ALL ABOUT VANillA ICE
Robert Matthew Van Winkle, commonly known as Vanilla Ice, was born on October 31, 1967 in Miami, FL to a middle class family of William Van Winkle and Beth Mino [5]. His father left before his birth leaving him to be raised by only his mother [5]. Growing up in a culturally mixed neighborhood, Van Winkle developed interest in music and dance at an early age [5]. However, during adolescence dreamed to become a professional motorcross racer, participating and winning several competitions [5]. However, his motorcross career was cut short due to a broken ankle [5]. This injury was a watershed moment in Van Winkle's life. Having nothing else to do, Van Winkle frequented City Lights, a night club [5]. During an open mic, he won over the stage and was later asked to perform regularly on stage [5]. This allowed him to open up for many famous groups such as N.W.A, Public Enemy, and MC Hammer, and build a reputation [5].
In January 1987, Van Winkle signed his first contract under Ultrax, owned by City Lights owner [5][6]. Ultrax published his first album, Hooked, selling a sub-standard 48,000 copies [5]. Ice gained a small following, but had not yet achieved fame. His album struggled because his hit single, Ice Ice Baby, was B-side, meaning at the end of the album. However, this issue was resolved when disc jockey Darrel Jaye began playing Ice Ice Baby A-side. Before long, radio show hosts followed suit and Van Winkle became an overnight sensation [9]. This fame allowed Van Winkle to sign with major record label SBK. SBK commercialized Van Winkle, creating the Vanilla Ice identity and remixing his album Hooked and re-releasing it as To The Extreme [19]. To the Extreme was an instant-hit, becoming that fastest selling hip-hop album of all time [5][17]. Holding the #1 spot on Billboard 200 (for albums) for over 16 weeks, To the Extreme sold over 11 million copies [16]. Ice Ice Baby, in of itself, was extremely successful, also achieving the #1 spot on Billboard 200 (for singles) [16]. In fact, it was the first rap/hip-hop song that had ever done so [16]. |
Having good dance moves, excellent looks, and a catchy song, Vanilla Ice became extremely popular to the adolescent demographic . Touring across the world, Ice's success did not last [5][18].His next album Extremely Live, containing mostly live performances of his debut album, To The Extreme, received harsh criticism with Entertainment Weekly reviewer David Browne calling it "one of the most ridiculous albums ever released [4]." Achieving only gold status and selling only 500,000 copies, Extremely Live was the beginning of the end. Recognizing this, Vanilla Ice dived into film, taking a lead role in Cool as Ice, which received an 8% Rotten Tomato score and many negative reviews [4]. With his popularity nearly gone, Vanilla Ice turned to touring out of country in Latin America and Eastern Europe, which had only begun hearing his music [5][15]. Even receiving a medal from the city of Acapulco, Ice toured for three years until 1983, when he decided to take a break from music [4].
Now a vegetarian and actively engaged in the Rastafarian movement, Ice released the album Mind Blowin, which like his previous album received many negative reviews [4][7]. Entertainment Weekly critic James Bernard called it "more clunky than funky [3]." Shortly afterwards, SBK became bankrupt and Van Winkle exited the music scene [5]. Doing a lot of hard drugs during this period, Van Winkle attempted suicide through a heroin overdose on July 4, 1994, but was saved [5]. Reforming his life, Van winkle focused on motorcross and studied real estate due to his uncertain music career [5]. He later returned to the music scene joining a grunge band in 1995, but did not have any major success [4][18]. |
Image Source
http://blog.comnio.com/2014/05/vanilla-ices-3-rules-social-media-customer-service/
http://blog.comnio.com/2014/05/vanilla-ices-3-rules-social-media-customer-service/