In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual (traditional) description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition of infinitive that applies to all languages. Many Native American languages and some languages in Africa and Aboriginal Australia simply do not have infinitives or verbal nouns. In their place they use finite verb forms used in ordinary clauses or special constructions.

In languages that have infinitives, they generally have most of the following properties:

*In most uses, infinitives are non-finite verbs.

They function as other lexical categories — usually nouns — within the clauses that contain them, for example by serving as the subject of another verb.

They do not represent any of the verb's arguments (as employer and employee do).

They are not inflected to agree with any subject

They cannot serve as the only verb of a declarative sentence.

They do not have tense, aspect, moods, and/or voice, or they are limited in the range of tenses, aspects, moods, and/or voices that they can use. (In languages where infinitives do not have moods at all, they are usually treated as being their own non-finite mood.)

They are used with auxiliary verbs.

However, it bears repeating that none of the above is a defining quality of the infinitive; infinitives do not have all these properties in every language, as it is shown below, and other verb forms may have one or more of them. For example, English gerunds and participles have most of these properties as well.

English

English language has three non-finite verbal forms, but by long-standing convention, the term "infinitive" is applied to only one of these. (The other two are the past- and present-participle forms, where the present-participle form is also the gerund form.) In English, a verb's infinitive is its unmarked form, such as be, do, have, or sit, often introduced by the particle to. When this particle is absent, the infinitive is said to be a bare infinitive; when it is present, it is generally considered to be a part of the infinitive, then known as the full infinitive (or to-infinitive), and there is a controversy about whether it should be separated from the main word of the infinitive (see Split infinitive). Nonetheless, modern theories typically do not consider the to-infinitive to be a distinct constituent, instead taking the particle to for operating on an entire verb phrase; so, to buy a car is parsed as to [buy [a car]], not as [to buy] [a car].

The bare infinitive and the full infinitive are mostly in complementary distribution. They are not generally interchangeable, but the distinction does not generally affect the meaning of a sentence; rather, certain contexts call almost exclusively for the bare infinitive, and all other contexts call for the full infinitive.

Huddleston and Pullum's recent Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (CGEL) does not use the notion of the infinitive, arguing that English uses the same form of the verb, the plain form, in infinitival clauses that it uses in imperative and present-subjunctive clauses.

Bare

The bare infinitive is not used in as many contexts as the full infinitive, but some of these are quite common:

*The bare infinitive is used as the main verb after the dummy auxiliary verb do, or most modal auxiliary verbs (such as will, can, or should). So, "I will/do/can/etc. see it."

Several common verbs of perception, including see, watch, hear, feel, and sense take a direct object and a bare infinitive, where the bare infinitive indicates an action taken by the main verb's direct object. So, "I saw/watched/heard/etc. it happen." (A similar meaning can be effected by using the present participle instead: "I saw/watched/heard/etc. it happening." The difference is that the former implies that the entirety of the event was perceived, while the latter implies that part of the progress of the event was perceived.)

Similarly with several common verbs of permission or causation, including make, bid, let, and have. So, "I made/bade/let/had him do it." (However, make takes a to-infinitive in the passive voice: "I was made to do it.")

After the had better expression. So, "You had better leave now."

With the verb help. So, "He helped them find it." (The use of the to-infinitive with the verb help is also common.)

With the word why. So, "Why reveal it?" (Use of the to-infinitive following why is also common.)

The bare infinitive is the dictionary form of a verb, and is generally the form of a verb that receives a definition; however, the definition itself generally uses a to-infinitive. So, "The word 'amble' means 'to walk slowly.'"

The bare infinitive form coincides with the present subjunctive form as well as the imperative form, but most grammarians do not consider uses of the present subjunctive or imperative to be uses of the bare infinitive.

Full

The full infinitive (or to-infinitive) is used in a great many different contexts:

*Outside of dictionary headwords, it is the most commonly used citation form of the English verb: "How do we conjugate the verb to go?" It can be used like a noun phrase, expressing its action or state in an abstract, general way. So, "To err is human"; "To know me is to love me". (However, a gerund is often preferred for this — "Being is doing" would be more natural than the abstract and philosophical sounding "To be is to do.")

It can be used like an adjective or adverb, expressing purpose or intent. So, "The letter says I'm to wait outside", or "He is the man to talk to", or "[In order] to meditate, one must free one's mind."

In either of the above uses, it can often be given a subject using the preposition for: "For him to fail now would be a great disappointment"; "[In order] for you to get there on time, you'll need to leave now." (The former sentence could also be written, "His failing now would be a great disappointment.")

It can be used after many intransitive verbs; in this case, it generally has the subject of the main verb as its implicit subject. So, "I agreed to leave", or "He failed to make his case." (This may be considered a special case of the noun-like use above.) With some verbs the infinitive may carry a significantly different meaning from a gerund: compare I stopped to talk to her with I stopped talking to her, or I forgot to buy the bread with I forgot buying the bread.

It can be used after the direct objects of many transitive verbs; in this case, it generally has the direct object of the main verb as its implicit subject. So, "I convinced him to leave with me", or "He asked her to make his case on his behalf." However, in some cases, the subject of the main clause is also subject of the infinitival clause, as in "John promises Mary to cook", where the cook is John (the subject of the main sentence), and not Mary (the object).

As a special case of the above, it can often be used after an intransitive verb, together with a subject using the preposition for: "I arranged for him to accompany me", or "I waited for summer to arrive."

When the verb is implied, some dialects will reduce the to-infinitive to simply to: "Do I have to?"

Auxiliary verbs

The auxiliary verb do does not have an infinitive — even though do is also a main verb and in that sense is often used in the infinitive. One does not say *I asked to do not have to, but rather, either I asked not to have to or I asked to not have to (but see split infinitive). Similarly, one cannot emphasize an infinitive using do; one cannot say, "I hear him do say it all the time."

Nonetheless, the auxiliary verbs have (used to form the perfect) and be (used to form the passive voice and continuous aspect) both commonly appear in the infinitive: "It's thought to have been a ceremonial site", or "I want to be doing it already."

Defective verbs

The modal auxiliary verbs, can, may, shall, will and must are defective in that they do not have infinitives; so, one cannot say, *I want him to can do it, but rather must say, I want him to be able to do it. The periphrases to be able to, to have to and to be going to are generally used in these cases.

Impersonal constructions

There is a specific situation in which the infinitive is used like an "impersonal future tense", replacing "will". This is done through the construction: ::to be + "to" + bare infinitive Grammatically, this is identical to the instructional "I am to wait outside" construction (above), but does not signify somebody having been issued an instruction; rather, it expresses an intended action, in the same way as "will". This "tense" is used extensively in news reports, eg. –

The Prime Minister is to visit the West Bank (active)

Aid is to be sent to war-torn Darfur (passive)

This "future infinitive" construction is interesting in that it only has a future aspect to it in situations where the speaker is significantly distanced from the event. In cases where the subject of the sentence is not quite as distanced from the speaker, then the same construction takes on a sense of instruction or necessity (as in "he is to wait outside", or "he is to go to hospital").

The same construction can be used in conditional clauses – If you are to go on holiday, then you need to work hard (or, conversely, if you want to...then you are to...).

The impersonality aspect comes from the fact that the emotionless verb to be is used in the place of the more usual modal verbs which would normally connect the speaker to the statement. In this way, statements are given weight (as if some external force, rather than the speaker, is governing events).

Conversely, however, the construction also provides an uncertainty aspect, since it frees the speaker from responsibility on their statement – in the phrase "John will go", for example, the speaker is almost advocating their certainty that John will, in fact, go; meanwhile, "the Prime Minister is to go" simply states the knowledge that the PM's going is in some way foreseen. (If John ends up not going, for example, the "will go" construction is negated, while the PM's "to go" construction would still hold true, since all it expresses is an expectation). In both cases, the knowledge is simply being reported (or pretends to be) from an independent source. In this sense, this impersonal to + verb construction can almost be seen as a fledgeling renarrative mood.

Other Germanic languages

The original Proto-Germanic ending of the infinitive was -an, with verbs derived from other words ending in -jan or -janan.

In German it is -en ("sagen"), with -eln or -ern endings on a few words based on -l or -r roots ("segeln", "ändern"). The use of zu with infinitives is similar to English to, but is less frequent than in English. German infinitives can function as nouns, often expressing abstractions of the action, in which case they are of neuter gender: das Essen means the eating, but also the food.

In Dutch infinitives also end in -en (zeggen — to say), sometimes used with te similar to English to, e.g. "Het is niet moeilijk te begrijpen" → "It is not difficult to understand." The few verbs with stems ending in -a have infinitives in -n (gaan — to go, slaan — to hit). Afrikaans has lost the distinction between the infinitive and present forms of verbs, with the exception of the verbs "wees" (to be), which admits the present form "is", and the verb "hê" (to have), whose present form is "het".

In Scandinavian languages the n has dropped out and the infinitive suffix has been reduced to -e or -a. The infinitives of these languages are inflected for passive voice through the addition of -s to the active form.

Latin and Romance languages

The formation of the infinitive in the Romance languages reflects that in their ancestor, Latin, almost all verbs had an infinitive ending with -re (preceded by one of various thematic vowels). For example, in Spanish and Portuguese, infinitives end in -ar, -er, or -ir, while similarly in French they typically end in -re, -er, oir, and -ir. In Romanian the so-called "long infinitives" end in -are, -ere, -eare, -ire, but in modern speech these are used exclusively as verbal nouns. The "short infinitives" used in verbal contexts (e.g. after an auxiliary verb) have the endings -a,-ea, -e, and -i. In Romanian, the infinitive is usually replaced by a clause containing the preposition sǎ plus the subjunctive mood. The only verb that is modal in common modern Romanian is the verb a putea, to be able to. But in popular speech, the infinitive after a putea is also increasingly replaced by the subjunctive.

In all Romance languages, infinitives can also be used as nouns.

Latin infinitives challenged several of the generalizations about infinitives. They did inflect for voice (amare, "to love", amari, to be loved) and for aspect (amare, "to love", amavisse, "to have loved"), and allowed for an overt expression of the subject (video Socratem currere, "I see Socrates running").

Romance languages inherited from Latin the possibility of an overt expression of the subject. Moreover, the "inflected infinitive" (or "personal infinitive") found in Portuguese, Galician, and (some varieties of) Sardinian inflects for person and number. These are the only Indo-European languages that allow infinitives to take person and number endings. This helps to make infinitive clauses very common in these languages; for example, the English finite clause in order that you/she/we have... would be translated to Portuguese as para teres/ela ter/termos... (it is a null-subject language). The Portuguese personal infinitive has no proper tenses, only aspects (imperfect and perfect), but tenses can be expressed using periphrastic structures. For instance, even though you sing/have sung/are going to sing could be translated to apesar de cantares/teres cantado/ires cantar.

Other Romance languages (including Spanish, Romanian, Catalan, and some Italian dialects) allow uninflected infinitives to combine with overt nominative subjects. For example, Spanish al abrir yo los ojos ("when I opened my eyes") or sin yo saberlo ("without my knowing about it").

Hellenic languages

Ancient Greek

In Ancient Greek the infinitive has four tenses (present, future, aorist, perfect) and three voices (active, middle, passive). Unique forms for the middle are found only in the future and aorist; in the present and perfect, middle and passive are the same.

{| class="wikitable polytonic" style="text-align: center;" ! λύω
"I release" !! active !! middle !! passive |- ! present | λύειν || colspan="2" | λύεσθαι |- ! aorist | λῦσαι || λύσασθαι || λυθῆναι |- ! future | λύσειν || λύσεσθαι || λυθήσεσθαι |- ! perfect | λελυκέναι || colspan="2" | λελύσθαι |}

Modern Greek

Only the Ancient Greek future infinitive active and the past infinitive passive survive in Modern Greek but their descendants have a totally different function. The Ancient Greek γράψειν "to be about to write" has become γράψει in Modern Greek and is used only in combination with the auxiliary verb έχω "I have" in the formation of the Present Perfect: έχω γράψει "I have written, lit. I have writing". When combined with είχα "I had", it yields the Past Perfect είχα γράψει "I had written". Similarly, the Ancient Greek γραφῆναι "to be written" survives as γραφεί (γραφῆ in Katharevousa); thus, έχω γραφεί (ἔχω γραφῆ in Kath.) means "I have been written".

In Pontic Greek, infinitives have a similar function; they only serve for the creation of the Present Perfect Optative: ας είχα γράψ'ναι "I wish I have written". Infinitives are formed this way: active: root of the Future + -ναι; passive: root of the Aorist + -θήν. Examples: εποθανείναι, μαθείναι, κόψ'ναι, ράψ'ναι, χαρίσ'ναι, αγαπέθην, κοιμεθήν.

In Modern Greek, "I want to write" translates θέλω να γράψω (literally, "I want that I write"), opposed to Ancient Greek ἐθέλω γράφειν (literally, "I want to write"). In Modern Greek, the infinitive has changed form and is used mainly in the formation of tenses and not with an article or alone. Instead of the Ancient Greek infinitive "γράφειν", Modern Greek uses the infinitive "γράψει", which does not inflect. The Modern Greek infinitive has only two forms according to voice, "γράψει" for the active voice and "γραφτεί" for the passive voice.

Balto-Slavic languages

The infinitive in Russian usually ends in -t’ (ть) preceded by a thematic vowel; some verbs have a stem ending in a consonant and change the t to č’, such as *mogt’ → moč’ (*могть → мочь) "can". Some other Balto-Slavic languages have the infinitive typically ending in, for example, -ć (sometimes -c) in Polish, -t’ in Slovak, -t (formerly -ti) in Czech and Latvian (with a handful ending in -s on the latter), -ty (-ти) in Ukrainian, -ць (-ts') in Belarusian. Lithuanian infinitives end in -ti, Slovenian end on -ti or -či, and Croatian on -ti or -ći.

Serbian officially retains infinitives -ti or -ći, but is more flexible than the other Slavs in breaking the infinitive through a clause. The infinitive nevertheless remains the dictionary form. Bulgarian and Macedonian have lost the infinitive altogether (it usually ended in -ти) and, for that reason, the present (if imperfective) or simple future (if perfective) first-person singular conjugation is used as the dictionary form.

Biblical Hebrew

Hebrew has two infinitives, the infinitive absolute and the infinitive construct. The infinitive construct is used after prepositions and is inflected with pronominal endings to indicate its subject or object: bikhtōbh hassōphēr "when the scribe wrote", ahare lekhtō "after his going". When the infinitive construct is preceded by ל (lə-, li-, lā-) "to", it has a similar meaning as the English to-infinitive, and this is its most frequent use in Modern Hebrew. The infinitive absolute is used for verb focus, as in מות ימות mōth yāmūth (literally "die he will die"; figuratively, "he shall indeed die"). This usage is commonplace in the Bible, but in Modern Hebrew it is restricted to high-flown literary works.

Note, however, that the to-infinitive of Hebrew is not the dictionary form; that is the third person singular perfect form.

Finnish

To form the first infinitive, the strong form of the root (without consonant gradation or epenthetic 'e') is used, and these changes occur: # the root is suffixed with -ta/-tä according to vowel harmony # consonant elision takes place if applicable, e.g. juoks+ta → juosta # assimilation of clusters violating sonority hierarchy if applicable, e.g. nuol+ta → nuolla, sur+ta → surra # 't' weakens to 'd' after diphthongs, e.g. juo+ta → juoda # 't' elides if intervocalic, e.g. kirjoitta+ta → kirjoittaa

As such, it is inconvenient for dictionary use, because the imperative would be closer to the root word. Nevertheless, dictionaries use the first infinitive.

There are four other infinitives, which create a noun-, or adverb-like word from the verb. For example, the third infinitive is -ma/-mä, which creates an adjective-like word like "written" from "write": kirjoita- becomes kirjoittama.

Seri

The Seri language of northwestern Mexico has infinitival forms which are used in two constructions (with the verb meaning 'want' and with the verb meaning 'be able'). The infinitive is formed by adding a prefix to the stem: either iha- (plus a vowel change of certain vowel-initial stems) if the complement clause is transitive, or ica- (and no vowel change) if the complement clause is intransitive. The infinitive shows agreement in number with the controlling subject. Examples are: icatax ihmiimzo 'I want to go', where icatax is the singular infinitive of the verb 'go' (singular root is -atax), and icalx hamiimcajc 'we want to go', where icalx is the plural infinitive. Examples of the transitive infinitive: ihaho 'to see it/him/her/them' (root -aho), and ihacta 'to look at it/him/her/them' (root -oocta).

Translation to languages without an infinitive

In languages without an infinitive, the infinitive is translated either as a that-clause or as a verbal noun. For example, in Literary Arabic the sentence "I want to write a book" is translated as either urīdu an aktuba kitāban (lit. "I want that I write a book", with a verb in the subjunctive mood) or urīdu kitābata kitābin (lit. "I want the writing of a book", with the masdar or verbal noun), and in Demotic Arabic biddi aktob kitāb (subordinate clause with verb in subjunctive).

Even in languages that have infinitives, similar constructions are sometimes necessary where English would allow the infinitive. For example, in French the sentence "I want you to come" translates to Je veux que vous veniez (lit. "I want that you come", with come being in the subjunctive mood). However, "I want to come" is simply Je veux venir, using the infinitive, just as in English. In Russian, sentences such as "I want you to leave" do not use an infinitive. Rather, they use the conjunction чтобы "in order to/so that" with the past tense form (most probably remnant of subjunctive) of the verb: Я хочу чтобы вы ушли (literally, "I want so that you left").

See also

Auxiliary verb

False purpose

Finite verb

Gerund

Non-finite verb

Split infinitive

Verbal noun

Notes

Category:Parts of speech Category:Syntactic entities Category:Verb types

Name	Kaitlyn Maher
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Kaitlyn Ashley Maher
Born	January 10, 2004
Died
Origin	Michigan, United States
Instrument	Vocals
Genre	Child's contemporary
Occupation	Singer/Actress
Years active	2008–present
Url	www.kaitlynmaher.com.usa

Kaitlyn Ashley Maher (born January 10, 2004) is an American child singer and actress born in Michigan, and raised in Ashburn, Virginia. In 2008, she reached the final ten on the third series of television talent show America's Got Talent; the youngest person to do so. Maher has since appeared live at The Great Kids Expo in Chantilly, Virginia, on October 25, 2008, a live broadcast of the 2008 lighting of the National Christmas Tree, on December 4, 2008 attended by President George W. Bush, and the 2009 Cherry Blossom Festival on April 11, 2009. On October 3, 2009, Maher was the opening act of The Addi and Cassi Hempel Fund benefit. Maher has appeared in a Harris Teeter commercial airing during December, 2008.

Maher signed a recording deal late in 2009 with Indie Extreme for the release of her debut album You Were Meant To Be. The album was released December 1, 2009. as the voice for the Yorkshire terrier character, Tiny, which was released on November 24, 2009. She plays the orphan Quinn in The Search for Santa Paws which continued the story which began with Santa Buddies. It was released as a direct to video on November 23, 2010.

America's Got Talent

Overview

Maher began her career on the third season of the American television reality show America's Got Talent when she reached the top ten. Producers from the show first became aware of Maher from a video that was uploaded to the popular video sharing website YouTube. The video had been made after she had been asked to sing at a birthday party. Five months after the video had been made, Maher's parents received a call from NBC's America's Got Talent asking if Maher would be able to audition for the third season.

Performances/Results

{|class="wikitable" ! Week ! Theme ! Song choice ! Original artist ! Performance order ! Result |- | Audition | N/A | "Somewhere Out There" | James Horner | N/A | Advanced |- | Vegas Verdicts | Child performers | "When You Wish Upon a Star" | Cliff Edwards | 2 | Advanced |- | Top 40
Group 1 | Semifinals | "What a Wonderful World" | Louis Armstrong | N/A | Advanced |- | Top 20
Group 1 | Heroes | "Beauty and the Beast" | Beauty and the Beast | N/A | Advanced |- | Top 10 | N/A | "I'll Be There" | The Jackson 5 | N/A | Eliminated |}

Discography

Albums

You Were Meant to Be track listing

This table gives some information about the CD's songs:

Filmography

{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 90%;" |- bgcolor="#B0C4DE" align="center" ! Year !! Film !! Role |- | 2009 || Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws || voice of Tiny |- | 2010 || The Search for Santa Paws || Quinn |- |}

References

External links

Official site

Category:2004 births Category:Living people Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Musicians from Virginia Category:American female singers Category:American child singers Category:American child actors Category:America's Got Talent contestants Category:Musicians from Michigan Category:People from Loudoun County, Virginia Category:American voice actors

Name	Chicane
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	Nicholas Bracegirdle
Alias	Chicane
Born	February 28, 1971 Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, England
Origin	London, England
Instrument	synthesizer, piano, classical guitar
Genre	House Trance Balearic beat Ambient Chillout Electronica
Occupation	Electronic musician, Composer, Record producer, Song writer, remixer,
Years active	Since 1996
Label	Modena Records Ltd. (UK), Enzo Recordings (UK), Armada Music (NL), Ultra Records (US), Central Station (AU)
Associated acts	Disco Citizens, Mr. Joshua Presents Espiritu, Rebel Transcanner, Sitvac
Url	www.chicanemusic.com

Chicane is a British EDM act, and the guise of British musician, composer, songwriter and record producer, Nicholas Bracegirdle.

Chicane is known for the singles "Offshore", an Ibiza dance anthem included in many compilations in both chill-out and dance versions; "Saltwater", which featured vocals by Clannad member Máire Brennan and is one of the most well-known and popular singles of the trance genre; and the UK number-one hit Don't Give Up", featuring vocals by Bryan Adams, which became a top ten hit on singles charts across Europe and Australia.

Far From The Maddening Crowds, Chicane's debut album, is still considered a seminal release among the trance music community, while the second album, Behind The Sun, was certified gold in the UK. In 2007, after the hindrance of an ultimately unreleased album in the intervening time, 3rd artist album Somersault, was released on Bracegirdle's independent record label, followed shortly after by a re-release of Far From The Maddening Crowds which included a new mix of "Offshore (Offshore 2007)".

In addition, Bracegirdle also worked under the aliases Disco Citizens, producing a handful of less radio-friendly, vocal-less tracks with a stronger progressive house sound. Working with singer Vanessa St. James and producer Mr. Joshua, Bracegirdle was part of the Mr. Joshua Presents Espiritu project, known for the song "In Praise of the Sun", released with both English and French vocals. Nick has also gone by the name "Rebel Transcanner" to produce a remix of Tomski's "14 Hours To Save The Earth." Nick Bracegirdle has also used the alias Sitvac to produce a one-time single, "Wishful Thinking."

Biography

The beginning

While having trained in classical guitar and piano at an early age, Bracegirdle's earliest influences in electronic music came from melodic composers such as Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis, and synthpop pioneer Vince Clarke; a further influence was the dance hit "Anthem" by the house music group N-Joi. all this convinced him to pursue the creation of melodic dance music, and by the age of 12 he was making music in recording studios and sending demos to record labels.

"Offshore" and initial success

Eventually, Bracegirdle founded his own record label, Modena Records, which holds the rights to all his songs and licenses them to other labels for release and distribution. A partnership with Leo Elstob produced the first Disco Citizens single, "Right Here Right Now", in 1995, as well as the first Chicane single, "Offshore", in 1996. "Offshore" would be the first of Chicane's many releases on edel UK Records and independent UK dance music record label Xtravaganza Recordings, then-newly founded by DJ and Bracegirdle's college friend Alex Gold. It reached #12 on the UK Singles Chart (and #1 on other UK-based charts compiled by Mixmag, Record Mirror, and others), the top 40 in multiple European countries, and #5 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play charts in 1997 upon re-release. Its inclusion on numerous Ibiza-themed trance music compilation albums (such as Café del Mar) attest to its popularity in the nightclubs on the island, one of the worldwide epicenters of dance music.

"Sunstroke", the follow-up single, attained similar popularity and chart numbers. A third single, "Offshore '97" (a separate item from the re-release of "Offshore") was actually a mashup of "Offshore" with the vocal track from the Power Circle song "A Little Love, a Little Life", mixed by producer and DJ Anthony Pappa. Originally a bootleg, it was turned into an official release, credited to "Chicane with Power Circle". On the show, Tong made the song his first "Essential New Tune" selection of the new millennium. It was also Chicane's biggest hit, debuting at #1 on the UK charts (and notably replacing "American Pie", Madonna's #1 single of the previous week), reached #3 on the US dance chart and #1 on Australian and Russian charts, and made other charts across Europe as well. Two other singles were released off the album—the double A-side Halcyon / No Ordinary Morning, and a dramatically remixed version of "Autumn Tactics"—but neither was as successful as the preceding releases.

In 2002, Bracegirdle co-wrote two songs on Cher's album Living Proof, "You Take It All" and "Alive Again", the latter which was released as a single in Europe only. The 2001 Edition of the EA Sports Formula One Video Game Series included the songs "Sunstroke", "The Drive Home", and a remix of "Nagasaki Badger".

Difficulties

For the next two years, Bracegirdle became engaged in a lawsuit with Xtravaganza, which ended in Chicane's departure from the label and its signing with WEA for the release of a third album, Easy to Assemble. Originally scheduled for 2003, the album's release was preceded by the lead single "Love on the Run", followed by a promotional single, "Locking Down". After promotional copies of the album were distributed, however, Easy to Assemble was not commercially released as expected—though over the following year, the official Chicane website was periodically updated with messages announcing further delays towards a still-expected release.

More recently, biographies, interviews, and publicity have stated that the album's release was outright prevented due to an Internet leak and bootlegging of the promotional album. It was also revealed that Bracegirdle had left Warner following its 2003 sale to Edgar Bronfman, Jr. and was planning an independent release at the time.

A return

Eventually, April 2006 saw the release of a new single, "Stoned in Love", on Globe Records through Universal Music Group, featuring singer Tom Jones on vocals. (Press Release). At the time of the announcement the song was also played twice by Pete Tong.

The track received substantial UK TV promotion in the run up to the week of release, featuring utterly live performances on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, The New Paul O'Grady Show and a semi-live performance on BBC's now defunct Top of the Pops. Jones and Bracegirdle were also interviewed on Channel 5 News; When asked in the 5 News interview where he had been since "Don't Give Up", Bracegirdle replied that he had been "basically stuffed" by the internet bootlegging of the album Easy to Assemble.

2007

In February 2007, Chicane departed from Universal as well; according to the official website, all new material will now be released through Modena itself. The follow-up single "Come Tomorrow" was released on 16 July 2007, followed by the fourth album, Somersault, a week later on 23 July 2007. Bracegirdle has entirely self-financed these initial independent releases, as well as subsequent live performances.

2008

On August 25, 2008 Chicane released "Bruised Water" with Natasha Bedingfield. Promotional copies of the track were made available, with remixes from Mischa Daniels and Adam K. Following the leak of his 2003 album, Chicane now employs the international internet policing company, Web Sheriff to prevent links to pirated material, such as this single and other tracks from his upcoming album, from being posted on various blogs and websites.

In October 2008, Chicane released a new Best Of compilation, which features all their hits, along with a new track called "Wake Up", which is a collaboration with Keane.

2009

June / July:Nick is currently working with producers James Hockley & Richard Searle on a Re-Work EP for a targeted summer 2009 release, along with a new and fourth Chicane artist album & mixes of forthcoming productions by BT and William Orbit.
The lead track from the Re-work EP "Poppiholla" based on the track "Hoppípolla" by Sigur Rós was A listed on Radio 1. It charted at a very respectable No 7 in the Top 10 on 19 July 2009, and was added to a reissued version of the Best Of album. The download single contained a Remix by The Thrillseekers, along with a mix by Bracegirdle's moniker Disco Citizens. The follow-up to this single was revealed as "Hiding All The Stars", which contains a sample of Gary Numan's Cars, which had its first full play on Radio 1's Floorfillers on 21 August 2009.

September: Chicane produced a remix of the classic track 'Relax' (Don't Do it) by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, which is part of a the 25-year anniversary of the seminal track. It was learned that the Re-Work EP was cancelled although no official announcement was ever made in regards to this. Other 'reworked' tracks that were due to appear on the EP were never mentioned from the initial announcement. Recently stated from Chicane Management; there were actually quite a few that people never got to hear.
In a June 2010 interview with Impact Magazine, Nick commented on the 'Re-work Ep' issue. "We covered House Arrest and there’s a massive bag of legal problems with that record. God knows why. Poppiholla became this complete and utter monster... The best laid plans of mice and men can go completely astray once you have a big record. Things change all the time...the plan was to (release Re-worked) and then the whole thing went completely mental…in a good way”.

The new and fourth Chicane artist album may well feature collaborations with BT and Armin van Buuren. It has been announced by Nick, that the first single from the new album probably will be revealed end 2009, while fans have to wait for the longplayer until early 2010. Compared to 'Somersault' the new album will future more original Chicane downtempo chillout tracks but also exiting new productions like 'Hiding All The Stars'.

Furthermore Chicane will make an appearance on the forthcoming artist album by The Thrillseekers.

2010

January: Nick revealed through his Facebook artist profile, that the new and 4th Chicane studio album - Giants - will be released Summer 2010. The first single in connection with the new album Come Back', is a rework of the Paul Young 1980s hit "Come Back and Stay". It was released on April 25.

April: A new track from the forthcoming album Giants - "Barefoot" - was added to Chicane's website. A laidback, Baleric-style tune, it proved popular with listeners, awaiting the new album. This was followed by the track "Titles".

May: Through Facebook Nick officially announced the new album - Giants. He also revealed a new single 'Middledistancerunner'. It features Owl City's Adam Young on vocals. Single and Album will be released August 2 in UK. The album also features the singles Hiding All The Stars, Come Back and a new version of Poppiholla.

August: Chicane's 4th studio album, Giants was released on 2 August 2010, the same day as the release of the single Middledistancerunner. During the first week of release, a new track, called Velo, was given away as a free download via Chicane's website.

November: The track 'Where Do I Start' was released as single. Among others it was remixed by Armin van Buuren.

Discography

Far From The Maddening Crowds (1997)

Behind The Sun (2000)

Easy to Assemble (2003)

Somersault (2007)

(2008)

Giants (2010)

Music

Style

Bracegirdle describes Chicane's music as being strongly influenced by the relaxed, summer atmosphere of Ibiza, where he was taken on holidays as a child. The first two Chicane albums, along with Giants - the forth studio album - are known for atmospheric, ambient melodies and shifting moods and tempos, particularly Far from the Maddening Crowds, which has been called "a soundtrack for an average day".

Bracegirdle's career took a turn following the release of Behind the Sun, at which point he stated desires to focus on being a recording artist and producer, starting with planned work on Adams' then-upcoming studio album. (However, Adams would not release another studio album until 2004.) Bracegirdle also put remix work on hold at this point, reportedly turning down Jean Michel Jarre, Moby, and both Kylie and Dannii Minogue. The music that followed also changed; in more recent interviews, Bracegirdle has noted that he is consciously moving away from the influences of Ibiza in his songwriting—calling it a return to his "song writing background" as opposed to dance music.

Bracegirdle's dance music productions have caused him to be incorrectly identified as a DJ throughout his career. As early as 1997, The Mirror called him a "top DJ" in an article, while the Portland Press Herald published a 2000 review in which both Chicane and BT were referred to as DJs. Most recently, in 2007, Bracegirdle remarked in an interview that many people still hold this belief.

Nick returned to the 'Chicane sound' with Giants, the 4th studio album. A mixture of emotive, atmospheric songs, such as What Am I Doing Here? [Pt1] and Titles, along with 'hands-in-the-air' dancefloor tracks such as Middledistancerunner and From Where I Stand, this album brought Chicane back to his roots, much to the delight of his loyal fanbase.

Live

Chicane also performs live concerts as a full-fledged band, which has included a rotating lineup of singers, guitarists, drummers, and flautists, as well as Bracegirdle himself on keyboards. UK trance producer Tom Jankiewicz (Tomski) was a frequent musical collaborator with Chicane from 1995 to 2003, and he also played keyboards in the band during that period. During April 2006 Tomski has programmed keyboard sounds for Chicane's live concerts. Session drummers in the band, notably, have included Mark Pusey (Eminem, Natasha Bedingfield, Sway), Shovell from M People, Simon Merry (Natalie Imbruglia) and David Barbarossa from Bow Wow Wow.

The band's current lineup since 2006 consists of the following musicians:

* Keyboards / Programming – Nick Bracegirdle

Bass – Carl Holt

Drums – Mark Pusey Or Simon Merry

Guitar – Simon Small

Female vocals – Natasha Andrews

Though the band's singers usually substitute for the higher-profile original vocalists due to the latter's other recording commitments, there have been exceptions; for example, both Maire Brennan as well as Red Square in Moscow.

Chicane has performed remixes (specifically, the "Tomski vs. Disco Citizens" remixes) live, as shown by a track listing from Chicane's January 22, 2000 performance at the Palladium in Cologne, Germany. This is unusual in that remixes, as products of audio editing, are not generally considered instrumental performances in their own right. At least some aspects of this are credited to Tomski himself, on stage.

Notes and references

External links

Official Website

Official Facebook Page

Official Twitter Page

Official MySpace Page

Official YouTube Channel

Official Bebo Page

Modena Records YouTube Channel

Category:1971 births Category:Ambient musicians Category:English record producers Category:English house musicians Category:Living people Category:People from Chalfont St Giles Category:English trance musicians