![Armin van Buuren presents Gaia - Status Excessu D (ASOT 500 Theme) [Official Music Video]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110512065714im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/g8pT1IAAZ9A/0.jpg "Armin van Buuren presents Gaia - Status Excessu D (ASOT 500 Theme) [Official Music Video]")
A van is a kind of vehicle used for transporting goods or groups of people. It is usually a box-shaped vehicle on four wheels, about the same width and length as a large automobile, but taller and usually higher off the ground, also referred to as a light commercial vehicle or LCV. However, in North America, the term may be used to refer to any truck with a rigid cargo body fixed to the cab, even up to large sizes.
In the UK usage, it can be either specially designed or based on a saloon/sedan car, the latter type often including derivatives with open backs (such as pick-up trucks). There are vans in all shapes and sizes, ranging from the classic van version of the tiny Mini to the five metre long (LWB) variants of the Mercedes Sprinter van. Vehicles larger than this are classified as lorries (trucks).
The word van has slightly different, but overlapping, meanings in different forms of English. While the word always applies to boxy cargo vans, the most major differences in usage are found between the different English-speaking countries.
A vehicle referred to as a full size van is usually a large, boxy vehicle that has a platform and powertrain similar to their light truck counterparts. These vans may be sold with the space behind the front seats empty for transporting of goods (cargo van), or furnished for passenger use by either the manufacturer (Wagon) or another company for more personal comforts, such as entertainment systems (Conversion van). Full size vans often have a very short hood, with the engine block moved to within the passenger cabin.
A cutaway van chassis is a variation of the full size van which was developed for use by many second stage manufacturers. Such a unit generally has a van front end, and driver controls in a cab body which extends only to a point aft of the driver and passenger seats, where the rest of the van body is cutoff (leading to the terminology "cutaway"). From that point aft, usually only the chassis frame rails and running gear extend to the rear when the unit is shipped as an "incomplete vehicle". A second stage manufacturer, commonly known as a bodybuilder, will complete the vehicle for uses such as recreational vehicles, small school buses, minibuses, type III ambulances, and delivery trucks. A large portion of cutaway van chassis are equipped with dual rear wheels. Some second stage manufacturers also add a third weight-bearing single wheel "tag axle" for larger minibus models.
The term van may also refer to a Minivan. However, minivans are usually distinguished by their smaller size and traditionally front wheel drive powertrain, although many now are being equipped with four wheel drive. Minivans offer similar seating capacity (traditionally seven to eight passengers), and better fuel economy than full-size vans, at the expense of power, cargo space, and towing capacity. In addition, many new minivans have dual side sliding doors.
A full size van used for commercial purposes is also known as a van; however, a passenger vehicle with more than 7 or 8 seats is more likely to be called a minibus.
Finally, the term van can sometimes be used interchangeably with caravan, which in the U.S. is referred to as a travel trailer.
The British term people mover is also used in Australian English to describe a passenger van. The American usage of van to mean a cargo box trailer or semi-trailer is used rarely, if ever, in Australia.
The standard or full size vans appeared with Ford's innovation of moving the engine forward under a short hood and using pickup truck components and taillights. The engine cockpit housing is often called a dog house. Over time, they evolved longer noses and sleeker shapes. The Dodge Sportsman added a plug to the rear of a long wheelbase to create the 15 passenger van. They have been sold as both cargo and passenger models to the general public and as cutaway van chassis versions for second stage manufacturers to make box vans, ambulances, campers and other vehicles. Second stage manufacturers also modify the original manufacturer's body to create custom vans for the general public.
van in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts]]
In the 1970s, songs like "Chevy Van", written and performed by Sammy Johns, and nicknames like "sin bin" or "screw canoe" became part of the culture as owners transformed them into rolling bedrooms and lounges. Conversion vans became a large market with plusher accommodations than factory seats.
Dodge ended production of their full-size vans in June 2002 (as 2003 models), and replaced it with the German originated Dodge Sprinter, which is based on a narrower, more fuel-efficient European design pattern with a diesel turbo I5. Typical versions of the Sprinter are taller than other unmodified vans (tall enough to stand in), with a more slanted (aerodynamic) profile in front. They have been adopted primarily for delivery and lightweight Class-C van cab motor home applications.
Many mobile businesses use a van to carry almost their entire business to various places where they work. For instance, there are those who come to homes or places of business to perform services or to install or repair appliances.
Vans are also used to shuttle people and their luggage between hotels and airports, to transport commuters between parking lots and their places of work, and along established routes as minibuses.
Vans are also used to transport elderly and mobility-impaired worshipers to and from church services or to transport youth groups for outings to amusement parks, picnics, and visiting other churches.
Vans are also used by schools to drive sports teams to intermural games.
Safety can be greatly improved by understanding the unique characteristics of 12- & 15-passenger vans and by following a special set of guidelines developed for drivers, according to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). A summary of this information is available at Reducing The Risk of Rollover Crashes in 15-Passenger Vans. Among other things, this document advises that carrying 10 or fewer passengers (preferably towards the front of the van) greatly reduces the risk of rollover crashes, and it suggests that repeated operation by the same drivers tends to increase their ability to handle these vehicles more safely over time. Car rental companies have also started adding stickers to warn renters about the difference in handling while compared to standard cars. Items should not be added to a roof rack of an already top-heavy vehicle.
Mahindra- Xylo
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles
The following vehicles may be used in yards or in historic city centres:
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| Name | Sabine Schmitz |
|---|---|
| Caption | Schmitz, in 2007 |
| Birth date | May 14, 1969 |
| Birth place | Adenau, Germany |
| Occupation | Racing driver,Television personality |
| Othername | Sabine Reck, SpeedBee |
| Website | http://www.speedbee.de |
Sabine Schmitz (Sabine Reck while married; born 14 May 1969), is a German former professional motor racing driver for BMW, now known for driving the BMW "Ring taxi" around the Nürburgring race track as well as being a television personality.
Schmitz trained as Hotelfachfrau and Sommelière. During her marriage to a hotelier she lived in Pulheim, but after her divorce in 2000, up until 2003, she owned a bar-restaurant in Nürburg named the Fuchsröhre (Foxhole) after a track section. In 2004 she qualified as a helicopter pilot.
Following occasional drives with the family car on the Nordschleife, all three sisters started racing, but only Schmitz continued and collected victories. Schmitz won in CHC and VLN race events, the VLN endurance racing championship in 1998, and is the first woman to win a major 24h race, the 24 Hours Nürburgring, in 1996 and 1997, all with a BMW M3 entered and co-driven by local veteran Johannes Scheid. In 2006 Schmitz and Klaus Abbelen drove the #97 Porsche 997 in the Nürburgring VLN endurance racing series, entered by Land Motorsport. They finished a strong third in the 24h 2008, beaten only by the factory-backed Manthey-entered winners of 2007 and 2006.
According to her own estimates, Schmitz has gone around the track more than 20,000 times, increasing by approximately 1200 per year. Her familiarity with the circuit earned her the nicknames "Queen of the Nürburgring" and "the fastest taxi driver in the world". She says her favourite parts of the track are Schwedenkreuz and Fuchsröhre.
Claudia Hürtgen is her main rival, winning the championship in 2006, and scoring pole and victory in the third VLN race of 2008, with a BMW Z4.
Her company, Nürburgring-based Sabine Schmitz Motorsport, offers advanced driver training and a "Ring Taxi" service for passengers.
In December 2004, Schmitz gained recognition in the United Kingdom after appearing in the BBC television show Top Gear with presenter Jeremy Clarkson. On her only attempt, using the same car, she beat his best lap time of 9 minutes 59 seconds in a Jaguar S-Type diesel by 47 seconds (Season 5, Episode 5), having castigated his best lap with the comment "I tell you something, I could do that lap time in a van". When trying to film Schmitz, the team couldn't keep up so they used Jaguar test driver Wolfgang Schubauer to drive the Jaguar S-Type R chase car, which means that much of the lap shown on the episode was not the first lap where she set the 9 min. 12 sec. lap time.
Thus, in her second appearance on Top Gear, she actually drove a Ford Transit Diesel in an attempt to beat Clarkson's time set in the Jaguar S-Type diesel. Her final time with the Transit was 10 minutes and 8 seconds (Season 6, Episode 7). For this final lap the van was stripped and streamlined at the front with gaffer tape (Sabine's belt, hubcaps, spare wheel, toolkit and Richard Hammond were removed) and a Dodge Viper was driven in front to help keep the "air clean" by providing a good slipstream to travel through.
Her first appearance on British television, however, was on the 2002 BBC programme Jeremy Clarkson Meets the Neighbours, where she takes Jeremy around the Nürburgring in the "Ring Taxi".
Her third appearance was at the 2005 Top Gear Awards to collect the award for 'Best German' (Season 7, Episode 6).
In 2007, she appeared in Clarkson's Supercar Showdown DVD where she raced an Audi R8 against The Stig in a Porsche 911 GT3.
Schmitz also appeared in the sixth episode of the Top Gear's 11th series, in a competition between the German motoring equivalent of Top Gear, on which she features, and the British Top Gear team. Both groups engaged each other in a series of challenges, in which Schmitz raced the Top Gear team in a double decker car race, and Clarkson in a one-on-one Mini challenge. She was victorious in both her events; due to the timely intervention of James May dressed suspiciously like The Stig, however, the overall result was a win for the Top Gear team.
Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:German racecar drivers Category:Female racecar drivers
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| Name | Jean-Claude Van Damme |
|---|---|
| Caption | Van Damme at Cannes Film Festival (2010) |
| Birthname | Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg |
| Birthdate | October 18, 1960 |
| Birthplace | Sint-Agatha-Berchem, Brussels, Belgium |
| Yearsactive | 1984–present (acting) |
| Occupation | Actor, martial artist, director |
| Spouse | 1 child)and (1999–present); 2 children) |
Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg (born 18 October 1960), professionally known as Jean-Claude Van Damme (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ klod vɑ̃ dam]), is a Belgian martial artist and actor.
Van Damme is best known for his martial arts action movies. His most successful films include Bloodsport (1988), Kickboxer (1989), Double Impact (1991), Universal Soldier (1992), Hard Target (1993), Timecop (1994), Street Fighter (1994), and JCVD (2008). Due to his physique and his Belgian background, he is known as "The Muscles from Brussels."
After studying martial arts intensively from the age of ten, Van Damme achieved national success in Belgium as a martial artist and bodybuilder, earning the "Mr. Belgium" bodybuilding title. He emigrated to the United States in 1982 to pursue a career in film, and achieved success with Bloodsport (1988), based on a story written by Frank Dux. He attained subsequent box office success with Timecop (1994), which grossed over $100 million worldwide and became his most financially successful film.
In a 2009 interview in the British newspaper The Sun, promoting his film JCVD (of which Time magazine said "He deserves not a black belt, but an Oscar"), Van Damme indicated he experienced a period of homelessness "sleeping on the street and starving in L.A."
Van Damme has been married five times, including two marriages with bodybuilder and fitness competitor Gladys Portugues. Van Damme is the father of three children: Kristopher (born 1987), Bianca (born 1990), and Nicholas (born 1995).
In 1977, at the WAKO Open International in Belgium, Van Damme lost a decision to fellow team mate Patrick Teugels. The experience left an impact on Claude Goetz and he felt that Jean-Claude needed more training before competing again.
After six months of intense training and sparring, Master Goetz decided to unleash his prized pupil on the European Full-Contact scene. Jean-Claude won his first tournament by scoring three knockout victories in one evening. However, in a 1978 match for the Belgium lightweight title, he again lost a decision to Patrick Teugels. Once again, the loss left an impact on Claude Goetz and a few months later at Iseghem, Belgium, Van Damme came back and knocked out Emile Leibman in the first round. In 1979, Jean-Claude and the Belgium Team became European Team Champions.
Next, he faced Sherman Bergman, a kickboxer from Florida, USA with a long string of knockout victories. For the only time in his career, Van Damme was knocked to the canvas after absorbing a powerful left hook.
In 1980, Jean-Claude Van Damme defeated former Great Britain karate champion Michael J. Heming. Next, Van Damme scored a knockout over France's Georges Verlugels in two rounds. After these victories, Jean-Claude caught the attention of the European martial arts community. Professional Karate Magazine publisher and editor Mike Anders, and multiple European champion Geet Lemmens tabbed Jean-Claude Van Damme as an upcoming prospect. However, Jean-Claude's ambitions now focused in the direction of acting.
Van Damme ended his fight career at the Forest National in Brussels. He knocked Patrick Teugels down and scored a first round technical knockout victory. Teugels suffered a nose injury and was unable to continue.
Following the victory, Van Damme retired from martial arts competition. However, Van Damme made a comeback in 1981. In his first match he knocked out Henk Besselman of Holland in one round, and at the 1st Journée Des Arts Martiaux, Van Damme knocked out Lenny Leikman in 3 rounds. His final fight record was 20–2 (20 Knockouts), with all wins being knockouts and his two losses being by decision.
Van Damme will make a return to fighting and is scheduled to fight former boxing Olympic gold-medalist Somluck Kamsing in April 2011. Various reports have named Las Vegas, USA, Moscow, Russia and Macau, China as locations for the bout. At the prospect of being the first man over the age of 50 to kickbox professionally, Van Damme stated that "it's kind of dangerous, but life is short."
Double Impact featured Van Damme in the dual role of Alex and Chad Wagner, two brothers fighting to avenge the deaths of their parents. This film reunited him with his former Bloodsport co-star, Bolo Yeung. He then starred opposite Dolph Lundgren in the action film Universal Soldier. While it grossed $36,290 in the U.S., it was an even bigger success overseas, making over $65 million, well over its modest $2 million budget, making it Van Damme's highest grossing film at the time.
Van Damme followed Nowhere To Run and Hard Target with Timecop in 1994. The film was a huge success, grossing over $100 million worldwide. In the film, Van Damme played a time traveling cop, who tries to prevent the death of his wife. It remains his highest grossing film to date.
After his role in the poorly received Street Fighter, his projects started to fail at the box office. The Quest (1996), which he directed; Maximum Risk (1996) and Double Team (1997) were box-office flops.
The 1999 film , was his last theatrically released film until 2008. In 2003, Van Damme employed his dancing training in the music video for Bob Sinclar's Kiss My Eyes.
He returned to mainstream with limited theatrical release of the critically aclaimed film JCVD in 2008. Time magazine named Van Damme's performance in the film the second best of the year (after Heath Ledger's The Joker in The Dark Knight), having previously stated that Van Damme "deserves not a black belt, but an Oscar".
Van Damme reprised his role as Luc Devereaux in the 2010 film .
He was offered a lead role in Sylvester Stallone's latest film The Expendables. Stallone called Van Damme personally to offer him the role, but Van Damme turned it down, citing that he "doesn't want his career going down that route." He has a series of film projects warmed up for 2011, including another Universal Soldier movie which will appear between 2011 and 2012, and the possibility to appear on the sequel to The Expendables.
The Mortal Kombat fighter character Johnny Cage was modeled after Van Damme.
2009: Chlotrudis Awards nomination for Best Actor |- | 2009 || || Luc Deveraux || Limited theatrical release in Israel, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, India, Jordan, Lebanon, Italy, Japan, Pakistan |- | 2010 || The Eagle Path || Frenchy || 2008-2010 Producer, Director and Writer |- |rowspan="4" | 2011 || || Master Croc || First voice over in a theatrical release |- | Weapon || || |- |Rzhevskiy protiv Napoleona || || |- | || Luc Deveraux || Announced |- |}
Interviews
Category:1960 births Category:Living people Category:People from Sint-Agatha-Berchem Category:Belgian expatriates in the United States Category:Belgian film actors Category:Belgian immigrants to the United States Category:Belgian karateka Category:Belgian kickboxers Category:Middleweight kickboxers Category:Belgian Muay Thai practitioners Category:People with bipolar disorder
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| Name | Sophie Ellis-Bextor |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Sophie Michelle Ellis-Bextor |
| Born | April 10, 1979 |
| Origin | London, England |
| Instrument | Guitar, piano, bass guitar, voice |
| Genre | ElectropopDiscoHouse |
| Occupation | Singer, songwriter, model |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Label | Polydor, Fascination |
| Associated acts | Theaudience, Manic Street Preachers, Spiller, The Freemasons, |
| Url | sophieellisbextor.net |
| Notable instruments | Guitar, voice |
Ellis-Bextor has released three solo albums: Read My Lips, Shoot from the Hip, and Trip The Light Fantastic. She is due to release her fourth solo album, Make a Scene, in 2011.
She is the daughter of former Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis. As a young girl, Sophie appeared on several Blue Peter items (with no indication given onscreen that she was Ellis's daughter).
In 2001, Ellis-Bextor released her debut album, Read My Lips. It reached number two on the UK charts and spawned four top-twenty hit singles. Her rework of Cher's "Take Me Home" reached number two, as did "Murder on the Dancefloor", which became Ellis-Bextor's biggest single and was on charts for twenty-three weeks. "Murder on the Dancefloor" became Europe's most played song of 2002. In 2002, Read My Lips was re-released with two new songs (and a live version of "Groovejet") and Ellis-Bextor won the Recording Artist Award at that year's Showbusiness Awards. Her third single, "Get Over You"/"Move This Mountain", was released in June 2002 and reached number three. The fourth single, "Music Gets the Best of Me", rose to number fourteen in December. At the beginning of 2002, Ellis-Bextor was nominated for the "British Female Solo Artist" BRIT Award, going on to be nominated for a further two consecutive years.
Her third album, entitled Trip the Light Fantastic, was released in May 2007 and debuted at number seven on the UK Albums Chart. Fred Schneider of The B-52s, Richard Barone (formerly of The Bongos), Shelly Poole (formerly of Alisha's Attic), Cathy Dennis and Kerin Smith (formerly of Theaudience) contributed to produce an album of disco-pop music. Before the album, two singles were released: "Catch You", which charted in the UK at number eight, and "Me and My Imagination (number twenty-three). Trip the Light Fantastic was certified Gold in July 2008, for selling 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom. The third single, "Today the Sun's on Us", debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number sixty-four.
Ellis-Bextor supported George Michael on his UK tour leg in June 2007. Her own UK tour, the Trip the Light Fantastic Tour, was due to start in August 2007, but it was postponed after Ellis-Bextor was invited to be the "special guest" on the forthcoming Take That European Tour, which commenced in October 2007. Ellis-Bextor stated that her tour would be re-scheduled for March 2008, with all tickets purchased being valid for the rescheduled concerts. The tour was never re-scheduled, and Ellis-Bextor subsequently refused to discuss the issue in interviews. In September 2007, Ellis-Bextor took part in Sopot Festival 2007 in Poland, representing the UK.
The song "If I Can't Dance" was announced as a single but later retracted, as was "Love Is Here"; Ellis-Bextor was supposed to release a single in late November to promote a greatest hits album, but the release date was pushed back to March 2008, and subsequently cancelled. However, "If I Can't Dance" was released in Spain as the second single following "Me and My Imagination". The song has appeared on several compilations such as Supermodelo 2008 CD and Disco Estrella 2008.
In November 2008, Ellis-Bextor confirmed her next single would be "Sophia Loren", which was used in a Rimmel London ad campaign in which she also starred, but a single release never materialised. In August 2009, she released a five-track live EP from the 2009 iTunes London Festival, during which she performed previous singles of hers and a new track, "Starlight" (not included on the EP). Freemasons worked with Ellis-Bextor for their album Shakedown 2 on "Heartbreak (Make Me a Dancer)", which was released as a single in June 2009 and peaked at number thirteen in the UK. Ellis-Bextor performed at Birmingham's Nightingale Club in January 2010.
Ellis-Bextor's fourth album, titled Make a Scene, is to be released in 2011. Calvin Harris has contributed two songs, "Calling It Love" and "Off and On", an outtake from Róisín Murphy's 2007 album Overpowered written with Cathy Dennis; he also remixed "Off and On" for club play. At one point, "Off and On" had been chosen as the second single from the album. She also worked with Armin van Buuren ("Not Giving Up on Love"), Richard X ("Magic", "Starlight"), Groove Armada, The Hoosiers, Dimitri Tikovoi, Hannah Robinson, Metronomy, and Matt Prime and Liam Howe from the Sneaker Pimps.
The first single from the album, "Bittersweet" (co-written by Freemasons and Hannah Robinson), was released in May 2010 and reached number twenty-five on the UK Singles Chart. "Not Giving Up on Love" was released as the second single from the album, on 20 August 2010 in Europe, and made available worldwide on iTunes.
In 2006, her track "Dear Jimmy" was released on the Popjustice compilation. It is believed to have been recorded in the same sessions as those for her third studio album, Trip The Light Fantastic, and was originally intended for use as the B-side to her single Catch You.
In October 2008, Ellis-Bextor covered the Dolly Parton song "Jolene"; the track was released on the soundtrack to the BBC2 sitcom Beautiful People.
In early November 2008, Ellis-Bextor recorded a track with the French DJ Junior Caldera, and the song's title is "Can't Fight This Feeling", released in 2009. However, the release of the single was put on "jeopardy", as Junior Caldera released it as the fourth single from his first album "Début". A fan made video with the radio edit of the song was released on YouTube in 24 February 2009, and reached #78 Top Favorited in France the same day. The single was released in February 2010, in France, and was a Top 20 hit in the country. The Armin van Buuren track "Not Giving Up On Love" features Sophie's vocals.
An advocate for animal rights, she posed for PETA's anti–fur clothing advertisement. She is also currently fronting a campaign for The Children's Society encouraging people to log onto the Hundreds and Thousands of Childhood Memories Website to donate their favourite childhood memory.
She auditioned for the 2001 movie Moulin Rouge! for the part of Satine.In May 2008 Ellis-Bextor was hired by cosmetics brand Rimmel as one of their new faces. A new song performed by Ellis-Bextor is featured in one of the Rimmel London' spot for the line "Sexy Curves". Ellis-Bextor is appearing as an advocate for Verdi on BBC World News classical music programme Visionaries in August 2008. Ellis-Bextor performed live at Manchester's Gay Pride, on 23 August 2008, having just arrived back from Moscow. On 24 August 2008, Ellis-Bextor performed a live cover version of Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better" outside Buckingham Palace as part of the Visa London 2012 Handover Party in the Mall.
Ellis-Bextor and her husband Richard Jones will be launching a DJ club project, called "Modern Love" in London.Ellis-Bextor and her mother Janet Ellis appeared on Channel 4's game show The Million Pound Drop Live playing for charity. They made it to the final question, however they lost but £5000 was donated to their chosen charity.
Category:1979 births Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Living people Category:English female singers Category:English songwriters Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English dance musicians Category:English pop musicians Category:Fascination Records artists Category:LGBT rights activists from the United Kingdom Category:Old Dolphins Category:Polydor Records artists Category:Disco musicians
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| Name | Christian Burns |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Christian Anthony Burns |
| Born | January 18, 1974Wigan, United Kingdom |
| Instrument | Singing, Acoustic/Electric Guitar |
| Genre | Pop |
| Occupation | Singer, songwriter |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Associated acts | BBMak, Tiësto, Armin Van Buuren |
Christian Burns (born Christian Anthony Burns on January 18, 1974 in Wigan) is an English musician and the son of Tony Burns of "The Signs", a Liverpool-based rock band signed to Decca Records in the 1960s.
In 2003, the band broke up, and all the members went on to pursue solo careers. Since then Burns has been collaborating with other artists and dance projects. In 2007, he worked with Tiësto on the track "In the Dark", for the album Elements of Life. He also collaborated with a Dutch based dance project, Allure, on the track entitled "Power of You".
He has also collaborated with Benny Benassi, on the song "Love and Motion", and American singer, Jes Brieden, on the song 'As We Collide'.
He is featured heavily on BT's 2010 album These Hopeful Machines, co-writing the songs "Suddenly", "The Emergency", and "Forget Me". He provides lead vocals on "Suddenly" and backing vocals on "The Emergency", "Forget Me."
He also has upcoming tracks with Richard Durand "Night & Day", also Armin Van Buuren's "This Light Between Us" taken from his album " Mirage" released in September 2010. Other collaborations include tracks by David Guetta, Matt Darey, Sebastian Ingrosso, and Dirty South.
He is currently in a new band called The Bleach Works, and is due to release a new album in 2011.
Category:1974 births Category:BBMak members Category:English male singers Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Liverpool
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| Name | Blind Guardian |
|---|---|
| Landscape | Yes |
| Background | group_or_band |
| Origin | Krefeld, Germany |
| Genre | Power metal, progressive metal, speed metal |
| Years active | 1984–present |
| Label | No Remorse, Virgin, Century Media, Nuclear Blast |
| Associated acts | Demons & Wizards, Gamma Ray, Helloween, Iced Earth, Iron Savior, Savage Circus, Schattentantz, Power Quest |
| Url | Official website |
| Current members | Hansi KürschAndré OlbrichMarcus SiepenFrederik Ehmke |
| Past members | Thomas "Thomen" StauchMarkus DörkChristof TheißenHans-Peter Frey |
The band's lyrics, written by vocalist Hansi Kürsch, are inspired by the fiction of fantasy authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien, Stephen King, and Michael Moorcock, as well as traditional legends and epics. Over the years, a running theme has developed associating the band members with travelling bards.
After Lucifer's Heritage signed a contract with No Remorse Records, the band changed their name to Blind Guardian to avoid any speculations about Satanism (in a bio it was stated that they also wanted to distance themselves from the black metal movement, as their demos were placed in with black metal albums at local record shops). They released their debut album Battalions of Fear in 1988, which was essentially a speed metal album heavily influenced by Helloween. These two German bands had close ties, and Helloween founder Kai Hansen made a guest appearance on Blind Guardian's second LP, Follow the Blind (1989), where the band revealed some thrash metal influence. Their third LP, Tales from the Twilight World (1990), had a much more melodic and "epic" feeling, with usage of choir and classical music influence.
Blind Guardian signed with Virgin Records in 1991, and released their fourth studio album Somewhere Far Beyond in 1992 and the live album Tokyo Tales in 1993. Flemming Rasmussen, former Metallica producer, began working with the band in 1994, producing their fifth studio album Imaginations from the Other Side, released in 1995, and The Forgotten Tales, an album that contained half covers and half original work, released in 1996.
In 1998, Blind Guardian released their epic album Nightfall in Middle-Earth. "Complete with anthemic choruses, spoken word story lines, and plenty of bombastic power metal punctuating every dramatic turn", says Allmusic's Vincent Jeffries, "Nightfall in Middle-Earth is perhaps Blind Guardian's most triumphant". A concept album based on J. R. R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion, Though not a true concept album, many of the lyrics dealt with the common themes of religion and relations between human and divine powers. It was followed by a live album in 2003 and a DVD, Imaginations Through the Looking Glass (2004), which was the last recorded Blind Guardian material to feature Thomen Stauch on drums. He left the band due to musical differences and was replaced by Frederik Ehmke. The first album with Ehmke was A Twist in the Myth, which came out in 2006.
Blind Guardian recently participated in the soundtrack for the fantasy movie (Uwe Boll), which came out in 2008. The band also recorded a theme song for Sacred 2 Fallen Angel RPG video game, the prequel to Sacred.
A Voice in the Dark was the next single from Blind Guardian that was released 25 June 2010. On July 30, 2010 the album followed, called At the Edge of Time. The band started "The Sacred Worlds and Songs Divine Tour 2010", the European dates will have the opening acts Enforcer and Steelwing. The 22 October in Gothenburg, Sweden only Steelwing was the opening act. The US dates will have Holy Grail and Seven Kingdoms and later they were announced that they would play at Wacken Open Air in 2011.
Blind Guardian's music features the staccato guitars and double bass drumming characteristic of power metal, as well as the use of overdubs and numerous backing vocals to create a dense sound. This technique, especially notable in the guitar and vocal tracks, creates the impression of a vast army of musicians playing in unison and singing in harmony. This proved significant on all albums after the first two but most particularly on A Night at the Opera.
Another definitive feature of Blind Guardian music is frequent use of folk tunes and instruments, especially in power ballads such as "Lord of the Rings", "The Bard's Song", "A Past and Future Secret", "Skalds and Shadows" and "Curse My Name", among others.
Blind Guardian have been working on and off for eight years on an orchestral project writing music about The Lord of the Rings (negotiations failed to be included on the famous The Lord of the Rings film trilogy as the soundtrack, because the band wanted to concentrate on their next album). Although it will not be a power metal album, it will be published under the name of Blind Guardian because it matches the theme of the band's lyrics, according to Hansi.
With:
Category:1980s music groups Category:1990s music groups Category:2000s music groups Category:2010s music groups Category:German power metal musical groups Category:Middle-earth music Category:Musical groups established in 1984 Category:Musical quartets Category:Speed metal musical groups
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