A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many ballads were written and sold as single sheet broadsides. The form was often used by poets and composers from the 18th century onwards to produce lyrical ballads. In the later 19th century it took on the meaning of a slow form of popular love song and the term is now often used as synonymous with any love song, particularly the pop or rock power ballad. of the ballad The Twa Corbies]]

Origins

The ballad probably derives its name from medieval French dance songs or "ballares" (from which we also get ballet), as did the alternative rival form that became the French Ballade. In theme and function they may originate from Scandinavian and Germanic traditions of storytelling that can be seen in poems such as Beowulf. The earliest example we have of a recognisable ballad in form in England is ‘Judas’ in a 13th-century manuscript.

The ballad form

Most, but not all, northern and west European ballads are written in ballad stanzas or quatrains (four-line stanzas) of alternating lines of iambic (an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable) tetrameter (eight syllables) and iambic trimeter (six syllables), known as ballad meter. Usually, only the second and fourth line of a quatrain are rhymed (in the scheme a, b, c, b), which has been taken to suggest that, originally, ballads consisted of couplets (two lines) of rhymed verse, each of fourteen syllables. As can be seen in this stanza from ‘Lord Thomas and Fair Annet’:

The horse| fair Ann|et rode| upon| He amb|led like| the wind|, With sil|ver he| was shod| before, With burn|ing gold| behind|.

In all traditions most ballads are narrative in nature, with a self contained story, often concise and relying on imagery, rather than description, which can be tragic, historical, romantic or comic. More recently scholars have pointed to the interchange of oral and written forms of the ballad.

Classification

to Young Bekie.]] European Ballads have been generally classified into three major groups: traditional, broadside and literary. In America a distinction is drawn between ballads that are versions of European, particularly British and Irish songs, and 'native American ballads', developed without reference to earlier songs. A further development was the evolution of the blues ballad, which mixed the genre with Afro-American music. For the late nineteenth century the music publishing industry found a market for what are often termed sentimental ballads, and these are the origin of the modern use of the term ballad to mean a slow love song.

Traditional ballads

The traditional, classical or popular (meaning of the people) ballad has been seen as originating with the wandering minstrels of late medieval Europe.

Early collections of ballads were made by Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) and in the Roxburghe Ballads collected by Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer (1661–1724).

There have been many different and contradictory attempts to classify traditional ballads by theme, but commonly identified types are the religious, supernatural, tragic, love ballads, historic, legendary and humorous. They were produced in huge numbers, with over 400,000 being sold in England annually by the 1660s. Many were sold by travelling chapmen in city streets or at fairs. The subject matter varied from what has been defined as the traditional ballad, although many traditional ballads were printed as broadsides. Among the topics were love, religion, drinking-songs, legends, and early journalism, which included disasters, political events and signs, wonders and prodigies.

Literary ballads

Literary or lyrical ballads grew out of an increasing interest in the ballad form among social elites and intellectuals, particularly in the Romantic movement from the later eighteenth century. Respected literary figures like Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott in Scotland both collected and wrote their own ballads, using the form to create an artistic product. Similarly in England William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge produced a collection of Lyrical Ballads in 1798, including Coleridge’s ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’. At the same time in Germany Goethe cooperated with Schiller on a series of ballads, some of which were later set to music by Schubert. Later important examples of the poetic form included Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Barrack Room Ballads’ (1892-6) and Oscar Wilde’s ‘Ballad of Reading Gaol’ (1897).

Ballad operas

, c. 1728]]In the eighteenth century ballad operas developed as a form of English stage entertainment, partly in opposition to the Italian domination of the London operatic scene. It consisted of racy and often satirical spoken (English) dialogue, interspersed with songs that are deliberately kept very short to minimize disruptions to the flow of the story. Subject matter involved the lower, often criminal, orders, and typically showed a suspension (or inversion) of the high moral values of the Italian opera of the period. The first, most important and successful was The Beggar's Opera of 1728, with a libretto by John Gay and music arranged by John Christopher Pepusch, both of whom probably influenced by Parisian vaudeville and the burlesques and musical plays of Thomas D'Urfey (1653–1723), a number of whose collected ballads they used in their work. Gay produced further works in this style, including a sequel under the title Polly. Henry Fielding, Colley Cibber, Arne, Dibdin, Arnold, Shield, Jackson of Exeter, Hook and many others produced ballad operas that enjoyed great popularity. Ballad opera was attempted in America and Prussia. Later it moved into a more pastoral form, like Isaac Bickerstaffe's Love in a Village (1763) and Shield’s Rosina (1781), using more original music that imitated, rather than reproduced, existing ballads. Although the form declined in popularity towards the end of the eighteenth century its influence can be seen in light operas like that of Gilbert and Sullivan's early works like The Sorcerer. In the twentieth century, one of the most influential plays, Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's (1928) The Threepenny Opera was a reworking of The Beggar's Opera, setting a similar story with the same characters, and containing much of the same satirical bite, but only using one tune from the original. The term ballad opera has also been used to describe musicals using folk music, such as The Martins and the Coys in 1944, and Peter Bellamy's The Transports in 1977. The satiric elements of ballad opera can be seen in some modern musicals such as Chicago and Cabaret.

Beyond Europe

Native American ballads

Native American ballads are ballads that are native to North America (not to be confused with ballads performed by native Americans). Examples include ‘The Streets of Laredo’, which was found in Britain and Ireland as ‘The Unfortunate Rake’; however, a further 400 have been identified as originating in north America, including among the best known, ‘The Ballad of Davy Crockett' and 'Jesse James'. The nineteenth century was the golden age of bush ballads. Several collectors have catalogued the songs including John Meredith whose recording in the 1950s became the basis of the collection in the National Library of Australia. The songs tell personal stories of life in the wide open country of Australia. Typical subjects include mining, raising and droving cattle, sheep shearing, wanderings, war stories, the 1891 Australian shearers' strike, class conflicts between the landless working class and the squatters (landowners), and outlaws such as Ned Kelly, as well as love interests and more modern fare such as trucking.

Sentimental ballads

Now the most commonly understood meaning of the term ballad, sentimental ballads, sometimes called "tear-jerkers" or "drawing-room ballads" owing to their popularity with the middle classes, had their origins in the early ‘Tin Pan Alley’ music industry of the later nineteenth century. They were generally sentimental, narrative, strophic songs published separately or as part of an opera (descendants perhaps of broadside ballads, but with printed music, and usually newly composed. Such songs include ‘Little Rosewood Casket’ (1870), ‘After the Ball’ (1892) and ‘Danny Boy’. By the 1920s, composers of Tin Pan Alley and Broadway used ballad to signify a slow, sentimental tune or love song, often written in a fairly standardized form (see below). Jazz musicians sometimes broaden the term still further to embrace all slow-tempo pieces.

Jazz, blues and traditional pop

As new genres of music, such as ragtime, blues and jazz, began to emerge in the early twentieth century the popularity of the genre faded, but the association with sentimentality led to the term ballad being used for a slow love song from the 1950s onwards. Other key traditional pop and jazz ballads include: "Body and Soul" by Johnny Green; "Misty" by Erroll Garner; "The Man I Love" by George Gershwin; "My Funny Valentine" by Rodgers and Hart, "God Bless the Child" by Billie Holiday, "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" by Cole Porter, the instrumental ballad "Naima" by John Coltrane, "In a Sentimental Mood" by Duke Ellington and "Always" by Irving Berlin.

Pop and rock ballads

s.]] The most common use of the term ballad in modern pop music is for an emotional love song. When the word ballad appears in the title of a song, as for example in The Beatles's "The Ballad of John and Yoko" or Billy Joel's "The Ballad of Billy the Kid", the folk-music sense is generally implied. Ballad is also sometimes applied to strophic story-songs more generally, such as Don McLean's "American Pie".

Power ballads

Simon Frith identifies the origins of the power ballad in the emotional singing of soul artists, particularly Ray Charles and the adaption of this style by figures such as Eric Burdon, Tom Jones and Joe Cocker to produce slow tempo songs often building to a loud and emotive chorus backed by drums, electric guitars and sometimes choirs. He argues that the power ballad broke into the mainstream of American consciousness in 1976 as FM radio gave a new lease of life to earlier songs like Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" (1971), Aerosmith's "Dream On" (1973), and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" (1974). Scorpions "Still Loving You", (all from 1984), Heart’s "What About Love" (1985) and Whitesnake's "Is This Love" (1987).

See also

Border ballads

Francis James Child

Corrido — a form of ballad originating in northern Mexico and the U.S. southwest

Graves, Alfred Perceval

List of rock ballads

List of the Child Ballads

List of Irish ballads

List of folk song collections

Murder ballad

Roud Folk Song Index

Song structure (popular music)

Torch song

Notes

References and further reading

Middleton, Richard. "Popular Music (I)". Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (subscription required). Accessed 2007-04-06.

Randel, Don (1986). The New Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-61525-5.

Temperley, Nicholas. "Ballad (II, 2)". Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (subscription required). Accessed 2007-04-06.

Witmer, Robert. "Ballad (jazz)". Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (subscription required). Accessed 2007-04-06.

Marcello Sorce Keller, "Sul castel di mirabel: Life of a Ballad in Oral Tradition and Choral Practice", Ethnomusicology, XXX(1986), no. 3, 449- 469.

External links

The Ballad Society of Japan

The British Literary Ballads Archive

The Bodleian Library Ballad Collection: view facsimiles of printed ballads

The English Broadside Ballad Archive: searchable database of ballad images, citations, and recordings

Welsh Ballads Website

The Traditional Ballad Index

Black-letter Broadside Ballads Of The years 1595-1639 From the Collection of Samuel Pepys

Smithsonian Global Sound: The Music of Poetry — audio samples of poems, hymns and songs in ballad meter.

The Oxford Book of Ballads, complete 1910 book by Arthur Quiller-Couch

Great Rock Ballads

Category:Folk music Category:Poetic form Category:Song forms Category:Jazz techniques Category:Radio formats

Coordinates	52°47′″N18°43′″N
Name	Sebastian Bach
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Sebastian Philip Bierk
Born	April 03, 1968Freeport, Bahamas
Origin	Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
Instrument	Vocals
Genre	Heavy metal, hard rock, glam metal, progressive metal, country rock
Occupation	Singer, Songwriter
Years active	1985–present
Associated acts	Skid Row Frameshift, Damnocracy, Guns N Roses, Winter Rose

Sebastian Bach (born April 3, 1968) is a Canadian Heavy metal singer, best known as ex-frontman of Skid Row.

Early life

Bach was born Sebastian Philip Bierk on April 3, 1968 in Freeport, Bahamas, and raised in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. He attended nearby Lakefield College School. He is of Norwegian, French Canadian, and Native American descent. Bach's father was the visual artist David Bierk. He is the brother of retired NHL goaltender Zac Bierk, model/actress Heather Dylan Bierk and Toronto based artists Jeff, Nick Alex and Charles Bierk.

Career

Skid Row

In the late eitghties Skid Row did not have a singer, but guitarist Dave Sabo was childhood friends with Jon Bon Jovi and the two had an agreement that if one of them made it big, they would bring the other one up with them. Bon Jovi made it big and still had full intentions of coming through on his promise. Bach was spotted singing at rock photographer Mark Weiss's wedding. Skid Row asked him to join which he first turned down. After hearing a demo tape of "Youth Gone Wild" and "18 and Life" he changed his mind. He sent them a demo of him singing the song Saved By Love. They loved it and flew him to New Jersey where they began playing gigs. Sebastian also recorded demos with Bon Jovi & Sabo's friend Jack Ponti. (The song She's On Top later came out on Jack Ponti Vol. 1)

In 1989, Bach was heavily criticized for wearing a t-shirt on stage that a fan had thrown to him before he could read it, with the slogan "AIDS Kills Fags Dead" emblazoned on it, (a parody of the insecticide ad slogan, "Raid: Kills Bugs Dead") after realizing what was on the shirt he reportedly took it off and threw it away. Although he made light of the incident in his original apology (stating that he would've been offended by someone mocking his grandmothers' then-recent death with a "Cancer Kills Grandmas Dead" shirt) Bach has since repeatedly apologized for and disavowed the statement, "That was really stupid and wrong for me to wear that for one half-hour in my life. What nobody brings up is in 2000, when I was in Jekyll & Hyde, and at an auction for Broadway Cares, I donated $12,000 of my own money to fight AIDS."

In 1990, Bach performed with Guns N' Roses and Metallica, on the same stage, at a party held by RIP Magazine, the improvised name for the band was: The Gak.

Bach was eventually fired when he booked a show where Skid Row would have opened for KISS in 1996. Other band members told Bach that Skid Row was too big to be an opening act and that they weren't going to do the show. Bach then left a message on a bandmate's answering machine telling him that you´re never too big to open up for KISS, and subsequently left the band.

Post-Skid Row

In 1993, Bach provided vocals for Triumph's "Rock N' Roll Machine" during the Q107 Hall of Fame broadcast.

In 1996, Bach formed a rock band called The Last Hard Men, with Frogs guitarist Jimmy Flemion, The Breeders lead guitarist Kelley Deal, and Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The group recorded a full-length, self-titled album for Atlantic Records, who then opted not to release it. In 1998 it was released on Kelley Deal's label, Nice Records, with no fanfare and a very limited pressing of 1000 CDs. This run may have been sold via mail order only. The album has since been rereleased and can be purchased commercially.

In 2000, Bach began performing in Broadway productions. He made his Broadway debut with the title role in Jekyll & Hyde in April 2000. Although originally only contracted through early September, Bach received good reviews and was asked to extend until October 15. Replacing him was David Hasselhoff, whom Bach mentored slightly during rehearsals. He also appeared as Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show in 2001. On November 28, 2001 Bach appeared at New York Steel, a benefit concert held in response to 9/11. He appeared early in the show, left to perform on Broadway, and returned at the end when all performers gathered for a final song.

In early 2002, he became the host of VH1's Forever Wild. In October that same year, Bach was signed to perform in the national touring production of Jesus Christ Superstar, playing the title role alongside JCS veteran Carl Anderson (who reprised his familiar role from Broadway and film of Judas Iscariot). On April 2003, following a disagreement with the director, Bach was fired for alleged diva-like behavior. He has said if he ever did the show again, he would like to try the role of Judas next time. A DVD video of live performances called Forever Wild was released in June 2004. That same year, he reprised the title role(s) in another showing of Jekyll and Hyde.

Sometime in 2003, Bach tried out for Velvet Revolver before the band found Scott Weiland, but was turned down because, according to Slash, "We sounded like Skid Roses!"

From 2004 to 2007, Bach had a recurring role on the WB television show Gilmore Girls as "Gil", the lead guitarist in Lane Kim's band, Hep Alien.

In 2005, Bach cooperated with Henning Pauly to be the singer on the Frameshift album called An Absence of Empathy, which was released in April 2005.

He still performs with his band, Sebastian Bach (formerly noted as Bach Tight Five and Sebastian Bach and Friends). Members of Bach Tight Five lived with him and his family as recently documented on VH1's "I Married ...Sebastian Bach", one of the "I Married ..." series. Stars also included Dee Snider, of the rock band, Twisted Sister.

On May 12 and May 14, 2006 at the Guns N' Roses' warmup show at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, Bach joined Axl Rose on stage for the song "My Michelle"..... He joined Rose and gang for a third time the following night (May 15) to sing "My Michelle" once again. He also joined them for their Pre-Download Festival show in the Apollo Hammersmith, London, singing My Michelle. Rose introduced Bach by saying that the two had rekindled their friendship in the previous week after 13 years of not speaking. On June 4, 9 & 11 he again joined Rose on stage at the 2006 Gods of Metal Festival (Milan), Download Festival in RDS Dublin and in Donington, respectively. He also appeared on several other tour dates during GN'R's European tour. On September 23, 2006, he joined Axl on stage once again at KROQ's Inland Invasion festival in California for a rendition of "My Michelle". On July 30, 2006, Bach filled in for an ailing Axl Rose for “Nightrain” and the encore “Paradise City". He has also recently performed backing vocals on the song "Sorry", from Guns N' Roses new 2008 album Chinese Democracy.

Bach toured as an opening act for GNR's "Chinese Democracy Tour" 2009-2010, and performed "My Michelle" with Axl Rose in Quebec City on February 1, 2010.)

On January 5, 2011, he was featured on NBC's Jimmy Fallon Show in a live performance and a subsequent video of "We Are The Ducks", a power ballad written for University of Oregon Ducks, set to play in the BCS national championship game Monday, January 10th 2011.

SuperGroup And Relaunch Into The Rock Scene

Bach starred with Ted Nugent, Evan Seinfeld, Jason Bonham and Scott Ian on the VH1 show Supergroup as of May 2006. The musicians formed a band called Damnocracy for the reality show, during which they lived in a mansion in Las Vegas for twelve days and created music.

The most well known moment from Supergroup was in the show's 4th episode, in which, after the rest of the band agrees on the name "Godwar", Bach suddenly conceives the name "Savage Animal", which he becomes obsessed with, and continues to insist to his band mates and other officials that "rolls off his tongue" and that "Rock N' Roll is a Savage Animal". It is not until the band's final meeting where Bach himself comes up with the name "Damnocracy" that "Savage Animal" is forgotten. It has been parodied on websites including YTMND and Blabbermouth and there are even T-Shirts for sale which parody the instance. Despite this leading to Bach's public portrayal as sort of a dopey musician, he took the fanfare following the name very lightly and even performed a concert with Scott Ian and other members of Anthrax, performing Damnocracy music, under the name "Savage Animal" and has since dubbed his own backing band "Savage Animal".

Bach had by far more turbulent relationships than anyone else on the show. He had a very mixed relationship with the bands publicists and manager Doc McGhee. He for the most part got along very well with Evan Seinfeld (who had been his friend previously) despite quite a few rocky turns involving Bach's alcohol problems. He appeared to be friendly with Scott Ian and Jason Bonham, although Bonham in particular expressed distaste with his sometimes erratic behavior. Despite this, Bach became very close to Ted Nugent, who he had listened to since childhood and looked up to as a father figure, going as far as to put Nugent in the role of his deceased father. However, at a November 5, 2006 Guns N' Roses concert in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Bach referred to a SuperGroup episode where he promised Ted he would quit drinking, and claimed that he had lied. Bach had previously said that he had taken offense at disparaging comments Nugent had made about Dimebag Darrell. In 2008 Bach and Nugent reconciled their relationship, and Bach regained his sobriety.

On September 13, 2006, during a show at Selinas in Sydney, Bach stormed off stage during the encore. After two earlier similar incidents, Bach had warned the crowd that the throwing of any more plastic bottles and/or cans onto the stage would lead to him walking off. As the encore began (Youth Gone Wild), Bach was hit by a plastic cup, threw down the mic and left the stage.

On September 28, 2006, he appeared on Celebrity Duets singing with Hal Sparks. Bach later was on the road with Guns N' Roses, touring around the world until late 2006.

In 2007, on an episode of the Trailer Park Boys season seven titled Friends of the Road, Bach played himself as a celebrity guest hosting a model train convention. He later meets Ricky and Julian in a parking lot to smoke marijuana. In episode "Going Off the Rails On the Swayze Train" in the same season, Bach returns as the accomplice on the American side of the border helping to facilitate a drug deal over the border.

During beginning of June 2007 Bach headlined a tour of Japan, playing to Japanese fans in Nagoya, Osaka and 2 nights in Tokyo. His touring band consisted of "Metal" Mike Chlasciak on guitar, Johnny Chromatic on guitar, Rob De Luca on bass and Jason West on drums filling in for the injured Bobby Jarzombek. After the Japanese tour, his band supported the Australian & New Zealand Guns N' Roses 'Chinese Democracy' tour.

Bach announced a partnership record label with EMI to jointly create a label owned by Bach, including his album Angel Down, which was released on November 20, 2007. Bach also recorded backing vocals for a track on Guns N' Roses' long-delayed album, Chinese Democracy, which was released on November 23, 2008.

Bach appeared on an MTV television show, Celebrity Rap Superstar. Celebrity Rap Superstar involves eight celebrities, one being Bach, hailing from the worlds of music, TV, film, sports and more to compete in a winner-takes-all rap contest. The show began on August 30, 2007 with Bach performing "Mama said Knock You Out" with coaching help from rapper Kurupt. Soon after this appearance, a remix was posted on YouTube that brought a possible rap career-move into question. During the third episode of the show, Bach worked an announcement of the upcoming "Angel Down" CD into his original composed rap, and also mentioned his team-up with Axl Rose. He managed to finish in third place losing to runner up Playboy model and The Girls Next Door star Kendra Wilkinson and to Shar Jackson, who was crowned the first Celebrity Rap Superstar on the show.

Sebastian Bach spent the summer of 2008 playing with Poison and Dokken. He also did a solo Australian tour in May & has been working on new songs with Jamey Jasta from HATEBREED, for the follow up to his Angel Down CD.

Sebastian Bach was also the winner of the second season of the CMT reality show, Gone Country."

On May 6, 2008, Sebastian Bach was interviewed on The Buckethead Show on Tampa's 98 Rock radio station about the rumors concering him being considered for the position of lead singer in Velvet Revolver, after the split from Scott Weiland. He said that he actually spoke to Slash recently, but also that joining Velvet Revolver will be very awkward for him and unlikely, stating he prefers his latest solo record Angel Down material to the songs on all of Velvet Revolver's records, and that since he is very good friends with Axl Rose, he said he would feel uncomfortable to sing Axl's songs (referring to Guns N' Roses covers that the band performs on live shows), although he finished off with saying:

"I love Guns N' Roses material, but I've got my own old songs — Skid Row — so for me, it would all depend on music. I wouldn't just join the band just to join the band. If we came up with some incredible new songs, then maybe I'd think about it."

Bach confirmed in an interview with the band that he does not want the Velvet Revolver gig due to his close relationship with Axl Rose."

In an interview published on July 23, when asked about the future, Bach said "I've got four songs that I'm working on with Jamey; who knows what will happen with that, but I make whatever music I want to make, and when you ask what's in the future, I don't look at other bands for inspiration or whatever. I don't follow trends, I'm not a trendy guy, but the biggest bands right now in 2008 have been doing it their whole lives, like the Rolling Stones, Judas Priest, Heaven and Hell, Ozzy, Van Halen is the biggest band in America now, the Police, Genesis, Aerosmith, Mötley Crüe for that matter. They've all been doing it way longer than me, and if all those bands I've just mentioned are still rockin', I'm just getting warmed up compared to them (laughs)."

in 2010]] Bach released his first single to the airwaves of "Battle With The Bottle", which is now airing across America on CMT and Country Radio Stations everywhere.

Bach was set to open up for Guns N' Roses along with Danko Jones on the Canadian dates of their upcoming tour.

Sebastian Bach is featured in the latest season of Celebrity Fit Club that premiered on February 15, 2010. Bach joins the cast which includes Kevin Federline, Bobby Brown, and others.

Sebastian Bach appears as himself in the 2010 rock documentary, . As a fellow Canadian, Bach describes the various influences Rush has had upon his life and the lives of other musicians.

Personal life

Bach and his wife, Maria Bierk, have three children: sons Paris and London and daughter Sebastiana (born 2007). Paris was formerly the drummer of Thrash Metal band Severed Hand; Severed Hand opened up for Bach on occasion and were also featured on the VH1 special I Married Sebastian Bach. On the 31th December 2010 Bach informed fans on his Facebook page that he and Maria separated in April and were going to file for divorce in 2011.

Solo band members

Current

Nick Sterling - lead and rhythm guitar (2009–present)

Johnny Chromatic - lead and rhythm guitar (2006–present)

Rob DeLuca - bass (2006–present)

Bobby Jarzombek - drums (2006–present)

Former

"Metal" Mike Chlasciak - guitar (2006–2008)

Steve DiGiorgio - bass guitar (Angel Down (2005 ~2007)

Discography

With Kid Wikkid

1985 Kid Wikkid / "Maple Metal" / LP & cassette / Attic Records / "Take A Look At Me"/ Canada

With Skid Row

Basement Tapes (rare demo) (1988)

Skid Row (1989)

Slave to the Grind (1991)

B-Side Ourselves (EP) (1992)

Subhuman Race (1995)

Subhuman Beings on Tour (EP) (1995)

(1998)

Hi-Five (EP) (2005)

With The Last Hard Men

Scream – "School's Out" (1996)

The Last Hard Men (1997)

Solo

Bring 'Em Bach Alive! (November 2, 1999)

(2001)

Finding My Way (April 1, 2005)

Angel Down (November 20, 2007)

2011: Country Album (TBA)

2011: Rock Album (TBA)

With Frameshift

An Absence of Empathy (2005)

Guest appearances

Trouble Walkin' Ace Frehley (1989)

Believe in Me Duff McKagan (1993)

(2000)

Twisted Forever - A Tribute To The Legendary Twisted Sister(2001)

''Soundtrack Of A Soul Liberty N' Justice "Another Nail" (2006)

'' Liberty N' Justice "Another Nail" (2008)

Chinese Democracy (Guns N' Roses) – Backing Vocals on "Sorry" (2008)

Trailer Park Boys Season 7 (2007)

Videos

Oh Say Can You Scream (1991)

No Frills Video (1993)

''Road Kill (1993)

Forever Wild (2004)''

''Road Rage (2008)

''Battle With The Bottle (2008)

Stage work

Jekyll & Hyde – Dr. Henry Jekyll / Edward Hyde (2000)

The Rocky Horror Show – Riff Raff (2001)

Jesus Christ Superstar – Jesus of Nazareth (2002–2003)

Jekyll & Hyde – Dr. Henry Jekyll / Edward Hyde (2004) Raleigh Memorial Auditorium in Raleigh, North Carolina

Filmography

Kiss Loves You (2004) (TV)

Point Doom (1999)

(Don't Fear) The Reaper (2001)

VH1's STRANGE FREQUENCY

"Gilmore Girls" (2003–2007) || Gil

"Trailer Park Boys" (2007) || (TV)

"Robot Chicken" (2008) || (TV) "Wildman"

"Z Rock (TV series)" (2008) || (TV) Himself

"Celebrity Fit Club (U.S. TV series)" (2010) || (TV) Himself

"" (2010) || (film) Himself

"SpongeBob and the Clash of Triton" (2010) || (TV) Triton

References

External links

Official Site

Category:1968 births Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Glam metal musicians Category:Alumni of Lakefield College School Category:Canadian rock singers Category:Living people Category:People from Peterborough, Ontario Category:Skid Row (American band) members Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:Canadian heavy metal singers Category:Bahamian people of European descent Category:Canadian people of Norwegian descent Category:Celebrity Fit Club participants

Coordinates	52°47′″N18°43′″N
Name	Lady Gaga
Img alt	Portrait of a young, pale-skinned Caucasian female with blond hair
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta
Born	March 28, 1986New York City, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, piano, synthesizer, keytar
Genre	Pop, dance
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, performance artist, record producer, dancer, businesswoman
Years active	2005–present
Label	Def Jam, Cherrytree, Streamline, Kon Live, Interscope
Url

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American pop singer-songwriter. She began performing in the rock music scene of New York City's Lower East Side in 2003 and enrolled at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She soon signed with Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records. During her early time at Interscope, she worked as a songwriter for fellow label artists and captured the attention of Akon, who recognized her vocal abilities, and signed her to his own label, Kon Live Distribution.

Gaga came to prominence following the release of her debut studio album The Fame (2008), which was a commercial success and achieved international popularity with the singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face". The album reached number one on the record charts of six countries, accomplished positions within the top-ten worldwide, and topped the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart while simultaneously peaking at number two on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. Achieving similar worldwide success, the follow-up EP The Fame Monster (2009), produced a further two global chart-topping singles "Bad Romance" and "Telephone" and allowed her to embark on a second global headlining concert tour, The Monster Ball Tour, just months after having finished her first, The Fame Ball Tour. Her second studio album, Born This Way, is scheduled for release in 2011.

Inspired by glam rock artists like David Bowie and Queen, as well as pop singers such as Madonna and Michael Jackson, Gaga is well-recognized for her outré sense of style as a recording artist, in fashion, in performance and in her music videos. Her contributions to the music industry have garnered her numerous achievements including two Grammy Awards, amongst twelve nominations; two Guinness World Records; and the estimated sale of fifteen million albums and fifty-one million singles worldwide. Billboard named her as the Artist of the Year in 2010 and ranked her as the 73rd Artist of the 2000s decade. Gaga has been included in Time magazine's annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world as well as Forbes' list of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential celebrities in the world. Forbes also placed her at number seven on their annual list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women.

Life and career

1986–2004: Early life

Lady Gaga was born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta in New York City on March 28, 1986, the eldest child of Joseph Germanotta, an internet entrepreneur, and Cynthia (née Bissett). She learned to play piano from the age of four, went on to write her first piano ballad at 13 and began performing at open mike nights by age 14. Gaga was raised a Roman Catholic. At the age of 11, Gaga attended Convent of the Sacred Heart, a private all-girls Roman Catholic school on Manhattan's Upper East Side, but has stressed that she does not come from a wealthy background, saying that her parents "both came from lower-class families, so we've worked for everything – my mother worked eight to eight out of the house, in telecommunications, and so did my father."

An avid thespian in high school musicals, Gaga portrayed lead roles as Adelaide in Guys and Dolls and Philia in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. She described her academic life in high school as "very dedicated, very studious, very disciplined" but also "a bit insecure" as she told in an interview, "I used to get made fun of for being either too provocative or too eccentric, so I started to tone it down. I didn’t fit in, and I felt like a freak." Acquaintances dispute that she did not fit in school. "She had a core group of friends; she was a good student. She liked boys a lot, but singing was No. 1," recalled a former high school classmate. Referring to her "expressive, free spirit", Gaga told Elle magazine "I'm left-handed!"

At age 17, Gaga gained early admission to the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and lived in a NYU dorm on 11th Street. There she studied music and improved her songwriting skills by composing essays and analytical papers focusing on topics such as art, religion, social issues and politics. Gaga felt that she was more creative than some of her classmates. "Once you learn how to think about art, you can teach yourself," she said. By the second semester of her sophomore year, she withdrew from the school to focus on her musical career. Her father agreed to pay her rent for a year, on the condition that she re-enroll for Tisch if she was unsuccessful. "I left my entire family, got the cheapest apartment I could find, and ate shit until somebody would listen," she said. Shortly after, her former management company introduced her to songwriter and producer RedOne, whom they also managed. The first song she produced with RedOne was "Boys Boys Boys", She also started the Stefani Germanotta Band with some friends from NYU. They recorded an extended play of their ballads at a studio underneath a liquor store in New Jersey, becoming a local fixture at the downtown Lower East Side club scene. Music producer Rob Fusari, who helped her write some of her earlier songs, compared some of her vocal harmonies to that of Freddie Mercury. He explained,

She was known thereafter as Lady Gaga. The pair began playing gigs at downtown club venues like the Mercury Lounge, The Bitter End, and the Rockwood Music Hall, with their live performance art piece known as "Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue." Billed as "The Ultimate Pop Burlesque Rockshow", their act was a low-fi tribute to 1970s variety acts. In August 2007, Gaga and Starlight were invited to play at the American Lollapalooza music festival. The show was critically acclaimed, and their performance received positive reviews.

Fusari sent the songs he produced with Gaga to his friend, producer and record executive Vincent Herbert. Herbert was quick to sign her to his label Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records, upon its establishment in 2007. She credited Herbert as the man who discovered her, adding "I really feel like we made pop history, and we're gonna keep going." While Gaga was writing at Interscope, singer-songwriter Akon recognized her vocal abilities when she sang a reference vocal for one of his tracks in studio. He then convinced Interscope-Geffen-A&M; Chairman and CEO Jimmy Iovine to form a joint deal by having her also sign with his own label Kon Live Distribution Gaga continued her collaboration with RedOne in the recording studio for a week on her debut album The album peaked at number one in United Kingdom, Canada, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Ireland, and the top-five in Australia, the United States and fifteen other countries. Worldwide, The Fame has sold over fourteen million copies. Its lead single "Just Dance" topped the charts in six countries – Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States – and later received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Dance Recording. The following single "Poker Face" was an even greater success, reaching number-one in almost all major music markets in the world, including the United Kingdom and the United States. It won the award for Best Dance Recording at the 52nd Grammy Awards, over nominations for Song of the Year and Record of the Year. The Fame was nominated for Album of the Year; it won the Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album. Although her first concert tour happened as an opening act for fellow Interscope pop group, the reformed New Kids on the Block, she ultimately headlined her own worldwide concert tour, The Fame Ball Tour, which was critically appreciated and began in March 2009; culminating in September of that year. The cover of the annual "Hot 100" issue of Rolling Stone in May 2009 featured a semi-nude Gaga wearing only strategically placed plastic bubbles. She was nominated for a total of nine awards at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, winning the award for Best New Artist, while her single "Paparazzi" won two awards for Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects. In October, Gaga received Billboard magazine's Rising Star of 2009 award. She attended the Human Rights Campaign's "National Dinner" the same month, before marching in the National Equality March for the equal protection of LGBT people in all matters governed by US civil law in Washington, D.C.

|alt= Profile of a young blond woman. Her hair falls in waves up to her shoulders. She wears a purple leotard with visible sequins attached. Ample bosom, arm and leg are visible.]] Written over the course of 2008–09, The Fame Monster, a collection of eight songs, was released in November 2009. Each song, dealing with the darker side of fame from personal experience while she travelled the world, is expressed through a monster metaphor. Its first single "Bad Romance" topped the charts in eighteen countries, while reaching the top-two in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. In the US, Gaga became the first artist in digital history to have three singles (along with "Just Dance" and "Poker Face") to pass the four million mark in digital sales. The song received a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance while its accompanying music video was nominated for Best Short Form Music Video. The album's second single "Telephone", which features singer Beyoncé, was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and became Gaga's fourth UK number-one single while its accompanying music video, although controversial, was met mostly positive reception from contemporary critics: praising her for "the musicality and showmanship of Michael Jackson and the powerful sexuality and provocative instincts of Madonna." Her following single "Alejandro" paired Gaga with fashion photographer Steven Klein for a music video similarly as controversial – critics complimented its idea and dark nature, but the Catholic League attacked Gaga for her use of blasphemy. Despite the controversy surrounding her music videos, they have made Gaga one of the first artists to gain over one billion viral views on video-sharing website YouTube. Musically, The Fame Monster has also received abundant success. Equating to the amount of Grammy nominations her debut received, The Fame Monster garnered a total of six – among them Best Pop Vocal Album and her second-consecutive nomination for Album of the Year. The success of the album allowed Gaga to embark on her second headlining worldwide concert tour, The Monster Ball Tour, just weeks after the release of The Fame Monster and months after having finished her first. Upon finishing in May 2011, the critically acclaimed and commercially accomplished concert tour will have ran for over one and a half years. Additionally, Gaga has performed other songs from the album at international events like the 2009 Royal Variety Performance where she sang "Speechless", a power ballad, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II; the 52nd Grammy Awards where her opening performance consisted of the song "Poker Face" and a piano duet of "Speechless" in a medley of "Your Song" with Elton John; and the 2010 BRIT Awards where a performance of an acoustic rendition of "Telephone" followed by "Dance in the Dark" dedicated to the late fashion designer and close friend, Alexander McQueen, supplemented her hat-trick win at the awards ceremony.

Barbara Walters chose Gaga as one the "10 Most Fascinating People of 2009" for her annual ABC News special. When interviewed by the journalist, Gaga dismissed the claim that she is intersex as an urban legend. Responding to a question on this issue, she stated, "At first it was very strange and everyone sorta said, 'That's really quite a story!' But in a sense, I portray myself in a very androgynous way, and I love androgyny." Excited about bringing back Polaroid and "combining it with the digital era", Gaga was named Chief Creative Officer for a line of imaging products for the international optic company in January 2010 with the intent of creating fashion, technology and photography products. Her production team, Mermaid Music LLC, was sued in March by Rob Fusari; claiming that he was entitled to a 20% share of its earnings. Gaga's lawyer, Charles Ortner, described the agreement with Fusari as "unlawful" and declined to comment, however, five months later, the New York Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit. In April, Gaga was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people of the year. While giving an interview to The Times, Gaga hinted at having Systemic lupus erythematosus, commonly referred to as lupus, which is a connective tissue disease. She later confirmed with Larry King that she does not have lupus but "the results were borderline positive".

2010–present: Born This Way

Gaga's second studio album and third major release Born This Way, whose title was announced during her acceptance speech for Video of the Year at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, will be released on May 23, 2011. Its arrival will follow the release of its lead single on February 13, 2011. These dates were tweeted by Gaga at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day, 2011. Described as "a marriage of electronic music with major [...] metal or rock 'n' roll, pop, anthemic style melodies with really sledge-hammering dance beats", Born This Way will be Gaga's third release in three years. She stated, "It came so quickly. I've been working on [the album] for months, and I feel very strongly that it's finished right now. Some artists take years. I don't. I write music every day." With two tracks already confirmed by Gaga – one she has been performing during The Monster Ball Tour, she has referred to the album as "the greatest" of the decade about "what keeps us up at night and what makes us afraid." Likening Born This Way to "bad kids going to church" that are "having fun on a high level", Gaga characterized her new music as "something so much deeper than a wig or lipstick or a fucking meat dress" and upon hearing it, Akon remarked that she will take music to the "next level."

Lending her vocal talent elsewhere, Gaga also paired with Elton John to record an original duet for the soundtrack to the forthcoming animated Disney feature film Gnomeo and Juliet. The song, titled "Hello, Hello", is scheduled for release in February 2011.

Musical style and influences

Gaga has been influenced by glam rock artists such as David Bowie and Queen, as well as pop music artists such as Madonna, Britney Spears and Michael Jackson. The Queen song "Radio Ga Ga" inspired her stage name, "Lady Gaga". She commented: "I adored Freddie Mercury and Queen had a hit called 'Radio Gaga'. That's why I love the name [...] Freddie was unique – one of the biggest personalities in the whole of pop music."

Gaga's vocals have drawn frequent comparison to those of Madonna and Gwen Stefani, while the structure of her music is said to echo classic 1980s pop and 1990s Europop. While reviewing her debut album The Fame, The Sunday Times asserted "in combining music, fashion, art and technology, Lady GaGa evokes Madonna, Gwen Stefani circa 'Hollaback Girl', Kylie Minogue 2001 or Grace Jones right now." Similarly, The Boston Globe critic Sarah Rodman commented that she draws "obvious inspirations from Madonna to Gwen Stefani... in [her] girlish but sturdy pipes and bubbly beats." Though her lyrics are said to lack intellectual stimulation, "[she] does manage to get you moving and grooving at an almost effortless pace." Music critic Simon Reynolds wrote that "Everything about Gaga came from electroclash, except the music, which wasn't particularly 1980s, just ruthlessly catchy naughties pop glazed with Auto-Tune and undergirded with R&B;-ish beats.

Gaga has identified fashion as a major influence. Her love of fashion came from her mother, who she stated was "always very well kept and beautiful." Entertainment Weekly put her outfits on its end of the decade "best-of" list, saying, "Whether it's a dress made of Muppets or strategically placed bubbles, Gaga's outré ensembles brought performance art into the mainstream."

Critical reception of Gaga's music, fashion sense and persona are mixed. Her status as a role model, trailblazer and fashion icon is by turns affirmed and denied. Gaga's albums have received mostly positive reviews, Her role as a self-esteem booster for her fans is also lauded, as is her role in breathing life into the fashion industry. Her performances are described as "highly entertaining and innovative"; in particular, the blood-spurting performance of "Paparazzi" at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards was described as "eye-popping" by MTV. She continued the "blood soaked" theme in The Monster Ball Tour, in which she wore a revealing leather corset and is "attacked" by a performer dressed in black who gnaws on her throat, causing "blood" to spurt down her chest, after which she lies "dying" in a pool of blood. Her performances of that scene in Manchester, England triggered protests from family groups and fans in the aftermath of a local tragedy, in which a taxi driver had murdered 12 people. "What happened in Bradford is very fresh in people's minds and given all the violence which happened in Cumbria just hours earlier, it was insensitive," said Lynn Costello of Mothers Against Violence. Chris Rock later defended her flamboyant, provocative behavior. "Well, she's Lady Gaga," he said. "She's not 'Lady Behave Yourself.' Do you want great behavior from a person named Gaga? Is this what you were expecting?" She later returned to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards wearing a dress which was supplemented by boots, a purse and a hat—each fabricated from the flesh of a dead animal. The dress, named Time magazine's Fashion Statement of 2010 and more widely known as the "meat dress", was made by Argentinian designer Franc Fernandez and received divided opinions—evoking the attention of worldwide media but invoking the fury of animal rights organization PETA. Gaga, however, later denied any intention of causing disrespect to any person or organization and wished for the dress to be interpreted as a statement of human rights with focus upon those in the LGBT community.

Gaga's treatment of her fans as "Little Monsters" has inspired criticism, due to the highly commercial nature of her music and image. Camille Paglia wrote a cover story "Lady Gaga and the death of sex" on September 12, 2010, in The Sunday Times in which she asserts that Gaga "is more an identity thief than an erotic taboo breaker, a mainstream manufactured product who claims to be singing for the freaks, the rebellious and the dispossessed when she is none of those."

Public image

Contrary to her outré style, the New York Post described her early look as like "a refugee from Jersey Shore" with "big black hair, heavy eye makeup and tight, revealing clothes." She has another six known tattoos, among them a peace symbol, which was inspired by John Lennon whom she stated was her hero, Towards the end of 2008, comparisons were made between the fashions of Gaga and fellow recording artist Christina Aguilera that noted similarities in their styling, hair, and make-up. Comparisons continued into 2010 when Aguilera released the music video of her single "Not Myself Tonight". Critics noted similarities between the song and its accompanying music video with Gaga's video for "Bad Romance". There have also been similar comparisons made between Gaga's style and that of fashion icon Dale Bozzio from the band Missing Persons. Some have considered their respective images to be strikingly parallel although fans of Missing Persons note that Bozzio had pioneered the look more than thirty years earlier.

Gaga's influence on modern culture and society has provoked the University of South Carolina into offering a full-time course titled "Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame" in the objective of unravelling "the sociologically relevant dimensions of the fame of Lady Gaga with respect to her music, videos, fashion, and other artistic endeavors".

Philanthropy

Besides her career in music, Gaga has enhanced her repertoire as a philanthropist who has contributed to various charities and humanitarianism works.

Although declining an invitation to record a benefit song, Gaga held a concert of The Monster Ball Tour following the 2010 Haiti earthquake and dedicated it to the country’s reconstruction relief fund. This concert, held at the Radio City Music Hall, New York, on January 24, 2010, donated any received revenue to the relief fund while, in addition, all profits from sales of products on Gaga’s official online store on that same day were donated. Gaga announced that an estimated total of $500,000 was collected for the fund.

Gaga also contributes in the fight against HIV and AIDS with the focus upon educating young women about the risks of the disease. In collaboration with Cyndi Lauper, Gaga joined forces with MAC Cosmetics to launch a line of lipstick under their supplementary cosmetic line, Viva Glam. Titled Viva Glam Gaga and Viva Glam Cyndi for each contributor respectively, all net proceeds of the lipstick line were donated to the cosmetic company’s campaign to prevent HIV and AIDS worldwide. In a press release, Gaga declared, "I don't want Viva Glam to be just a lipstick you buy to help a cause. I want it to be a reminder when you go out at night to put a condom in your purse right next to your lipstick."

, October 11, 2009|alt=A blond woman speaking on a kiosk. She wears a white shirt and black glasses. Behind her, the balcony of a building is visible.]] Gaga attributes much of her early success as a mainstream artist to her gay fans and is considered to be a rising gay icon. Early in her career she had difficulty getting radio airplay, and stated, "The turning point for me was the gay community. I've got so many gay fans and they're so loyal to me and they really lifted me up. They'll always stand by me and I'll always stand by them. It's not an easy thing to create a fanbase." She thanked FlyLife, a Manhattan-based LGBT marketing company with whom her label Interscope works, in the liner notes of The Fame, saying, "I love you so much. You were the first heartbeat in this project, and your support and brilliance means the world to me. I will always fight for the gay community hand in hand with this incredible team." One of her first televised performances was in May 2008 at the NewNowNext Awards, an awards show aired by the LGBT television network Logo, where she sang her song "Just Dance". In June of the same year, she performed the song again at the San Francisco Pride event.

After The Fame was released, she revealed that the song "Poker Face" was about her bisexuality. In an interview with Rolling Stone, she spoke about how her boyfriends tended to react to her bisexuality, saying "The fact that I'm into women, they're all intimidated by it. It makes them uncomfortable. They're like, 'I don't need to have a threesome. I'm happy with just you'." She proclaimed that the October 11, 2009, National Equality March rally on the national mall was "the single most important event of her career." As she exited, she left with an exultant "Bless God and bless the gays," At the rally, she performed a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" declaring that "I'm not going to [play] one of my songs tonight because tonight is not about me, it's about you." She changed the original lyrics of the song to reflect the death of Matthew Shepard, a college student murdered because of his sexuality. In September 2010, she spoke at a rally in favor of repealing the US military's Don't ask, don't tell policy, which prohibits lesbian, gay and bisexual people from serving openly, and released an online video urging her fans to contact their Senators in an effort to get the policy overturned. Editors of The Advocate commented that she had become the "fierce advocate" for gays and lesbians that future president Barack Obama had promised to be during his campaign.

Discography

The Fame (2008)

The Fame Monster (2009)

Born This Way (2011)

Tours

The Fame Ball Tour (2009)

The Monster Ball Tour (2009–11)

Awards and nominations

See also

Honorific nicknames in popular music

List of best-selling music artists

References

Further reading

External links

Year in Gaga: A Provocative 2010 — slideshow by Life magazine

Category:1986 births Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American dance musicians Category:American electronic musicians Category:American female pop singers Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Bisexual musicians Category:BRIT Award winners Category:English-language singers Category:Feminist artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Interscope Records artists Category:Keytarists Category:LGBT musicians from the United States Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:Living people Category:New York University alumni Category:Singers from New York Category:Sony/ATV Music Publishing artists Category:Wonky Pop acts

Coordinates	52°47′″N18°43′″N
Name	Jimmy Fallon
Caption	Fallon at CES 2009, January 2009
Birth date	September 19, 1974
Birth place	Brooklyn, New York
Medium	Stand-up, music, television, film
Nationality	American
Genre	Satire/Political satire/News Satire, observational comedy, musical comedy, surreal humor
Subject	Pop Culture, American Culture, American Politics, current events, Mass Media/News Media
Active	1990–present
Birth name	James Thomas Fallon, Jr.
Spouse	Nancy Juvonen (2007-present)
Notable work	co-Weekend Update anchor on Saturday Night LiveLate Night with Jimmy Fallon (host, 2009 - Present)Det. Andrew "Andy" Washburn in Taxi

James Thomas "Jimmy" Fallon, Jr. (born September 19, 1974) is an American stand up comedian, television host, actor and musician. He is the host of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a late-night talk show that airs Monday through Friday on NBC. Prior to that, he was best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998–2004, as well as appearing in several films.

Early life

James Thomas Fallon Jr. was born in Brooklyn, New York. Jimmy is the son of Gloria and James Fallon, Sr., who is a Vietnam War veteran. His family later settled in Saugerties, New York, while his father worked at IBM in nearby Kingston, New York. He is of Irish descent. As a child, he and his older sister, Gloria, would reenact the "clean parts" of Saturday Night Live that his parents had taped for him. Fallon was such a fan of Saturday Night Live that he made a weekly event of watching it in his dormitory during college. In his teens he impressed his parents with different impersonations, the first being of James Cagney. He was also musically inclined, and started playing guitar at age 13. He would go on to mix comedy and music in contests and shows. "I was a Computer Science major. I got out once it got really hard. I made it up to C++. Then I couldn't do the math — it got really confusing. I switched to Communications, which is a ridiculous major — let's be honest," he recalls. On May 9, 2009, Fallon received a B.A. in Communications and an honorary Doctorate degree from The College of Saint Rose (Albany, NY) after presenting college officials with his impressive portfolio, which satisfied all requisites for his degree. In addition to receiving a BA, Fallon spoke at the school's 86th commencement. That night, on Saturday Night Live, he held up his diploma during the closing of the show. Additionally, he showed excerpts from the ceremony on his late night show May 11, 2009.

Career

Stand-up

Fallon gives credit to troll dolls for his big break. He was given a troll doll with a graduation cap in his senior year of high school. His mother heard about an impression contest at Bananas Comedy Club in Poughkeepsie, NY. Fallon came up with a stand-up routine that was a commercial for troll dolls. He would impersonate various celebrities auditioning to be the spokesperson. He won the contest and after college he began to do stand-up tours across the country. When he was in Los Angeles, he took improv classes with The Groundlings. French Stewart, Pat O'Brien, Chris Rock, Hilary Swank, Gilbert Gottfried, and Adam Sandler, Jeff Foxworthy, Eddie Murphy, Larry the Cable Guy, many of which drew laughter from producer Lorne Michaels. Fallon also did musical impersonations of Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Adam Duritz of Counting Crows, Alanis Morissette, and Robert Smith of The Cure. and he was promoted to full cast member in the summer of 1999. Fallon left SNL in 2004 and began pursuing a film career.

Recurring characters

Dave, a young man in the Will Ferrell/Rachel Dratch recurring sketch, "The Lovers", often used as a pawn in Roger and Virginia's matchmaking.

Jarret (from Jarret's Room), a stoner who hosts his own Internet webcam show.

Jeffrey's clerk, one of the clerks (the other being a male host for the show) of an upscale department store.

Joey Mack, an obnoxious radio DJ who mocks his celebrity guests.

Kip Bloder, brother to Chris Parnell's Wade Bloder.

The Leather Man, an intense man who owns a shop filled with leather clothes.

Nick Burns, a sarcastic tech support representative who helps office workers with computer problems (and is almost always exposed as not knowing as much as he should by one of the workers). He frequently used the catchphrase "Moooooove!" when ousting people from their desk so he could fix the problem.

Pat Sullivan, nicknamed "Sully", one of the Boston Teens, boyfriend of Rachel Dratch's Denise character.

Patrick Fitzwilliam, a surly Irishman who hosts a show called Top O' The Morning with his friend, William Fitzpatrick (played by Seth Meyers)

Randy Goldman, from "Wake Up Wakefield", Megan's (Maya Rudolph) crush who doesn't know she exists.

Rodney "The Zipper" Calzoun, the MC at the Rialto Grande

Señor Guadalupe Ramirez, one of the guitar players on the recurring sketch, "The 'How Do You Say, Ah, Yes' Show"

Wade, one of the members of the boy band 7 Degrees Celsius

Barry Gibb, in the skit called "The Barry Gibb Talk Show", he hosts along with his brother Robin Gibb (played by Justin Timberlake).

Carson Daly, whom he impersonated with the catch phrase "I am a massive tool."

Pat O'Brien , who "doesn't breathe through his nose ever!"

Other works

Fallon has appeared in Taxi, Anything Else, Almost Famous, Fever Pitch, Band of Brothers, Doogal, Factory Girl and Whip It. He occasionally does stand up comedy at the Comedy Club in New York City.

In 2002, Fallon released the comedy album The Bathroom Wall. In a mixed review, Rolling Stone praised the album's songs, calling the album the "second-best Prince parody ever, after Beck's 'Debra'." However the magazine panned the album's comedy routines, ultimately giving it two-out-of-five stars. The album was nominated for a Grammy in 2003 for Best Spoken Comedy Album. Fallon co-hosted the 2001 MTV Movie Awards with Kirsten Dunst on June 7, 2001. Fallon has played Neo in Sex and the Matrix, a comedic two-in-one parody of Sex and the City and The Matrix. He hosted the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards alone that year. His opening number included parodies of videos by Eminem, Avril Lavigne, Nelly, The White Stripes, Dave Matthews and Enrique Iglesias. Fallon also hosted the 2005 MTV Movie Awards and played Anakin Skywalker in comedic parody of s Mustafar scene, in which Anakin and Padme have their last conversation. Fallon was named one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in 2002, an honor Fallon found embarrassing.

Following the Boston Red Sox's World Series clinching game over the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004, Fallon ran onto the field at Busch Stadium with Drew Barrymore to film a scene for their movie Fever Pitch.

In 2006, Fallon starred in "Spontaneous Combustion", a Traktor-directed Pepsi television commercial with actress Parker Posey. In the ad, Fallon and Posey can be seen dancing and jumping around to the song Streamline by Newton. In October of that year, Fallon appeared on stage in The Secret Policeman's Ball, a charity gig filmed to raise awareness of Amnesty International at the Royal Albert Hall. Fallon made three appearances during the show, the first in a sketch in which he performed impressions of people such as David Bowie, Jerry Seinfeld and David Blaine in order to get past a doorman (Shaun Williamson) who claims Fallon isn't on the list. The doorman finally recognizes him for his role in Taxi, but still won't let him in. He later masqueraded as Russell Brand before being led off by Williamson, and made one final appearance in a cameo role as the front of a pantomime horse in the Al Murray "pub landlord" routine. He also provided the voice of Dylan in Doogal

In 2007, Fallon wrote the song "Car Wash for Peace" and donated all proceeds to charity. He performed the song on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The View and dedicated a MySpace page to the cause. Around the same time, a video circulated on various Internet sites called lonelyfallon32, in which Fallon parodied YouTube celebrity Jessica Rose (a.k.a. lonelygirl15) and later performed the song.

Fallon, along with his sister Gloria, wrote I Hate This Place: The Pessimist's Guide to Life for TV Books in 1999. A second book is anticipated but has not yet been released, to be titled "I Hate This Place 2: Tokyo Drift."

On May 4, 2010, NBC announced that Fallon would host the 62nd Primtetime Emmy Awards. With Fallon as host, viewership of the 2010 Emmy Awards increased slightly—by over 200,000 viewers from the year before.

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Fallon succeeded fellow Saturday Night Live alumnus Conan O'Brien as the host of NBC's Late Night after O'Brien left the show to prepare to take over The Tonight Show from Jay Leno in 2009. The deal for the long-expected succession was confirmed April 24, 2008, with an official announcement made on May 12, 2008 at NBC's upfront presentation. The official press conference was released on Hulu.com.

The show titled Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, first aired on March 2, 2009 with guests Robert De Niro, Justin Timberlake, and musical guest Van Morrison. Guests on the show's first week included Tina Fey, Jon Bon Jovi, Cameron Diaz, Donald Trump, and Drew Barrymore.

Personal life

Fallon married Nancy Juvonen on December 22, 2007. Juvonen is Drew Barrymore's producing partner.

Television

(1998), uncredited

Saturday Night Live (1998–2004)

Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1998, 1999, 2002, 2004–2009)

SNL Fanatic (2000)

Sex and the Matrix (2000)

Band of Brothers (2001)

(2006)

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (2007, 2009)

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (2009–present)

Family Guy (2009)

30 Rock (2009)

Gossip Girl (2009)

The Jay Leno Show (2010)

The Marriage Ref (2010)

The Electric Company (2009)

America's Got Talent (2010)

(2010)

''Silent Library (2011)

Filmography

Almost Famous (2000)

Anything Else (2003)

The Entrepreneurs (2003)

Taxi (2004)

Fever Pitch (2005)

Doogal (2006) (voice)

Arthur and the Invisibles (2006) (voice)

Factory Girl (2006)

The Year of Getting to Know Us (2008)

Whip It (2009)

The Guardians of Childhood (2012)

Discography

Albums

The Bathroom Wall (2002)

Singles

"Idiot Boyfriend" (2002)

"Drunk On Christmas (With John Rich" (2010)

Further reading

Baldwin, Kristen (2002-05-10), "Update with Destiny". Entertainment Weekly. (653):26

References

External links

Food Bank For New York City public service announcement

Official Jimmy Fallon MySpace Page

Jimmy Fallon with Popular Radio Personality Rich Stevens

JimmyFallon.net - Bathroom Wall

NBC's Official Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Site

Interview of Jimmy Fallon for New Beacon Theatre Documentary

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