Growing up in Atlanta, ee-Lo Green began singing in church and later joined a Hip-Hop group called Goodie Mob. As his career with the band began to take off, his mother who was paralyzed due to a car accident died. The singer/songwriter who was born on May 30, 1974 was so much affected by the passing, leaving him in a depression which was expressed in his songs.

Instead of continuing his career with Goodie Mob, Cee-Lo started building his own solo career and inked a deal with Arista. He dropped "Cee Lo Green and his Perfect Imperfections" in 2002, but got his break 2 years later when he came out with "Cee-Lo Green... Is the Soul Machine". He collaborated with Dungeon Family in the former, and joined forces with a number of more established artists in the latter. He also got his son Kingston featured in the intro of the second album.

The likes of Pharrell Williams, Timbaland, T.I. and Ludacris were enlisted to help him as featured guests. The result was a daring, experimental pop/soul album which brought him to peak at No. 13 on Billboard Hot 200. As he shot to stardom, he made a duet withcDanger Mouse% for a project called Gnarls Barkley and released a collaborative album "St. Elsewhere".

They reached No. 1 on U.K. albums chart and its single "Crazy" also once ruled the singles chart in the country. The huge success led them to return to studio for another joint effort. They released "The Odd Couple" in 2008, but much to their dismay, it was leaked a few months before the official arrival.

In 2010, he teamed up with rising star Bruno Mars and certified production trio The Smeezingtons in working an F-bomb-dropping solo song "F**k You". When it came out in August, the foul-mouthed track caused viral commotion. In the first five days online, the song unveiled in a lyrics video drew more than 2 million plays and quickly became the #1 most viewed video in the United Kingdom. To gain radio airplay, he edited the song to "Forget You".

It was included in his third solo studio album "The Lady Killer" which was released four months after the expletive song. The producers on this project included Salaam Remi (Nas, Amy Winehouse), Jack Splash (Alicia Keys, Missy Elliott) and Fraser T. Smith (Nelly Furtado, James Morrison). It debuted at No. 9 on Billboard Hot 200.

At the end of 2010, Cee-Lo was nominated for four Grammy Awards. His single "F**k You" landed him three Grammy nominations at the 53rd annual awards show. They were Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Urban/Alternative Performance. Also, its music video was vying for Best Short Form Music Video.

He also celebrated the birth of his first ever grandson as his step-daughter Sierra gave birth to a baby boy. He told Chelsea Handler in a TV interview, "I'm a grandfather. I'm 35. She had a son so I have a grandson." Sierra is Green's step-daughter from his marriage to MTV's "My Sweet 16" star Christina Johnson.