Living with his mother on the East side of Detroit, Eminem or M&M as he then was, began rapping in his early teens. In 1995 Eminem released a single with fellow Detroit MC 'Proof'. In the same year his longtime girlfriend Kim Scott gave birth to Hailie Jade. A year later Eminem relased 'Infinite' on the label WEB Entertainment created by the Bass brothers.

Those were tough years with Eminem finding difficulty in making ends meet. But in 1997 he created the 'Slim Shady EP' in two weeks and this was to be the forerunner to 'The Slim Shady LP' released in 1999, after Eminem had been picked up by the legend Dr Dre. Bouncing off the success of the hit single 'My Name Is', the album shot to No. 2 on the Billboard chart.

Further success followed with The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) and The Eminem Show (2002). Eminem became the world's number one selling male artist. The Marshall Mathers LP alone sold 19 million copies worldwide. Eminem's album, Encore, sold 11m copies worldwide.

Eminem's music combines a curious mix of catchy tunes with harsh lyrics. Often criticised by the establishment and also by liberals, many of his critics started jumping on his bandwagon or seeing the light (depending which way look at it) after his starring role in the film '8 Mile'.

In August 2005, after Eminem's European Anger Management tour was cancelled, his management released a statement: "Marshall Mathers, aka Eminem, is in the hospital under doctors' care. He's being treated for dependency on sleep medication."

As well as performing, Eminem is also a succesful producer. D12, Obie Trice and Stat Quo are amongst those that Eminem has produced. In the course of Eminem's rise to mega-stardom he had run-ins with his mother, Debbie Mathers-Briggs, and with his ex-wife Kim Mathers. However, in December 2005 Eminem told an American radio station that he and Kim were reconciled and might remarry - which they did in January 2006.