American radio personality and former MTV VJ
Not to be confused with the rapper and record producer
Dr. Dre
.
Doctor Dre
|
---|
Birth name
| Andre Brown
|
---|
Born
| (
1963-12-05
)
December 5, 1963
(age 60)
Westbury, New York
, U.S.
|
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Genres
| Hip hop
|
---|
Occupation(s)
| - Rapper
- radio personality
- actor
- musician
|
---|
Years active
| 1986?present
|
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Labels
| Relativity
|
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Musical artist
Andre Brown
(born December 5, 1963), better known as
Doctor Dre
,
[1]
is an American rapper,
radio personality
and former
MTV
VJ
.
Early life
[
edit
]
Andre Brown was born and raised in
Westbury, New York
, on
Long Island
.
[1]
Career
[
edit
]
In the early 1980s, Doctor Dre was a DJ at
WBAU
, the radio station of
Adelphi University
in
Garden City, New York
. With three other DJs at the station, he formed the "Concept Crew", which began to create its own music.
[
citation needed
]
In 1986, they renamed themselves
Original Concept
, a hip-hop group that ultimately released their sole album, 1988's
Straight from the Basement of Kooley High
, on
Def Jam Recordings
.
[
citation needed
]
In a 2018 interview, Doctor Dre described his early college work:
I was in a black-music history class with
Chuck D.
, [future Def Jam president] Bill Stephney, and [journalist]
Harry Allen
at Adelphi University. Bill was hosting
The Mr. Bill Show
on [Adelphi student station] 90.3 FM WBAU, and they brought me up there. And that's where I met
Flavor Flav
, who at the time was 'MC DJ Flavor'. I started a show called
The Operating Room
, where I interviewed people like
Run-DMC
, and we used to make songs which we played as promos for the show.
Jam Master Jay
encouraged me to take what we were doing to
Russell Simmons
. I went to see
Rick Rubin
, down at
NYU
, and I played him this promo called "Knowledge Me", where we talked about all the shows [on WBAU].
[2]
From 1989 to 1995, Doctor Dre and
Ed Lover
were the co-hosts of MTV's
hip hop music
program
Yo! MTV Raps
.
Dre teamed up with Lover in the early 1990s to co-host a morning radio show during the re-launch of radio station Hot 97 (
WQHT
) in New York City.
The duo starred in the
1993
film
Who's the Man?
, directed by
Yo! MTV Raps
co-creator and co-director
Ted Demme
.
Dre and Ed Lover also recorded an album in 1994 titled
Back up off Me!
that was released on
Relativity Records
.
Dre also served as a DJ for the
Beastie Boys
.
Dre had his own urban clothing line called Bigga Stuff in the early 1990s, but it was never widely distributed.
Dre and Ed Lover participated in the 2003
Comedy Central Roast
of their
Who's the Man?
co-star, comedian
Denis Leary
.
Guest appearances on TV
[
edit
]
He guest-starred on
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
in the episode "Ill Will" as a figment of
Will Smith
's nightmare of bad doctors. He also appeared on an episode of
The People's Court
with Judge
Marilyn Milian
as a witness for a talent director suing former colleagues of his. They won
US$
1,500, the full amount requested for the gig deposit.
He appeared as a guest on
MSNBC
's
The Beat with Ari Melber
on June 1, 2018, along with
Yo! MTV Raps
co-host Ed Lover. During their segment they promoted the re-boot of the show.
Personal life
[
edit
]
Doctor Dre has
type 2 diabetes
. He had lost his vision in October 2019 and his leg in 2020 due to complications from the disease.
[3]
[4]
He is married to Brigide Brown. He has two children, son Arahmus and daughter Angelique.
[5]
Discography
[
edit
]
Album information
|
Back Up Off Me!
- Released: November 8, 1994
- Chart positions: #91 Top R&B/Hip-Hop, #27 Top Heatseekers
- Last
RIAA certification
: N/A
- Singles: "Back Up Off Me!" "For the Love of You"
|
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Kellman, Andy.
"Doctor Dre Biography"
.
AllMusic
.
Archived
from the original on October 6, 2015
. Retrieved
September 23,
2020
.
- ^
Doctor Dre in
Serwer, Jesse (June 1, 2018).
"How Yo! MTV Raps Changed Hip-Hop"
.
Vulture.com
(
Vox Media
).
Archived
from the original on March 5, 2020
. Retrieved
September 23,
2020
.
- ^
"Hip-Hop pioneer Doctor Dre loses his vision in fight with diabetes"
. New York City:
WABC
. October 29, 2019.
Archived
from the original on December 11, 2019
. Retrieved
October 30,
2019
.
- ^
Newman, Jason (2020-11-25).
"A Hip-Hop Pioneer Loses His Leg. The Optimism Remains"
.
Rolling Stone
. Retrieved
2022-03-15
.
- ^
Johnson, Billy Jr. (December 4, 2011).
"Catching Up 'Yo! MTV Raps' Original Hosts Fab 5 Freddy, Doctor Dre And Ed Lover"
.
Yahoo! Music
.
Archived
from the original on September 23, 2020
. Retrieved
September 23,
2020
.
External links
[
edit
]
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Studio albums
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Compilations
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EPs
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Live musicians
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Associated acts
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Filmography
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Related articles
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Hosts
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Related articles
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Significant videos
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International
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National
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Artists
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