Machine Gun Kelly

Artist Information

Recording artist Machine Gun Kelly (Colson Baker), is a multi-hyphenate talent with an impressive career that started in Cleveland and has made him a globally known star in both music and film.

Machine Gun Kelly’s fifth studio album Tickets To My Downfall was released on September 25, 2020 and debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. The album was the first rock album of 2020 to take the top spot and amassed over half a billion streams in under a week. 

In April he released "bloody valentine," the first single off Tickets to My Downfall. He and album executive producer Travis Barker appeared on THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH JAMES CORDEN to perform the song, and the official video starring Megan Fox garnered over 4,000,000 views in under 24 hours. In August he won his first MTV Video Music Award for Best Alternative Video for "bloody valentine" and rocked the pre-show with an electric performance of both "my ex's best friend" featuring blackbear and "bloody valentine" with Travis Barker on drums. “bloody valentine” and “my ex’s best friend” both hit #1 on the Alternative charts and have both been certified Platinum. “forget me too” featuring Halsey was certified Gold. MGK was nominated for a 2020 Billboard Music Award for Best Rock Song for "I Think I'm Okay" and a 2020 MTV Europe Music Award (EMA) for Best Alternative. Spotify released that his songs were streamed 1.1 Billion times in 92 countries in 2020 and Tickets to My Downfall has over 2 Billion streams to date. 

In January 2021, MGK released Downfalls High, a “first of its kind musical film” which he co-wrote, co-directed and narrated. Debuting on Facebook, the Tickets to My Downfall based musical film starred Chase Hudson and Sydney Sweeney, and had a combined 16+ million views in its premiere weekend. 

His fourth studio album Hotel Diablo was released July 5, 2019 and was supported by three singles: "Hollywood Whore", "El Diablo", and "I Think I'm Okay" (featuring Travis Barker and Yungblud). “I Think I’m Okay” became a certified Platinum Single in 2020. In 2017, his albumbloom went gold. The album track “Bad Things” featuring Camila Cabello, sold 8+ million worldwide, was nominated for a 2017 Billboard Music Award and owned the Billboard 100 list for 16+ weeks in 2017. The song has had more than 245m+ streams with a radio audience of 145m, becoming RIAA certified 3x platinum (domestic) and 8x worldwide. “Machine Gun Kelly” was one of the top ten most searched artists of 2018 according to Google. 

Machine Gun Kelly burst onto the music scene with the release of his first album Lace Up via EST 19XX/Bad Boy/Interscope Records. The album debuted at number two on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. He won “US Artist About to Go Global” at the 2012 MTV EMA’s and MTV’s 2012 “Breaking Woodie” Award. The following year he was awarded “Woodie of the Year” beating out A$AP Rocky, Fun, Grimes and Kendrick Lamar. His 2015 sophomore album, General Admission clinched a #1 spot on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Album charts. He’s performed on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE , THE VOICE, THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JIMMY FALLON, THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH JAMES CORDEN, ELLEN, BET’s 106 AND PARK, GOOD MORNING AMERICA, THE NICKELODEON KIDS CHOICE AWARDS and several other programs and award shows. His songs have appeared in soundtracks for the feature films BRIGHT and WHY HIM?.  

Acting under his real name Colson Baker,  he received critical acclaim as the lead role as Tommy Lee in the Netflix's THE DIRT, a biopic based on the rise of the band Motley Crue directed by Jeff Tremaine. He also starred opposite Sandra Bullock, John Malkovich and Trevante Rhodes in Netflix’s thriller film BIRD BOX. In its first week of streaming, 45,037,125 Netflix accounts watched the film, making it Netflix’s most streamed film at the time. He appeared in BIG TIME ADOLESCENCE from writer/director Jason Orley, also starring Pete Davidson, Griffin Gluck and Jon Cryer, which premiered in competition at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was released by NEON on Hulu in March 2020.  Other credits include Netflix's PROJECT POWER from Henry Joost and Ariel Shulman also starring Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt which premiered globally in August 14, 2020. Upcoming roles include a lead opposite Sam Worthington in THE LAST SON OF ISAAC LEMAY from a Blacklist script and as the lead opposite Kevin Bacon, Storm Reid and Travis Fimmel in the drama ONE WAY.

Previously, Baker starred on Cameron Crowe’s Showtime series ROADIES, playing Wes, a recently fired Pearl Jam roadie who joins his twin sister Kelly Ann (Imogen Poots) on tour for the fictitious Staton-House Band. The series also starred Luke Wilson and Carla Gugino and was executive produced by Cameron Crowe, JJ Abrams, Winnie Holzman and Bryan Burk. He appeared alongside Dave Franco and Emma Roberts in the Henry Joost/Ariel Shulman Lionsgate film NERVE, opposite Gugu Mbatha-Raw in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s BEYOND THE LIGHTS, and in James Merendino’s PUNKS DEAD: SLC PUNK 2. Additional films include the Rupert Wyatt directed film CAPTIVE STATE with Ashton Sanders, Vera Farmiga and John Goodman.

At 6’4’, the musician/actor has walked in New York Fashion Week, and his distinct look and love for fashion landed him a campaign as the face of John Varvatos for Fall/Winter 2017-2018. Combining his musical talents with the campaign, he played the opening of Varvatos’ first ever store in Dubai in November 2018. He also collaborated with Reebok on their Club C sneaker campaign.

When not touring or filming, he resides in Los Angeles