American country singers

Singers Singers Country American

Name	Willie Nelson
Alias	Red Headed Stranger Dr. Booger
Alt	A red Headed man with white beard smiling. He Wears a black beret, with a small logo of a Kangaroo.He also wears a black letter jacket with a zip and a black t-shirt.
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Willie Hugh Nelson
Born	April 30, 1933Abbott, TexasUnited States is an American country singer-songwriter, author, poet, actor, and activist. Nelson was one of the main figures of the Outlaw Movement, a subgenre of country music that developed between the end of the 1960s and early 1980s. The critical success of the albums Shotgun Willie, Phases and Stages, and the commercial success of Red Headed Stranger made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music. Nelson is also recognized for his contributions to charity and for his activism for the legalization of marijuana and for the use of biofuels.
Last	Kinzle
First	Richard
Url	http://books.google.com/books?id=KywEAAAAMBAJ&pg;=PA75&dq;=willie+move+austin&hl;=en&ei;=U_VaTbfxIoqhtwfgg4iiDA&sa;=X&oi;=book_result&ct;=result&resnum;=8&ved;=0CE4Q6AEwBw#v=onepage&q;&f;=false
Title	Texas Monthly
Year	November 1973
Publisher	Emmis Communications
Work	Texas Monthly
Issn	0148-7736
Accessdate	February 7, 2011
Ref	CITEREFKinzle1973

;Further reading

The Encyclopedia of Country Music ed. Paul Kingsbury, pp. 374–6 "Willie Nelson", Bob Allen, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998

External links

Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:1933 births Category:1950s singers Category:1960s singers Category:1970s singers Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Living people Category:9/11 conspiracy theorists Category:Abilene, Texas Category:American activists Category:American actors Category:American country guitarists Category:American country singers Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American male singers Category:Artists from Louisiana Category:Baylor University alumni Category:Cannabis culture Category:American taekwondo practitioners Category:Challenge Records artists Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Lafayette, Louisiana Category:Liberty Records artists Category:Musicians from Texas Category:Psychedelic drug advocates Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:Lost Highway Records artists Category:The Highwaymen (country supergroup) members

Name	Waylon Jennings |
Background	solo_singer |
Birth name	Waylon Arnold Jennings |
Alias	Waymore, Hoss
Born	June 15, 1937Littlefield, Texas, US ||
Died	February 13, 2002 Chandler, Arizona, US ||
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, bass, piano|
Genre	Country, outlaw country, country rock|
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician |
Years active	1958 – 2002 |
Label	RCA Victor, MCA, Epic |
Associated acts	Jessi Colter Willie Nelson Highwaymen |
Url	www.waylon.com |
Notable instruments	Fender Telecaster

Waylon Arnold Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. He rose to prominence as a bassist for Buddy Holly following the break-up of The Crickets. Jennings escaped death in the February 3, 1959, plane crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, when he gave up his seat to Richardson who had been sick with the flu. Urban legend and Hollywood folklore have it that Jennings and The Big Bopper flipped a coin for the last seat on the plane, with Jennings losing. It was, in fact, Tommy Allsup who flipped the coin for the fated plane trip, losing his seat to Valens.

By the 1970s, Jennings had become associated with so-called "outlaws," an informal group of musicians who worked outside of the Nashville corporate scene. A series of duet albums with Willie Nelson in the late '70s culminated in the 1978 crossover hit, "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys." In 1979, he recorded the theme song for the hit television show The Dukes of Hazzard, and also served as the narrator ("The Balladeer") for all seven seasons of the show.

He continued to be active in the recording industry, forming the group The Highwaymen with Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson. Jennings released his last solo studio album in 1998. In 2001, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Biography

Early life and career

, Texas]] , Texas]]

Jennings was born in Littlefield, Texas, the seat of Lamb County, the son of Lorene Beatrice (née Shipley) and William Alvin Jennings. When Waylon was eight, his mother bought him his first guitar, a Harmony Patrician. She very patiently taught him how to play guitar, and Waylon formed his first band two years later. Waylon was kicked out of music class at school for lack of musical ability; he never learned to read music. During his time working as a DJ, he befriended Buddy Holly. The two were inspired by the music of the Mayfield Brothers of West Texas: Smokey Mayfield, Herbert Mayfield, and Edd Mayfield. When he was twenty-one, Jennings was tapped by Holly to play bass in Holly's new band on a tour through the Midwest in early 1959. Holly also hired guitarist Tommy Allsup and drummer Carl "Goose" Bunch for the "Winter Dance Party" tour.

During the early morning hours of February 3, 1959, the charter aircraft that carried Holly, Valens, and Richardson crashed outside Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all aboard. In his 1996 autobiography, Jennings admitted that, in the years afterward, he felt severe guilt and responsibility for the crash. After Jennings had given up his seat, Holly jokingly told Jennings, "I hope your ol' bus freezes up!" Jennings shot back facetiously, "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes!" It was a statement that would haunt Jennings for decades.

Phoenix

After several years of inactivity, during which time he moved from Texas to Arizona and continued working in radio, Jennings began performing and recording again, this time in Phoenix, Arizona. He performed at a newly opened nightspot called JD's. He signed a contract with Herb Alpert's newly-formed A&M; Records, and he had a few hit singles on local radio in Phoenix, including "Four Strong Winds" (written by Ian Tyson) and "Just To Satisfy You" (co-written with Don Bowman). He also recorded an album on the BAT label, called simply JD's. 500 copies were pressed and sold at the nightclub and, after they sold out, another 500 copies were pressed by the Sounds label. He also played lead guitar for Patsy Montana on a record album that she recorded in Arizona in 1964. Duane Eddy and Bobby Bare recommended Jennings to producer Chet Atkins, who signed Waylon to RCA Victor. Bobby Bare did his own cover of "Four Strong Winds" after he heard Jenning's version. Still under contract to A&M;, Alpert released him which allowed him to sign with RCA Records. Jennings packed up and moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1965.

The Nashville sound

Jennings was accustomed to performing and recording with his own band, The Waymores; this was a practice that was not encouraged by Nashville producers who controlled nearly every aspect of recording. Over time, however, Jennings felt limited by the Nashville sound and the lack of artistic freedom that came with it, in the 1960s country music industry.

His second marriage was to Lynn Jones. He got married for a third time to Barbara Rood. He married for the fourth and final time to Jessi Colter in 1969. Colter (then known as Miriam Eddy) had been married to guitar legend Duane Eddy. With help of Jennings, Colter became a country singer in her own right for a brief period of time during the 1970s and was best-known for her 1975 country-pop smash, "I'm Not Lisa".

Jennings had grown more frustrated with the Nashville recording scene and a 1972 bout with hepatitis almost killed him. With his recording contract nearing an end, RCA had already lost another creative force that year: Jennings had met Willie Nelson, who had likewise felt frustrated by the lack of freedom in the studio and by the entire Nashville ethos, which led him to relocate his base to Texas, two years earlier. Jennings seriously considered leaving Nashville and returning to a broadcasting career in Phoenix that year.

Outlaw

Two things came along to turn Jennings' hard times around. The first was a business manager from New York City, named Neil Reshen, and the second was his old friend Willie Nelson. Reshen approached Jennings, who was still recovering from hepatitis, and offered to re-negotiate his recording and touring contracts. Jennings agreed and the contract re-negotiation began in earnest. At a 1972 meeting in a Nashville airport, Jennings introduced Reshen to Nelson. By the end of the meeting, Reshen was manager to both singers. By that time, Jennings was aware of the fact that rock bands had almost unprecedented creative freedom to record what they wanted to record, with or without a producer and even to design their album covers. He wanted similar freedom for himself—an unprecedented move in 1972 Nashville. Also in 1972, RCA issued Ladies Love Outlaws, an album that Jennings never wanted released.

, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings at Willie's 4th of July Picnic 1972.]]

Reshen drove a hard bargain but RCA finally agreed to his terms: a $75,000 advance and near-complete artistic control. Re-negotiations of his touring contracts yielded similar positive results and he began turning a profit from his touring (almost unheard-of in Nashville at that time). Waylon finally had a rock star recording contract and he looked the part; Reshen had advised him to keep the beard that he had grown in the hospital, in order to cultivate a more rock and roll image.

By 1973, Nelson had returned to the music industry under the auspices of Atlantic Records, and was on his way to music superstardom.

Now based in Austin, Texas, Nelson had made inroads into the rock and roll press by attracting a diverse fan base that included the young rock music audience. Atlantic Records had signed Nelson when the time was right and they looked to sign Jennings as well. Nelson's rise to popularity made RCA nervous about losing another hot artist, which gave the leverage that Jennings needed in his contract re-negotiations.

He followed with Lonesome, On'ry and Mean and Honky Tonk Heroes in 1973, the first albums recorded and released under his own creative control. The albums were huge commercial and critical successes. More hit albums followed, with The Ramblin' Man and This Time, in 1974, and Dreaming My Dreams, in 1975. But it was the 1976 release of "Are You Ready for the Country?" that propelled him to superstar status. The pace of recording and performing was lucrative but grueling.

In 1976, Jennings began his career-defining collaborations with Nelson on the compilation album , country's first platinum record. The following year, RCA issued Ol' Waylon, an album that produced a huge hit country/pop duet single with Nelson, "Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)." The album Waylon and Willie followed in 1978, producing their biggest hit single yet, another country/pop crossover smash, "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys." Jennings released I've Always Been Crazy, also in 1978, followed by a "greatest hits" album the following year. A son was born to Waylon and Jessi in May 1979. Waylon Albright Jennings, better known as "Shooter," played the role of his father in Walk the Line in 2005.

Addiction and recovery

By the early 1980s, Jennings was completely addicted to cocaine. His personal finances had again unraveled and left him bankrupt, though he insisted on repaying every penny and did additional tours to satisfy the debt. His work became less focused and his tours had progressed into full rock and roll-type excesses. In a widely publicized case, he was arrested in 1977 for cocaine possession by federal agents, though due to almost comedic errors by the DEA, the charges were later dropped. The episode was recounted in Jennings' song "This Outlaw Shit."

Jennings decided that it was finally time to clean up, at least for a little while. He underwent the detox process, with the intent to start using cocaine again in a more controlled fashion afterward. By Jennings' own admission in interviews, his son, Shooter Jennings, was the main inspiration to stay off of cocaine permanently. In 1984, he went "cold turkey" to end his cocaine addiction for good, which he later memorialized in the song "Working Without A Net", from the album "Will The Wolf Survive" (1985).

His later life was plagued with health problems, including a heart attack, bypass surgery, and diabetes that developed after he beat his cocaine habit. Despite these problems, Jennings remained free from cocaine and continued recording and touring, throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and into the new millennium. Jennings performed his final concert in late fall of 2001. According to the sleeve notes on the album, "The Crickets and their Buddies," Jennings' final recording session was his contribution to that album, where he provided the lead vocal for the Buddy Holly classic "Well All Right."

Later years

Outside the music industry, Jennings was also known as the primary voice of the narrator/balladeer on the television series The Dukes of Hazzard and its predecessor, the 1975 film, Moonrunners. Jennings was replaced for part of one season by "The Gentle Giant," Don Williams, during the season when the show's stars were enbattled in a contract dispute, and were replaced. The theme song, "Good Ol' Boys", an original Jennings composition, is one of the most well-known television theme songs in American television history. He also made an appearance on Married... with Children and had a role in the 1985 film, Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird, as a truck driver. Jennings sang "Ain't No Road Too Long" in the movie with Big Bird and the other Sesame Street characters. Jennings was also a member of USA for Africa for the recording of "We Are the World" but, temperamental as ever, reportedly left the studio due to a dispute over the song's lyrics. In 1976, after Johnny's Cash's guitar player fell ill while on tour in Canada, Waylon flew up from Nashville, where he had a free week, and filled in. Afterwards, after several solos and duets, Jennings refused to take payment for it.

In the mid-1980s, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Nelson and Jennings formed a successful group called The Highwaymen. Aside from his work with The Highwaymen, highlights from his own career include WWII with Willie Nelson, in 1982, Will the Wolf Survive in 1985, The Eagle in 1990 and Too Dumb for New York City, Too Ugly for L.A. in 1992.

In 1993, in collaboration with Rincom Children's Entertainment, Jennings recorded an album of children's songs, "Cowboys, Sisters, Rascals and Dirt", which included "Shooter's Theme", a tribute to his own son (14 years old at the time), with the theme of "a friend of mine". During the early 1990s, Jennings became good friends with the members of the group Metallica. He had also become very close to Metallica frontman James Hetfield, and influenced some material for their 1996 album Load. In 2003, James Hetfield was featured on the tribute album I've Always Been Crazy: A Tribute to Waylon Jennings, and covered Jennings' "Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand"

In 1998, Jennings teamed up with Bobby Bare, Jerry Reed and Mel Tillis to form The Old Dogs. The group recorded a double album of songs penned entirely by Shel Silverstein. In July, 1998, the Old Dogs, Volumes 1 and 2 were released on the Atlantic Records label. A companion video, as well as a Greatest Hits album (composed of previously released material by each individual artist), were also available.

In mid 1999, Jennings assembled what he referred to as his "hand-picked dream team" - and formed Waylon & The Waymore Blues Band. Consisting primarily of former Waylors, the thirteen-member group performed a limited number of concerts at select venues, from 1999 to 2001. The highlight of this period was the January 2000 recording, at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium, of what would become Jennings' final album, . An abbreviated album, composed of 14 tracks, was released in October 2000. A special edition box set, including all twenty-two tracks on two audio CDs, as well as a DVD with the complete concert and bonus features, was released on July 24, 2007 from Legacy Recordings. That concert showed Waylon Jennings still as a fighter and an outlaw. he performed with the same fire that had back in the 1970s even though he wasn't in good health.

In 2000, he provided the voice of Judge Thatchet in the animated adaptation of Tom Sawyer.

In an episode of The Angry Beavers entitled The Legend of Kid Friendly that aired in April 1999, Jennings provided the voice for the narrator/singer.

Some time during 2001, Jennings provided his voice in an episode of Family Guy during a Dukes of Hazzard parody (which would end up being his last televised appearance). The episode was entitled "To Love and Die in Dixie". The episode originally aired in November of that year. He also narrated a watch fight in an earlier episode, "Chitty Chitty Death Bang".

In October 2001, Jennings was finally inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In one final act of defiance, he did not show up to accept the award and opted instead to send his son Buddy Dean Jennings in his place.

Death

Jennings suffered from worsening heart attack that had ended most of his touring. On December 19, 2001, his left foot was amputated in a Phoenix, Arizona, hospital due to infection arising from his diabetes. Then, on February 13, 2002, Jennings died in his sleep of diabetic complications in Chandler, Arizona. He is interred in the Mesa City Cemetery, Mesa, Arizona.

Posthumous honors

In the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, Jennings was portrayed by his son, Shooter, as a tribute to him, though the younger man's shoulder-length hair and beard made him look little like his father appeared at the time (circa 1966) when Cash and Jennings shared an apartment outside Nashville. Shooter also plays his father in a scene set several years previously; for this scene he did cut his hair and shave, heightening the resemblance to Waylon.

On March 22, 2006, Jennings' mother, Lorene Beatrice (née Shipley) Jennings, died in Littlefield, Texas at the age of 84.

On July 6, 2006, Jennings was inducted to Hollywood's Rock Wall in Hollywood, California, along with former bandmate Kris Kristofferson.

In 2006, Jennings received a tribute from John Schneider, Tom Wopat, and Catherine Bach (Bo, Luke, and Daisy Duke). Waylon composed Theme from "The Dukes of Hazzard" (Good Ol' Boys) and was also The Balladeer, or narrator, on the show. Schneider, Wopat, and Bach reworked the theme song, added to it and re-recorded it. They also made a video for the song, which is on the seventh-season Dukes of Hazzard DVD set. The song ends with Daisy (Catherine Bach) saying, "We love you, Waylon," in the music outro. This project was done with the blessing of Waylon's widow, Jessi Colter.

On June 20, 2007, Jennings was posthumously awarded the Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award by the Academy of Country Music. Son Shooter Jennings accepted the award on his father's behalf.

The Music Inside: A Collaboration Dedicated to Waylon Jennings, a three disc collection is being released showing just how much Waylon has influenced today's artists. It brought together artists like Hank Williams, Jr who was good friends with Waylon and Jamey Johnson who grew up listening to Waylon and Willie and the boys.

Discography

Awards

See also

Outlaw country

Academy of Country Music

List of country musicians

Country Music Association

List of best-selling music artists

Inductees of the Country Music Hall of Fame

Further reading

Denisoff, R. Serge. Waylon: A Biography (1983). Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 0-87049-387-6.

Smith, John L. (compiled by) The Waylon Jennings Discography (1995). Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-29745-2.

Jennings, Waylon, and Kaye, Lenny. Waylon: An Autobiography (1996). Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-60512-3.

Flippo, Chet. (1998). "Waylon Jennings." In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 263–4.

References

Waylon Jennings was a regular at Window Rock Civic center capital of Navajo Nation.

External links

Official Website

Waylon Jennings : February 15, 2002 - Fresh Air from WHYY (RealAudio)

at the Country Music Hall of Fame

at Hollywood's RockWall

USA Today Obituary

Waylon Jennings' Gravesite

Discography at Luma Electronic

Youtube Video with Waylon Jennings' Music: "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys"

Category:1937 births Category:2002 deaths Category:American country guitarists Category:American country singers Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American male singers Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Deaths from diabetes Category:Grammy Award winners Category:People from Texas Category:People from the Texas South Plains Category:People self-identifying as substance abusers Category:Musicians from Texas Category:RCA Victor artists Category:American amputees Category:The Highwaymen (country supergroup) members

Name	Carrie Underwood
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Carrie Marie Underwood
Birth date	March 10, 1983
Birth place	Muskogee, Oklahoma
Origin	Checotah, Oklahoma, US
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, actress
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano
Genre	Country, country pop
Years active	2005–present
Label	19 / Arista Nashville (2005–current)Arista (2005–2009)
Associated acts	Brad Paisley, Randy Travis
Url

Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005.

Underwood has since become a multi-platinum selling recording artist, a multiple Grammy Award winner, a member of the Grand Ole Opry, a Golden Globe Award nominee, a three-time Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association Female Vocalist winner, a GMA Dove award winner, and a two time ACM Entertainer of the Year. She is the first-ever female artist to win back-to-back Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards for Entertainer of the Year (2009/10).

Her debut album, Some Hearts, was certified seven times platinum, and as of February 2006, was the fastest selling debut country album in Nielsen SoundScan history. It was also the best-selling solo female debut album in country music history, as of February 2008. Some Hearts yielded three number one hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs and a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 Songs. Her second album, Carnival Ride, was released on October 23, 2007. It has sold over 3 million copies as of January 2010, being certified 3 times Platinum, and produced four number one hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs. Underwood released her third album, Play On, on November 3, 2009. It has been certified 2 times Platinum by the RIAA

Having 10 #1 Hits on Billboard Hot Country Songs, Underwood is tied with Reba McEntire as the Female Country Artist with Most #1 Hits on such chart from 1990 to present. She's also the only solo Country Artist to have a #1 hit on Billboard Hot 100 Songs in the 2000 decade, as "Inside Your Heaven" reached the top of the chart on July 2005. Some Hearts, Underwood's debut album, was named the Best Country Album of the 2000 Decade by Billboard, and she's the only Female Artist to appear on the Top 10 of Billboard's Best Country Artists of the 2000 Decade list, ranked at #10. She was also ranked #50 on the Artists of the Decade list by Billboard. In 2010, Underwood was #3 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs Artists, #4 on the Top Country Album Artists and #23 on Top Artists of 2010.

Biography

Early life

Underwood was born to Stephen and Carole Underwood on March 10, 1983, in Muskogee, Oklahoma. She was raised on her parents' farm in the rural town of Checotah, Oklahoma. Her father worked in a sawmill, while her mother taught elementary school.

During her childhood, Underwood performed at Robbins Memorial Talent Show, and sang at the Free Will Baptist Church. She later sang for local events in Checotah, including Old Settler's Day and the Lion's Club. In 1996, Capitol Records was preparing a contract for Underwood but cancelled it when company management changed. She spent part of her summer as a page for Oklahoma State Representative Bobby Frame. Underwood is an enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

Education

Underwood graduated from Checotah High School in 2001 as salutatorian. Underwood is an alumna of the Alpha Iota chapter of Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority. For two years during the summer, she performed in Northeastern State University's Downtown Country show in Tahlequah. She also competed in numerous beauty pageants at the university and was selected as Miss NSU runner-up in 2004.

American Idol

In the summer of 2004, Underwood auditioned for American Idol in St. Louis, Missouri. After she sang "Could've Been" by Tiffany on the top 12 girls night, judge Simon Cowell commented that she would be one of the favorites to win the competition. During the top 11 finalists' performance on the March 22, 2005, Idol episode, Underwood sang a rendition of the number one 1980s rock hit "Alone", made famous by Heart, and Cowell predicted that Underwood would not only win the competition, but she would also outsell all previous Idol winners.

One of the show's producers later said she dominated the voting, winning each week handily. She gained a fan base known as "Carrie's Care Bears" during the course of the show, and became the fourth season winner on May 25, 2005.

Performances and results

Underwood is one of very few contestants to have never landed in the Bottom 3 or Bottom 2 joining the ranks of Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks, David Cook, David Archuleta, Crystal Bowersox, and Lee DeWyze.

Post-Idol

Underwood came back the next season of American Idol to perform her single "Jesus Take the Wheel". She also appeared on the sixth season of American Idol. She sang her single "Wasted" on March 8, making this her fourth time performing on the show since winning the competition in 2005.

Underwood also performed at the Idol Gives Back concert singing "I'll Stand By You", (a cover of The Pretenders hit). A video of Underwood's trip to Africa accompanied the song. Underwood sang the same song at American Idol's season finale on May 23, 2007. Underwood sang "Praying for Time", a former number-one hit for George Michael, during the seventh season American Idol Gives Back mini-telethon. She also came back to perform "Last Name" on May 21, 2008, for the finale of the seventh season of American Idol.

On February 12, 2009, Underwood appeared with the other six American Idol winners at the inauguration of The American Idol Experience at Walt Disney World in Florida. She and the other Idol winners received a microphone-shaped trophy honoring them for winning American Idol. Underwood also took the stage to sing her hit single "All-American Girl" as well as perform a duet of "Go Your Own Way" with fellow winner David Cook.

She returned again for season 8 on March 18 to perform a duet with Randy Travis with her single "I Told You So", a song Randy Travis wrote for his 1987 album Always & Forever. Underwood was back again on May 19, 2009, to perform the farewell song of Season 8, "Home Sweet Home".

On April 21, 2010, Underwood returned for Idol Gives Back to perform "Change" from her third studio album, Play On. She returned on the finale of American Idol Season 9 to perform "Undo It", her third single from Play On. She also sang Delta Goodrem's "Together We Are One" with all previous Idol winners that night as a farewell to Simon Cowell.

Career

2005–2007: Some Hearts

Underwood's debut album, entitled Some Hearts, was released on November 15, 2005, entering the Billboard 200 chart with 315,000 copies sold. The large first week sales of Some Hearts made it number one on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and the biggest debut of any country artist since the advent of the SoundScan system in 1991. Some Hearts has since been certified seven-times Platinum by the RIAA, and is the fastest-selling debut country album in the history of the SoundScan era.

in 2006.|thumb|left|upright]] "Inside Your Heaven", Underwood's first single, was released on June 14, 2005 in the U.S., debuting at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and on the Canadian Singles Chart, where it remained for one and seven weeks, respectively. It was the longest running single of 2005 in Canada. The single also peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot Pop Songs, and number one on the Country Singles Sales charts. In addition, it peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs chart, Underwood's only single to receive significant airplay on Christian stations. It was certified gold by the RIAA and two times platinum by the CRIA.

The album's second single, "Jesus, Take the Wheel" was released to radio on October 18, 2005. It reached number one for six consecutive weeks. The songwriters, Gordie Sampson, Brett James and Hillary Lindsey, were awarded the 2006 Grammy award for Country Song of the Year.

Underwood's third single, "Some Hearts", was released to Pop, Adult Contemporary and Hot Adult Contemporary stations in October 2005 and peaked in the Top 25 on the Hot AC format, while it made the Top 15 on the AC Charts. "Don't Forget to Remember Me", the second of Underwood's singles to be released to country radio, her fourth single overall, also proved successful, reaching number one on the Radio & Records Country Chart, number two on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, and number forty-nine on the Billboard Hot 100. "Don't Forget To Remember Me" was her second number one country single and third number one single overall.

"Jesus, Take the Wheel" won the Gospel Music Association's award for Best Country Single of the Year. Underwood performed "Jesus, Take the Wheel" on May 23, 2006, and received a standing ovation at the ACM Awards. At the same show, she won Best New Female Vocalist and Single of the Year for the "Jesus, Take the Wheel".

Later that autumn, Underwood's third country single,

Underwood also had her film soundtrack appearance with "Some Hearts" which was played during the ending credits of Aquamarine.

2007–2009: Carnival Ride

Underwood's second album, Carnival Ride, was released on October 23, 2007. "So Small", the first single from the album, was released on July 31, 2007. On Carnival Ride, Underwood was more involved in the songwriting process than on her debut; she set up a writers' retreat at Nashville's famed Ryman Auditorium to collaborate with such Music Row tunesmiths as Hillary Lindsey, Craig Wiseman, Rivers Rutherford, and Gordie Sampson. Carnival Ride was certified double platinum as of December 14, 2007.

Underwood made her second vocal performance in a film with "Ever Ever After" for the Disney's Enchanted. In the music video for the song, she appears as both animated and live action, much like the characters in the movie. Underwood's name was also mentioned in the Disney Channel series, Hannah Montana. She appeared on the holiday CD Hear Something Country Christmas 2007 with a rendition of "Do You Hear What I Hear?". Since then, the song has reached #2 on the AC Chart, and remained there for 3 consecutive weeks.

Underwood was named as Billboard's best country artist of the Billboard year 2007, and in December 2007 over 1,000,000 People magazine readers named "Before He Cheats" as the song of the year. "All-American Girl", her second single, also reached number 1 on the Billboard country charts.

In January 2008, Underwood embarked on a joint tour with Keith Urban named the Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride Tour, with dates fixed nationwide that continued through April.

On May 19, 2008, Underwood opened the 43rd Annual Country Music Association Awards with her new single "Last Name" and later went on to win Top Female Vocalist for the second consecutive year. On May 21, she performed "Last Name" again on the season finale of American Idol. The single later reached number one on the Hot Country Song chart, making it the third single to reach #1 from Carnival Ride, her sixth consecutive number one on the Hot Country Chart and her seventh straight country single number one, and her eighth number one single overall. This made Underwood the first female artist to have two consecutive albums each release three number-ones on this chart since Shania Twain in 1998.

Her single, "Just a Dream" was released on July 21, 2008. For the chart week of November 8, 2008, the song became her ninth number one, her seventh consecutive number one on the Hot Country Chart, and her eighth straight number one country single overall. With that, Underwood became the third female artist in country music history to have released four consecutive Number Ones from the same album with Rosanne Cash's King's Record Shop and Shania Twain's "The Woman in Me" being the other two that have done so.

Underwood received two Country Music Association nominations for the 2008 CMA Awards, Female Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year: Carnival Ride. At the show, she walked away with the Female Vocalist of the Year award for the third consecutive time and lost the Album of the Year award to George Strait's Troubadour.

Underwood co-wrote a song for Idol alum Kristy Lee Cook's major-label debut album Why Wait, called "Not Tonight".

On October 21, 2008, Carnival Ride was re-released as a Wal-Mart exclusive 2-pack with a Christmas CD containing 5 songs including her hit, "Do You Hear What I Hear?".

On October 22, 2008, Times Square got a double dose of Underwood as she unveiled her wax figure at Madame Tussauds New York. The creation of Underwood’s figure began when a team of Madame Tussauds studio artists flew out to meet her on tour for her figure sitting. Underwood was an enthusiastic participant in the figure making process – not only did she spend more than an hour with the studio artists, but she also generously donated a replica of the dress that she wore to the 2006 CMA Awards, when she was first named Female Vocalist of The Year, to Madame Tussauds for her figure to don. “We are thrilled that Carrie was able to join us today to help unveil her figure. Not only is she a bona fide superstar with fans around the world, but she is also an incredibly kind and generous young woman – a true role model for young people today. We know that our guests will love her figure, and we can’t wait for them to see it,” said Janine DiGioacchino, General Manager of Madame Tussauds New York and Madame Tussauds Washington D. C. Underwood's wax likeness is now part of the attraction's "VIP Room" and is posed in a standing position with hands on hips.

The fifth single "I Told You So" was officially released on February 2, 2009. On March 18, she performed the song live with Randy Travis, who originally recorded the song. It peaked at number two on the Billboard country charts.

On February 11, 2009, The nominees for the 44th Academy of Country Music Awards were announced, and Underwood was nominated for four major awards, including Top Female Vocalist, Video of the Year for "Just a Dream", Album of the Year for "Carnival Ride", and Entertainer of the Year. Underwood was the only female nominee for this year's Entertainer of the Year, alongside Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney and George Strait. On April 5, 2009 Underwood won the Academy Of Country Music Award for Female Vocalist Of the Year. Underwood also won the prestigious trophy for Entertainer of The Year, thus making her only the 7th female to take the award (previous female winners include Loretta Lynn in 1975, Dolly Parton in 1977, Barbara Mandrell in 1980, Reba McEntire in 1994, Shania Twain in 1999, and most recently Dixie Chicks in 2000) in the award show's four decade run.

Underwood was nominated for Video of the Year at the 2009 CMT Awards for "Just a Dream".

Also in 2009, Forbes reported that Underwood is the top earning American Idol alumni from June 2008 – May 17, 2009. She earned more than twice as much as the second place finisher, with estimated earnings of $14 million during this time period.

As of February 6, 2011, Carnival Ride produced 2 platinum selling singles, All American Girl and Last Name.

2009–present: Play On

Underwood released her third studio album on November 3, 2009 via Arista Nashville. USA Today revealed on August 30, 2009, that the album would be titled Play On, named after the final song on the album. Three promotional singles were made available to iTunes prior to the release of the album. The album debuted atop both Nielsen SoundScan's country and overall album charts, selling nearly 318,000 copies. It also debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and was rated as the highest first week sales for a female artist in 2009. Susan Boyle broke that record a few weeks later when her debut album sold 701,000 copies during its debut week, therefore making Underwood grab the second-highest female artist first week sales for 2009.

It was announced in August 2009 that Underwood was currently writing a song with pop/R&B; singer-songwriter Ne-Yo for the album. Underwood later stated that she was not sure if the song fit within the context of the rest of the album, but was confident that "someone, somewhere, will definitely record this song".

The first single from the album, "Cowboy Casanova", co-written by Underwood, Brett James and hip hop producer Mike Elizondo, was released on September 14, but after a demo of the song was leaked to and played by a Seattle radio station on September 2, Underwood decided to release the song late that night. The song's official release was September 14. The song was digitally released on iTunes on September 22, 2009. The song has been established as the fastest-selling song in the past year of country music, as well as Underwood's fastest-selling song to date. According to a news release, “Cowboy Casanova” has become Underwood’s 11th No. 1 single and the first hit from Play On.

Underwood made a promotional stop in Singapore to promote her upcoming album, Play On, to the Asian media. The album was released on Nov. 2 in Singapore and various parts of Asia, followed by a November 3 release in the US.

in November 2009]] On November 10, Underwood and Brad Paisley played a free mini-concert in downtown Nashville for ABC's Good Morning America, one day before the CMA Awards. She performed "All-American Girl" (from her album Carnival Ride) and "Temporary Home" (from Play On). The show was open to the public. The pair co-hosted the 2009 CMA Awards on November 11 for a second time. She received two nominations: for Female Vocalist Of The Year and Musical Event Of The Year for I Told You So featuring the original artist Randy Travis. She performed "Cowboy Casanova" at the awards show.

It was announced on November 17, 2009, that Underwood's second single would be "Temporary Home". The single was released to country radio the week of December 14, 2009. On November 16, she performed "Temporary Home" on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. On February 4, 2010, the video for "Temporary Home" made its premiere.

Underwood hosted a Christmas special, Carrie Underwood: An All-Star Holiday Special, a two-hour variety show on Fox. Also featured were seventh-season American Idol champion David Cook, Dolly Parton, Kristin Chenoweth, Brad Paisley and others. The show was broadcast on December 7, 2009.

On December 10, 2009, Underwood's 2010 tour was announced. The first leg of the tour started March 11, 2010 in Reading, Pennsylvania and ended May 30, 2010 in Spokane, Washington. The second leg of the tour started on September 25, 2010 in Portland, Oregon and ends December 19, 2010 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

On December 16, Underwood received the 2009 Harmony Award at Nashville's Schermerhorn Symphony Center.

Underwood's image was one of three selected to appear on the cover of the 2010 edition of the World Almanac and Book of Facts. This makes her the second American Idol winner to make the cover of the annual publication, following David Cook.

Underwood performed a duet with Canadian singer Bryan Adams at the February 2010 CRS Radio Event in Nashville. She also performed a duet with country star Miranda Lambert at this same event, singing a Creedence Clearwater Revival song, "Travelin' Band".

Underwood appeared on the CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother". That was her acting debut. Her character, Tiffany, is a pharmaceutical sales representative who becomes the love interest for another main character on the show. The episode, entitled "Hooked", was aired at 8pm on March 1, 2010.

On Saturday, March 20, 2010, a truck driver in Underwood's crew was killed in a terrible crash on I-95 en route to her concert in Mashantucket, Connecticut. Underwood dedicated her hit single, "Temporary Home", to him, and she teared up towards the end of the song. The audience gave both Underwood and the driver a standing ovation after the performance.

On March 2, 2010, Underwood was nominated for 6 Academy of Country Music Awards, including Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year for Play On, Female Vocalist of the Year, Song of the Year for Cowboy Casanova(writer and artist), and Vocal Event for her duet with Randy Travis on "I Told You So". The ACMs took place in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 18, 2010. At the show, Underwood was named Entertainer of the Year, making her the only country female artist in history to win this award twice, let alone consecutively. Underwood opened the show with fellow artist Miranda Lambert with the Creedence Clearwater Revival song Travelin' Band. Brad Paisley played guitar while Charlie Daniels appeared on fiddle. A guest appearance was made by CCR lead singer John Fogerty. She also performed "Temporary Home" during the show.

Host Reba McEntire presented Underwood with the "ACM Triple Crown Award" signifying her winning Top New Artist, Top Female Vocalist and Entertainer of the Year during her career. She was only the 2nd Female to win the Coveted "Triple Crown Award", as the only other woman to win this award was Barbara Mandrell.

On Tuesday, March 30, 2010, it was announced that Underwood's single, "Temporary Home", from her junior album "Play On", has hit #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs, thus spawning Underwood's 12th #1 single in her career. On April 6, 2010, Underwood was in Columbus, Ohio, when it was announced that she would film the audience for her music video for "Undo It".

On April 16, 2010, Underwood announced a second leg for her "Play On Tour". Her opening acts were confirmed to be Sons of Sylvia and Billy Currington. Tickets went on sale on April 24, 2010 for the second leg.

On April 20, 2010, Underwood was one of the first artists to be confirmed to perform at the 2010 CMT Music Awards. The ceremony was be held live in Nashville, Tennessee on June 9, 2010. Underwood, was a 3-time nominee for Video of the Year for "Cowboy Casanova", Female Video of the Year for "Cowboy Casanova", and CMT Performance of the Year for her performance of "Temporary Home" on Underwood's very own CMT Invitation Only.

On May 24, 2010, "Undo It", Underwood's third single from "Play On", was released to radio. It was later certified Platinum by the RIAA.

In May, 2010, Underwood was selected on People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People List for 2010. This was the 4th year in a row that she was selected for this prestigious list.

On May 23, 2010, CBS aired a special PSA that Underwood had taped for a new charitable foundation that she organized with the Academy of Country Music Association to help the victims of the May 2010 Nashville Flood.

On June 9, 2010, the CMT Music Awards were held. Underwood walked away with the biggest award of the night for Video of the Year for "Cowboy Casanova". She also won CMT Performance of the Year for "Temporary Home" from CMT: Invitation Only presents Carrie Underwood. Underwood performed "Undo It" at the show. She was presented by American Idol judge and co-writer of the song Kara DioGuardi.

On June 22, 2010, Underwood participated in the Nashville Rising Benefit concert with other celebrities like Miranda Lambert, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, Toby Keith, Jason Aldean, LeeAnn Rimes. She was the first to perform and her set list consisted of her current single "Undo It" then followed it up by a breathtaking performance of her first single "Jesus, Take the Wheel", transitioning into the classic hymn "How Great Thou Art". At the end of her performance the audience gave her a standing ovation. When asked why she decided to do it she responded "You hear everything from people losing possessions to entire houses being gone. I've heard of people living in tents in their backyard," she said. "You just hear the worst of the worst and hope that in some way there's something you can do about it. It is for a good cause so I feel like everyone [was happy to be] giving. You look out there and everybody's at their best." According to CMT the sold out concert was estimated to raise between 2–3 million dollars for the city of Nashville.

In June 2010, Underwood was nominated for four Teen Choice Awards, including Choice Country Artist Female, Choice Country Album for "Play On", Choice Country Single for "Undo It", and Choice American Idol Alum. All the awards were fan-voted at the show's official website.

On June 16, 2010, the RIAA certified Underwood's song, "Temporary Home", as Gold. On July 8, 2010, the RIAA certified Underwood's song, "Undo It", as Gold. The certifications gave Underwood her seventh and eighth Gold single to tag along with four platinum or multi-platinum singles.

On July 30, 2010, Underwood performed at The Today Show's Summer Concert Series. Underwood performed "Before He Cheats", "Cowboy Casanova", and "Undo It". Later on that day, she confirmed in an interview that the fourth single from Play On would be "Mama's Song".

On July 31, 2010, Underwood performed at the Greenbrier Classic PGA Tour event alongside Brad Paisley. An estimated 60,000 people attended the outdoor event and watched the two perform in the pouring rain.

On the week ending August 7, 2010, "Undo It" hit #1 on the Hot Country Songs chart.

On August 26, 2010, Underwood and Brad Paisley were announced as cohosts for the 44th Country Music Awards to be held in Nashville, November 10, 2010. This is the third year in a row that Underwood and Paisley hosted the CMAS. Underwood is also nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year ("Play On").

In early September, 2010, Underwood gave a press conference in NYC where she was announced as the new face of "Olay" skincare products. She is the first ever North American ambassador for the product. As part of the campaign, Underwood will appear in television and print ads.

The 4th single from Play On, Mama's Song, was released to country radio on September 13, 2010. The music video premiered on VEVO on September 24. Underwood's real-life mother and husband Mike Fisher appeared in the video.

On September 16, 2010, Underwood taped a special concert at the Grand Ole Opry that aired on November 14, 2010, on the TV show Extreme Makeover Home Edition. Underwood, LeAnn Rimes, and Keith Urban participated in rebuilding a school in Tennessee that was lost in the Nashville flood.

On October 2, Underwood sold out the prestigious Hollywood Bowl in LA and played with the Hollywood Bowl orchestra as part of her Play On Tour. Randy Travis and Orianthi joined her on stage to perform a few songs.

Underwood was honored by the CMT Artists of the Year special as one of the 5 top Artists of the year in 2010 in country music. The event aired on CMT on December 3, 2010.

On October 14, 2010, Underwood won an Inspirational Country Music Award for Video of the year for her song, "Temporary Home".

On October 23, 2010, Underwood won Female Vocalist of the Year, and Video of the Year for "Cowboy Casanova" at the French Country Music Awards.

Underwood co-wrote and recorded a song entitled "There's a Place for Us," the lead single from . It was released to iTunes on November 16, 2010. Underwood and songwriters, David Hodges and Hillary Lindsey, received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.

Underwood co-hosted the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on November 10, 2010 with Brad Paisley.

Underwood won her 6th American Music Award. She won "Favorite Country Album", for "Play On". That makes her the only artist in the American Music Award history to have all albums awarded in such a category.

Underwood was the American Country Awards' top winner with six wins, Artist of the Year, Female Artist of the Year, Album of the Year for (Play On), Female Artist Single of the Year for ("Cowboy Casanova"), Female Artist Video of the Year for ("Cowboy Casanova") and Touring Artist of the Year.

On December 14, 2010, Underwood was nominated by the Hollywood Foreign Press for her first Golden Globes award, under the category Best Original Song from a Movie, for the song she co-wrote and recorded for the movie "Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader."

Underwood was nominated for a Pollstar Touring Award on January 4, 2011, for her Play On Tour, for Most Creative Stage Production. The award ceremony was held February 5, 2011, at the Nokia Center in LA.

On April 3, 2011, Underwood performed with Steven Tyler during the Academy of Country Music Awards, singing a medley of "Undo It" and "Walk This Way." On April 4, 2011, Underwood performed "How Great Thou Art" with Vince Gill at the Academy of Country Music Presents "Girls Night Out" special, which aired on April 22, 2011. The video of the performance, uploaded to YouTube, reached four million views after three days.

On April 8, 2011, Underwood made her big screen debut in "Soul Surfer."

Filmography

Underwood starred in and hosted a 2009 television special, Carrie Underwood: An All-Star Holiday Special, and in 2010, made her dramatic acting debut in an episode of the television series, How I Met Your Mother. She performed a voice-over as 'Carrie Underworm', a parodied "worm" character, in an episode of the PBS children's television series, Sesame Street, and will portray Sarah Hill in the independent film, Soul Surfer, scheduled for release in 2011. On October 4, 2010, Underwood was featured in an episode on the second season of the MTV show The Buried Life, playing herself as one of the dream dates the members want to ask out on a date.

Personal interests

after performing in Tikrit, Iraq in December 2006.]] In addition to being a singer, Underwood is a guitarist and pianist, and has accompanied herself on guitar for some songs such as "Don't Forget to Remember Me" and "Inside Your Heaven" during live concert performances and on albums. She plays a McPherson guitar with an off-set sound hole

Underwood is an animal lover and a vegetarian. She stopped eating meat at the age of thirteen because she could not stand the thought of eating one of her own animals. She was voted "World's Sexiest Vegetarian" by PETA in 2007 for the second time, the first being in 2005 alongside Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. In a 2007 interview with PETA, Underwood stated, "Ever since I was little I loved animals [...] If you told me I could never sing again, I'd say that was horrible, but it's not my life. If you told me I could never be around animals again, I would just die." Underwood is a supporter of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and has done several public service announcements for the organization. Underwood has also done a "Protect Your Pets" public service announcement for Do Something.

Aside from maintaining her physique through healthy eating habits, Underwood told Oprah Winfrey earlier this year that she makes healthy living and fitness a priority. In Nashville, Underwood's personal trainer incorporates a mix of running and kickboxing to keep her trim figure. She also uses a food log to keep track of her eating habits and even gives herself a reward for staying on the healthy eating track.

Underwood also lent her voice to benefit cancer research. She was featured on the 2008 song, "Just Stand Up". The proceeds benefited Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C). As a result of their fund raising efforts, the SU2C scientific advisory committee, overseen by the American Association for Cancer Research was able to award $73.6 million towards novel, groundbreaking research.

A native of eastern Oklahoma, she co-wrote a song dedicated to her hometown, "I Ain't in Checotah Anymore". In December 2005, Underwood was named Oklahoman of the Year by Oklahoma Today. Underwood performed with the USO Christmas Tour in Iraq during the 2006 Holiday season, to spread holiday cheer to the troops overseas. She follows a celebrity entertainment tradition started by Bob Hope that continues to this day. Several Internet sites have photos and video clips of Underwood's performances in Iraq, including photos of Underwood in military garb.

Underwood has also stated she has a great interest in sports. In 2005, she performed the "Star-Spangled Banner" at Game 4 of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons, and in 2006 at the NBA All-Star Game. She also performed the "Star-Spangled Banner" at the between the Seattle Seahawks and Carolina Panthers in 2006, as well as at the 2006 edition of NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600, the MLB All Star Game in Pittsburgh, P.A., and at Game 3 of the 2007 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies. In 2007 she was seen attending an NHL game between the Nashville Predators and Columbus Blue Jackets alongside fellow American Idol contestant Kellie Pickler, as well as another game between the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers.

On February 7, 2010, Underwood performed the National Anthem for Super Bowl XLIV.

In August 2009, Underwood formed the Checotah Animal Town and School (C.A.T.S.) Foundation to benefit her hometown of Checotah, Oklahoma. On August 28, 2009, Underwood visited Checotah High School with ABC news anchor Robin Roberts, where she gave a presentation on stage, sang with a young girl in front of students and school faculty, and donated over $117,000 worth of musical instruments to three music programs at three of Checotah's schools. Underwood later mingled with fans, signing autographs and taking pictures, as well as being interviewed by several local news stations. The story aired on November 10, 2009 on a program called "In the Spotlight With Robin Roberts" on ABC.

On October 16, 2009, Underwood performed in Singapore; it is her first public appearance in an Asian country in line of a series of events for the grand opening of the newest shopping attraction in the heart of the city, ION Orchard.

Underwood has participated in the annual City of Hope Celebrity Softball tournament for charity for many years. The event takes place in Nashville, Tennessee and benefits research for life-threatening diseases. At this event in 2010, her then-fiance Mike Fisher also played for the Grand Ole Opry team and the two of them were given a "surprise bridal shower" and received gifts from Gloriana, Luke Bryan, David Nail and Josh Thompson among others.

Personal life

Underwood performed at halftime of the 2006 Thanksgiving Day football game at Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas, and was friends with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo. She attended his birthday party in April 2007, and on May 15, 2007, he escorted her to the Academy of Country Music Awards. They were rumored to be dating on and off throughout 2007. Although she denied the rumor when asked, Romo confirmed it by saying "[...] I'm dating Carrie Underwood" on his website. He also told an Illinois newspaper that they were dating.

In August 2007, Underwood began dating Chace Crawford of the American television series Gossip Girl. On October 4, 2007, People magazine reported that the two were seen holding hands in New York City, though according to further reports, they ended their relationship in the spring of 2008.

She became engaged in December 2009 to then Ottawa Senators (and now Nashville Predators) hockey player Mike Fisher, whom she began dating after they met at one of her concerts in 2008. Underwood and Fisher appeared together publicly for the first time in January 2010, at the Bell Sens Soiree, an annual fundraiser in Gatineau for the Ottawa Senators' official charity. After appearing together at the CMT Awards in June 2010, Underwood told reporters that Fisher was planning a surprise honeymoon for the two of them after their summer wedding.

On July 10, 2010, Underwood and Fisher wed at the Ritz Carlton Resort at Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Georgia, with more than 250 people in attendance. The couple gave People magazine the following statement, which they signed "Mike & Carrie Fisher": "We could not feel more blessed to have found each other and to have shared this day with our friends and family that mean so much to us!" According to People, Monique Lhuillier created a dress of Chantilly lace for Underwood and also designed the bridesmaids' dresses. The ceremony featured classical music and readings of the couple's favorite Bible verses. National Hockey League players, as well as Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Garth Brooks, American Idol contestants, and judges Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson were in attendance She surprised her husband by having one of their favorite artists, Brandon Heath, sing his song "Love Never Fails" for their first dance.

On February 11, 2011, 105.3 CISS-FM, an Ottawa radio station, banned Underwood's music to be played because her husband Mike Fisher was traded to the Nashville Predators the day before. Due to Underwood's fans' threats to never tune into the radio station on Facebook, the station later modified their statements. They apologized for their actions, saying that their statements were meant to be taken as a joke as they don't play Underwood's country songs anyway and was their tongue-in-cheek way of wishing Mike Fisher the best of luck in Nashville. Mike Fisher later criticized the station saying "obviously Carrie had nothing to do with the move or the trade or anything so to imply something like that was just wrong", and both he and Underwood were disappointed in the negativity that was created by the radio station.

Discography

2005: Some Hearts

2007: Carnival Ride

2009: Play On

Tours

2005: American Idols LIVE! Tour 2005

2006:

2008: Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride Tour (w/ Keith Urban)

2008: Carnival Ride Tour

2010: Play On Tour

Awards

Grammy Awards

On December 7, 2006, Underwood's album 'Some Hearts received four Grammy nominations. Underwood won her first two Grammy Awards that year: Best New Artist, becoming the second of only three country artists to ever win this award after Leann Rimes, and was followed by Zac Brown Band in 2010, and Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "Jesus, Take the Wheel", which also won Best Country Song for the songwriters Gordie Sampson, Brett James and Hillary Lindsey. The song was also nominated for "Song of the Year". Her nomination and victory in the Best New Artist category marked the first time that an American Idol'' winner or contestant had been nominated for and won the category. The award ceremony was held on February 11, 2007, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. She sang the Eagles song "Life in the Fast Lane" alongside Grammy nominees Rascal Flatts. She also sang the Eagles' "Desperado" to honour Don Henley of The Eagles. She also paid tribute to Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys by performing "New San Antonio Rose".

On February 10, 2008, Underwood was nominated for two more Grammys: Best Female Country Vocal Performance, for "Before He Cheats" and Best Country Collaboration with Vocals, for "Oh, Love" a duet with Brad Paisley. She won one Grammy Award that night, for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, and "Before He Cheats" also won Best Country Song for its songwriters. The song was also nominated for "Song of the Year". Underwood performed "Before He Cheats" at the ceremony, with a more powerful vocal ending.

On February 8, 2009, Underwood, for the third year in a row, won the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "Last Name", which she performed during the show, for a total of four Grammy awards in three years. "Ever Ever After", which she recorded for the soundtrack of the 2007 film Enchanted, was also nominated for a Grammy Award under the category Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.

On December 2, 2009, Underwood received a Grammy nomination for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her No. 1 song "Just a Dream (Carrie Underwood song)" and a nomination for Best Country Collaboration With Vocals for "I Told You So" with Randy Travis.

On January 30, 2010, Underwood performed at the annual Clive Davis Pre-Grammy party at the Beverly Hills Hotel. She performed a duet with Harry Connick Jr. of "All the Way", and a solo version of her hit "Cowboy Casanova".

Underwood performed at the Grammy Awards on January 31, 2010 for the fourth consecutive year, with Celine Dion, Usher, Smokey Robinson and Jennifer Hudson during the 3-D Michael Jackson tribute at the 52nd Grammy Awards. Grammy Awards producer Ken Ehrlich stated that Michael Jackson greatly admired Underwood, which is why she was hand-picked to perform during his tribute.

On January 31, 2010, Underwood won her fifth Grammy Award. She won the Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for "I Told You So" with Randy Travis.

In 2010, Underwood was nominated for a Grammy award for the eighth time, for 'Best Female Country Vocal Performance' for "Temporary Home."

International awards

Underwood received her very first international award nomination in 2006. She was nominated for "World's Best Selling New Artist" at the 2006 World Music Awards. The award is given due to worldwide sales (who sells more is the winner). Among the six nominees, Underwood ranked #2, while British singer James Blunt ranked #1 and ended winning the award.

Also in 2006, Underwood's record "Jesus, Take the Wheel" won "SOCAN Song of the Year" at the Canadian Country Music Awards.

In 2008, Underwood won her first international award, which was "Female Vocalist of the Year" at the European Country Music Association Awards.

On October 23, 2010, Underwood won 2 awards from the 8th French Country Music Awards. She won "Best Female Vocalist of the Year (Meilleure Chanteuse)" and "Best Video of the year (Meilleure Video)" for "Cowboy Casanova". The ceremony was held by The French Association of Country Music.

On December 14, 2010, Underwood was nominated for a CMC Australian Country Music Award for International Artist of the Year.

References

Bibliography

Tracey, Kathleen. Carrie Underwood: American Idol IV. September 2005. Blue Banner Biography series (Juvenile) ISBN 1-58415-425-X

Footnotes

External links

Official site of Carrie Underwood from Arista Records

Carrie Underwood at Billboard.com

Category:1983 births Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Living people Category:People from Muskogee, Oklahoma Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American female singers Category:American pianists Category:American female guitarists Category:American country guitarists Category:American expatriates in Canada Category:American Idol winners Category:American people of Native American descent Category:American vegetarians Category:Arista Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:Native American musicians Category:Native American singers Category:Northeastern State University alumni Category:Muscogee people Category:Musicians from Oklahoma Category:American Christians Category:Baptists from the United States Category:Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame inductees

Name	Tim McGraw
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Samuel Timothy McGraw
Born	May 01, 1967
Origin	Delhi, Louisiana, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano
Genre	Country, southern rock
Occupation	Musician, actor
Years active	1992–present
Label	Curb Records
Associated acts	Faith HillThe Dancehall DoctorsNellyTaylor SwiftDef LeppardMindy McCready
Url

Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts, leading him to achieve total album sales in excess of 40 million units. He is married to country singer Faith Hill and is the son of former baseball player Tug McGraw.

McGraw had 11 consecutive albums debut at Number One on the Billboard albums charts. Twenty-one singles hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. He has won 3 Grammys, 14 Academy of Country Music awards, 11 Country Music Association (CMA) awards, 10 American Music Awards, and 3 People's Choice Awards. His Soul2Soul II Tour with Faith Hill is the highest grossing tour in country music history, and one of the top five among all genres of music.

McGraw has ventured into acting, with supporting roles in The Blind Side (with Sandra Bullock), Friday Night Lights, The Kingdom, and Four Christmases (with Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon), and lead roles in Flicka (2006) and Country Strong (2010). He was a minority owner of the Arena Football League's Nashville Kats. Taylor Swift's debut single, "Tim McGraw", refers to him and his song, "Can't Tell Me Nothin.

In honor of his grandfather's Italian heritage, McGraw was honored by the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) in 2004, receiving the NIAF Special Achievement Award in Music during the Foundation's 29th Anniversary Gala.

Early life

McGraw was born Samuel Timothy McGraw in Delhi, Louisiana, a town in Richland Parish, to a waitress, Elizabeth "Betty" Ann D'Agostino, and Frank Edwin "Tug" McGraw Jr., who later became a relief pitcher for the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies. McGraw is of Italian and Irish descent on his mother's side, and of Scots-Irish and distant German descent on his father's side.

, welcome sign notes that McGraw once resided there.]]

Reared by his mother in Start, also in Richland Parish, east of Monroe, McGraw grew up believing his stepfather, Horace Smith, was his birth father. From the time of his mother's marriage until the time he met his biological father, his last name was Smith. At age 11, McGraw discovered his birth certificate while searching his mother's closet to find pictures for a school project. After his discovery, his mother revealed that his biological father was Tug McGraw, and took Tim to meet him for the first time. and became a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. During his college period, he learned to play guitar, and would frequently perform and sing for tips, although he claims that his roommates often hid the guitar because he was so bad.

His mother, Betty, returned to Jacksonville, Florida in 1987, and Tim followed. He attended Florida Community College at Jacksonville for one term, and occasionally sat in with local bands.

Not a Moment Too Soon

His second album, Not a Moment Too Soon, was much more successful, becoming the best-selling country album in 1994. The first single, "Indian Outlaw", caused considerable controversy, as critics argued that it presented Native Americans in a patronizing way. but the controversy helped spur sales, and the song became McGraw's first top-ten country single (getting as high as No. 8), and reaching No. 15 on the pop chart.

The second single from the album, "Don't Take the Girl", became McGraw's first No. 1 country hit, and "helped cement his image as a ruggedly good-looking guy with a sensitive side".

All I Want

All I Want, released in 1995, continued his run of success, debuting at No. 1 on the country charts. The album sold over 2 million copies and reached the top 5 on the Billboard 200. "I Like It, I Love It" reached No. 1 on the country charts as the lead-off single, while "She Never Lets It Go to Her Heart" also went to No. 1 in 1996. "Can't Be Really Gone", "All I Want Is a Life", and "Maybe We Should Just Sleep on It" were all top 5 hits.

Everywhere

McGraw's next album, 1997's Everywhere, again topped the country charts and reached No. 2 on the album charts, selling 4 million copies.

Set This Circus Down

McGraw's next album, Set This Circus Down, was released in April 2001, and spawned four number-one country hits: "Grown Men Don't Cry", "Angry All the Time" (with Faith Hill), "The Cowboy in Me", and "Unbroken". He provided harmony vocals for the Jo Dee Messina song "Bring On the Rain", which he also produced. The song topped the country charts. McGraw chose to use his own touring band, in order to recognize their part in his success, and to capture some of the feel of a real band.

The album debuted at No. 2 on the country albums charts, with the single "Real Good Man" reaching No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart. "She's My Kind of Rain" reached No. 2 in 2003, and "Red Ragtop" reached the top 5. The album also featured a cover version of Elton John's early 1970s classic "Tiny Dancer", as well as appearances by Kim Carnes on "Comfort Me" (a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks) and Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit of the Eagles on "Illegal".

Live Like You Were Dying

2004's Live Like You Were Dying continued McGraw's record of commercial success. The title track, dedicated to his father Tug McGraw, who died of a brain tumor earlier in the year, was a soaring ode to living life fully and in the moment, while the second single "Back When" was a paean to an easy nostalgia. Live Like You Were Dying spent seven non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on Billboard (10 weeks on Radio & Records), and went on to become the biggest hit single of the year. It also became one of the most awarded songs/records by winning ACM Single and Song of the Year, CMA Single and Song of the Year, and a Grammy.

In late 2004, his unlikely duet with hip-hop artist Nelly on "Over and Over", a soft ballad of lost love, became a crossover hit, spending 10 weeks atop the Top 40 chart. "Over and Over" brought McGraw a success he had never previously experienced on contemporary hit radio or rap radio, and brought both artists success neither had previously experienced in the hot adult contemporary market. The song also spent a week at the top of the UK single charts, and was McGraw's first visit to the UK hit countdown.

Throughout the 2005 NFL season, McGraw sang an alternate version of "I Like It, I Love It" every week during the season. The alternate lyrics, which changed each week, would make reference to plays during Sunday's games, and the song would be played alongside video highlights during halftime on Monday Night Football. Later in the year, McGraw became a minority owner of the Arena Football League's Nashville Kats when majority owner Bud Adams (owner of the NFL's Tennessee Titans) was awarded the expansion franchise.

Let It Go

In April 2006, McGraw and Hill began their 73-concert 55-city Soul2Soul II Tour, again to strong commercial acceptance. The tour grossed nearly $89 million and sold almost 1.1 million tickets, making it the top grossing tour in the history of country music. It was named "Major Tour of the Year" by the prestigious Pollstar Magazine, beating out such heavyweights as Madonna and the Rolling Stones. In a special gesture, the couple donated all of the profits from their performance in New Orleans to Hurricane Katrina relief.

Tim, along with Kenny Chesney, contributed to a version of Tracy Lawrence's song "Find Out Who Your Friends Are", which can be found on Lawrence's album For the Love. Although the official single version features only Lawrence's vocals, many stations have opted to play the version with McGraw and Chesney instead.

McGraw released his eleventh album, Let It Go, on March 27, 2007. The album's debut single, "Last Dollar (Fly Away)", reached No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart, marking Tim's first No. 1 single since "Back When" in late 2004. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart and No. 1 on the Billboard Country Album chart, marking his fourth No. 1 top 200 album and ninth No. 1 country album. His daughters can be heard singing the chorus during the last few seconds of the song on the video.

During the Academy of Country Music awards show on May 21, 2007, McGraw performed a song titled "If You're Reading This", which he co-wrote with The Warren Brothers. Several radio stations began to play the live recording of the song; as a result, it entered the Hot Country Songs chart at No. 35.

McGraw also produced the debut album of country music duo Halfway to Hazard. The duo's first single, "Daisy", peaked at No. 39 on the country charts in the summer of 2007.

In the summer of 2007, McGraw and Hill toured together once again in the Soul2Soul 2007 tour.

In the January 18, 2008 edition of the USA Today newspaper, McGraw was stated to be featured on the Def Leppard album Songs from the Sparkle Lounge, having also co-written the first single, "Nine Lives", with Def Leppard band members Joe Elliott, Phil Collen, and Rick Savage. The unusual pairing goes back to 2006 when McGraw joined Def Leppard onstage for the song "Pour Some Sugar On Me", and then collaborated on the song "Nine Lives" afterward. The album was released on April 25, 2008.

In May 2008, he hit the road with the Live Your Voice tour. The mainly-outdoor arena concert tour was his first solo outing in nearly three years. Also in May 2008, he debuted a new song off of his follow-up to Let It Go at the Stagecoach Music Festival in Indio, California.

In July 2008, Tim McGraw's sixth single, and the title track of his album, "Let It Go", was released to country radio. Following that, a seventh single, "Nothin' to Die For", entered the Country charts at No. 57 in late December. Tim McGraw released his third greatest-hits package, Greatest Hits 3 on October 7, 2008. The album features 12 tracks. Tim was set to debut a new song on the 2009 ACM Awards, but then cancelled his performance; he was replaced by Blake Shelton, who sang "She Wouldn't Be Gone".

Southern Voice

Tim's twelfth studio album, Southern Voice, was released October 20, 2009, and led by the single "It's A Business Doing Pleasure With You", which was shipped to radio outlets in late June 2009. Southern Voice was argued to be Tim's last album for Curb Records, following the dispute over releasing his third Greatest Hits collection back in October 2008 without his permission. Tim did not approve of the release. On November 30, 2010, Curb Records released his fourth greatest hits compilation, Number One Hits.

On November 10, 2010, Tim McGraw presented at the 44th Annual Country Music Awards.

2010s

On January 2, 2011, Tim McGraw announced plans for his Emotional Traffic Tour featuring opening acts Luke Bryan and The Band Perry. Sirius XM announced on March 30, 2011 that they would be launching Tim McGraw radio, a commercial-free music channel devoted to McGraw's music, and featuring an in depth interview with Tim as well.

McGraw has also finished work on a new album, also called Emotional Traffic, which will be his last album with Curb Records. McGraw states that Curb is holding the record due to it being his last one with them.

Acting

McGraw's first acting appearance came in a 1995 episode of The Jeff Foxworthy Show, where he played Foxworthy's rival.

In 2004, McGraw played a sheriff in Rick Schroder's independent release Black Cloud. Later in the same year, McGraw received critical acclaim as the overbearing father of a running back in the major studio Texas high school football drama Friday Night Lights. The Dallas Observer said the role was "played with unexpected ferocity by country singer Tim McGraw". The movie went on to gross over $60 million dollars worldwide at the box office, and sold millions in the DVD market. Most recently, it was named one of the Top 50 High School Movies of All Time (No. 37) by Entertainment Weekly.

McGraw's first lead role was in the 2006 film Flicka, which was released in theatres October 20, 2006. In the remake of the classic book "My Friend Flicka", McGraw played the father, Rob, costarring with Alison Lohman and Maria Bello. The family-friendly movie debuted in the top 10 list and has grossed over $25 million at the box office. McGraw again achieved critical acclaim for his acting.

Shortly before Flicka opened, McGraw received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His star is located at 6901 Hollywood Blvd. near stars in the sidewalk honoring Julie Andrews, William Shatner, and the late Greta Garbo. One of his Flicka co-stars, Alison Lohman, attended the ceremony that included comments from Billy Bob Thornton, McGraw's co-star in the film Friday Night Lights.

In addition to acting in Flicka, McGraw served as executive producer of the soundtrack album, which was released by his record label, StyleSonic Records, in association with Curb Records and Fox 2000 films. It featured the closing credit song "My Little Girl", one of the first two songs that McGraw recorded that he also co-wrote (the other being "I've Got Friends That Do", both of which were included on Greatest Hits Vol. 2). The song was nominated by the Broadcast Film Critics for "Best Song" in a film, and the movie was nominated in the category "Best Family Film (Live Action)". The movie proved to be another huge success in the DVD market, and has sold over a million copies, debuting at No. 3 on the DVD sales chart.

Charitable efforts

As his success has grown, McGraw has become increasingly interested in giving back to the community. When McGraw first reached fame in 1994, he established his annual Swampstock event. It began as a charity softball game to raise money for hometown little league programs; the event now includes a celebrity softball game and a multi-artist concert that attracts over 11,000 fans per year. The combined events have funded new Little League parks and equipment, and have established college scholarship funds for students in the northeast Louisiana area.

From 1996 to 1999, McGraw hosted an annual New Year's Eve concert in Nashville with special guests including Jeff Foxworthy, the Dixie Chicks, and Martina McBride. The 1997 show raised over $100,000 for the Country Music Foundation Hall of Fame and Museum. Beginning in 1999, McGraw would pick select cities on each tour, and the night before he was scheduled to perform, would choose a local club and host a quickly-organized show. This tour-within-a-tour became known as "The Bread and Water Tour", and all proceeds from the show would go to a charity from that community. Later in the year, the couple established the Neighbor's Keeper Foundation, which provides funding for community charities to assist with basic humanitarian services, in the event of a natural disaster, or for desperate personal circumstances.

McGraw is also a member of the American Red Cross National Celebrity Cabinet, to which various celebrities donate their time, skills, and fame, to help the Red Cross highlight important initiatives and response efforts.

McGraw has helped out with charity events held by Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre. The has featured McGraw (and at other times Faith Hill) performing concerts during dinners and auctions that benefit children with disabilities in Wisconsin and Mississippi. One instance is recorded on Favre's official website.

On July 12, 2007, it was made public that McGraw and his wife Faith Hill, while in Grand Rapids, Michigan for a performance, donated $5000 to Kailey Kozminski, 3-year-old daughter of Officer Robert Kozminski, a Grand Rapids police officer who was killed on July 8, 2007 while responding to a domestic disturbance.

In June 2010, Tim McGraw, along with his wife Faith Hill organized Nashville Rising, a benefit concert aimed to raise $2 million for The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee in response to the flood in early May that killed 22 people and caused $2 billion in damage.

Politics

McGraw, a Democrat, has stated that he would like to run for public office in the future, possibly for Senate or Governor of Tennessee, his home state. He has referred to himself as a "Blue Dog Democrat" and stated that he supported Presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008.

Discography

Studio albums

Tim McGraw (1993)

Not a Moment Too Soon (1994)

All I Want (1995)

Everywhere (1997)

A Place in the Sun (1999)

Set This Circus Down (2001)

Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors (2002)

Live Like You Were Dying (2004)

Let It Go (2007)

Southern Voice (2009)

Compilation albums

Greatest Hits (2000)

(2006)

(2008)

Collector's Edition (2008)

Greatest Hits 3 (2008)

Limited Edition: Greatest Hits: Volumes 1, 2 & 3 (2008)

Number One Hits (2010)

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="#CCCCCC" align="center" ! colspan="4" style="background: LightSteelBlue;" | Film |- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center" ! Year ! Film ! Role ! Notes |- | rowspan="2"| 2004 | Black Cloud | Sheriff Cliff Powers | |- | Friday Night Lights | Charles Billingsley | Nominated - MTV Movie Award - Best Male Breakthrough Performance |- | 2006 | Flicka | Rob McLaughlin | Nominated - Critics Choice Award for Best Song: "My Little Girl" |- | 2007 | The Kingdom | Aaron Jackson | |- | 2008 | Four Christmases | Dallas | |- | 2009 | The Blind Side | Sean Tuohy | |- | rowspan="1"|2010 | Country Strong | James Canter | |- | 2011 | Dirty Girl | Danny | |- |- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center" ! colspan="4" style="background: LightSteelBlue;" | Television |- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center" ! Year ! Film ! Role ! Notes |- | 1997 | The Jeff Foxworthy Show | Lionel | one episode; "Feud for Thought" |- |2008 |Saturday Night Live | Host | Hosted November 22, 2008 episode |- |2011 |Who Do You Think You Are? (U.S. TV series) |Himself |Season 2, Episode 2 |- |}

Awards

Further reading

Brown, Jim; Sparrow, Susan. Faith Hill & Tim McGraw: Soul 2 Soul. Quarry Music Books, 2002. ISBN 1550822934

Gray, Scott. Perfect Harmony: the Faith Hill & Tim McGraw Story. 1st ed. Ballantine Books, 1999. ISBN 0345434129

McGraw, Tim. Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors: This is Ours. Atria Books, 2002. ISBN 074346706X

Nichols, Tim, and Craig Wiseman. Live Like You Were Dying. Rutledge Hill P, 2004. ISBN 1401602126

Trimble, Betty "McMom". A Mother's Story. D'Agostino/Dahlhauser/Ditmore Pub, 1996. ISBN 1886371326

References

External links

Tim McGraw at Country Music Television

Category:1967 births Category:Actors from Louisiana Category:Actors from Tennessee Category:American country guitarists Category:American country singers Category:American country record producers Category:American film actors Category:American male singers Category:American musicians of German descent Category:American musicians of Irish descent Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent Category:Arena Football League executives Category:Curb Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Louisiana Category:Musicians from Tennessee Category:People from Nashville, Tennessee Category:People from Richland Parish, Louisiana Category:University of Louisiana at Monroe alumni

Name	Taylor Swift
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Taylor Alison Swift
Born	December 13, 1989Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, United States
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, banjo, piano, ukulele,
Genre	Country pop, pop, teen pop, country
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, actress
Years active	2006–present
Label	Big Machine
Notable instruments	Custom-built Taylor acoustic guitars
Url
Associated acts	Nathan Chapman, Liz Rose

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American country pop, singer-songwriter, musician and actress.

In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. In November 2008, Swift released her second album, Fearless, and the recording earned Swift four Grammy Awards, including the Album of the Year, at the 52nd Grammy Awards. Fearless and Taylor Swift finished 2008 at number-three and number-six respectively, with sales of 2.1 and 1.5 million. Fearless topped the Billboard 200 for 11 non-consecutive weeks; no album has spent more time at No. 1 since 2000. Swift was named Artist of the Year by Billboard Magazine in 2009. Swift released her third album Speak Now on October 25, 2010 which sold 1,047,000 copies in its first week.

In 2008, her albums sold a combined four million copies, making her the best-selling musician of the year in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Forbes ranked Swift 2009's 69th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $18 million and 2010's 12th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million. Swift was ranked the 38th Best Artist of the 2000–10 decade by Billboard. In January 2010 Nielsen SoundScan listed Swift as the most commercially successful country (or country/pop crossover) artist in music history with over 33 million digital tracks sold. , she has sold over 20 million albums and 33 million singles worldwide.

Early life

Swift was born on December 13, 1989 in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Andrea Gardner (née Finlay), a homemaker, and Scott Kingsley Swift, a stockbroker. Her maternal grandmother, Majorie Finlay, was an opera singer. Swift has a younger brother, Austin.

When Swift was in fourth grade, she won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem, "Monster In My Closet". At the age of ten, a computer repairman showed her how to play three chords on a guitar, sparking her interest in learning the instrument. Afterwards, Swift wrote her first song, "Lucky You". When Swift was 12, she devoted an entire summer to writing a 350-page novel, which remains unpublished. She began writing songs regularly and used it as an outlet to help her with her pain from not fitting in at school. Swift was a victim of bullying, and spent her time writing songs to express her emotions. She also started performing at local karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs.

Swift began to regularly visit Nashville, Tennessee, and work with local songwriters. When she was 14, her family relocated to Nashville. Her first major show was a well-received performance at the Bloomsburg Fair. In Tennessee, Swift attended Hendersonville High School, but was subsequently homeschooled for her junior and senior years. In 2008, she earned her high school diploma.

Swift's greatest musical influence is Shania Twain. Her other influences include LeAnn Rimes, Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, and Swift's grandmother. Although her grandmother was a professional opera singer, Swift's tastes always leaned more toward country music. In her younger years, she developed a love for Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton. She also credits the Dixie Chicks for demonstrating the impact that one can have by "stretching boundaries".

Music career

2000–05: Musical beginnings

At age 11, Swift made her first trip to Nashville, hoping to obtain a record deal by distributing a demo tape of her singing with karaoke songs. She gave a copy to every label in town, but was rejected. After Swift returned to Pennsylvania, she was asked to sing at the U.S. Open tennis tournament, where her rendition of the national anthem received much attention.

When Swift was 15, she rejected RCA Records because the company wanted to keep her on an artist development deal. After performing at Nashville's songwriters' venue, The Bluebird Café, she caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, who signed her to his newly formed record label, Big Machine Records. At age 14, she became the youngest staff songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house. guitar in June 2006. Swift continues to perform with custom-made Taylor guitars.]]

2006–10: Taylor Swift, Fearless, and 2009 MTV VMA incident

Swift released her debut single, "Tim McGraw", in mid-2006, reaching #6 on Billboard magazine's Hot Country Songs chart. Her self-titled debut album was later released on October 24, 2006. Debuting high on the Billboard 200, the album sold 39,000 copies during its first week. It peaked at #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums and #5 on the Billboard 200. Her debut album spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of the Top Country Albums charts and remained at the top for 24 out of 91 weeks. The only other country artists this decade to achieve the number-one sales position for 20 weeks or more are The Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood. The music video for "Tim McGraw" won Swift an award for Breakthrough Video of the Year at the 2007 CMT Music Awards. Her pursuit of country music stardom was the subject of "GAC Short Cuts", a part-documentary, part-music-video series airing since the summer of 2006. On May 15, 2007, Swift performed "Tim McGraw" at the Academy of Country Music Awards. Swift has been an opening act for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill on their Soul2Soul 2007 tour. She has opened in the past for George Strait, Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts as well. The second single from the Taylor Swift album, "Teardrops on My Guitar", was released February 24, 2007. In mid-2007, the song peaked at #2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and #33 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was re-released with a pop remix that brought "Teardrops on My Guitar" to #13 on the Hot 100 and #11 on the Pop 100. In October 2007, Swift was awarded Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Assn. Intl., making her the youngest artist ever to win the award. Her third song off her debut album, "Our Song" spent six weeks at #1 on the Country charts, peaked at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100, and rose to #24 on the Billboard Pop 100. Swift recorded a holiday album, , which was released exclusively at Target in late 2007. Swift was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best New Artist, but lost to Amy Winehouse. Swift's successful single, "Picture to Burn", was the fourth single from her debut album. The song debuted and soon peaked at #3 on the Billboard Country chart in spring 2008. HQ in 2007.]] "Should've Said No" became Swift's second #1 single. In Summer 2008, Swift released Beautiful Eyes, an EP sold exclusively at Wal-Mart. In its first week of release, the album sold 45,000 copies, debuting at #1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart and #9 on the Billboard 200. With her self-titled debut album sitting at #2 during the same week, Swift became the first artist since 1997 to hold the Top 2 positions of the Top Country Albums chart. In October 2008, Swift performed a duet with best selling rock band Def Leppard in a taped show in Nashville, Tennessee, and their collaboration was up for both Performance of the Year and Wide Open Country Video of the Year at the CMT Music Awards in 2009.

Swift's second studio album, Fearless, was released in the United States on November 11, 2008. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart. Its sales of 592,304 were the highest debut of any country artist in 2008. This is also the largest opening U.S. sales week in 2008 by a female artist in all genres of music, and the fourth biggest overall behind Lil Wayne, AC/DC and Coldplay. Its lead single "Love Story" became a hit on both the country and pop charts. During the first week of release, more than 129,000 of Swift's sales were sold digitally. This gives Swift the best online start for any country album in history. It also makes Swift the fourth biggest week for a digital album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking them in 2004. Through its eighth week of release, Fearless has sold more than 338,467 downloads, making it the bestselling country album in digital history. In second place is Swift's debut Taylor Swift with sales of 236,046 downloads as of April 18, 2009. In its debut week, seven songs in total on Fearless were charted on Billboard Hot 100, tying Swift with Miley Cyrus for the most by a female artist in a single week. With "White Horse" charted at #13, this gave Swift her sixth top 20 debut of 2008, a calendar year record for any artist in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. Of the 13 tracks on Fearless, 11 have already spent time on the Hot 100. The song was also featured as part of the soundtrack of NBC's broadcast package of the Olympics. The lead single from the album, "Love Story", was released on September 12, 2008. The Fearless album includes the "Love Story" music video which is based on Romeo and Juliet. The song has reached #2 on iTunes Store Top Downloaded Songs and #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Fifteen weeks after being added to pop radio, "Love Story" also became the first country crossover recording to hit number one on the Nielsen BDS CHR/Top 40 chart in the 16-year-history of the list, as well as number one on the Mediabase Top 40 Chart. The second single from Fearless, "White Horse", was released on December 8, 2008. The music video for the song premiered on CMT on February 7, 2009. Though it missed the #1 spot on Billboard's Hot Country Songs as of the week April 11, 2009, "White Horse" claimed the #1 spot atop the USA Today/Country Aircheck chart (powered by Mediabase) in that week. "Forever & Always", another song from the album, was based on Swift's relationship with singer Joe Jonas. She was the first artist in the history of Nielsen SoundScan to have two different albums in the Top 10 on the year end album chart. Swift is Billboard's Top Country Artist and Hot Country Songwriter of 2008; she is also country music's best-selling artist of 2008. Swift ranked seventh on Nielsen SoundScan Canada's top-10 selling artists across all genres in 2008. Fearless and Taylor Swift took the #1 and #2 slots on 2008 Year-End Canadian Country Albums Chart. Swift sang the Star-Spangled Banner at game three of the World Series in Philadelphia on October 25, 2008. in Prince Edward Island, Canada.]] In January 2009, Swift announced her North American Fearless Tour planned for 52 cities in 38 states and provinces in the US and Canada over the span of 6 months. The tour kicked off April 23 in Evansville, Indiana. In the same month, Swift made her first musical guest appearance on Saturday Night Live. On February 8, 2009, Swift performed her song "Fifteen" with Miley Cyrus at the 51st Grammy Awards. As of the week ending February 8, 2009, Swift's single "Love Story" became the country song with the most paid downloads in history. Since the release of Swift's second album, Fearless, she has released one new song "Crazier" for the of the feature film . At the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, Swift picked up Album of the Year honors as a performer and producer for Fearless. Swift is the youngest artist in history to win the ACM Album of the Year award. The Academy lauded her for career achievements including selling more albums in 2008 than any other artist in any genre of music, the breakthrough success of her debut album, and the worldwide crossover success of her #1 single "Love Story". The Academy also cited Swift's contribution to helping country music attract a younger audience. As of late April 2009, Swift has sold more than 14 million downloads, as well as three Gold Mobile Ringtones. On April 28, 2009, Swift gave a free, private concert to students at Bishop Ireton High School, a small Catholic school in Alexandria, Virginia after the school won a national "TXT 2 WIN" contest from Verizon Wireless. The students sent over 19,000 text messages to Verizon during a roughly one month long contest. Swift played for about an hour during the school's field day, an annual day-long recess with games and activities. On October 8, 2009 Swift's official website announced that her sold-out Fearless Tour would return to North America for 37 additional dates in 2010.

Scheduled to perform on September 13, 2009, Swift attended the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. This was her first VMA performance, where she became the first country music artist to win an MTV Video Music Award. During the show, as Swift was on stage accepting the award for Best Female Video for "You Belong with Me," singer/rapper Kanye West came on stage and took the microphone from Swift, saying that Beyoncé's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", nominated for the same award, was "one of the best videos of all time," an action that caused the many audience members to boo West. He handed the microphone back to a stunned and reportedly upset Swift, who did not finish her acceptance speech. When Beyoncé later won the award for Best Video of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", she called Swift up on stage so that she could finish her acceptance speech. Following the awards show, West apologized for his verbal outburst in a blog entry (which was subsequently removed). and even by President Barack Obama in an "off the record" comment. He later posted a second apology on his blog and made his first public apology one day after the incident on the debut episode of The Jay Leno Show. She said West had not spoken to her following the incident. On November 11, 2009, Swift became the youngest artist ever to win the Country Music Association Award for Entertainer of the year, and is one of only six women to win the Country Music Association's highest honor. On the chart week of November 14, 2009, Swift set a record for the most songs on the Billboard Hot 100 by a female artist at the same time with eight singles from the re-release of her 2008 album Fearless namely five debut new songs in the top 30: "Jump Then Fall" at #10, "Untouchable" at #19, "The Other Side of the Door" at #22, "Superstar" at #27 and "Come in With the Rain" at #30 and three already-charted songs that were released as singles—"You Belong with Me" (#14), "Forever & Always" which re-entered the chart at #34, and "Fifteen" (#46). In addition, the song "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls which features Swift, debuted at #80 in the same issue. This gives Swift six debuts in one week, the biggest number of debuts by any female artist of all time. It also lifts the number of her simultaneously-charting songs to nine, setting another record for the biggest number of charting songs by the same female artist in the same week. When "Fifteen" reached #38 on the chart week of November 21, 2009, Swift became the female artist with the most Top 40 singles this decade, surpassing Beyoncé. "Fifteen" became Swift's twentieth Top 40 single overall. "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls and John Mayer's "Half of My Heart" both featured Swift, peaking at #40 and #25 respectively. The two songs are her 21st and 22nd Top 40 singles. Fearless was the best-selling album of 2009 in the US with more than 3.2 millions copies sold in that year. Swift claimed both the #1 and #2 positions atop Nielsen's BDS Top 10 Most Played Songs chart (all genres), with "You Belong With Me" and "Love Story," respectively. She also topped the all format 2009 Top 10 Artist Airplay chart with over 1.29 million song detections, and the Top 10 Artist Internet Streams chart with more than 46 million song plays.

2010–present: Speak Now

Swift released the track "Today Was a Fairytale" as a digital download on iTunes on January 19, 2010. The song was featured on the soundtrack for the film Valentine's Day, in which she made her feature-film acting debut. The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 2, becoming her sixth Top 10 and 23rd Top 40 single on that chart. According to Nielsen SoundScan, with sales of "Today Was a Fairytale" more than 325,000 in its first week, Swift has broken the record for first-week download sales by a female artist. The song also debuted at number one on the Canadian Hot 100, making it Swift's first number one hit in Canada. In February 2010, Swift brought her Fearless Tour to 5 cities in Australia. Opening acts included Gloriana. In mid-July 2010, Billboard revealed that Swift's new album is called Speak Now. It was released on October 25, 2010. She has written the album completely by herself in Arkansas, New York, Boston and Nashville with Nathan Chapman serving as co-producer. On Wednesday, August 4, 2010, the lead single from the album, "Mine," was leaked onto the internet. Big Machine Records decided to rush the release of the song to counteract the leak. Swift appeared at the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on November 10, 2010. In 2011, Swift visited Singapore as the first stop of the Asian leg of her first world tour. Hong Kong is the last stop of the Speak Now World Tour and Swift will begin the European and American leg afterwards. Taylor Swift sold approximately 4,470,000 albums in the US in 2010 (more than any other artist) and sold 9.9 million digital tracks.

Songwriting style

Swift's lyrics are highly autobiographical; she has said that "If you listen to my albums, it’s like reading my diary." For example, the song "Forever & Always" was inspired by her relationship with Joe Jonas, while the song "Hey Stephen" was written about a boy whom she toured with in the past. She has also indicated that she tries to write so her fans can relate to the lyrics, saying "My goal is to never write songs that my fans can't relate to." She parodied her confrontational style of songwriting during her appearance on Saturday Night Live; during her opening monologue, she performed an original song that featured lines such as "You might think I'd bring up Joe, that guy who broke up with me on the phone/ Hey, Joe, I'm doing real well, tonight I'm hosting 'SNL'" referring to her highly publicized relationship with Joe Jonas.

The intensely personal nature of the songs has drawn her attention in the music industry. Swift once said, "I thought people might find them hard to relate to, but it turned out that the more personal my songs were, the more closely people could relate to them." Due to the autobiographical nature of her songs, some fans have researched the songs' origins. Swift once said, "Every single one of the guys that I’ve written songs about has been tracked down on MySpace by my fans." The New York Times described Swift as "one of pop's finest songwriters, country’s foremost pragmatist and more in touch with her inner life than most adults".

Other work

Acting

In 2008, Swift made her acting debut in Brad Paisley's music video "Online". In that same year Swift filmed a documentary for MTV entitled MTV's Once Upon a Prom and a documentary with Def Leppard for CMT entitled CMT Crossroads, which premiered on November 7, 2008. Swift collaborated with the Jonas Brothers in their 3D Concert Film, . The film was released on February 27, 2009 in North America and brought in $12.7 million on its opening weekend. Swift made her primetime television acting debut on CBS's "Turn, Turn, Turn" as Haley Jones on March 5, 2009 in the U.S. and Canada. The episode was watched by 20.8 million viewers. Swift made a cameo appearance in Kellie Pickler's music video "Best Days of Your Life". Swift also appeared in credited as "woman singing in the barn". The film was released on April 10, 2009 in North America. The television show Dateline NBC showcased an hour on Swift on May 31, 2009. The episode titled Dateline NBC: On Tour With Taylor Swift included scenes from her tour bus, concert footage, and rehearsals. Swift both hosted and performed as the musical guest for the November 7, 2009 episode of Saturday Night Live. In 2010, Swift made her feature film acting debut as Felicia in the film Valentine's Day. For this role she won the Teen Choice Award for Movie Female Breakout. She has been cast to voice the role of Audrey in the animated film The Lorax, set to be released in 2012.

Cover model and recognition

Swift has been featured on the cover of a number of magazines. She has been a cover girl for Blender, for which she was one of two country artists during the magazine’s fifteen year run to be a cover subject. She was included in People's annual "100 Most Beautiful People" 2008, 2009, and 2010 lists. Additionally, she was named number fifty-seven on Maxim's sexiest women of 2008, number fifty on the 2009 list and number thirty-one on the 2010 list. CosmoGirl voted Swift as the "2008 Girl of the Year". Swift was named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of "The RS 100: Agents of Change". She was nominated as a candidate for Times "2009 The Time 100 Finalists" list, which is determined by online voting. People magazine named Swift one of 25 Most Intriguing People of 2009.

Merchandise

Jakks Pacific released a celebrity doll of Swift in late 2008. Swift has been the face of L.E.I. Jeans (Life Energy Intelligence) since 2008. Swift and the L.e.i. Clothing Line made a deal to create a line based on Swift's style of dressing, which will appear in Wal-Mart in the coming months. However, Swift said she does not want to be called a designer. Instead, she says she will inspire the clothing company's dress line based on her own style. "I don't look at it like I'm branching out as a designer... It's not the Taylor Swift designer line." In 2009, Swift became the National Hockey League's newest celebrity spokesperson. She appears in commercials for the Nashville Predators.

In May 2009, Swift filed a lawsuit (kept sealed until August 2010) against numerous sellers of unauthorized counterfeit merchandise bearing her name, likeness, and trademarks, where she demanded a trial by jury, sought a judgement for compensatory damages, punitive damages, three times the actual damages sustained, and statutory damages, and sought for recovery of her attorney's fees and prejudgement interest. Nashville's U.S. District Court granted an injunction and judgment against the sellers, who had been identified at Swift's concerts in several states. The court ordered merchandise seized from the defendants to be destroyed.

Philanthropy

, April 2009]] On September 21, 2007, Swift helped launch a campaign to protect children from online predators. She has teamed up with Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen to combat internet sex crimes.

Swift donated $100,000 to the Red Cross in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008. Swift has teamed up with Sound Matters to make listeners aware of listening "responsibly". Swift supports @15, a teen-led social change platform underwritten by Best Buy to give teens opportunities to direct the company's philanthropy through the newly-created @15 Fund. Swift's song, "Fifteen", is featured in this campaign. Swift lent her support to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal by joining the lineup at Sydney's Sound Relief concert, reportedly making the biggest contribution of any artist playing at Sound Relief to the Australian Red Cross. Swift donated her prom dress, which raised $1,200 for charity, to DonateMyDress.org. On November 20, 2009 after a live performance on BBC's Children in Need night Swift announced to Sir Terry Wogan she would donate £13,000 of her own money to the cause.

On December 13, Swift's own birthday, she donated $250,000 to various schools around the country which she had either attended or been involved with. Swift has donated a pair of her shoes – a gently-worn pair of black Betsey Johnson heels with her autograph on the sole – to the Wish Upon a Hero Foundation's Hero in Heels fundraiser for auction to raise money to benefit women with cancer.

In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, Swift donated $500,000 during a flood relief telethon hosted by WSMV, a Nashville television station.

Personal life

In 2008, Swift was in a relationship with pop singer Joe Jonas, which ended in October of that year. Swift indicated that her heartbreak song, "Forever & Always", on her album Fearless was inspired by Jonas. The song "Back to December" off her album Speak Now, which Swift has described as an apology song, has been widely speculated to be dedicated to Lautner.

In late 2010, Swift briefly dated actor Jake Gyllenhaal. They split in early 2011.

Swift has also been linked to singer/guitarist John Mayer. There has been speculation that the song "Dear John" from her album Speak Now is about Mayer, calling the latter out for an apparent relationship gone sour.

Filmography

Discography

Taylor Swift (2006)

Fearless (2008)

Speak Now (2010)

Awards and nominations

Tours

Fearless Tour (2009–10)

Speak Now World Tour (2011)

References

External links

Category:1989 births Category:Living people Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:American child singers Category:American pop singers Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American country banjoists Category:American female guitarists Category:American pianists Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:Big Machine Records artists Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Musicians from Pennsylvania Category:People from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania Category:Ukulele players

Name	Shania Twain
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Eilleen Regina Edwards
Alias	Eilleen Twain (1967-1992)
Born	August 28, 1965Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Genre	Country, country pop, pop
Years active	1993–present
Occupation	Singer-songwriter
Label	Mercury Nashville
Url	www.shaniatwain.com

Shania Twain, OC (; born Eilleen Regina Edwards; August 28, 1965) is a Canadian country pop singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the mid 1990s with her album The Woman in Me (1995), and achieved worldwide success with her 1997 album Come On Over, which became the best-selling album of all time by a female musician in any genre, and the best-selling country album of all time. It has sold over 40 million copies worldwide and is the 9th best-selling album in the U.S. Her 4th album, titled Up! was released late 2002. To date it has sold 20 million copies worldwide.

A five-time Grammy Award winner, Twain has also achieved major success as a songwriter, winning 27 BMI Songwriter awards. including 49 million in the U.S. She is ranked as the 10th best-selling artist of the Nielsen SoundScan era, with approximately 34 million in sales through April 2008. She was also ranked the 72nd Artist of the 2000–10 decade by Billboard. Most recently, Twain will have her own series, Why Not? with Shania Twain, that is set to premiere on the on May 8, 2011.

Early years

Shania Twain was born Eilleen Regina Edwards in Windsor, Ontario, daughter of Clarence and Sharon Edwards. Her parents divorced when she was two and her mother then moved to Timmins,Ontario with Eilleen and her sisters Jill and Carrie Ann. Sharon married Jerry Twain, an Ojibwa, and they had a son together, Mark. Jerry adopted the girls, legally changing their last name to Twain. When Mark was still in diapers, the Twains adopted Jerry's baby nephew, Darryl, after Darryl's mother passed away. Because of her connection to her stepfather, in the past, people had presumed Twain's ancestry was Ojibwa, but she stated in an interview that her biological father was part Cree. As well, through her mother she is a descendant of Zacharie Cloutier. Her maternal grandmother, Eileen Pearce, emigrated from Newbridge, Kildare, Ireland.

Eilleen Twain had a hard childhood in Timmins. Her parents earned little and there was often a shortage of food in the household. Eilleen did not confide her situation to school authorities, fearing they might break up the family. In the remote, rugged community, she learned to hunt and to chop wood. Sharon and Jerry's marriage was at times stormy, and from a young age, Eilleen witnessed violent fights between them. Sharon struggled with bouts of depression. In the summer of 1979, while Jerry was at work, at Eilleen's insistence, her mother drove the rest of the family south to a Toronto homeless shelter for assistance. Sharon returned to Jerry with the children in 1981. In Timmins, Twain started singing at bars at the age of eight to try to make ends meet, often earning twenty dollars between midnight and one in the morning performing for remaining customers after the bar had finished serving. Although she expressed a dislike for singing in those bars, Twain believes that this was her own kind of performing arts school on the road. She has said of the ordeal, "My deepest passion was music and it helped. There were moments when I thought 'I hate this'. I hated going into bars and being with drunks. But I loved the music and so I survived". Twain wrote her first songs at the age of ten, Is Love a Rose and Just Like the Storybooks which were fairy tales in rhyme. She states that the art of creating, of actually writing songs, "was very different from performing them and became progressively important".

Music career

Career as Eilleen Twain

At 13, Eilleen was invited to perform on CBC television's the Tommy Hunter Show. While attending Timmins High and Vocational School in Timmins, she was also the singer for a local band called "Longshot" which covered Top 40 music.

After graduating from Timmins High in July 1983, Twain was eager to expand her musical horizons. After the demise of the band Longshot, Twain was approached by a cover band led by Diane Chase called "Flirt" and they toured all over Ontario. In the autumn of 1984, Twain's talents were noticed by Toronto DJ Stan Campbell who wrote about her in a Country Music News article: "Eilleen possesses a powerful voice with an impressive range. She has the necessary drive, ambition and positive attitude to achieve her goals". Bailey later said "She sang a few songs that she had written, and I thought to myself, this kid is like nineteen years old, where does she get this? This is from a person who's lived sixty years". where Twain spent much time practicing in 1985.]] Bailey acquired the contract from Stan Campbell and Twain moved into Bailey's home on Lake Kenogami where she practiced her music every day for hours. In the fall of 1985, Bailey took Twain down to Nashville to stay with a friend, record producer Tony Migliore, who at the time was producing an album for fellow Canadian singer Kelita Haverland and Twain was featured on the backing vocals to the song Too Hot to Handle. She also demo-ed songs with Cyril Rawson but the demos were without success, partly due to Twain's wish to become a rock singer, not a country artist. After five months she returned to Canada and moved in with Bailey in a flat in downtown Kirkland Lake. There she met rock keyboardist Eric Lambier and drummer Randy Yurko and formed a new band, moving three months later to Bowmanville, near Toronto. In late summer 1986 Mary Bailey arranged for Twain to meet John Kim Bell, a half Mohawk, half American conductor who had close contacts with the directors of the Canadian Country Music Association. Bell recognized Twain's ability as well as her looks and the two began secretly dating.

It was then on November 1, 1987, that Twain's mother and stepfather died in a car accident back in Timmins. As a result Twain moved back to Timmins to take care of her younger siblings and then took them all to Huntsville, Ontario. There, she supported them by earning money performing at the nearby Deerhurst Resort.

1993–1994: Shania Twain

A couple of years passed and Twain's siblings got older and moved out on their own. Twain assembled a demo tape of her songs and her Huntsville manager set up a showcase for Twain to present her material to record executives. She caught the attention of a few labels, including Mercury Nashville Records, who signed her within a few months. During this time, she changed her name to Shania, an Ojibwa word which means "on my way".

Twain's self-titled debut album was released in 1993 in North America and garnered her audiences outside of Canada. The album only reached #67 on the US Country Albums Chart, but it gained positive reviews from critics. The album failed to sell significant copies initially, although Twain's future success generated enough interest for the album to be certified platinum six years later by the RIAA, denoting sales of over a million. The album yielded two minor hit singles in the United States with "What Made You Say That" and "Dance with the One That Brought You". The album was more successful in Europe, where Twain won Country Music Television Europe's "Rising Video Star of the Year" award. Ironically all the songs selected for The Woman in Me were rejected by Mercury Records for her first album. Record executives were stunned when they listened to the album. It was unlike anything else in country music.

The Woman in Me was released in the spring of 1995. The album's first single, "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" went to #11 on the Billboard Country Chart. This was followed by her first Top 10 and #1 hit single, "Any Man of Mine". Twain had further hits from the album, including the title track which peaked at #14 and three additional #1 hits: "(If You're Not in it for Love) I'm Outta Here!", "You Win My Love", and "No One Needs to Know". The album was a quick breakthrough. Shania performed selected international venues and television shows with Nashville guitarist Randy Thomas (co-writer of the song "Butterfly Kisses") and Stanley T., formerly with the Beach Boys. Mercury Record's promotion of the album was based largely upon a series of sexy music videos.

The Woman in Me won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album as well as the Academy of Country Music award for Album of the Year; the latter group also awarded Twain as Best New Female Vocalist.

Worldwide success

1997–2001: Come On Over

In 1997, Twain released her follow-up album, Come On Over. This was the album that would establish her as a successful crossover singer. Slowly, the album started racking up sales. It never hit the top spot, but with the multi-chart hit single "You're Still the One", sales skyrocketed. Other songs like "Don't Be Stupid", "You've Got A Way", "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!", "That Don't Impress Me Much" and "From This Moment On" joined the 12 songs that eventually saw release as singles. "From This Moment On" is a duet with singer Bryan White and there was even a pop version as well.

The album stayed on the charts for the next two years, going on to sell 39 million copies worldwide, making it the biggest-selling album of all time by a female musician. It is also the eighth biggest-selling album by any type of artist in the US.

2002–2004: Up!

After a change in management — QPrime replaced Landau — and a two year break, Twain and Lange returned to the studio. Up! was released on November 19, 2002. About a year later, Twain kicked off the Up! Tour in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada on September 25, 2003.

Up! was released as a double album, with three different discs—pop (a red CD), country (a green CD), and international (a blue CD). For North American markets, the pop disc was paired with the country disc and in international markets, the pop disc was paired with the world music disc. Up! was given four out of five stars by Rolling Stone magazine, and debuted at #1 on the Billboard albums chart, selling 874,000 in the first week alone. It remained at the top of the charts for five weeks. Up! reached #1 in Germany, #2 in Australia and the Top Five in the UK and France. In Germany, Up! was certified 4x platinum and stayed in the Top 100 for one and a half years.

The international music disc was remixed with Indian-style orchestral and percussion parts recorded in Mumbai, India. The new versions were produced by Simon and Diamond Duggal, brothers from Birmingham, England. They were originally invited to contribute parts to the pop version of "I'm Gonna Getcha Good!" which retained the Indian influence.

Twain's popularity in UK was reflected by numerous appearances on the long-running music show Top of the Pops, performing singles from Come on Over from 1999. In 2002 an entire special show was dedicated to her on sister show TOTP2, in which Twain herself introduced some past performances of her greatest hits and new singles from Up!

The first single from the album, "I'm Gonna Getcha Good!" became a top 10 country hit in the US, after debuting at an impressive #24 after only five days of airplay; but only made the Top 40 on the pop charts. It was a much bigger hit on the other side of the Atlantic, released in a pop version, the single hit #4 in the UK. In Australia, Germany and France the song reached the Top 15 in each case. The follow-up single "Up!" reached the Top 15 in the US country charts but failed to reach the pop Top 40.

The second European single became the mid-tempo song "Ka-Ching!" (which was never released as a single in North America) with lyrics where Twain was criticizing unchecked consumerism. The song eventually became another smash hit in the important European markets, reaching #1 in Germany and Austria and other European countries, the UK Top 10 and the Top 15 in France.

The third single from the album would be the most successful in the US. The romantic ballad "Forever and For Always" was released as a single in April 2003 and peaked at #4 on the country chart and #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, and made as well the Billboard Top 20. Again success was even bigger on the other side of the Atlantic with "Forever and For Always" again reaching the Top 10 in both, the UK and Germany. Further singles were "She's Not Just a Pretty Face" a country Top 10 hit, while the last US single, "It Only Hurts When I'm Breathing", made the Top 20 on both Country and AC.

Due to the enormous European success of Up! and its first three singles, two more singles were released in the second half of 2003 with up-tempo "Thank You Baby" (#11 in the UK, Top 20 in Germany) and just before Christmas the romantic, acoustic ballad "When You Kiss Me", at least a minor hit in both territories. The title track "Up!" also saw a single release in a limited edition of European countries, such as Germany, in early 2004. In January 2008, Up! had sold 5.5 million copies in the U.S. and was certified by the RIAA as 11x platinum (the organization counts double albums as two units).

In August 2005, she released the single "Shoes" from the Desperate Housewives soundtrack.

2006 onwards

At the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas on May 16, 2007, Twain said she was currently writing songs for a new album, and was doing a "lot of soul searching" and "indulging in the writing."

Twain joined Canadian singer Anne Murray on the song "You Needed Me" on Murray's album released November 13, 2007 in Canada, and on January 15, 2008 in the U.S. On November 12, 2008 Twain made her first television appearance since her split from ex-husband Robert "Mutt" Lange, where she appeared as a surprise presenter at the 42nd CMA Awards.

In early January 2009, Internet forums were reporting that Twain was planning to make an announcement regarding her new album on January 26, 2009 but on the 22nd a spokesperson from Mercury Nashville told Country Weekly that no new album would be coming "anytime soon".

In June 2009, Twain released a letter to her fans explaining the delays in the release of her next album. In August 2009, at a conference in Timmins, Ontario, a spokesman for Twain's label said a new record from the singer is still "nowhere in sight". On August 17, 2009, EW announced that Twain would be a guest judge on American Idol in Chicago, for the show's August 30 and 31 episodes. On January 1, 2010, Shania carried the Olympic Torch through her hometown as part of the 2010 Winter Olympics torch relay.

Why Not? with Shania Twain; new music

In April 2010, Twain announced plans for her own TV show, entitled Why Not? With Shania Twain. The show is scheduled to debut on May 8, 2011 on . Twain returned to American Idol as a guest mentor for a week where the top 6 contestants showcased her songs. After the conclusion of the ninth season Shania was very close to becoming a judge but ultimately it was Jennifer Lopez who got the job.

More recently, in September 2010, it was confirmed that Twain was to release her first biography, From This Moment On, on May 3, 2011, and the cover work for the book was released on March 2, 2011.

On March 27, 2011, Shania was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Following her appearance, Shania revealed that she is writing music and that new music will be heard soon.

In May 2011, Twain confirmed in an interview with Perez Hilton that she will release her first new single in six years, "Today (Is Your Day)", after the finale of Why Not? with Shania Twain. Twain previewed the song in the first episode of the series. In the next few months, Twain plans to return to the studio to finish her fifth studio album.

Endorsements and other ventures

Twain's commercial ventures outside the music industry included a series of cosmetic ads in 1999 based on "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" for Revlon. She also starred in ads for Candie's shoes and Gitano jeans, who also sponsored her 1998-1999 Come On Over Tour.

In January 2005, Twain joined Scentstories by Febreze to create a limited edition scent disc with the proceeds going to America's Second Harvest.

Late in 2005, Twain partnered COTY to produce her namesake fragrance "Shania" by Stetson. A second fragrance was released in September 2007, called "Shania Starlight".

Personal life

Twain married music producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange on December 28, 1993, and they have a son, Eja D'Angelo (pronounced "Asia") who was born on August 12, 2001. On May 15, 2008, a spokesperson for Mercury Nashville announced that Twain and Lange were separating after Lange had an affair with Twain's best friend, Marie-Anne Thiebaud. Their divorce was finalized on June 9, 2010. On December 20, 2010, Twain's manager confirmed that Twain was engaged to Swiss business executive Frederic Thiebaud, the ex-husband of Marie-Anne Thiebaud. They married on January 1, 2011 in Rincón, Puerto Rico.

Twain practices Sant Mat, which calls for daily meditation and vegetarianism.

Awards and honours

In addition to her various awards for her singles and albums, Twain has received a number of personal honours:

She was named the 1999 Entertainer of the Year by both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association; Twain was the first non-US citizen to win the CMA award.

Twain was ranked #7 in Country Music Television's 40 Greatest Women of Country Music in 2002. In 2003, Twain was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. The city of Timmins (located in Ontario, Canada) renamed a street for her, gave her the key to the city, and built the Shania Twain Centre in her honour. On November 18, 2005, Twain was invested as an Officer in the Order of Canada. Twain was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at the 2011 Juno Awards, airing March 27, 2011.

Discography

;Albums

1993: Shania Twain

1995: The Woman in Me

1997: Come On Over

2002: Up!

;Compilations

2001: The Complete Limelight Sessions

2004: Greatest Hits

See also

Music of Canada

List of best-selling music artists

References

Further reading

External links

Shania Twain official website

Category:1965 births Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Living people Category:Canadian contraltos Category:Canadian country singer-songwriters Category:Canadian country singers Category:Canadian expatriates in New Zealand Category:Canadian expatriates in Switzerland Category:Canadian female singers Category:Canadian pop singers Category:Canadian vegetarians Category:Canadian people of English descent Category:Canadian people of First Nations descent Category:Canadian people of Irish descent Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Juno Award winners Category:Mercury Records artists Category:Musicians from Ontario Category:Officers of the Order of Canada Category:People from Timmins Category:People from Windsor, Ontario Category:World Music Awards winners

Maria Gowen (or Gowan) Brooks (1794–1845) was an American poet.

Biography

She was born Abigail Gowen in Medford, Massachusetts. Her father was a man of literary tastes, and she was exposed to a lot of poetry at home; by age nine, she had memorized a large quantity of prose. Unfortunately, when Abigail was 13, her father died, bankrupt. She immediately came under the care of a Boston merchant named John Brooks. He was a man more than thirty years older than she was, to whom she had already been betrothed. She finished her education and married him. For a while she and John lived prosperously, but "financial reverses" eventually reduced them to living in comparative poverty. Abigail began to write poetry as consolation. Around this time, she changed her name to "Maria Abigail", which would eventually become, simply, "Maria". Also around this time, at age nineteen, she had written her first epic poem. It is described as a "metrical romance", which she never published.

In 1820, Maria Abigail Brooks published a collection of her poetry, Judith, Esther, and other Poems, under the pseudonym "A Lover of Fine Arts". In 1823, Mr. Brooks died, and Maria went to live with her brother on his coffee plantation in Manzanas, Cuba. He died soon after her arrival, which left her with a "settled income". During this time, she began to write the poem she would become most famous for: Zophiël, or the Bride of Seven, based on the story of Sara in the Book of Tobit.

In 1824, Maria made a sojourn to Canada, where she engaged herself to a Canadian soldier she had met in New England (prior to John Brooks’ death). However, they became estranged, "through a series of misunderstandings", and Ms. Brooks subsequently attempted suicide, twice. Upon returning to the United States, in 1825, she published the first canto of Zophiël in Boston. In 1826, Ms. Brooks began a correspondence with the English Poet Laureate, Robert Southey, who praised her work heartily and gave her the pseudonym "Maria Del Occidente" (Maria of the West). He regarded her as "the most impassioned and imaginative of all poetesses", but time has not sustained this verdict. She also caught the attention of Edgar Allan Poe. He, too, praised her work, and often mentioned her favorably in his literary reviews. Maria finished Zophiël in 1829, but did not publish it immediately. First, she took her son, Horace, to Hanover, New Hampshire, to try to enroll him at West Point. She was unsuccessful. However, in the same year she visited Paris, and there met the Marquis de Lafayette, a man renowned for his heroic services in the American Revolutionary War. He was easily able to secure a position at West Point for Ms. Brooks’s son, who went on to be modestly successful there.

In 1831, she went to England and spent a few weeks at Robert Southey’s home. There, he oversaw the publishing of Zophiël in London. She then returned to the United States and lived in New England for approximately twelve years, during which time nothing notable occurred. In 1843 she serially published a "prose account of her unhappy love affair", called Idomen; or, the Vale of Yumuri, in a Boston newspaper. In December of the same year, she returned to her Cuban estate and published another poem, Ode to the Departed.

She died in 1845, at age 51, of tropical fever. She had been working on a romance at the time, Beatriz, Beloved of Columbus, which was never published.

References

Further reading

J. D. Grove, ‘Legacy Profile: Maria Gowen Brooks (c.1795-1845)’, Legacy, 12 (1995): 38-46

Dennis Low, The Literary Protégées of the Lake Poets (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006)

Ruth Shepard Graniss, An American Friend of Robert Southey (New York: [privately published], 1913).

External links

"Book of Tobit"

From Lewisandclarkwhatelsehappened.com

Category:1794 births Category:1845 deaths Category:American poets

Name	Kenny Rogers
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Kenneth Donald Rogers
Born	August 21, 1938
Origin	Houston, Texas, United States
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, harmonica| Genre = Country, country pop, rock (with The First Edition)
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, actor, record producer
Years active	1958–present
Label	Cue Records, Carlton Records, Mercury Records, United Artists Records, RCA Records, Reprise Records, Giant Records, Atlantic Records, Curb Records, Dreamcatcher, Capitol Nashville, WEA
Associated acts	The New Christy Minstrels, The First Edition, Glen Campbell, Dolly Parton, Dottie West, Juice Newton, Sheena Easton, Kim Carnes
Url	www.kennyrogers.com
Spouse	Janice Gordon (1958-1960)Jean Rogers (1960-1963)Margo Anderson (1964-1976)Marianne Gordon (1977-1993)Wanda Miller (1997-present)

Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers He was voted the "Favorite Singer of All-Time" in a 1986 joint poll by readers of both USA Today and People. He has received hundreds of awards for both his music and charity work. These include AMAs, Grammys, ACMs and CMAs, as well as a lifetime achievement award for a career spanning six decades in 2003.

Later success includes the 2006 album release, Water & Bridges, an across the board hit, that peaked at #5 in the Billboard Country Albums sales charts, also charting high in the Billboard 200. The first single from the album, "I Can't Unlove You," was also a chart hit. Remaining a popular entertainer around the world, the following year he completed a tour of the United Kingdom and the Ireland telling BBC Radio 2 DJ Steve Wright, his favorite hit was "The Gambler". He has also acted in a variety of movies and television shows, most notably the title roles in Kenny Rogers as The Gambler and the MacShayne series as well as his appearance on the Muppet Show. Rogers currently resides in Nicholson, Georgia.

Personal life

Rogers was born "Kenneth Ray Rogers" in Houston, Texas in 1938, the fourth of seven children born to Lucille (née Hester), a nurse, and Edward Floyd Rogers, a carpenter. Rogers graduated from Jefferson Davis High School in Houston. According to the Texas birth records, his given middle name is Ray and he is sometimes credited in his film roles as "Kenneth Ray Rogers".

He has been married five times. His fourth wife was actress Marianne Gordon Rogers. His current wife is the former Wanda Miller. He has a daughter and four sons.

As of 2005, Rogers had become an avid Atlanta Thrashers fan, and can often be seen at Philips Arena taking in a game.

Career

Early career

His career began in the mid-1950s, when he recorded with a doo-wop group called The Scholars who had some success with a single called "Poor Little Doggie". Rogers was not the lead singer of the group and after two more singles they disbanded when their leader went solo.

Now on his own, Kenneth Rogers (as he was billed then) followed the break up with his own single, a minor solo hit called "That Crazy Feeling" (1958). After sales slowed down, Rogers joined a jazz group called The Bobby Doyle Trio, who got a lot of work in clubs thanks to a reasonable fan following and also recorded for Columbia Records. The group disbanded in 1965, and a 1966 jazzy rock single Rogers recorded for Mercury Records, called "Here's That Rainy Day" failed. Rogers also worked as a producer, writer and session musician for other performers; including country artists Mickey Gilley and Eddy Arnold. In 1966 he joined The New Christy Minstrels as a singer and double bass player.

Feeling that the Minstrels were not offering the success they wanted, Rogers and fellow members Mike Settle, Terry Williams and Thelma Camacho left the group. They formed The First Edition in 1967 (later renamed "Kenny Rogers and The First Edition"). They chalked up a string of hits on both the pop and country charts, including "Something's Burning", "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town", "Reuben James" and "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)". In his First Edition days, Rogers had something of a hippie image, with long brown hair, an earring, and pink sunglasses. Known affectionately in retrospect as "Hippie Kenny", Rogers had a much smoother vocal style than in his later career.

When the group split in 1976, Rogers launched his solo career. Rogers soon developed a more middle of the road sound, with a somewhat rough but tuneful voiced style that sold to both pop and country audiences; to date, he has charted more than 60 top 40 hit singles (including upwards of 25 #1's) and 50 of his albums have charted. His music has also been featured in top selling movie soundtracks, such as Convoy, Urban Cowboy and The Big Lebowski.

Solo career

After leaving The First Edition in 1976, after almost a decade with the group, Rogers signed a solo deal with United Artists. Although producer Larry Butler had no doubts about Rogers's talent, he was advised by several colleagues not to sign Rogers, who some saw as a has-been. Nevertheless, Butler and Rogers began a partnership that would last four years.

Rogers first outing for his new label was Love Lifted Me. The album charted and two singles "Love Lifted Me" and "While the Feeling's Good" were minor hits. The song "Runaway Girl" was featured in the motion picture Trackdown. Later in 1976, Rogers issued his second album, the self-titled Kenny Rogers, whose first single "Laura (What's He Got That I Ain't Got)", was another solo hit.

However, the single "Lucille" (1977) was a major hit, reaching number one on the pop charts in 12 countries, selling over five million copies, and firmly establishing Rogers's post-First Edition career. On the strength of "Lucille", the album Kenny Rogers reached #1 in the Billboard Country Album Chart. More success was to follow, including the multi-million selling album The Gambler and another international Number 1 single, "Coward of the County", taken from the equally successful album, Kenny. In 1980, the Rogers/Butler partnership came to an end, though they would occasionally reunite: in 1987 on the album I Prefer the Moonlight and again in 1993 on the album If Only My Heart Had a Voice.

In the late 1970s, Rogers teamed up with close friend and country singer Dottie West for a series of albums and duets. Together the duo had three hit albums, selling out stadiums and arenas while on tour. Their hits together "Every Time Two Fools Collide", "Anyone Who Isn't Me Tonight" and "What Are We Doin' in Love" became Country standards. Of West, Rogers stated in a 1995 TNN interview "She, more than anybody else I ever worked with, sang with such emotion that you actually believed what she sang." Rogers was with West when she died after sustaining injuries in a 1991 car accident. In 1995 he starred opposite Michele Lee in the CBS biopic .

In 1980, his duet with Kim Carnes "Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer" became a major hit. Later in 1980 came his partnership with Lionel Richie who wrote and produced Rogers's #1 hit "Lady". Richie went on to write and produce Rogers's 1981 album Share Your Love, a chart topper and commercial favorite featuring hits such as "I Don't Need You" (Pop #3), "Through the Years" (Pop #13), and "Share Your Love with Me" (Pop #14). In 1982, Rogers released the album Love Will Turn You Around. The title track reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the country and AC charts. Shortly after he started working with producer David Foster in 1983 recording the smash Bob Seger cover "We've Got Tonight", a duet with Sheena Easton.

He went on to work with the Bee Gees to record and produce his 1983 hit album Eyes That See in the Dark, featuring the title track and yet another #1 hit "Islands in the Stream", a duet with Dolly Parton. The Gibbs originally wrote the song for Marvin Gaye in an R&B; style, only later to change it for the Kenny Rogers album. The partnership with Bee Gees only lasted one album, which was not a surprise considering that Rogers's original intentions were to work with Barry Gibb in only one song but Barry insisted on them doing the entire album.

"Islands in the Stream", Rogers' duet with Dolly Parton, was the first single to be released from Eyes That See in the Dark in the United States, and it quickly went to #1 in the Billboard Hot 100 (it would prove to be the last country single to reach #1 on that chart until "Amazed" by Lonestar did so in 2000), as well as topping Billboard's country and adult contemporary singles charts; it was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipping two million copies in the US. Rogers would reunite with Parton in 1984 for a holiday album and TV special, Once Upon a Christmas, as well as a 1985 duet "Real Love", which also topped the U.S. country singles chart.

Despite the "Islands in the Stream"s success, however, RCA insisted on releasing Eyes' title track as the first UK single, and the song stalled at a disappointing #61 there, although it did stay in the top 100 for several weeks (when it was eventually released in the US, it was more successful, charting high on the Adult Contemporary chart and making the country top 30). "Islands in the Stream" was issued as a followup single in Britain and sold well, making #7. The album itself reached #1 on the country charts on both sides of the Atlantic and enjoyed multi-million sales. "Buried Treasure," "This Woman" and "Evening Star"/"Midsummer Nights" were also all successful singles from the album.

Shortly after came the album What About Me?, a hit whose title track, a trio performance with James Ingram and Kim Carnes, was nominated for a Grammy award; the single "Crazy" (not to be confused with the Willie Nelson-penned Patsy Cline hit) topped the country charts. David Foster was to work again with Rogers in his 1985 album The Heart of the Matter, although this time Foster was playing backing music rather than producing, a role given to George Martin. This album was another success, going to #1, with the title track making to the top ten category in the singles charts.

The next few years saw Rogers scoring several top country hits on a regular basis, including "Twenty Years Ago," "Morning Desire," "Tomb of the Unknown Love," among others. On 28 January 1985 Rogers was one of the 45 artists who recorded the worldwide charity song "We Are the World" to support hunger victims in Africa. The following year he played at Giants Stadium.

On January 1987, Rogers co-hosted the American Music Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. By 1988 to 1990, Rogers had In the 1990s Rogers continued to chart with singles such as "Crazy In Love", "If You Want To Find Love" and "The Greatest". From 1991 to 1994, Rogers hosted The Real West on A&E;, and on The History Channel since 1995 (Reruns only on The History Channel.). He also visited Miller's during this time period. From 1992 to 1995 Rogers co-owned and headlined Branson, Missouri’s 4,000 seat Grand Palace Theatre. In 1994, Rogers released his "dream" album titled Timepiece on Atlantic Records. It consisted of 30's and 40's jazz standards; it was the type of music he performed in his early days with The Bobby Doyle Three in Houston. In 1996 he released an album Vote For Love where the public requested their favorite love songs and Rogers performed the songs (several of his own hits were in there). The album was the first for the TV shopping channel QVC's record label, onQ Music. The album, sold exclusively by QVC, was a huge success and was later issued in stores under a variety of different titles. It reached #1 in the UK country charts under the title Love Songs (a title also used for various compilations) and also crossed over into the mainstream charts.

In 1999 Rogers scored with the single "The Greatest", a song about life from a child's point of view (looked at through a baseball game). The song reached the top 40 of Billboard's Country singles chart and was a Country Music Television Number One video. It was on Rogers's album She Rides Wild Horses the following year (itself a top 10 success). In 1999, Rogers also produced a song, "We've Got It All", specifically for the series finale of the ABC show Home Improvement. Not on any album, the recording sells for a high sum at auction.

Beyond the 1990s

In the 21st century, Rogers was back at #1 for the first time in more than a decade with the 2000 single "Buy Me a Rose", making him, at 61, the oldest artist in the history of country music to reach the chart summit. In doing so, he broke a 26-year-old record held by Hank Snow (who, in April 1974, was 59 years and 11 months old when he scored with "Hello Love"). Rogers held the record until 2003, when then 70-year-old Willie Nelson became the oldest artist to have a No. 1 on the country charts with his duet with Toby Keith, "Beer for My Horses."

Rogers also released the critically acclaimed album Back to the Well.

Although Rogers did not record new albums for a couple of years, he continued to have success in many countries with more greatest hits packages. In 2004 42 Ultimate Hits, which was the first hits collection to span his days with the First Edition to the present, reached Number 6 on the American country charts and went gold. It also featured two new songs, "My World Is Over" with Whitney Duncan and "We Are the Same". "My World Is Over" was released as a single and was a minor hit. In 2005 The Very Best of Kenny Rogers, a double album, sold well in Europe. It was the first new solo Kenny Rogers hits album to reach the United Kingdom for over a decade, despite many compilations there that were not true hits packages.

Rogers also signed with Capitol Records and had more success with the TV advertised release 21 Number Ones in January 2006. Although this CD did contain 21 chart-toppers as the title claims (recorded between 1976 and the present day), this was not a complete collection of Rogers's #1 singles, omitting such singles as "Crazy in Love" and "What About Me?"

Much of his success was during the period from 1976 to 1983, when he was signed to United Artists and later Liberty. It is very rare for an artist of Rogers's age to be signed to a major label. Capitol followed 21 Number Ones with Rogers's new studio album, Water And Bridges, in March 2006 on the Capitol Nashville Records label. The first single from the album was "I Can't Unlove You" which peaked at #17 on the country charts, after spending over 6 months on the hit list, more than 50 years after he formed his first group and 38 years after his first major hit as leader of The First Edition; the song remains in recurrent airplay on some radio stations today. "I Can't Unlove You" was followed up with the second single from the album, "The Last Ten Years (Superman)", in September 2006. The third single, "Calling Me," which features Don Henley, became popular in early 2007, and was nominated for a Grammy Award at the 2007 Grammy Awards. Also in 2007, the 1977 "Kenny Rogers" album was re-issued as a double play CD, also featuring the 1979 "Kenny" album and this once again put Rogers's name into the sales charts worldwide. The following year, another compilation album ("A Love Song Collection") also charted. He currently lives in Atlanta.

In 2003, Rogers made a guest appearance in two episodes of Reno 911! as himself.

To date Rogers has recorded 65 albums and sold over 190 million records .

On August 26, 2008, Rogers released "50 Years" exclusively at Cracker Barrel stores. The album includes some of Rogers's greatest hits, plus 3 new songs. The release is designed to celebrate Rogers's 50th year in the music business. However, it should be noted Rogers has been in the music business for more than 50 years including his releases with The Scholars, who recorded for a local label in Houston. 1958 was the year he signed his first recording deal with a major label.

In 2007 the England national rugby union team team adopted Rogers song "The Gambler" as their unofficial 2007 Rugby World Cup anthem, after hearing prop Matt Stevens playing it in the team hotel. Before the Semi-final against France and the Final against South Africa, Rogers sent video messages of support to the team in light of them choosing his song. He also offered to come to England and party with the team if they won the World cup.

In 2008 Rogers toured with his very popular Christmas Show. However, he decided to split the show up, making the first half his "best of" and the second half consisted of his Christmas songs. One such show was at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT.

In 2009 he toured the UK, playing in Cardiff CIA (March 27)Birmingham NIA (28)Manchester MEN (29)Newcastle Arena (30)Plymouth Pavilions (April 1)Nottingham Concert Hall (2)London Hammersmith Apollo (3)Bournemouth BIC (4)with support band - Savannah Jack.

In 2009, Kenny embarked on his 50th Anniversary Tour. The tour went around the United States, Britain and Ireland. It will continue into 2010.

On April 10, 2010, a TV special was taped, Kenny Rogers: The First 50 Years. Dolly Parton and Lionel Richie are among those set to perform with Kenny during a show celebrating his contribution to country, blues and pop music, It took place at the MGM Grand in Foxwoods, CT. This special is set debut on March 8, 2011 on Great American Country.

Cracker Barrel is also set to release Kenny's new album, and first Gospel album on their exclusive music label on March 7, 2011. The new album is called For the Love of God.

He also appeared as guest on Wyclef Jean's Two sides II every book album on the song "Kenny Rogers - Pharoahe Monch Dub Plate"

Outside music

Rogers also had success as an actor. His 1982 movie Six Pack, in which he played a race-car driver, took more than $20 million at the US box office, while made-for-TV movies such as The Gambler, Christmas in America, and Coward of the County (based on hit songs of his) topped ratings lists.

As an entrepreneur, he collaborated with former Kentucky Fried Chicken CEO John Y. Brown, Jr. in 1991 to start up the restaurant chain Kenny Rogers Roasters. The chicken and ribs chain, which is similar to Boston Market, was famously featured in an episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld called "The Chicken Roaster". On the November 27, 1997, broadcast of Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Rogers could not pick his chicken out in a taste test, claiming he preferred "greasy burgers."

Rogers and his restaurant were subjects of comedy from MADtv, especially the impersonation done by Will Sasso; the sketch of the faux-Rogers hosting Jackass became popular on the Internet. Sasso had him making noises such as "Ding Ding Ding Di da Ding Ding Ding" and getting sloppily drunk.

Rogers appeared in a 2004 episode of Reno 911 as himself being subjected to incompetent security provided by starstruck sheriff's deputies to comical effect. In this episode, Deputy Garcia, who is obsessed with Rogers, reveals that he thinks that Rogers should focus all of his effort on acting, and "give that singing thing a rest for a while," because Garcia believes that Rogers could win an Oscar. In order to "protect" Rogers the deputies take down all of the posters announcing his appearance in Reno, when he finds out he angrily berates the deputies and leaves. He is then promptly shot and wounded by an obsessed fan played by Patton Oswalt, though he is only superficially wounded, and asks for "mall security".

Rogers is also the inspiration behind the pop culture website menwholooklikekennyrogers.com . The site features close to a thousand photos of men who look like the real Rogers, as well as tips on how to look like Rogers, places to spot Rogers look-alikes, and even a Kenny of the Month and sells t-shirts and buttons.

Discography

Awards/Honors

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |- ! Year ! Award ! Category |- | 2010 | American Eagle Award | American Eagle Award |- | 2009 | ACM Honors | Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award (w/ Jerry Reed, Randy Travis, Hank Williams Jr.) |- | 2007 | ASCAP Golden Note Award | ASCAP Golden Note Award |- | 2007 | CMT Music Awards | Album of the Year - Water & Bridges |- | 2005 | CMT Music Awards | Favorite All Time Country Duet - "Islands In the Stream" (w/ Dolly Parton) |- | 2004 | CMT's 100 Greatest Cheating Songs | "Ruby Don't Take Your Love to Town"- #6 |- | 2003 | International Entertainment Buyers Association | Lifetime Achievement Award |- | 2003 | CMT's 100 Greatest Country Songs | "The Gambler" - #26 |- | 2002 | CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music | Ranking - #19 |- | 2000 | TNN Music Awards | Career Achievement Award |- | 1999 | BBC's Greatest Country Singer | Ranking - #2 |- | 1988 | Grammy Awards | Best Duo Country Vocal Performance - "Make No Mistake She's Mine" (w/ Ronnie Milsap) |- | 1986 | USA Today | Favorite Singer of All Time |- | 1985 | American Music Awards | Favorite Country Album - Eyes That See In the Dark |- | 1985 | American Music Awards | Favorite Male Country Artist |- | 1983 | Academy of Country Music Awards | Single of the Year - "Islands In the Stream" (w/ Dolly Parton) |- | 1983 | Academy of Country Music Awards | Top Vocal Duet - (w/ Dolly Parton) |- | 1983 | American Music Awards | Favorite Pop/Rock Country Artist |- | 1983 | American Music Awards | Favorite Country Single - "Love Will Turn You Around" |- | 1983 | ASAP Awards | Favorite Single - "Islands In the Stream" (w/ Dolly Parton) |- | 1982 | American Music Awards | Favorite Country Album - Greatest Hits |- | 1981 | American Music Awards | Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist |- | 1981 | American Music Awards | Favorite Country Album - The Gambler |- | 1981 | American Music Awards | Favorite Country Single - "Coward of the County" |- | 1980 | American Music Awards | Favorite Male Country Artist |- | 1980 | American Music Awards | Favorite Country Album - The Gambler |- | 1980 | Music City News Country | Single of the Year |- | 1979 | American Music Awards | Favorite Male Country Artist |- | 1979 | American Music Awards | Favorite Country Album - 10 Years of Gold |- | 1979 | Country Music Association Awards | Male Vocalist of the Year |- | 1979 | Country Music Association Awards | Vocal Duo of the Year - (w/ Dottie West) |- | 1979 | Country Music Association Awards | Album of the Year - The Gambler |- | 1979 | Music City News Country | Male Artist of the Year |- | 1979 | Music City News Country | Single of the Year - "The Gambler" |- | 1979 | Grammy Awards | Best Male Country Vocal Performance - "The Gambler" |- | 1978 | American Music Awards | Favorite Single - "Lucille" |- | 1978 | Country Music Association Awards | Vocal Duo of the Year - (w/ Dottie West) |- | 1978 | Academy of Country Music Awards | Entertainer of the Year |- | 1978 | Academy of Country Music Awards | Top Male Vocalist |- | 1977 | Country Music Association Awards | Single of the Year - "Lucille" |- | 1977 | Academy of Country Music Awards | Top Male Vocalist |- | 1977 | Academy of Country Music Awards | Single of the Year - "Lucille" |- | 1977 | Academy of Country Music Awards | Song of the Year - "Lucille" |- | 1977 | Grammy Awards | Best Male Country Vocal Performance - "Lucille" |}

Record labels

The following is a list of record labels to which Rogers signed:

Cue (1957, with the band The Scholars and also as a solo singer)

Carlton (1958, solo deal)

KenLee (one single, label owned by Rogers and his brother Lelan)

Columbia (1960s, with jazz combo, The Bobby Doyle Three)

Reprise (1967, with The First Edition, all material recorded during this time has since been acquired by Universal Music)

Jolly Rogers (1973, with The First Edition, label was owned by Rogers)

United Artists (1975, solo deal)

Liberty (1980, United Artists merged into EMI/Capitol in 1980; some pressings of albums were issued on Capitol's imprint labels, EMI, EMI America, and EMI Manhattan.)

RCA (1983, solo deal)

Reprise (1989, solo deal)

Giant (1993, one solo album)

Atlantic (1994, one solo album)

onQ Music (1996, one solo album; onQ Music was created by the QVC Network to release exclusive albums for sale only on QVC. The first onQ release was Rogers's Vote for Love, a two-disc set that would later become available in standard retail stores.)

Magnatone (1996, solo deal)

Dreamcatcher (1998, solo deal; Dreamcatcher was owned and run by Rogers and Jim Mazza for the purpose of releasing Rogers albums and certain reissues of Rogers's catalog. Other artists such as Marshall Dyllon and Randy Dorman were released on Dreamcatcher Records, also. The label closed in 2004)

Capitol Nashville (2004, solo deal)

See also

Brady Hawkes

References

External links

Official website

delafont.com profile

[ Allmusic.com profile]

CMT.com profile

Kenny Rogers's Classic Weekend 1988

Goldsmith, Thomas. (1998). "Kenny Rogers". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 455–6.

Category:1938 births Category:American country singers Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American male singers Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:Capitol Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Houston, Texas Category:University of Houston alumni Category:The First Edition members Category:United Artists Records artists

Caption	Roberts in 1975.
Name	Kenny Roberts
Nationality	US
Years	1974, 1978 - 1983
Teams	Yamaha
Races	60
Championships	500 cc - 1978, 1979, 1980
Wins	24
Podiums	44
Poles	22
Fastest laps	27
First race	1974 250 cc Dutch TT
First win	1978 250 cc Venezuelan Grand Prix
Last win	1983 500 cc San Marino Grand Prix
Last race	1983 500 cc San Marino Grand Prix

Kenneth Leroy Roberts (born December 31, 1951 in Modesto, California) is a former motorcycle racer and racing team owner. In 1978, he became the first American to win a Grand Prix motorcycle racing Championship. He was also a two-time winner of the A.M.A. Grand National Championship. Roberts is one of only four riders in American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) racing history to win the AMA Grand Slam, representing Grand National wins at a mile, half-mile, short-track, TT Steeplechase and road race events.

Roberts left his mark on Grand Prix motorcycle racing as a world championship winning rider, an advocate for increased safety standards in racing, and as a racing team owner and constructor. His dirt track-based riding style changed the way Grand Prix motorcycles were ridden. In 2000, Roberts was named a Grand Prix Legend by the FIM

Early life

As a child growing up in Modesto, Roberts was originally interested in horseback riding. He rode his first motorcycle at the age of 12 when a friend dared him to ride a mini bike. Roberts accepted the challenge and the experience thrilled him. He built his own motorcycle by attaching his father's lawn mower engine to a bicycle frame. Roberts began his career in dirt track racing after attending a local race in Modesto and deciding that he wanted to compete himself. His father purchased a Tohatsu bike for him, but once it proved itself uncompetitive as a race bike, he moved up to a more powerful Hodaka motorcycle. Roberts was allowed to compete professionally when he turned 18, and on the day after his eighteenth birthday, he entered his first professional race at San Francisco's Cow Palace, finishing in fourth place.

Racing history

A.M.A. Grand National Championship

Realizing that Roberts would need more help if his racing career was going to progress, Askland introduced Roberts to airline pilot and amateur motorcycle racer Jim Doyle, who would become Roberts' personal manager. In 1971, Doyle and Roberts approached Triumph's American distributor to ask about the possibility of a sponsored ride, but were told that Roberts was too small for one of their bikes. Carruthers ended his riding career after the 1973 season to concentrate full time on managing Roberts' and Yamaha's efforts in the A.M.A. Grand National Championship, a series which encompassed events in four distinctive dirt track disciplines plus road racing.

In 1971, Roberts won the AMA Rookie of the Year Award. In his first professional race as an expert class rider in 1972, Roberts rode to victory at the Grand National short-track race in the Houston Astrodome. He finished the season ranked fourth in the country. In 1973, in just his second season as an expert, Roberts won the national championship, amassing a record 2,014 points in the 25-race series.

In the 1974 Daytona 200, after early leader Gary Nixon retired, Roberts battled for the lead with former 500 cc world champion, Giacomo Agostini before an overheated engine forced him to settle for second place. In April 1974, Roberts ventured to Europe for the first time to compete in the prestigious Imola 200 road race for 750 cc motorcycles. He made a positive impression against the best road racers in the world, once again finishing second to Agostini. He then travelled to England with a team of American riders to compete against a team of British riders in the 1974 Transatlantic Match races. The conventional wisdom at the time was that American riders, who competed mostly in dirt track races, could not race on asphalt at the same level as the British riders, who specialized in road racing events. Roberts dispelled any such notions by winning three of the six races and finishing second in the remaining three races. Roberts was the top individual points scorer in the event with 93 points, five more than Barry Sheene, the top British rider.

Roberts returned to compete in the 1974 Grand National championship and would win his first national road race at Road Atlanta on June 2, 1974. On August 18, Roberts won the Peoria TT race to complete a Grand Slam of the five different events on the Grand National calendar. After having won the national championship in 1974, Roberts faced an increasingly difficult battle in dirt track races as, Harley-Davidson continued to improve their XR750 dirt tracker while Yamaha struggled to maintain the pace. He would battle Harley-Davidson factory rider Gary Scott throughout the 1975 season but mechanical breakdowns hampered his title defense. He had been leading the Daytona 200 when mechanical problems yielded the victory to his Yamaha teammate Gene Romero. Despite accomplishing another Grand Slam, this time in only one season, Roberts would lose his crown, finishing second to Gary Scott in the 1975 national championship. He dropped to third in the national championship as Jay Springsteen claimed the title for the Harley-Davidson team. He returned to England in April 1977, winning four out of six races at the 1977 Transatlantic Match races. Roberts then travelled to Italy where he raced in the Imola 200, leaving no doubt he was capable of competing at the international level by winning both legs and setting a new track record. He returned to the United States to compete in the Grand National championship where he won five of the six road races that made up the pavement portion of the series. In the road race event at Sears Point, Roberts started the race at the back of the pack and passed the entire field within four laps to win the race. Despite being in contention for much of the season, Roberts was unable to win any of the dirt track events and eventually finished the year in fourth place.

First American world champion

When it became apparent that Yamaha could not develop a dirt track motorcycle capable of competing with the dominant Harley-Davidson dirt track team, the American Yamaha importer, Yamaha USA, offered to send Roberts to Europe in 1978 to compete in the World Championship Grand Prix road racing series, along with Kel Carruthers to act as his mentor and crew chief. Roberts also secured the financial backing of the Goodyear tire company. He then won a rain-shortened Imola 200 race and was the second highest individual scorer behind Pat Hennen at the 1978 Transatlantic Match races. The 1978 world championship chase did not start well for Roberts at the season-opening round in Venezuela. Although Roberts won the 250 cc Grand Prix, Sheene claimed the victory in the 500 cc Venezuelan Grand Prix while Roberts' Yamaha suffered a mechanical failure. In the second round at the Spanish Grand Prix, Roberts improved with a second place behind fellow American Pat Hennen. Roberts then won his first-ever 500 cc Grand Prix with a win in Austria, quickly followed by two more victories in France and Italy, along with two second place finishes in Holland and Belgium. Shaken up by the accident, he could do no better than a seventh place in the 500 cc race.

The two championship contenders arrived in England for the British Grand Prix with only three points separating them. Eventually Roberts was declared the winner with Sheene being awarded third place behind privateer Steve Manship who did not stop for a tire change. In the final race of the season at the daunting Nürburgring racetrack in Germany, Roberts finished in third place, ahead of Sheene in fourth place to claim the first world championship for an American rider in Grand Prix road racing history.

The rebel leader

The 1979 season began disastrously for Roberts when he suffered career-threatening back injuries and a ruptured spleen in a pre-season crash while testing a motorcycle in Japan. His injuries caused him to miss the season opening Grand Prix in Venezuela, but he completed an impressive recovery by winning the second round in Austria, followed by a second place in Germany, and another victory in Italy. An angered Roberts proceeded to win the race, and then refused to accept the winner's trophy.

Further controversy ensued at the Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa circuit. The circuit had been paved just days before the race, creating a track that many of the racers felt was unsafe due to diesel fuel seeping to the surface. The FIM later reduced this to another probation. Roberts' battle with Sheene at the 1979 British Grand Prix at Silverstone has been cited as one of the greatest races of the 1970s. Minutes before the start of the race, Roberts' Yamaha blew a seal and sprayed the bike with oil.

In December 1979, Roberts made good on his threats when he, along with the other top world championship riders, released a letter to the press announcing their intention to break away from the FIM and create a rival race series called the World Series. When Roberts first arrived on the Grand Prix scene, motorcycle racers were competing for as little prize money as $200, at venues such as Imatra in Finland that featured railroad crossings and hay bales wrapped around telephone poles. Roberts adopted a confrontational, sometimes belligerent stance with race promoters, challenging the previously accepted poor treatment that motorcycle racers of the day were accustomed to receiving. He followed that the next evening with a third place in the Houston short-track national.

For the 1980 Grand Prix season, the Yamaha factory made the Yamaha USA team of Roberts and Carruthers the de facto factory racing team. Roberts' bike had a suspension failure in the Grand Prix season opener at Austria, but he rebounded to win the next two races in Germany and Italy. He came back to score a second place behind Lucchinelli in Belgium, but was once again struck by misfortune when a bad case of food poisoning forced him to miss the San Marino Grand Prix. Roberts then injured his knee and finger at the British Grand Prix and had to miss the Swedish round, but by then the world championship had been claimed by Uncini with a total of five victories while Roberts fell to fourth place. By the end of the 1982 season, Roberts had won 16 500 cc Grand Prix races, more than double that of any of his contemporaries. Roberts began the season with his YZR500 having problems with overheating and rear suspension, while Spencer started strongly, winning the first three races and five out of the first seven. In Round 3 at Monza, Roberts crashed while leading Spencer three laps from the finish. Spencer was able to get back on the track and back on the power first, crossing the finish line just ahead of Roberts for a crucial victory. Roberts considered Spencer's pass to be foolish and dangerous, and exchanged angry words with him on the podium. In July, Roberts won the first leg of the Laguna Seca 200, then finished second to Randy Mamola in the second leg, as Mamola was declared the winner based on aggregate times. In September, he appeared at the Springfield Mile Grand National dirt track race riding a Mert Lawwill-prepared Harley-Davidson XR750, but failed to make the final.

In July 1985, Roberts won the pole position at the prestigious Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race, held in Japan. Teamed with Tadahiko Taira, the duo were leading the race until the final hour, when mechanical problems dropped them back to seventeenth place. Roberts returned to compete in the 1986 Suzuka 8 Hours, this time teaming up with American Mike Baldwin. He qualified second behind Wayne Gardner, but failed to finish the race.

Career statistics

In a 13 year professional racing career, Roberts won two Grand National Championships and three 500 cc world championships including 32 Grand Nationals and 24 Grand Prix road races. He was the second AMA rider after Dick Mann to accomplish the Grand Slam of winning all five events of the Grand National Championship.

Race team manager and owner

After his Grand Prix racing career ended in 1983, Roberts briefly considered an auto racing career before deciding to field a Grand Prix team. Basing his new company in England to take advantage of the Formula 1 industry, Roberts built a three cylinder, two-stroke engine with the engineering assistance of Tom Walkinshaw Racing.

With the introduction of the MotoGP class in 2002, Roberts' team developed a five cylinder bike called the KR5. The team was originally well-funded by Proton of Malaysia, but by the middle of the 2004 season, it became apparent that the Roberts team wasn't able to field an engine capable of competing with the dominant Japanese factories. Roberts turned to the KTM factory to provide engines for the 2005 season, however after ten races KTM abruptly withdrew their support on the eve of the Czech Republic Grand Prix, forcing the team to miss several races. Honda stepped in to help Roberts' team for the 2006 season by providing five-cylinder engines, as Robert's son, Kenny Roberts, Jr., rode the Team Roberts KR211V bike to a sixth place in the championship including two podium results. The 2007 season saw the introduction of a new MotoGP engine formula using 800 cc four-stroke engines. Roberts would once again secure engines from Honda for the Team Roberts KR212V race bike, but the results were not as hoped, and funding for the team faded. After the 2007 season, Roberts pulled out of MotoGP competition due to the lack of sponsorship.

Legacy

Roberts' riding style where he forced the motorcycle's rear wheel to break traction to steer around a corner, essentially riding on paved surfaces as if they were dirt tracks, changed the way Grand Prix motorcycles were ridden. In 1993, Roberts took on the role of promoter, providing financial backing for the 1993 United States Grand Prix. In the 1990s when Grand Prix racing faced diminishing numbers of competitors due to increasing costs, Roberts demanded that Yamaha provide engines to privateer teams in order to bolster the numbers of racers. Inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1992. Inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.

External links

Team Roberts official site for the MotoGP team

Kenny Roberts' Yamaha TZ750 dirt track motorcycle at the A.M.A. Motorcycle Hall of Fame

Kenny Roberts' Swan Song?, by Dave Despain, American Motorcyclist Magazine, July 1984

A Thriller At Silverstone - Sports Illustrated, August 20, 1979

1979 British Grand Prix on You Tube Part 1

1979 British Grand Prix on You Tube Part 2

1979 British Grand Prix on You Tube Part 3

1979 British Grand Prix on You Tube Part 4

Category:American motorcycle racers Category:American sportspeople of English descent Category:250cc World Championship riders Category:500cc World Championship riders Category:International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductees Category:People from Modesto, California Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:Motorcycle Hall of Fame inductees

Name	Kareem Salama
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Kareem Salama
Born	1978
Origin	Ponca City, Oklahoma, United States
Instrument	Vocals, Guitar
Genre	Country, Pop
Occupation	Singer, Songwriter, Musician
Years active	2006–present
Label	LightRain Records
Url	kareemsalama.com

Kareem Salama (in Arabic كريم سلامة), is an Egyptian American musician (born in Ponca City, Oklahoma in 1978). He is known as the first American Muslim country music singer. His music is a hybrid of country, pop and rock music. He has released 2 albums Generous Peace and This Life of Mine and a third is under preparation for release in 2011 on LightRain Records.

Career

Salama's parents immigrated to the United States in the late 1960s to attend graduate school. Kareem Salama, literally translates to Generous Peace, that he also used as title of his first album. He holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma and a graduate degree in Law from the University of Iowa.

Salama has performed in front of wide audiences as far as Rome and London. He also took part in a State Department European concert tour, performing in Paris. He has been featured in major media outlets like the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Readers' Digest, Fox News, Sky News and France 24. Salama was also invited to dinner at the White House where he met President Barack Obama who said to Salama "You can sing!". In October 2008, he also performed during the Global Peace and Unity (GPU) event.

After the success of the first two self-released albums Generous Peace and This Life of Mine, Salama is now working on his first mainstream worldwide release during 2011 through LightRain Records to which he is signed. Kareem continues to work with friend and producer Aristotle Mihalopoulos as well as producers Rich Whiting and Dan Workman (whose credits include artists such as Beyonce and Clay Walker).

"Generous Peace EP" is his debut single, with fully remastered version of the original recording from the album. The main track in English is seconded by a blingual English / Arabic rendition with additional refrain in Arabic.

Salama also embarked on a Middle East tour in summer 2010. visiting Egypt, Morocco, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain. Upon his return, he has released two music videos, the promotional "Makes Me Crazy" and the official release "Be Free Now" featuring Kelley Peters.

Influences

Salama never planned on making a music album, but in his household the rule was “if the opportunity is available and your heart inclines towards something, then don’t be afraid to give it a try.” This philosophy led Salama to begin song-writing as a way to memorize classical western poems like John Donne’s “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning”.

With his parent’s encouragement and financial assistance, both American-trained engineers, Salama began recording his first album while in law school with Greek-American producer, Aristotle Mihalopoulos. Salama says of Mihalopoulos: "Initially, Aristotle and I met for the sole purpose of making music but his friendship has become more valuable to me than any material success I may find in the music world. The bond I made with Aristotle and his family confirmed that good comes from listening to the good inspiration in my heart; even it is not the good you may have set out to reach."

Salama was born and raised in a small town at the edge of Green Country in Oklahoma. When talking about his birthplace Salama says:

Oklahoma, like me, is a place where cultures meet and dance. Oklahoma is a hybrid of Southern, Western and Native American culture and thanks to my mother’s insatiable desire to learn and experience all of it she made sure that I was immersed in all of it.

As a child, I went to Indian tribal powwows, heard country music artists at the county fair and watched my favorite cowboys at the rodeo every year. My mother would take us to nearby western Arkansas just to watch an outdoor play in an amphitheater. My parents would take us to Branson, Missouri in the summertime where we’d watch live shows, listen to bluegrass music and make wax candles like it was done in the old times. They even took us to Opryland and the famous Grand Ole Opry in Tennessee.

He has memorized classical western poetry and classical Arabic poetry. He enjoys boxing and riding horses. But perhaps most interestingly this son of Egyptian immigrants is a singer/songwriter with a country and pop flare. When asked about his interest in things that seem opposite Salama says:

In the traditional world, philosophers knew that to understand one thing you needed to understand everything; in other words things are connected. At times things only seem incompatible because our information is incomplete or our perception is flawed. For example one might think that boxing has no relation to horse back riding. But just as a horse’s power must be tamed a fighter must learn to tame his ego and his anger.

While in school, Salama made time to work on his music with a friend and producer Aristotle Mihalopoulos. Salama says that his music is inspired by a variety of things including his own experiences, experiences of friends and family, and things that he reads. As a result of growing in Oklahoma Salama was around country music from the time he was very young and is attracted to the stories and the reverent nature of country music.

Salama highlights universal themes about love, home and family values. His songs are spiritual, without being overtly religious. One inspired by the writings of an eighth-century Islamic scholar, Imam Muhammed Al-Shafi’ee, endorses the idea of tolerance and avoiding violence in his debut single "Generous Peace": “Gentleman, I’m like incense, the more you burn me, the more I'm fragrant.”

Discography

Albums

Salama has released two albums thus far:

2006: Generous Peace

Name	Generous Peace
Type	Album
Artist	Kareem Salama
Cover	Generous-peace-kareem-salama.jpg
Released	2006
Recorded	2006
Genre	Country
This album	Generous Peace(2006)
Next album	This Life of Mine(2007)

Get Busy Living

Baby I'm a Soldier

A Land Called Paradise

Valley

Hold On

Peace Remain

Come Now

Lady Mary

Chivalry's Not Dead

2007: This Life of Mine

Name	This Life of Mine
Type	Album
Artist	Kareem Salama
Cover	This-life-of-mine-kareem-salama.jpg
Released	2007
Recorded	2007
Genre	Country
Last album	Generous Peace(2006)
This album	This Life of Mine(2007)
Next album	}}

This Life of Mine

Generous Peace

More Than

I Miss You (Hopefully)

Rise Up Protectors

My Tears Aren't Pure

It Came to Be

A Friend Like You

Get Busy Living (Acoustic)

My Way Home

Aristotle and Averroes

Singles

2010: "Generous Peace" (EP)

Name	Generous Peace
Cover	Genreous-peace-ep-kareem-salama.jpg
Artist	Kareem Salama
Album	Generous Peace
Released	2009
Format	EP, Digital download, Radio
Recorded	2006
Genre	Country
Chronology	Kareem Salama singles
This single	"Generous Peace"(2009)

}} }}

Tracklist: #Generous Peace #Generous Peace (Pop Remix) #Generous Peace (Acoustic Remix) #When I Fall (Bonus track) #Generous Peace Arabic #Generous Peace Arabic (Pop Remix) #Generous Peace Arabic (Acoustic Remix) '''

Videography

"Generous Peace" (music video directed by Lena Khan)

* "Generous Peace" (Arabic)

"Makes Me Crazy"

"Be Free Now" (feat. Kelley Peters)

Kareem Salama in popular culture

On May 9, 2007, Kareem Salama was interviewed on Fox News about various Muslim American issues. A reportage and brief interview about him was broadcast on France 24. In March 2008, he was interviewed on Arab Radio and Television Network (ART) program "From America" by Jihan Mansour. He also performed live renditions of some of his songs with Aristotle Mihalopoulos On 13 July 2008, he was interviewed on Sky News by Adam Boulton.

In December 2007, two thousand Muslim Americans were asked what they wished to say to the rest of the world. Some of their answers were used in the video presentation, using Kareem Salama's song. Lena Khan used Kareem Salama song "A Land Called Paradise" and put out an independent video based on the various quotations received from the survey of Muslim Americans.

References

External links

Kareem Salama Official website

Kareem Salama MySpace site

Kareem Salama Official YouTube site

Kareem Salama Facebook page

Kareem Salama Twitter page

Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:American musicians Category:American Muslims Category:American people of Arab descent Category:American people of Egyptian descent Category:Performers of Islamic music Category:American country singers Category:American male singers Category:People from Ponca City, Oklahoma Category:University of Iowa College of Law alumni

Name	Jessica Alba
Caption	Alba in 2010
Birth name	Jessica Marie Alba
Birth date	April 28, 1981
Birth place
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1994–present
Spouse
Partner	Michael Weatherly (2000-2003)
Children	Honor Marie (b. 2008)

Jessica Marie Alba (born April 28, 1981) is an American television and film actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack (1994). Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel (2000–2002).

Alba's early life was marked by a multitude of physical maladies. During childhood, she suffered from collapsed lungs twice, had pneumonia 4-5 times a year, as well as a ruptured appendix and a tonsillar cyst. Alba has also had asthma since she was a child. Alba graduated from high school at age 16, and she subsequently attended the Atlantic Theater Company.

Career

.]] Alba expressed interest in acting since the age of five. In 1992, the 11-year-old Alba persuaded her mother to take her to an acting competition in Beverly Hills, California, whose grand prize was free acting classes. Alba won the grand prize, and took her first acting lessons. An agent signed Alba nine months later. Her first appearance on film was a small role in the 1994 feature Camp Nowhere as Gail. She was originally hired for two weeks but her role turned into a two-month job in a leading role when one of the prominent actresses dropped out. She then performed the role of Maya in the first two seasons of the television series Flipper.

In 1998, she appeared as Melissa Hauer in a first-season episode of the Steven Bochco crime-drama Brooklyn South, as Leanne in two episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210, and as Layla in an episode of . In 1999, she appeared in the Randy Quaid comedy feature P.U.N.K.S.. After Alba graduated from high school, she studied acting with William H. Macy and his wife, Felicity Huffman, at the Atlantic Theater Company, which was developed by Macy and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and film director, David Mamet.

Alba rose to greater prominence in Hollywood in 1999 after appearing as a member of a snobby high school clique in the Drew Barrymore romantic comedy Never Been Kissed, and as the female lead in the 1999 comedy-horror film Idle Hands, opposite Devon Sawa. Alba later revealed that she had suffered from anorexia while in preparation for Dark Angel.

Alba has been well-received in popular culture. She received the Teen Choice Award for Choice Actress and Saturn Award for Best Actress (TV) for her role in Dark Angel. She has appeared on Maxim's Hot 100 list. In 2006, Alba received an MTV Movie Award for "Sexiest Performance" for Sin City. Her acting has also drawn criticism, however, as she was nominated for a 2007 Razzie Award for Worst Actress for her performances in Awake, Good Luck Chuck, and . She was also nominated for the same award in 2005 for her performances in Fantastic Four and Into the Blue.

Alba's most notable film roles have included an aspiring dancer-choreographer in Honey, exotic dancer Nancy Callahan in Sin City, and as the Marvel Comics character Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman in Fantastic Four. She then appeared in , in Into the Blue later that year, and Good Luck Chuck a few years later. Alba hosted the 2006 MTV Movie Awards and performed sketches spoofing the movies King Kong, , and The Da Vinci Code. In February 2008, she hosted the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Science and Technical Awards. Alba has been represented by talent agents Patrick Whitesell and Brad Cafarelli. The film was released on February 1, 2008. Though the film was not well received by critics, Alba's performance was both positively and negatively received. Alba won a Teen Choice for Choice Movie Actress: Horror/Thriller and a Razzie Award for Worst Actress-nomination. Also in 2008, Alba starred alongside Mike Myers and Justin Timberlake in "box office bomb" The Love Guru. Alba was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Actress. The movie finished filming in November 2008. The film is in post-production and set to be released in 2011.

Alba starred alongside Kate Hudson and Casey Affleck in the film adaption of the book of the same name, The Killer Inside Me. In the movie, Alba played Joyce Lakeland, a prostitute. The film was released in 2010. Also in 2010, Alba starred in the romantic comedy Valentine's Day, alongside Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Biel, Emma Roberts, Ashton Kutcher, and Jennifer Garner. The film was released on February 12, 2010.

Public image

magazine. Alba objected to being on the cover of the magazine and filed suit, but later dropped the action.]]

In 2001, Alba was ranked No. 1 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 list. She said that "I have to go to certain lengths to use sexuality to my advantage, while guiding people to thinking the way I want them to." In 2005, Alba was named one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People, and also appeared in the magazine's 100 Most Beautiful list in 2007. In 2002, Alba was voted as the fifth Sexiest Female Star for 2002 in a Hollywood.com poll, #4 in the Top 10 Sci-Fi Babes, #6 in FHM's Sexiest Girls for their poll, and ranked at #12 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" 2002 edition. In 2005, Alba was ranked at #5 on the Maxim magazine's Hot 100 list.

On the cover of the March 2006 issue, Playboy magazine named Alba among its 25 Sexiest Celebrities, and the Sex Star of the Year. Alba was involved in litigation against Playboy for its use of her image (from a promotional shot for Into the Blue) without her consent, which she contends gave the appearance that she was featured in the issue in a "nude pictorial". However, she later dropped the lawsuit after receiving a personal apology from Playboy owner Hugh Hefner, who agreed to make donations to two charities that Alba has supported.

When reports surfaced that a 21-year-old Chinese girl was seeking plastic surgery to resemble Alba in order to win back an ex-boyfriend, the star spoke out against the perceived need to change one's appearance for love.

In 2006, Alba ranked #3 on E! Television's 101 Sexiest Celebrity Bodies. In 2006 readers of AskMen.com voted Alba No. 1 on 99 Most Desirable Women, while in 2007, Maxim Magazine placed Alba on the number 2 spot of their "Top 100". Both GQ and In Style had Alba on their June 2008 covers, and in May, after eight million votes, FHM (UK and USA editions) named Alba the winner as "2007’s Sexiest Woman in the World". Alba has been regarded as one of the world's most attractive women, being named to Maxim's Hot 100 in 2008. In 2007, Alba was ranked in at #1 in FHM's Sexiest Girls of 2007 poll, in the magazine's Latvian edition. Alba was ranked #4 on Empire Magazine's 100 Sexiest Movie Stars in 2007. In 2006 and 2007, Alba was voted #1 as the most sexy woman in the world by the Norwegian FHM. Alba appeared in the 2009 Campari calendar. Campari printed 9,999 copies of the calendar featuring photos of Alba posing sexually in swimsuits, and high heels. In 2008, Alba was ranked #34 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 list, was ranked #2 on Wizard magazine's "Sexiest Women of TV" list, and was named in GQ Magazine one of the 25 Sexiest Women in film of all time.

}}

Alba fears being typecast as a sex kitten based on the bulk of parts offered to her, commenting, "Somehow, I don't think this is happening to Natalie Portman." Alba also maintains a strict no-nudity clause in her contract. She was given the option to appear nude in Sin City by the film's directors, Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez, but declined the offer, saying, "I don't do nudity. I just don't. Maybe that makes me a bad actress. Maybe I won't get hired in some things. But I have too much anxiety".

Personal life

Religion

Alba was raised as a Catholic throughout her teenage years, but left the church after four years because she felt she was being judged for her appearance, explaining: "Older men would hit on me, and my youth pastor said it was because I was wearing provocative clothing, when I wasn't. It just made me feel like if I was in any way desirable to the opposite sex that it was my fault, and it made me ashamed of my body and being a woman".

Alba also had objections to the church's condemnations of premarital sex and homosexuality, and the lack of strong female role models in the Bible, explaining "I thought it was a nice guide, but it certainly wasn't how I was going to live my life." Her "religious devotion [began] to wane" at the age of 15 when she guest-starred as a teenager with gonorrhea in the throat in a 1996 episode of the television series Chicago Hope. Her friends at church reacted negatively to her role, making her lose faith in the church. However, she has stated that she still holds her belief in God despite leaving the church.

Relationships and family

(2010)]] While filming Dark Angel in January 2000, Alba began a three year relationship with her co-star Michael Weatherly, which caused controversy due to their twelve year age gap. Weatherly proposed to Alba on her twentieth birthday, which she accepted. In August 2003, Alba and Weatherly announced that they'd ended their relationship. Alba had at one time said she envisioned a much older man as her ideal partner, making references to Morgan Freeman, Sean Connery, Robert Redford, and Michael Caine. She said, "I have this thing for older men. They've been around and know so much."

Alba met Cash Warren, son of actor Michael Warren, while making Fantastic Four in 2004. Alba married Warren in Los Angeles on Monday, May 19, 2008. On June 7, 2008, Alba gave birth to a baby girl, Honor Marie Warren, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. The first pictures of Honor Marie appeared in OK! magazine, which paid a reported $1.5 million for them. Alba has said that she would like to have more children. On February 16, 2011, Alba confirmed that she and Warren are expecting their second child.

Charity and politics

In 2005, Alba offered her acting talents for free, to raise money for AIDS charity Amfar at the Cannes Film Festival. The Industry had held a benefit for the US research foundation. Alba had caused "the greatest stir" by promising to star as an unpaid actress in one of The Lord of the Rings producer Bob Weinstein's movies, if Weinstein agreed to bid $100,000 for tennis lessons with sports stars Monica Seles and Boris Becker.

Alba's charity work includes participation with Clothes Off Our Back, Habitat for Humanity, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Project HOME, RADD, Revlon Run/Walk for Women, SOS Children Villages, Soles4Souls, and Step up. Alba openly endorsed and supported Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama during the 2008 primary season. Alba is an ambassador for the 1Goal movement to provide education to children in Africa.

Alba posed for a bondage-themed print advertising campaign by Declare Yourself, a campaign encouraging voter registration among youth for the 2008 United States presidential election. The ads photographed by Mark Liddell, which feature Alba wrapped in and gagged with black tape, drew national media attention. The ads were described by some as being "Shocking".

In June 2009, while filming The Killer Inside Me in Oklahoma City, Alba was involved in a controversy with residents when she pasted posters of sharks around town. Alba said that she was trying to bring attention to the diminishing population of great white sharks. Media outlets speculated that Alba would be pursued and charged with vandalism. On June 16, 2009, Oklahoma City police said that they would not pursue criminal charges against Alba, because none of the property owners wanted to pursue it. Alba apologized in a statement to People magazine and said that she regretted her actions. to the United Way, whose billboard she had obscured with one of the shark posters.

Filmography

Film

{| class="wikitable sortable" ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 1994 | Camp Nowhere | Gail | Film debut |- | 1995 | Venus Rising | Young Eve | |- | rowspan="3"| 1999 | P.U.N.K.S. | Samantha Swoboda | |- | Never Been Kissed | Kirsten Liosis | |- | Idle Hands | Molly | |- | 2000 | Paranoid | Chloe | |- | rowspan="2"| 2003 | The Sleeping Dictionary | Selima | DVD Exclusive Award for Best Actress in a DVD Premiere Movie |- | Honey | Honey Daniels | Teen Choice Award for Breakout Movie Star, Actress - Drama/Action Adventure, Chemistry and LiplockNominated |- | rowspan="3"| 2005 | Sin City | Nancy Callahan | MTV Movie Award for Sexiest PerformanceNominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated — Alma Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion PictureNominated — Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards for Best EnsembleNominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast |- | Fantastic Four | Sue Storm / Invisible Woman | Nominated — Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Hero |- | Into the Blue | Sam |- | rowspan="5"| 2007 | Knocked Up | Herself | Uncredited Cameo |- | | Sue Storm / Invisible Woman | Blimp Award for Favorite Female Movie Star |- | The Ten | Liz Anne Blazer | |- | Good Luck Chuck | Cam Wexler |- | Awake | Sam Lockwood |- | rowspan="3"| 2008 | The Eye | Sydney Wells | Teen Choice Award for Actress: Horror/Thriller |- | Meet Bill | Lucy | |- | The Love Guru | Jane Bullard |- | rowspan="5"| 2010 | Valentine's Day | Morely Clarkson | |- | The Killer Inside Me | Joyce Lakeland |- | Machete | Special Agent Sartana Rivera | |- | An Invisible Sign | Mona Gray | |- | Little Fockers | Andi Garcia |- | 2011 | | Marissa Cortez Wilson |- |}

Television

{| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 1994 | The Secret World of Alex Mack | Jessica | "School Dance" (Season 1, Episode 5)"Hoop War" (Season 1, Episode 2)"The Accident" (Season 1, Episode 1) |- | 1995–1997 | Flipper | Maya Graham | Recurring characterNominated — Young Star Award-Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Daytime TV Program (1998) |- | 1996 | ABC Afterschool Special | Christy | "Too Soon for Jeff" (Season 25, Episode 1) |- | 1996 | Chicago Hope | Florie Hernandez | "Sexual Perversity in Chicago Hope" (Season 2, Episode 18) |- | 1998 | Brooklyn South | Melissa Hauer | "Exposing Johnson" (Season 1, Episode 12) |- | 1998 | Beverly Hills, 90210 | Leanne | "Making Amends" (Season 8, Episode 23)"The Nature of Nurture" (Season 8, Episode 25) |- | 1998 | | Layla | "Remember?" (Season 1, Episode 2) |- | 2000–2002 | Dark Angel | Max Guevara / X5-452 | Lead RoleNominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama (2000)Won — Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television (2001)Nominated — Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Drama Series – Leading Young Actress (2001)Won — Teen Choice Award for TV – Choice Actress (2001)Won — TV Guide Award TV Guide Award for Breakout Star of the Year (2001)Nominated TV Guide Award TV Guide Award for Actress of the Year in a New Series (2001)Nominated — ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Series (2002)Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actress in a Television Series (2002)Nominated — Kid's Choice Award for Favorite Female Action Hero (2002)Nominated — Teen Choice Award for TV – Choice Actress-Drama (2002) |- | 2003 | MADtv | Jessica Simpson | "Episode #9.5" (Season 9, Episode 5) |- | 2004 | Entourage | Herself | "The Review" (Season 1, Episode 2) |- | 2005 | ''Trippin' | Herself | "Costa Rica" (Season 1, Episode 6)"Honduras" (Season 1, Episode 5) |- | 2009 | ''The Office | Sophie | "Stress Relief" (Season 5, Episode 15) |}

Awards

References

External links

Category:1981 births Category:Actors from California Category:Actors from Mississippi Category:Actors from Texas Category:American child actors Category:American film actors Category:American people of Danish descent Category:American people of French-Canadian descent Category:American people of Mexican descent Category:American television actors Category:Hispanic and Latino American actors Category:Living people Category:Military brats Category:People from Biloxi, Mississippi Category:People from Pomona, California Category:People from Val Verde County, Texas

Name	Jennette McCurdy
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Jennette Michelle Faye McCurdy
Born	June 26, 1992
Origin	Garden Grove, California, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, keyboard
Genre	Country
Occupation	Actress, singer, songwriter
Years active	2000–present (actress)2008–present (singer)
Label	Your Tyme, Capitol Nashville
Url	jennettemccurdy.com

Jennette Michelle Faye McCurdy (born June 26, 1992)

Career

She started her acting career in 2000 at the age of eight on MADtv. Since then she appeared in several television series, including , Malcolm in the Middle, Lincoln Heights, Will & Grace, Penguins of Madagascar, Zoey 101, True Jackson, VP, Law and Order SVU, Medium, Judging Amy, The Inside, Karen Sisco, Over There and Close to Home. In 2003, she had the chance to act with her inspiration, Harrison Ford in the movie Hollywood Homicide. In 2005, she was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Television Series - Guest Starring Young Actress for her performance in Strong Medicine as Hailey Campos. She has also appeared in several commercials such as one for Sprint and another commercial for crossing the road safely.

Since 2007, she has a starring role in the Nickelodeon TV series iCarly opposite Miranda Cosgrove, Nathan Kress and Jerry Trainor, as Carly Shay's best friend Sam Puckett. In 2008 she was nominated for a Young Artist Award for her work on iCarly, and for her performance as Dory Sorenson in the TV movie The Last Day of Summer. She was nominated for a 2009 Teen Choice Award, in the Favorite TV Sidekick category for her work on iCarly. She also was cast to the role of Bertha in , a movie based on a YouTube series about Fred Figglehorn.

Music

In June 2008, she announced on her official web site that she was working on her debut album. The first single, "So Close," was released on March 10, 2009. The second single, "Homeless Heart", a cover of a song from Amanda Stott, was released on May 19. The song was released in honor of McCurdy's recently deceased friend Cody Waters, who died at the age of 9 from brain cancer, and 20% of the proceeds were donated to the Cody Waters Foundation. She met Cody Waters through St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Both were released under the Your Tymes music label. After the single "So Close" was released in March 2009, McCurdy announced that her debut album would be released on June 30, 2009. By the time June ended, no album had been released and on July 6, 2009, McCurdy announced she had signed a deal with Capitol Records Nashville.

On April 16, 2010, samples of select songs from McCurdy's upcoming debut country album were released to the public. Those songs were "Not That Far Away", "Never Let Me Down", "Break Your Heart", "Better", "Stronger", and "Put Your Arms Around Someone". The songs were released early in order for fans to vote for which one they believed should be McCurdy's first single. "Not That Far Away" won, and was released to country radio on May 24, 2010 and iTunes on June 1. She released an EP on August 16/August 17 , 2010 which added other songs including "Stronger", "Put Your Arms Around Someone", "Break Your Heart" and "Me with You". It has also been stated that another of her songs, "Stronger" was released later on NOW That's What I Call Music! Vol. 35 on August 31, 2010.

McCurdy's second single, "Generation Love", was released as a digital download on March 22, 2011. This song was released to radio April 25, 2011.

Philanthropy

In addition to supporting the Cody Waters Foundation, McCurdy was active in campaigns such as stopping child soldiers (she is in the Invisible Children Inc. group) and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. McCurdy did a PSA for Safe Kids USA which is aired on Nickelodeon and TeenNick.

McCurdy currently serves as a StarPower Ambassador for Starlight Children’s Foundation, encouraging other young people to commit their time, energy and resources to help other kids and working with Starlight to brighten the lives of seriously ill children.

Discography

Studio albums

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" |- ! rowspan="2" style="width:10em;"| Title ! rowspan="2" style="width:16em;"| Details ! colspan="2"| Peak chartpositions |- style=font-size:smaller; ! style="width:40px;"| US Country ! style="width:40px;"| USHeat |- ! scope="row"| The Story of My Life |

Release date: September 2011

Label: Capitol Nashville

Formats: CD, music download

| - | - |- |}

Extended plays

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" |- ! rowspan="2" style="width:10em;"| Title ! rowspan="2" style="width:16em;"| Details ! colspan="2"| Peak chartpositions |- style=font-size:smaller; ! style="width:40px;"| US Country ! style="width:40px;"| USHeat |- ! scope="row"| Not That Far Away |

Release date: August 17, 2010

Label: Capitol Nashville

Formats: CD, music download

| 32 | 3 |- |}

Singles

^A Current single.

Music videos

Filmography

{| class="wikitable sortable" |+Film ! Year ! Film ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 2001 | Shadow Fury | Anna Markov | |- | 2002 | My Daughter's Tears | Mary Fields | |- | 2003 | Hollywood Homicide | Van Family Daughter |- | 2003 | Taylor Simmons | Amanda Simmons | |- | 2004 | Breaking Dawn | The Little Girl | |- | 2004 | Tiger Cruise | Kiley Dolan | TV movie |- | 2005 | See Anthony Run | Lucy | short film |- | 2006 | Against Type | Meredith | TV movie |- | 2007 | | Dory Sorenson | TV movie |- | 2008 | Proving Ground: From the Adventures of Captain Redlocks | Aria Krait | |- | 2008 | | Sam Puckett | TV movie |- | 2009 | Minor Details | Mia | |- | 2010 | | Bertha | TV movie |- | 2011 | Best Player | Christina "Prodigy" Saunders | TV movie |- |2012 | | Marlenne | Voice |}

{| class="wikitable sortable" |+Television ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 2000 | MADtv | Cassidy Gifford | |- | 2002 | | Jackie Trent | Episode: "Cats in the Cradle" |- | 2003 | Malcolm in the Middle | Daisy (Female Dewey) | Episodes: "If Boys Were Girls" |- | 2004 | Karen Sisco | Josie Boyle | Episode: "No One's Girl" |- | 2004 | Strong Medicine | Hailey Campos | Episode: "Selective Breeding" |- | 2005 | | Holly Purcell |Episode: "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - (season 6)|Episode: "Contagious" |- | 2005 | Medium | Sara Crewson | Episode: "Coded" |- | 2005 | Judging Amy | Amber Reid | Episode: "My Name is Amy Gray" |- | 2005 | Malcolm in the Middle | Penelope | Episode: "Buseys Take a Hostage" |- | 2005 | | Madison St. Clair | Episode: "Everything Nice" |- | 2005 | Over There | Lynne | Episode: "Situation Normal" |- | 2005 | Zoey 101 | Trisha Kirby | Episode: "" |- | 2006 | Will & Grace | Lisa | Episode: "Von Trapped" |- | 2006 | Close to Home | Stacy Johnson | Episode: "Escape" |- | 2007 | Lincoln Heights | Beckie | Episode: "Betrayal" Episode: "Tricks and Treats"Episode: "House Arrest" |- | 2007–present | iCarly | Sam Puckett | Main Role; 2007–present |- | 2008–2010 | True Jackson, VP | Pinky Turzo |Episode: ""Episode: "" |- | 2010 | | Becky | Episode: "Badger Pride" |- | 2010 | Glenn Martin, DDS | Mazy | Episode: "Courtney's Pony" |}

References

External links

Category:1992 births Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Actors from California Category:American child actors Category:American child singers Category:American country singers Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:Capitol Records artists Category:Living people Category:Musicians from California Category:People from Garden Grove, California Category:American pop singer-songwriters

Name	Hank Williams
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Hiram King Williams
Alias	Hank WilliamsHank Williams IHank Williams, Sr.Luke the DrifterHank SeniorThe Lovesick Blues BoyLovesick
Born	September 17, 1923Mount Olive, Alabama
Died	January 01, 1953Oak Hill, West Virginia
Origin	Montgomery, Alabama, US
Instrument	Vocals, guitar
Genre	Country, western, gospel, blues, honky tonk, folk
Occupation	Singer, songwriter, musician
Years active	1937–1953
Label	Sterling, MGM
Associated acts	Drifting Cowboys
Url	www.hankwilliams.com

Hank Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953), born Hiram King Williams, was an American singer-songwriter and musician regarded as one of the most important country music artists of all time. In the short period from 1947 until his death, at 29, on the first day of 1953, Williams recorded 35 singles (five of which were released posthumously) that would place in the Top 10 of the Billboard Country & Western Best Sellers chart, including eleven that ranked number one.

His father, Elonzo Williams, worked for the railway and was transferred often, so the family lived in several towns in southern Alabama. When Elonzo was hospitalized for eight years, the family was left to fend for themselves. Young Williams, whose own health was diminished owing to spina bifida, helped provide for his mother and sister. While the family was living in Georgiana, Alabama, Williams met Rufus Payne (nicknamed Tee-Tot), a black street performer who gave Williams guitar lessons in exchange for meals. Payne had a major influence on Williams's later musical style. During this time, Williams informally changed his name to Hank, believing it to be a better name for country music.

While the family was living in Montgomery, Alabama, a teenaged Williams used to sing and play guitar on the sidewalk in front of the WSFA radio studios. He caught the attention of WSFA producers and started working there in 1937, singing and hosting a 15-minute program. He formed as backup the Drifting Cowboys band, which was managed by his mother, and dropped out of school to devote all of his time to his career.

In 1941, when the U.S. went into World War II, several members of the band were drafted. Williams, who was not taken because of his spina bifida, had trouble with their replacements. This, along with a burgeoning problem with alcohol as self-medication for his health problem, caused WSFA to fire him. In 1943, Williams married Audrey Sheppard who, besides singing duets with him in his act, became his manager. After recording "Never Again" and "Honky Tonkin'" with Sterling Records, he signed a contract with MGM Records. In 1948, he released "Move it on Over," which became a hit. The same year, he joined the Louisiana Hayride radio program. In 1949, he released "Lovesick Blues," which carried him into the mainstream of music. After an initial rejection, Williams joined the Grand Ole Opry. He had 11 number one songs between 1948 and 1953, though he was unable to read or write music to any significant degree. His hits include "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Hey Good Lookin'," and "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry."

In 1952, Williams's consumption of alcohol, morphine and other painkillers to ease the pain resulting from his back condition caused problems in his personal and professional life. He divorced his wife and was fired by the Grand Ole Opry due to frequent drunkenness.On January 1, 1953, on the way to a concert, he had a doctor inject him with a combination of vitamin B12 and morphine, which, added to the alcohol and chloral hydrate that Williams had consumed earlier, caused him to have a fatal heart attack. He was only 29. Despite his short life, Hank Williams has had a major influence on country music.

His songs have been recorded by numerous artists, many of whom have also had hits with the tunes, in a range of pop, gospel, blues and rock styles. Williams has been covered by performers such as Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Cake, Kenny Rankin, Beck Hansen, Johnny Cash, Tony Bennett, The Residents, Patsy Cline, Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong, Tom Petty, Linda Ronstadt, Sheryl Crow, Norah Jones, Elvis Costello, Lucinda Williams, Isaac Hayes, and Tom Waits. He has received numerous honors and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Biography

Early life

|300px]] Williams's parents, Elonzo Huble "Lon" Williams, who was of English ancestry, and Jessie Lillybelle "Lillie" Skipper, were married on November 12, 1916, by Reverend J.C. Dunlap. Elonzo Williams's mother, Anne Autrey Williams, had committed suicide when he was six years old, and his father died eleven years later. He lived the rest of his childhood in an orphanage. Williams left school in the sixth grade and started working as a waterboy in logging camps. He eventually became an engineer for the railroads of the W.T. Smith lumber company. At the time of William's marriage proposal, Jessie Skipper lived near him on a farm owned by the Mixon family outside Georgiana, Alabama. Skipper had grown up in Georgiana. They lived for a time at the Mixon farm until they leased a cabin in the community of Mount Olive, Alabama. They opened a small store at a side of the house and also cultivated strawberries. Elonzo Williams was drafted during World War I, serving from July 1918 until June 1919. He was severely injured after falling from a truck, breaking his collarbone and sustaining a severe hit to the head. After Elonzo Williams returned from the war, the family's first child, Irene, was born on August 8, 1922. Another son of them died shortly after birth. Hank Williams, Elonzo's and Lillie's third and last child together, was born on September 17, 1923, in Mount Olive. He was named after Hiram I of Tyre (one of the three founders of the Masons, according to Masonic legend), but his name was misspelled as "Hiriam" on his birth certificate. There are several versions of how Williams got his first guitar. His mother stated that she bought it with money from selling peanuts, but many other prominent residents of the town claimed to have been the one who purchased the guitar for him. While living in Georgiana, Williams met Rufus "Tee-Tot" Payne, a street performer. Williams final style contained influences from Payne along with several other country influences, among them Jimmie Rodgers. Payne and Williams lost touch in 1937 when the Williams family moved to Montgomery, Alabama. Payne also moved to Montgomery, where he died in poverty in 1939. Williams later credited him as his only teacher.

Early career

In July 1937, the Williams and McNeil families opened a boarding house on South Perry Street in downtown Montgomery. It was at this time that Hiram decided to change his name informally to Hank, a name he said was better suited to his desired career in country music. After school and on weekends, Williams sang and played his Silvertone guitar on the sidewalk in front of the WSFA radio studios. He quickly caught the attention of WSFA producers, who occasionally invited him to perform on air. So many listeners contacted the radio station asking for more of the "singing kid" that the producers hired him to host his own 15-minute show twice a week for a weekly salary of US$15 (equivalent to US$230 in 2011 who later warned him of the dangers of alcohol, saying: "You've got a million-dollar voice, son, but a ten-cent brain."

1940s

In 1943, Williams met and married Audrey Sheppard, who became his manager as his career was rising (she also accompanied him on duets in some of his live concerts). Williams became a local celebrity. In 1945, when he was back in Montgomery, he published his first song book, Original Songs of Hank Williams and started to perform again for WSFA. On September 14, 1946, Williams auditioned for the Grand Ole Opry, but was rejected. He signed a contract for six songs with Fred Rose. Rose obtained with those songs a contract for Williams with Sterling Records. On December 11, 1946, in his first recording session, he recorded "Wealth Won't Save Your Soul," "Calling You," "Never Again," and "When God Comes and Gathers his Jewels." On June 11, 1949, Williams made his debut at the Grand Ole Opry, where he became the first performer to receive six encores. He brought together Bob McNett (guitar), Hillous Butrum (bass), Jerry Rivers (fiddle) and Don Helms (steel guitar) to form the most famous version of the Drifting Cowboys, earning an estimated US$1,000 per show (equivalent to US$9,174 in 2011). That year, Audrey Williams gave birth to Randall Hank Williams (Hank Williams, Jr.). 1949 also saw Williams release seven hit songs after "Lovesick Blues," including "Wedding Bells," "Mind Your Own Business," "You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)," and "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It."

1950s

Luke the Drifter

In 1950, Williams began recording as "Luke the Drifter" for his religious-themed recordings, many of which are recitations rather than singing. Fearful that disc jockeys and jukebox operators would hesitate to accept these nontraditional Williams recordings, thereby hurting the marketability of his name, the alias was employed. Luke the Drifter was popular among black audiences primarily because of the song "The Funeral," in which Williams narrates, portraying a preacher at the funeral of a child in a black church. The popularity of the song among black audiences was a response to the stereotypes of the characters depicted, inspired by Williams's teacher, Rufus Payne. The drifter moved around this region, narrating the stories of the characters. Some of the compositions were accompanied by a tube organ. Allegedly, Williams created the alter ego also as a balance to his personality. In 1951 "Dear John" became a hit, but it was the flip side, "Cold, Cold Heart," that became one of his most-recognized songs. A pop cover version by Tony Bennett released the same year stayed on the charts for 27 weeks, peaking at number one.

Later career

In 1951, during a hunting trip in Tennessee, Williams fell, reactivating his old back pains, and he started to consume painkillers (including morphine) and alcohol to ease the pain. Due to Williams's excesses, Fred Rose stopped working with him. Also, the Drifting Cowboys were at the time backing Ray Price, while Williams was backed by local bands. By the end of 1952, Williams had started to suffer heart problems,

Death

On December 31, 1952, Williams was scheduled to perform at the Municipal Auditorium in Charleston, West Virginia. Advance ticket sales totaled US$3,500 (equivalent to US$29,092 in 2011 Stamey and Janney found some empty beer cans and the handwritten lyrics to a song yet to be recorded in the Cadillac convertible.

The circumstances of Williams's death are still controversial. Some have claimed that Williams was dead before leaving Knoxville. Oak Hill is still believed to be the place where Williams died, The Cadillac in which Williams died is now preserved at the Hank Williams Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.

The body was transported to Montgomery on January 2. It was placed in a silver coffin that was first shown at his mother's boarding house at 318 McDounough Street for two days. His funeral took place on January 4 at the Montgomery Auditorium, with his coffin placed on the flower-covered stage. During the ceremony, Ernest Tubb sang "Beyond the Sunset" followed by Roy Acuff with "I Saw the Light" and Red Foley with "Peace in the Valley." An estimated 15,000 to 25,000 people passed by the silver coffin, and the auditorium was filled with 2,750 mourners. During the funeral, four women fainted and a fifth was carried off the auditorium in hysterics after falling at the foot of the casket. Around two tons of flowers were sent.

Personal life

On December 15, 1944, Williams married Sheppard. It was her second marriage and his first. Their son, Randall Hank Williams, who would achieve fame in his own right as Hank Williams, Jr., was born on May 26, 1949. The marriage, always turbulent, rapidly disintegrated, and he developed a serious problem with alcohol, morphine and other painkillers prescribed for him to ease the severe back pain caused by his spina bifida. The couple divorced on May 29, 1952.

On October 18, 1952, Williams and Billie Jean Jones Eshlimar were married in Minden in northwestern Louisiana At this point, Williams's alcoholism and consumption of drugs had worsened; his new wife and friends tried to get him in rehabilitation, but they were not successful.

Billie Jean married country singer Johnny Horton in September 1953. On October 22, 1975, a federal judge in Atlanta, Georgia, finally ruled Billie Jean's marriage was valid and that half of Williams's future royalties belonged to her.

In February 2005, the Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling stating that Williams's heirs—son Hank Williams Jr. and daughter Jett Williams—have the sole rights to sell his recordings made for a Nashville, Tennessee, radio station in 1951. The court rejected claims made by Polygram Records and Legacy Entertainment in releasing recordings Williams made for the Mother's Best Flour Show, a program that originally aired on WSM-AM. The recordings, which Legacy Entertainment acquired in 1997, include live versions of Williams's hits and his cover version of other songs. Polygram contended that Williams's contract with MGM Records, which Polygram now owns, gave them rights to release the radio recordings. A 3-CD selection of the tracks, restored by Joe Palmaccio, was released by Time-Life in October 2008 titled The Unreleased Recordings.

Legacy

|175px]] Williams had 11 number one hits in his career ("Lovesick Blues," "Long Gone Lonesome Blues," "Why Don't You Love Me," "Moanin' the Blues," "Cold, Cold Heart," "Hey Good Lookin'," "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)," "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive," "Kaw-Liga," "Your Cheatin' Heart," and "Take These Chains from My Heart") as well as many other top ten hits.

In 1987 Williams was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame under the category Early Influence. He was ranked second in CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003, behind only Johnny Cash. His son, Hank Jr., was ranked on the same list. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him number 74 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The website Acclaimedmusic, which collates recommendations of albums and recording artists, has a year-by-year recommendation for top artists. Hank Williams is ranked first for the decade 1940–1949 for his song "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry." Many rock and roll pioneers of the 1950s, such as Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Jerry Lee Lewis, Merle Haggard, Gene Vincent, Carl Perkins, Ricky Nelson, Jack Scott, Conway Twitty recorded Williams songs early in their careers.

In 2011 Williams's 1949 MGM number one hit, "Lovesick Blues," was inducted into the Recording Academy Grammy Hall Of Fame. The same year, Hank Williams: The Complete Mother’s Best Recordings….Plus! was honored with a Grammy nomination for Best Historical Album. In 1999, Williams was inducted into the Native American Music Hall of Fame. On April 12, 2010, the Pulitzer Prize Board awarded Williams a posthumous special citation that paid tribute to his "craftsmanship as a songwriter who expressed universal feelings with poignant simplicity and played a pivotal role in transforming country music into a major musical and cultural force in American life." rest area in Tennessee|left]] In 1981, Drifting Cowboys steel guitarist Don Helms teamed up with Hank Williams, Jr. to record "The Ballad of Hank Williams." The track is a spoof or novelty song about Hank Sr.'s early years in the music business and his spending excesses. It was sung to the tune of "The Battle of New Orleans," popularized by Johnny Horton. Hank, Jr. begins by saying "Don, tell us how it really was when you was working with Daddy." Helms then goes into a combination of spoken word and song with Williams to describe how Hank, Sr. would "spend a thousand dollars on a hundred dollar show," among other humorous peculiarities. The chorus line "So he fired my ass and he fired Jerry Rivers and he fired everybody just as hard as he could go. He fired Old Cedric and he fired Sammy Pruett. And he fired some people that he didn't even know" is a comical reference to Hank Williams's overreaction to given circumstances. In 1991, country artist Alan Jackson released "Midnight in Montgomery," a song whose lyrics portray meeting Hank Williams's spirit at Williams's gravesite while on his way to a New Year's Eve show. In 1983, country music artist David Allan Coe released "The Ride," a song that told a story of a young man with his guitar hitchhiking through Montgomery and being picked up by the ghost of Hank Williams in his Cadillac and driven to the edge of Nashville: "...You don't have to call me mister, mister, the whole world called me Hank." Keeping his legacy, Williams's son Hank Williams, Jr., daughter Jett Williams, grandson Hank Williams III, and granddaughters Hilary Williams and Holly Williams are also country musicians.

Tributes

Awards

Music videos

Discography

References

Further reading

External links

Official website

[ Hank Williams] at AllMusic

Hankville fan website

Williams's boyhood home and museum

at the Country Music Hall of Fame – 1961 Inductee

at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – 1987 Inductee

at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame – 1985 Inductee

PBS – American Masters

Sites related to final day

Williams article, Encyclopedia of Alabama

A Hank Williams Discography

Listing of all Williams's songs and alternatives

'Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave'

Hank Williams “Revealed: The Unreleased Recordings” Time Life review on CountryMusicPride.com

Category:1923 births Category:1953 deaths Category:People from Jefferson County, Alabama Category:Baptists from the United States Category:American country guitarists Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American male singers Category:American buskers Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:People from Montgomery, Alabama Category:Musicians from Alabama Category:American people of English descent Category:MGM Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:People with spina bifida Category:Drug-related deaths in West Virginia Category:Alcohol-related deaths in West Virginia Category:Pulitzer Prize winners

Name	Clint Black
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Clint Patrick Black
Born	February 04, 1962
Origin	Long Branch, New Jersey, U.S.
Instrument	VocalsGuitarBassHarmonicaKeyboardsDrums
Genre	Country
Occupation	MusicianSinger-songwriterMulti-instrumentalistRecord producerActor
Years active	1989–present
Label	RCA Nashville, Equity
Associated acts	Lisa Hartman Black, Hayden Nicholas, Steve Wariner
Url	ClintBlack.com

Clint Patrick Black (born February 4, 1962) is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and occasional actor. Signed to RCA Records in 1989, Black made his debut with his Killin' Time album, which produced four straight Number One singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. Although his momentum gradually slowed throughout the 1990s, Black consistently charted hit songs into the 2000s. He has amassed more than 30 singles on the U.S. Billboard country charts (of which 13 have reached Number One), in addition to releasing nine studio albums and several compilation albums. In 2003, Black founded his own record label, Equity Music Group. Black has also ventured into acting, having made a cameo appearance in the 1994 film Maverick, as well as a starring role in 1998's Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack.

Early life

Clint Black was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, the youngest of four children born to G.A. and Ann Black. The family moved back to Texas, where G.A. Black had been raised, before Clint was one year old. As a teenager Black joined his elder brothers, Mark, Kevin and Bryan, in their small band. On Saturday afternoons, the family would host backyard barbecues and invite the neighborhood to listen to the boys sing. Some weekends would attract up to 70 people. before becoming a solo act. while singing at various lounges as a solo singer and guitarist. His first album, Killin' Time, was released in 1989. Each song on the album was penned at least in part by Black; four of them were attributed solely to him, while the rest were collaborations with Nicholas. In a departure from most other country albums, Black used his road band instead of session musicians to record Killin' Time. The first single, "A Better Man", reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs in early June. This marked the first time in 14 years that a debut single by a male artist had peaked at the top of the chart.

In late 1990, the Los Angeles Times surveyed country music industry insiders to determine which acts could be expected to sell the most records over the next 7 years. Black placed second in the poll, two votes behind Garth Brooks. The survey results were surprising in that 10 of the top 20 artists named were relative newcomers to the industry; in the past, country music had been dominated by artists with several decades experience. The plethora of new acts confused some reviewers, however. Many reviewers lumped many of the new acts together; as Newsweek's David Gates wrote: "Good song, good voice, hot band: who cares which one it is this time?" The album did not meet with as much critical acclaim as his debut, but nonetheless still included several hit singles. He began touring with Alabama.

Black began dating actress Lisa Hartman in 1990. The couple married in Katy, Texas in October 1991. The Hard Way, which was released on July 14. Some reviewers also noted that in some of the more serious songs on the album, Black's voice sounded strained. Later that year, he released his first greatest-hits package. This was led off by the chart-topper "Like the Rain", which spent three weeks at Number One. After it came the #6 "Half Way Up", his first single since "One More Payment" to miss Top 5.

Black's next album, 1997's Nothin' but the Taillights, was released to mediocre reviews. Thom Owens of Allmusic said that the album made no attempt to change his sound, and was "sturdy" but less country than his previous efforts. Lead-off single "Still Holding On", a duet with labelmate Martina McBride, became his first single to land outside the Top 10, with a #11 peak that year. He soon recovered his chart momentum with the #2 "Something That We Do" followed by two straight chart-toppers in the album's Steve Wariner-penned title track and "The Shoes You're Wearing". The next two singles — the #12 "Loosen Up My Strings" and #29 "You Don't Need Me Now" — were less successful.

In 1999, Black released D'lectrified, which relied completely on acoustic instruments. Nevertheless, USAToday thought the "album sounds as full and brash as an electric album since he used creative arrangements and horn sections". Three of the songs on the albums were remakes of previous Black singles. Several others featured guest appearances by some of Black's idols, including Waylon Jennings, Kenny Loggins, and Eric Idle. The songs tended to be longer than most of those played on country radio, with many stretching more than 5 minutes. Black took a three-year break from the music industry to stay home with his daughter. He explained that "it ended up not being a smart career move, but it was a real smart dad move. ... I wouldn't go back and try to do anything for my career in exchange for that." The first release from the new label was Black's next album, Spend My Time; his eighth studio album was Black's first release in five years . The Houston Chronicle called it "arguably the most adventurous of his career". The song was included on his first digital EP, released on March 11, 2008. Titled "The Long Cool EP," the collection features Black’s single, "Long Cool Woman", "The Strong One" and a duet with his wife titled "You Still Get to Me". Equity Music Group closed its doors in December 2008 due to economic difficulties.

Black was also a judge for the 8th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists.

Songwriting

Few country singers fill their albums primarily with their own material. In general, Black writes the lyrics to their songs, while Nicholas provides the melody.

Film and television

Shortly after his music career took off, Black began receiving offers for acting roles. He turned down every request until 1994, when he was offered a bit part in star-studded comedy Maverick. Although the part required very little actual acting, after the movie's release Black received an increasing number of calls from directors who thought he would be perfect for a particular role. Black has appeared in several television shows, including Wings and The Larry Sanders Show. He has since starred in the 1998 television movie Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack, had a major role in another television movie Going Home, and appeared briefly in the 2003 film Anger Management. In 2004, Clint appeared as himself in the TV show Las Vegas. In 2008, Black was a contestant on a short-lived CBS reality show, Secret Talents of the Stars, in which he practiced stand-up comedy. The following year, he competed on the second season of Celebrity Apprentice. He was fired after the eleventh task, placing himself in fifth place. He believes that most of his fans "just see me as a musician who is stepping into [television and film] temporarily and either doing it alright or not". He was also more recently in the movie Flicka 2 in 2010

Discography

;Studio Albums

1989: Killin' Time

1990: Put Yourself in My Shoes

1992: The Hard Way

1993: No Time to Kill

1994: One Emotion

1996: Greatest Hits

1997: Nothin' but the Taillights

1999: D'lectrified

2001: Greatest Hits II

2004: Spend My Time

2005: Drinkin' Songs and Other Logic

2007: The Love Songs

Awards

Academy of Country Music

1989 Album of the Year - "Killin' Time"

1989 Top Male Vocalist

1989 Top New Male Vocalist

1989 Single of the Year - "A Better Man"

1999 Vocal Event of the Year with Lisa Hartman Black - "When I Said I Do"

American Music Awards

1990 Favorite Country New Artist

Country Music Association

1989 Horizon Award

1990 Male Vocalist of the Year

Filmography

Flicka 2 (2010) - Toby

Anger Management (2003) - Masseur

Going Home (2000) - Dr. Warren

Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack (1998) - Cadillac Jack Favor

Maverick (1994) - Sweet-Faced Gambler

Montana Christmas Skies (1991) - Himself, with John Denver, Kathy Mattea, Patty Loveless

Notes

References

Further reading

External links

Official website

Clint Black at IMDB

Category:1962 births Category:American country singers Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American country harmonica players Category:American record producers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Houston, Texas Category:People from Katy, Texas Category:People from Long Branch, New Jersey Category:The Apprentice (U.S. TV series) contestants Category:RCA Records artists Category:Equity Music Group artists