shady redirect here . for other uses see marshall mathers disambiguation and slim shady disambiguation . eminem eminem performing in june 2009 born marshall bruce mathers iii 1972 10 17 october 17 1972 age 43 st. joseph missouri united states residence rochester hills michigan united states other names double m m & m marshall mathers occupation rapper record producer songwriter actor years active 1992 present spouse s kimberly anne scott m. 1999 div . 2001 . m. 2006 div . 2006 children 3 1 musical career origin detroit michigan united states genres hip hop instruments vocals keyboards drums sampler labels aftermath shady interscope current bassmint mashin duck web associated acts d12 soul intent dr. dre snoop dogg lil wayne obie trice bad meets evil busta rhymes rihanna royce da 5 9 dina rae outsidaz website eminem.com shadyrecords.com marshall bruce mathers iii born october 17 1972 2 known professionally as eminem often stylized as emin m is an american rapper songwriter record producer and actor . in addition to his solo career he is a member of d12 and with royce da 5 9 is one half of the hip hop duo bad meets evil . eminem is the best selling artist of the 2000s in the united states . in his career he has had ten number one albums on the billboard 200 and five number one singles on the billboard hot 100 . with us sales of 45.1 million albums and 42 million tracks as of june 2014 eminem is the second best selling male artist of the nielsen soundscan era the sixth best selling artist in the united states and the best selling hip hop artist . globally he has sold more than 172 million albums thus being one of the world s best selling artists . rolling stone ranked him 83rd on its list of 100 greatest artists of all time calling him the king of hip hop . after his debut album infinite 1996 eminem achieved mainstream popularity in 1999 with the slim shady lp which earned him his first grammy award for best rap album . his next two releases 2000 s the marshall mathers lp and 2002 s the eminem show were worldwide successes with each being certified diamond in u.s. sales and both winning best rap album grammy awards making eminem the first artist to win the award for three consecutive lps . they were followed by encore in 2004 another critical and commercial success . eminem went on hiatus after touring in 2005 releasing relapse in 2009 and recovery in 2010 . both won grammy awards and recovery was the best selling album of 2010 worldwide the second time he had the international best selling album of the year after the eminem show . eminem s eighth album 2013 s the marshall mathers lp 2 won two grammy awards including best rap album ; it expanded his record for the most wins in that category and his grammy total to 15 . eminem has developed other ventures including shady records with manager paul rosenberg . he has his own channel shade 45 on sirius xm radio . in november 2002 eminem starred in the hip hop film 8 mile . he won the academy award for best original song for lose yourself the first rap artist to win the award . 3 eminem has made cameo appearances in the films the wash 2001 funny people 2009 the interview 2014 and the television series entourage 2010 . contents 1 life and career 1.1 1972 1991 early life 1.2 1992 1999 early career infinite and the slim shady lp 1.3 2000 2002 the marshall mathers lp and the eminem show 1.4 2003 2007 encore and musical hiatus 1.5 2008 2009 relapse and refill 1.6 2010 2011 recovery and bad meets evil reunion 1.7 2012 2013 the marshall mathers lp 2 1.8 2014 present shady xv and southpaw 2 other ventures 2.1 shady records and d12 2.2 acting career 2.3 memoirs 2.4 advertising and charity 3 artistry 3.1 influences and rapping technique 3.2 alter egos 3.3 collaborations and productions 3.4 comparisons with other artists 4 personal life 4.1 family 4.2 legal problems 4.3 drug problems 4.4 alleged homophobia 5 legacy 6 discography 7 filmography 8 awards and nominations 9 tours 10 books 11 business ventures 12 see also 13 further reading 14 references 15 external links life and career 1972 1991 early life mathers was born on october 17 1972 in st. joseph missouri . he is the only child of marshall bruce mathers jr. born june 30 1951 ; known as bruce and deborah rae debbie nelson born january 6 1955 . 4 5 6 he is of english german scottish and swiss descent . 7 debbie was 14 when she met 18 year old bruce ; 6 at age 17 she nearly died during her 73 hour labor . 8 eminem s parents were in a band called daddy warbucks playing in ramada inns along the dakotas montana border before their separation . bruce left the family moving to california 9 and having two other children michael and sarah born c. 1982 . 10 debbie later had a son nathan kane samara born february 3 1986 also known as nate . 6 during his childhood eminem and debbie shuttled between missouri and michigan rarely staying in one house for more than a year or two and living primarily with family members . in missouri they lived in several places including saint joseph savannah and kansas city . 11 12 as a teenager eminem wrote letters to his father ; according to debbie all came back marked return to sender . 9 friends and family remember eminem as a happy child but a bit of a loner who was often bullied . one bully de angelo bailey severely injured eminem in the head ; debbie nelson filed a lawsuit against the school in 1982 which was dismissed the following year . 8 eminem spent much of his youth in a lower middle class primarily black detroit neighborhood . 9 he and debbie were one of three white households on their block and eminem was beaten by black youths several times . 9 as a child he was interested in storytelling aspiring to be a comic book artist before discovering hip hop . 13 eminem heard his first rap song reckless featuring ice t on the breakin soundtrack a gift from debbie s half brother ronnie polkinghorn who later became a music mentor to him . when polkinghorn committed suicide in 1991 eminem stopped speaking for days and did not attend his funeral . 9 14 eminem s home life was seldom stable ; he frequently fought with his mother whom a social worker described as having a very suspicious almost paranoid personality . when her son became famous debbie bristled at suggestions that she was a less than ideal mother contending that she sheltered him and was responsible for his success . in 1987 debbie allowed runaway kimberly ann kim scott to stay at their home ; several years later eminem began an on and off relationship with scott . 8 after spending three years in ninth grade due to truancy and poor grades 15 he dropped out of lincoln high school at age 17 . although he was interested in english he never explored literature preferring comic books and disliked math and social studies . 16 eminem worked at several jobs to help his mother pay the bills later maintaining that she often threw him out of the house anyway . when she left to play bingo he would blast the stereo and write songs . 9 at age 14 he began rapping with high school friend mike ruby ; they adopted the names manix and m & m the latter of which evolved into eminem . 2 8 eminem snuck into neighboring osborn high school with friend and fellow rapper proof for lunchroom freestyle rap battles . 17 on saturdays they attended open mic contests at the hip hop shop on west 7 mile considered ground zero for the detroit rap scene . 9 struggling to succeed in a predominantly black industry eminem was appreciated by underground hip hop audiences . 2 18 19 when he wrote verses he wanted most of the words to rhyme ; he wrote long words or phrases on paper and underneath worked on rhymes for each syllable . 16 although the words often made little sense the drill helped eminem practice sounds and rhymes . 16 1992 1999 early career infinite and the slim shady lp eminem in germany 1999 as eminem s reputation grew he was recruited by several rap groups ; the first was the new jacks . after they disbanded he joined soul intent who released a single on their 1995 self titled ep featuring proof . 2 eminem and proof then teamed up with four other rappers to form the dirty dozen d12 who released their first album devil s night in 2001 . 9 eminem had his first run in with the law at age 20 when he was arrested for his involvement in a drive by shooting with a paintball gun . the case was dismissed when the victim did not appear in court . 8 eminem was soon signed to jeff and mark bass s fbt productions and recorded his debut album infinite for their independent web entertainment label . 20 one lyrical subject of infinite was his struggle to raise his newborn daughter hailie jade scott mathers on little money . during this period eminem s rhyming style primarily inspired by rappers nas esham and az lacked the comically violent slant for which he later became known . 21 detroit disc jockeys largely ignored infinite and the feedback eminem did receive why don t you go into rock and roll led him to craft angrier moodier tracks . 9 at this time eminem and kim scott lived in a crime ridden neighborhood and their house was robbed several times . 9 eminem cooked and washed dishes for minimum wage at gilbert s lodge a family style restaurant at st. clair shores . 22 his former boss described him as becoming a model employee as he worked 60 hours a week for six months after hailie s birth . 8 he was fired shortly before christmas and later said it was like five days before christmas which is hailie s birthday . i had like forty dollars to get her something . 9 after the release of infinite his personal problems and substance abuse culminated in a suicide attempt . 2 by march 1997 he was fired from gilbert s lodge for the last time and lived in his mother s mobile home with kim and hailie . 8 eminem attracted more attention when he developed slim shady a sadistic violent alter ego . the character allowed him to express his anger with lyrics about drugs rape and murder . 8 in the spring of 1997 he recorded his debut ep the slim shady ep which was released that winter by web entertainment . 9 the ep with frequent references to drug use sexual acts mental instability and violence also explored the more serious themes of dealing with poverty and marital and family difficulties and revealed his direct self deprecating response to criticism . 2 hip hop magazine the source featured eminem in its unsigned hype column in march 1998 . 23 eminem left at the arco arena for the up in smoke tour june 2000 after he was evicted from his home eminem went to los angeles to compete in the 1997 rap olympics an annual nationwide battle rap competition . he placed second and interscope records staff in attendance sent a copy of the slim shady ep to company ceo jimmy iovine . iovine played the tape for record producer dr. dre founder of aftermath entertainment and