LOS ANGELES (CNS) — A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled Monday honoring four-time Grammy winning rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer Missy Elliott.
Elliott said she remembers coming to Hollywood "20 some years ago, and just used to walk past all these stars and just imagine."
"And it's just a blessing to dream big, and it truly happened," she said.
Ciara, Lizzo and Elliott's manager Mona Scott-Young were among those joining her at the ceremony outside the new location of Amoeba Music on Hollywood Boulevard. Other stars for other music personalities will also be placed outside the store, Ana Martinez, the Walk of Fame's producer told City News Service.
The star is the 2,708th since the completion of the Walk of Fame in 1961 with the first 1,558 stars.
Born Melissa Arnette Elliott on July 1, 1971, in Portsmouth, Virginia, Elliott began her career in 1991 when she formed the all-female R&B group Fayze, with her neighborhood friend Timothy Mosley, who would later be known as the rapper and singer Timbaland, serving as the group's producer.
Elliott and Timbaland created an innovative, idiosyncratic sound, heard on a score of hits for the late R&B, pop and hip-hop artist Aaliyah, including "One in a Million," "If Your Girl Only Knew" and "Hot Like Fire," along with such chart-topping favorites as R&B vocal trio SWV's "Can We," the girl group 702's "Where My Girls At?" Destiny's Child's "Confessions" and Whitney Houston's "In My Business."
Elliott's 1997 solo debut album "Supa Dupa Fly," achieved platinum status from the Recording Industry Association of America. All of her other five studio albums achieved platinum status or better.
Elliott won Grammys for best rap solo performance for "Get Ur Freak On" in 2002, for best female rap solo performance for "Scream a.k.a. Itchin"' in 2003 and "Work It" in 2004 and best short from music video for "Lose Control" in 2006.
Elliott performed "Get Ur Freak On" and "Work It," at halftime of Super Bowl 49 in 2015.
Elliott's other honors include becoming the first female hip-hop artist to receive the MTV Video Music Awards' Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, the first female hip-hop artist and third rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and receiving an honorary doctor of music degree from the Berklee College of Music, all in 2019.
Elliott received the 2021 BET Hip Hop Award for video director of the year for the music video for "Twerkulator" by the City Girls.