Missy Elliott is headed on her first-ever headlining tour.
Ahead of the tour she caught up with People Magazine and opened up about her longtime battle with Graves Disease. She says her 2008 diagnosis has impacted her life and career, yet “every day I wake, I’m blessed to be here and in good health.”
“I’m feeling so much better now,” she explains the benefit of taking her medication. “That was a run. Every now and then you get a little ache in the leg or the knee, but outside of that, I feel good.”
Elliott says praying has been a big help in her creative journey. “I say my prayers as I’m walking, and then all of these ideas start coming to mind,” she added.
We previously reported that the “Lose Control” artist is heading on tour with Ciara, Busta Rhymes and Timbaland.
“This is an incredible time in my life as I am experiencing so many milestone ‘firsts,’” Elliott said in a press release, reports Variety. “Being the FIRST female Hip Hop artist to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and now going out on my FIRST headline tour.”
“Fans have been asking me to tour forever but I wanted to wait until I felt the time was right because I knew if I was ever going to do it, I had to do it big, and I had to do it with family!
“So get ready to be taken OUT OF THIS WORLD with me, Busta Rhymes, Ciara, and Timbaland! We can’t wait to share this experience with the fans!”
Elliott’s longtime manager and the tour’s co-producer, Mona Scott-Young, also spoke on the tour. “Having been with Missy for so long, what I came to realize very early on is that things happen exactly as they’re supposed to, and when, and that’s usually according to Missy time. So even though there have been things that I felt she was ready for that I was looking for her to expand into, she would go, ‘No, the time’s not right. No, I’ll let you know when the time is right.’ And so when she finally said, ‘Hmm, I think we should go out on tour,’ it was like, holy crap! So of course we jumped into gear.”