Coolio
A native of Compton, California, Coolio was born Artis Ivey, Jr. He worked for a year and a half as a firefighter with the California Department of Forestry to help overcome drug addiction, then returned to the Los Angeles rap scene and began his sensational composing, recording and producing career. Coolio resides in L.A. and has six children. In his spare time he is an avid snow boarder, golfer and video game master.
Coolio won a Grammy Award in 1996 for Best Rap Performance, Solo, for his international hit single, Gangsta’s Paradise, which was also featured on the Dangerous Minds soundtrack. That song, also nominated for a Grammy for Best Song of the Year, has sold over 4 million copies and was Billboard Magazine\'s number no.1 single of 1995. Coolio has also won an American Music Award, 3 MTV Awards, 2 Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards and a World Music Award. He has received 6 Grammy Award nominations (1994, 1995, 1996), 2 Billboard Music Awards (1994, 1996), 2 ASCAP Awards (1996, 1997), 3 MTV Video Awards (1996, 1997), 4 American Online Awards (1996) and was the Playboy Music Poll Winner in 1997.
Coolio\'s album, “El Cool Magnifico” was released on October 15, 2002. Coolio has recorded songs featuring hip hop performer Miss Toi, country legend Kenny Rogers, Crazy Bone (Bone Thug), B- Real (Cypress Hill) and Daz (Dogg Pound). The music video, The Hustler, is an updated rap version of The Gambler and stars Coolio in prosthetics playing an old cowboy, and himself, and features country legend Kenny Rogers.
In addition, the prolific artist recorded the single and music video for Dexter (What’s his name?) for Dexter’s Laboratory: Home boy genius the hip hop experiment.. This is an album featuring big-name, hip-hop artists, featuring original, newly inspired recorded songs inspired by Dexter’s Laboratory, the top-rated, Emmy nominated Cartoon Network series. Cartoon Network is seen in over 80 million U.S. homes.Coolio’s music video will air on the Cartoon Network 20 times per week beginning in August 2002.
Turning to the world of sports Coolio performed in concert at the Olympics in Salt Lake City, for the athletes, VIP’s and officials the night before opening ceremonies and performed at the Ice Village 2 nights later for extreme sports fans. Coolio enjoys snowboarding whenever he has some free time.
Coolio has successfully made the transition from performer to actor and enjoys balancing both professions. He co-stars in the action/adventure motion picture China Strike Force, directed by world famous director Stanley Tong. The film premiered at no.1 at the box office in China and was released by Miramax, in the U.S. winter 2003. Three of Coolio’s songs from El Cool Magnifico are being heard in the film. The actor enjoyed doing his own martial arts work.
In addition, Coolio has recorded songs for several motion pictures including: Space Jam, Clueless, The Big Payback, Panther , New Jersey Drive, The Jerky Boys, Eddie and composed the theme song for the popular TV series Kenan & Kel.
Motion picture fans also had the opportunity to see Coolio in Daredevil, a Fox/Regency film based on the Marvel Comics franchise, starring Ben Affleck, Jon Favreau, Jennifer Garner, Joe Pantoliano and Michael Clarke Duncan.
In addition, Coolio performed in concert on a USO tour for our troops in Korea during Thanksgiving, and performed for our troops in Europe at Christmas as a way of giving support to our armed forces.
Fans throughout Europe had the opportunity to attend Coolio’s sold out concerts throughout Belgium, Holland, Germany and France late fall 2000. He performed several songs and was backed on stage by an 80-piece orchestra and 40- person choir.
His gold single C u when u get there, released on his third gold album, My Soul, was featured on the Nothing to lose gold soundtrack. Using a choir, violins and a 280 year- old piece of music (Pachebel\'s Canon in D), Coolio created a remarkable song that is both painfully melancholy and beautifully optimistic. C u when u get there was the first single in Tommy Boy\'s history to become gold in South Africa. His debut album, It takes a thief released in 1994, sold over a million copies and went Platinum, as did the single, Fantastic voyage, a utopian party anthem which was nominated for a Grammy Award, among other accolades. Coolio\'s second album, Gangsta’s Paradise, sold over 3 million copies in the U.S. alone and was a top selling album around the world. The song touched fans everywhere with its powerful message.
Television fans enjoyed watching Coolio participate and win $50 thousand dollars on Fox TV’s Celebrity boot camp on Sept. 30, 2002. Coolio competed against several celebrities in rigorous training exercises and had to deal with the tough stance of several drill sergeants. Coolio also participated on NBC-TV’s Celebrity Fear Factor, and as champion, won $50 thousand dollars. The money from both Celebrity boot camp and Celebrity Fear Factor benefited his charity, Heritage begins whitin.
Coolio enjoyed acting as a TV interviewer when he spoke with x-treme sports superstars, performers and actors at ESPN’s Action Sports and Music Awards special that aired on April 16, 2002 from Universal Studios in Los Angeles, CA. He also appeared on The weakest link on NBC-TV and guest-starred on Charmed the popular WB TV series. In addition, he was featured on MTV’S Flipped special dealing with racism that aired March 2002. He guest-starred on HBO\'s popular TV series Arliss, and has appeared in the features Batman & Robin, Dear God, Phat Beach, Patrice Jones, The Big Payback. He had a starring role in the movie Tyrone, playing 3 siblings - Tyrone, Jerome and their sister Sherone! Coolio recently co-starred in the feature film Perfume with Paul Sorvino, Omar Epps, Jeff Goldblum, Carmen Electra and In Pursuit, with Daniel Baldwin and Claudia Schiffer and had cameo appearances in Leprechaun in the hood, Getting over Alice and Judgement Day. In addition, he has guest-starred, in dramatic roles, on the CBS-TV primetime series, Early Edition and in the syndicated series Eighteen wheels of justice. He has also guest-starred on Space: Above and Beyond, Sabrina, the teenage witch, The Nanny, Martin, The Watcher, etc. He has appeared on Politically incorrect, Hollywood Squares, Turn Ben Stein on, Pajama Party, I\'ve got a secret, The Match Game, Tom Snyder and he received the 2nd highest score in the history of Pictionary! His voice appeared on the Duckman episode, "Coolio Runnings." Coolio\'s moving performance of One More Night appeared on the Prism Awards televised special in fall 2000. Coolio is immortalized as a claymation figure in the highly successful "Lipton Brisk" beverage commercials. His character appears with Elvis and the Godfather of Soul himself, James Brown.
Coolio continues to receive worldwide attention for his work as an entertainer and as a role model who continues to help young people through his role as Honorary Director of the Heritage Begins Within Foundation. His foundation sponsored a nation-wide contest (in conjunction with a computer company) called How cool is your school. Students, teachers, parents and friends were encouraged to write in and state why their school deserves a "Cool Computer Room." 20 schools were selected to receive computers. The first contest took place in Honolulu, Hawaii and Coolio presented 15 computers to the winning school. Coolio is a strong believer in education and wants to provide computers to schools so students can fulfil their potential.
As a celebrity spokesperson for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation, Coolio appeared (Sept. 2000) at a press conference in Washington, D.C. with Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher, to launch a national campaign to educate teens with asthma and allergies and strongly recommend that they don’t neglect taking their medication because it might look un-cool to their friends. He appeared at the annual convention in New York City in March 2002 and spoke at a media luncheon and with children of all ages, to let them know that they can enjoy fruitful and productive lives if they take care of themselves and not forget to take their medicine. Coolio was honored by the Los Angeles Chapter of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation on December 4th 2001 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
In addition, Coolio is featured in a poster promoting reading for the American Library Association. The poster appeared in schools and libraries nationwide for 5 years. This multi-talented entertainer is also interested in establishing the first ever Mobile Music Bus that will tour the country looking for talent and teach underprivileged youth about the music industry. The Mobile Music Bus will launch a 10-city tour with the hope of taking the program to Europe, where Coolio\'s popularity is unsurpassed.
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