Kid Rock

Kid Rock biography

Robert James "Bob" Ritchie (born January 17, 1971), known by his stage name Kid Rock, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, multi-instrumentalist and rapper with five Grammy Awards nominations. Kid Rock released several studio albums that mostly went unnoticed before his 1998 record Devil Without a Cause, released with Atlantic Records, sold 11 million albums behind the hits, "Bawitdaba", "Cowboy", and "Only God Knows Why". In 2000, he released The History of Rock, a compilation of remixed and remastered versions of songs from previous albums as well as the hit single, "American Bad Ass" and the previously unreleased "Abortion".

Kid Rock released the follow-up in 2001, Cocky. After a slow start, his country-flavored hit "Picture" with Sheryl Crow resurrected the album and it went gold as a single and pushed the album's sales over 5 million. It was followed by 2003's self-titled release, which went platinum in the USA and reached No. 8 on the Billboard charts. In 2006 he released Live Trucker, a greatest hits live album that went mostly unnoticed.

He made his comeback in 2007. Kid Rock released Rock n Roll Jesus, which produced a hit in "All Summer Long". It was his first worldwide smash hit, charting No. 1 in eight countries across Europe and in Australia. Rock N Roll Jesus sold 5 million albums worldwide and was certified triple platinum in the U.S. He released Born Free on November 16, 2010. It was announced on June 16, 2011 that "Born Free" was certified platinum by the 'Recording Industry Association Of America' (RIAA) for selling more than one million copies. This gives Kid Rock his sixth Platinum album certification and gives him a career tally of 23 million albums sold.

His sales are not aided by iTunes, as he has boycotted sales of his music on the service. This also affects his singles' chart positions without digital downloads added in (for example, "All Summer Long" only peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100). The only Kid Rock album available on iTunes is "Grits Sandwiches For Breakfast" because Jive Records owns the rights to the album.

Early life

Robert James "Bob" Ritchie was born on January 17, 1971 in Romeo, Michigan to William "Bill" Ritchie, a car dealer who owned several local dealerships, and Susan Ritchie. His family also owned a six-acre orchard and Ritchie regularly helped pick apples and cared for the family's horses. He has three siblings: two are older, brother William "Billy" Ritchie and sister Carol Ritchie; and one is younger, sister Jill Ritchie who is an actress. Ritchie found small-town life dull; he became interested in rap music, learned how to breakdance and participated in talent shows in the Detroit area. At age eleven he joined a breakdance crew called the Furious Funkers, and taught himself to work a cheap belt-driven turntable. In high school, Ritchie DJed at parties for beer. He eventually joined Bo Wisdom of Groove Time Productions, in Mt. Clemens, Michigan to perform basement parties for thirty dollars a night. He was then given his stage name; club goers dubbed him "Kid Rock" after they had enjoyed watching "that white kid rock."

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