Artis Leon Ivey, Jr. (born August 1, 1963) better known by his stage name
Coolio, is a Grammy Award winning American rapper and actor perhaps best known for the hit song "Gangsta's Paradise", a reworking of the Stevie Wonder song Pastime Paradise. Coolio has also made numerous television and film appearances.
Early life
The son of Jackie (née Jones), a factory worker, and Artis Leon Ivey, Sr., a carpenter.[1] His brother is actor and rapper Trent Douglas. He worked as a California Conservation Corps-member at the Pomona site.
Coolio started his career as a member of the rap group, WC and the Maad Circle, which included WC, Sir Jinx and DJ Crazy Toones. He later left the group and released his most successful album Gangsta's Paradise, which went 4X Platinum and featured the mega hit, Gangsta's Paradise and the popular party track, Sumpin New. However, Coolio's next three albums, 1997's "My Soul", 2002's "El Cool Magnifico" and 2006's "Return of the Gangsta", failed to live up to the success of his first two albums.
Coolio's recordings also appeared on the soundtracks to Clueless (1995) and Dangerous Minds (1995). In 2005, he co-hosted the MOBO awards in the UK. The MOBO (an acronym for Music Of Black Origin) Awards, established in 1996 by Kanya King, are held annually in the UK to recognize artists of any race or nationality performing music of black origin.
Coolio performed the theme song for the 1996 TV show Kenan and Kel, entitled "Awww Here It Goes" where he was featured in most of the song. Coolio also was in 2000 movie called Gangland. He also starred in an episode of the Nanny.
In 2001, he was a special guest on Beat the Geeks. In 2002 Coolio guest starred in the hit series Charmed, as a Lazarus demon, in the episode Marry Got Found. He played himself in the episode Coolio Runnings of the animated comedy Duckman. He also voiced Kwanzaa-bot, a character featured in the "A Tale of Two Santas" episode of Futurama. In fact, according to the DVD commentary, the producers of Futurama were so impressed by his range of voices, that they said he could do voice-over work professionally. Coolio reprised the character for the direct-to-DVD feature Bender's Big Score.
In 2002, Coolio was a contestant on Celebrity Fear Factor. During the third round, he referred to himself as "El Cool Magnifico" (which would become the title of his fourth studio album). That same year, he appeared on Celebrity Bootcamp and won. Coolio starred in the 2003 made-for-TV movie Dracula 3000, in which he played a space-faring stoner named 187, and the feature film Exposed, in which he played a rapper named "Bigg Heat". Coolio played the role of US Navy sailor Franky in 2004 Croatian film Ta divna splitska noć (Wonderful night in Split). In 2004 he participated in the German Comeback Show where he finished as third behind Chris Norman and Benjamin Boyce. He made another television movie appearance in 2005 as a military officer in the horror film Pterodactyl. That year, he also appeared in Joey on the episode "Joey and the Poker."
In 2006, Coolio appeared in the "Tanner's Ghost" episode of the Celebrity Paranormal Project.
In 2008, Coolio is hosting an online cooking show (or video podcast), Cookin' with Coolio, for the network MyDamnChannel. He says he is trying to make "black food" healthier and more affordable for poor people (Newsweek). He says he "likes Bobby Flay and Rachel Ray".
Coolio , pseudonimo di Artis Leon Ivey Jr. (Compton, 1 agosto 1963) è un rapper statunitense.Ha una discografia relativamente breve ma è l'autore di un brano che tuttora è considerato una delle perle del rap: Gangsta's Paradise
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