Biography of Missy Elliott

A female jack-of-all-trades in the hip-hop world, all but unknown since the breakout of Mary J. Blige in the early '90s, Missy Misdemeanor Elliot rode into the rap mainstream by the usual route for female MCs (guesting on every track in sight) but proved to be so much more than a rapper: a prolific songwriter, a great R&B singer, director of her own videos and an astute businesswoman who wrangled an entire sub-label out of her initial Elektra Records deal. Born in Portsmouth, Virginia, she began writing songs by the age of 12, and after an adolescence spent listening to R&B icons like Chaka Khan and Prince as well as groundbreaking female rap acts like Salt-N-Pepa and MC Lyte, she hooked up with a female R&B group called Sista. While opening for Jodeci in 1992, the quartet auditioned for DeVante Swing and gained a record deal through the producer; though Elliott wrote most of the material for their debut album, it went nowhere and Sista broke up soon after.Missy Elliott continued to write songs, though, and placed one with former Cosby Show sprite Raven-Symone. She also began appearing on several popular singles, like SWV's "Can We," Aaliyah's "If Your Girl Only Knew," and a remix of Gina Thompson's "The Things You Do." Granted her own record deal by 1996, Missy Elliott responded with Supa Dupa Fly, which featured much of her own songwriting and production by her friend Timbaland. The album peaked at number three on the album charts, and went platinum soon after its release. Timbaland found a Top 15 hit with the single "Up Jumps Da Boogie," written by Elliott. The duo teamed up again for 1999's Da Real World. ~ John Bush

Biography of Ciara

Dubbed the "First Lady of Crunk & B" by the producer who should know, Lil Jon, singer Ciara burst onto the scene with the never-gonna-get-it single "Goodies," the breathy "answer song" to Petey Pablo's "Freek-a-Leek." She was born in Austin, TX, but with her father in the Army, Ciara spent time living in Germany, New York, California, Arizona, and Nevada before landing in Atlanta. In her early teens, she got a piece of paper out and wrote down her life's goal, to become a professional singer. She joined a girl group, worked on her songwriting, left the group, landed a publishing deal, and found a "music soul mate" when she met producer Jazze Pha. With Sean Garrett, the co-writer of Usher's massive hit "Yeah!," Ciara co-wrote "Goodies," and when Lil Jon heard the demo, he knew it was going to be big. LaFace released the Lil Jon-produced track in the summer of 2004, and its quick climb up the charts was remarkable. With help from Pha, Garrett, and Lil Jon, Ciara released her self-titled debut in September the same year. The follow-up singles "1, 2 Step" featuring Missy Elliott and "Oh" featuring Ludacris both broke the Top Five in the U.S. in 2005. By the end of the year she joined Gwen Stefani on tour before teaming with Bow Wow and Chris Brown for a package tour in early 2006. The Evolution, her second album, was released near the end of the year. ~ David Jeffries