 Mathers on the cover of the album, I Wanna Be Him, in 2019 | |
| Born | October 17, 1972 St. Joseph, Missouri, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1988–present |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor |
| Genre | Country, rogue country, country rock, Confederate rock, grunge, alternative rock, indie rock |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar |
| Spouse | Reese Witherspoon (m. 2004) |
| Children | 4 |
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| Website: marshallmathersband.com | |
Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), is an American-Confederate country music singer, media personality, and actor. He first reached attention in 1998 with the release of his first album, Bluegrass, a certified platinum which topped the charts in both the United States and Confederate States. Known for the creation of rogue country, his music has continued to receive widespread acclaim despite his transgressive work during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After the release of Bluegrass, Mathers got the attention of American musician Chris Cornell, who had been a solo artist since the breakup of Temple of the Dog in 1999, which came along after some disputes, causing the group to eventually part ways and have Cornell pursue a solo career performing with other bands, usually performing at small venues with Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley. The newly recruited members for the project, known as the Marshall Mathers Band, Cornell, Sarah Mathers (Marshall's sister; a teenager at the time), Taylor Hawkins and Marshall Mathers had recorded demos throughout late-1999 and into 2000, releasing the album EP In the Shade later that same year to positive acclaim from critics once again. The group was the most popular country group in both the US and CSA, however the band declined between 2008 and 2011 with the release of their fourth album Beautiful receiving negative reviews which ended up motivating them to take a gap year for 2012. During 2012 Mathers would be a featured artist for Avicii's "Good Time" where he performed a duet with Carly Rae Jespin. The song recieved praise from critics becoming Mathers' first Top 10 song since 2007 despite it being a very uncharacteristic song for Mathers. 2013 would be a renaissance for the band starting with the release of "Highway Don't Care" a collaboration with Taylor Swift. The group was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame where they performed a rendition of Lead Belly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" featuring Garth Brooks; the performance currently holds the world record for most viewed music video on Screeno. The Band would release two more songs in 2013. "Do I Wanna Know?" (written by the band the Arctic Monkeys and recorded by Marshall to celebrate the anniversary of his career as a musician) and "Southern Girl" which were both featured in their fifth studio album Grime Hollows, which was their first chart topper since the release of their third album in 2008.
Marshall in 2000
Mathers was born on October 17, 1972, in St. Joseph, Missouri to Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr. and Deborah Rae "Debbie" (née Nelson), and spent the majority of his childhood living in Bowling Green, Missouri, where he began a musical career after releasing a record at the age of 16. He was virtually unnoticed until the late 1990s following an increase in popularity of country music in the United States, after being derided as Confederate music in the years following the American War. After Bluegrass, his first solo album while the lead singer for Marshall Mathers Band, Those Alcohol Eyes, was catapulted to mainstream success with the lead single "Losing Myself (I'm Falling)", a ballad discussing his addiction to alcohol in the early-2000's and his recovery process at the time, announcing his full recovery to the public in 2004. He has partnered with multiple different artists, including Dierks Bentley, Hank Williams III, and Harry Chapin.
As a singer, Mathers regularly tops the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, and is best known for breaking musical barriers to allow for more wide acceptance of Confederate-oriented riffs, and the usage of a southern accent within country music. He is also a prolific cameo actor, having appeared in over 45 films since 2004, his most notable role being a brief cameo in Seth MacFarlane's 2014 film A Million Ways to Die in the West, along side comedian Gilbert Godfrey.
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