Nathaniel Hale was born in Long Beach California. Nate always had musical skills. He says he could sing before he could walk. He had a large gospal influence as a child and sang in the New Hope Trinity Baptist Church choir as a child. When Nate was 16, he dropped out of high school to join the Marines. Nate served in the Marines for 3 years untill he was kicked out for a dishonorable charge. He then returned to Long Beach in 1990 and tried to focus on music for his future. However, he did not have enough money to survive and couldn't find work so he got into the drug business. After selling drugs and having brushes with the law, he got together with his longtime friends Calvin Broadus and Warren Griffin III (better known today as Snoop Doggy Dogg and Warren G). In 1991, they formed the group 213, which was named after the area code of Long Beach at the time. Now however, 213 has recently been changed to the area code for L.A. The three young rappers made a series of demo tapes and became very popular throughout the Long Beach streets. One of the demo tapes made it to Warren G's half-brother, Dr. Dre. Dre just broke up with the legendary group N.W.A. and was starting his own record label with Marion "Suge" Knight called Future Shock Records. Snoop got a break with Dre on the Deep Cover Soundtrack and he was signed to Death Row Records, which was the new name for Future Shock Records.
Nate's first professional appearence came on Dr. Dre's album, The Chronic. Nate performed on The Chronic before he was even signed to Death Row. In 1993, Nate got a record contract with Death Row. Nate was a huge Dr. Dre fan and had followed the dreams of Dr. Dre. It was a dream-come-true for Nate to work with Dr. Dre. Since then, Nate has made many guest appearences on Death Row artists' albums. In 1993, Nate began work on his first solo album. However, a lot of the songs he made were put onto other albums. After he started a song called "Ain't No Fun", Suge Knight, the CEO of Death Row, ordered the song to be on Snoop's album, Doggystyle In 1994, Nate Dogg hooked up with Warren G and made the song "Regulate". Suge liked this song as well and decided to put it on the Above The Rim Soundtrack. "Regulate" was #2 on the singles billboard chart at one point. This platnium single made some people recognize Nate Dogg. "Regulate" was even nominated for a Grammy for 'Best Song By A Duo Or Group'. But still, if Death Row kept taking his songs and putting them on other albums, Nate would never have his own album. Death Row told Nate that his first album would not be out until at least 1995, so Warren G took "Regulate" and put it on his debut album since Nate's album wasn't going to be out anytime soon. In mid-1996, Nate Dogg went on trial for two accounts of armed robbery. Nate was accused of robbing a Taco Bell. The trial was 3 weeks long and the jury acquitted Nate on the first charge and couldn't reach a decision on the second, the case was later dropped. It was determined that it was just a case of mistaken identity and that Nate had nothing to do with the robberies.
Nate is also the father of two boys; Nigel, who's the oldest one, and Nate Jr, as well as his youngest child, his daughter Whitney. Also in 1996, Nate completed his first album called G-Funk Classics Vol. 1. The first single off of the album was released. It was called "Never Leave Me Alone" and it featured Snoop Doggy Dogg. This song was popular in California and the single's highest point on the Billboards was #40. Even though the G-Funk Classics Vol. 1 was completed and the first single was released to stores, Death Row would not release the album. Nate's #1 goal in the music business was getting paid, and if Death Row wouldn't put the album out, Nate would never get the money he desired. The album kept getting pushed back until Nate finally decided to leave Death Row in 1997. Nate took all the skills he learned over 5 years with Death Row to form his own record label called Dogg Foundation. Dogg Foundation got a distribution deal with Celestial Breakaway Entertainment. Originally, Nate was going to make a brand new album, but he also wanted to release G-Funk Classics Vol. 1. However, Death Row would not give up G-Funk Classics Vol. 1. In early 1998, Nate finally got the rights to the album and finished up his new album. He decided to put together both albums into a double album and he titled it G-Funk Classics Vol.1 & 2. The first single off of the new album was "Nobody Does It Better" which featured Nate's old buddy Warren G. This single hit stores on June 23, 1998. Nate, Snoop, and Warren all had dreams of growing up to be big music stars; Snoop and Warren have already made it big, now it's Nate's turn.
Thanks to Nate Dogg's World for the above biography.