Company name	EMI Group Ltd.
Company logo
Company type	Private
Foundation	1931
Location city	London
Location country	United Kingdom
Key people	Roger Faxon, Chief Executive, EMI Group
Industry	Music entertainment
Revenue	£1.072 billion ($1.65 billion)(2009)
Ebitda	£163 million (2009) (EMI Music) £135 million (2009) (EMI Music Publishing)
Num employees	5,500 (January 2008)
Parent	Terra Firma Capital Partners
Homepage

The EMI Group (Electric & Musical Industries Ltd.) is a British music company. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the "big four" record companies and a member of the RIAA. EMI Group also has a major publishing arm - EMI Music Publishing - based in New York City. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but is now wholly owned by Terra Firma Capital Partners.

History

The Electric and Musical Industries Ltd was formed in March 1931 by the merger of the UK Columbia Graphophone Company and the Gramophone Company, with its "His Master's Voice" record label, firms that have a history extending back to the origins of recorded sound. The new amalgamated company produced sound recordings as well as recording and playback equipment.

Manufacturing

The company's gramophone manufacturing led to forty years of success with larger-scale electronics. Alan Blumlein, a skilled engineer employed by EMI, conducted a great deal of pioneering research into stereo sound recording. Blumlein was killed in 1942 whilst conducting trials on an experimental H2S radar unit. During and after World War II, the EMI Laboratories in Hayes, Hillingdon developed radar equipment and guided missiles. The company later became involved in broadcasting equipment, notably providing the first television transmitter to the BBC. It also manufactured broadcast television cameras for British television production companies, mostly the BBC, although the commercial television ITV companies used them as well alongside cameras made by Pye and Marconi. Their most famous piece of broadcast television equipment was the EMI 2001 colour camera, which became the mainstay of both the BBC and several ITV companies in the 1970s and early 1980s.

In 1958 the EMIDEC 1100, Britain's first transistorised computer, was developed at Hayes under the leadership of Godfrey Hounsfield. In the early 1970s, Hounsfield developed the first CAT scanner, a device which revolutionised medical imaging. In 1973 EMI was awarded a prestigious Queen's Award for Technological Innovation for what was then called the EMI scanner, and in 1979 Hounsfield won the Nobel Prize for his accomplishment. After brief, but brilliant, success in the medical imaging field, EMI's manufacturing activities were sold off to other companies, notably Thorn (see Thorn EMI). Subsequently development and manufacturing activities were sold off to other companies and work moved to other towns such as Crawley and Wells.

Emihus Electronics, based in Glenrothes, Scotland, was owned 51% by Hughes Aircraft, of California, U.S., and 49% by EMI. It manufactured integrated circuits and, for a short period in the mid-1970s, made hand-held calculators under the Gemini name.

Music

Early in its life, the Gramophone Company established subsidiary operations in a number of other countries in the British Commonwealth, including India, Australia and New Zealand. Gramophone's (later EMI's) Australian and New Zealand subsidiaries dominated the popular music industries in those countries from the 1920s until the 1960s, when other locally owned labels (such as Festival Records) began to challenge EMI's market near monopoly. Over 150,000 78-rpm recordings from around the world are held in EMI's temperature-controlled archive in Hayes, some of which have been released on CD since 2008 by Honest Jon's Records.

In 1931, the year the company was formed, it opened the legendary recording studios at Abbey Road, London. During the 1930s and 1940s, its roster of artists included Arturo Toscanini, Sir Edward Elgar, and Otto Klemperer, among many others. During this time EMI appointed its first A&R; managers. These included George Martin, who later brought the Beatles into the EMI fold.

When The Gramophone Company merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company (including Columbia's subsidiary label Parlophone) in 1931, the new Anglo-American group was incorporated as Electric & Music Industries Ltd. At this point RCA had a majority shareholding in the new company, giving RCA chair David Sarnoff a seat on the EMI board.

However, EMI was subsequently forced to sell Columbia USA due to anti-trust action taken by its American competitors. By this time the record industry had been hit hard by the Depression and in 1934 a much-diminished Columbia USA was purchased for just US$70,500 by ARC-BRC (American Record Corporation-Brunswick Record Company), which also acquired the OKeh label.

RCA sold its stake in EMI in 1935. RCA retained the Americas rights to the "Nipper" trademark (which was used by EMI's HMV label in other countries) because of its earlier takeover of the Victor label, which owned the US rights to the mark. In 1938 ARC-Brunswick was taken over by CBS, which then operated Columbia as its flagship label in the United States and Canada.

However EMI retained the rights to the Columbia name in most other territories including the UK, Australia and New Zealand, and it continued to operate the label until 1972, when it was retired and replaced by the EMI Records imprint. In 1990, following a series of major takeovers that saw CBS Records acquired by the Sony Corporation of Japan, EMI sold its remaining rights to the Columbia name to Sony and the label is now operated exclusively throughout the world by Sony Music Entertainment; except in Japan where the trade mark is owned by Columbia Music Entertainment,

EMI released its first LPs in 1952 and its first stereophonic recordings in 1955 (first on reel-to-reel tape and then LPs, beginning in 1958).

In 1957, to replace the loss of its long-established licensing arrangements with RCA Victor and Columbia Records (Columbia USA cut its ties with EMI in 1951), EMI entered the American market by acquiring 96% of the stock of Capitol Records. From 1960 to 1995 their headquarters, "EMI House," was at 20 Manchester Square. The stairwell is on the cover of the Beatles' Please Please Me album. An unused shot from the Please Please Me photo session was used for the cover of Beatles' double-album compilation 1962-1966 (aka "The Red Album"); a matching group photograph taken in 1969 by Angus McBean (originally intended for the Let It Be album) was used for the cover of the 1967-1970 double album (aka "The Blue Album").

Its classical artists were largely limited to the prestigious British orchestras, such as the Philharmonia Orchestra. During the LP era very few U.S. orchestras had EMI as their principal recording company; an exception was the Pittsburgh Symphony Band, particularly during the years of William Steinberg's leadership.

Under the management of Sir Joseph Lockwood from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, the company enjoyed huge success in the popular music field. The groups and solo artists signed to EMI and its subsidiary labels—including Parlophone, HMV, Columbia and Capitol Records -- made EMI the best-known and most successful recording company in the world at that time, with a roster that included scores of major pop/rock acts of the period including Frank Sinatra, Cliff Richard, The Shadows, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Hollies, Cilla Black and Pink Floyd.

In 1967 EMI converted HMV to an exclusively classical music label, shifting HMV's pop music roster to Columbia. In 1969, EMI established a new subsidiary label, Harvest Records, which signed groups in the emerging progressive rock genre, including Pink Floyd, who had debuted on Columbia.

Electric & Musical Industries changed its name to EMI Ltd in 1971 and the subsidiary The Gramophone Company became EMI Records Ltd in 1973. In 1972, EMI replaced the Columbia label with EMI Records. In February 1979, EMI Ltd acquired United Artists Records and with it Liberty Records and Imperial Records.

In October 1979 THORN Electrical Industries merged with EMI Ltd to form Thorn-EMI.

In 1989 Thorn-EMI bought a 50% interest in Chrysalis Records, buying the outstanding 50% in 1991. In one of its highest-profile and most expensive acquisitions, Thorn-EMI bought Richard Branson's Virgin Records in 1992.

Aftermath of demerger from Thorn

On 16 August 1996, Thorn EMI shareholders voted in favour of demerger proposals. The resulting media company was known by the name EMI Group PLC.

Since the 1930s, Shanghai's Baak Doi had been published under the EMI label. Since then, EMI had also been the dominant label in the cantopop market in Hong Kong until its decline in the mid 1980s, still the heyday of Cantopop. EMI divested totally from the c-pop market between the years 2004–2006. After that, all Hong Kong music artists previously associated with EMI have had their music published by Gold Label, a concern unaffiliated with EMI and with which EMI does not hold any interest.

On 21 November 2000, Streamwaves and EMI signed a deal licensing EMI's catalogue in a digital format for Streamwaves' online streaming music service. This was the first time EMI had licensed any of its catalogue to a streaming music website.

Pop star Robbie Williams signed a 6 album deal in 2002 paying him over £80 million ($157 million), which was not only the biggest recording contract in British music history, but the second biggest in music history.

On 15 December 2005, Apple Records, the record label representing the Beatles, launched a suit against EMI for non-payment of royalties. The suit alleged that EMI have withheld $50 million from the record label. An EMI spokesman noted that audits of record label accounts are not unusual, confirming at least two hundred such audits have been performed, but that they rarely result in legal action. A legal settlement was announced on 12 April 2007. Terms were undisclosed.

On 2 April 2007, EMI announced it would begin releasing its music in DRM-free formats. Initially they are rolling out in superior sounding high-bitrate AAC format via Apple's iTunes Store (under the iTunes Plus category). The tracks will cost $1.29/€1.29/£0.99. Legacy tracks with FairPlay DRM will still be available for $0.99/€0.99/£0.79 – albeit with lower quality sound and DRM restrictions still in place. Users will be able to ‘upgrade’ the EMI tracks that they have already bought for $0.30/€0.30/£0.20. Albums are available at the same price as their lower quality, DRM counterparts. Music videos from EMI will also be DRM-free. The higher-quality, DRM-free files became available worldwide on iTunes on 30 May 2007, and are expected to show up on other music download services soon. Since then Universal Music Group has also announced sales of DRM-free music (which they described as an experiment).

In May 2006, EMI attempted to buy Warner Music Group, which would have reduced the world's four largest record companies (Big Four) to three; however, the bid was rejected. Warner Music Group launched a Pac-Man defence, offering to buy EMI. EMI rejected the $4.6bn offer.

Terra Firma takeover

EMI was acquired by Terra Firma Capital Partners in August 2007. Terra Firma bought EMI for £4.2 billion after a dramatic decline in sales and the announcement that EMI had sustained a loss of £260 million in 2006/2007. At the same time, EMI's British market share dropped from 16% to 9%. Following the transition, several important artists walked away from EMI, including Radiohead. Paul McCartney left ahead of the takeover. and then in July 2008 signed a new long term deal with Universal Music Group. The Terra Firma takeover is also reported to have been the catalyst behind a lawsuit filed by Pink Floyd over unpaid royalties.

Recent developments

Guy Hands, CEO of Terra Firma Capital Partners, came to EMI with restructuring plans to cut 1,500 to 2,000 jobs In an interview with BBC 6music, Roisin Murphy clearly stated that she left EMI because of disagreements with the label. She also commented on the difficulties she had while recording her second solo album Overpowered.

In 2008, EMI withdrew from the South-East Asian market. As a result, South-East Asian market is the only region where EMI is no longer in operation, although the record label continues to operate in Hong Kong and Indonesia (which is currently named Arka Music Indonesia). The Hong Kong branch of Gold Label, the Chinese and Taiwanese operation of EMI, was sold to Typhoon Group and reformed as Gold Typhoon. The Filipino branch of EMI changed its name to PolyEast Records, and is a joint venture between EMI itself and Pied Piper Records Corporation. EMI's physical audio and video products in South-East Asia has been distributed by Warner Music since December 2008, while in China and Taiwan, EMI's releases were distributed under Gold Typhoon, which was previously known as EMI Music China and EMI Music Taiwan, respectively.

In July 2009, there were reports that EMI would not sell CDs to independent album retailers in a bid to cut costs, but in fact only a handful of small physical retailers were affected.

In February 2010, EMI Group reported pre-tax losses of £1.75 bn for the year ended March 2009, including write-downs on the value of its music catalogue. KPMG issued a going concern warning on the holding company's accounts.

Operations

EMI Music

Labels under the EMI banner

See List of EMI labels.

Past and present EMI musicians

EMI Music Publishing

As well as the well-known record label the group also owns EMI Music Publishing, which is the largest music publisher in the world. EMI Music Publishing has won the Music Week Award for Publisher of the Year every year for over 10 years; in 2009, for the first time in history the award was shared jointly with Universal Music Publishing. As is often the case in the music industry, the publishing arm and record label are very separate businesses.

See also

EMI Films

EMI Records

EMI Televisa Music/Capitol Latin

EMI Songbook Series

List of EMI labels

List of musicians signed to EMI

List of record labels

EMI CMG

The Gramophone Company

The HMV Group

*HMV

*Waterstone's

Streamwaves

Baak Doi

References

Further reading

International Directory of Company Histories, St. James Press.

Peter Martland, Since Records Began: EMI, the first hundred years. Batsford (London) 1997. 359pp. ISBN 0-7134-6207-8

External links

EMI Music Publishing

EMI Sessions

Official Australian Site

History of EMI

EMI Music Publishing

EMI Archive

Fight With EMI

Category:British record labels Category:Media companies of the United Kingdom Category:Companies based in London Category:Companies established in 1931 Category:Record label distributors Category:Television pioneers Category:Electronics companies of the United Kingdom Category:Electronics industry in London Category:Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Category:IFPI members Category:Music publishing companies

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), better known by her stage name Katy Perry, is an American pop musician. Born in Santa Barbara, California, and raised by Christian pastor parents; Perry grew up listening to only gospel music and sang in her local church as a child. After earning a GED during her freshman year of high school, she began to pursue a career in music. As Katy Hudson, she released a self-titled gospel album in 2001, which due to the closing of her record label, was deemed unsuccessful. She later recorded an album with production team The Matrix and completed the majority of a solo album from 2004–5; neither of which were released.

After signing with Capitol Music Group in 2007, her fourth record label in seven years, she adopted the stage name Katy Perry and released her first Internet single "Ur So Gay" that November, which garnered public attention; but failed to chart. She rose to fame with the release of her second single "I Kissed a Girl" in 2008, which went on to top international charts. Perry's first mainstream studio album One of the Boys followed later that year and subsequently, became the thirty-third best selling album worldwide of 2008. It was accredited platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America, while "I Kissed a Girl" and her second single "Hot n Cold" both received multi-platinum certifications. Her sophomore studio album Teenage Dream was released in August 2010 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. The album included hit singles "California Gurls", "Teenage Dream" and "Firework", all of which topped the charts on the Billboard Hot 100 and worldwide.

Perry was credited as a guest judge on the seventh series of the British television show The X Factor; has released a fragrance called "Purr"; and will appear in the upcoming 2011-film The Smurfs. Perry had a long relationship with Travie McCoy; she married Russell Brand on October 23, 2010.

Biography

1984–2006: Early life and career beginnings

Perry was born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson in Santa Barbara, California on October 25, 1984 to Mary (née Perry), an evangelist who grew up in Southern California and had "a tempestuous first marriage in Zimbabwe", She has an older sister and younger brother. Perry's maternal aunt and uncle were screenwriter Eleanor Perry and director Frank Perry, through whom she is also related to Charles M. Schwab, the founder of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation.

Perry was incorporated into her parents' ministry She grew up listening to gospel music, was not allowed to listen to what her mother called "secular music", and attended Christian schools and camps. She took her GED after her freshman year at Dos Pueblos High School and decided to leave school in the pursuit of a career in music. Her sister practiced with cassette tapes, while Perry took the tapes herself when her sister was not around. She rehearsed the songs and performed them in front of her parents, who suggested she take vocal coaching. She grabbed the opportunity and began taking lessons at the age of nine and continued until she was sixteen. She later enrolled in at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, and studied Italian opera for a short period of time. In Nashville, Perry started recording demos and was taught by country music veterans on how to craft songs and play guitar. Performing as Katy Hudson, she released the self-titled Gospel-rock album in 2001. The album was due for release in 2005,

Perry signed to Columbia Records in 2004. However, the label was not amenable with her vision, not putting her in the "driver's seat". She made a cameo appearance in Carbon Leaf's video, "Learn to Fly".

2007–09: One of the Boys and MTV Unplugged

Before being dropped by Columbia, its then publicity executive Angelica Cob-Baehler recommended Perry to Capitol A&R; Chris Anokute while at the 2006 Grammy Awards. Keen to hear more, Anokute was sent a DVD, featuring a video of "Simple", and a three-song demo. It was after hearing the demo of "Waking Up in Vegas" that Anokute became convinced of Perry's star talent. He showed the demo to his boss Jason Flom, then head of Capitol Music Group, telling him, "I've found the next Avril Lavigne meets Alanis Morissette." Flom proved to be less enthusiastic, however; he wasn't convinced the demos were good enough and was wary about an artist that had already been dropped by two major labels. Anokute refused to give up and eventually his persistence together with that of new Virgin employee, Cob-Baehler, paid off. Perry was signed to Capitol Music in early 2007.

She went on the next step of promoting the album, undertaking a two-month tour of radio stations. The album's official lead single, "I Kissed a Girl", was released on May 6, 2008. Perry's A&R;, Chris Anokute, told HitQuarters how, despite being himself convinced it was a "career record", the song and its controversial theme met with strong resistance at the label, "People said, 'This is never going to get played on the radio. How do we sell this? How’s this going to be played in the bible belt?'" On June 12, 2008, Perry appeared as herself on the daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless,

One of the Boys was released on June 17, 2008 to mixed critical reviews. The album has reached number nine on the Billboard 200, and has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Perry released her second single, "Hot n Cold", which became her second top three single in dozens of countries around the world, including the United States where it reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100, Perry was nominated in five categories at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, including Best New Artist and Best Female Video, but lost to Britney Spears. She won Best New Act at the 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards, which she co-hosted, and Best International Female Artist at the 2009 BRIT Awards. On February 9, 2009, both "I Kissed a Girl" and "Hot n Cold" were certified three-time platinum by Recording Industry Association of America for individual digital sales of over three million.

The Matrix's self-titled debut album, which features Perry, was later released via the team's label, Let's Hear It, during Perry's solo tour. When the release date was scheduled, "I Kissed a Girl" had been charting well. Matrix member Lauren Christy spoke to Perry about the decision, but she wanted to hold the release until the fourth single of One of the Boys had been dispatched. Despite their communication, The Matrix was released on January 27, 2009, via iTunes Store. In December 2008, Perry apologized to British singer Lily Allen for remarks in which she called herself a "skinnier version" of her, saying she meant it as a joke. Allen retaliated and told a British radio station that she "happen[ed] to know for a fact that she [Perry] was an American version" of her because their record company needed "to find something controversial and 'kooky'" like her.

On May 16, 2009, Perry performed at the opening ceremony of the annual Life Ball in Vienna, Austria. In June 2009, lawyers acting for Katy Perry opposed the recent trademark of Australian fashion designer Katie Perry who uses her own name to market loungewear. Some media outlets reported this as a lawsuit, which Katy Perry has denied on her blog. Katie Perry the designer reports on her blog that at a hearing with IP Australia on July 10, 2009, the singer's lawyers withdrew their opposition to the trademark. During the summer of 2009 Perry filmed a cameo appearance for Get Him to the Greek; her scene, in which she kisses her future fiancé Russell Brand was cut, and does not appear in the final film. Discussing the issue with MTV, Perry hypothesized there may have been some fear that seeing the two make out would have taken viewers out of the experience. In 2009, Perry was featured on two singles: a remix of Colorado-based band 3OH!3's song "Starstrukk" in August (the idea for the collaboration came after Perry's tour that featured 3OH!3 as the supporting act). The song was released over iTunes on September 8, 2009; and "If We Ever Meet Again", the fourth single off Timbaland's album Shock Value II in December. In October 2009, MTV Unplugged revealed that Perry was one of the artists to perform for them, and that she would be releasing a live album of the performance, including two new tracks, "Brick by Brick" and Fountains of Wayne cover "Hackensack". The album was released on November 17, and includes both a CD and a DVD.

2010–present: Teenage Dream

Perry appeared as a guest judge alongside Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole and Louis Walsh during the Dublin audition stage of the seventh series of the British television show The X Factor on June 28, 2010 (later televised on August 28). She was one of the many celebrities chosen to fulfil the role of judge whilst Dannii Minogue was on maternity leave. She later returned to the show on October 17 to perform "Firework". Perry's second mainstream studio album was titled Teenage Dream and was released in August 2010. The first single from the album was titled "California Gurls". The single peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the fastest rising single from a Capitol Records artist since Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe" in 1967. The cover art for Teenage Dream is a painting by Will Cotton in which depicts Perry lying naked on clouds of cotton candy; resembling the shots of Perry in the video for "California Gurls". The booklet of the physical edition of the album, in keeping with the theme of cotton candy, has a cotton candy scent. The album's second single "Teenage Dream" was released in July 2010. "Firework" is the album's third single.

Katy Perry appeared at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010. She was nominated for two awards and presented the award of "Best Male Video" with Nicki Minaj to Eminem. On September 14, she returned to her old high school, Dos Pueblos High School, where she performed a short set for the school's students. Perry performed "Hot n Cold" with Elmo from Sesame Street, which was originally to appear on the forty-first-season premiere of the educational children's program on September 27, 2010. However, four days before the scheduled airing, Sesame Workshop announced, "In light of the feedback we've received on the Katy Perry music video ... we have decided we will not air the segment on the television broadcast of Sesame Street, which is aimed at preschoolers. Katy Perry fans will still be able to view the video on YouTube." The main reason was that parents complained about what appeared to be a great amount of cleavage shown by her dress. Perry shot the video for Firework in Budapest in September 2010. An open casting call drew an unprecedented 38,000 applicants. She proceeded to perform at a concert in Budapest on October 1, her first concert in Central and Eastern EuropePerry has announced her own fragrance to be released in autumn of this year, named "Purr". It will come in a cat-shaped bottle, and will be available through Nordstrom stores.

Musical style and themes

Perry has a contralto vocal range. Among Perry's musical influences are Alanis Morissette, pop rockers Cyndi Lauper, Pat Benatar, Joan Jett, Shirley Manson, and Freddie Mercury, Perry expects to record more pop songs for her next album.

Perry is artistically involved in her projects, especially in the writing process. Since she could play guitar, she would start writing songs at home and present it to her producers. Perry is mostly inspired by specific moments of her life. She said it is easy for her to write songs about heartbreak. The songs have been respectively labeled as being homophobic and promoting homosexuality, as well as "lez ploitational".

Public image

Perry is known for her unconventional style of dress. Her fashion has caught the attention of designers, who were giving her nearly as much attention as fans of her music. The picture was defended as only an effort to give Perry a "sexy, harder edge". She has appeared in FHM Magazine's 100 Sexiest Women poll twice, ranking at #23 in 2009 and #37 in 2010.

Personal life

Perry dated Gym Class Heroes frontman Travie McCoy, whom she met in a recording studio in New York, on and off for several years. After more than a year of friendship and casual dating, they became serious with their relationship right before they embarked on the 2008 Warped Tour. Perry and McCoy broke up in December 2008. The two began dating again in early 2009 and broke up again a few months later. Perry first met British comedian Russell Brand in the summer of 2008 when Perry filmed a cameo for Brand's film Get Him to the Greek. Perry and Brand began dating after meeting again in September 2009 at the MTV Video Music Awards, where Brand, as host, remarked, "Katy Perry didn't win an award and she's staying at the same hotel as me, so she's gonna need a shoulder to cry on. So in a way, I'm the real winner tonight." The couple became engaged in December 2009 when Brand proposed to Perry while vacationing in India. In a July 2010 YouTube interview, Perry said Brand would be a "perfect" father. Perry has stated that she plans to take dual British citizenship when she marries Brand. "One of the first things I'll do is apply for dual citizenship. I'm not too sure if I have to take a test as I've not had time to look into it. But England is like my second home". Perry and Brand married on October 23, 2010 near the Ranthambhore tiger sanctuary in Rajasthan, India, the same location where Brand had proposed. They were married in a traditional Hindu ceremony.

Discography

Katy Hudson (2001)

One of the Boys (2008)

Teenage Dream (2010)

Tours

Hello Katy Tour (2009)

California Dreams Tour (2011)

Filmography

Television

{| class="wikitable sortable" !Year !Title !Role !class="unsortable"|Notes |- |2008 | |Herself |Episode 8914 |- |2008 |Wildfire |Herself |"" (Season 4, episode 8) |- |2010 | American Idol |Guest judge |"Season 9, episode 5" |- |2010 |The X Factor |Guest judge |"Series 7, episode 2" |- |2010 |Sesame Street | Herself | Online special (deleted from televised episode) |- |2010 | The Simpsons | Herself | 1 episode, "The Fight Before Christmas" |- |2011 | How I Met Your Mother | Zoey's cousin | 1 episode, "Oh Honey" |}

Films

{| class="wikitable sortable" !Year !Title !Role ! class="unsortable"|Notes |- |2011 | |Smurfette |Voice |- |2011 | |TBA |Cameo |- |}

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Official website

Category:1984 births Category:Living people Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors from California Category:American bloggers Category:American Christians Category:American contraltos Category:American dance musicians Category:American female guitarists Category:American female pop singers Category:American film actors Category:American musicians of German descent Category:American people of Portuguese descent Category:American pop rock singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American voice actors Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Capitol Records artists Category:English-language singers Category:Female rock singers Category:Musicians from California Category:People from Santa Barbara, California Category:The X Factor judges

Birth name	Patrick Junior Chukwuem Okogwu
Born	November 07, 1988
Origin	London, United Kingdom
Instrument	Vocals
Genre	Grime, hip hop, Dubstep, electro, Drum 'n' Bass
Occupation	Rapper, songwriter
Years active	2005–present
Label	Parlophone/DL Records Ltd
Associated acts	DJ Ironik, Labrinth, Chipmunk, Malorie Blackman, Bashy, Tinchy Stryder, N-Dubz, Mr. Hudson, Emeli Sandé, Ellie Goulding, Vex King, Eric Turner, Sean Combs, Kelly Rowland, JLS, Snoop Dogg
Url

Patrick Junior Chukwuem Okogwu (born 7 November 1988), better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is a BRIT award nominated British rapper from Plumstead, South London. His debut album, Disc-Overy, debuted at number-one on 10 October 2010 and was preceded by the number-one singles "Pass Out" and "Written in the Stars" and the top-five singles "Frisky" and "Miami 2 Ibiza".

Early life

Tinie Tempah, born Patrick Opadi Nsubuga Okogwu, was born in London to Nigerian parents . He attended St. Paul's Catholic School in Abbey Wood, London SE2, (now known as St. Paul's Academy). He went on to study A Levels at St Francis Xavier Sixth Form College SW12.

He has three siblings - a younger brother and two younger sisters.

In 2006, Tinie gained a great deal of airplay on British music TV channel, Channel U, for his song 'Wifey Riddim' and then in late 2007, Tinie Tempah collaborated on a track with grime artists Agent X and Ultra. The song was titled "Perfect Girl".

Parlophone signing and Disc-Overy

He released his LP, Disc-Overy on 4 October 2010, which includes the hit singles "Pass Out", "Frisky", "Written in the Stars" "Miami 2 Ibiza" and "Invincible".

He announced his signing to Parlophone by running a competition on his blog, with the winner invited to High Tea at Claridges to celebrate the deal. He toured with Chipmunk in February 2009. According to MTV, Patrick's major label debut album, titled Disc-Overy (pronounced discovery), was due for release in August 2010. Tinie then announced his second single, "Frisky", which was released on 6 June 2010. Tinie performed at Radio 1 Big Weekend in Bangor on 22 May 2009 and 2010 on the In New Music We Trust stage and informed the crowd his album would be out in August 2010. He also toured with Mr Hudson in May 2010.

Tinie supported Rihanna for four dates (London on 11 May, Nottingham on 14 May, and Glasgow on 19 and 20 May.) on her 10-date UK tour with Tinchy Stryder and Pixie Lott. Tinie performed at many summer balls at various universities around the United Kingdom.

Tinie Tempah played the Summertime Ball at Wembley Stadium on 6 June 2010, at Wakestock in Abersoch on 3 July, both T4 On The Beach and the Wireless Festival in London's Hyde Park on 4 July, and both days of the V Festival on 21 and 22 August 2010.

"Written in the Stars" was the third single from Disc-Overy, the debut album, and was released on 27 September 2010 where it topped the charts on 3 October 2010; the day before his album release. "Invincible" is his next single off the album, Disc-overy. It was revealed by Ellie Goulding on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge that she had recently recorded a music video with Tinie Tempah, indicating that "Wonderman" would be the next single released from the album.

Tempah has confirmed he is writing a second album, saying there will be a more electronic and live feel to it. It is not yet known what the title will be.

Awards and nominations

Discography

Disc-Overy (2010)

References

External links

Tinie Tempah - Official Fan Site

Category:British rappers Category:Black British people Category:English people of Nigerian descent Category:Grime artists Category:Black British musicians Category:People from London Category:British hip hop musicians Category:1988 births Category:Living people

Name	Paty Cantú
Years active	2000-present (group) 2008-present (solo)
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Patricia Giovanna Cantú Velasco
Born	November 25, 1983 (Age 27) in Guadalajara,Jalisco
Origin	Guadalajara, Mexico
Genre	Pop, rock, britpop
Label	EMI Music
Associated acts	Motel, Lu
Url	patycantu.com

Patricia Giovanna Cantú Velasco (born November 25, 1983), known professionally as Paty Cantú is a Mexican singer-songwriter and occasional actress, who rose to fame as one of the founding members of the successful Mexican pop duo Lu.

Early life

Cantú was born in Houston, Texas. The family returned to Guadalajara, Mexico when she was a child. At the age of 16, Cantú was drawn to entertaining people; she started taking guitar and bass lessons, eventually leaving Law School to pursue her musical career.

Music career

Lu

Paty Cantú became a member of the Mexican pop duo Lu alongside Mario Sandoval. The pair rose to fame with hits like Por Besarte, Una Confusión and La Vida Después de Ti and being certified gold and platinum for both records in Mexico and USA. Their self-titled debut album released in 2004, which was produced by Aureo Baqueiro, producer of artists like Natalia Lafourcade, Sin Bandera, Kabah, and Moenia, had success in Mexico and Brazil in which enjoyed success because they and their song "Por Besarte" were featured on Rebelde. Her song-writing skills were shown in the track "Sé" and writing songs for Lola and Alejandra Guzmán. After various reeditions from their first album, and a somophore one called "Álbum", it was announced on August 27, 2007 that Mario and Paty parted ways due to artistic ideas, giving their last concert on October in Reynosa, Tamaulipas.

Solo

After the split, Paty started to write songs for her debut album, having 54 songs before selecting the final 10. In 2008, she was featured in Motel's hit "Dos Palabras" which was released on August 12 and appeared in the reedition from their somophore album 17 Bis. After that, Paty Cantú debuted as a solo artist on October 17 as an opening act for Mexican singer Aleks Syntek, making this her start as a successful solo singer. In November 2008, Her album "Me Quedo Sola" was released on January 27, 2009 under EMI composed of 10 songs, 9 written by her and 1 written by Billy Mendez from Motel. In only three days of sales, Me Quedo Sola debuted at #8 in "Lo Mas Vendido" in Mixup and after a week, the album reached #1. However in the Mexico Main Top 100 Albums Chart reached #2, just under Vicente Fernández.

"No Fue Suficiente", her second single was released on February 21 and its video inspired by Tim Burton was produced by Esteban Madrazo and debuted in "Los 10+ Pedidos" of MTV. She started to write songs for Alejandro Fernández, Dulce María's debut album as well as upcoming greatest hits from Alejandra Guzmán. She also announced in her MySpace that her debut album will have a reedition which include new tracks like Muñeca de Papel written by Billy from Motel, Casi Divas featuring Alfonso Pichardo, lead singer from Moenia and Mi Amor Destruye featuring Ballesteros.

Paty Cantú was nominated for Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica 2009 in two categories, one alongside her former mate Mario Sandoval and his group Sandoval. On September 29, Paty Cantú received two nominations for Premios Oye!, the Mexican Grammy Awards for Breakthrough of the Year alongside Alexander Acha, Beto Cuevas, Tush and Victor & Leo and Best Female Solo competing against Colombian Fanny Lu, Italian singer Laura Pausini and connationals María José and Natalia Lafourcade

Acting career

Paty Cantú appeared as a musical guest in Rebelde, in the 2nd season of El Show de los Sueños and in Verano de Amor starred by Dulce María but her acting debut will be in the 3rd season of the Mexican series El Pantera as the character of María a car thief which will be involved as a love interest of El Pantera.

Discography

Albums

{| border="3" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse;" |- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" ! Statistics |- |width=400 align="left"|Me Quedo Sola

Released: January 27, 2009

Peak Chart Positions:

* Mexican Albums Chart: #3

Mexico Sales: 23,000

AMPROFON Certification: none

Record Label: EMI Music

Singles:

* Déjame Ir

* No Fue Suficiente

* Me Quedo Sola

|- |width=400 align="left"|Afortunadamente No Eres Tú

Released: August 17, 2010

Peak Chart Positions:

* Mexican Albums Chart: #10

Mexico Sales: 33,651

AMPROFON Certification: Gold

Record Label: EMI Music

Singles:

* Afortunadamente No Eres Tú

* Clavo Que Saca Otro Clavo

|}

Awards And Nominations

Los Premios MTVs are awarded annually by MTV Latin America. Cantú has received two nominations. She received two nominations again in the 8th gala of the Premios Oye!

|- |rowspan=2|Premios MTV 2009 |rowspan=2|Paty Cantú |Best New Artist — North | |- |Breakthrough Artist | |- |rowspan=2|Premios Oye! 2009 |rowspan=2|Paty Cantú |Breakthrough of the Year | |- |Best Female Soloist |

External links

Official Site

Paty Cantú's MySpace

YouTube

References

Category:1983 births Category:Living people Category:Mexican actors Category:Mexican female singers Category:People from Houston, Texas

Name	Norah Jones
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Geethali Norah Jones Shankar
Born	March 30, 1979Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, actress
Instrument	Vocals, piano/keyboards, guitar
Genre	Jazz, blues, pop, blue-eyed soul, folk, country, smooth jazz, fusion jazz, roots rock, alternative rock
Years active	2001–present
Label	Blue Note
Associated acts	The Little Willies, El Madmo, Liberation Prophecy, Wax Poetic, Peter Malick, Willie Nelson, Ray Charles, Q-Tip
Url	www.norahjones.com

Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter, pianist, keyboardist, guitarist, and actress.

In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album Come Away With Me, which was certified a diamond album in 2002, selling over 20 million copies. Her subsequent studio albums, Feels like Home, released in 2004, Not Too Late, released in 2007 and her 2009 release The Fall, all gained Platinum status after selling over a million copies

Early life

Born in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, Jones is the daughter of Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar, and her mother, concert producer Sue Jones. She is the half-sister of Anoushka Shankar. After her parents' separation in 1986, Jones spent her childhood with her mother in the Fort Worth suburb of Grapevine, Texas, where she attended Colleyville Middle School and Grapevine High School before transferring to Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas. While in high school, Jones sang in the school choir, participated in band and played the alto saxophone. At the age of sixteen, with the blessings of her parents, she officially changed her name to "Norah Jones".

Jones always had an affinity for the music of Bill Evans and Billie Holiday, among other 'oldies'. She once said, "My mom had this eight-album Billie Holiday set; I picked out one disc that I liked and played that over and over again." She considers Willie Nelson her mentor.

She began singing in church choirs and took piano lessons as a child. She still attends church. She considers herself spiritual and appreciates the rituals of her church but does not consider herself the religious type.

She attended Interlochen Center for the Arts during the summers. While at high school, she won the DownBeat Student Music Awards for Best Jazz Vocalist (twice, in 1996 and 1997) and Best Original Composition (1996).

Jones attended the University of North Texas (UNT), where she majored in jazz piano and sang with the UNT Jazz Singers. During this time she had a chance meeting with future collaborator Jesse Harris. She gave a ride to a band playing at the university whose members happened to be friends of Harris. He was on a cross-country road-trip with friend and future The Little Willies member, Richard Julian, and stopped to see the band play. After meeting Jones, Harris started sending her lead sheets of his songs. In 1999, she left for New York City. Less than a year later she started a band with Harris, which would soon catapult her to fame.

Musical career

2001-2004: First Sessions and Come Away with Me

After moving to New York City, Norah Jones signed with Blue Note Records, a EMI Group owned label, and released a demo, First Sessions in 2001. Jones was a lounge singer before becoming a recording artist. Prior to releasing her first album, she performed with Wax Poetic, Peter Malick and jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter.

Jones' February 2002 debut album, Come Away with Me, was celebrated for its blending of mellow, acoustic pop with soul and jazz. Debuting at #139, it reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard 200. The single "Don't Know Why" hit #1 on the Top 40 Adult Recurrents in 2003 and #30 in the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart.

In 2003, she won five Grammy Awards, Best New Artist, Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for the album and Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Don't Know Why" at the 45th Grammy Awards. This matched the record for most Grammy wins by a female artist in a single night (tying with Lauryn Hill and Alicia Keys). That night, Jesse Harris won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for composing "Don't Know Why", Arif Mardin won Producer of the Year, primarily for his work on Come Away With Me, and the album also received the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. It remains the Blue Note's biggest-selling album. The album débuted at number one in at least 16 countries around the world.

In 2005, at the 47th Grammy Awards, Feels like Home was nominated for three Grammys. It won for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Sunrise", and had nominations for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for her duet with Dolly Parton, "Creepin 'In".

She won two more Grammy Awards that year, for Record of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for her collaboration with Ray Charles, "Here We Go Again", which was the first track on Charles' last album, Genius Loves Company. Genius Loves Company won the Album of the Year award.

2007-2008: Not Too Late

Jones' released her third album, Not Too Late, on January 30, 2007. The album was her first for which she wrote or co-wrote every song, and according to her, some of them are much darker than those on her previous albums. Not Too Late was mostly recorded at Jones's home studio and is her first album without producer Arif Mardin, who had died in the summer of 2006. Jones described the sessions as "fun, relaxed and easy" and without a deadline; Blue Note executives reportedly did not know she was recording an album. The song "My Dear Country" is political commentary; she wrote it before the United States Presidential election day in 2004.

Not Too Late reached the #1 position in twenty countries. Not Too Late holds the third best first week album sales of 2007 after Avril Lavigne's The Best Damn Thing and Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight. It reached #1 in the U.S. selling 405,000 copies. EMI announced that Not Too Late reached gold, platinum or multi-platinum in 21 countries as of February 2007. The album has sold 4 million copies worldwide.

By 2007, Jones had sold over 36 million albums worldwide.

2009-present: The Fall and ...Featuring

Jones' fourth studio album, The Fall, debuted at number three in November 2009, selling 180,000 copies in its first week. It was Jones' first album not to reach #1 in the United States. The album received critical acclaim. As part of the promotional drive for the album, she performed on Dancing with the Stars, Late Show with David Letterman, Good Morning America and other television programs.

The album's lead single, "Chasing Pirates", peaked at #13 on Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks and #7 on Jazz Songs.

Billboard's 2000-2009 decade awards ranked her as the top Jazz recording artist, at #60 best Artist. Come Away With Me was elected the #4 album and #1 jazz album. Jones earned a platinum certification by the RIAA for sales of 1 million copies of The Fall. The album sold 1.5 million copies worldwide and was certified gold or platinum in 14 countries as of 2010. "Baby, It's Cold Outside", a duet with Willie Nelson, was nominated in the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category.

Her fourth world tour began March 5, 2010.

Jones released ...Featuring, a compilation album of collaborations she has done with well-known musicians, including the Foo Fighters, Willie Nelson, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Outkast, Q-Tip, Talib Kweli, Belle and Sebastian, Ray Charles, Ryan Adams, Dolly Parton, Herbie Hancock, M. Ward, and others. Jones said, “It's so exciting and flattering and fun when I get asked to sing with somebody that I admire...It takes you a little bit out of your comfort zone when you're doing something with another artist. You don't know what to expect—it's kind of like being a little kid and having a playdate.” The 18-track Blue Note disc was released on November 16, 2010.

Personal life

Jones was in a long term relationship with Lee Alexander from 2000 until they split at Christmas 2007.

Additional projects and collaborations

Jones made a cameo appearance as herself in the 2002 movie Two Weeks Notice which starred Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock. The film shows her briefly at the piano, singing for a charity benefit.

Jones appears on the track "Ruler of My Heart" (a cover of an Irma Thomas song), on the 2002 Dirty Dozen Brass Band album, Medicated Magic.

In the latter part of 2003, rumors emerged that veteran Indian filmmaker Dev Anand was planning to make the film Song of Life, inspired by Jones's troubled relationship with her father, Ravi Shankar. Both Jones and Shankar were enraged by the rumors. Jones commented, "[Anand] has no idea of our story, and he's not going to represent it in a truthful way, I'm sure. It's sad because it's personal stuff and nobody's business but ours."

Jones appeared in the 2004 special Sesame Street Presents: The Street We Live On.

Jones appeared on Ray Charles' final album, Genius Loves Company, in 2004, on "Here We Go Again".

Jones formed The Little Willies in 2003 alongside Richard Julian on vocals, Jim Campilongo on guitar, Lee Alexander on bass, and Dan Rieser on drums. The alt country band released its eponymous first album in 2006.

Jones has done three Grammy nominated duets with Willie Nelson: Wurlitzer Prize (I Don't Want To Get Over You) in 2003, "Dreams Come True" in 2005 and Baby, It's Cold Outside in 2009. The track was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, in 2006.

Jones appeared on Ryan Adams' & The Cardinals' 2005 album, Jacksonville City Nights on the track "Dear John".

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Jones worked with Mike Patton in 2006 providing vocals on the track "Sucker" on the Peeping Tom project. The song attracted attention as it was the first time Jones used profanity in a recording.

In 2007, Jones made her acting debut as the protagonist in a film directed by Wong Kar-wai. The film, My Blueberry Nights, opened for the 2007 Cannes Film Festival as one of the 22 films in competition. She wrote and performed a song, "The Story", for the movie.

In January 2007, Jones recorded a live session at Abbey Road Studios for Live from Abbey Road. The episode, on which John Mayer and Richard Ashcroft also appeared, was aired on UK Channel 4 and on the Sundance Channel. She appeared twice on the PBS series Austin City Limits, on November 2, 2002 and October 6, 2007. The latter appearance was the season opener.

In a change of direction predating The Fall, Jones (referring to herself as "Maddie" and virtually anonymous in a blond wig) sang and played guitar with rock band El Madmo. The band consists of Jones, Daru Oda and Richard Julian and released an eponymous album on May 20, 2007.

Jones appears in Herbie Hancocks' 2007 release singing the first track, "Court and Spark". This album won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year at the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008; Jones was credited as a featured artist, her ninth Grammy win.

Jones appeared on the comedy track "Dreamgirl", on the 2009 debut album from The Lonely Island, Incredibad (featuring SNL performer Andy Samberg).

In 2008, Jones made another appearance in hip hop with an appearance on a track named "Life Is Better", on the critically acclaimed album The Renaissance by rapper Q-tip.

In 2009, Jones made a cameo appearance in the independent film, Wah Do Dem, co-starring Sean Bones and written by Ben Chace and Sam Fleischner.

Jones was a judge for the 5th annual Independent Music Awards, supporting independent artists' careers.

In 2010, Jones contributed "World of Trouble" to the Enough Project and Downtown Records' Raise Hope for Congo compilation. Proceeds from the compilation fund efforts to make the protection and empowerment of Congo’s women a priority, as well as inspire individuals around the world to raise their voice for peace in Congo.

Hank Williams project

Jones is one of the participants in the so-called 'Hank Williams Project' overseen by Bob Dylan, and reportedly including contributions from Willie Nelson, Jack White, Lucinda Williams, and Alan Jackson. On March 31, 2008, Jones commemorated the 10th anniversary of The Living Room with a midnight performance at the intimate Manhattan music venue where the singer got her start. She played a new song titled "How Many Times Have You Broken My Heart" and explained that it originated from newly-found Hank Williams lyrics she was asked to put to music. Jones and band play typically several album hits, modified with guitar solos and additional percussion. Additionally, shows may also feature several covers of country, jazz, blues, or folk songs, ranging from the ubiquitous to the obscure. Artists covered have included, among others, Willie Nelson, Gram Parsons, Johnny Cash, John Prine, Randy Newman, Patsy Cline, Elvis Presley, and Tom Waits.

Jones worked with Reverb, a non-profit environmental organization, for her 2007 summer tour. She also performed at Bryant Park on July 6 as part of Good Morning America's Summer Concert Series.

2002/2004: Come Away with Me Tour

2004/2005: Norah Jones & The Handsome Band Tour

2007/2008: Not Too Late Tour

2010: The Fall Tour

Special appearances

On September 9, 2009, Jones performed the songs Come Away With Me and Young Blood at the end of the Apple Inc.'s 'It's Only Rock and Roll' press conference in San Francisco, for the release of iTunes 9 and video camera-equipped iPods, among other items.

She appeared on Sesame Street performing alongside Elmo to the song "Don't Know Why".

On May 14, 2009, Jones made a guest appearance and performed with many other music icons on the season finale of the NBC series 30 Rock.

Filmography

Discography

Come Away with Me (2002)

Feels like Home (2004)

Not Too Late (2007)

The Fall (2009)

Awards

See also

Fry Street Fire – Norah Jones was an honorary Chairwoman of 'Save Fry Street'

List of best-selling music artists

The Little Willies

References

External links

Norah Jones performs and is interviewed on Radio Happy Hour

Category:1979 births Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Actors from New York City Category:Actors from Texas Category:American blues singers Category:American buskers Category:American country singers Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American folk singers Category:American jazz guitarists Category:American jazz keyboardists Category:American jazz pianists Category:American jazz singers Category:American multi-instrumentalists Category:American musicians of Indian descent Category:American pop guitarists Category:American pop keyboardists Category:American pop pianists Category:American pop singers Category:American soul guitarists Category:American soul keyboardists Category:American soul singers Category:Bengali musicians Category:Blue Note Records artists Category:BRIT Award winners Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Jazz-blues guitarists Category:Jazz-blues keyboardists Category:Jazz-blues pianists Category:Jazz-pop singers Category:Living people Category:Musicians from New York City Category:People from Brooklyn Category:People from Dallas, Texas Category:Torch singers Category:University of North Texas alumni Category:Vocal jazz musicians Category:Women in jazz Category:World Music Awards winners

Name	Ellie Goulding
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Elena Jane Goulding (born 30 December 1986), better known as Ellie Goulding, is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. She rose to fame after topping the BBC Sound of 2010 poll and winning the Critics' Choice award at the 2010 BRIT Awards. After signing to Polydor Records in 2009, Goulding released her first extended play An Introduction to Ellie Goulding, followed by her debut full-length studio album, Lights, in 2010. Later that year Goulding recorded a re-release of Lights entitled Bright Lights. Goulding is currently working on her second album. As of January 2011, Goulding has been nominated for two 2011 BRIT Awards for British Female Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Artist.
Name	Goulding, Ellie
Alternative names	Elena Jane Goulding
Short description	British singer
Date of birth	30 December 1986
Place of birth	Hereford, England

Category:1986 births Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Alumni of the University of Kent Category:BRIT Award winners Category:British electronic musicians Category:British female guitarists Category:British female singers Category:English-language singers Category:British singer-songwriters Category:British vegetarians Category:Female rock singers Category:Folktronica Category:Indie pop musicians Category:Living people Category:People from Hereford Category:Polydor Records artists Category:Synthpop

Name	Corinne Bailey Rae
Landscape	no
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Corinne Jacqueline Bailey
Born	February 26, 1979Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
Instrument	Vocals, guitar
Genre	Soul, R&B;, jazz
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, guitarist
Years active	2005–present
Label	EMI, Capitol
Url
Notable instruments	Gibson Hummingbird

Corinne Bailey Rae (born Corinne Jacqueline Bailey on 26 February 1979) is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist from Leeds, who released her debut album Corinne Bailey Rae in February 2006. Bailey Rae was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2006 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2006. She became the fourth female British act in history to have her first album debut at number one. Bailey Rae was nominated for Grammy Awards and BRIT Awards, and has won two MOBO Awards and an Album Of The Year Grammy and Best Contemporary Jazz Album for her work as a featured artist in Herbie Hancock's . Bailey Rae was married to fellow musician Jason Rae from 2001 until his death in 2008. Bailey Rae released her second album, The Sea on 26 January 2010, after a hiatus of nearly two years. Tracks on the new album have been produced by Steve Brown and also Steve Chrisanthou (who produced her debut album in 2006). She has sold 4 million albums, with her two albums combined, worldwide. Bailey Rae was nominated for the 2010 Mercury Prize for Album of the Year for The Sea.

Early years

Childhood

Bailey Rae was born in Leeds to a black Kittitian father and a white English mother as the oldest of three daughters, including Candice Bailey and actress Rhea Bailey.

Bailey Rae began her musical career at school where she studied classical violin before she turned her attention to singing: "I started off singing in church, I suppose, but people think it must have been a gospel church because of the whole, you know, black assumption," she says in reference to her multiracial background. "But it wasn't gospel at all, it was just your regular Brethren church, very middle-class, where we would sing these harmonies every Sunday. It was always my favourite part of the service, the singing."

Bailey Rae later transferred to a Baptist church, where the youth leader was coaching rock bands in the local high school. The church young people wrote their own worship songs and sang covers by the likes of Primal Scream. "We changed the words though," Bailey Rae states on her website. "We didn't want to offend the regular churchgoers, now did we?"

Performing in church broadened Bailey Rae's musical horizons, and her love for making music was solidified after the church youth leader offered to lend her the money for her first guitar. In her mid-teens, she was highly influenced by Lenny Kravitz, and through him she discovered rock legends Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. "I loved that band during my teens; I wanted, somehow, to follow in their footsteps, and to create music of my own."

The group raised eyebrows on several fronts; in the white male-dominated world of indie music, they were a mainly female group, fronted by a mixed-race singer from Leeds. The moniker "Helen" also drew attention, albeit for not all the right reasons: "What can I say? We were 15 years old, and thought that Helen was a cheeky, indie kind of thing to do. It seemed clever at the time. Admittedly, it seems less so now". they got married in 2001 at age of twenty-two and Bailey changed her name to Bailey Rae. Jason Rae (born in 1976), a musician, played saxophone for the eight-piece group called Haggis Horns, and had recorded with Bailey Rae, The New Mastersounds and Martina Topley-Bird (Quixotic) albums. On 22 March 2008, Jason Rae was found dead in a flat in the Hyde Park area of Leeds. In December 2008, Leeds Coroner's Court gave a verdict of death by misadventure, and stated that Rae died of an accidental overdose of methadone and alcohol.

Music career

2004–2008: Career music development

In the three years after she got married, Bailey Rae began working on solo material—this time steering away from her indie past and embarking on a more "soulful" path. She collaborated with Leeds-based funk group The New Mastersounds on the track "Your Love Is Mine," featured on their 2003 album Be Yourself, released via One Note Records. The following year she again worked with another Leeds-based group, Homecut Directive, on the song "Come the Revolution", which was the first single from the group's debut album.

on 18 August 2007]] In 2004, Bailey Rae got a breakthrough when she was signed by Global Talent Publishing and then approached by Craig David's mentor Mark Hill, from the duo The Artful Dodger, to appear on his new album better luck next time under his new alias, The stiX. The resulting collaboration, "Young and Foolish", was released in April 2005 and brought Bailey Rae to the attention of the major record label bosses.

Bailey Rae released her debut single, "Like a Star", in November 2005 and her first album, Corinne Bailey Rae, in February 2006. It debuted at number one in the UK and entered the top ten of the U.S.Billboard 200, peaking at number four and spending 71 weeks in the chart from 2006 to 2008. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the album sold 1.9 million copies in the United States alone.

The lead single, "Like a Star" became a hit in the UK and U.S., and sold over 327,000 U.S. downloads. Follow-up single "Put Your Records On", her biggest hit to date, rose to number two in the UK, and sold over 945,000 U.S. downloads. "Trouble Sleeping" made the top forty, and "I'd Like To", the top seventy. In the middle of 2006, Bailey Rae embarked on her first international tour through Europe and North America with singer R&B;, John Legend, playing 55 shows including the festivals Rock in Rio Lisboa 2 and Live Earth. In early April 2006, Corinne Bailey Rae was certified 2x platinum by the BPI and platinum by the RIAA. In September 2006, Bailey Rae scooped two awards at the UK's MOBO Awards: "Best UK Newcomer" and "Best UK Female". Bailey Rae recorded a live session at Abbey Road Studios in July 2006 for Live from Abbey Road.

Bailey Rae was the musical guest in a 2006 episode of Saturday Night Live with the host being Jaime Pressly. She performed "Put Your Records On" and "Like a Star". She also appeared on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip on the episode "B-12", which aired in November of 2006, with Howie Mandel. She performed "Like a Star" and "Trouble Sleeping". Also in 2006, Bailey Rae performed on Radio 1 Live Lounge with the songs "Like a Star", a cover version of Editors' "Munich", and a cover version of Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack".

Bailey Rae also received three nominations at the 2007 Grammy Awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year (both for "Put Your Records On"), and Best New Artist. During the ceremony, she performed "Like a Star" and joined John Legend and John Mayer in a collaborative performance, providing accompanying vocals to Legend's "Coming Home" and Mayer's "Gravity".

Also in 2007, Bailey Rae accepted an invitation to participate (Vanguard Records), where she contributed her version of Domino's "One Night (of Sin)". She also recorded John Lennon's "I'm Losing You" for Make Some Noise, Amnesty International's music venture. The song was also released on the 2007 John Lennon tribute album, "". In July of that year, Bailey Rae performed at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London.

In 2008, Like a Star was nominated for a Grammy for Song of the Year. Bailey Rae won in two categories for Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Jazz Album for her collaboration on . Also in 2008, she recorded a live session of "River" with Hancock at Abbey Road Studios in for Live from Abbey Road for Channel 4 which was broadcast on Series 2.

During the American and European tour, Bailey Rae recorded her first DVD with the title Live in London & New York. The DVD was filmed in London and the bonus CD was recorded in New York.

2009–present: The Sea

Corinne Bailey Rae released her new album titled The Sea on 26 January 2010. The album was released after a gap of two years following the death of her husband Jason Rae. Lead single I'd Do It All Again premiered on 25 November in 2009 on the Jools Holland program Later. Follow up single "Closer" was added to Smooth Jazz Radio on 25 January, Urban AC on 1 February and AC radio in late February. The album's second single "Paris Nights and New York Mornings" went to Triple A radio on 15 February. After the release of the second album, Corinne went on a national tour. Her London concert at Somerset House in the summer sold out, and she returned to London again in October to perform in Royal Festival Hall with Pete Lawrie as a supporting act.

In December 2009, Bailey Rae recorded a live performance in New York City that was broadcast in the summer of 2010 on the U.S. TV program Live From the Artists Den.

On June 2, 2010, Bailey Rae appeared with Herbie Hancock, singing "Blackbird" in a concert honoring (Sir) Paul McCartney in the East Room at the White House.

Bailey Rae made an appearance as a musical guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on October 28, 2010, covering the Bob Marley song "Is This Love".

Soundtrack Inclusions

"Like a Star" is part of the soundtracks of several films, series and soap operas, such as Cashmere Mafia, 27 Dresses, Men in Trees, Nancy Drew, Perfect Stranger, Medium, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Venus, Grey's Anatomy, and Sete Pecados.

In the film Venus, six songs from the debut album were included on the soundtrack of the film, which are "I'd Like To", "Another Rainy Day", "Choux Pastry Heart", "Put Your Records On", " Like a Star", " Breathless".

The song "I'd Like To", from Bailey Rae's debut album, was also featured in the soundtrack for the movie He's Just Not That Into You (2009).

Public Service

Bailey Rae is the Special Ambassador for the charity CORD. Bailey Rae is also the central ambassador for International water and Sanitation charity, Pump Aid.

Discography

;Studio albums

2006: Corinne Bailey Rae

2010: The Sea

;DVDs

2007: Live in London & New York

;Concert tours

2006/2007: World Tour

2010: The Sea Tour

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Bailey Rae has won two awards from four nominations, including Album of the Year; she featured artist, Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year.

|- |rowspan="3"|2007 |Corinne Bailey Rae |Best New Artist | |- |rowspan="2"|"Put Your Records On" |Record of the Year | |- |Song of the Year | |- |rowspan="1"|2008 |"Like a Star" |Song of the Year |

Others Awards and nominations

{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 90%;" |- bgcolor="#B0C4DE" align="center" ! style="background-color: #BCBCBC"|Year ! style="background-color: #BCBCBC"|Result ! style="background-color: #BCBCBC"|Award ! style="background-color: #BCBCBC"|Category ! style="background-color: #BCBCBC"|Nominated Work |- |- |rowspan="10"| 2006 || || BET Awards || BET J Cool Like Dat Award || General |- | || MTV Europe Music Awards || Best UK & Ireland Act ||General |- | || MTV Woodie Awards || International Woodie (Favorite International Artist) || General |- | || UK Festival Music Awards || Best Urban Act || General |- | || Premios 40 Principales || Mejor Artista Nuevo Internacional || General |- | |rowspan="3"| MOBO Awards || Best Song || Put Your Records On |- | || Best UK Female || General |- | || Best UK Newcomer || General |- | || MOJO Awards || Best New Act || General |- | || Q Awards || Best New Act ||General |- |rowspan="21"| 2007 || |rowspan="2"| BET Awards || Best New Artist ||General |- | || Best Female R&B; Artist || General |- | |rowspan="3"| BRIT Award || Best British Single || Put Your Records On |- | || British Female Artist || General |- | ||British Breakthroug Act ||General |- | || Teen Choice Awards || Best Female Breakthrough Artist ||General |- | || ECHO Awards || International Newcomer of the Year|| General |- | || Ivor Novello Awards || PRS Most Performed Work ||General |- | || MOBO Awards ||Best UK Female|| General |- | |rowspan="3"| || Outstanding Album || Corinne Bailey Rae |- | || Outstanding Female Artist || General |- | || Outstanding New Artist ||General |- | || Music Week Awards || International Marketing Campaign of the Year || General |- | || European Border Breakers Awards || United Kingdom || General] |- | |rowspan="3"| Soul and Jazz Awards || Album of the Year |rowspan="2"| Corinne Bailey Rae |- | ||Best Album of Soul |- | || Best New Artist of the Year|| Corinne Bailey Rae |- | |rowspan="2"| Kickers Urban Music Award || Best Neo Soul Act || Corinne Bailey Rae |- | || Best Crossover Chart Act || General |- | || Urban Music Awards || Best Neo Soul Act || General |- | || BMI Pop Awards || Song of the Year || Put Your Records On |- |rowspan="10"| 2010 | |rowspan="4"| Soul and Jazz Awards || Album of the Year |rowspan="2"| The Sea |- | ||Best Album R&B; of the Year |- | || Artist of the Year |rowspan="2"| Corinne Bailey Rae |- | ||Best Artist of the Year Act Soul/R&B; |- | || Mercury Prize || Album of the Year || The Sea |- | || Q Awards || Best Female Act || Corinne Bailey Rae |- | || MOBO Awards || Best UK R&B; Soul Act Act || Corinne Bailey Rae |- | || American Smooth Jazz Awards || Best Female Act || Corinne Bailey Rae |- | || BET Awards || Best International Act || Corinne Bailey Rae |- | || Soul Train Music Awards || Centric Award || Corinne Bailey Rae |}

Notes

Closer can be heard in an episode of Hawaii Five-0.

"Put Your Records On" was featured on the Parenthood (television soundtrack) in August, 2010.

References

External links

Main reference sites

Corinne Bailey Rae — official website

Corinne Bailey Rae discography at Discogs

Corinne Bailey Rae discography at Musicbrainz

Interviews & others

Corinne Bailey Rae interview by Pete Lewis, 'Blues & Soul' February 2010

musicOMH.com interview

The Guardian interview 2005

The Guardian interview 2009

HiphopRnbSoul.com Audio Interview

aol.co.uk videos from AOL Sessions, live performances, official releases and interviews

theartsdesk.com interview 2010

Category:1979 births Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Alumni of the University of Leeds Category:Black British musicians Category:British people of Saint Kitts and Nevis descent Category:Capitol Records artists Category:English Baptists Category:English female guitarists Category:English female singers Category:English rhythm and blues singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English soul singers Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Neo soul singers Category:People from Leeds Category:Rhythm and blues guitarists Category:Smooth jazz singers Category:Soul guitarists

Caption	Eastwood in 2008
Alt	An older man is at the center of the image smiling and looking off to the right of the image. He is wearing a white jacket, and a tan shirt and tie. The number 61 can be seen behind him on a background wall.
Nationality	American
Birth name	Clinton Eastwood
Birth date	May 31, 1930
Birth place	San Francisco, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, director, producer, composer
Years active	1953–present
Spouse	Maggie Johnson (1953-1984, divorced)Dina Ruiz (1996-present)
Partner	Sondra Locke (1975–89)Frances Fisher (1990–95)
Children	7

Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American film actor, director, producer, and composer. Throughout his five-decade career, he has received five Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, two Cannes Film Festival awards, and five People's Choice Awards, among other accolades. Eastwood served as the nonpartisan mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California from 1986–1988, where he supported small business interests and environmental protection. Twice married and the father of seven children, Eastwood is also known for his strong passion for jazz and golf.

Following his six-year run on the television series Rawhide (1959–65), Eastwood starred as the laconic Man With No Name in Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy of Spaghetti Westerns in the 1960s, and as Inspector Harry Callahan in the Dirty Harry films of the 1970s and 1980s. These roles, and several others as tough-talking, no-nonsense police officers, have made him an enduring cultural icon of masculinity.Eastwood won Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture and received nominations for Best Actor for his work in the films Unforgiven (1992) and Million Dollar Baby (2004). These films in particular, as well as others, including Play Misty for Me (1971) (his directorial debut), High Plains Drifter (1973), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Escape from Alcatraz (1979), Pale Rider (1985), In the Line of Fire (1993), and Gran Torino (2008), have all received critical acclaim and commercial success. He has directed most of his star vehicles, but has also directed films he did not act in, such as Mystic River (2003) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), for which he received Academy Award nominations.

Early life

Eastwood was born in San Francisco to Clinton Eastwood, Sr. (1906–70), a steelworker and migrant worker, and Margaret Ruth (née Runner; 1909–2006), a factory worker. He was nicknamed "Samson" by the nurses in the hospital as he weighed at birth. Eastwood is of English, Irish, Scottish, and Dutch ancestry, and was raised in a "middle class Protestant home" with his younger sister, Jean. His family relocated often, as his father worked at different jobs along the West Coast, including at a pulp mill. The family settled in Piedmont, California, where Eastwood attended Piedmont Junior High School and Piedmont Senior High School. He later transferred to Oakland Technical High School, where the drama teachers encouraged him to enroll in school plays, but he was not interested. As his family moved to different areas, he held a series of jobs, including a lifeguard, paper carrier, grocery clerk, forest firefighter, and golf caddy.

After graduating from high school in 1949, Eastwood intended to enter Seattle University and major in music theory. However, in 1950 he was drafted into the United States Army during the Korean War. He was stationed at Fort Ord in California, where his certificate as a lifeguard got him appointed as a life-saving and swimming instructor.While on leave in 1951, Eastwood was a passenger in a Douglas AD bomber that ran out of fuel and crashed in the ocean near Point Reyes. After escaping from the sinking fuselage, he and the pilot safely swam to shore.

Eastwood later moved to Los Angeles and began a romance with Maggie Johnson, a college student. He managed an apartment house in Beverly Hills by day and worked at a Signal Oil gas station by night. He enrolled at Los Angeles City College and married Maggie shortly before Christmas 1953 in South Pasadena.

Film career

1950s

Early career struggles

According to the CBS press release for Rawhide, the Universal (known then as Universal-International) film company was shooting in Fort Ord when an enterprising assistant spotted Eastwood and invited him to meet the director. According to Eastwood's official biography, the key figure was a man named Chuck Hill, who was stationed in Fort Ord and had contacts in Hollywood. disapproved initially of his acting skills, remarking, "He was quite amateurish. He didn't know which way to turn or which way to go or do anything". Lubin suggested that he attend drama classes and arranged for Eastwood's initial contract in April 1954, at $100 per week.

In May 1954, Eastwood made his first real audition for Six Bridges to Cross but was rejected by Joseph Pevney. After many unsuccessful auditions, he was eventually given a minor role by director Jack Arnold in Revenge of the Creature, a sequel to The Creature from the Black Lagoon. In September 1954, Eastwood worked for three weeks on Lubin's Lady Godiva of Coventry, won a role in February 1955 as a sailor in Francis in the Navy, and appeared uncredited in another Jack Arnold film, Tarantula, where he played a squadron pilot. In May 1955, Eastwood put four hours' work into the film Never Say Goodbye. Universal presented him with his first television role on July 2, 1955, on NBC's Allen in Movieland, which starred Tony Curtis and Benny Goodman. Although he continued to develop as an actor, Universal terminated his contract on October 23, 1955.

Eastwood joined the Marsh Agency, and although Lubin landed him his biggest role to date in The First Traveling Saleslady (1956) and later hired him for Escapade in Japan, without a formal contract Eastwood was struggling. Eastwood met financial advisor, Irving Leonard, who would arguably become the most responsible for launching his career in the late 1950s and 1960s and whom Eastwood described as being "like a second father to me". Upon Leonard's advice, he changed talent agencies to the Kumin-Olenick Agency in 1956 and Mitchell Gertz in 1957. He landed several small roles in 1956 as a temperamental army officer for a segment of ABC's Reader's Digest series, and as a motorcycle gang member on a Highway Patrol episode. The following year he played a Navy lieutenant in a segment of Navy Log and in early 1959 made a notable guest appearance on Maverick opposite James Garner as a cowardly villain intent on marrying a rich girl for money.

Rawhide

(1959–65)]] In 1958, Eastwood was cast as Rowdy Yates for the CBS hour-long western series Rawhide, the breakthrough in his career he had long been searching for. However, Eastwood was not especially happy with his character; Eastwood was almost 30, and Rowdy was too young and too cloddish for Clint to feel comfortable with the part. Filming began in Arizona in the summer of 1958. It took just three weeks for Rawhide to reach the top 20 in TV ratings and, although it never won an Emmy, it was a major success for several years, and reached its peak at number six in the ratings between October 1960 and April 1961. The Rawhide years (1959–65) were some of the most grueling of Eastwood's career, often filming six days a week for an average of twelve hours a day, yet he still received criticism by some directors for not working hard enough. By late 1963, Rawhide was beginning to decline in popularity and lacked freshness in the script; it was canceled in the middle of the 1965–66 television season.

1960s

In late 1963, Eastwood's co-star Eric Fleming on Rawhide rejected an offer to star in an Italian-made western called A Fistful of Dollars, to be directed in a remote region of Spain by Sergio Leone, who was relatively unknown at the time. Other actors, including Charles Bronson, Steve Reeves, Richard Harrison, Frank Wolfe, Henry Fonda, James Coburn, and Ty Hardin were considered for the main part in the film. Harrison suggested Eastwood, whom he knew could play a cowboy convincingly. Eastwood saw it as an opportunity to escape Rawhide and the States and signed a contract for $15,000 (US$}} in dollars) in wages for eleven weeks work and a bonus of a Mercedes automobile upon completion. He arrived in Rome in May 1964. Eastwood was instrumental in creating the Man With No Name character's distinctive visual style. Despite Eastwood being a non-smoker, Leone insisted that cigar smoking was an essential ingredient of the "mask" he was attempting to create with the loner character.

Some interior shots for the film were done at the Cinecittà studio on the outskirts of Rome and then production moved to a small village in Andalusia, Spain. A Fistful of Dollars became a benchmark in the development of spaghetti westerns, with Leone depicting a more lawless and desolate world than in traditional westerns and challenging the stereotypical American notions of a western hero with a morally ambiguous antihero. Eastwood became a major star in Italy.

Leone hired Eastwood to star in For a Few Dollars More (1965), the second film of the trilogy and thanks to screenwriter Luciano Vincenzoni, the rights to the film and the final film of the trilogy (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) were sold to United Artists for roughly $900,000 (US$}} in dollars).

(1966)]] In January 1966, Eastwood met with producer Dino De Laurentiis in New York City and agreed to star in a non-Western five-part anthology production named Le streghe (The Witches) opposite De Laurentiis' wife, actress Silvana Mangano. Eastwood's nineteen-minute installment only took a few days to shoot. The performance was not met well by critics; one said "no other performance of his is quite so 'un-Clintlike'". Two months later, Eastwood began on the third Dollars film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, in which he again played the mysterious Man With No Name. Lee Van Cleef returned to play a ruthless fortune seeker, while Eli Wallach was hired as the cunning Mexican bandit Tuco. The storyline involves a search for a cache of Confederate gold buried in a cemetery. One day, during the filming of the scene in which the bridge is blown up with dynamite, Eastwood, suspicious of explosives, urged his co-star Wallach to retreat up to the hilltop, saying, "I know about these things. Stay as far away from special effects and explosives as you can". Just minutes later, crew confusion over the word "Vaya!" consummated in a premature explosion which could have killed him, resulting in the bridge having to be rebuilt. All the films were successful in cinemas, particularly The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which eventually collected $8 million (US$}} in dollars) in rental earnings and turned Eastwood into a major film star. Judith Crist described A Fistful of Dollars as "cheapjack". Newsweek described For a Few Dollars More as "excruciatingly dopey" despite the fact that it is now widely considered to be one of the finest films in film history. While Time highlighted the wooden acting, especially Eastwood's, critics such as Vincent Canby and Bosley Crowther of The New York Times praised Eastwood's coolness playing the tall, lone stranger. Leone's unique style of cinematography was widely acclaimed, even by some critics who disliked the acting. A cross between Rawhide and Leone's westerns, the film brought him a salary of $400,000 (US$}} in dollars) and 25% of the net earnings. Using money earned from the Dollars trilogy, Leonard helped establish Eastwood's production company, Malpaso Productions, named after Malpaso Creek on Eastwood's property in Monterey County, California. Leonard arranged for Hang 'Em High to be a joint production with United Artists. Filming began in June 1967 in the Las Cruces area of New Mexico and became a major success after release in July 1968, becoming the biggest United Artists opening in history and exceeding all of the James Bond films at that time. It was widely praised by critics, including Arthur Winsten of the New York Post, who described Hang 'Em High as "a western of quality, courage, danger and excitement".

Meanwhile, before Hang 'Em High had been released, Eastwood had set to work on the film Coogan's Bluff opposite Don Stroud, about a lonely New York City Police Department deputy sheriff facing a psychopathic criminal (Stroud). The project reunited him with Universal Studios after he received an offer of $1 million (US$}} in dollars), more than double his previous salary. Coogan's Bluff also became the first of many collaborations with Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin, who would later compose the jazzy scores to Eastwood's films throughout the 1970s and 1980s, especially the Dirty Harry film series. Filming began in November 1967, before the full script had been finalized. The film was controversial for its portrayal of violence, and set the prototype for the macho cop that Eastwood would play in the Dirty Harry films.

Eastwood was paid $850,000 (US$}} in dollars) in 1968 for the war epic Where Eagles Dare. The film, about a World War II squad parachuting into a Gestapo stronghold in the mountains, had Richard Burton playing the squad's commander and Eastwood as his right-hand man. Eastwood was also cast as Two-Face in the Batman television series, but the series was canceled before filming could commence.

In 1969, Eastwood branched out by starring in his career's only musical, Paint Your Wagon. He and fellow non-singer Lee Marvin played gold miners who share the same wife (played by Jean Seberg). Production for the film was plagued with bad weather and delays and the budget—eventually exceeding $20 million (US$}} in dollars) —was extremely high for this period. The film was not a critical or commercial success, although it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.

1970s

In 1970, Eastwood starred in the western Two Mules for Sister Sara with Shirley MacLaine. The film, directed by Siegel, is about an American mercenary who gets mixed up with a whore disguised as a nun and aids a group of Juarista rebels during the reign of Emperor Maximilian in Mexico. Eastwood once again played a mysterious stranger—unshaven, wearing a serape-like vest, and smoking a cigar. Although it received moderate reviews, The New York Times Guide to the Best 1000 Movies Ever Made included Two Mules for Sister Sara in its top 1,000 films of all time. Later in 1970, Eastwood starred as one of a group of Americans who steal a fortune in gold from the Nazis in the World War II film Kelly's Heroes with Donald Sutherland and Telly Savalas.Kelly's Heroes was the last film that Eastwood appeared in which was not produced by his Malpaso Productions. Filming commenced in July 1969 on location in Yugoslavia and in London. The film received mostly a positive reception and its anti-war sentiments were recognized. Upon release, the film received major recognition in France and is considered one of Eastwood's finest works by the French. However, it grossed less than $1 million (US$}} in dollars) and according to Eastwood and Lang flopped because it was poorly publicized and due to Clint being "emasculated in the film".

The script for Dirty Harry (1971) was written by Harry Julian Fink and Rita M. Fink. It is a story about a hard-edged New York City (later changed to San Francisco) police inspector named Harry Callahan who is determined to stop a psychotic killer by any means. Dirty Harry is arguably Eastwood's most memorable character and has been credited with inventing the "loose-cannon cop genre" that is imitated to this day. His lines (quoted) have been cited as amongst the most memorable in cinematic history and controversially has been attributed to increasing ownership in the United States of a .44 Magnum. After its release in December 1971, Dirty Harry proved a phenomenal success, earning some $22 million (US$}} in dollars) in the United States and Canada alone. It was Siegel's highest-grossing film and the start of a series of films featuring the character of Harry Callahan. Although a number of critics such as Jay Cocks of Time praised his performance as Dirty Harry, describing him as "giving his best performance so far, tense, tough, full of implicit identification with his character", the film was widely criticized and accused of fascism.

Eastwood was offered the role of James Bond following the departure of Sean Connery, but turned it down because he believed the character should be played by an English actor. Eastwood next starred in the loner Western Joe Kidd (1972), based on a character inspired by Reies Lopez Tijerina, who stormed a courthouse in Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico in June 1967. Under John Sturges, filming began in Old Tucson in November 1971, but Eastwood suffered symptoms of a bronchial infection and several panic attacks during filming. Joe Kidd received a mixed reception. Roger Greenspun of The New York Times thought the film was unremarkable, with foolish symbolism and sloppy editing, but he praised Eastwood's performance.

In 1973, Eastwood directed his first western, High Plains Drifter, with a moral and supernatural theme which would be emulated later in Pale Rider. The plot follows a mysterious stranger (Eastwood) who arrives in a brooding Western town where the people hire the stranger to defend the town against three felons that are soon to be released. There remains confusion amongst viewers as to whether the stranger is the brother of the deputy whom the felons lynched and murdered or his ghost. Holes in the plot were filled in with black humor and allegory, influenced by Leone. The revisionist film received a mixed reception from critics, but was a major box office success. A number of critics thought Eastwood's directing was as derivative as it was expressive, with Arthur Knight of Saturday Review remarking that Clint had "absorbed the approaches of Siegel and Leone and fused them with his own paranoid vision of society". John Wayne, who had declined a role in the film, sent a letter of disapproval to Eastwood some weeks after the film was released, saying that "the townspeople did not represent the true spirit of the American pioneer, the spirit that made America great.

Eastwood turned his attention towards Breezy (1973), a film about love blossoming between a middle-aged man and a teenage girl. During casting for the film, Eastwood met Sondra Locke for the first time, an actress who would play a major role in many of his films for the next ten years and was an important figure in his life. Kay Lenz was awarded the part of Breezy, due to Locke being too old at 26. The film, shot very quickly and efficiently by Eastwood and Frank Stanley came in $1 million (US$}} in dollars) under budget and finished three days ahead of schedule. The film was not a major critical or commercial success; it barely reached the Top 50 before disappearing and was only made available on video in 1998.

After the filming of Breezy had finished, Warner Brothers announced that Eastwood had agreed to reprise his role as Detective Harry Callahan in a sequel to Dirty Harry, Magnum Force (1973), about a group of rogue young officers in the San Francisco Police Force who systematically exterminate the city's worst criminals. Although the film was a major success after release, grossing $58.1 million (US$}} in dollars) in the United States alone—a new record for Eastwood—it was not a critical success. The New York Times critics Nora Sayre criticized the often contradictory moral themes of the film and Frank Rich believed it "was the same old stuff". Eastwood's acting was noted by critics, but he was overshadowed by Bridges who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Eastwood was reportedly fuming at his own lack of Academy Award recognition and swore that he would never work for United Artists again.

The Eiger Sanction (1975) was based on a critically acclaimed spy novel by Trevanian. Paul Newman was originally intended for the role of Jonathan Hemlock which was later adopted by Eastwood, an assassin turned college art professor who decides to return to his former profession for one last sanction in return for a rare Picasso painting; he must climb the north face of the Eiger in Switzerland and perform the deed under perilous conditions. Once again he starred alongside George Kennedy. Mike Hoover taught Eastwood how to climb during several weeks of preparation at Yosemite in the summer of 1974 before filming commenced in Grindelwald on August 12, 1974. Despite prior warnings of the perils of the Eiger, the filming crew suffered a number of accidents including one fatality. Eastwood insisted on doing all his own climbing and stunts, in spite of the danger. Upon its release in May 1975, The Eiger Sanction was a commercial failure, receiving only $23.8 million (US$}} in dollars) at the box office and was panned by most critics, with Joy Gould Boyum of the Wall Street Journal dismissing the film as "brutal fantasy". Eastwood blamed Universal Studios for the film's poor promotion and turned his back on them. He formed a long-lasting agreement with Warner Brothers through Frank Wells that would last for the next 35 years.

The western, The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), was inspired by a 1972 novel by Asa Carter. The lead character, Josey Wales (Eastwood), is a rebel southerner who refuses to surrender his arms after the American Civil War and is chased across the old southwest by a group of enforcers. Eastwood cast his young son Kyle Eastwood, Chief Dan George and Sondra Locke for the first time, against director Philip Kaufman's wishes. Kaufman was notoriously fired under Eastwood's command by producer Bob Daley, resulting in a fine (reported to be around $60,000 (US$}} in dollars) from the Directors Guild of America, who subsequently passed new legislation reserving the right to impose a major fine on a producer for discharging a director and replacing him with himself. Upon release in August 1976, The Outlaw Josey Wales was widely acclaimed by critics with many critics and viewers seeing Eastwood's role as an iconic one that related to America's ancestral past and the destiny of the nation after the American Civil War.

Eastwood was offered the role of Benjamin L. Willard in Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now, but declined as he did not want to spend weeks in the Philippines shooting it. He refused the part of a platoon leader in Ted Post's Vietnam War film, Go Tell the Spartans. The film, at 95 minutes, was considerably shorter than the previous Dirty Harry movie but was a major commercial success, grossing $100 million (US$}} in dollars) worldwide, becoming Eastwood's highest-grossing film to date.

In 1977, Eastwood directed and starred in The Gauntlet. He portrays a down-and-out cop who falls in love with a prostitute he is assigned to escort from Las Vegas to Phoenix to testify against the mob. Although a moderate hit with the viewing public, critics were mixed about the film, with many believing it was overly violent. Eastwood's longtime nemesis , an uncharacteristic, offbeat comedy role. Eastwood played Philo Beddoe, a trucker and brawler who roams the American West searching for a lost love, accompanied by his brother and an orangutan. Upon its release, the film was a surprising success and became Eastwood's most commercially successful film at the time. Panned by the critics, it ranks high amongst those of his career to date, and was the second-highest grossing film of 1978.

In 1979, Eastwood starred in the atmospheric thriller Escape from Alcatraz, the last of his films to be directed by Don Siegel. It is based on the true story of Frank Lee Morris, who, along with John and Clarence Anglin, escaped from the notorious Alcatraz prison in 1962. The film was a major success and marked the beginning of a period of praise from critics for Eastwood, with Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic describing it as "crystalline cinema".

1980s

In 1980, Eastwood directed and played the lead role in the comedy Bronco Billy alongside Locke, Scatman Crothers, and Sam Bottoms. His children, Kyle and Alison, had small roles as orphans. Eastwood has cited Bronco Billy as being one of the most affable shoots of his career, and biographer Richard Schickel has argued that the character of Bronco Billy is Eastwood's most self-referential work. The film was a commercial failure, but was appreciated by critics. Janet Maslin of The New York Times believed the film was "the best and funniest Clint Eastwood movie in quite a while", and praised Eastwood's directing and the way he intricately juxtaposes the old West and the new. Later in 1980, Eastwood starred in the sequel to Every Which Way but Loose entitled Any Which Way You Can. The film received a number of bad reviews from critics, although Maslin described it as, "funnier and even better than its predecessor". However, the film was critically acclaimed in France, where it was compared to John Huston's The Grapes of Wrath. Also in 1982, Eastwood directed, produced, and starred in the Cold War-themed Firefox. The film was shot before Honkeytonk Man but was released after it, and at a cost of $20 million (US$}} in dollars) to produce, it was Eastwood's highest budget film to date. Eastwood's performance was likened to "Luke Skywalker trapped in Dirty Harry's Soul" by People. This would be the last time he starred with Locke, who plays a woman raped along with her sister by a ruthless gang at a fairground, and seeks revenge for her sister's now vegetative state by systematically murdering her rapists. The script's line "Go ahead, make my day", uttered by Eastwood during an early scene, is often cited as one of cinema's immortal ones, and was famously quoted by President Ronald Reagan in a speech to Congress. The film was the highest-earning of all the Dirty Harry films, earning $70 million (US$}} in dollars). It received rave reviews, with many critics praising the feminist aspects of the film through its explorations of the physical and psychological consequences of rape.

In 1984, Eastwood starred opposite his daughter Alison, Geneviève Bujold, and Jamie Rose in the provocative thriller Tightrope, inspired by newspaper articles about an elusive Bay Area rapist. Set in New Orleans (to avoid confusion with the Dirty Harry films), Eastwood starred as a single-parent cop, drawn into his target's tortured psychology and fascination for sadomasochism. Eastwood next starred in the period comedy City Heat (1984) with Burt Reynolds about a private eye and his partner who get mixed up with gangsters in the prohibition era of the 1930s. It grossed around $50 million (US$}} in dollars) domestically, but was overshadowed by Eddie Murphy's Beverly Hills Cop and failed to meet expectations. In 1985, Eastwood made his only foray into TV direction to date with the Amazing Stories episode "Vanessa In The Garden", which starred Harvey Keitel and Sondra Locke. This was his first collaboration with Steven Spielberg, who later produced Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. Eastwood revisited the western genre, directing and starring in Pale Rider opposite Michael Moriarty and Carrie Snodgress. The film is based on the classic 1953 western Shane; a preacher descends from the mists of the Sierras and sides with miners during the California Gold Rush of 1850. The title is a reference to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, as the rider of a pale horse is Death, and shows similarities to his 1973 western High Plains Drifter in its themes of morality and justice and its exploration of the supernatural. Pale Rider became one of Eastwood's most successful films to date and was hailed as one of the best films of 1985 and the best western in years, with Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune remarking, "This year (1985) will go down in film history as the moment Clint Eastwood finally earned respect as an artist".

In 1986, Eastwood co-starred with Marsha Mason in the military drama Heartbreak Ridge, about the 1983 United States invasion of Grenada. He portrays an aging United States Marine Gunnery Sergeant and Korean War veteran. The production and filming of Heartbreak Ridge was marred by internal disagreements between Eastwood and long-time friend and producer Fritz Manes, and between Eastwood and the United States Department of Defense, who expressed contempt for the film. A commercial rather than a critical success (only viewed more favorably in recent times), the film was released in 1,470 theaters, and grossed $70 million domestically.

Eastwood's fifth and final Dirty Harry film, The Dead Pool, was released in 1988. It co-starred Liam Neeson, Patricia Clarkson, and a young Jim Carrey. The Dead Pool grossed nearly $38 million, relatively low takings for a Dirty Harry film. Eastwood began working on smaller, more personal projects, and experienced a lull in his career between 1988 and 1992. Always interested in jazz, Eastwood directed Bird (1988), a biopic starring Forest Whitaker as jazz musician Charlie "Bird" Parker. Alto saxophonist Jackie McLean and Spike Lee, son of jazz bassist Bill Lee and a long term critic of Eastwood, criticized the characterization of Charlie Parker, remarking that it did not capture his true essence and sense of humor. Eastwood received two Golden Globes for the film: the Cecil B. DeMille Award for his lifelong contribution, and the Best Director award. However, Bird was a commercial disaster, earning just $11 million, which Eastwood attributed to a declining interest in jazz amongst black people.

Carrey would again appear with Eastwood in the poorly received comedy Pink Cadillac (1989) alongside Bernadette Peters. The film is about a bounty hunter and a group of white supremacists chasing an innocent woman, who tries to outrun everyone in her husband's prized pink Cadillac. The film was a disaster, both critically and commercially, earning barely more than Bird and marking the lowest point in Eastwood's career in years.

1990s

In 1990, Eastwood directed and starred in White Hunter Black Heart, an adaptation of Peter Viertel's roman à clef about John Huston and the making of the classic film The African Queen. The film was shot on location in Zimbabwe in the summer of 1989. The film received some critical attention but only had a limited release and earned just $8.4 (US$}} in dollars) million. Later in 1990, Eastwood directed and co-starred with Charlie Sheen in The Rookie, a buddy cop action film. Critics found the macho jiving between Eastwood and Sheen unconvincing and passed the film off as blatant racial Hispanic stereotyping. 1991 was only the third year in Eastwood's career where he did not have a film showing in the cinemas. The reason was an ongoing lawsuit filed by Stacy McLaughlin after Eastwood had rammed her car while backing out of his parking space in the Malpaso parking lot. Eastwood won the suit, and agreed to pay McLaughlin's court fees if she did not appeal. including Best Actor for Eastwood and Best Original Screenplay for David Webb Peoples. It won four, including Best Picture and Best Director for Eastwood. Jack Methews of the Los Angeles Times described it as "the finest classical western to come along since perhaps John Ford's 1956 The Searchers.

In 1993, Eastwood played Frank Horrigan, a guilt-ridden Secret Service agent in the CIA thriller In the Line of Fire, co-starring John Malkovich and Rene Russo and directed by Wolfgang Petersen. Eastwood's character, Horrigan, is haunted by his failure to react in time to save John F. Kennedy's life. As of 2011, it is the last time he acted in a film he did not direct himself. The film was among the top 10 box office performers in that year, earning a reported $200 million (US$}} in dollars) in the United States alone. Later in 1993, Eastwood directed and co-starred with Kevin Costner in the 1960s-set A Perfect World. Janet Maslin of The New York Times remarked that the film was the highest point of Eastwood's directing career, and it has since been cited as one of Eastwood's most underrated directorial achievements.

In May 1994, Eastwood attended the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and was presented with France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres medal. Eastwood continued to expand his repertoire by playing opposite Meryl Streep in the love story The Bridges of Madison County (1995). Based on a best-selling novel by Robert James Waller, it relates the story of Robert Kincaid (Eastwood), a photographer working for National Geographic, who has a love affair with a middle-aged Italian farm wife in Iowa named Francesca (Streep). The film was a hit at the box office and highly acclaimed by critics, much to their surprise; the novel was not viewed favorably and the subject matter was deemed a potentially disastrous one to produce on film. Roger Ebert remarked that "Streep and Eastwood weave a spell, and it is based on that particular knowledge of love and self that comes with middle age." The Bridges of Madison County was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Picture and Streep was also nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe.

In 1997, Eastwood then directed and again starred alongside Gene Hackman in the political thriller Absolute Power, in which he plays a veteran thief who witnesses the Secret Service cover up a murder. The film received a mixed reception from critics and was generally viewed as one of his weaker efforts. Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide remarked, "The plot turns are no more ludicrous than those of the average political thriller, but the slow pace makes their preposterousness all the more obvious. Eastwood's acting limitations are also sorely evident, since Luther is the kind of thoughtful thief who has to talk, rather than maintaining the enigmatic fortitude that is Eastwood's forte. Disappointing." Later in 1997, Eastwood directed Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, based on the novel by John Berendt and starring John Cusack, Kevin Spacey, and Jude Law. The film received a mixed response from critics.

In 1999, Eastwood directed and starred in True Crime, which also featured his young daughter, Francesca Fisher-Eastwood. Eastwood plays Steve Everett, a journalist recovering from alcoholism, given the task of covering the execution of murderer Frank Beechum (Isaiah Washington). The film received a mixed reception. Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote, "True Crime is directed by Mr. Eastwood with righteous indignation and increasingly strong momentum. As in A Perfect World, his direction is galvanized by a sense of second chances and tragic misunderstandings, and by contrasting a larger sense of justice with the peculiar minutiae of crime. Perhaps he goes a shade too far in the latter direction, though."If some reviews for True Crime were positive, commercially it was a box office bomb, earning less than half its $55 million (US$}} in dollars) budget, and easily became his worst performing film of the 1990s (White Hunter Black Heart having only a limited release).

2000-present

{| class="wikitable floatright" style="max-width: 26em;" |+ Academy Awards |- ! Year !! Award !! Film !! W/N |- | rowspan="3"|1992 || Best Director || Unforgiven || style="text-align: center"|Won |- | Best Picture || Unforgiven || style="text-align: center"|Won |- | Best Actor || Unforgiven || Nominated |- | 1994 || colspan="2"|Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award || style="text-align: center"|Won |- | rowspan="2"|2003 || Best Director || Mystic River || Nominated |- | Best Picture || Mystic River || Nominated |- | rowspan="3"|2004 || Best Director || Million Dollar Baby || style="text-align: center"|Won |- | Best Picture || Million Dollar Baby || style="text-align: center"|Won |- | Best Actor || Million Dollar Baby || Nominated |- | rowspan="2"|2006 || Best Director || Letters from Iwo Jima || Nominated |- | Best Picture || Letters from Iwo Jima || Nominated |} In 2000, Eastwood directed and starred in Space Cowboys, and was joined by Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, and James Garner. In 2002, Eastwood played an ex-FBI agent on the track of a sadistic killer (Jeff Daniels) in the thriller Blood Work. The film was a failure, grossing just $26.2 million on an estimated budget of $50 million and received mixed reviews, with a consensus at Rotten Tomatoes calling it "well-made but marred by lethargic pacing".

In 2003, Eastwood directed the crime drama Mystic River, a film about murder, vigilantism, and sexual abuse. Starring Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, and Tim Robbins, Mystic River was lauded by critics and viewers alike. The film won two Academy Awards, Best Actor for Penn and Best Supporting Actor for Robbins, with Eastwood garnering nominations for Best Director and Best Picture. The film grossed $90 million (US$}} in dollars) domestically on a budget of $30 million.

In 2004, Eastwood found further critical and commercial success when he directed, produced, scored, and starred in the boxing drama Million Dollar Baby. Eastwood played a cantankerous trainer who forms a bond with a female boxer (Hilary Swank) he is persuaded to train by his lifelong friend (Morgan Freeman). The film won four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Swank), and Best Supporting Actor (Freeman). Effectively at age 74, he became the oldest of eighteen directors to have directed two or more Best Picture winners. Eastwood also received a nomination for Best Actor and received a Grammy nomination for the score he composed. A. O. Scott of The New York Times lauded the film as a "masterpiece" and the best film of the year.

at Changelings premiere at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival]] In 2006, Eastwood directed two films about the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. The first, Flags of Our Fathers, focused on the men who raised the American flag on top of Mount Suribachi. The second one, Letters from Iwo Jima, dealt with the tactics of the Japanese soldiers on the island and the letters they wrote to family members. Letters from Iwo Jima was the first American film to show a war issue completely from the view of an American enemy. Both films were highly praised by critics and garnered several Oscar nominations, including Best Director and Best Picture for Letters from Iwo Jima.

On December 6, 2006, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Eastwood into the California Hall of Fame located at The California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts. In early 2007, Eastwood was presented with the highest civilian distinction in France, Légion d'honneur, at a ceremony in Paris. French President Jacques Chirac told Eastwood that he embodied "the best of Hollywood".

In 2008, Eastwood directed Changeling, which is based on a true story set in the late 1920s. It starred Angelina Jolie as a woman who is reunited with her missing son—only to realize he is an impostor. After releasing in several film festivals, the film grossed over $110 million (US$}} in dollars), the majority of which came from foreign markets. The film was highly acclaimed, with Damon Wise of Empire describing Changeling as "flawless". Todd McCarthy of Variety described it as "emotionally powerful and stylistically sure-handed" and stated that Changeling was a more complex and wide-ranging work than Eastwood's Mystic River, saying the characters and social commentary were brought into the story with an "almost breathtaking deliberation". Film critic Prairie Miller said that in its portrayal of female courage the film was "about as feminist as Hollywood can get", whilst David Denby argues that rather than "an expression of feminist awareness", the film—like Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby—is "a case of awed respect for a woman who was strong and enduring". , July 17, 2008]] After four years away from acting, Eastwood then ended his "self-imposed acting hiatus" with Gran Torino, which he also directed, produced, and partly scored with his son Kyle and Jamie Cullum. Biographer Marc Eliot called Eastwood's role "an amalgam of the Man with No Name, Dirty Harry, and William Munny, here aged and cynical but willing and able to fight on whenever the need arose." Eastwood has said that the role will most likely be the last time he acts in a film. It grossed close to $30 million during its wide release opening weekend in January 2009, the highest of his career as an actor or director. Gran Torino eventually grossed over $268 million (US$}} in dollars) worldwide in theaters, becoming the highest-grossing film of Eastwood's career so far without adjustment for inflation.

In 2009, Eastwood directed Invictus, based on the story of South Africa at the 1995 Rugby World Cup, with Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as rugby team captain François Pienaar. John Carlin, author of the book on which the film is based, sold the film rights to Freeman.

In 2010, Eastwood directed Hereafter, a thriller starring Matt Damon as "a reluctant psychic", with co-stars Cécile de France and Lyndsey Marshal. The film had its world premiere on September 12, 2010 at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival and was given a limited release on October 15, 2010. Hereafter received mixed reviews from critics, with critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes being, "Despite a thought-provoking premise and Clint Eastwood's typical flair as director, Hereafter fails to generate much compelling drama, straddling the line between poignant sentimentality and hokey tedium." Also in 2010, Eastwood collaborated with Bruce Ricker as an executive producer for a Turner Classic Movies (TCM) documentary about legendary jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, , to commemorate Brubeck's 90th birthday in December.

Politics

in the late 1980s]] As a politician, Eastwood made a successful foray into local and state government. He was elected mayor in April 1986 for one term in his home town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, a small, wealthy town and artist community on the Monterey Peninsula. During his term, he had a tendency to support small business interests and advocate environmental protection. In 2001, he was appointed to the California State Park and Recreation Commission by Governor Gray Davis, and was reappointed in 2004 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. When Eastwood and Shriver were not reappointed to the commission in March 2008 when their terms expired, Governor Schwarzenegger appointed Eastwood to the California Film Commission in April 2004.

Personal life

Relationships

Eastwood has fathered at least seven children by five women and has been described as a "serial womanizer."

Eastwood married swimsuit model Maggie Johnson on December 19, 1953, six months after they met on a blind date. During his marriage to Johnson, Eastwood had an affair with Roxanne Tunis, an extra on Rawhide which produced a daughter, Kimber, born on June 17, 1964, although it was not made public until 1989. Eastwood and Johnson had two children together: Kyle Eastwood (born May 19, 1968) and Alison Eastwood (born May 22, 1972). They separated around 1976, when Eastwood began living with actress Sondra Locke, but the $25 million (US$}} in dollars) divorce settlement was not finalized until May 1984.

Eastwood's relationship with Locke lasted 14 years, during which she had two abortions and then a tubal ligation. The couple separated acrimoniously in 1989. She filed a palimony suit against Eastwood for evicting her from the home which they shared and sued him for a second time for fraud. Locke and Eastwood resolved the dispute with a non-public settlement in 1999.

During his cohabitation with Locke, Eastwood had an affair with flight attendant Jacelyn Reeves. According to biographers, they met at the premiere of Pale Rider and conceived a son, Scott (born March 21, 1986), the same night. They also had a daughter, Kathryn (born February 2, 1988), although the identity of both was not publicly known until years later.

Actress Frances Fisher moved in with Eastwood after he broke up with Locke. They met while filming Pink Cadillac in 1988. They co-starred in Unforgiven and had a daughter, Francesca Fisher-Eastwood (born August 7, 1993). The couple ended their relationship in early 1995, but remain friends, and later appeared together in True Crime.

in 2007]] Eastwood met anchorwoman Dina Ruiz in an interview in 1993, and they married on March 31, 1996, when Eastwood surprised her with a private ceremony at a home on the Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas. She is 35 years his junior. The couple's daughter, Morgan Eastwood, was born on December 12, 1996.

Music

Eastwood, an audiophile, has had a strong passion for music all his life, particularly jazz and country and western music, and he is a pianist and composer. He developed as a ragtime pianist early on, and in late 1959 he produced the album Cowboy Favorites, which was released on the Cameo label. He composed the film scores of Mystic River, Grace Is Gone (2007), and Changeling, and the original piano compositions for In the Line of Fire. He also wrote and performed the song heard over the credits of Gran Torino.

Leisure

Eastwood, a life-long non-smoker (despite appearing to smoke in many of his films), has been conscious of his health and fitness since he was a teenager, and practices healthy eating and daily Transcendental Meditation. On July 21, 1970, Eastwood's father died unexpectedly of a heart attack at the age of 64. This profoundly altered Eastwood's life, encouraging him to adopt a vigorous health and exercise regime for longevity. He abstained from hard liquor, although he still favored cold beer and opened an old English-inspired pub called the Hog's Breath Inn in Carmel-by-the-Sea in 1971. Eastwood eventually sold the pub and now owns the Mission Ranch Hotel and Restaurant, also located in Carmel-by-the-Sea.

A keen golfer, Eastwood owns the Tehàma Golf Club, is an investor of the world-famous Pebble Beach Golf Links, and donates his time every year to charitable causes at major tournaments. Eastwood was a licensed pilot and often flew his helicopter to the studios to avoid traffic.

Awards and honors

Filmography

Discography

Notes

Bibliography and further reading

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External links

Charlie Rose show: An hour with Clint Eastwood

|- ! colspan="3" style="background: #DAA520;"|National Board of Review |-

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