Celebrity Central: B.O.B

B.o.B was only 17 when he signed his first major record label deal -- was still unique. Although he grew up on the east side of Atlanta, Bobby Ray Simmons was born in North Carolina on November 15, 1988. Making music became an early hobby, and he played trumpet and other instruments throughout grade school. At age 15, he even successfully sold a beat of his own to Slip-N-Slide recording artist Citty. In 2006, B.o.B’s manager helped sneak him into Club Crucial (owned by Atlanta rap star T.I.), and the teenaged MC wowed the audience with his self-produced song. His first single for Atlantic, Haterz Everywhere (2007), showed lots of promise, reaching the Top Five of Billboard’s Bubbling under R&B/Hip H Hop singles chart. Before long, publications like XXL, Spin, and MTV took notice of the Atlanta rapper, running “Artist to Watch” features and tagging him as the next Atlanta rap artist to blow up nationally. B.o.B’s official breakthrough came in 2010, when he topped the charts with “Nothin’ on you” and reached number two with “Airplanes,” the latter featuring special guest Hayley Williams of Paramore. Both songs appeared on the full-length The Adventures of Bobby Ray, released that same year. Lyrics of his April single, “Don’t let me fall” are written below; Ends