Raquel Miller (born May 1, 1978), better known by her stage name Mercedes, is an American singer, rapper and R&B recording artist from

Detroit, MI Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at the ...

. She is best known for being signed to

No Limit Records No Limit Records is an American record company founded by Master P. The label's albums were distributed by Priority Records, Universal and Koch Records. The label included artists such as Snoop Dogg, Mercedes, Silkk the Shocker, Mystikal, M ...

Music career

1997: Music beginnings, ''Rear End''

On May 29, 1999, during an interview Mercedes discussed how she got signed to

No Limit No Limit may refer to: Music Record labels *No Limit Records, a record label founded by Master P * No Limit Forever Records, a record label founded by Romeo Miller, son of Master P Albums * ''No Limit'' (Art Pepper album), 1977 * ''No Limit'' ...

, clarifying she was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and was in her second year at

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 stud ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

when

group Kane & Abel saw her perform Shirley Murdock's "As We Lay" in a talent show. Impressed by her performance, the No Limit group invited Mercedes to join them in the studio, where she subsequently met No Limit owner

Master P Percy Robert Miller Sr. (born April 29, 1967), known by his stage name Master P, is an American rapper, record executive, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur. He is the founder of the record label No Limit Records, which was relaunched as ...

. The label CEO asked her to sing "and I’ve been with them ever since" stated Mercedes. On June 29, 1999, Mercedes would release her debut album entitled ''

Rear End Rear end may refer to: *Buttocks, euphemistically *Rear-end collision A rear-end collision (often called simply rear-end or in the UK a shunt) occurs when a vehicle crashes into the one in front of it. Common factors contributing to rear-end ...

'' it would be released on

; as was typical for No Limit's releases at the time, the album featured other No Limit performing artists such as

Mystikal Michael Lawrence Tyler (born September 22, 1970), better known by his stage name Mystikal, is an American rapper. Early life and education Tyler grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana's 12th Ward. His father, who ran a small neighborhood store, d ...

, Mac,

Mia X Mia Young (born January 9, 1970), better known by her stage name Mia X, is an American rapper and songwriter. She was the first female emcee to get a contract with rapper and entertainment magnate, Master P on his successful record label N ...

Silkk the Shocker Vyshonn King Miller (born June 18, 1975), better known by his stage name Silkk the Shocker, is an American rapper and actor. He originally went under the stage name Silkk, but later adopted Silkk the Shocker after the release of his first album ...

and

. ''

'' was reasonably successful, peaking at No. 34 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and No. 12 on the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated ...

charts. After releasing the album, Mercedes reportedly retired from the music business less than a year later to attend law school. allmusic ((( Mercedes > Biography )))/ref>

Discography

Studio albums

Soundtrack albums

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Collaboration singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercedes 1978 births Living people 21st-century American rappers African-American women rappers African-American women songwriters American hip hop singers American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters Midwest hip hop musicians No Limit Records artists Priority Records artists Rappers from Detroit Rhythm and blues musicians from New Orleans Singer-songwriters from Louisiana 21st-century African-American women singers 20th-century African-American women singers Singer-songwriters from Michigan 21st-century women rappers