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Name | Jade Ewen |
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Background | solo_singer |
Birth name | Jade Almarie Louise Ewen |
Born | January 24, 1988 |
Origin | Plaistow, London, England, United Kingdom |
Instrument | Vocals |
Genre | Pop, R&B; |
Occupation | Singer, songwriter, actress |
Years active | 2003–present |
Label | Sony BMG, Make Noise, Polydor, Island |
Associated acts | Trinity Stone, Sugababes |
Jade Almarie Louise Ewen (born 24 January 1988) is an English singer, songwriter, actress and member of the Sugababes. Ewen began her singing career in a girl group signed to Sony BMG in 2005, but they disbanded in 2007 with no album released. In 2009, she represented the UK at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest performing the Andrew Lloyd Webber penned "It's My Time" after winning the UK national selection. She achieved fifth place, cementing her as the most successful British Eurovision act since 2002. She replaced Keisha Buchanan in the Sugababes in September 2009, while at the time still signed to Polydor Records.
In January 2009, Ewen was approached and participated in the UK national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009.
In September 2009, it was announced that Ewen had joined the Sugababes as the replacement for Keisha Buchanan. While her second single, "My Man" had been released in the same week, promotional activities for the single were cancelled. Although the single still managed to reach #35 in the charts. In an interview with the BBC, Ewen confirmed her commitment to the Sugababes as her main priority and that her solo album was put on hold. It was also revealed Ewen had not met the remaining members of the Sugababes until two days before the video shoot for their single "About a Girl" in Los Angeles. She had been flown there without being notified that she would be replacing Buchanan. "About a Girl" later debuted at number eight in the UK. Sweet 7 was released in early 2010 after multiple delays from late 2009, and charted at #14 on the UK albums chart. In late 2010 Jade was revealed as the new face of Miss Ultimo lingerie, modelling the lingerie fahshion lines Autumn/Winter collection for 2010.
Category:1988 births Category:2000s singers Category:Black British actors Category:Black British musicians Category:British Eurovision Song Contest entrants Category:British people of Sicilian descent Category:British female singers Category:British pop singers Category:British people of Jamaican descent Category:British singer-songwriters Category:British television actors Category:English female singers Category:English people of Jamaican descent Category:English pop singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English television actors Category:Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2009 Category:Living people Category:Actors from London Category:People from Plaistow Category:Sugababes members Category:Sylvia Young Theatre School pupils
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Birth name | Simon Rex Cutright |
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Birth date | July 20, 1974 |
Birth place | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
Occupation | Actor, TV personality, Rapper |
Years active | 1993–present |
Website | http://www.dirtnastymusic.com |
Simon Rex Cutright (born July 20, 1974) is an American actor, television personality and rapper.
Rex began to pursue mainstream acting and in 1999 was cast in the television show Jack & Jill, which ran for two seasons. He appeared as "Eli" in the TV show Felicity and television guest appearances followed including Baywatch, Everwood, and Summerland. In 2002, the pilot for the show What I Like About You was picked up by The WB, which now has become The CW. Rex starred in the first season. He later appeared on the Lifetime show, Monarch Cove which ran for 11 episodes in 2006. He also co-produced a pilot for a show called Rex, with supporting roles performed by Paris Hilton, Lance Bass and Jaime Pressley.
Rex has appeared in The Forsaken, Scary Movie 3, Scary Movie 4 and The Karate Dog. He also starred in National Lampoon's Pledge This! with Paris Hilton. In the movie, the two share a sex scene.
Category:1974 births Category:American film actors Category:American Jews Category:American hip hop musicians Category:Jewish rappers Category:American television actors Category:American pornographic film actors Category:Pornographic film actors from California Category:Living people Category:Nightclub owners Category:Male pornographic film actors Category:Actors in gay pornographic films Category:People from San Francisco, California Category:VJs (media personalities)
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Name | Christopher Cross |
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Background | solo_singer |
Birth name | Christopher Charles Geppert |
Alias | Christopher Cross |
Born | May 03, 1951 |
Origin | San Antonio, Texas |
Genre | PopSoft rock |
Occupation | Singer-songwriter, musician, producer |
Instrument | Vocals, guitar, piano |
Years active | 1979–present |
Label | Warner Bros., BMG, Reprise, Priority, CMC International |
Associated acts | Michael McDonald, Burt Bacharach, Madison Cross, The Alan Parsons Project |
Url | Christopher Cross official website |
Christopher Cross (born Christopher Charles Geppert on May 3, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter from San Antonio, Texas. His debut album earned him five Grammy Awards in one year, a rare feat, and he also received an Oscar and a Golden Globe Award.
Cross first played with a San Antonio-based cover band named Flash before signing a solo contract with Warner Bros. Cross released his self-titled debut album, Christopher Cross, in 1979, which garnered him five Grammy Awards. He is the only solo artist personally to win all of the "Big Four" Grammy Awards (Best Record, Song, Album, and New Artist) in the same year. Hits from this album included "Sailing", "Ride Like the Wind" (featuring backing vocals by Michael McDonald) and "Never Be the Same".
His second album, Another Page, which came out in 1983, included the hit songs "Think of Laura", "No Time For Talk", and "All Right." "All Right" was used by CBS Sports for its highlights montage following the 1983 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. Although Another Page sold respectably, it did not nearly live up to the high expectations set by his debut album.
Cross released his third album Every Turn of the World in 1985. However, the album failed to produce any top 40 hits, and did not sell well. He went on to make three more albums in the '90s and although some of his releases have gained critical response, he has failed to catch the mass audience he once enjoyed. After his decline in fame in the mid 1980s, Cross has toured and opened for various acts since the '90s and released his second Greatest Hits package in 2002.
Cross completed a new Christmas album, A Christopher Cross Christmas, released in 2007. Cross finished recording a new acoustic album of his hits titled The Cafe Carlyle Sessions. He is also working on a new studio album Dr. Faith that is set to be released on September 21, 2010.
Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:Best Song Academy Award winning songwriters Category:People from San Antonio, Texas Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Musicians from Texas Category:Alamo Heights High School alumni Category:Warner Bros. Records artists Category:Reprise Records artists
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Name | Andy Kaufman |
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Caption | Andy Kaufman as Latka Gravas |
Birth date | January 17, 1949 |
Birth place | New York City, New York, U.S. |
Death date | May 16, 1984 |
Death place | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Birth name | Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman |
Years active | 1974–1984 |
Occupation | Actor/Comedian |
Andrew Geoffrey "Andy" Kaufman (January 17, 1949 – May 16, 1984) was an American entertainer, actor and performance artist. While often referred to as a comedian, Kaufman did not consider himself one. He disdained telling jokes and engaging in comedy as it was traditionally understood, referring to himself instead as a "song-and-dance man". Elaborate hoaxes and pranks were major elements of his career.
Another Kaufman routine would involve him speaking in a fake accent, saying, "I would like to imitate Meester Carter, de President of de United States." He would continue in the same voice: "Hello, I am Meester Carter, de President of de United States. T'ank you veddy much." Kaufman would often impersonate a whole series of different celebrities in his Foreign Man persona, comedy arising from Foreign Man's obvious ineptitude at impersonation. At some point in the performance, usually when the audience were entirely used to Foreign Man's inability to perform a single convincing impression, Foreign Man would announce, "And now I would like to imitate the Elvis Presley," turn around, take off his jacket, slick his hair back, and launch into an Elvis Presley impersonation which Presley described as his favorite. Like Presley, he would take off his leather jacket and throw it into the audience; he then immediately asked for it back again. After, he would take a simple bow and say in his Foreign Man voice, "T'ank you veddy much!"
Kaufman first used a version of the Foreign Man character as Andy the Robot in the pilot for the sitcom Stick Around in 1977. The character was then changed into Latka Gravas, for ABC's Taxi sitcom, appearing in 79 of 114 episodes from 1978 to 1983. The producers of Taxi had seen Andy's Foreign Man act and, according to producer Ed Weinberger, "We weren't considering Andy for the show before we saw him. Then we wrote a part for him." Bob Zmuda confirms this: "They basically were buying Andy's Foreign Man character for the Taxi character Latka." Andy's long-time manager George Shapiro encouraged Andy to take the gig. "My feeling was that it would be a nice boost for his career...and he would be playing a character that he knew very well, the Foreign Man—this particular character speaks poor English in Taxi and his name is Latka Gravas."
Kaufman disliked sitcoms and was not thrilled with the idea of being in one. In order to allow Kaufman to demonstrate some comedic range, his character was given multiple personality disorder, which allowed Kaufman to randomly portray other characters. In one episode, Kaufman's character came down with a condition which made him act like Alex Reiger, the main character played by Judd Hirsch. Another such recurring character played by Kaufman was the womanizing Vic Ferrari. Latka's wife in the series was named Simka, who was portrayed by comic actress Carol Kane. His role did lead to two Golden Globe nominations, in 1979 and 1981.
Taxi was an award-winning show with a large audience and Kaufman was widely recognized as Latka. On some occasions, audiences would show up to one of Kaufman's stage performances expecting to see him perform as Latka, and heckling him with demands when he did not. Kaufman would punish these audiences with the announcement that he was going to read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald to them. The audience would laugh at this, not realizing that he was serious, and Kaufman would proceed to read the book to them, continuing despite audience members' departure. At a certain point, he would ask the audience if they wanted him to keep reading, or play a record. When the audience chose to hear the record, the record he cued up was a recording of him continuing to read The Great Gatsby from where he had left off.
As a requirement for Kaufman accepting the offer to star on Taxi, he insisted that Clifton be hired for a guest role on the show as if he were a real person, not a character. After throwing a tantrum on the set, Clifton was fired and escorted off of the studio lot by security guards. Much to Kaufman's delight, this incident was reported in the local newspapers. Paramount TV and producers James L. Brooks and Stan Daniels later released a statement that said that although Clifton was "no longer welcome on the set", his friend Andy Kaufman would continue in his role as Latka, which he did until the show ended its run in 1983.
The performance is most famous for Kaufman ending the show by actually taking the entire audience, in twenty buses, out for milk and cookies. He invited anyone interested to meet him on the Staten Island Ferry the next morning, where the show continued. This kind of performance art is a hallmark of Kaufman's career. This was depicted in the biopic Man on the Moon; however, in the movie, it takes place after Kaufman was diagnosed with cancer, when in reality, it took place nearly four years earlier.
Andy's Funhouse was written by Kaufman, Zmuda, and Mel Sherer, with music by Kaufman.
The other comedians were embarrassed by the position that Kaufman had put them in on a live television show. In response, cast member Michael Richards walked off camera and returned with a set of cue cards and dumped them on the table in front of Kaufman. Andy responded by splashing Richards with water. Co-producer Jack Burns stormed onto the stage, leading to a brawl on camera before the show abruptly cut away to commercial. It was later revealed that this incident was a practical joke.
Regardless, Kaufman appeared the following week in a videotaped apology to the home viewers. Later that year, Kaufman returned to host Fridays. At one point in the show, he invited a Lawrence Welk Show gospel and standards singer, Kathie Sullivan, on stage to sing a few gospel songs with him and announced that the two were engaged to be married, then talked to the audience about his newfound faith in Jesus (Kaufman was Jewish). That was also a hoax. Later, following a sketch about a drug abusing pharmacist, Kaufman was supposed to introduce the band The Pretenders. Instead of introducing the band, he delivered a nervous speech about the harmfulness of drugs while the band stood behind him ready to play. After his speech, he informed the audience that he had talked for too long and had to go to a commercial.
Kaufman initially approached then-WWF (now WWE) owner Vince McMahon, Sr. about bringing his act to the New York territory. McMahon found Kaufman's act too gimmicky and suggested to Kaufman that he try his luck in the Southern wrestling territories, where his gimmick might have more appeal.
Later, after a challenge from professional wrestler Jerry "The King" Lawler, Kaufman would step into the ring (in the Memphis wrestling circuit) with a man — Lawler himself. Their ongoing feud, often featuring Jimmy Hart and other heels in Kaufman's corner, included a broken neck for Kaufman as a result of Lawler's piledriver and a famous on-air fight on a 1982 episode of Late Night with David Letterman. For some time after that, Kaufman appeared everywhere wearing a neck brace, insisting that his injuries were worse than they were. Kaufman would continue to defend the Inter-Gender Championship in the Mid-South Coliseum, and offered an extra prize, other than the $1,000: that if he were pinned, the woman who pinned him would get to marry him and that Kaufman would also shave his head.
Kaufman and Lawler's famous feud and wrestling matches were later revealed to have been staged, or a "work", as the two were actually friends. The truth about its being a "work" was not disclosed until more than 10 years after Kaufman's death, when the Emmy-nominated documentary, A Comedy Salute to Andy Kaufman, aired on NBC in 1995. Coincidentally, Jim Carrey is the one who reveals the secret, and would later go on to play Kaufman in the 1999 film Man on the Moon. In a 1997 interview with the Memphis Flyer, Lawler claimed he had improvised during their first match and the Letterman incident. Although officials at St. Francis Hospital stated that Kaufman's neck injuries were real, in his 2002 biography It's Good to Be the King...Sometimes, Lawler detailed how they came up with the angle and kept it quiet. Even though Kaufman's injury was legitimate, the pair pretended that the injury was more severe than it was. He also said that Kaufman's explosion on Letterman was Kaufman's own idea, including when Lawler slapped Kaufman out of his chair.
Kaufman also appeared in the 1983 film My Breakfast with Blassie with professional wrestling personality "Classy" Freddie Blassie, a parody of the art film My Dinner With Andre. The film was directed by Johnny Legend, who employed his sister Lynne Margulies as one of the girls who appears in the film. Margulies met Kaufman for the first time on camera, and they later became a couple, living together until Kaufman's death.
In 2008 Jakks Pacific produced an action figure 2-pack of Kaufman and Lawler in their WWE Classic Superstars toy line, to be followed by a singles figure release in Jakks Pacific's Classic Superstars series 22.
His SNL appearances started with the inaugural October 11, 1975 show; he made 16 SNL appearances in all, although his last two appearances were simply aired video-tapes and not live. He would do routines from his comedy act, such as the Mighty Mouse sing-along, Foreign Man character, the Elvis impersonation, etc. After he angered the audience with his female wrestling routine, in January 1983 Kaufman did make a pre-taped appearance (his 16th) on the show, where he asked the audience if he should ever appear on the show again, and said that he would honor the audience's decision and stay off the show if the vote was negative. SNL ran a phone vote, and close to 195,544 people voted to "Dump Andy" and approximately 169,186 people voted to "Keep Andy", so Kaufman did not appear "live" but Saturday Night Live did air a tape of him thanking the 169,186 people who had voted "yes" for him to appear again, which could be considered a 17th appearance.
Though it was never made clear whether this was a gag, Kaufman did not appear on the show again. During the SNL episode with the Keep Andy/Dump Andy phone poll, many of the cast stated their admiration for Andy's work and read the "Keep Andy" number more clearly than the "Dump Andy" number. Eddie Murphy read the "Keep Andy" number at a much faster rate than the "Dump Andy" number, while Mary Gross read the "Dump Andy" number at a rate so fast that audiences were unable to catch it. including one where he claimed to be homeless and begged the audience for money and one where he talked about his adopted children, who turned out to be three fully-grown black men.
He appeared twice on The Merv Griffin Show (1979–1980), and once, in 1978 as a participant, on The Dating Game under a presumed name and as a supposedly real contestant. He also made numerous guest spots on other television programs hosted by or starring celebrities like Johnny Cash (1979 Christmas special), Dick Van Dyke, Dinah Shore, Rodney Dangerfield, Cher, Dean Martin, Redd Foxx, Mike Douglas, Dick Clark, and Joe Franklin.
He appeared in his first theatrical film God Told Me To in 1976, where he portrayed a murderous policeman. He also appeared in several others, including as a televangelist in the 1980 film In God We Tru$t.
Laurie Anderson worked alongside Andy Kaufman for a time in the 1970s, acting as a sort of straight woman in a number of his Manhattan and Coney Island performances. One of these performances included getting on a ride that people stand in and get spun around. After everyone was strapped in Kaufman would start saying how he did not want to be on the ride in a panicked tone and eventually cry. Anderson later described these performances in her 1995 album The Ugly One with the Jewels.
At Park West Theatre in Chicago on March 26, 1982, Kaufman performed stage hypnosis where he induced local DJ Steve Dahl to urinate while sitting in a large box. Other staged inductions included Bob Zmuda's childhood friend Joe Troiani mimicking the behavior of a pig and long-time friend Bill Karmia dressed as a police officer arresting Kaufman for inducing public nudity with a woman he had hypnotized.
In college, Kaufman learned Transcendental Meditation. According to a BBC article, Kaufman used Transcendental Meditation to build confidence and take his act to comedy clubs. For the rest of his life Kaufman meditated and performed yoga for three hours a day. He trained as a teacher of Transcendental Meditation in Majorca, Spain from February to June, 1971.
Friends and family said that Kaufman almost never smoked, did not drink regularly, and was also a vegetarian.
Because he kept the true nature of his illness a secret—almost until the day he died—fans have, over the years, doubted Kaufman's death, thinking that he staged it as the ultimate Andy Kaufman stunt. At the time, lung cancer was considered rare for non-smokers to contract, and it is also rare in people under the age of 40.
The 1999 Jim Carrey film Man on the Moon leaves the question open-ended. "Tony Clifton" performed a year after Kaufman's death at The Comedy Store benefit in Kaufman's honor, with members of his entourage in attendance. Bob Zmuda has acknowledged "death hoax" rumors over the years quite tongue-in-cheek, admitting that Kaufman and he had discussed faking his death at times and that he seemed "obsessed with the idea", but he maintains the opinion that Kaufman truly did die and his death was not faked. Bob Zmuda claims he does not think he would be cruel enough to go this long without making contact with his family if he were still alive. His official website states that his death was not a hoax and he did die.
During the 1990s, "Tony Clifton" made several appearances at LA nightclubs, prompting speculation that perhaps Kaufman was still alive and working under the makeup. Jim Carrey stated on the NBC special Comedy Salute to Andy Kaufman that the Clifton character had been passed on by Kaufman to Bob Zmuda while he was still alive. Kaufman's death certificate is on file with the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and is also available on the popular website The Smoking Gun.
Category:1949 births Category:1984 deaths Category:American comedians Category:American Jews Category:American performance artists Category:American professional wrestlers Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American vegetarians Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:Deaths from lung cancer Category:Elvis impersonators Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish comedians Category:People from Long Island Category:Transcendental Meditation practitioners
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.