📍Portsmouth, VA, USA
1971 – 1990“Melissa Arnette Elliott was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, in July 1971, the only child of Patricia, a power company dispatcher, and Ronnie Elliott, a US Marine. Her early childhood, partly in North Carolina near her father's base, was frightening: her father was violent towards her mother and to her, and the family was poor, living for a time in a run-down house where mice ran over her as she slept. She found escape in music, singing to imaginary audiences and writing letters to Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson, asking them to come and take her away. When Missy was fourteen, her mother finally found the courage to leave, and they walked away with little more than a fork, a spoon and a blanket. They settled in the Hodges Ferry neighbourhood of Portsmouth, and Missy has said that seeing her mother realise how strong she was made her strong too. She sang in church and in talent shows, and was a lively, funny, creative girl who loved to perform. She went to Manor High School in Portsmouth, graduating in 1990. Right after high school, she formed a girl group, Fayze, with friends from Portsmouth, and brought in her childhood friend Timothy Mosley, later Timbaland, to produce. The group, renamed Sista, signed with DeVante Swing and moved to New York, and though it didn't last, Missy and Timbaland went on to transform pop and hip-hop, writing for Aaliyah and others. Her albums, from Supa Dupa Fly onwards, made her one of the most innovative artists of her time. In 2023 she became the first female rapper inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Portsmouth has renamed a road Missy Elliott Boulevard.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today