Nellyrecently revealed on The Kelly Klarkson Show, where his love for country music started. His uncle was a huge Lionel Richie fan, so he grew up hearing many of Richies hits that he sang, and also songs that he wrote for Kenny Rogers and numerous other artists.
That sparked his love affair with country music. Which later in his own career led to a very successful 2004 collaboration with Tim McGraw in the hit song Over and Over, which peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Nelly feels that country music is still one of the purest art forms today and he looks forward to working on more country hip hop collaborations in the future.
