Biography
American rapper, actor and TV host Vanilla Ice will be making his first appearance at the Chris Evert/Raymond James Pro-Celebrity Classic. His 1990 single “Ice Ice Baby” was the first hip hop single to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart in history and To The Extreme is the fastest selling hip hop album of all time —spending 16 weeks at #1 on Billboard and selling 11 million copies. The follow-up album Extremely Love reached Gold status, selling 500,000 copies, giving him album sales of more than 15 million and individual songs exceeding 160 million. The iconic Robert Matthew Van Winkle, who spent part of his formative years in South Florida and now lives in Wellington, has won two MTV Awards, a People’s Choice Award, and was nominated for a Grammy. His movies roles include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze and feature film Cool as Ice, and Ridiculous Six with Adam Sandler which will be released in December. In 2010 Vanilla Ice began a five-year stretch with the DIY Network show The Vanilla Ice Project where he manages restoration of mega-square-foot mansions in Palm Beach. He has also dabbed in the sports world where he was a three-time motor cross grand national champion and the world’s No. 6-ranked sit-down jet ski racer in 1995.