American rapper, songwriter, record producer LL Cool J (which stands for Ladies Love Cool James) was born 57 years ago as James Todd Smith in Bay Shore, New York, is married and has 4 children.
When he was just 4 years old, James experienced a horrible event which highly affected his childhood when he found his mum and granddad soaked in blood after his dad had shot them, almost killing them.
Inspired by the hip-hop band ‘The Treacherous Tree’, Smith began rapping at 10 years old, and 6 years later was already recording demo tapes. His mum and granddad bought him some musical equipment which helped him these tapes and he sent them to several recording companies.
James released his first single ‘I Need a Beat’ in 1984 and that same year performed his very first professional concert in a high school. Both went very well, and the single was so successful that more than 100,000 copies were sold. The following year, his debut album was issued and likewise was a big success. It featured the tracks ‘I can’t live without my Radio’ and ‘Rock the Bells’. LL Cool J’s popularity continued to rise after he performed as an opening act for other bands and appearing on a couple of TV shows.
In 1987, Smith made a career breakthrough with the release of his second album which turned out much more successful than his first one, so much so that more than 2 million copies were sold solely in the US. Two singles from this album include ‘I’m Bad’ and ‘I Need Love’. Another album was issued in 1989 which despite that it went commercially well, it was criticised by hip-hop lovers, stating it was very materialistic and included many love ballads. From 1990 to date, LL Cool J had 13 more albums, 46 singles as lead artist and 11 singles as featured artist.
Apart from music, Smith starred in 29 movies, both on the big and on the small screen, 5 documentaries and over 65 TV programmes. These include ‘Wildcats’, ‘Deep Blue Sea’, ‘S.W.A.T.’, ‘The Deal’, ‘Soul Train’, ‘Wheel of Fortune’, ‘Top of the Tops’, ‘American Idol’, ‘NCIS’ and Grammy Awards host.
During his career so far, LL Cool J received 19 awards, including 2 Grammy, 2 Billboard Music, 8 NAACP Image and 3 Soul Train Music. Amongst other honours, in 2021 he was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received a Musical Excellence Award.
Smith is also an active philanthropist and supports several charitable organisations, including one founded by himself called ‘Jump and Ball’.
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