He was born Thomas DeCarlo Callaway in Atlanta, Georgia, but is best known by his stage name, Cee Lo Green. Both his parents were ordained ministers and he started his music career in church. His father died when he was two years old, and when he was 18, his mother was involved in a car crash, leaving her paralyzed. She died two years later.
At the time, Cee Lo's career with the southern hip hop group Goodie Mob had just begun taking off. (The Goodie Mob were a part of the Atlanta rap collective the Dungeon Family, which also included OutKast.)
Cee Lo's depression after his mother's death led is evident in various songs throughout his career, including "Free" by Goodie Mob, songs on St. Elsewhere, and on The Odd Couple ("She Knows," "A Little Better"). Cee Lo also expresses his love for his mother in the song "Guess Who" from Goodie Mob's Soul Food album.
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Goodie Mob
Goodie Mob had released their debut album, Soul Food in 1995. The album received much critical praise as a pioneering record for the then emerging Southern rap scene. was produced by Organized Noize, who had also produced OutKast's debut Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. Cee Lo got considerable praise for his rapping and singing, especially on "Cell Therapy" and "Soul Food."
The group's second album, Still Standing came out in 1998 and also received much critical praise. By now, Cee Lo focused primarily on rapping over singing. Cee Lo took more creative control on the group's next album, World Party.
During the making of the album World Party, Cee Lo left the group to pursue a solo career under Arista and the remaining members continued to perform together under the Goodie Mob name with Koch Records. They did however collaborate in combinations in the Dungeon Family album Even in Darkness.
In 1999, Cee Lo, credited as "Cee-Lo" was one of ten famous guest musicians who contributed to the highly successful Santana album Supernatural.
Internationally, Cee Lo is best known for his work within the hip hop duo Gnarls Barkley along with DJ Danger Mouse. (Gnarls Barkley is named after former basketball star Charles Barkley.)
Gnarls Barkley
Their 2006 worldwide hit "Crazy," reached number one on many singles charts worldwide, including the UK. In the U.S. "Crazy" reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100. The album St. Elsewhere was also a hit, reaching number one on the UK Albums Chart and number four on the US Billboard 200 album charts.
Cee Lo, taking a break from recording with Gnarls Barkley, released the single "Fuck You!" in August 2010 as a solo recording artist. The song was an instant hit. It has been certified Gold in the U.S, and Denmark. It reached platinum status in Canada, New Zealand, and the UK; and multi-platinum status in Australia.
On December 1, 2010, Cee Lo received five Grammy nominations for "Fuck You!" which His solo album, The Lady Killer was also successful, reaching the top five of the UK Album Charts and debuting within the top ten on the Billboard 200 album charts. His second single "It's OK" was a hit in Europe and the third single, "Bright Lights Bigger City" has also seen similar charting success.
Cee Lo is currently a vocal coach on the NBC reality talent show The Voice with Adam Levine, Christina Aguilera, and Blake Shelton.
Melissa Etheridge (has received fifteen Grammy Award nominations winning two, one Academy Award and has sold twenty-seven million albums worldwide and almost fourteen million in the United States alone.
Etheridge is known for her mixture of confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy, smoky vocals. She has also been a gay and lesbian activist since January 1993.
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Melissa Lou Etheridge was born in Leavenworth, Kansas. She was a member of the first "Power and Life" musical/dance group at Leavenworth High School. She began learning to play guitar when sew was eight years-old. She began to play in all-men country music groups during her teenage years, then moved to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music.
While in Berklee, Etheridge played the club circuit around Boston. After three semesters, she dropped out of college and moved to Los Angeles. Etheridge was discovered in a bar called Vermie's in Pasadena, CA. A husband of a friend of hers on a women's soccer team she played on, Bill Leopold, watched her perform live, and was impressed. He has remained a pivotal part of Etheridge's career ever since.
In addition, gigs in lesbian bars around Los Angeles, got her discovered by Island Records chief Chris Blackwell. As a result, Melissa received a publishing deal to write songs for movies including the 1986 movie Weeds.
After an unreleased first effort was rejected by Island Records as being too polished, she recorded her simpler self-titled debut album in four days. The album, Melissa Etheridge, was an underground hit, and the single, "Bring Me Some Water,” was nominated for a Grammy.
She followed up her first album's modest success by contributing background and contributing vocals to Don Henley's album The End of the Innocence.
She went into the studio and recorded her second album Brave and Crazy which was released in 1989. The album peaked at #22 on the Billboard charts. Etheridge then went on the road to build up her fan base.
In 1992, Etheridge released her third album Never Enough. Similar to her prior two albums, Never Enough peaked at #21 but gave Etheridge her first Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female for her single "Ain't It Heavy.” Never Enough was considered more personal and mature, and seemed to inadvertently address rumors about her sexuality.
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On September 21, 1993, Etheridge released what would become her mainstream breakthrough recording Yes I Am. The album spent 138 weeks on the Billboard 200 charts and peaked at #15 and scored mainstream hits "Come to My Window" and her only Billboard Top 10 single "I'm the Only One,” which also hit #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. Yes I Am earned a RIAA certification of 6× Platinum.
Etheridge earned her second Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female for her single "Come to My Window.” She also garnered two additional nominations in the Best Rock Song category for "I'm the Only One" and "Come to My Window" losing to Bruce Springsteen's "Streets of Philadelphia.”
In a visit to Leavenworth in November 1994, she performed a benefit concert for a new park to be built near the high school. A ball field at the park is named after her father, John Etheridge. (In 1992, Etheridge established a performing arts scholarship at Leavenworth High School in honor of her father.)
The success of Yes I Am helped increase sales of Etheridge's earlier albums. In 1995 Melissa Etheridge earned a RIAA certification of 2× Platinum while Never Enough earned a RIAA certification of Platinum.
Etheridge's follow-up to Yes I Am was the moderately successful Your Little Secret which wasn't as well received by critics as her prior recordings. Still, Your Little Secret has become the highest charting album of Etheridge's career reaching #6 on the Billboard album charts. The album produced two Top 40 singles "I Want to Come Over" and "Nowhere to Go" and earned a RIAA certification of 2× Platinum.
In 1996, Etheridge won ASCAP Songwriter of the Year award. She also took a lengthy break from the music business to concentrate on her private life. She also recorded "Sin Tener A Donde Ir (Nowhere to Go)" for the AIDS benefit album Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin produced by the Red Hot Organization.
In 1997, she appeared as herself on the sitcom Ellen in "The Puppy Episode Part 2.”
Etheridge returned to the music charts with the release of Breakdown in October 1999 which peaked at #12 on the Billboard charts. Breakdown became her first album of Etheridge's career to be nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. In addition, her single "Angels Would Fall" was nominated in two categories: Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female and Best Rock Song. A year later, another single from the album "Enough of Me" was nominated for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female. The album earned a RIAA Gold certification.
2001 saw the release of Skin. Recorded after her breakup with first partner. Despite positive reviews, Skin sold less than 500,000 copies. The single "I Want to Be in Love" was nominated for the Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female. The next year, Etheridge released her autobiography titled, The Truth Is: My Life in Love and Music.
Etheridge began 2004 with the release of her eighth album Lucky on February 10. The album was a more joyful Etheridge who was now in the midst of celebrating a new relationship with actress Tammy Lynn Michaels. Lucky also sold less than 500,000 copies.
In April 2006, Etheridge and Michaels announced that Michaels was pregnant with twins via an anonymous sperm donor. Michaels gave birth to a daughter and son the following October.
In November 2008, in response to the passing of California’s Proposition 8 banning gay marriage, Etheridge announced that she would not pay her state taxes as an act of civil disobedience.
Then in 2010, Tammy and Melissa separated. At the time, Melissa’s rep said: "Melissa and Tammy Etheridge are saddened to announce that they are now separated. We ask for consideration and respect for our family as we go through this difficult period."
