Bookmark or Share  |  

Lady Gaga, born on 28th March, 1986 as Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, is an American recording artist.

When Lady Gaga was a little girl, she would sing along on her mini plastic tape recorder to Michael Jackson and Cyndi Lauper hits and get twirled in the air in daddy’s arms to the sounds of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. The precocious child would dance around the table at fancy Upper West Side restaurants using the breadsticks as a baton. And, she would innocently greet a new babysitter in nothing but her birthday suit.

It’s no wonder that little girl from a good Italian New York family, turned into the exhibitionist, multi-talented singer-songwriter with a flair for theatrics that she is today: Lady Gaga.

“I was always an entertainer. I was a ham as a little girl and I’m a ham today,” says Lady Gaga, 23, who made a name for herself on the Lower East Side club scene with the infectious dance-pop party song “Beautiful Dirty Rich,” and wild, theatrical, and often tongue-in-cheek “shock art” performances where Gaga – who designs and makes many of her stage outfits — would strip down to her hand-crafted hot pants and bikini top, light cans of hairspray on fire, and strike a pose as a disco ball lowered from the ceiling to the orchestral sounds of A Clockwork Orange.

“I always loved rock and pop and theater. When I discovered Queen and David Bowie is when it really came together for me and I realized I could do all three,” says Gaga, who nicked her name from Queen’s song “Radio Gaga” and who cites rock star girlfriends, Peggy Bundy, and Donatella Versace as her fashion icons. “I look at those artists as icons in art. It’s not just about the music. It’s about the performance, the attitude, the look; it’s everything. And, that is where I live as an artist and that is what I want to accomplish.”

That goal might seem lofty, but consider the artist: Gaga is the girl who at age 4 learned piano by ear. By age 13, she had written her first piano ballad. At 14, she played open mike nights at clubs such as New York’s the Bitter End by night and was teased for her quirky, eccentric style by her Convent of the Sacred Heart School (the Manhattan private school Nicky and Paris Hilton attended) classmates by day. At age 17, she became was one of 20 kids in the world to get early admission to Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. Signed by her 20th birthday and writing songs for other artists (such as the Pussycat Dolls, and has been asked to write for a series of Interscope artists) before her debut album was even released, Lady Gaga has earned the right to reach for the sky.

“My goal as an artist is to funnel a pop record to a world in a very interesting way,” says Gaga, who wrote all of her lyrics, all of her melodies, and played most of the synth work on her album, The Fame (Streamline/KonLive/Cherrytree/Interscope). “I almost want to trick people into hanging with something that is really cool with a pop song. It’s almost like the spoonful of sugar and I’m the medicine.”

On The Fame, it’s as if Gaga took two parts dance-pop, one part electro-pop, and one part rock with a splash of disco and burlesque and generously poured it into the figurative martini glasses of the world in an effort to get everyone drunk with her Fame. “The Fame is about how anyone can feel famous,” she explains. “Pop culture is art. It doesn’t make you cool to hate pop culture, so I embraced it and you hear it all over The Fame. But, it’s a sharable fame. I want to invite you all to the party. I want people to feel a part of this lifestyle.”

The CD’s opener and first single, “Just Dance,” gets the dance floor rocking with it’s “fun, L.A., celebratory vibe.” As for the equally catchy, “Boys Boys Boys,” Gaga doesn’t mind wearing her influences on her sleeve. “I wanted to write the female version of Motley Crue’s ‘Girls Girls Girls,’ but with my own twist. I wanted to write a pop song that rockers would like.”

“Beautiful Dirty Rich” sums up her time of self-discovery, living in the Lower East Side and dabbling in drugs and the party scene. “That time, and that song, was just me trying to figure things out,” says Gaga. “Once I grabbed the reigns of my artistry, I fell in love with that more than I did with the party life.” On first listen, “Paparazzi” might come off as a love song to cameras, and in all honestly, Gaga jokes “on one level it IS about wooing the paparazzi and wanting fame. But, it’s not to be taken completely seriously. It’s about everyone’s obsession with that idea. But, it’s also about wanting a guy to love you and the struggle of whether you can have success or love or both.”

Gaga shows her passion for love songs on such softer tracks as the Queen-influenced “Brown Eyes” and the sweet kiss-off break-up song “Nothing I can Say (eh eh).” “‘Brown Eyes’ is the most vulnerable song on the album,” she explains. “‘Eh Eh’ is my simple pop song about finding someone new and breaking up with the old boyfriend.”

For the new tour for this album, fans will be treated to a more polished version of what they saw (and loved) at her critically acclaimed Lollapalooza show in August 2007 and Winter Music Conference performance in March 2008. “This new show is the couture version of my handmade downtown performance of the past few years. It’s more fine-tuned, but some of my favorite elements to my past shows – the disco balls, hot pants, sequin, and stilettos – will still be there. Just more fierce and more of a conceptual show with a vision for pop performance art.”

It’s been a while since a new pop artist has made her way in the music industry the old-fashioned/grass roots way by paying her dues with seedy club gigs and self-promotion. This is one rising pop star who hasn’t been plucked from a model casting call, born into a famous family, won a reality TV singing contest, or emerged from a teen cable TV sitcom. “I did this the way you are supposed to. I played every club in New York City and I bombed in every club and then killed it in every club and I found myself as an artist. I learned how to survive as an artist, get real, and how to fail and then figure out who I was as singer and performer. And, I worked hard.”

Gaga adds with a wink in her eye, “And, now, I’m just trying to change the world one sequin at a time.”

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Resul Pookutty, born in 1971, is an Academy Award and BAFTA Award winning Indian film sound designer and mixer. Pookutty is from Vilakkupara, Kollam in Kerala. He is the first Indian and only Asian to win the Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing.

Resul Pookutty was born in a Muslim family in Vilakkupara, Anchal 23 km from Kollam, Kerala. He was the youngest of eight children born to an impoverished family. His father was a private bus conductor, and he had to walk 6 km to the nearest school and studied in the light of the kerosene lamp as their village had no electricity.

He is a 1995 graduate from Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. Pookutty is married to Shadia. They have a son Rayan and a daughter, Salna.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Mithun chakraborty was born as Gouranga Chakraborty on 16th June 1947 in Kolkata, West Bengal. He studies at the Scottish Church College and earned a degree in BSc. He also attended the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune. Mithunda, as he is fondly known, was a Naxalite. Owing to his brother’s untimely death, he went back to his family.

He married the actress Yogitha Bali and they have three sons and one daughter. His son Mimoh has taken up after his father by entering the film industry. He was rumoured to have married actress Sridevi who left him when she found out he hadn’t divorced his first wife, leading to an annulment.

He owns the Monarch Group in the hospitality sector. He also helped start the Bengal Football Academy and was part owner of the Royal Bengal Tigers of the IPL. He started the Ooty Factory Films that produce low budget B grade movies. He also acted in Bengali and Bhojpuri movies.
His first movie was Mrigaya (1976) that won him the National Film Award for Best Actor. Suraksha (1979) saw him as Gunmaster, followed by Taraana (1979) and Boney Kapoor’s Hum Paanch, which was an adaptation of the epic Mahabharata.

His movie Disco Dancer (1982) made him a dancing sensation as the struggling Anil alias Jimmy. He kept up his dancer avatar with Dance Dance (1987). He won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for Agneepath (1990) with Amitabh Bacchan. He was Amavas in Jallad (1995) winning the Filmfare Best Villain Award.

He was widely recognised as an action hero in hit films like Wanted (1983), Boxer (1984), Jagir (1984), Jaal (1986), Watan Ke Rakhwale (1987) Commando (1988), Waqt Ki Awaaz (1988), Guru (1989), Mujrim (1989) and Dushman (1990). During the mid 1980s he was regarded as a rival to Amitabh Bachchan as he did dozens of films in the action and drama genre that showcased him as an angry young man at odds with the ills of society and corruption. This characterization was similar to Bachchan’s one. Likewise, he has worked with some of the biggest actresses of his time and Bollywood in general, like Zeenat Aman, Padmini Kolhapure, Rati Agnihotri, Rekha, Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit and more.

Mithun achieved not only commercial success but also tremendous critical acclaim. His performances in Tahader Katha and Swami Vivekananda, were widely appreciated and won him National Film Awards. He also won two Filmfare awards: The Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for his performance in the 1990 film Agneepath, and the Filmfare Best Villain Award for his performance in Jallad. Apart from it, he was praised for his performances in films like Pyaar Ka Mandir (1988) and Mujrim (1989).

He came back into movies but not as a lead. In Lucky: No Time for Love (2005) he was Colonel Pindi Das Kapoor. In Chingari (2006), he played Bhuvan Panda, a worshipper of Kali. Guru in 2007 was another hit, while My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves (2008) and Heroes (2008) did okay.

His upcoming releases are Chandni Chowk to China with Akshay Kumar, Veer with Salman Khan, a comedy C Kkompany, Luck with Sanjay Dutt and Madhur Bhandharkar’s Jail.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Anand Raaj Anand hails from Delhi and belongs to a jeweller’s background. He was extremely passionate about music since he was a child. On stage at school, he would sing his own compositions rather than film songs. He even convinced his college principal to start musical activities.He was also part of a music group, which participated and won numerous local competitions.

His love for music and desire to create his own identity brought him to Mumbai in 1992, which heralded his struggle in the industry. Ironically no one was interested in his multi-faceted skills of writing lyrics, composing and singing as well. Thus, the singer took a backseat and he chose to come forth as a composer.

Pravin Shah of Times Music finally recorded seven songs out of which three were used in the film ‘Masoom’. One of Anand’s creations; ‘Chota Baccha Samajhke’ became a hit. And soon enough he gave music for films like ‘Major Saab’, ‘Qila’, ‘Pardesi Babu’ and ‘Ek Hindustani’.

It was after these films, that the industry took note of this unqualified musician. His latest films are Sanjay Gupta’s ‘Kaante’, Feroz Khan’s ‘Janasheen’ and the forthcoming ‘Sarhad Paar’. At a time when the industry is flooded with techno beats and remixes, Anand has adapted to the market’s requirements and yet retained the unique quality of his music.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

This brilliant actress was born on 12th September 1988 in the Indian state of Gujarat. She completed her schooling from Surat in Gujarat and then moved to finish her studies from Pune. She had barely managed to complete her junior college when she got a call from the Balaji Production house for the audition of the role of Bani in the then to-be-launched soap ‘Kasamh Se’. Acting was her passion since childhood so she could not help herself but made her entry in the glamour world in such a tender age.

Prachi Desai is a very popular name in the world of television in the recent times. She has conquered the heart of millions by her character portrayal of Bani Walia in the very popular Balaji show ‘Kasamh Se’. From Punjabi ‘kuris’ to Americanised Indians Prachi Desai has managed to rule the hearts of one and all. In this particular serial she has inspired many teenage girls by the facing all the adversities of her life single-handedly.

Her strong willed character in the serial ‘Kasamh Se’ has become the role model for many teenage girls who are desperate to carve their identity by themselves.

In her personal life she is a happy-go-lucky person and likes to live her life on her own terms. She puts up at Lokhandwala with her mother Ameeta Desai. Her hobbies include sports, acting, listening to music and sketching. Her elder sister Esha is her best friend with whom she shares a very friendly rapport. In the near future she also plans to try her luck in Bollywood movies and claims that she would like to act in a serious movie. Her mantra in life is ‘Rise even higher’. If she were given to describe her character in five words her choice of words would be bubbly, naughty, ambitious, hardworking and also like her character of Bani in ‘Kasamh Se’. Ekta Kapoor however describes her as “an over grown baby”. She claims “I am happy to get a chance so early in my life”. She claims that she has won the hearts of many by her acting skills and now she aims to win the hearts of many youngsters by her dancing skills. Her fans however wish her all the best for her future endeavors.

In 2007 she also got fame by winning the popular Sony TV’s dance show “Jhalak Dikhla Jaa”.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Country music singer, musician, and songwriter, born in Maynardville, Tennessee, USA, 15 September 1903 and died on 23 November 1992 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA with congestive heart failure.

Roy Claxton Acuff was a crooning fiddle player from the mountains of Tennessee who became one of country music’s biggest stars. Acuff, a gifted athlete, started out to be a baseball player before a bad case of sunstroke ended his career in the minor leagues. He began performing on the radio in 1933 with his backing band, the Tennessee Crackerjacks, and by 1936 they were making records and performing throughout the region.

During World War 2 he was hugely popular and became known as ‘the King of Country Music’, touring the USA and appearing in several films. His unique singing style influenced such musicians as Hank Williams, and among his most famous songs are ‘The Great Speckled Bird’ and ‘Wabash Cannon Ball’ (both 1936).

Although his style of country music was less popular by the late 1950s, he continued to appear on the ‘Grand Ole Opry’. He was co-owner of Acuff-Rose, a music publishing company, and he remained active in Tennessee Republican politics.

Besides his distinctive “hillbilly” voice, Acuff’s sound included a dobro (a Hawaiian guitar)… He was the (losing) Republican candidate for governor of Tennessee in the election of 1948.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Ayumi Hamasaki was still an infant when her father left the family in their home town of Fukuoka, and she was raised by her mother and grandmother. At age seven she began modeling to earn money for her family. At 14 the family moved to Tokyo so Ayumi could pursue an acting and modeling career.

She got small roles in several minor films and a little TV work, but she didn’t particularly like acting, and was considered too small to have much of a future in modeling, so she left both fields, and for good measure dropped out of high school. Her time was spent mostly shopping and partying, until one night a friend took her to a karaoke club, where she was persuaded to get up and sing.

The club was owned by a major record label, and a producer for that label happened to be in the club that night, heard her sing and offered her a contract. At first she turned him down, but he persisted, and the next year she agreed to at least take singing lessons. She didn’t like them either, and wound up missing most of them. The label then sent her to New York for lessons; this time she found that she enjoyed the experience and stayed there for three months.

When she returned to Japan, her producer – impressed by the contents of several letters she had written to him from New York – suggested that she begin writing her thoughts down as songs. She began recording in early 1998, but it wasn’t until the middle of 1999 that her album “Love-Destiny” zoomed to the #1 spot on the charts, and every one of her records has hit the top since that time.

He fame as a singer has carried over into other entertainment media, and she is also one of the top spokesmodels in Japan, making commercials for Honda cars, among others. Her success at both singing and commercials have combined to make her the highest-paid entertainer in Japan.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Nicole Richie is the daughter of legendary pop icon Lionel Richie. She’s been best friends with socialite Paris Hilton since the age of two and they were classmates at the renowned private school Buckley. An aspiring actress, singer and dancer, Richie works with charities and hosts parties for various designers. She is known for her role in the reality show The Simple Life and her turbulent personal life.

Richie was a member of the rock band Darling in 2004, along with model Josie Maran and socialites Soleil and Sofia Alberti. Since 2005, Richie has been working on her debut album. A release date has not yet been announced.

Nicole Camille Escovedo was born in Berkeley, California, on September 21, 1981. Her biological parents were Peter Michael Escovedo, a member of Lionel Richie’s band and brother to ’80s pop percussionist Sheila E., and an anonymous backstage assistant.

At the age of 3, for financial reasons, Nicole moved in with her father’s bandmate Lionel and his then-wife Brenda Harvey-Richie. Six years later, Richie officially adopted Nicole.

There are plenty of privileges to being raised in affluent circles. Nicole’s formative years were spent at Los Angeles’ prestigious Buckley School, where she met and befriended Paris Hilton the heir to the Hilton empire.

But money is also often synonymous with the fast lane, and as a teenager Nicole began partying hard and experimenting with drugs and alcohol. Following her high school graduation in 2000, she decided to go to college.

She enrolled in the University of Arizona, the same school as pro basketball player Luke Walton and actress Heather Blair. Nicole dropped out after two years.

At this point, with the influences of her youth still fresh in her mind, Nicole decided to become a musician. She founded the rock band Darling with model Josie Maran and socialite sisters Soleil and Sofia Alberti.

On her own and on the loose, Nicole never broke out of the pattern of her teenage years. In February of 2003, the police pulled her over in Malibu. She was questioned and it was soon discovered she was driving with a suspended license. Upon searching her Mercedes-Benz, police found heroin in the car and Nicole was immediately arrested. She later plead guilty to all charges. Nicole was sentenced to probation and ordered to attend a drug rehabilitation program.

Nicole was first signed on to The Simple Life as a replacement for Paris’ sister Nicky, who was approached by FOX executives, but wasn’t interested in participating. The show aired in December of 2003 and was successful enough to justify a sequel series, which aired the following summer.

The fame that The Simple Life earned her allowed Nicole to branch out. She made appearances on such shows as Eve (starring rapper Eve), Punk’d, Rock Me Baby, and MADtv. She was cast alongside Julie Bowen in Kids In America, and is still working on breaking into the music industry.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American multi-platinum selling Grammy Award-winning singer, dancer, television personality, jewelry designer, and Emmy Award-winning choreographer. The daughter of Harry and Lorraine Abdul knew early on that she wanted to dip her feet into dance. The youngest of two daughters, Paula’s love for dance originated from the film, Singing In The Rain, whose star, Gene Kelly, was her idol. A student at Van Nuys high school, Paula applied her choreography skills as head of the cheerleading squad. She graduated in 1980, and shimmied her way to Cal State-Northridge, as a TV and radio student. But as her heart was truly in dance, Paula took her LA Lakers Cheerleading gig as a full-time job, after dropping out of college.

Paula began to make inroads in pop music when she was hired as an assistant dance director on the Jacksons’ Victory tour, which led to a job choreographing Janet Jackson’s videos for Control. Abdul’s work on Jackson’s videos helped make the album a hit, making her a sought-after choreographer. After working on #The Tracy Ullman Show and videos for ZZ Top, Duran Duran, and the Pointer Sisters, Abdul began a recording career, releasing her debut album, Forever Your Girl, in 1988. The first two singles drawn from the record were moderate hits, but the release of “Straight Up” at the end of the year made her a superstar. Staying at the top of the charts for three weeks, “Straight Up” began a string of six number one singles (with “The Way That You Love Me” recharting at number three in 1989) that ran through the summer of 1991. While her second album, 1991′s Spellbound, wasn’t as successful, it still sold over three million copies and spent two weeks at number one. Abdul released her third album, Head Over Heels, in the summer of 1995.

Paula returned to acting with cameo appearances in Cybill, The Single Guy, Spin City, All That, The Wayans Bros., and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. She also starred in made-for-TV movies such as Touched by Evil and The Waiting Game, and appeared in Mr. Rock ‘n’ Roll: The Allan Freed Story. Moving from the realm of television to video, Paula starred in her own exercise videos, Get Up And Dance! and its follow-up, Paula Abdul: Cardio Dance. She is also currently keeping busy with her own dance education company, Co Dance, and as the sweetheart in the trio of American Idol judges.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Vishal-Shekhar are a music directing duo (Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani) for Bollywood films. They have had a number of successes including Salaam Namaste and Dus and Bluffmaster.

The duo rose in prominence when they composed the score for the film Jhankaar Beats, which included the hit song tu aashiqui hai. Their efforts paid off when they won the Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent for Jhankaar Beats. The music for the film Musafir became very popular with youths. They combined techno music with Indian sounds. The score of the film included the music hits Saaqi and Door Se Paas. 2005 was a good year for the duo as they composed the scores for three hit films: Salaam Namaste and Dus and Bluffmaster.

They are now judges on the Zee TV show, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007. They also directed the music of Tara Rum Pum, a hit.

Vishal Dadlani is also the vocalist of Mumbai-based electronic band Pentagram, and was a sometime-VJ at Channel V.

Shekhar is Gujarati and Vishal is Sindhi. Vishal is a vegeterian.Vishal-Shekhar were recently seen judging a popular music talent hunt show on Zee TV.

Shekhar is married and has a daughter named Bipasha. Vishal is still very much a part of the Indian rock band Pentagram. Shekhar is a trained classical singer and has a sound base of Indian music. Their music is thus a combination of Indian classical with western rock influence brought by Vishal.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Adam Michael Goldstein (born March 30, 1973) is better known as club disc jockey DJ AM. He is known for his previous high profile relationship with Nicole Richie. After gastric bypass surgery, Goldstein dated socialite and reality TV star Nicole Richie. They were engaged on her birthday, September 21, 2004. The engagement was announced in early 2005.

On December 7th, 2005, both he and Nicole called off the engagement. Goldstein and singer/actess Mandy Moore were pictured kissing and walking together multiple times, however they broke off the relationship in March 2007. Adam Goldstein recently stopped dating Canadian supermodel Jessica Stam. Goldstein was also former member of the rock band, Crazy Town, known for their hit, “Butterfly”.

He has also scratched on albums for Papa Roach, Madonna, Will Smith and Shifty. He has played private events for celebs like Jim Carrey, Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Lopez, Ben Stiller, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, and Kate Hudson. Goldstein admitted to past weight problems that ended with gastric bypass surgery. He has maintained his current weight for over two years and had surgery last year to get rid of some of the extra skin. He has recently collaborated with Travis Barker of blink-182 and Plus 44 in several performances.

He is an owner of the popular club LAX and spins there on Sunday evenings. DJ AM is also an avid `sneakerhead` and collects a variety of athletic shoes, the majority of which are by Nike. His collection of over 600 shoes, includes a pair of Nike Air Force 1 shoes that were created specifically for him, with his DJ AM logo appearing on the shoe itself. He is currently dating international supermodel, Jessica Stam.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Himesh Reshammiya is born on 23rd July 1973 and is the son of Veteran Gujarati music director Vipinji Reshammiya.

Himesh studied at Hill Grange School in Peddar Road where he met his best friend Prashant Chadha. Prashant is responsible for Himesh’s new look and for directing all of Himesh’s music videos from his private album “Aap Kaa Surroor” as well as promotional videos for the movies “Aashiq Banaya Aapne”, “Aksar” & “Tom, Dick & Harry”.

At just 16 years old and before Himesh went into music direction, he produced television serials for Zee TV which included serials such as “Andaz” & “Amar Prem”.

The first big break came when Himesh approached Salman Khan (who had just made it big with the hit movie “Maine Pyar Kiya”) who gave Himesh the chance to be a music director for the movie “Bandhan” along with the composer Anand Raj Anand.

He became good friends with Salman Khan, a famous Bollywood actor who starred in the movie, and composed songs for some subsequent movies in which Salman starred. Since then, Himesh & Salman have had a string of hits for movies such as “Pyar Kiya to Darna kya”, “Ye Hai Jalwa”, “Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge” and the more recent mega blockbuster movie “Tere Naam”.

From this experience, Reshammiya was able to develop his own unique style of composition, based on pop music and catchy techno beats. He also places a particular emphasis on Indian melodic hooks to his songs. His most popular composition can be said to be Tere Naam.

With a series of popular film scores, he is considered to be one of the top music directors in Indian cinema today, along with A. R. Rahman and Anu Malik. His music is associated with the youthful and trendsetting culture that has recently been pervasive in India, particularly due to the popularity of the remixes of his songs.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Javed Jaffrey was born on 4 December 1970 in Mumbai. Jaaved Jaffrey has played roles in various Hindi movies and serials. He is famous for his Maggi tomato ketchup advertisements. He is also popular as taporis for his portrayals of Bombay hoodlums. His dubbed commentary has been used in the famous Japanese TV show, Takeshi’s Castle, on Pogo TV. He is Muslim by religion. He is married. His contact address is: 101 A Greengate, Preyy X Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai 400 050.

He first came as a villain in the film Meri Jung released in the year 1985. He did show his dancing prowess in the role he played, but got forgotten in movies. His comic prowess came to the fore via Television in the 1990s. With the launch of cable TV, particularly MTV and it’s irreverent sense of humour gave him the space for his brand of comedy.

He anchored a show called Blast from the Past, where his deadpan expressions and bilingual Puns got him a fan following (for example-” What is Yaadon Ki Baraat in Hindi- A procession of Mammaries” the last being a play of words in how some people in India pronounce Memory, and a delightful reminder that the film starred Zeenat Aman and Neetu Singh. He also anchored a top of the charts song programme, Timex Timepass, playing various characters.

He won his first IIFA award for best comic role in Salaam Namaste in 2006.He hosts the dance competition show Boogie Woogie on Sony Entertainment Television Asia with his brother, Naved Jaffery and friend Ravi Behl.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Kylie Ann Minogue was born on May 28, 1968, in Melbourne, Australia. In 1979, she began her acting career in the Australian TV drama series Skyways, eventually gaining a starring role in a children’s series, The Henderson Kids, before achieving national fame in the five-days-a-week soap opera Neighbours. Around the time Minogue joined, Neighbours also started airing in the U.K. The sister of Dannii Minogue (of Young Talent Time fame), young Kylie went to audition for The Sullivans and landed the role of Carla. The eldest of three children, Kylie’s acting career began early, but it was her role as Charlene in the Australian soap “Neighbours” (1985) which established Kylie as an international star.

During her stint on Neighbours (from 1986 to 1988), Kylie recorded her debut single, a remake of the pop track “Loco-Motion.” While the soap was airing in Britain, music producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman were impressed by the Australian beauty, and decided to transform her into the first of many career stages — pop singer Kylie — just as her Neighbours days drew to a close

After her role in the 1989 film The Delinquents, and with the turn of the ’90s, Kylie morphed from wholesome pop princess to sexy superstar. This new flirtatious image was underscored by her steamy romance with Michael Hutchence, the late lead singer of INXS (whom she met while on tour in Hong Kong).

The newly transformed Minogue was gaining more media coverage than ever, and was signed to a new record deal, with Deconstruction Records. She even jumped on the erotic literature bandwagon (like Madonna) by writing a sex book, although it was never actually released.

Since the mid-’90s, Kylie has entered a new phase in her life — indie Kylie. In 1994, she released Kylie Minogue (which was grungier than her first self-titled album), and appeared in Van Damme’s Street Fighter.

The latest phase for the former pop star is that of mature Kylie, as seen in her musical style. In 1996, she worked with the Manic Street Preachers, and released an album the following year called Impossible Princess (which was re-released in 2003).

Kylie is continuing the pace with 2004′s Body Language and the launch of her lingerie line called Love Kylie.

In May 2005, the last few weeks of her Showgirl: The Greatest Hits tour were canceled when news broke that she was diagnosed with the early stages of breast cancer.

Kylie landed in India on 25th Feb 2009 to shoot a film on Ashtavinayak Films’ Blue which stars Akshay Kumar, Sanjay Dutt, Katrina Kaif, Lara Dutta and Zayed Khan and which has music scored by Oscar winner A R Rahman.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Shiamak Davar is an Indian choreographer. He has choreographed many Bollywood movies like Dil to Pagal Hai, Taal, Kisna, Bunty Aur Babli, I See you the latest being Dhoom 2. He also choreographed many stage shows and Indian Movie Awards Nites like IIFA, Stardust, Filmfare Awards and represented India at world events including the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Closing Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games Melbourne 2006, Indo-Japan Friendship Year 2007 innaugural event in Tokyo and Indian Economic Forum in Rome, Italy.

Shiamak is also a gifted singer and has performed with the legendary singer and song writer Sting. His Hindi-pop album “Mohabbat Karle” sold more than 1.2 million copies in India alone. Shiamak also won the best music video award for Dil Chahe which he directed, designed and choreographed.

Shiamak established his own school of dancing in 1992, Shiamak Davar Institute for the Performing Arts (SDIPA), which is very famous in India and is responsible for bringing out some of the best talents in the country. Originally with two centres in Mumbai, today there are branches in all the major Indian cities, including Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Chandigarh, Goa, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Jaipur, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow.

SDIPA is known for teaching all kind of dances including Shiamak’s Indo Jazz Dance Movement, Shiamak’s Bollywood Jazz and also Jazz , Afro-Jazz , Salsa and Rock n Roll.

At the end of the summer and winter workshops conducted by SPIDA, the students perform at the Summer Funk and Winter Funk Show.

SDIPA’s motto is “Have feet will dance”.

Shiamak’s Victory Arts Foundation (VAF is a not-for-profit trust) also spreads the joy and power of dance to underprivileged children, children who are infected, affected or vulnerable to HIV / ADIS, physically or mentally challenged children. Have Spirit. Will Trimph. VAF runs various programs in most of the cities that SDIPA operates in India and reaches out to many children from the above backgrounds.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Neelima Azeem is the mother of Bollywood star Shahid Kapoor from first husband Bollywood actor Pankaj Kapoor. They divorced when Shahid Kapoor was 3 years old. She is an Indian TV actress. She is also the mother of Ishaan Khattar from her second husband Rajesh Khattar, a TV artist. She also divorced Rajesh Khattar to marry singer Raza Ali Khan.

Neelima Azeem is known around India, Mumbai for her TV shows and has majored in classical Indian Dance. Her performances in the dance Kathak have been penominal.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Shahid Kapoor born on February 25, 1981 in Mumbai, India is a Bollywood actor and model. Shahid was born to actor Pankaj Kapoor and actress/classical dancer Neelima Azeem. His parents divorced when he was three and he usually lived with his mother. His step-mother is Supriya Pathak He is a trained dancer and studied under Shiamak Davar. He stands at 5′ 7″ (1.70 m). Shahid Kapoor has a little brother and a little sister called Ruhan and Sanaa.

His debut film Ishq Vishk (2003) was a success. He received the Filmfare Award 2003 in the Debut category for his performance along with the same award from the Star Screen Awards and the Zee Cine Awards. In 2004, he starred in two more films: Fida, a thriller co-starring his current girlfriend Kareena Kapoor and Fardeen Khan as well as Dil Maange More, a romantic comedy alongside Soha Ali Khan, Tulip Joshi, and Ayesha Takia. Both films bombed at the box office, and Kapoor received positive reviews for his performances.

In 2005 all three of his films, Vaah! Life Ho To Aisi, Deewane Huye Pagal, and Shikhar failed to do well at the box office but his performances were praised. He received a Star Screen Best Actor Nomination for his work in Shikhar.

In 2006, Shahid received his first box office success since his debut with the multi-starrer, 36 China Town. Despite mixed reviews the comic-thriller became an above-average success. Shortly after the release of 36 China Town, Shahid’s second 2006 release, Chup Chup Ke released, which was an average success.

In the summer of 2006, Shahid embarked on a World Tour along with fellow Bollywood stars, Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, John Abraham, Esha Deol, Mallika Sherawat and Zayed Khan.

His most recent film Vivah along with Amrita Rao was a blockbuster despite its outdated theme, continuing steady in the top five at the Indian box office even in its thirteenth week. His performance was well appreciated with audiences and critics both in India and abroad.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Justin Randall Timberlake was born January 31, 1981, and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. He began to perform at a very young age, whether it was singing, acting or dancing. The curly haired moppet appeared on the Star Search TV talent contest at age 11, and was signed the next year to the Disney Channel’s 90′s remake of the Mickey Mouse Club (1993-94). There he met future band-mate JC, and a year after that the two had been put together with three more singers/dancers to tour Europe as ‘N Sync. Back in the States, they recorded their close harmonies on a debut self-titled album (1998), immediately following its success (seven million copies sold) with Home For Christmas (1998).

Immense popularity in Europe and subsequent immense popularity in North America came as no surprise to supporters; the boys of the band give their all at each performance, truly entertaining their audiences. Most recently, the release of the band’s album, No Strings Attached (2000), was delayed while the lawsuit played out, but promises to be another monster hit. Fans who can’t get enough are also promised the release of the soundtrack (complete with ‘N Sync vocals) to the film Dr Seuss’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000).

His own education is difficult, with concerts six nights a week, 300 days a year, but Timberlake did earn his high school diploma – it’s just that he received it, not in a usual gymnasium commencement, but during a Memphis concert. He, as well, has put some engineering and computer skills to work, designing the track of a virtual Disney rollercoaster ride. Timberlake has recently, too, broken into acting and will appear as a “male model” in a World of Walt Disney feature entitled Model Behaviour/Janine and Alex: Cover Girls

He cares a great deal about performance, lending his name and energies to the Justin Timberlake Foundation, initiated to support theatre arts and music in public schools in America. Timberlake has an upcoming appointment with the U.S. President and First Lady to further develop the program. More acting is upcoming for the teen heartthrob. He is to star, along with his band-mates, in the stage musical Grease 3, and all plan to have a bit of fun lending their voices to an episode of the animated television series, The Simpsons.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Youssou n’Dour was born in Dakar on October 1, 1959 and began singing as a child performer at neighborhood gatherings in the tough Medina section of Dakar, Senegal, West Africa. He took formally to the stage at age 12 and by his mid-teens was singing regularly with the Star Band, the most successful group in Senegal at that time. In 1979, he formed his own ensemble, the Etoile de Dakar, which, by 1981, had evolved into The Super Etoile. The most famous band in Africa, The Super Etoile, guided by Youssou N’Dour has crafted and invented a thoroughly modern African pop style, one which has gone on to influence artists as diverse as Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon.

Named “African Artist of the Century” by the English publication Folk Roots at the threshold of the year 2000, N’Dour has made mbalax famous throughout the world during more than twenty years of recording and touring outside of Senegal with his band, The Super Etoile. The Village Voice’s Robert Christgau, dean of American rock critics, has boldly called N’Dour “the world’s greatest pop vocalist” and finds him “the one African moving inexorably toward the world-pop fusion everyone else theorizes about”. Peter Gabriel, whose duet with N’Dour on In Your Eyes (from Gabriel’s 1985 album SO) defined a truly distinguished moment in the history of rock, has proclaimed N’Dour, as a singer, simply “one of the best alive”.

N’Dour’s first international album releases on Virgin, The Lion (1989), produced by George Acogny and containing the N’Dour-Gabriel composed single “Shaking The Tree”; and Set (1990), produced by Brian Eno-compadre Michael Brook, prompted Brian Cullman to write in Rolling Stone: “If any third world performer has a real shot at the sort of universal popularity last enjoyed by Bob Marley, it’s Youssou, a singer with a voice so extraordinary that the history of Africa seems locked inside it.”

n the summer of 1991, Youssou N’Dour signed to Spike Lee’s 40 Acres & A Mule Musicworks label, distributed by Columbia. N’Dour was impressed by Lee’s stated commitment to “enlarging the legacy of great African-American music” in a wide range of styles and Lee’s belief that N’Dour’s music constituted a part of that legacy. The result of that union was 1992′s Eyes Open; self-produced by N’Dour at his own state-of-the-art Xippi Studio in Dakar and featuring The Super Etoile, Eyes Open went on to win a Grammy Award nomination.

Since the release of Eyes Open, Youssou N’Dour was made an ambassador for UNICEF in conjunction with the Year Of The Child. In July 1993, an African opera composed by N’Dour premiered at the Paris Opera. N’Dour was the subject of a recent episode of the BBC’s Rhythms Of The World program.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Ismail Darbar is a composer of music for Indian films also known as an Indian film music director. He played violin for Jatin-Lalit in the movie Khamoshi: The Musical.

Ismail Darbar was one of the four judges on Zee TV’s Indian musical program Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2005

He recives R. D. Burman award during the Filmfare Awards in 1999 . National award for the music of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam in 1999

Rasiya Sajan is Ismail Darbar’s first album that will be out in the last week of February.

Music director Ismail Darbar scored music for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas. His songs topped the music charts, but Darbar was not signed on for Bhansali’s forthcoming film, Bajirao Mastani.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Shiv Kumar Sharma’s name is synonymous with santoor, Indian classical music instrument. Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma is credited with single-handedly making the santoor a popular classical instrument.

Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma was born on January 13, 1938. Shivkumar Sharma took his initial training in music under his father, Pandit Uma Dutt Sharma, an exponent of the Benaras Gharana and the “raj pandit” at the court of Maharaja Pratap Singh. Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma learnt both the Tabla and the Santoor. He was also a vocalist. But, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma became famous because of his improvisations with santoor, a folk instrument from the valley of Kashmir.

In the early decades of the twentieth century, santoor, also called as Shata-Tantri Veena, was used as an accompaniment to a specific type of singing called Sufiana Mausiqi. Pandit Uma Dutt Sharma was convinced of the potentialities of the instrument and after extensive research on santoor he bestowed the responsibility of establishing it on the concert platform on his only son Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma.

Shiv Kumar Sharma modified santoor to make it more suitable for his classical technique. He introduced the new chromatic arrangement of notes and increased the range to cover full three octaves. He also improvised a new technique of playing with which he could sustain notes and maintain sound continuity. Shiv Kumar Sharma brought Santoor at par with other classical instruments, well established it not just all over India, but also across the globe.

Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma is the recipient of many national and international awards. These include: Sangeet Natak Academy Award (1986), Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar (1990), Honorary Doctorate from the University of Jammu (1991), Padmashree (1991), Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan Award (1998), and Padma Vibhushan (2001). He is also received the honorary citizenship of the city of Baltimore, USA (1985).

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

MS Subbulakshmi was a legendary Carnatic musician. She was popularly known as Nightingale of India. Her rendering of bhajans (devotional songs) was divine and used to enthrall and transfix listeners, and transport them into a different world

MS Subbulakshmi (Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi) was born as Kunjamma in the temple city of Madurai on September 16, 1916. She was born into a family of musicians. Her grandmother Akkammal played the violin and her mother was a veena artist.

MS Subbulakshmi started learning Carnatic music from a very early age. She made her debut as a singer at the age of eight and went on to perform in concerts, a domain traditionally reserved for males. She began her Carnatic classical music training under Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and then Hindustani classical training under Pandit Narayan Rao Vyas.

By the age of 17, Subbulakshmi was giving concerts on her own, including major performances at the Madras Music Academy, the prestigious center for the study and promotion of Carnatic music. In 1940, she married T. Sadasivam, a freedom fighter, and a follower of Rajaji. He played a key role in advancing her career.

She also acted in a few Tamil films in her youth. Her first movie “Sevasadanam” was released in 1938. MS Subbulakshmi also played the male role of Narada in “Savitri” (1941) to raise money for launching Kalki, her husband’s nationalist Tamil weekly. Her title role of the Rajasthani saint-poetess Meera in the eponymous film (1945) gave her national prominence. This movie was re-made in Hindi in 1947. The movie had M.S Subbulakshmi. sing the famous Meera bhajans, with Dilipkumar Roy as the music director. Those renditions by M.S. continue to haunt listeners to this day. Following the success of the film she quit films and turned wholly to concert music.

MS Subbulakshmi traveled to London, New York, Canada, the Far East, and other places as India’s cultural ambassador. Her concerts at Carnegie Hall, New York; the UN General Assembly on UN day in 1966; the Royal Albert Hall, London in 1982; and at the Festival of India in Moscow in 1987 were significant landmarks in her career.

MS Subbulakshmi received many honours and awards. These include Padma Bhushan in 1954, Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1968 (She was the first woman recipient of the title), Ramon Magsaysay award in 1974, the Padma Vibhushan in 1975, the Kalidasa Samman in 1988, the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration in 1990, and the Bharat Ratna in 1998. She was also honored as the court-singer of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams.

After the death of her husband Sadasivam in 1997, MS Subbulakshmi stopped all her public performances. She had no children. MS Subbulakshmi died on December 11, 2004 after a brief illness.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Pandit Jasraj is one of India’s premier classical vocalists and the foremost exponent of Mewati Gharana.

Pandit Jasraj was born in 1930 to a musical family. At the age of six Pandit Jasraj was mesmerized by the soulful voice of the famous ghazal singer Begum Akhtar. He was initiated into vocal music by his father Pandit Motiramji. However, after the sudden demise of his father, Pandit Jasraj opted for the tabla under the training of Pandit Pratapnarayan, as an additional means of livelihood in order to lighten the burden of family responsibilities.

But, at the age of fourteen as a rebellion against the humiliating treatment given to accompanying artists, young Jasraj vowed never to be an accompanist, and decided to sing. He took his vocal training under the guidance of his elder brother Pandit Muniram and Maharaja Jaywant Singhji Waghela.

Pandit Jasraj is blessed with a rich, soulful and sonorous voice which traverses effortlessly over all three and a half octaves. The highlight of Pandit Jasraj’s vocalizing is his perfect diction, clarity in sur and extreme tunefulness. Pandit Jasraj’s greatest contribution to Indian music is his conception of an unique and novel jugalbandhi based on the ancient system of moorchanas, between a male and a female vocalist, each singing in their respective scales and different ragas at the same time.

Pandit Jasraj is the recipient of several honors and awards. These include Padma Bhushan, Surer Guru , Sangeet Martand , Sangeet Kala Ratna, Sangeet Natak Academy Award , Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar , and Dinanath Mangeshkar Award.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan is a North Indian classical musician of the Maihar gharana who plays the sarod. His performances worldwide have established the modern sarod idiom and contributed to greater awareness of Indian classical music.

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan is one of the most accomplished Indian classical musicians. He is admired all over the world for his brilliant compositions and his mastery of the sarode. Ustad Ali Akbar Khan is considered by many as the “Indian Johann Sebastian Bach.”

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan was born on April 14, 1922 in East Bengal (Bangladesh). His family traces its gharana (ancestral tradition) to Mian Tansen, a 16th century musical genius and court musician of Emperor Akbar. Ustad Ali Akbar Khan’s father, the late Padma Vibhusan Acharya Dr. Allauddin Khan, was regarded as the greatest figure in North Indian music in 20th century.

Ali Akbar Khan started learning music from the age of three. He learnt vocal music from his father and drums from his uncle, Fakir Aftabuddin. Ali Akbar Khan learnt several other musical instruments too but finally decided to concentrate on the sarode and on vocal.

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan gave his first public performance in Allahabad at the age of thirteen. In his early twenties, Ali Akbar Khan made his first recording in Lucknow for the HMV label, and the next year, he became the court musician to the Maharaja of Jodhpur. He worked there for seven years and the state of Jodhpur bestowed upon him the title of Ustad. Several years later Ustad Ali Akbar Khan received the title of Hathi Saropao and Dowari Tajeem at the Jodhpur Palace’s Golden Jubilee Celebraton in 1993.

Ali Akbar Khan first visited the United States in 1955 on the request of Lord Menuhin and gave a memorable concert at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Ustad Ali Akbar Khan played a major role in popularizing Indian classical music in the US. He founded the Ali Akbar College of Music in Calcutta, India, in 1956. He began teaching in America in 1965. Later, he founded the Ali Akbar College of Music in Marin County, California.

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan has given music in several films. These include: “Aandhiyan” by Chetan Anand (1953), “House Holder” by Ivory/Merchant, “Khudita Pashan” for which he won the “Best Musician of the Year” award, “Devi” by Satyajit Ray, and “Little Buddha” by Bernardo Bertolucci.

In 1997, Ali Akbar Khan was chosen for the Asian Paints Shiromani Award – Hall of Fame. He was the second recipient of the award after Satyajit Ray.

Presently, he lives in USA and teaches Indian classical music.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Rakhi Sawant is an Indian Bollywood actress.Her real name is Neeru Sawant and she is popular as an item girl.

Rakhi Sawant was born to a Marathi Hindu family in Mumbai. Her father is an ACP with the Mumbai Police. She has a brother, Rakesh and a sister, Jaya. Rakhi studied in Goklibai School, Vile Parle and later studied Arts at Mithibai CollegeFamily

Sawant was still in school when director Suneel Darshan offered her an Item Number opposite Govinda in Joru ka Gulam. Three years later, she auditioned four times before winning her breakthrough Item number Mohabbat hai Mirchi in Chura Liya Hai Tumne in 2003.

During this period she fell out with her father who despised the film industry. ACP Sawant, a conservative man, felt that acting was not a respectable profession. Her mother, Usha Sawant, had no such qualms however, having herself received offers to act in Gujarati cinema. After her first role, she gave up acting at her husband’s insistence, but harboured hopes that her children would make it big in the industry.

After Sawant insisted on continuing her career, her father left home in protest, and now lives alone in a Government apartment. He visits his wife, who lives with Sawant, only on festivals. Sawant is now effectively the head of the household. Her sister Jaya also acted in two films but quit after her marriage.

Rakesh is a director awaiting the release of his controversial debut Hot Money, which stars his sister. Rakesh lives with his wife in an apartment purchased by his sister, who is also funding his career

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Musicians, comedians, and brothers: Tom Smothers (popular name of Thomas Bolyn Smothers III) (1939- ) and Dick Smothers (popular name of Richard Smothers) (1937- ), both born on Governors Island, New York, USA. The sons of an army major, they formed a folk singing group, the Casual Quintet, in college. After Tom’s satirical asides began to change them from a straight folk group into a comic act, the brothers performed as a duo at New York’s Blue Angel in 1961. Discovered by Jack Paar, they appeared on television variety shows in the early 1960s and at Carnegie Hall.

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967-9) was a critical success, but their politically satirical skits were frequently cut by CBS, and their show ended when Tom complained publicly. They acted on Broadway in I Love My Wife (1978-9) and in films, including Terror at Alcatraz (1982), returning to television with the Smothers Brothers Special (1988).

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Blues rock singer, born in Port Arthur, Texas, USA. At age 17 she performed with bar bands in Texas and California, then moved to San Francisco (1966) where she joined Big Brother and the Holding Company.

Their best-selling album, Cheap Thrills (1968), ensured her reputation as a unique blues and rock stylist. With the Kozmic Blues Band (1969) and the Full Tilt Boogie Band (1970) she released best-selling albums before her death from a heroin overdose.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Singer, songwriter, actress. Born Dolly Rebecca Parton on January 19, 1946 in Locust Ridge, Tennessee. Raised in a poor family with 12 children, Parton learned to escape her life by making up songs. By age 11, she was singing on a local radio station and after graduating from high school, she moved to Nashville to pursue a career in music.

Parton launched her solo career in 1967, and though she partnered with Porter Wagoner for his television show from 1967-1975, she remained primarily a solo act. (It was for Wagoner that Parton dedicated the ever-popular “I Will Always Love You.”) She won the Country Music Award for female vocalist in 1975 and 1976.

In 1987, she recorded Trio with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt. In 1993, she put out another collaboration with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette titled Honky Tonk Angels. In 1999, she returned to acoustics with The Grass Is Blue, which won a Grammy for best bluegrass album. Parton was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000.

In addition to music, Parton also became interested in acting, starring in 1980’s 9 to 5, 1982’s Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and 1989’s Steel Magnolias. She also opened the Dollywood theme park in 1985, which continues to be one of the South’s most popular vacation destinations. Parton married Carl Dean, who runs an asphalt-paving business, in 1966.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Musician, born in Chicago, Illinois, USA. A drummer, he played with several lesser known bands around Chicago until 1929, when he moved to New York City and worked with Red Nichols for the next two years. He was a sideman (1932-4) in commercial studio bands led by Russ Columbo and Mal Hallet, and also freelanced on classic jazz sessions with Bix Beiderbecke and Eddie Condon.

During 1935-8, as a main attraction in Benny Goodman’s orchestra, he became the first world-renowned jazz drummer, and then formed his own successful big band (1938) which he led until 1943, when he played briefly with Goodman and Tommy Dorsey. After leading another ‘big band’ (1945-51), he appeared with Jazz at the Philharmonic throughout the 1950s. He led his own small groups thereafter while operating a drum-tuition school, which he opened with Cozy Cole in New York in 1954. A sensationalized biographical film, The Gene Krupa Story, for which he recorded the soundtrack, was released in 1959.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Rock music promoter and manager, born in Berlin, Germany. His Russian-Jewish parents fled the Nazis, and in 1941 he arrived in the USA, becoming a citizen in 1953. He served with the US Army in Korea, then drove a taxi to pay for his business studies. In 1965 he began as the manager of the San Francisco Mime Troupe and moved on to present rock bands in concerts in his own venues, first a San Francisco club hall renamed the Fillmore, then the Carousel Ballroom in San Francisco renamed (1967) the Fillmore West.

A mixture of hard-driving entrepreneur and idealistic counter-culturist, by 1968 he was so successful with his concerts that he opened the Fillmore East in a former film theatre in New York City. In 1971 he closed his theatres, and shifted to managing various groups and stars and promoting large arena concerts and tours, many of them featuring the biggest names in popular music, such as the Rolling Stones. Throughout the 1980s he continued to produce various concerts, including a special ‘fourth of July’ rock concert in Moscow in 1987.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Rock singer, born in Brixton, London, UK. He changed his name in 1966 (“Bowie’, a Western knife) to avoid confusion with another pop singer (David Jones of the Monkees). His early career was undistinguished and he came close to becoming a Buddhist monk before the success of ‘Space Oddity’ (1969) – a song derived from the Kubrick film 2001: a Space Odyssey. His career blossomed throughout the 1970s as he adopted a range of extreme stage images to suit a variety of musical styles.

His albums have included Hunky Dory (1971), The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972), Heroes (1977), Hours (1999), and Reality (2003). He has also acted in films, including The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) and Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence (1983), had a leading role in the animated film Labyrinth (1986), and starred in a long Broadway run of The Elephant Man. Later films include Basquiat (1996).

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Music producer, born in Florence, Alabama, USA. He began his career as a disc jockey playing gospel music and blues at radio stations in Alabama and Tennessee. In 1950 he opened the Memphis Recording Service, recording black singers, including B B King and Howlin’ Wolf, and leasing their material to labels in Los Angeles and Chicago. In 1952 he formed the Sun Record Company, and continued making records by a wide variety of black bluesmen and vocal groups, but he sought to record black material by white singers.

Elvis Presley was the first of his discoveries in this new ‘rockabilly’ style, and he released the singer’s first ten songs before selling his contract to RCA for the then exceptional sum of $35 000. His subsequent discoveries included Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Charlie Rich, and Roy Orbison. Phillips sold his controlling interest in Sun Records in 1969. After his death, the Sun studio was designated a National Historic Landmark.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Katherine Noelle Holmes was born December 18, 1978, in Toledo, Ohio. The youngest of five children – she has three older sisters and an older brother – Katie had no intention of becoming an actress while growing up in Toledo.

Her mother, Kathy Holmes, enrolled her long-legged daughter into Margaret O’Brien’s Modeling School in Toledo, which ultimately led Katie to her present career path. During her summer vacation from Notre Dame Academy (an all-girls Catholic high school), a 17-year old Katie attended a modeling convention in New York City.

At the convention, a talent scout from Los Angeles approached Katie and encouraged her to spend the rest of the summer in California auditioning. Katie was off to Hollywood with her mother to try her luck at acting, despite her father’s original skepticism.

Luck was definitely on her side, since Katie’s feature film debut took no more than one audition. Inexperienced and tinged with a drop of naivete, she was cast in The Ice Strom, as Tobey Maguire’s girlfriend.

After filming The Ice Storm, Katie returned to Toledo in order to complete high school. She was apparently offered the role of Buffy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but luckily for Sarah Michelle Gellar, Katie declined in order to graduate high school. With a film credit and a newfound passion, she dedicated her summer to starring in a local theatre production of Damn Yankees. That’s when Katie heard a rumor that Kevin Williamson of Scream fame was casting actors for his television teenage drama.

With nothing to lose, Katie sent in her home video audition and hoped for the best. And that’s what the Dawson’s Creek screenwriter/producer saw when he watched her tape: the best. Fully impressed by what he saw, Williamson immediately invited Katie to come to the West Coast for a callback, but due to her commitment to Damn Yankees, she asked Williamson whether the offer could be postponed to a later date.

Obviously worth the wait, he rescheduled so that Katie could attend. Williamson didn’t need acting experience credits to convince him that Katie was right for the part of Joey Potter for Dawson’s Creek. She was immediately cast as the girl from the wrong side of the creek in the series that was garnering rave reviews even before its premiere.

Viewers have been tuning in to Katie Holmes and the high school drama since 1998, watching the cast of angst-ridden teens (which also includes pouty-lipped Michelle Williams) deal with teenage life.

Based on the success of Dawson’s Creek and its popularity among teens, Katie was cast in the thriller Disturbing Behavior in 1998. The following summer, Katie could be seen in theatres in two feature films; Go, and as the heroine in Teaching Mrs. Tingle (also directed by Kevin Williamson).

While still roaming the halls of high school in Dawson’s Creek, Katie appeared in Wonder Boys, starring Michael Douglas and her Ice Storm co-star, Tobey Maguire.

Winner of the 1999 MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Female Performance, Katie was also voted one of Teen People Magazine’s “21 Hottest Stars Under 21″ and Sweden’s Expressen Fredag’s “Babe of the Year” in 1998.

Currently living in Wilmington, NC, where the television series is filmed, Katie is dating actor Chris Klein. She deferred her acceptance to Columbia University until she has more time in her hectic acting schedule. Between Dawson’s Creek and a soon-to-be-released movie, The Gift, Katie is surely one busy lady.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

jeri ryan was born in Munich, Germany on February 22, 1968. Her father was an Army officer. After moving all over the United States, jeri ryan’s family settled in Kentucky. jeri ryan landed parts in the shows “Melrose Place, “Time Trax, ” “Matlock, ” and “Murder, She Wrote” before getting picked by NBC to star in the show Dark Skies.

jeri ryan was in seven episodes until the show was cancelled. Nevertheless those appearances were good enough to help her get the part of Seven of Nine in Star Trek Voyager. jeri ryan has moved from the form-fitting uniforms of Star Trek: Voyager’s Seven of Nine to the textbooks of Boston Public’s Ronnie Cooke. No matter where she goes, her fans are sure to follow.

jeri ryan was born Jeri Lynn Zimmerman on February 22, 1968 in Munich, Germany. An army brat, Jeri lived on military bases all over the US before the family finally settled down in Paduch, Kentucky. At one time wanting to be a veterinarian, jeri ryan caught the acting bug in fourth grade. jeri ryan graduated at the top of her class at Lone Oak High School and was voted most talented.

jeri ryan then attended Northwestern University for theater. The young beauty won the sixth annual Miss Northwestern Alpha Delta Phi Pageant in 1989 and in that same year, jeri ryan won the Miss Illinois Pageant and went came in fourth in the 1990 Miss America Pageant. Still working on her acting, jeri ryan auditioned for show after show and started doing commercials. jeri ryan won her first TV part on Who’s the Boss? playing a sexy swim instructor.

jeri ryan followed that up with roles on Matlock, Murder, She Wrote, and Melrose Place. jeri ryan also moved into TV-movies and appeared in Coed Call Girl, Nightmare in Columbia County and In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco. jeri ryan also appeared in the independent films The Last Man and Men Cry Bullets. jeri ryan’s starring role on NBC’s Dark Skies was short-lived, as the show was quickly cancelled, but she developed a cult following when jeri ryan signed on to play the part-Borg Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager. When that show ended its run in 2001, jeri ryan landed another TV role on David E. Kelley’s Boston Public. jeri ryan has also appeared in the films The Kid and Dracula 2000.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Alyson Hannigan was born in Washington D.C. on March 24, 1974. When she was 4, she and her Mother moved to Atlanta. Her mother was a photographer who helped her daughter catch the acting bug. When she would need a model for a job, she would use young Aly. Alyson did some commercials in Altlanta, but when she went to visit her Dad in LA one Christmas he took her around to West Coast agents who said that they would sign her if she lived in LA.

When Aly got home to her Mother, Aly was able to convince her Mom to pick up and move across the country. She was 11 when she relocated. It was at the tender age of 4 that she started acting and appearing in commercials. Her first acting job was a print ad for Delta and first non-acting job was babysitting (source: WB Questionnaire with Alyson Hannigan, April 2000). Companies and products ranging from Six Flags to Oreos to McDonald’s had television ads including a young Alyson. You might also remember her Mylanta commercial in the early 1990′s. Before there was a Mylanta advert, there was a trip that would change the course of her career.

While visiting her dad in California at age 11, Alyson began to get offers from various agents willing to represent the young Hannigan. When she went back to Atlanta, she chatted the possibilities over with her mother, who then moved daughter and mom to California. (Source: TV Data article “Bewitching Alyson Hannigan keeps Buffy fans spellbound” by John Crook, May 2000, Entertainment Features Syndicate)

Feature film My Stepmother is an Alien came a-callin’. With movie father Dan Akroyd and alien stepmom Kim Basinger, the film is a cult classic in its own right. Seth Green had a small role as Alyson’s character’s boyfriend; little did they know then that, nearly a decade later, the duo would portray a couple onscreen again. In between Stepmother and BtVS, Seth was on one episode of Free Spirit, on which Alyson was a regular.

Television parts rolled in, little by little. When the television series The Torkelsons was revamped into Almost Home, Alyson appeared as Samantha (Sam), best-friend-turned- girlfriend to main character Gregory. Sam appeared in two episodes: “The Dance” and “The Ticket.” She also has an episode of Picket Fences (“To Forgive is Divine”) and an episode ofRoseanne (“Like, a Job”) under her belt. There was even an episode of the short-lived
“George.”

It was time for steady work. She was a main character on the sadly short-lived show Free Spirit, which dealt with a witch playing nanny to a family. She wasn’t the witch. . . yet.

When Buffy the Vampire Slayer was morphed into a television series and the scripts were going around, Alyson tried out for the part of Willow. Riff Regan portrayed Willow in the half hour program or “presentation,” which shows then use to shop around networks and the show is “greenlighted,” or given the go-ahead to make a pilot episode. The other main cast members were all there: Sarah, Charisma, Nicholas, Anthony, David.

The only major differences were the difference in Willow and in Principal Flutie (also initially cast with a different actor that what we saw first season, Ken Lerner). Once the show was taken in by the WB, the recasting began. Alyson tried to get her foot in the door, again and again. It took over half a dozen auditions before the last round. The final three girls consisted of Joss Whedon’s top pick, the WB’s pick, and Alyson. (Source: Sci-Fi Teen, “Where There’s a Willow, There’s a Way”, January 1999) She stumbled over some of the Net Girl words and technological references and thought she’d blown it.

She was later told by Joss that it was her spunk, her energy, her connection with the others that won her over. Alyson chose to make Willow’s innocence just that: innocence. Not coy, not flirty, not faux. She felt the character saw the silver lining on every cloud, and she played it as such. Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered in March 1997 and she’s

been playing the weekly role of everyone’s favorite schoolgirl Willow Rosenberg ever since. Print work returned. Jansport backpacks added Alyson to their list of featured celebrities for the “back … pack” two page ads. The page on the left hand side features the back of a celebrity, while the other page shows the backpack. Alyson’s was first published in 1998. In the spring of 2000, a ad supporting Breast Cancer research featuring Alyson and other WB actresses began appearing in magazines.

Her film career began broadening as well. 1998 offered her as Lucy in Dead Man on Campus. Led by Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Saved by the Bell) and Tom Everett Scott (That Thing You Do!) the movie was centered around college, drugs, partying, more drugs, hair on fire, and somewhere in there trying to make another student kill himself so the two leads could get automatic straight A’s as urban legend holds. Alyson’s role was supporting, but given
a bit more exposure thanks to MTV.

Since MTV helped with movie Dead Man on Campus, they offered up a special entitled “CRAM SESSION” on their TV station. The event was a briefing on the film, cast, characters a few weeks before its premiere in August 1998. Alyson was the hostess with the mostess, staying in character as Lucy, and reaching a good target audience.

Unquestioningly, it was 1999′s American Pie that was a landmark breakthrough film role. Every teenager and young adult in the nation saw that movie at least once that summer – many having to bring along older friends or family to get into the R rated flick. So everyone knows Alyson as Michelle now!

MTV’s 1999 Movie Awards had a group of four young Hollywood folk doing (prerecorded) bits that went along with each category. They were parodies of teen movies or trademarks, from Cruel Intentions to She’s All That, from The Breakfast Club to Varsity Blues. One of the two chosen girls was Alyson, doing everything from a Sarah Michelle Gellar/Selma Blair Cruel Intentions kiss sketch to singing “Danke Schon” in the shower.

Note that Alyson has said many times she’d wish or she’d spell- cast to sing, since she _claims_ she can’t.

Alyson also has two movies slated for a 2000 release: Boys and Girls and Beyond City Limits. The former reteams her with American Pie Jason Biggs while the latter includes BtVS/Angel’s Wesley, actor Alexis Denisof. Boys and Girls is sure to be another teen hit (the frontman is heartthrob Freddie Prinze Jr) while BCL allows her to tackle the role of a recovering heroin addict.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Soft-spoken but carrying a talent every bit as huge as his imposing bear-like physique, Forest Whitaker started college on an athletic scholarship, but the charismatic African-American all-league defensive standout soon dropped football, studying first to become a classical tenor before shifting to acting. After playing high school athletes in a few ambitious teen flicks (“Fast Times at Ridgemont High” 1982; “Vision Quest” 1985), Whitaker gained notice as a charmingly duplicitous billiards opponent of Paul Newman in Martin Scorsese’s “The Color of Money” (1986).

Feature supporting roles followed in films like “Platoon” (1986), “Stakeout” and “Good Morning, Vietnam” (both 1987), in which he shone as Robin Williams’s sidekick, a likable big man too timid for his own body. Whitaker graduated to leading man status under the direction of Clint Eastwood for the dark biopic “Bird” (1988), earning Best Actor honors at the Cannes Film Festival for his deft portrayal of jazz legend Charlie Parker. Whitaker played a kindly plastic surgeon in “Johnny Handsome” (1989), and the actor’s heavy-lidded, unhurried delivery suggested the naivete of his Mama’s Boy character in “A Rage in Harlem” (1991) and the skeptical intelligence of his insurance investigator in “Consenting Adults” (1992). All three projects showed how easily he could rise above otherwise bland material.

He displayed a mesmerizing depth in “Diary of a Hitman” (1991, released in the USA in 1992), the feature directing debut of acting coach Roy London. Hired to knock off the wife and child of a born-again commodities broker who claims his wife is a drug addict and the infant crack baby not his, Whitaker goes about saving the intended victim (and himself) when he discovers the broker lied in this modest, expertly-acted indie. He was also quietly, irresistibly sympathetic as a British soldier kidnapped by the IRA in Neil Jordan’s highly praised “The Crying Game” (1992).

The unexpected commercial success of that film led to increased interest in Whitaker’s long-form directorial debut (he had previously directed music videos), “Strapped” (HBO, 1993). Filmed on location in Brooklyn’s notorious Fort Greene district, the gritty urban drama screened at various international film festivals and earned the director’s award for best first feature in Toronto. Deluged with offers to direct, Whitaker remained a familiar face on screen while pondering his filmmaking future, segueing effortlessly from Hollywood genre fare, both big-budget (“Blown Away” 1994; “Species” 1995) and small (“Body Snatchers” 1993).

His ability to evoke audience empathy continued undiminished as he affectingly portrayed physically and mentally maimed fathers in “Jason’s Lyric” (1994) and “Smoke” (1995). Admirably unafraid to play gay characters, Whitaker also fared well as a down-to-earth designer in Robert Altman’s misfired satire, “Ready to Wear (Pret-a-Porter)”, and returned to the world of jazz as trumpeter Buddy Chester, stricken with a fatal brain tumor in Showtime’s “Lush Life” (both 1994).

Whitaker chose to make his feature directing debut with “Waiting to Exhale” (1995), the Black female ensemble drama adapted from Terry McMillan’s best seller. Boasting a large cast headlined by Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett, the film opened to mixed reviews–mostly complaints about the episodic nature of the story–and healthy box office. He returned to the other side of the camera as John Travolta’s best friend in “Phenomenon” (1996) but was back in the director’s chair for “Hope Floats” (1998), unable to keep the leaky craft starring Sandra Bullock from sinking.

Though similar to “Waiting to Exhale” in its story of a character trying to regain belief in herself, Whitaker’s sophomore effort was far less compelling, and Bullock (who also executive produced) had very little help from her mostly muted and wooden fellow actors. Although he admittedly prefers directing to acting, the demand for him to do the latter has kept him primarily in front of the camera since “Hope Floats”, though he did executive produce and helm a busted ABC pilot “Black Jaq” in 1998.

Whitaker’s school security guard (“a $5 cop with a $50 attitude”) ends up a hostage in “Light It Up” (1999), a thoughtful, if too-often predictable teen drama. He also played a Federal Marshal who gets his kicks watching low-lifes squirm in that year’s “Witness Protection” (HBO). He then stepped back into the shoes of a hitman as the titular character of Jim Jarmusch’s whimsical “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai” (1999), imparting a dignified gravity to the character’s meticulously ordered existence defined and regulated by an 18th-century text, “Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai”.

Whitaker’s complete immersion in and dead-on rendering of Jarmusch’s anachronistic antihero, coupled with The RZA’s high-voltage, hip-hop score, went a long way toward making what is arguably Jarmusch’s most accessible film his most commercial one. Later in the year, he reteamed with producer-star Travolta as evil dominators of the remnants of mankind in “Battlefield Earth: The Saga of the Year 3000″, adapted from the novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Edward James Norton, Jr. was born on August 18, 1969 to parents Edward James Norton Sr, an attorney who works for the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Robin Norton, a former foundation executive and teacher who passed away of brain cancer on March 6, 1997. Edward also has two younger siblings named James and Molly. From the age of 5 onward, the Yale graduate (majoring in history) has always been interested in acting.

At the age of 8, he would ask his drama teacher what his motivation in a scene was. He attended theater schools throughout his life, and eventually managed to find work on stage in New York as a member of the Signature players, who produced the works of playwright and director Edward Albee. Around the time when he was appearing in Albee’s Fragments, in Hollywood, they were looking for a young actor to star opposite Richard Gere in a new courtroom thriller, Primal Fear (1996).

The role was offered to Leonardo DiCaprio but he turned it down. Gere was on the verge of walking away from the project, fed up with the wait for a young star to be found, when Edward auditioned and won the role over 2000 other hopefuls. Before the film was even released, his test screenings for the part were causing a Hollywood sensation, and he was soon offered roles in Woody Allen’s Everyone Says I Love You (1996) and People vs. Larry Flynt, The (1996).

Edward won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Primal Fear (1996). In 1998, Norton gained 30 pounds of muscle and transformed his look into that of a monstrous skinhead for his role as a violent white supremacist in American History X (1998). This performance would earn him his second Oscar nomination, this time for Best Actor. In 1999 came the critically acclaimed Fight Club (1999) and in 2000 came his directorial debut in Keeping the Faith (2000).

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

A handsome, dark-haired actor balancing dashing good looks with an appealing innocence, Eddie Cahill had the unique charm and palpable talent that made him one to watch. Raised in and around Manhattan, the performer got his start on the city’s stages and would later shoot to fame on sets designed to look like NYC locales, with guest roles on the Los Angeles-filmed series “Friends” (NBC) and “Felicity” (The WB).

A turn as an almost angelic hustler in the 2000 Off-Broadway production “The Altruists” earned Cahill good reviews that remarked on his appealing sweetness. A 2000 episode of HBO’s “Sex and the City” marked Cahill’s first screen role, and here he played a young bisexual whose unselfconscious openness leads gal-about-town Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) to question just how sexually liberated she really is.

Cahill took his proven talent for playing unfettered and unspoiled characters to NBC, where a recurring role on “Friends” allowed him to reach millions. He portrayed Tag, an underqualified but irresistible candidate for the job as Rachel (Jennifer Aniston)’s assistant in a story arc that looked at Rachel’s relationship problems and showcased Cahill’s “aw shucks” adorableness. When Rachel hired Tag over a more qualified female applicant, audiences knew it was wrong, but sympathized with her fascination.

When Rachel dumped Tag, audiences knew it was for the best, but felt for the brokenhearted young man. Next up for Cahill was “Felicity”, where he would break away from his nice guy image with a turn as a crazed drug dealer who won’t let go of Molly (Sarah-Jane Potts), the girlfriend who wants out. The sinister and intense portrayal gave the actor a chance to show his versatility in a three-episode recurring role, and even as audiences wished for his volatile character to stop his destructive antics, it was easy to empathize with his poisonous but truly heartfelt devotion.

The actor returned to his prostitute-portraying roots in 2001 on an episode of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”, (NBC) playing a fresh-faced male escort who is victimized by his own madam and a couple with a dangerous fetish. That same year he completed the pilot “Glory Days” for The WB. A Kevin Williamson series looking at the early burnout of a hot young mystery writer, “Glory Days” debut on the network in 2002, following Cahill’s scribe back to his hometown, where strange goings on are the norm and where he must solve the mystery surrounding the inexplicable murder of his father.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Ethan Hawke was born to teenage parents who separated when he was still a toddler. He then traveled around with his free spirited mother for the next seven years until his mother remarried and settled in Princeton Junction, New Jersey. When Ethan was 14 he made his film debut with River Phoenix in the sci-fi movie ” Explorers.” The film may have been a flop but the two boys created a friendship that lasted until Rivers death in 1993. While Phoenix’s career skyrocketed, Ethan’s took a side street. For the following four years he attended high school and acted in school plays.

He went on to study acting at Carnegie-Mellon but was expelled after his first day. It wasn’t until 1988 that his career took off. He was offered a role in Peter Weir’s “Dead Poets Society” with Robin Williams. He film was a huge success and so was Ethan. He then made a string of films that were critically acclaimed although unsuccessful in the box office, including the World War ll drama “A Midnight Clear.” Though he was known for his acting ability and talent, when he asked Julia Roberts to dance while she was married to Lyle Lovett, he added needed publicity to his name. The request turned into a tabloid feast and Ethan’s name became very well known. Hawke regards himself as an artist more than just an actor.

He is involved in a wide variety of the business and is a co-founder and artistic director of Malaparte, a New York City theatre company. He has also directed the music video “Stay” for his friend Lisa Loeb. He has enrolled in the New York University’s English program twice but his work has kept him from finishing his studies. Although he regrets not finishing his undergraduate degree he has compensated by becoming an fervent reader and writer on his own. He made headlines when he signed a $400,000 book deal with Little, Brown, and Co for a novel in 1994. The book The Hottest State was released in 1996. It was about a twenty-one year old who lives in New York and is struggling to understand love.

He proceeded to star in various small scale films including Richard Linklater’s talkfest “Before Sunrise,” and “Alive” for which he had to loose 30 pounds. More recently he appeared with real life love Uma Thurman in “Gattaca”. Uma and Ethan were married in May of 1998 and share a daughter Maya Ray who was born in July of 1998. He was cast in the modernized adaptation of Charles Dickens classic “Great Expectations with Gwyneth Paltrow.

Ethan reunited with director Linklater for the based-on-truth film “The Newton Boys” in 1998, which saw him and fellow hottie Matthew McConaughey robbing banks. In 1999 he was cast in the deeply affecting drama “Joe the King” which featured Malaparte co-founder Frank Whaley’s debut as director and writer. He also held top billing in the eagerly anticipated adaptation of David Guterson’s best-selling mystery-romance courtroom drama novel “Snow Falling on Cedars.”

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

From early childhood onwards, Avril Lavigne always stood out among the 5000 residents of Napanee, Ontario — her 1984 birthplace. At first distinguished from her female peers because of her affinity for the baseball field in the summer and the hockey rink in the winter, Avril became recognizable in the community on the basis of her musical performances.

By age 10, she had graduated from the local church choir to the regional fairgrounds, singing country music in competitions. Three years later, Avril began making her impact outside of Napanee, as her vocal skill won her the grand prize in a radio station contest: a trip to the city of Ottawa, to perform a duet in concert with another Ontario native, country music star Shania Twain. While this probably ranked as the pinnacle of pubescence for any other 13-year-old girl, Avril went on to accomplish far greater things before leaving adolescence.

By the time Avril reached high school, her vocal prowess seemed rivaled only by her ability to play the guitar, and she began sending videotapes of her stage performances to labels and management companies throughout North America. Following a host of rejections, her talent eventually caught the eyes of Nettwerk Management, an organization that fostered other such Canadian acts as Sarah McLachlan, Sum 41 and Barenaked Ladies.

Nettwerk arranged for Avril to fly down to New York City to meet with some other songwriters and begin work on a demo tape. As it turned out, Avril was signed before she even had a chance to complete the demo. An Arista Records representative came to visit Avril at her studio, and was sufficiently impressed with her voice to return with Arista CEO Antonio “L.A.” Reid, who immediately signed the then 16-year-old to a contract.

After briefly returning to Canada, Avril made the move to Manhattan to embark on her professional career, accompanied by her older brother Matt as an escort. Although she had been signed to Arista strictly as a vocalist, Avril balked at the notion of singing someone else’s songs and insisted on having a hand in the writing process. When she failed to click with any New York-based songwriters, Avril made her third move of the year, this time to Los Angeles.

It was on the West Coast that she met producer/songwriter Cliff Magness, with whom she immediately developed a rapport. The two began composing together, and within a few months’ time, Avril’s debut album had begun to take shape.

Avril’s first single, “Complicated,” was released in the early spring of 2002, and immediately began scaling the charts across the continent. By the summer, the track had reached the top spot among Canadian singles, and was in the top 15 on the Billboard Adult 40 list. The popularity of “Complicated” paved the way for the success of Avril’s first full-length CD, Let Go, which debuted at #8 on the Billboard charts in June 2002.

While Avril’s vocal range and high-energy musical style has brought her comparisons ranging from Alanis Morissette to Pink, she has been adamant in positioning herself as a unique artist, one who runs counter to the mainstream. This persona has been nurtured thanks to the lyrics of such songs as “Sk8er Boi,” wherein Avril is none too subtle in voicing her anti-conformist stance, and through her public remarks regarding other female musicians, notably Britney Spears.

It is a formula which, to date, has worked like a charm: for a debut artist, Avril boasts a staggering fan base, and the media interest surrounding this young singer seems far from receding. Conjoin this one-of-a-kind personality with a memorable voice and obvious musical talents, and it seems as if Avril may be in the spotlight for some time to come.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

In just six years, Faith Hill has sold more than 11 million records, garnered eight No. 1 singles and ten No. 1 videos. This past year alone, she received countless nominations and statues from the Country Music Association, the Grammy Awards, the Academy of Country Music Awards, Blockbuster Awards and TNN Music City News Awards. She celebrated the enormous crossover success of her first platinum single, “This Kiss,” which culminated with her appearance on the 1999 VH1 Divas Live, where she shared the same stage with Tina Turner, Cher and Whitney Houston.

She was named the newest face for CoverGirl Cosmetics and graced the cover of numerous magazines as diverse as Country Weekly, People, TV Guide and Glamour. After completing a 50-city tour-her first headline series of performances-she found herself back in the studio with barely six weeks to finish Breathe, the follow-up to the now quadruple-platinum 1998 release, Faith. “This past year has been a complete whirlwind,” explains Hill. “I haven’t had time to take a breath. But I was on a creative high, I already had a few songs that I had recorded, and if you can believe it, I felt that the time was right to make another record.” Breathe, a musically diverse and soulful recording produced by Hill and Faith producers Byron Gallimore and Dann Huff, is remarkably close to an autobiographical collection of 13 tracks.

The album focuses on the things closest to her heart and her selection of tracks is sure to give listeners a personal look at what makes this remarkable talent tick. “The music that I make has to be right for me at the right time,” says Hill. “It has to have meaning. When I sing a song, I am in that song…and hopefully people hear and feel that. I can’t draw that line of trust with my fans if I don’t sing from my heart every time I’m in front of a microphone.”

From the title track, which mirrors Hill’s professional juggernaut, to the energetic “I Got My Baby” and powerful “If My Heart Had Wings,” Hill sings with attitude, vision and purpose on Breathe. Her fourth recording takes the listener on a journey that ranges from the passionate ballad “Let’s Make Love” (a duet with country superstar and husband Tim McGraw), to the uplifting spirit and sincere message of “There Will Come A Day.” Hill even finds a place to pay tribute to her fans, with “Bringing Out The Elvis,” and to Bruce Springsteen, with a stirring rendition of “If I Should Fall Behind.” “It was the first time I ever cried while in the studio,” said Hill. “I couldn’t have made this album and not recorded “If I Should Fall Behind.’ After seeing and meeting Bruce at one of his shows, that song took on a special meaning for me. The lyrical content is devastating and the message just hits you in your soul.”

Hill’s desire to perform and record songs close to her heart set her on a path to explore new musical and emotional territories. This innate drive is what stands at the core of this chanteuse’s success. “I reached a certain place last year, a certain level of success, and now its time to go to another place,” explains Hill. “In order to succeed you can’t be afraid to fail. I consider Breathe a mixture of musical styles that reflects my love for country, pop, gospel and rhythm and blues. Yes, I decided to take some chances here musically-as an artist that is who I am. I’ve always tried to achieve and to do better.”

But Hill hasn’t forgotten the bottom line. “There’s got to be something for the fans to connect to in order for them to go out and spend their hard-earned money on a Faith Hill recording,” says Hill. “I’m constantly thinking about them. I hope they realize that and like the direction that I am going.” With her breakout success this past year, Hill has found herself in a unique position.

Those country fans who have purchased her records for the past five years no longer find themselves alone. Hill has been introduced to the industry’s proverbial mainstream. With a new contingency of fans who might not otherwise have known about her if not for the huge success of “This Kiss,” her appearance on VH1′s Divas and her new nationwide print and television campaign as CoverGirl Cosmetics’ newest face, Hill finds herself releasing a new recording for a new audience for the second time.

“I just need to stay true to who I am,” Hill says confidently. “I could never just go out and make a pop record or, for that matter, a traditional country album. I can only do what seems natural for me, what is real to me. I just hope that in the end it works. I hope that I can create something, along with my producers and musicians, that will work across the board. As many people as I can reach with my music, I think that’s every musician’s goal.” And how has the 32-year-old Mississippi-born Hill learned to deal with motherhood, marriage and her newfound super-stardom? “The biggest issue for me now is how to take it all in,” says Hill. “It’s a challenge. I’m just learning how to take time for myself. Frankly, the thing that I want most out of life is normality. It’s difficult, but I try to find time for myself. It’s a daily struggle, certainly not a daily accomplishment.”

But you can count on one thing. Whether or not Faith Hill finds time to “breathe,” she will always stay true to those things that got her here: dedication, passion, focus and her commitment to keeping la vie en rose or life in the pink-Faith’s favorite Edith Piaf expression-for herself, her fans and those close to her. “Everything is going great,” says Hill. “Each day I try to get as much out life as I can-to keep it real, sincere and very honest. Hopefully, people can get that from my music.

And if I’m lucky, one day there will be a little spot carved away somewhere that says I made a contribution.” Her list of early gigs reads like that of many country artists – a pre-smoky dive mandatory schedule of church choir work, national anthem renderings for such down-home events as Mississippi tobacco-spitting contests, and a string of country fairs and rodeos. But not every girl who belts out “…and the home of the brave” at the tobacco-spitting contest ends up belting it out at Superbowl 2000. Not every rodeo chanteuse has enough music award hardware to pen a bull.

Faith Hill, pretty cheerleader and member of a teen country band, dropped out of community college to pursue her singing career in America’s country music mecca, Nashville, Tennessee. As the supposed student-receptionist of singer Gary Morris, she was “caught” one day singing along to the radio, and encouraged by Morris to continue in music. After countless Nashville club dates, including a stint as backup singer for Gary Burr, the 25-year-old was “discovered” in 1992 while singing in a café, and signed to Warner Bros. Records. Hill debuted at the Grand Ole Opry and released her first album, Take Me As I Am, in her first year with the company. The album single Wild One remained at number one on the country charts for four weeks, and the awards started to roll in. The performer was named Best New Female Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music that year, and with each subsequent album release the Grammy, TNN Music City News, and ACM nominations piled up.

Take Me As I Am was followed by It Matters To Me (1995), Faith (1998), and Breathe (1999), with the biggest singles timed for successful staggered release – Wild One (1993), But I Will (1994), Piece of My Heart (1994), Let’s Go to Vegas (1995), It Matters To Me (1995), This Kiss (1998), Breathe (1999), and The Way You Love Me (2000). This Kiss marked Hill’s first huge cross-over country-pop success, hitting a predictable number one on the country charts and a surprising number five on the pop charts. Sold -out cross-country tours and record sales in the millions nicely rounded out the award show appearances and critical acclaim.

Off-stage, much was made in the press of Hill’s first meeting with her biological mother in 1993 (Hill was adopted when an infant and christened Audrey Faith Perry). She married (1987) and divorced (1993) Dan Hill, a music publishing company employee; she and fellow singer, Tim McGraw married in 1996 and have two daughters. Hill has lent her name to The Faith Hill Literacy Project, and to commercial advertising. She sings Where Are You Christmas on the soundtrack of the movie, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), and is currently filming the video. A tour headliner, cross-over chart topper, million-seller and award-winning singer who, in a tough industry, is criticized for nothing but her fashion choices, Hill not only had what it takes to get to the top – it appears she has what it takes to stay there.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Perhaps not as well known as her late husband, the Notorious B.I.G., Faith Evans has actually been in the music business for a longer period of time as a singer and songwriter. Evans began singing at age two in her Newark, NJ, church, going on to perform in high school musicals, study both jazz and classical music, and even win the title of New Jersey Miss Fashion Teen. She attended Fordham University for a year, but left to pursue a career in the music industry.

She wrote songs and sang background vocals for artists such as Pebbles, Color Me Badd, and Mary J. Blige before meeting rap sensation Biggie Smalls at a photo shoot. The two were married nine days later, and Evans guested on B.I.G.’s “One More Chance.” Her self-titled debut album was released in 1995 and featured the hit single “You Used to Love Me.” Separated from Smalls prior to his 1997 murder, Evans was nevertheless prominently featured on Puff Daddy’s tribute to the late rapper, the monster hit “I’ll Be Missing You”; her own Keep the Faith album followed in 1998, scoring with the single “Never Gonna Let You Go.”

Albums

1995 Faith–Bad Boy
1998 Keep the Faith– Bad Boy
2001 Faithfully– Bad Boy
2002 Faithfully–[Japan Bonus Track] Japanese Singles
1995 You Used to Love Me [Cassette Single] Bad Boy s
1995 You Used to Love Me Bad Boy s
1995 Soon as I Get Home [Cassette Single #1]

Jon B. Pleasures U Like (2001) Vocals (bckgr)
Otis Battles & High Point… Victory (1999) Vocals
Eric Benet Day in the Life (1999) Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
Mary J. Blige My Life (1994) Vocals (bckgr)
Mary J. Blige Ballads (2001) Vocals (bckgr)
Horace Brown Horace Brown (1996) Vocals
Celebration Choir Why Not Pray (1998) Vocals
Karen Clark-Sheard Finally Karen (1997) Critic
Color Me Badd Now & Forever (1996) Arranger, Vocals
DMX Great Depression (2001) Voices
Alvin Darling &… Medley of Praise (1992

Rufus Blaq Credentials

Mary J. Blige Ballads / My Life / Tour
Tevin Campbell Tevin Campbell
Case Case
Color Me Badd Now & Forever
The Countdown Singers Goodbye England’s Rose: Candle in the W / Hot Hits [1998]
Countdown Dance Masters Non-Stop Dance Party
The Countdown Singers Sizzling Hot Hits
DJ Red Alert Kool DJ Red Alert Presents
Funkmaster Flex Mix Tape, Vol. 4: 60 Minutes of Funk – / Mix Tape, Vol. 4 [Clean]
Aaron Hall Inside of You

You Used to Love Me from Bad Boy’s Greatest Hits

Soon as I Get Home from Faith
I’ll Be Missing You from Tribute to the Notorious B.I.G.
All Night Long from Keep the Faith
You Gets No Love from Faithfully
Love Like This from Keep the Faith
Stressed Out from Stressed Out
Life Will Pass You By from Keep the Faith
Heartbreak Hotel from My Love Is Your Love

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

In terms of sales and lasting popularity, Elton John was the biggest pop superstar of the early ’70s. Initially marketed as a singer/songwriter, John soon revealed he could craft Beatlesque pop and pound out rockers with equal aplomb. He could dip into soul, disco and country, as well as classic pop balladry and even progressive rock. His versatility, combined with his effortless melodic skills, dynamic charisma and flamboyant stage shows made him the most popular recording artist of the ’70s.

Unlike many pop stars, John was able to sustain his popularity, charting a Top 40 single every single year from 1970 to 1996. During that time, he had temporary slumps in creativity and sales, as he fell out of favor with critics, had fights with his lyricist Bernie Taupin, and battled various addictions and public scandals. But through it all, John remained a remarkably popular artist and many of his songs – including “Your Song,” “Rocket Man,” “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” and “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me” – became contemporary pop standards.

The son of a former Royal Air Force trumpeter, Elton John was born in 1947. Dwight began playing piano at the age of four, and when he was 11, he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. After studying for six years, he left school with the intention of breaking into the music business. In 1961, he joined his first band, Bluesology, and divided his time between playing with the group, giving solo concerts at a local hotel, and running errands for a London publishing house. By 1965, Bluesology were backing touring American soul and R&B musicians like Major Lance, Doris Troy and the Bluebells. In 1966, Bluesology became Long John Baldry’s supporting band, and began touring cabarets throughout England.

Dwight became frustrated with Baldry’s control of the band and began searching for other groups to join. He failed his lead vocalist auditions both King Crimson and Gentle Giant before responding to an advertisement by Liberty Records. Though he failed his Liberty audition, he was given a stack of lyrics Bernie Taupin, who had also replied to the ad, had left with the label. Dwight wrote music for Taupin’s lyrics and began corresponding with him through mail. By the time the two met six months later, Dwight had changed his name to Elton John, taking his first name from Bluesology saxophonist Elton Dean and his last from John Baldry.

John and Taupin were hired by Dick James to become staff songwriters at his fledgling DJM in 1968. The pair collaborated at a rapid rate, with Taupin submitting batches of lyrics – he often wrote a song an hour – every few weeks. John would then write music without changing the words, sometimes completing the songs in under a half hour. Over the next two years, the duo wrote songs for pop singers like Roger Cook and Lulu. In the meantime, John recorded cover versions of current hits for budget labels to be sold in supermarkets. By the summer of 1968, he had begun recording singles for release under his own name.

Usually, these songs were more rock and radio-oriented than the tunes he and Taupin were giving to other vocalists, yet neither of his early singles for Phillips, “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” and “Lady Samantha,” sold well. In June of 1969, he released his debut album for DJM, Empty Sky, which received fair reviews, but no sales.

For his second album, John and Taupin hired producer Gus Dudgeon and arranger Paul Buckmaster, who contributed grandiose string charts to Elton John. Released in the summer of 1970, Elton John began to make inroads in America, where it was appeared on MCA’s Uni subsidiary. In August, he gave his first American concert at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, which received enthusiastic reviews, as well as praise from Quincy Jones and Leon Russell. Throughout the fall, Elton John continued to climb the charts on the strength of the Top 10 single, “Your Song.”

John followed it quickly in February 1971 with the concept album Tumbleweed Connection, which received heavy airplay on album-oriented radio in the US, helping it climb into the Top 10. The rapid release of Tumbleweed Connection established a pattern of frequent releases that John maintained throughout his career. In 1971, he released the live 11-17-70 and the Friends soundtrack, before releasing Madman Across the Water late in the year. Madman Across the Water was successful, but John achieved stardom with the followup, 1972′s Honky Chateau.

Recorded with his touring band – bassist Dee Murray, drummer Nigel Olsson and guitarist Davey Johnstone – and featuring the hit singles “Rocket Man” and “Honky Cat,” Honky Chateau became his first American number one album, spending five weeks at the top of the charts.

Between 1972 and 1976, Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s hit-making machine was virtually unstoppable. “Rocket Man” began a four-year streak of 16 Top 20 hits in a row; out of those 16 – including “Crocodile Rock,” “Daniel,” “Bennie and the Jets,” “The Bitch Is Back” and “Philadelphia Freedom” – only one, the FM hit “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting,” failed to reach the Top Ten.

Honky Chateau began a streak of seven consecutive number one albums – Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player (1973), Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973), Caribou (1974), Greatest Hits (1974), Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975), Rock of the Westies (1975) – that all went platinum. John founded Rocket, a record label distributed by MCA, in 1973 in order to sign and produce acts like Neil Sedaka and Kiki Dee. John didn’t become a Rocket recording artist himself, choosing to stay with MCA for a record-breaking eight million dollar contract in 1974.

Later in 1974, he co-wrote John Lennon’s number one comeback single, “Whatever Gets You Through the Night,” and he persuaded Lennon to join him onstage at Madison Square Garden on Thanksgiving Day 1974; it would prove to be Lennon’s last live performance. The following year, Captain Fantastic became the first album to enter the American charts at number one. After its release, he revamped his band, which now featured Johnstone, Quaye, Roger Pope, Ray Cooper and bassist Kenny Passarelli; Rock of the Westies was the first album to feature this lineup.

Throughout the mid-’70s, John’s concerts were enormously popular, as were his singles and albums, and he continued to record and perform at a rapid pace until 1976. That year, he revealed in an interview in Rolling Stone that he was bisexual; he would later admit that the confession was a compromise, since he was afraid to reveal that he was homosexual. Many fans reacted negatively to John’s bisexuality, and his audience began to shrink somewhat in the late ’70s.

The decline in his record sales was also due to his exhaustion. After 1976, John cut his performance schedule drastically, announcing that he was retiring from live performances in 1977 and started recording only one album a year. His relationship with Taupin became strained following the release of 1976′s double-album Blue Moves, and the lyricist began working with other musicians.

John returned in 1978 with A Single Man, which was written with Gary Osborne; the record produced no Top 20 singles. That year, he returned to live performances, first by jamming at the Live Stiffs package tour, then by launching a comeback tour in 1979 accompanied only by percussionist Ray Cooper. “Mama Can’t Buy You Love,” a song he recorded with Phillie soul producer Thom Bell in 1977, returned him to the Top Ten in 1979, but that year’s Victim of Love was a commercial disappointment.

John reunited with Taupin for 1980′s 21 at 33, which featured the Top 10 single “Little Jeannie.” Over the next three years, John remained a popular concert artist, but his singles failed to break the Top 10, even if they reached the Top 40. In 1981, he signed with Geffen Records and his second album, Jump Up! became a gold album on the strength of “Blue Eyes” and “Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny),” his tribute to John Lennon. But it was 1983′s Too Low for Zero that began his last great streak of hit singles, with the MTV hit “I’m Still Standing” and the Top Ten single “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues.”

Throughout the rest of the ’80s, John’s albums would consistently go gold, and they always generated at least one Top 40 single; frequently, they featured Top 10 singles like “Sad Songs (Say So Much)” (1984), “Nikita” (1986), “Candle in the Wind” (1987), and ” I Don’t Want To Go On With You Like That” (1988). While his career continued to be successful, his personal life was in turmoil. Since the mid-’70s, he had been addicted to cocaine and alcohol, and the situation only worsened during the ’80s.

In a surprise move, he married engineer Renate Blauel in 1984; the couple stayed married for four years, although John later admitted he realized he was homosexual before his marriage. In 1986, he underwent throat surgery while on tour in 1986, but even after he successfully recovered, he continued to abuse cocaine and alocohol.

Following a record-breaking five-date stint at Madison Square Garden in 1988, John auctioned off all of his theatrical costumes, thousands of pieces of memorabilia and his extensive record collection through Sotheby’s. The audction was a symbolic turning point. Over the next two years, John battled both his drug addiction and bullimia, undergoing hair replacement surgery at the same time. By 1991, he was sober and the following year, he established the Elton John AIDS Foundation; he also announced that he would donate all royalties from his single sales to AIDS research.

In 1992, John returned to active recording with The One. Peaking at number eight on the US charts and going double platinum, the album became his most successful record since Blue Moves, and sparked a career renaissance for John. He and Taupin signed a record-breaking publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music in 1992 for an estimated $39 million. In 1994, John collaborated with lyricist Tim Rice on songs for Disney’s animated feature The Lion King.

One of their collaborations, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, as well as the Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. John’s 1995 album Made In England continued his comeback, peaking at number 3 on the UK charts and number 13 in the US; in America, the album went platinum. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide Elton John: “The Early Years” Since Elton John has been through so many public stages, from the flamboyant rocker of the mid-’70s to official mourner, it’s easy to overlook the reason why he catapulted to superstardom-the five albums he made before 1973′s Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player.

His debut, Empty Sky, was uneven but promising, but he really came into his own on his eponymous second album. Released in 1970, it is best remembered for the modern standard “Your Song,” but what is truly remarkable about the record is how it fits right in with the introspective, low-key singer-songwriter albums coming out of California during the early ’70s. John may not have written his own lyrics, and he was partial to turning out hard rockers, but the very vibe of Elton John was intimate and confessional, even if the meaning behind Bernie Taupin’s lyrics were impossible to discern.

His next two records, Madman Across the Water and Tumbleweed Connection, followed in the same direction. Madman had a dark, menacing undertone, while Tumbleweed was a dusty concept album about Taupin’s fascination with the old west. The intimacy of the performances and the vague uneasiness behind the music makes for John’s most rewarding work. On Honky Chateau, John began to brighten up somewhat-the tone of the album was lighter and there was genuinely jaunty rockers scattered throughout the album. Still, there were multiple layers of meaning, not only in the moodiness of “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters” but also in the sly satire of “I Think I’m Gonna Kill Myself.”

As his career progressed, John never lost the ability to craft melodic, memorable songs out of the slightest lyrics, but both he and Taupin lost the desire to weild the double-edged sword of sweet hooks and unsettling musical subtexts that make these four albums masterpieces. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Birth Name: Reginald Kenneth Dwight
Birthdate: March 25, 1947
Birthplace: Pinner, England
Occupations: Musician, Producer, Composer

Quote: “Some people aren’t as driven as I am. Sitting around doing nothing doesn’t appeal to me. The thing that saved my life was that I worked. No matter what shape I was in, I still managed to perform and make records. I love to tour. The greatest thing in the world is to get onstage. Some nights you feel wonderful, and it just doesn’t happen. Other nights you’ve got a headache, but it just goes away. It has always been an escape for me to be performing. I think most performers are seeking attention, seeking approval. The tragedy is when you don’t know how to be offstage.” -Vanity Fair,

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

“Dr. Dre” b. Andre Young, 18 February 1965, South Central, Los Angeles, California, USA. Widely regarded, by Rolling Stone magazine at least, as the chief architect of west coast gangsta rap, Dre’s musical career began as a DJ at Los Angeles dance club, Eve After Dark. There he would splice up a mix of new records with soul classics like Martha And The Vandellas. The club had a back room with a small four-track studio where he, together with future- N.W.A. member Yella and Lonzo WIlliams, would record demos. The first of these was “Surgery”, a basic electro track with a chorus of “Calling Dr Dre to surgery”.

These sessions, and nights at Eve After Dark, taught him the turntable techniques he would later bring to N.W.A., after forming the World Class Wreckin’ Cru at the age of 17. Although other former members such as Ice Cube had laid the ground for rap’s immersion into the mainstream, the success of Dre’s 1992 solo debut, The Chronic, confirmed its commercial breakthrough.

It also signalled a change in tack by modern gangsta rappers. The music now took its cue from the funk of George Clinton and Funkadelic, Dre freely admitting to the influence Clinton played on his life: “Back in the 70s that”s all people were doing: getting high, wearing Afros, bell-bottoms and listening to Parliament-Funkadelic. That’s why I called my album The Chronic and based my music and the concepts like I did: because his shit was a big influence on my music.

Very big’. To this end he created a studio band for the sessions, which included the R&B talents of Tony Green (bass) and Ricky Rouse (guitar). While Dre’s lyrics were just as forceful as those that had graced NWA, there was also a shift in subject matter. The Chronic referred heavily to the recreational use of marijuana, taking its name from a particularly virulent, and popular, brand. Together with the efforts of Cypress Hill, cannabis was now the drug of choice for the gangsta rapper, with crack cocaine much discussed but rarely endorsed.

The Chronic would go on to spend eight months in the Billboard Top 10. At least as important was Dre’s growing reputation as a producer. As well as producing an album for one of his many girlfriends, Michel’le, his work with Eazy-E, D.O.C., Above The Law and, most importantly, Snoop Doggy Dogg, broke new ground. Dogg had already rapped with Dre on the hit singles, “Deep Cover” and “Nuthin” But A “G’ Thang”.

However, the Doggystyle opus would break box office records, bringing gangsta rap to the top of the album charts. Many sustained the belief that Dre was the driving force behind its success, the producer himself acknowledging: “I can take a three year old and make a hit record with him”. At the same time he was dismissive of his own, pioneering efforts for N.W.A., particularly the epoch-making Straight Outta Compton: “To this day I can”t stand that album, I threw that thing together in six weeks so we could have something to sell out of the trunk’. During his involvement with the NWA posse he became the house producer for Eazy-E’s Ruthless Records.

Seven out of eight albums he produced for the label between 1983 and 1991 went platinum, but he broke from Ruthless over what he alleged was under-payment. Dre’s on-record sneers at Eazy-E began shortly afterwards, including the single “Dre Day”, a put-down which Eazy-E would countermand for his reply, “Muthaphukkin’ Gs”.Like many of rap’s leading lights, Dre never strayed far from controversy, even after he bought into the comfort of a luxury home in San Fernando Valley.

As if to reinstate himself as a “true gangsta”, Dre waged a war of attrition with authority. Television host Dee Barnes filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against him for allegedly throwing her against the wall of a Hollywood nightclub in 1991. He was also convicted of breaking the jaw of a record producer (he was sentenced to house arrest and was fitted with a tracking device), and was detained by mounted police after a fracas in a New Orleans hotel lobby.

Eazy-E sued him, while Dre complained bitterly about restraint of trade and moneys owed, cursed Ruthless’ General Manager Jerry Heller, and finally managed to find a deal with Jimmy Iovine at Interscope Records, who let him set up his own label, Death Row Records, co-founded with the controversial Marion “Suge” Knight, Vanilla Ice’s ex-publicist. The success of The Chronic and Doggystyle, and the signing of rap’s biggest new star 2Pac, briefly made Death Row one of America’s most powerful labels. By 1996, however, its well documented problems culminated in Dre acrimoniously leaving to form his own Aftermath Records label.

The label’s first release was a various artists compilation, whose stand-out track was Dre’s declamatory hit single “Been There Done That”, a kiss-off to gangsta rap and Death Row. In 1998, Dre was back in the news again as co-producer on his protg Eminem’s controversial breakthrough album, The Slim Shady LP. The following November he released his highly anticipated sophomore collection, Dr. Dre 2001. Featuring collaborations with Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige and Xzibit, the album was a highly effective reminder of Dre’s pre-eminence in the world of gangsta rap.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

They are recognised as the biggest pop group in the world of music today having dominated the charts throughout the world since 1996. In just four years BACKSTREET BOYS (Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, A.J. McLean and Kevin Richardson) have accomplished this global domination by achieving Gold and Platinum awards in 45 countries, including 11-times platinum in the USA for their debut album “Backstreet Back” and have sold over 51 million albums world-wide.

The group have recently been hailed as one of the fastest selling acts in South East Asia where the album “Millennium” sold in excess of three million copies. BACKSTREET BOYS have been honoured with numerous awards and in the last twelve months alone this has included four Billboard Music Awards, five Grammy nominations, three World Music Awards, an MTV Europe Award as well as two American MTV Award nominations.

BACKSTREET BOYS’ success is set to continue with the release of their fourth album “Black & Blue” in November of this year. The group members have taken a lead role in the writing and producing of the 14-track album which covers a broad spectrum of musical styles. Brian Littrell explains: “It1s probably the most diverse album we have ever made and we hope everyone really likes it. This album is a little more real, it talks about life and loss, love and cheating, all aspects of life. It1s a very diverse album”.

So how did five boys from America rise to the top so fast? BACKSTREET BOYS’ story began in Orlando, Florida. It was there that high school students A.J. McLean, Howie Dorough and junior high student Nick Carter began to run into each other at local acting auditions. The three became friends and formed a singing group. The trio then decided to expand. Kevin Richardson was the next to join the group, and soon Kevin1s cousin Brian Littrell completed the fivesome. They quickly became one of Florida1s hottest live acts and were signed immediately.

In 1995, BACKSTREET BOYS released their first single, “We1ve Got It Goin’ On”, an urban pop song by writer/producer Denniz PoP. The song took off in Europe, UK and across the world – BSB’s brand of R&B/pop was gaining a foothold. In Europe, BACKSTREET BOYS entered a market which was familiar with ‘boy bands’, but unlike a lot of those other groups, BACKSTREET BOYSwere more than just a bunch of pretty guys – they could sing. Their live shows proved it with sweet acapella harmonies driving audiences wild. Meanwhile, their second single, “I’ll Never Break Your Heart” climbed the charts.

BACKSTREET BOYS kicked off 1996 by being voted No.1 International Group by TV viewers in Germany – “I’ll Never Break Your Heart” went gold there and hit No.1 in Austria. By February, they had hit similar heights in Canada and BSB sold out show after show – some within 20 minutes of tickets going on sale. Hordes of screaming fans soon became the stuff of legend across Europe and Canada. If BSB could accomplish that with only two singles, imagine the reaction when the debut album saw the light of day!

That summer, BSB embarked on a sold-out 57 date headlining European Tour. By autumn, BSB fever had swept Asia and Australia. Still on the road, the band wrapped up a second European Tour before the end of the year – including 13 dates in Britain.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Usher Raymond, born on October 14, 1978, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. Drawn from LaFace Records’ seemingly inexhaustible wellspring of young R&B acts, Usher is one of the few who can boast of real star quality and staying power. Indeed, after the release of his self-titled debut in 1994, there seemed to be a danger that he would become better known as a face rather than a musical talent. He appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and also performed at the American Music Awards as part of the all-star recording collaboration Black Men United.

However, sales of his Sean “Puffy” Combs-produced debut were a little disappointing at just over a quarter of a million, though it did spawn the hit single “Think Of You”. As a consequence, Usher took creative control over the production of the US Top 10 follow-up My Way, although he did enlist Jermaine Dupri, Teddy Riley and Babyface as co-writers and co-producers. The first single to be taken from the album, “You Make Me Wanna”, was typical of the smooth ballads on offer.

More unusual was the experimental, hip-hop-styled “Nice ‘N’ Slow”, a US chart-topper in March 1998. The album also included a remake of Midnight Star’s “Slow Jam”, featuring fellow teenage R&B star Monica. The title track climbed to US number 2 in August 1998. A live album was issued as a stopgap while the singer recorded new material and initiated a successful acting career, appearing in the television series Moesha and the movies The Faculty and She’s All That. His 2000 comeback single “Pop Ya Collar”, co-written with husband-and-wife team Kevin She’kspere Briggs and Kandi, was a surprising failure in America. Usher was more successful in the UK, where the single debuted at number 2 in February 2001.

He returned to the top of the US charts in July with “U Remind Me”, which premiered the transatlantic hit album 8701. The single “U Got It Bad” also reached the number 1 position in 2002, and helped complete Usher’s transition from teen pop star to R&B bestseller. He cemented his status as one of the most prominent faces in American music when his new single, “Yeah!”, climbed up the US charts to reach the top slot in February 2004. The track repeated the feat on the UK chart.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Originating from Los Gatos, California, USA, this nu-metal outfit was formed by Chris Brown (vocals/guitar) and Peter Charell (bass) in the mid-90s, when they began playing hard rock covers in high school bands. Lead guitarist Simon Ormandy was welcomed to the group, and by the latter part of 1997 Trapt had issued a home recorded CD. The following year members of Trapt graduated from high school, which resulted in more even more attention put towards their band.

Another self-issued CD followed, Amalgamation, and despite its members enrolling in college, Trapt remained together, and even issued a third recording on their own, Glimpse. The band members finally made the decision to drop out of school and concentrate on their music career, relocating to Los Angeles and adding drummer Aaron Montgomery to the line-up. In late 2001, the new look quartet signed a recording contract with Warner Brothers Records. They issued their generic major label debut in 2002, produced by Rage Against The Machine’s Garth Richardson.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

Name: toni braxton
Height: 5′ 2””
Sex: F
Nationality: American
Date: October 7, 1967
Birth Place: Severen, Maryland
Occupation: singer
Education: Glen Burnie High School
Bowie State University
Mother: Evelyn Braxton
Sister: Tamar Braxton, Towanda Braxton, Trina Braxton
Brother: 1 brother
Step Father: Michael Braxton
Claim to fame: Album: toni braxton (1993)

toni braxton was born October 7, 1968, in Severn, Maryland, the daughter of an Apostolic minister and a vocalist. Toni, toni braxton four sisters and toni braxton brother were forced to live under the strict rules of their family’s faith. The girls of the toni braxton family were not allowed to wear pants, sandals or makeup, were not allowed to have boyfriends, and the children were not allowed to listen to mainstream music.

That didn’t stop them from listening to music; when their parents were out, they watched Soul Train and listened to music. Toni and toni braxton siblings no longer had to sneak around to watch television once toni braxton parents joined the United Methodist Church, which had less strict rules.

Watching soul greats such as Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan eventually contributed to Toni’s musical style. Doe-eyed Toni discovered toni braxton talent as a member of the church choir, which toni braxton mother encouraged her to join. Although Toni knew toni braxton wanted to pursue a singing career, toni braxton received a college education at Bowie State University. While studying teaching, Toni never gave up music. toni braxton took singing lessons to fulfill toni braxton true passion in life.

Remaining true to toni braxton love for music, Toni and toni braxton sisters formed a group called the Braxtons. Signed with Arista, the Braxtons released a single entitled “The Good Life”.

Although the song was a commercial success, it did manage to catch the ear of Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and Antonio “L.A. Reid”, of LaFace Records. “The Good Life” was good enough for Toni’s career, as it led to toni braxton record contract with LaFace. The aspiring singer broke into the music industry when toni braxton had the opportunity to contribute to the Boomerang soundtrack, when Anita Baker backed out because toni braxton was pregnant. Singles such as “Give U My Heart” (a duet with Babyface) and “Love Shoulda Brought You Home” both appeared on the Billboard charts.

toni braxton work on Boomerang was only an inkling of what listeners would hear from the soulful artist. toni braxton debut album, the self-entitled toni braxton , was released in 1993, and spawned the hits “Another Sad Love Song”, “You Mean The World To Me” and “Breathe Again”. toni braxton critically acclaimed album and Aretha Franklin/Whitney Houston style garnered toni braxton the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1993.

toni braxton follow-up album, the 1996 Secrets, equally did not disappoint. The singles “You’re Makin’ Me High” and “Un-Break My Heart” were huge hits, especially the latter which can probably be considered Toni’s biggest international single. Toni also contributed to another soundtrack, the female bonding film Waiting to Exhale. After having won the 1997 Billboard Award for Female R&B Artist of the Year, Toni’s stroke of success crashed when toni braxton filed for bankruptcy in 1998, after litigation with toni braxton record company.

This did not stop Toni, who got back into the record studio to develop toni braxton third album, The Heat, released in April 2000. Although The Heat has not had the same fiery success as toni braxton previous albums, toni braxton first single, “He Wasn’t Man Enough” has been on the Top Ten charts for months, and has become a staple on R&B, Pop and Adult Contemporary radio stations. The artist known as “The First Lady of LaFace” has triumphed over hardship to become a modern R&B, soul diva.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

One of the most successful ’90s punk bands, the Offspring have sold millions of records and put indie label, Epitaph, on the map. When the group severed ties with the record company, it highlighted the fact that internal troubles plague just about every level of the music industry. The Orange County quartet was literally a 10-year overnight success–first formed in 1984, it was their 1994 album, Smash, that broke them into the big time.

Prior to that, they were just another underground group trying to catch up with the likes of Pennywise and Bad Religion. Initially put together by singer Bryan “Dexter” Holland and bassist Greg “K.” Kriesel, guitarist Noodles (ne Kevin Wasserman) joined in 1985, and in 1987, Ron Welty (all of 16 at the time) took over drums. The group had already put out one album when they were signed to Epitaph. Their first album for the label, Ignition, was a high-spirited effort, but it was Smash that really showed what the Offspring have to offer–catchy choruses, infectious hooks and a musical outlook that goes way beyond punk’s crash-and-burn mentality.

It was the right record at the right time, and became, perhaps, the biggest selling indie rock record of all time. The fact that the Offspring subsequently jumped ship to major label Columbia caused much consternation among punkers–was it a matter of the band selling out, or was it Epitaph owner Brett Gurewitz who was trying to use the band for his own financial ends? It depends on whom you ask.

The fact is, Columbia hasn’t interfered with the Offspring’s music and everything on the group’s two Columbia albums, Ixnay On The Hombre and Americana, from the songs to the artwork, is the band’s own design. And while the group’s music continues to veer away from pure punk attack into more diverse territory, their hearts lay with their roots. Holland even has his own label, Nitro Records, which he uses to develop young punk rock bands.

  

Bookmark or Share  |  

This teenage dance pop duo became the biggest selling Russian act of the new millennium owing to a clever marketing strategy that played on the suggestive nature of the two singers barely legal lesbian love affair. The fact that Julia (b. Volkova Yulia Olegovna, 20 February 1985) and Lena (b. Katina Elena Sergeevna, 4 October 1984) both had boyfriends did not detract from the brilliance of the ploy.

The project was the creation of Russian producer Ivan Shapovalov, who sifted through thousands of candidates for t.A.T.u. at open auditions before choosing Olegovna and Sergeevna. Enlisting various producers to help record the duo’s debut album, Shapovalov fashioned a suitably sleazy electro pop musical backdrop to complement the duo’s featherweight voices. Their debut single “Ya Soshla S Uma’ (I Lost My Mind) became a massive hit in the girls’ native Russia, owing in no small part to a video featuring titillating footage of Olegovna and Sergeevna acting out the song’s Sapphic storyline.

The video became an instant hit on MTV Europe, encouraging Shapovalov to hire noted UK producer Trevor Horn to oversee the recording of t.A.T.u.”s English language debut. Featuring reworked versions of songs from the duo’s Russian debut, the album was premiered by a new version of “Ya Soshla S Uma” retitled “All The Things She Said”. The song duly topped the UK charts in February 2002 amid criticisms that Shapovalov was promoting “paedophiliac pop”.