriage.

Rock N Roll Jesus

Rock N Roll Jesus was released on October 9, 2007. The album became Kid Rock's first album to go number 1 in his career, selling 172,000 copies in its first week.[12] He made the cover of Rolling Stone magazine for the second time of his career,[13] and appeared for the first time ever on Larry King Live to discuss the new album.

The album's first three singles were very successful on radio. The lead single "So Hott" was his best charting rock song of his career at number 2, while the acoustic ballad "Amen" sat outside the top ten at number 11. The albums third single "All Summer Long", which was a mash up of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" and Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London", would become Kid Rock's biggest hit. Despite his boycott of iTunes,"All Summer Long" would chart at No 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. It would also become his biggest country hit as well peaking at No 4. It did even better worldwide charting number one in eight countries across Europe and Australia. Due to the strength of the single, "Rock N Roll Jesus" would return to the Top 10 on the charts for an astounding 17 straight weeks. Roll On failed to chart has the album's fourth single. The title track released along with "Roll On" was a minor rock hit at No 35.

Kid Rock performed on VH-1 Storytellers on November 27,2008, giving insight to how he wrote some of his hit songs.

Rock N Roll Jesus took home the award for Most Outstanding National Album at the 2008 Detroit Music Awards, the first time he has won that award since Devil Without A Cause in 1999. He also won World's Best Male Pop Artist and World's Best Pop/Rock Artist at the 2008 World Music Awards. He is currently nominated for Best Rock Song for All Summer Long at the People's Choice Awards on January 7th 2009.

Kid Rock has been nominated for two Grammy's. One is for Best Rock Album for "Rock N Roll Jesus", the other is for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "All Summer Long".

Talks of a new album

Rock said he will debut songs off his new album during his upcoming European tour.[14] One song is known from VH-1 Storytellers in Midwest Fall. He also performs a song with Mary J Blige, as well as a rap song. The titles to the songs were not released.

Legal troubles

Kid Rock is known for having multiple run-ins with law enforcement. In February 2005, Kid was arrested on assault charges for punching DJ Jay Campos in 'Christies Cabaret' strip club. Rock pled no contest and was sued for $575,000 by Campos.[15]

Kid Rock was cited for assault on Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee on September 9, 2007 at MTV's Video Music Awards.[16]

In October 2007, Kid Rock was involved in a brawl at a Waffle House in Atlanta and charged with simple battery.[17] He pled nolo contendre to one count, was fined $1,000, required to perform 80 hours of community service and complete a 6-hour course on anger management.[18]

Twisted Brown Trucker

Twisted Brown Trucker is Kid Rock's band, formed in 1994, with Bob Ebeling in Sterling Heights, Michigan. The original lineup included Kenny Olson on lead guitar, Uncle Kracker on turntables, Jeff Hall and Andy Gould on guitar and Bob Ebeling on drums. The band's first involvement was on the 1994 demo of Dark & Grey. Trucker became both Rock's studio and live band in 1997. Dubbed by Kid Rock as "The Loudest Band In America Today", they are well known for their hodge-podge of genres, sometimes mixing many in a single song. The lineup went through a change up on Devil Without a Cause: Stephanie Eulinberg became the new drummer and Mike Bradford as the new bass player. Trucker since saw three major changes with Uncle Kracker going solo full-time in 2002, Kenny Olson leaving in 2005, and Smith Curry in 2006. The new 2007 line up includes Marlon Young (Lead Guitar);replacing Kenny Tudrick, Larry Fratangelo (Bongos and Percussion), Rayse Biggs (Trumpet) and David McMurray (Saxophone), who were with the 1980s group Was (Not Was).

Kenny Olson went on to form a band called The Flask, who later switched singers and changed their name to Five Star Carnie. They are derivitive of Kid Rock's old sound mixing rap with rock and blues.

Members

Current members

Former members

Discography

Main article: Kid Rock discography

Tours

Filmography

Awards/Nominations

Other Ventures

Kid Rock has his own clothing line called Made In Detroit which he started in 2003.[19] His own brew of beer is currently in the works; due to hit shelves in the spring of 2009, called American Bad Ass Beer. He's also working on getting his own brand of cigars made as well.

Wayne State University named a scholarship after Kid Rock for musicians. Kid Rock is using his clothing line to fund it.[20]

Kid Rock has criticized celebrities for becoming overly involved in politics[21], but he himself endorsed George W. Bush for president in 2004[22], campaigned for Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Mike Bouchard in 2006, and appeared at events with Republican presidential candidate John McCain in 2008.[23]

Kid Rock will be the grand marshal of the 2009 Mardi Gras Parade.[24]

See also

References

Inline

  1. "Kid Rock Celebrates 2 Million Album Sold!". VividSeats. Retrieved on 2008-08-29.
  2. Youngs, Ian (2008-06-18). "Kid Rock boycotts iTunes over pay", BBC News, BBC, Inc.. Retrieved on 2008-07-22. 
  3. "State University of New York, WSUC(FM), Cortland, NY Notice of Apparent Liability". Retrieved on 2008-07-23.
  4. "Kid Rock". Entertainfo. Cineman. Retrieved on 2008-07-22.
  5. "Interview — Andy Karp, Vice President of A&R at Lava/Atlantic in New York". AtlanticRecordsContact.com. Retrieved on 2008-07-22.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 "RIAA Certifications for albums by Kid Rock: Gold and Platinum". RIAA.com. Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved on 2008-07-22.
  7. Myers, Ben (2008-08-01). "Kid Rock: “I was the kid with the vial full of rocks...”", Trash Hits. Retrieved on 2008-09-13. 
  8. Rubin, Courtney; Dana Kennedy and Nancy Wilson (2006-07-31). "Pamela Anderson, Kid Rock Tie the Knot", People, Time Inc.. Retrieved on 2008-07-22. 
  9. Kaufman, Gil (2003-01-30). "Kid Rock's Dead-In-The-Water Cocky Comes Back To Life", MTV, MTV Networks. Retrieved on 2008-07-22. 
  10. Finn, Timothy (2008-02-14). "Kid Rock revives the basics of rock ... but he's still got some rap in his repertoire", The Kansas City Star, McClatchy Company, pp. F7. 
  11. Iwasaki, Scott (2005-09-09). "Many concerts to benefit Hurricane Katrina victims", Deseret News (Salt Lake City), BNet a CBS Company. Retrieved on 2008-07-22. 
  12. Cohen, Jonathon (2007-10-17). "Kid Rock Rolls to No. 1 Album Chart Debut", Billboard.com. Retrieved on 2008-07-22. 
  13. Hoard, Christopher (2007-07-12). "Kid Rock’s Rock and Roll Jesus: Exclusive Sneak Peek", Rock&Roll Daily, Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2008-07-22. 
  14. http://www.extremekidrock.moonfruit.com/#/news/4508255329
  15. The Associated Press (2005-06-16). "Kid Rock sued for $575,000 over assault at strip club". Retrieved on 2008-07-22. 
  16. "Kid Rock Cited for Misdemeanor Assault", Moono.com, UGO Networks (2007-09-11). Retrieved on 2008-07-22. 
  17. The Associated Press (2008-07-22). "Waffle House brawl costs Kid Rock $1,000", CNN, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. Retrieved on 2008-07-22. 
  18. "Kid Rock to Attend Anger Management Classes", Now Magazine (2008-07-27). Retrieved on 2008-07-28. 
  19. "Kid Rock is starting scholarship", Detroit Free Press, Gannett (2008-10-25). Retrieved on 2008-10-30. 
  20. "Kid Rock's apparel label to aid music scholarships", Yahoo News, Associated Press (2008-10-24). Retrieved on 2008-10-24. 
  21. "Pinheads & Patriots," The O'Reilly Factor, Aug. 28, 2008
  22. New York Times, Rock Stars Announce Swing-State Tour, Aug. 5, 2004
  23. Huffington Post, Topless Women, Kid Rock, Bikers, And John McCain, Aug. 3, 2008
  24. Massa, Dominic (2008-12-02). "Endymion chooses Kid Rock as grand marshal for 2009 parade", WWLTV.com, WWL-TV, Inc.. Retrieved on 2008-12-03. 

General

External links