André "Doctor Dré" Brown (born December 5, 1963) is an American rapper,

radio personality A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a rad ...

and former

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

VJ.

Early life

André Brown was born and raised in

Westbury, New York The Incorporated Village of Westbury is a Village (New York), village in the North Hempstead, New York, Town of North Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York (state), New York, United States. It is located a ...

, on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

Career

In the early 1980s, Doctor Dré was a DJ at

WBAU WBAU (90.3 FM) was the call sign of the student-operated radio station located at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, east of Midtown Manhattan. The new web-based radio station iPAWS Web Radio. History WBAU was located at 90.3 on ...

, the radio station of

Adelphi University Adelphi University is a private university in Garden City, New York. Adelphi also has centers in Manhattan, Hudson Valley, and Suffolk County. There is also a virtual, online campus for remote students. It is the oldest institution of higher ed ...

in Garden City, New York. With three other DJs at the station, he formed the "Concept Crew", which began to create its own music. In 1986, they renamed themselves Original Concept, a hip-hop group that released one album on

Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The ...

, ''Straight from the Basement of Kooley High'' in 1988, featuring the track was "Pump that Bass." In a 2018 interview, Doctor Dré described his early college work: From 1989 to 1995, Doctor Dré and Ed Lover were the co-hosts of MTV's hip hop music program ''

Yo! MTV Raps ''Yo! MTV Raps'' is an American two-hour television music video program, which first aired on MTV Europe from 1987 to mid-90s and on MTV US from August 1988 to August 1995. The American version of the program (created by Ted Demme and Peter Dough ...

''. Dré teamed up with Lover in the early 1990s to co-host a morning radio show during the re-launch of radio station Hot 97 (

WQHT WQHT (97.1 FM, ''Hot 97'') is a commercial radio station, licensed to New York, New York, which broadcasts an urban contemporary music format. The station is owned by Mediaco Holding and operated by Emmis Communications under a shared service ...

) in New York City. The duo starred in the 1993 film ''

Who's the Man? ''Who's the Man?'' is a 1993 thriller buddy comedy film directed by Ted Demme in his feature film directing debut. The film stars ''Yo! MTV Raps'' hosts Doctor Dré and Ed Lover as its two main protagonists and features cameo appearances from s ...

'', directed by ''Yo! MTV Raps'' co-creator and co-director

Ted Demme Edward Kern Demme ( ; October 26, 1963 – January 13, 2002) was an American director, producer, and actor. Early life Demme was born in New York City, the son of Gail (née Kern) and Frederick Rogers Demme. He grew up in Rockville Centre, New ...

. Dré and Ed Lover also recorded an album in 1994 titled ''Back up off Me!'' that was released on

Relativity Records Relativity Records was an American record label founded by Barry Kobrin at the site of his company, Important Record Distributors (IRD) in metro New York. Relativity released music that covers a wide variety of musical genres. When it entered in ...

. Dré also served as a DJ for the

Beastie Boys Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Mike D, Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (voca ...

. Dré had his own urban clothing line called Bigga Stuff in the early 1990s, but it was never widely distributed. Dré and Ed Lover participated in the 2003

Comedy Central Roast ''Comedy Central Roast'' is a series of celebrity roast specials that air on the American television channel Comedy Central. The first official ''Comedy Central Roast'' premiered on August 10, 2003. On average one or two roasts air every year. T ...

of their ''Who's the Man?'' co-star, comedian

Denis Leary Denis Colin Leary (born August 18, 1957) is an American actor and comedian. A native of Massachusetts, Leary first came to prominence as a stand-up comedian, especially through appearances on MTV (including the comedic song "Asshole (song), Assh ...

Guest appearances on TV

He guest-starred on ''

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' is an American television sitcom created by Andy and Susan Borowitz for NBC. It aired from September 10, 1990, to May 20, 1996. The series stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart t ...

'' in the episode "Ill Will" as a figment of

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his Will Smith filmography, acting career starring as Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), a ...

's nightmare of bad doctors. He also appeared on an episode of ''

The People's Court ''The People's Court'' is an American arbitration-based reality court show, featuring an arbitrator handling small claims disputes in a simulated courtroom set. Within the court show genre, it is the first of all arbitration-based reality sty ...

'' with Judge

Marilyn Milian Marilyn Milian (born May 1, 1961) is an American television personality, lecturer, and retired Florida Circuit Court judge. Since March 12, 2001, Milian has presided over the American courtroom television series ''The People's Court''. She is th ...

as a witness for a talent director suing former colleagues of his. They won

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

1,500, the full amount requested for the gig deposit. He appeared as a guest on

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

's ''

The Beat with Ari Melber ''The Beat with Ari Melber'' is an American news and politics program hosted by Ari Melber, who is the chief legal correspondent for the network MSNBC. It airs weekdays at 6 PM ET. Guest hosts for the series include Mehdi Hasan, Jason Johnson, ...

'' on June 1, 2018 along with ''Yo! MTV Raps'' co-host Ed Lover. During their segment they promoted the re-boot of the show.

Personal life

Doctor Dré suffers from

type 2 diabetes Type 2 diabetes, formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, is a form of diabetes mellitus that is characterized by high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin. Common symptoms include increased thirst, frequent urinatio ...

. He had lost his vision in October 2019 and his leg in 2020 due to complications with the disease. He is married to Brigide Brown. He has two children, son Arahmus and daughter Angelique.

Discography

References

External links

* 1963 births People from Westbury, New York People from Long Island Living people African-American male actors African-American television personalities American male film actors American radio personalities Beastie Boys members VJs (media personalities) Relativity Records artists American television personalities American amputees {{US-tv-bio-stub