Iggy Azalea biography, baby, net worth, son, height, age, ethnicity 2025

Iggy Azalea biography

Blonde Iggy Azalea is known as a rap princess. The Australian rapper matched a record set by the legendary Beatles (only the Liverpool quartet and Azalea have managed to simultaneously hold the top two spots on the Billboard Hot 100), and Forbes included her name in the list of the most influential musicians along with the masters of rap such as Snoop Dogg and Jay-Z. She has an estimated net worth of $10 million.

Childhood and youth

The rap princess was born on July 7, 1990 in Sydney, but grew up in the small, picturesque town of Mullumbimby, population under 3,000.

She was born Amethyst Amelia Kelly. Her father, Brendan, was a painter and illustrator of children's books, and her mother, Tanya, cleaned rooms in a small hotel. She has some Indigenous Australian heritage.

The Kelly family owned a plot of land on which Brendan built a house himself where he thought his grandchildren would live, but the man's dream was not destined to come true, since his daughter had no plans to stay in Mullumbimby. In 2001, the girl first visited America with her grandparents. After experiencing Los Angeles and Las Vegas, life in her small hometown lost its appeal.

It wasn't just the lack of entertainment and real opportunities. Standing out from her peers, she was bullied by classmates. At 13, Amethyst discovered hip-hop, finding an outlet in the genre. Tupac and Missy Elliott became her idols, and the girl also listened to TLC, trying to emulate the late Lisa Lopez. Amethyst started a group with several friends, but the girls weren't serious about music and treated rap as just entertainment. She tried to find an Australian hip-hop label interested in her work, but had no luck.

73 questions with Iggy Azalea

Amethyst then searched online for someone who shared her passion and connected with Derek, a hip-hop enthusiast from the United States. She sent her first recordings to Derek, considering him her only friend. Shortly before turning sixteen, Amethyst planned a trip to Florida and started saving money by cleaning at the same hotel where her mother worked, doing shifts after school. The future star told her parents she was only going for two weeks, and Brendan and Tanya let their daughter go without worry.

At the age of 16, Iggy moved independently to America

Derek met his Australian friend at Miami airport when she arrived on July 4, 2006. The very next day, Amethyst called her parents to tell them she wasn't coming back. Brendan and Tanya realized their daughter was serious and asked only one thing of her – to be careful.

I knew one thing: I wanted to move to America and become a rapper with a horsetail hairstyle and in a leopard jacket, lowered to legs, with 20 fluffy snow-white dogs on a leash.

Early career

This period of Iggy Azalea's life was full of contradictions. Based on pieced-together interview fragments, Amethyst lived with Derek for about a year, but soon broke up with him. Her tracks posted on MySpace caught the attention of producer Mr. Lee. The aspiring rapper relocated to Houston, Texas to work with him in the studio.

When Hurricane Ike threatened Houston in 2008, and Iggy moved to Atlanta, where she and a friend started doing hair. At the same time, there was a global financial crisis, and the Australian dollar depreciated, cutting off most of her parents' financial support. She nearly landed a deal with a major production company, but the future rap star balked when they told her to "forget about Iggy and add more Britney", so she had to refuse the cooperation.

She then moved to Los Angeles, where she dropped her debut mixtape "Ignorant Art" in fall 2011, with its bold, deliberately raw sound. She'd already released the music video for "Pussy."

Iggy Azalea – PU$$Y

The young artist adopted the stage name Iggy Azalea, reportedly combining her dog's name with the street where she grew up in Mullumbimby.

In 2012, Iggy was included in the list of The XXL 2012 Freshman Class hip-hop edition, gracing the cover. Iggy became the first white woman who appeared on the list of freshers. The feature sparked fierce backlash in the notoriously conservative hip-hop community, which remains deeply suspicious of outsiders and women.

The similarity between Iggy's name and that of Black rapper Azealia Banks didn't go unnoticed, and Banks was quick to speak out, urging rap fans not to support "this white woman who dared to call herself a runaway master of slaves". Banks took lyrics from Iggy's track "DRUGS" out of context, creating a scandal and essentially accusing her of racism, which only boosted interest in Iggy. Iggy fired back, saying she was succeeding on talent, not skin color like Banks.

Later, Iggy would apologize for her statements and the "DRUGS" track, calling it tasteless, though she'd eventually accuse Black performers of racism against white people.

By late 2012, the Australian had signed with Wilhelmina Models International, became the face of Levi Strauss, and secured her U.S. residence permit.

Popularity

According to Zoomboola.com, in early 2013, Iggy announced her plans to release a full-fledged debut album and turned to Clifford Harris Jr., known as T.I., a musician and producer, the owner of Grand Hustle Records. Although the singer didn't sign a contract with the independent label, T.I. gave her invaluable support in promotion.

While preparing for the album release, Iggy recorded videos for Murda Bizness, Millionaire Misfits, My Times, and other songs, and opened for Rita Ora's performances during her America and Britain "radioactive" tour. In 2013, Iggy performed at a charity show in London where Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé participated. She joined the world tour during its "Australian" stage and also toured with rapper Nas.

The long-awaited album "The New Classic" was released in April 2014 and immediately became a sensation, elevating Iggy to rap icon status: she became the fourth female rapper ever to enter the top five of the Hot 100, and the first white female rapper to achieve such success. The record broke the sales record set by Nicki Minaj, and the hit track Fancy claimed the top spot on charts both in America and internationally.

Iggy toured with the album throughout the year. In spring 2014, she teamed up with J. Lo to record a stunning and sexy video for the single Booty, and in May 2015, collaborated with Britney Spears on the song and video Pretty Girls, created with exaggerated 80s pop aesthetics.

Britney Spears, Iggy Azalea - Pretty Girls

Iggy Azalea triumphantly entered music history, simultaneously claiming both first and second positions on the Billboard Hot 100 with the single Fancy at #1 and the song Problem at #2 ‒ something that hadn't happened since 1964, when The Beatles achieved similar success.

Iggy swept four Grammy categories, winning for best performer, best rap album (The New Classic), best song (Fancy), and best duo (Pretty Girls with Britney Spears).

Iggy Azalea and Britney Spears at 2015 Grammy Awards

Iggy began working on her second album in 2016. "In My Defense" was supposed to drop in 2017, but the artist announced she needed to take a break to regain her strength and decide on the album's concept. For almost three years, the singer focused on getting her thoughts and affairs in order while searching for a new sound and released two mini-albums. In 2018, Iggy founded her Island Records label, which was renamed Bad Dreams in January 2019.

Iggy Azalea personal life

Iggy has been open about her dating preferences, stating in interviews that she's exclusively attracted to Black men.

In 2011, Iggy dated rapper A$AP Rocky and even got a tattoo of his name on the knuckles of her fingers, but after parting, she got rid of the romantic reminder.

In 2013, the rap star began dating Nick Young, the Los Angeles Lakers player, but their relationship ended in 2016 when she discovered his infidelity.

In late 2018, Azalea and rapper Playboi Carti went public with their relationship on social media. Many fans questioned whether Iggy and Jordan's relationship was serious, but they proved the doubters wrong when Iggy gave birth to their son in June 2020. The boy was named Onyx. The singer doesn't share photos of her baby online, repeatedly stating she wants to protect his privacy and not exploit his image.

Iggy Azalea now

The blonde rap star released her second album, "In My Defense," in 2019. The single "Sally Walker" served as the album's lead track. The song and the video for it appeared on the Internet in March and a week later earned more than 30 million views on YouTube, while the track sold nearly 100,000 copies in its first week.

Iggy Azalea - Sally Walker (Official Music Video)

After becoming a mom, Iggy Azalea is not going to stop being creative. In August 2020, her new single, "Dance Like Nobody's Watching", was released.

Iggy Azalea - Dance Like Nobody's Watching

The track was expected to appear on her third studio album, titled "End of an Era." The title references Iggy approaching her 30s.

Jerry Smith

It`s nice that Iggy loves Tupac, he is my favorite musician!

2021-05-16 10:53:27
Michele Thomas

Here I am watching her interview from Vogue and it seems that Iggy is without much show-off. Such a simple girl who has achieved success herself and now just enjoys what she has received.

2021-05-09 11:53:27
William Anderson

I noticed that many of the actors that I like and the singers that I listen to are mostly Australians. I immediately want to go there too, at least once in my life...

2021-04-23 12:36:04
Virginia Bryant

The song Dance Like Nobody`s Watching Azalea and Tinashe is cool! Charges with positive energy.

2021-04-15 16:10:48
William Farmer

What can I say about Azalea - she is a cool girl. I like some tracks :)

2021-03-24 08:18:36

Photos: Iggy Azalea