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COOLIO

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Artis Leon Ivey Jr. (born August 1, 1963), better known by his stage name Coolio, is a Grammy Award-winning United States|American rapper and actor. He rose to fame in 1995 in music|1995 with the hit single Gangsta's Paradise (song)|"Gangsta's Paradise," which appeared on the soundtrack for the film ''Dangerous Minds''. Since then, Coolio has continued to record new albums and make television and film appearances.
Biography
Early life
Coolio is the son of Jackie (''married and maiden names|nÃ©e'') Jones, a factory worker, and Artis Leon Ivey, Sr., a carpenter.<ref>[http://www.filmreference.com/film/27/Coolio.html Coolio Biography (1963-)]</ref> His brother is actor and rapper Trent Douglas. He worked as a California Conservation Corps-member at the Pomona site.<ref>http://www.ccc.ca.gov/CORPMEMB/corpmemb.htm</ref>

Recording career
Coolio started his career as a member of the rap group, WC and the Maad Circle, which included WC (rapper)|WC, Sir Jinx and DJ Crazy Toones. He later left the group and released his most successful album ''Gangsta's Paradise'', which went 4X Platinum and featured the mega hit, ''Gangsta's Paradise'' and the popular party track, ''Sumpin New''. However, Coolio's next three albums, 1997's "My Soul", 2002's "El Cool Magnifico" and 2006's "Return of the Gang... read all