No Expense Spared on Pets, or Vets The Future of Funerals? Michael Bubl Loves the '80s "I just really loved music," he recalled, "and I really wanted to sit around the stereo -- you know those big old stereos -- and imagine that the band was actually inside the stereo playing the music as tiny figures. From there I started performing.
" The rock star was born in Romeo, Mich., a rural town outside Detroit, in 1971. His father, Bill Ritchie, ran a successful car dealership, and his mother, Susan, stayed home to raise Kid and his two siblings.
When he was 12, his parents gave him his first set of turntables. "I really started break dancing before anything else, and from there I would go with a DJ on the weekends," Kid Rock said. "I'd perform like raps for the group to come out and break dance, so that was kind of the early stuff that got me into it.
" He signed a deal with Jive Records at age 19. His first album was titled, "Grit Sandwiches for Breakfast," and he soon found himself opening for Ice Cube at huge venues across the country. Despite the early brush with fame, the record failed to sell and Rock was dropped by the label.
After years of putting out his own records, success finally came in 1998 with the release of his album, "Devil without a Cause." In the next few years, Kid Rock released albums that embraced hip-hop, Southern rock, country and just about every other genre. He has sold more than 21 million records.
"I think it was 'Bad Leroy Brown' by Jim Croce," he said. "I just remember knowing it made me feel good when I was a little kid. And now I appreciate it even more growing up.
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