Born Marshall Mathers III on 10-17-72 in St. Joseph, MO. Moved back and forth between that city and Detroit during his under-priviledged childhood.
Began performing at age 14 after teaming up with his friend. The duo performed in the basement of a friend's house as "Matrix and M&M".
Gained acceptance as a white rapper through competitions to the point where others would want to challenge him just to gain popularity for themselves.
Diverted from the rap scene following his uncle's suicide, but soon re-entered forming groups with other MC's.
Originally a member of New Jacks, then Soul Intent, then D-12.
Discovered in 1997 by Interscope Record's label chief Jimmy Iovine who witnessed the "great white hope" finish second at an L.A. contest (Rap Olympics MC Battle - freestyle category) and asked for a demo.
The tape was eventually heard from Dr. Dre, also from Interscope Records, two months later, although some say he actually discovered the demo in another way - lying on the floor in Iovine's garage.
In any case, the thought-provoking The Slim Shady LP was released in 1999 (Eminem actually released the Slim Shady EP in 1997 independantly).
The highly controversial, yet critically aclaimed Marshal Mathers LP was unleashed in 2000, shipping near 2 million units during its first week of release in America.
Naysayers protested that album's misogynistic and homophobic image. However, this did not stop Eminem from performing at the 2000 Grammy Awards in L.A. with Elton John in a mediocrely successful attempt to dust off homophobic rumors.
More closer to home he was divorced from his wife, Kim, after the song "Kim" which depicts him killing her. She actually attemped suicide before the divorce.
Created the label imprint, Shady Records in 2000 with manager Paul Rosenberg.
The Eminem Show followed in 2002, whose lead single, and first #1, "Without Me" took on parodies of Osama bin Laden, Moby, Robin(from Batman) and Elvis in its video.
Starred in the semi-autobiographical film 8-mile (2002). Its soundtrack give birth to Eminem's biggest hit, "Lose Yourself", winning an Oscar for Best Original Song.
Spurred controversy again on 11-19-03 after a press conference with hip-hop's The Source magazine. During this conference a tape made in 1988 surfaced depicting Eminem making derogatory comments against black women.
Also in 2003 the U.S. Secret Service was investigating a case of possible threat to the U.S. president after listening to the yet unrealeased "We Are Americans", which can now be found on Encore.
The latter album, released in 2004 was preceded with "Just Lose It" which took on Michael Jackson's issues of child molestation, plastic surgery and his 1984 Pepsi commercial hair fire incident.
There is speculation in the very near future that Eminem will focus exclusively on his label, retiring as a performer. There is also speculation that a farewell album, "The Funeral", is to be released later this year. None of these rumors has been confirmed.
Quite possibly, however, Eminem will likely take a hiatus from performing to focus as a producer and label executive with Rossenburg.
In the meantime, Eminem checked himself into a rehabilitation facility during August 2005 to treat an addiction to sleep medications.
