Artis Leon Ivey Jr. (August 1, 1963 – September 28, 2022), known professionally as Coolio, was an American rapper. First rising to fame as a member of the gangsta rap group WC and the Maad Circle, Coolio achieved mainstream success as a solo artist in the mid-to-late 1990s with his albums It Takes a Thief (1994), Gangsta's Paradise (1995), and My Soul (1997). He is best known for his 1995 Grammy Award-winning hit single Gangsta's Paradise, as well as other singles Fantastic Voyage (1994), 1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin' New) (1996), and C U When U Get There (1997). From 1996 on, Coolio released albums independently, and provided the opening track Aw, Here It Goes! for the 1996 Nickelodeon television series Kenan & Kel. He created the web series Cookin' with Coolio and released a cookbook. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.