Andre Young, better known as Dr. Dre, is indeed a living legend. From his humble beginnings to his super stardom in the rap group N.W.A. to becoming the CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, his story is one of rags to riches. According to Forbes Magazine, Dr. Dre has a net worth of $550 million.
But his life wasn’t always so glamorous. Dre was born in Compton, California on February 18, 1965 to Theodore and Vera Young. He attended Vanguard Junior High School but due to gang violence his family moved him to suburban Roosevelt Junior High School. After completing junior high he attended Centennial High School in Compton but due to poor grades he transferred to Fremont High School. Dre, not being academically inclined, decided to focus all of his attention on his entertainment career.
In 1984, Dre joined a group called the World Class Wreckin’ Cru which saw him receive his first official hit entitled ‘Surgery’. The song sold 50,000 copies within the area of Compton alone. In 1986, Dre met a young rapper by the name of Oshea Jackson better known as Ice Cube and Eric Wright better know as Eazy-E and the three became the founding members of the controversial rap group N.W.A. Along with Antoine Carraby better known as DJ Yella and Lorenzo Patterson better known as MC Ren the group became known for their raunchy lyrics and hardcore style. The group’s first major hit ‘F*** Tha Police’ which came off of their “Straight Outta Compton” album was a bonafide hit.
But as the old adage goes, all good things must come to an end. In 1991, after a disagreement with Eazy-E, Dre left N.W.A. to become the top artist at Deathrow Records which was run by Suge Knight. His debut solo album entitled “The Chronic” went triple platinum producing such hits as ‘Nuthin’ but a G Thang’ and ‘Let Me Ride’. This made Dre one of the best selling rap artist of all time. He also won a Grammy for the category of Best Rap Solo Performance for his performance of ‘Let Me Ride’.
In 1996, Dre left Deathrow Records to form his own record label entitled Aftermath Entertainment. The first few years were rocky but in 1996 Dre signed Eminem which was a turning point for the label. In 2001 Dr. Dre released his long awaited second solo album entitled “2001”. The album was highly successful giving Dre a Grammy for Producer of the Year Non-Classical in 2000. Between 2001-20015, Dr. Dre has been a mega producer with such artists as Snoop Dogg, Warren G, and Eminem to name a few. In July of 2008 Dre released his brand of headphones entitled Beats by Dre. In May of 2014 Apple reportedly bought the rights to the headphones for $3 billion making Dre the ‘Richest Man in Hip Hop’. In August of 2015 Dr. Dre announced that he would release his final album entitled “Compton”.
Dre is married to Nicole Threatt and the couple have two children together, Truice and Truly. Dre has three other children from different relationships.