Wiener Musikverein, (), commonly shortened to The Musikverein, has a twofold meaning: it is the name of a famous Vienna concert hall, as well as the short name for the music society, Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde [Society of Music Lovers], that owns the building.

This building is located on Dumbastraße behind the Imperial Hotel, between Bösendorferstraße and Karlsplatz. However, because Bösendorferstraße is so small a street, the building is better known as being between Karlsplatz and Kärntner Ring (part of Ringstraße loop). The back of the building faces Canovagasse [Canova lane].

The concert hall was built by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, on a piece of land given by Emperor Franz Joseph, and it was opened on January 6, 1870. A historic organ was installed in it by the Austrian firm Rieger, in 1907. The Musikverein is famous for its acoustics and is considered to be one of the five finest concert/opera venues in the world. Interestingly, none of these halls was built in the modern era with the application of acoustics science, and, with the partial exception of the horseshoe-shaped Colon, all share a long, tall, and narrow shape. It is the home to the Vienna Philharmonic.

The Große Musikvereinssaal, or Goldene Saal (Golden Hall), is forty-eight metres long, nineteen metres wide, and eighteen metres high. It has 1,744 seats and standing room for 300. Every year, the Vienna New Year's Concert is held here.

Conductors

1933 Kurt Adler

Since 2001, the building has been undergoing renovation, and several new rehearsal and concert halls have been installed.

See also

List of concert halls

Notes

External links

Musikverein website

Gallery

Category:1870 architecture Category:Cultural venues in Vienna Category:Concert halls in Austria Category:Vienna Philharmonic

Name	The Cataracs
Background	group_or_band
Origin	Berkeley, California, United States
Genre	Hip hop, rap, indie pop, electro hop
Years active	2003–present
Label	Universal
Associated acts	Dev, The Pack, Far East Movement, Glasses Malone, New Boyz
Url
Current members	Cyrano (2003–present)Campa (2003–present)

The Cataracs is an American hip hop indie-pop duo formed in Berkeley, California, consisting of David “Campa” Benjamin Singer-Vine, a songwriter and vocalist and Niles “Cyrano” Hollowell-Dhar, a songwriter, vocalist, and producer. The duo started out as an independent group, during their years at Berkeley High School. The two were first signed to the label Indie-Pop. They describe their music as "an everyday man's take on pop music." They are currently based in Los Angeles, California.

Biography

Early days

The duo met in their sophomore year while attending Berkeley High School. Singer-Vine was featured in a rap CD that was being passed around campus. When Dhar eventually heard the CD, he subsequently created a response. However, the “diss” response brought the two together and they soon became friends . In 2003, the two joined together to create what is now The Cataracs (named after Snoop Dogg's song “What's my name Pt. 2” after the phrase “Who smoke ‘til your eyes get cataracts”) . In the summer of 2006, they released their first album, Technohop Vol. 1. In August 2006, the group joined with The Pack to make the single “Blueberry Afghani”. The song soon became a hit and was chosen as a “Download of the Week” by 106 KMEL and many music sites such as The Fader, UK’s Hip Hop Connection and XLR8R praised it. Dhar went on to attend San Francisco State University in San Francisco, California and Singer-Vine attended Columbia College Chicago, in Chicago, Illinois. But in order to pursue their dreams and career in music, they both decided that they would have to leave school. The duo then packed their bags and moved to Los Angeles, CA, where they began working on their music full-stream, creating songs like "Club Love" and “Baby Baby", the latter which went on to be featured on the hit reality series Keeping Up with the Kardashians in early 2010. By 2007, they released their second album, Technohop Vol. 2, and in 2008 they released their third album The 13th Grade.

Rise to fame

In their new stage, they discovered Manteca, California native, Dev, a singer who posted much of her work on MySpace. Dhar asked if she would like to sing for them, which led to the song "2Nite." The Cataracs, along with Dev, signed to the Indie-Pop Label, which also features musicians such as Bobby Brackins, Maddy and Allyson Santa Cruz CA, and The Pack. They were later signed to a major label, Universal Records.. Through Universal, they began producing music for artists such as Far East Movement and Glasses Malone. As artist, The Cataracs received a lot of recognition through their 2010 single "Club Love", which received a lot of air play at clubs and on many different radio stations. Despite such accomplishments, the Cataracs have had their most mainstream success with the song "Like a G6" which was written by Singer-Vine/Dhar and produced by Dhar . The song peaked at #1 on the iTunes top 100 songs in the USA and also went on to peak at #1 on the Billboard charts. The chorus for the song is sampled from lyrics in the song "Booty Bounce" by Dev, which they also produced. They were featured on two of Shwayze's songs on his 2010 mixtape Love Stoned. The duo also produced songs for albums such as The Pack new album, Wolfpack Party, which hit the iTunes Hip-Hop charts at number 9. In early December 2010, a collaboration with Snoop Dogg, the inspiration behind the group's name, had leaked and is rumored to become Snoop Dogg's second single for his upcoming album Doggumentary Music.

Discography

Albums

September 18, 2006: Technohop Vol. 1

April 11, 2007: Technohop Vol. 2

January 1, 2008: The 13th Grade

October 8, 2008: Lingerie

June 1, 2009: Songs we Sung in Showers

Mixtapes

2008: Kids - Presented by DJ Eleven

2009: Yeah Buddy! Mixed by DJ Excel

2009: Stimulating Package Mixtape

2010: DJ Greg Street X The Cataracs - I Thought They Were Black

As featured artist

Music videos

References

Category:2000s music groups Category:2010s music groups Category:Electronic music duos Category:Musical groups established in 2003

Name	LTJ Bukem
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	Danny Williamson
Alias	The Bookworm
Birth date	1967
Origin	Watford
Genre	Drum and bass, Hardcore techno, Breakbeat, Rave, Downtempo, Jazz, Jungle, Soul, Funk
Occupation	DJ, Record producer
Label	Good Looking Records, Looking Good, Cookin', Earth series
Notable instruments	Piano, Synthesizers, Sampler, Turntable

LTJ Bukem is the stage name used by the drum and bass musician, producer and DJ Danny Williamson (born 1967, Watford, Hertfordshire). He and his record labels Good Looking and Looking Good Records are most associated with the jazzy, atmospheric side of drum and bass music.

Life and career

Williamson was raised in Carpenders Park, Watford, England by foster parents. He was trained as a classical pianist and discovered jazz fusion in his teenage years, having a jazz funk band at one stage. However by the late 1980s he decided to become a DJ, and gained fame in the rave scene of the early 1990s. As a producer, he released a series of jungle tracks such as "Demon's Theme" (1991), "Atlantis" and "Music" (1993). His most notable release was the track "Horizons" (1995) which attained considerable popularity.

He then dipped in visibility as a producer, with his work running the London club night Speed and his record label Good Looking Records coming to the fore. A series of compilations entitled Logical Progression highlighted a jazz and ambient influenced side of drum and bass. The style became widely known as intelligent drum and bass, although Bukem himself was opposed to the moniker, unhappy with the implication that other styles of jungle were not intelligent. Bukem also explored the downtempo end of electronic lounge music, with sister label Cookin' and the Earth series of compilations. Some of the artists who rose to fame under Good Looking in this period include Blame, Seba, Big Bud, Blu Mar Ten, Future Engineers, Tayla, Aquarius (Photek), Peshay, Source Direct and Artemis.

On July 16, 1995 he did an Essential Mix alongside MC Conrad. In 1997 he remixed the James Bond theme for David Arnold's concept album of James Bond music. In 2000 he finally released a debut solo album, the double-CD Journey Inwards. The album heavily emphasised his jazz fusion influences. 2001 saw a remix of Herbie Hancock.

He DJs extensively around the world, often under the 'Progression Sessions' or 'Bukem in Session' banners, with MC Conrad.

Style and influences

Viewed as an innovator in the drum and bass style, Bukem is known for developing an accessible alternative to that hardcore genre's speedy, assaultive energies. His style pays homage to the Detroit based sound of early techno, but Bukem also incorporates still earlier influences, particularly the mellow, melodic sonorities of 1970s era jazz fusion as exemplified by Lonnie Liston Smith and Roy Ayers. Early in his career, Bukem was identified for his response to the "almost paranoid hyperkinesis" of breakbeat-based house music, and specifically for his reservations regarding the overbearing force of the hardcore mentality. Bukem's music from the early 1990s onward represents his efforts to map out an alternative future for breakbeat house music by incorporating softer-edged influences culled from London's 1980s rare groove and acid jazz scenes. Music on Logical Progression reveals these influences, as does his approach on 1993's Music / Enchanted, which features string arrangements and sounds from nature. His use of keyboards, live vocals and slow- motion breaks on these and future releases earned Bukem's music the tag intelligent drum and bass. While this designation caused controversy within the drum and bass community, it also influenced the popularization of hardcore music in the UK during the mid 1990s.

Discography

Delitefol (released as a white label only Cat no. WIZ BUK 01)

Logical Progression (released under the name LT Bukem)

Demon's Theme / A Couple Of Beats (Good Looking Records Cat no. GLR001 released 1991, repressed 2000)

DJ Biz - Losing track of time (LTJ Bukem mix) released 1992

Teach Me To Fly (LTJ Bukem & DJ Trace released 1992)

Who Knows Vol 1 (released under the name The Bookworm)

Bang The Drums / Remnants (LTJ Bukem and Tayla Good Looking Records Cat no. GLR002 released 1993)

Return to Atlantis (LTJ Bukem and Apollo Two Good Looking Records Cat no. GLR003 released 1993)

Music / Enchanted (Good Looking Records Cat no. GLR004 released 1993)

19.5 / 19.5 Reprisal (LTJ Bukem and Peshay Good Looking Records Cat no. GLR008 released 1994)

Mixmag Live! Volume 21 (LTJ Bukem compilation /remix DMC Publishing Ltd Cat no. MMLCD21 released 1996)

Logical Progression (a four volume label compilation series)

Progression Sessions (a ten volume compilation/remix series)

Earth (a seven volume compilation/remix series)

The Journey (LTJ Bukem and Mystic Moods Mystic Moods Cat no. MMOODS 6/7 released 1996)

Mystical Realms EP (Good Looking Records Cat no. GLREP001V released 1998)

Journey Inwards (2000)

Suspended Space EP (Good Looking Records Cat no. GLREP007V released 2000)

Producer 01 (2001)

Producer 05: Rarities (2002)

Some Blue Notes Of Drum 'N Bass (2004)

"Fabriclive 46" (2009)

Remixes

Sweetness Michelle Gayle (Mellow Drum n Bass mix by LTJ Bukem 1994)

Feenin Jodeci (LTJ Bukem Remix 1995)

Transamazonia The Shamen (LTJ Bukem Remix 1995)

If I Could Fly Grace (LTJ Bukem Remix 1996)

The James Bond Theme David Arnold (LTJ Bukem Remix 1997)

The Essence Herbie Hancock (LTJ Bukem Remix 2001)

References

External links

Official Good Looking Website

[ LTJ Bukem] at Allmusic

LTJ Bukem interview

Category:1967 births Category:Living people Category:English drum and bass musicians Category:English DJs Category:English record producers Category:People from Watford

Name	Kevin Rudolf
Born	February 17, 1983
Background	solo_singer
Origin	Miami, Florida, United States
Genre	Hip hop, rock, pop
Occupation	Singer, record producer, songwriter
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, keyboards
Years active	2001–present
Label	Cash Money, Universal Republic
Associated acts	Lifehouse, Lil Wayne, Birdman, Timbaland, Jay Sean
Url	www.kevinrudolf.com

Kevin Rudolf (born February 17, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter, and record producer. Rudolf is signed to Cash Money Records and Universal Republic. Born and raised in New York, he is based out of Miami, Florida. Rudolf's debut single, "Let It Rock" featuring Lil Wayne, was certified triple platinum by the RIAA on May 5, 2009. It reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, #5 on the UK Singles Chart, #3 on the Australian Singles Chart, and #2 on the Canadian Hot 100. His second single, "Welcome to the World," reached #58 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Rudolf has appeared and performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Dancing with the Stars, at the Miss USA 2009 pageant, and at the 2009 NBA All-Star Game. In 2009, Rudolf headlined his first US Tour, the "Let It Rock Tour".

Early life

Rudolf grew up in New York; his mother was a singer. He played in local bars and with amateur bands as a teenager and began recording his own music after he bought a computer and keyboard.

Career

In 2001, Rudolf got his first break with the release of self-written pop record Binocular by Maverick Records under the pseudonym Binocular. The lead track, "You", was featured on TV series Smallville. In 2003, Rudolf began working with Timbaland and played guitar for Lil' Kim's single "The Jump Off".

Rudolf began releasing songs under his own name with the "Let It Rock" single, which appeared on his album In the City released on November 24, 2008. "Let It Rock" was used as the main theme for the WWE's 2009 Royal Rumble. "Let it Rock" was also featured on the soundtrack for WrestleMania XXV. "NYC" featuring Nas was featured on on November 5, 2008. "Let It Rock" reached #5 on the Billboard US Hot 100 chart, #5 on the UK Singles Chart, #3 on the Australian ARIA Chart and #2 on the Canadian Hot 100. The song "I Made It" served as the official theme for WrestleMania XXVI. The song You Make the Rain Fall also serves as the theme song for WWE NXT Season 3.

Rudolf's second album, To the Sky, was released on June 15, 2010.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Production credits

2005

:* "Thinking of You" (David Banner)

2006

:* "Say It Right" (Nelly Furtado) :* "Scream" (Timbaland feat. Keri Hilson and Nicole Scherzinger) :* "Release" (Timbaland feat. Justin Timberlake) :* "My Style" (Black Eyed Peas feat. Justin Timberlake)

2008

:* "Let It Rock" (Kevin Rudolf feat. Lil Wayne) :* "Something About You" (Kevin Lyttle)

2009

:* "Good Girls Go Bad" (Cobra Starship feat. Leighton Meester) :* "Love Letter" (Leona Lewis) :* "Beat Me Up" (Allison Iraheta) :* "Halfway Gone" (Lifehouse) :* "Falling In" (Lifehouse) :* "Late Night Automatic" (Three-6-Mafia) :* "Hot Mess" (Cobra Starship) :* "One Way Trip" (Lil Wayne feat. Kevin Rudolf) :* "I Want It All" (Birdman feat. Lil Wayne & Kevin Rudolf) :* "Better Than Her" (Matisse) :* "Paradice" (Lil Wayne)

2010

:* "I Made It (Cash Money Heroes)" (Kevin Rudolf feat. Jay Sean, Lil Wayne & Birdman) :* "Just Say So" (Brian McFadden feat. Kevin Rudolf) :* "Ghost" (Fefe Dobson) :* "Round & Round" (Selena Gomez & The Scene) :* "Turn Off The Lights" (Lights Over Paris) :* "Big Time Rush" (B.T.R) :* "City is Ours" (B.T.R) :* "On and On" (Flo Rida feat. Kevin Rudolf) :* "All I Need" (Natasha Bedingfield feat. Kevin Rudolf)

2011

:* "One Night" (Jesse McCartney) :* "I Think She Likes Me" (Jesse McCartney) :* "Do It Better" (Lindsay Lohan)

Musician credits

See also

Let It Rock Tour

References

External links

Official Site

Kevin Rudolf at MySpace

Kevin Rudolf's Virtual Wasteland

Category:1983 births Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Cash Money Records artists Category:Rap rock musicians Category:American male singers Category:American pop rock singers Category:American rock singer-songwriters Category:American rock guitarists Category:American record producers Category:Musicians from Miami, Florida Category:Singers from New York City Category:Living people

Name	Jay Sean
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Kamaljit Singh Jhooti
Alias	Jay Sean
Born	March 26, 1981Harlesden, Brent, London, England
Instrument	Guitar, piano
Genre	Pop, R&B;, hip hop, bhangra
Occupation	Singer–songwriter, rapper, beatboxer, record producer, arranger
Years active	2003–present
Label	Relentless, Virgin, 2Point9, Jayded, Cash Money, Universal Republic, Island
Associated acts	Birdman, Craig David, Drake, Kevin Rudolf, Lil Jon, Lil Wayne, Sean Paul, Sway, Thara, Keisha Buchanan
Url

Kamaljit Singh Jhooti (; born 26 March 1981), better known by his stage name Jay Sean, is a British singer-songwriter, rapper, beatboxer and record producer. He debuted in the Asian underground scene as a member of the Rishi Rich Project with "Dance with You", which reached #12 on the UK Singles Chart in 2003. This led to him being signed to Virgin Records and having two UK top 10 hits as a solo artist in 2004: "Eyes On You" at #6 and "Stolen" at #4. They were included in his critically-acclaimed debut album Me Against Myself which, though only moderately successful in the UK, sold more than two million copies across Asia and remains his most successful album to date.

He eventually left Virgin in 2006 and founded his own independent label, Jayded Records. After a gap of nearly four years, he returned in 2008 with "Ride It", which reached #11 in the UK and topped the charts in several Eastern European countries, including Romania where it was one of the best-selling singles of the year. It was followed by hits such as "Maybe", which reached #7 on the Japan Hot 100, and "Tonight". They were included in his second album, My Own Way, which became his most successful album on the UK Albums Chart, reaching #6, and topped the UK R&B; Chart.

Since the end of 2008, has he been signed to Cash Money Records. In 2009, his American debut single "Down" topped the Billboard Hot 100, making him the first solo artist of South Asian origin and first UK urban act to top the Hot 100. It was the seventh-best selling song of 2009, having sold more than three million digital copies in the United States, and six million copies worldwide, It was soon followed by another hit, "Do You Remember", which has sold more than a million copies in the US, and entered the top ten on the Hot 100, making him the first male act since Chingy in 2003 to "simultaneously appear in the Hot 100 top 10 with his first two charting singles." They were included in his American-debut album All or Nothing, which debuted at #37 on the US Billboard 200 and reached #11 on the Japan Oricon Albums Chart. and was ranked #35 in Billboard's Hot 100 Artists of 2009.

Life and career

1981–2002: Early life and career beginnings

Jay Sean was born as Kamaljeet Singh Jhooti in Harlesden, Northwest London to Sharan and Bindi Jhooti, Punjabi Sikh immigrants. His year of birth is uncertain, with different sources giving dates ranging from 1979 to 1983. He was raised in Southall, and displayed musical talent at an early age. At age 11, he and his cousin Pritpal Rupra formed a hip hop duo named "Compulsive Disorder". His stage name at the time was MC "Nicky J", with the "J" being derived from the first letter of his last name "Jhooti". He eventually came to be known by the nickname "Jay" among his friends. He finished his GCSEs as a "straight-A student" and then completed his A Levels with an A grade in Biology and B grades in Mathematics and Chemistry. He later enrolled in Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry at Queen Mary, University of London, to study Medicine before he dropped out in 2003 to pursue a singing career. For his music career, he chose the stage name Jay Sean; "Jay" was the nickname his friends knew him as (derived from his previous stage name "Nicky J"), while "Sean" is derived from "Shaan"—a nickname he was called at home by his grandmother—which means "shining star" or "pride" in Punjabi.

2003–06: Me Against Myself with Relentless Records

After Sean's track "One Minute" fell into the hands of producer Rishi Rich, the Rishi Rich Project was formed (consisting of Rich, Sean and Juggy D) in 2003. Their first taste of UK chart success was the Asian underground song, "Dance with You (Nachna Tere Naal)", which became a Top 20 hit, peaking at #12. This led to Sean signing a £1m deal with Virgin Records, under their label Relentless Records. His third single, "Stolen," peaked at #4, with Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu making an appearance in the video. His debut album, Me Against Myself, was released in 2004 and received much critical praise and acclaim. Sean was referred to as an "Asian sensation" and was praised for his experimental, creative fusion of contemporary R&B;, British hip hop and Indian music.

Despite initially failing to reach the top 20 on the UK Albums Chart (where it peaked at #29), the album gradually managed to sell 100,000 copies in the UK and went on to become a substantial hit in India, selling over two million copies there. He made a brief appearance in the 2005 Bollywood film Kyaa Kool Hai Hum, providing the song "Dil Mera (My Heart)" to the soundtrack, based on "One Night" from his own debut album. Beyond India, the album sold over 300,000 copies across other parts of the world, including Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, His performance of tracks from Me Against Myself on MTV Asia (alongside the Rishi Rich Project) had a television audience as large as 165 million viewers. It helped establish Sean as a major recognized artist across Asia and among the worldwide Desi diaspora, and remains his most successful album to date. With his debut album, Sean was influential in popularizing Indian-R&B; fusion sounds in Asian underground and Indian pop music. In February 2006, after several delays of his second album, he left Virgin Records.

2007–09: My Own Way and All or Nothing

After parting ways with Virgin Records, Jay Sean continued to work on his second album, which was initially named after the title track "Deal With It," but the song ended up being given to Corbin Bleu. Sean's background vocals remain on Bleu's version of the track. The song "Deal With It" earned Sean a BMI Songwriter Award and later inspired the 2009 single "Juliette" by South Korean band Shinee.

Jay Sean returned in late 2007 with the new single "Ride It", which was the first single from his second album My Own Way. It was to be the first album released as a joint-venture between his own label Jayded and 2Point9 Records. The video for "Ride It", released in early 2008, featured Jay Sean with a new style after being out of the limelight for nearly three and a half years. My Own Way debuted at #6 in the official UK Albums Chart and generated two more UK top 20 singles, "Ride It" and "Maybe". On the back of this Jay received two MOBO Award nominations, for Best UK Male (alongside Dizzee Rascal, Taio Cruz, Wiley and Sway) and Best R'n'B/Soul (alongside Usher, Estelle, Ne-Yo and Chris Brown). "Ride It" was successful in Eastern Europe, especially in Russia, Turkey and Romania, where it became one of the three best-selling singles of the year. "Maybe" was his most successful single in Japan, where it reached #7 on the Japan Hot 100 Singles.

Touch Magazine in the U.K. described him as "the U.K.'s answer to Ne-Yo," while The Independent called him "...an urban legend in the making." In August 2008, Jay Sean co-hosted London radio station Choice FM's Breakfast show a week in which he only performed previously unheard tracks, including a song whose title was left to the listeners to decide. The unknown track was later confirmed to be called "Tonight" and is included in My Own Way: Deluxe Edition. Jay Sean was confirmed for the third series of Celebrity Scissorhands in October 2008 but he withdrew before the show was aired for unclear reasons.

On 15 October 2008 during the MOBO Awards, Jay Sean announced that he had signed with the American hip-hop oriented record label Cash Money Records distributed via Universal Republic Records making him the first male British Asian singer to sign with an American label. His American-debut single was "Down" featuring American rapper and label mate Lil Wayne. It topped the Billboard Hot 100, replacing Black Eyed Peas. This makes him the first British artist to top the Hot 100 since Freddie Mercury of Queen in 1980, and the first solo artist of Asian descent to do so. "Down" has sold more than six million copies worldwide, and three million digital copies in the US, In addition, "Down" has received a large airplay of two billion listener impressions on radio worldwide. In November 2009, Sean's next single from his album, "Do You Remember", was released and featured Jamaican dancehall superstar Sean Paul plus US Southern crunk rapper Lil Jon. It entered the Hot 100 top ten on the week of 9 January 2009, After the award, he was in America for the first time since signing with Cash Money, he announced through a interview with MTV IGGY that he was recording five new songs for his album, then titled My Own Way (U.S. edition), one of which was his American-debut single with Lil Wayne, later titled "Down". Sean discussed a collaboration with Akon at the 2009 Grammy Awards, in addition to recording a song with Nadine Coyle and told viewers that the album will be released in third quarter of 2009. The album title was later changed to All or Nothing, and featured brand new songs and some of the songs from My Own Way. Despite success with two singles from the album, the album itself only debuted at #37 on the US Billboard 200. It was his lowest-charting entry on the UK Albums Chart, debuting there at #62. Despite this, it has become his highest-charting album in Japan, reaching #11 on the Oricon Albums Chart.

Sean was featured on a song called "Written on Her" alongside Birdman for the CEO’s project, released on 23 June 2009 on iTunes. This song was played during an interview on Westwood Radio 1 with Birdman and Jay Sean. Jay Sean has featured on Skepta's single "Lush" released on 10 June 2009 on iTunes. On 2 February 2010, Kevin Rudolf's single "I Made It (Cash Money Heroes)", featured Jay Sean alongside Birdman and Lil Wayne, was released. In early December 2009, it was confirmed that he has collaborated with Justin Timberlake and Esmée Denters on a song, "Love Dealer". There have been talks of collaborations with other American artists such as Ashley Tisdale, Taylor Swift, Nicole Scherzinger, Rihanna, Usher, and Jay-Z & Beyoncé.

Jay Sean was in early September 2009 nominated for the 30 Under 30 award. At the 2009 UK Urban Music Awards, he won the Best Collaboration award for "Down" alongside Lil Wayne. In early December 2009, he was ranked #35 in Billboard's Hot 100 Artists of the year. Sean's performance "had the entire crowd – parents and children, teens and twenty-somethings – dancing."

2010–present: Freeze Time

Early in May, Usher was asked about what he thought of the Stateside success of British R&B; artists like Jay Sean and Taio Cruz. "Sustaining longevity is all about time. They have a lot to prove." Usher said. While Sean could have responded aggressively to the comments, he went a different route. "He's been in the game for, what, 17 years? I completely agree with what he says. Longevity trumps everything. America has only heard one album." "I'm so new to America. I've got so much more to show them, so much more to give them." Sean said.

Jay Sean has confirmed he is working on a new album, with a tentative release date of 2 November 2010. He has stated that he has completed roughly 75 percent of the album and that guests so far include Lil Wayne, Pitbull, Nicki Minaj and Mary J. Blige. Other possible collaboration for the album include Akon, Rihanna and Drake. "2012 (It Ain't the End)" was released to U.S. radio stations and as a digital download to iTunes on 3 August 2010, as the lead single of the album. The video leaked on 14 August 2010, but Jay Sean confirmed that the leaked version of the video wasn't the final version. The final version of the video premiered on 24 August 2010. In October 2010, it was announced that the album got pushed back to 22 February 2011.

Sean will be part of the Summerbeatz tour held in Australia alongside, Flo Rida, Soulja Boy and Travie McCoy in November 2010.

Community work

Jay Sean is known for community work. He has worked with BBC Blast doing Q&A;'s on tour events in an effort to "give something back". He has supported the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) in the charity event Partnership Walk and Run by performing in Regent's Park in 2004 and 2009.

In 2009, Sean performed in Justin Timberlake's charity concert to raise funds for the Shriners Hospital for Children, alongside artists such as MC Zani, Taylor Swift and Alicia Keys. It became one of the highest-earning charity events of the year, raising more than $9 million.

Awards and nominations

Discography

Me Against Myself (2004)

My Own Way (2008)

All or Nothing (2009)

Freeze Time (2011)

Filmography

Kyaa Kool Hai Hum (2005), himself

References

External links

Category:Cash Money Records artists Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Old Latymerians Category:English male singers Category:English pop singers Category:English rhythm and blues singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English rappers Category:English record producers Category:Beatboxers Category:Musicians from London Category:English Sikhs Category:Bhangra Category:People from Hounslow Category:People from Southall Category:Punjabi people Category:Punjabi-language singers

Name	Ewan Pearson
Background	non_performing_personnel
Alias	Maas, Sulky Pup, Villa America, World of Apples, Dirtbox
Born	April 01, 1972
Genre	Electronic
Occupation	Producer, Remixer
Label	Soma
Url	EwanPearson.com

Ewan Pearson is an English electronic music producer/remixer who works under various aliases including Maas, Sulky Pup, Villa America, World of Apples, and Dirtbox. He is also in Partial Arts with Al Usher. He has remixed for artists such as Cortney Tidwell, Seelenluft, Ladytron, Depeche Mode, The Rapture, Goldfrapp, and The Chemical Brothers. In 2001, Soma Quality Recordings released Small Change, an album whose content was exclusively remix work from Pearson under his guises World of Apples and Maas. His production credits include "Pieces Of The People We Love" from The Rapture, as well as Ladytron, Chikinki, Envoy and Jeb Loy Nichols and he programmed two tracks for Gwen Stefani's solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. He plays on M83's album Saturdays = Youth. He recently completed work on Tracey Thorn's new solo album, Love And Its Opposite along with Delphic's debut album Acolyte due for release 11 January 2010.

Early life

Pearson (born 1 April 1972) grew up in Kidderminster where he attended Franche Middle School and Wolverley High School in Wolverley. His father had a keen interest in guitar and played in folk bands. This may have been an early inspiration for Ewan who played both piano and cello in his youth. He attended Girton College, Cambridge where he studied English Literature and graduated with a first. He went on to study a masters degree in philosophy and cultural studies at Royal Holloway, University of London which focused in part on the place of dance music in popular culture and resulted in the publication of "Discographies" which he co-wrote with Jeremy Gilbert.

DJ career

Pearson regularly appears at Fabric in London, Manumission and Space in Ibiza, the Pulp in Paris, and PanoramaBar in Berlin.

Discography

Albums

1997: Latitude (as Maas) (Soma Quality Recordings)

2001: Small Change (Soma Quality Recordings)

Compilations

2007: Piece Work (!K7)

Mix Albums

2005: Sc.Fi. Hi.Fi Volume 1 (Soma Quality Recordings)

2007: Fabric 35 (Fabric Records)

2010: We Are Proud of Our Choices (Kompakt Records)

Remixes

2000: Stargazer - "Deeper"

2001: Count Zero - "Blue Boogaloo"

2001: Deem-C - "Floating"

2001: Russ Gabriel - "We Will Be Turning"

2001: Jaymz Nylon - "I Know a Place"

2001: Only Child - "Getting It On"

2002: Black Strobe - "Me and Madonna"

2002: Chris Cowie - "Deep Within"

2002: Fifth Level - "Jump Up"

2002: Freeform Five - "Perspex Sex"

2002: Slam feat. Dot Allison - "Visions"

2003: The Chemical Brothers - "The Golden Path"

2003: The Flaws - "Freek"

2003: Futureshock - "Pride's Paranoia"

2003: Goldfrapp - "Strict Machine"

2003: Goldfrapp - "Train"

2003: Ladytron - "Evil"

2003: Midnight Star - "Midas Touch"

2003: Mint Royale - "Blue Song"

2003: Erlend Øye - "Sudden Rush"

2003: Playgroup - "Make It Happen"

2003: Seelenluft - "Manila"

2003: Swag - "Where I Belong"

2004: Closer Musik - "One, Two, Three - No Gravity"

2004: Depeche Mode - "Enjoy the Silence"

2004: Mocky - "Catch a Moment in Time"

2004: The Rapture - "I Need Your Love"

2005: Alter Ego - "Beat the Bush"

2005: Feist - "Inside & Out"

2005: Moby - "Raining Again"

2005: Röyksopp - "49 Percent"

2005: Silicone Soul - "The Poisoner's Diary"

2005: Silver City - "Shiver"

2006: Franz Ferdinand - "Outsiders"

2006: Goldfrapp - "Ride a White Horse"

2006: Pet Shop Boys - "Psychological"

2007: Cortney Tidwell - "Don't Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up"

2009: Junior Boys - "Hazel"

Bibliography

Discographies : dance music, culture, and the politics of sound, Jeremy Gilbert and Ewan Pearson, Routledge, 1999 ISBN 0-415-17033-8

Interviews

Ewan Pearson: Mix work - Resident Advisor Feb, 2010

External links

Official Website

RBMA Radio On Demand - Train Wreck Mix - Ewan Pearson (Misericord, Berlin/London)

RBMA Radio On Demand - Emerald Steps - Ewan Pearson (Misericord, Berlin/London)

In The Mix Page http://www.inthemix.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=274327

Category:Living people Category:1972 births Category:Club DJs Category:Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge Category:English electronic musicians Category:English DJs Category:Remixers Category:English record producers Category:English dance musicians Category:People from Kidderminster

Name	David Guetta
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	David Pierre Guetta
Born	November 07, 1967Paris, France
Genre	House, Progressive House, Electro House, Hip House, Dance, French House
Occupation	Producer, DJ
Years active	1984–present| Label = EMI Music France, Virgin
Url

David Pierre Guetta ();was born 7 November 1967 in Paris, France, is a French House music producer and DJ. Originally a DJ at nightclubs during the 1980s and 1990s, he co-founded Gum Productions and released his first album, Just a Little More Love, in 2001. Later, he released Guetta Blaster (2004) and Pop Life (2007). His 2009 album One Love included the hit singles "When Love Takes Over" (featuring Kelly Rowland), "Gettin' Over You" (featuring Chris Willis, Fergie & LMFAO) and "Sexy Bitch" (featuring Akon), the last becoming a top five hit in the US and all three reaching #1 in the UK.

Guetta has sold over three million albums and 15 million singles worldwide. He is currently one of the most sought-after music producers, having worked with a variety of pop and hip-hop artists including Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, Lil' Wayne, Kylie Minogue, Taio Cruz and Madonna.

Biography

1984–2000: early life and career

At age 17, Guetta began DJ'ing at the Broad Club in Paris. He first played popular songs, and he discovered house music when he heard a Farley Jackmaster Funk track on French radio in 1987. The next year, he began hosting his own club nights. He is married to Cathy Guetta, with whom he has two children.

In the early 1990s, Guetta played in clubs including Le Centrale, the Rex, Le Boy, and Folies Pigalle. Released in 1994,

2001–2006: Just a Little More Love and Guetta Blaster

In 2001, David Guetta along with Joachim Garraud founded Gum Productions, and in the same year Guetta's first hit single, "Just a Little More Love", featuring American singer Chris Willis was released. Willis was vacationing in France when he met Guetta.

2009: One Love and International breakthrough

David Guetta's fourth studio album, One Love, was released on 21 August 2009, and physically released on 24 August 2009 in Europe and 25 August in the United States. Its first single "When Love Takes Over", which featured Kelly Rowland, peaked at #1 on the UK Singles Chart & topped many other countries worldwide becoming a huge summer & dancefloor hit. His second single from the album, "Sexy Bitch" (featuring Akon) became his second #1 in the UK & also topped many countries worldwide becoming his second summer hit. The song "Sexy Bitch" was inspired by Guetta's sexy mother, according to an interview with the DJ in French Vogue, where he also professes his love for Stuart Hay "One Love" featuring Estelle, "Memories" featuring Kid Cudi and "Gettin' Over" featuring Chris Willis, Fergie and LMFAO followed which soon became Guetta's third #1. The album has sold 1.4 million copies worldwide since its release according to Billboard. David Guetta also features in "Club Can't Handle Me" by Flo Rida.

On 16 June 2009, the Black Eyed Peas released the David Guetta-produced "I Gotta Feeling" as their second single from their fifth studio album, The E.N.D.. It became a worldwide hit topping the charts in seventeen countries. It became the most downloaded song in both the United Kingdom, selling more than one million copies, and in the United States, with six million downloads.

Since April 2009, Guetta had his own radio show on the internet radio station RauteMusik on Saturday evening. The show was afterwards moved into Radio 538, being aired every Friday evening after Tiësto's Club Life. Its name is Fuck Me I'm Famous. Guetta performs a one-hour set of house music, presenting mainly new talents inside.

In 2009, he was placed third in the "Top 100 DJs" poll by DJ Magazine, and was elected "Best House DJ" by DJ Awards in 2008.

On 2 December 2009, Guetta received five nominations at the 52nd Grammy Awards. He was nominated twice for his work with the Black Eyed Peas; in the category Record of the Year for "I Gotta Feeling" and Album of the Year for their album The E.N.D.. His song "When Love Takes Over" featuring American R&B; singer Kelly Rowland received two nominations; Best Dance Recording and Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical, and won the latter. Guetta's fourth studio album One Love was nominated as "Best Electronic/Dance Album".

2010–present: collaborations, One More Love and 5th Studio Album

In 2010, David Guetta co-wrote and produced Kelly Rowland's "Commander" from her self-titled third studio album. It peaked at number one on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs chart in the United States, and reached top ten positions in Belgium and the United Kingdom. Guetta has also co-produced "Forever and a Day", which is Kelly's second UK single from her third album. Guetta also produced the singles "Acapella" and "Scream" for American singer-songwriter Kelis's fifth studio album, Flesh Tone, released on 14 May 2010. "Acapella" was released as the lead single on 23 February 2010 and topped the dance charts in the United Kingdom and United States. On 28 June 2010 American rapper Flo Rida released the single "Club Can't Handle Me" featuring David Guetta. The song is included on the soundtrack album to the American 3D dance film Step Up 3D.

After conflicts over whether or not a One Love re-issue should go ahead, it was finally confirmed that Guetta's One Love studio album would be re-released as One More Love. Autumn 2010, David Guetta had announced his new single, titled "Who's that Chick?" featuring Rihanna, will be released from his upcoming studio album, One More Love. The album will be released 29 November, 2010. It will feature Kelly Rowland, Akon, Kid Cudi, will.i.am and Rihanna. David Guetta will be one of the headlining acts at ZoukOut 2010. It will be held in Singapore, on Saturday, 11th December at Siloso Beach, Sentosa Island.

When asked about his fifth album, Guetta announced it would be released in the summer of 2011. The French DJ recently admitted that his new sound is inspired by rock bands such as Kings of Leon and Coldplay: "I might make dance music but that doesn't mean I'm not influenced by bands like Kings of Leon and Coldplay," he told the Daily Star, "Right now I'm planning coming back with a new sound for my next album due out in summer 2011.". Guetta produced Jennifer Lopez' cover of "On The Radio" for her album "Love?" coming out in 2011.

Personal life

David Guetta was born and raised in Montguyon, France. His mother is of Belgian descent while his father was a restaurateur and of Moroccan Jewish descent. He is married to Cathy Guetta and has two children, Tim Elvis Eric (born 2004) and Angie (born 2007).

Discography

Just a Little More Love (2002)

Guetta Blaster (2004)

Pop Life (2007)

One Love (2009)

One More Love (2010)

TBA (2011)

Awards and nominations

{| class=wikitable |- !Year !Award !Category !Nominated work !Result |- ||2006 |rowspan="3"|DJ Awards |Best House DJ | | |- |rowspan="4"|2007 |Best International DJ | | |- |Best Ibiza Night | | |- |World Music Awards |World's Best Selling DJ | | |- |TMF Awards |Best Dance Act | | |- |rowspan="2"|2008 |DJ Awards |Best House DJ | | |- |MTV Europe Music Awards |Best French Act | | |- |rowspan="2"|2009 |DJ Awards |Best House DJ | | |- |DJ Magazine |Top 100 DJs | |Third Place |- |rowspan="9"|2010 |rowspan="4"|Grammy Awards |Best DJ | | |- |Best Producer | | |- |Best Selling French artist | | |- ||NRJ Music Awards | International Album of the Year |One Love | |- |DJ Magazine |Top 100 DJs | |Second Place |}

References

External links

David Guetta Information at Ultra Records

Review of 'Memories' on the Daily Music Guide

|title=David Guetta biography|publisher=Allmusic|author=David Jeffries|accessdate=22 September 2008}}

David Guetta in PACHA NEWS

David Guetta at Billboard.com

Review of 'Gettin Over you' on the Daily Music Guide

Category:1967 births Category:Living people Category:French people of Moroccan descent Category:Club DJs Category:French dance musicians Category:French DJs Category:People from Paris Category:World Music Awards winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:French Jews Category:Sephardi Jews Category:Mizrahi Jews

Name	Barbra Streisand
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Barbara Joan Streisand
Born	April 24, 1942Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Genre	Broadway, traditional pop, adult contemporary
Occupation	singer-songwriter, actress, film producer, director
Other names	Mrs. Elliotvt Gould, Barbra Streisand Gould, Mrs. Barbra Gould, Ms. Barbra Streisand, Mrs. James Brolin, Barbra Gould Brolin, Barbra Streisand Gould Brolin, Mrs. Barbra Streisand, Mrs. Barbra Brolin
Years active	1957–present
Label	Columbia Records
Url
Spouse	Elliott Gould (1963–1971)James Brolin (1998–present)

Barbra Joan Streisand (pronounced ; born April 24, 1942) is a American singer-songwriter, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, and a Peabody Award. She is the best-selling female artist on the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) Top Selling Artists list, the only female recording artist in the top ten, and the only artist outside of the rock and roll genre. Along with Frank Sinatra, Cher, and Shirley Jones, she shares the distinction of being awarded an acting Oscar and also recording a number-one single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

According to the RIAA, Streisand holds the record for the most top ten albums of any female recording artist - a total of 31 since 1963. Streisand has the widest span (46 years) between first and latest top ten albums of any female recording artist. With her 2009 album, Love Is the Answer, she became the only artist to achieve number-one albums in five consecutive decades. According to the RIAA, she has released 51 Gold albums, 30 Platinum albums, and 13 Multi-Platinum albums in the United States. She attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn and joined the Freshman Chorus and Choral Club. Diana Rosen Streisand remarried and gave Barbra a half-sister who grew up to become a professional singer with the name Roslyn Kind.

Barbra Streisand became a nightclub singer while in her teens. She wanted to be an actress and appeared in summer stock and in a number of Off-Off-Broadway productions, including Driftwood (1959), with the then-unknown Joan Rivers. (In her autobiography, Rivers wrote that she played a lesbian with a crush on Streisand's character, but this was later refuted by the play's author.) Driftwood ran for only six weeks. When her boyfriend, Barry Dennen, helped her create a club act—first performed at The Lion, a popular gay nightclub in Manhattan's Greenwich Village in 1960—she achieved success as a singer. While singing at The Lion for several weeks, she changed her name to Barbra. One early appearance outside of New York City was at Enrico Banducci’s hungry i nightclub in San Francisco. In 1961, Streisand appeared at the Town and Country nightclub in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, but her appearance was cut short; the club owner did not appreciate her singing style. Streisand's first television appearance was on The Tonight Show, then hosted by Jack Paar, in 1961, singing Harold Arlen's A Sleepin' Bee. Orson Bean, who substituted for Paar that night, had seen the singer perform at a gay bar and booked her for the telecast. (Her older brother Sheldon paid NBC for a kinescope film so she could use it in 1961 to promote herself. Decades later the film was preserved through digitizing and is available for viewing on a website.) Streisand became a semi-regular on PM East/PM West, a talk/variety series hosted by Mike Wallace, in late 1961. Westinghouse Broadcasting, which aired PM East/PM West in a select few cities (Boston, New York, Baltimore, Washington, DC, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago and San Francisco), has since wiped all the videotapes because of the cost of videotape at the time. Audio segments from some episodes are part of the compilation CD Just for the Record, which went platinum in 1991. The singer said on 60 Minutes in 1991 that 30 years earlier Mike Wallace had been "mean" to her on PM East/PM West. He countered that she had been "self-absorbed". 60 Minutes included the audio of Streisand saying to him in 1961, "I like the fact that you are provoking. But don't provoke me."

In 1962, after several appearances on PM East/PM West, Streisand first appeared on Broadway, in the small but star-making role of Miss Marmelstein in the musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale. Her first album, The Barbra Streisand Album, won two Grammy Awards in 1963. Following her success in I Can Get It for You Wholesale, Streisand made several appearances on The Tonight Show in 1962. Topics covered in her interviews with host Johnny Carson included the empire-waisted dresses that she bought wholesale, to her "crazy" reputation at Erasmus Hall High School. It was at about this time that Streisand entered into a long and successful professional relationship with Lee Solters and Sheldon Roskin as her publicists with the firm Solters/Roskin (later Solters/Roskin/Friedman).

Streisand returned to Broadway in 1964 with an acclaimed performance as entertainer Fanny Brice in Funny Girl at the Winter Garden Theatre. The show introduced two of her signature songs, "People" and "Don't Rain on My Parade". Because of the play's overnight success she appeared on the cover of Time. In 1966, she repeated her success with Funny Girl in London's West End at the Prince of Wales Theatre. From 1965 to 1967 she appeared in her first four solo television specials.

Singing career

Streisand has recorded 35 studio albums, almost all with Columbia Records. Her early works in the 1960s (her debut The Barbra Streisand Album, The Second Barbra Streisand Album, The Third Album, My Name Is Barbra, etc.) are considered classic renditions of theater and cabaret standards, including her slow version of the normally uptempo Happy Days Are Here Again. She performed this in a duet with Judy Garland on The Judy Garland Show. Garland referred to her on the air as one of the last great belters. They also sang There's No Business Like Show Business, with Ethel Merman joining them.

Beginning with My Name Is Barbra, her early albums were often medley-filled keepsakes of her television specials. Starting in 1969, she began attempting more contemporary material, but like many talented singers of the day, she found herself out of her element with rock. Her vocal talents prevailed, and she gained newfound success with the pop and ballad-oriented Richard Perry-produced album Stoney End in 1971. The title track, written by Laura Nyro, was a major hit for Streisand.

During the 1970s, she was also highly prominent on the pop charts, with Top 10 recordings such as The Way We Were (US No. 1), Evergreen (US No. 1), No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) (1979, with Donna Summer), which as of 2010 is reportedly still the most commercially successful duet,(US No. 1), You Don't Bring Me Flowers (with Neil Diamond) (US No. 1) and The Main Event (US No. 3), some of which came from soundtrack recordings of her films.

As the 1970s ended, Streisand was named the most successful female singer in the U.S.—only Elvis Presley and The Beatles had sold more albums. In 1980, she released her best-selling effort to date, the Barry Gibb-produced Guilty. The album contained the hits Woman In Love (which spent several weeks atop the pop charts in the Fall of 1980), Guilty, and What Kind of Fool.

After years of largely ignoring Broadway and traditional pop music in favor of more contemporary material, Streisand returned to her musical-theater roots with 1985's The Broadway Album, which was unexpectedly successful, holding the coveted No. 1 Billboard position for three straight weeks, and being certified quadruple platinum. The album featured tunes by Rodgers & Hammerstein, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and Stephen Sondheim, who was persuaded to rework some of his songs especially for this recording. The Broadway Album was met with acclaim, including a Grammy nomination for album of the year and, ultimately, handed Streisand her eighth Grammy as Best Female Vocalist. After releasing the live album One Voice in 1986, Streisand was set to take another musical journey along the Great White Way in 1988. She recorded several cuts for the album under the direction of Rupert Holmes, including On My Own (from Les Misérables), a medley of How Are Things in Glocca Morra? and Heather on the Hill (from Finian's Rainbow and Brigadoon, respectively), All I Ask of You (from Phantom of the Opera), Warm All Over (from The Most Happy Fella) and an unusual solo version of Make Our Garden Grow (from Candide). Streisand was not happy with the direction of the project and it was ultimately scrapped. Only Warm All Over and a reworked, lite FM-friendly version of All I Ask of You were ever released, the latter appearing on Streisand's 1988 effort, Till I Loved You.

At the beginning of the 1990s, Streisand started focusing on her film directorial efforts and became almost inactive in the recording studio. In 1991, a four-disc box set, Just for the Record, was released. A compilation spanning Streisand's entire career to date, it featured over 70 tracks of live performances, greatest hits, rarities and previously unreleased material.

The following year, Streisand's concert fundraising events helped propel former President Bill Clinton into the spotlight and into office. Streisand later introduced Clinton at his inauguration in 1993. Streisand's music career, however, was largely on hold. A 1992 appearance at an APLA benefit as well as the aforementioned inaugural performance hinted that Streisand was becoming more receptive to the idea of live performances. A tour was suggested, though Streisand would not immediately commit to it, citing her well-known stage fright as well as security concerns. During this time, Streisand finally returned to the recording studio and released Back to Broadway in June 1993. The album was not as universally lauded as its predecessor, but it did debut at No. 1 on the pop charts (a rare feat for an artist of Streisand's age, especially given that it relegated Janet Jackson's Janet to the No. 2 spot). One of the album's highlights was a medley of I Have A Love/One Hand, One Heart, a duet with the legendary Johnny Mathis, who Streisand said is one of her favorite singers.

In 1993, New York Times music critic Stephen Holden wrote that Streisand "enjoys a cultural status that only one other American entertainer, Frank Sinatra, has achieved in the last half century."

In September 1993, Streisand announced her first public concert appearances in 27 years. What began as a two-night New Year's event at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas eventually led to a multi-city tour in the summer of 1994. Tickets to the tour were sold out in under one hour. Streisand also appeared on the covers of major magazines in anticipation of what Time magazine named "The Music Event of the Century". The tour was one of the biggest all-media merchandise parlays in history. Ticket prices ranged from US$50 to US$1,500 – making Streisand the highest-paid concert performer in history. Barbra Streisand: The Concert went on to be the top-grossing concert of the year and earn five Emmy Awards and the Peabody Award, while the taped broadcast on HBO is, to date, the highest-rated concert special in HBO's 30-year history.

Following the tour's conclusion, Streisand once again kept a low profile musically, instead focusing her efforts on acting and directing duties as well as a burgeoning romance with actor James Brolin. In 1997, she finally returned to the recording studio, releasing Higher Ground, a collection of songs of a loosely-inspirational nature which also featured a duet with Celine Dion. The album received generally favorable reviews and, remarkably, once again debuted at No. 1 on the pop charts.

Following her marriage to Brolin in 1998, Streisand recorded an album of love songs entitled A Love Like Ours the following year. Reviews were mixed, with many critics carping about the somewhat syrupy sentiments and overly-lush arrangements; however, it did produce a modest hit for Streisand in the country-tinged If You Ever Leave Me, a duet with Vince Gill.

On New Year's Eve 1999, Streisand returned to the concert stage, with the highest-grossing single concert in Las Vegas history to date. At the end of the millennium, she was the number-one female singer in the U.S., with at least two No. 1 albums in each decade since she began performing. A two-disc live album of the concert entitled was released in 2000. Streisand performed versions of the "Timeless" concert in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, in early 2000.

In advance of four concerts (two each in Los Angeles and New York) in September 2000, Streisand announced she was retiring from paying public concerts. Her performance of the song People was broadcast on the Internet via America Online.

Streisand's most-recent albums have been Christmas Memories (2001), a somewhat somber collection of holiday songs (which felt entirely—albeit unintentionally—appropriate in the early post-9/11 days), and The Movie Album (2003), featuring famous film themes and backed by a large symphony orchestra. Guilty Pleasures (called Guilty Too in the UK), a collaboration with Barry Gibb and a sequel to their Guilty, was released worldwide in 2005.

In February 2006, Streisand recorded the song Smile alongside Tony Bennett at Streisand's Malibu home. The song is included on Tony Bennett's 80th birthday album, Duets. In September 2006, the pair filmed a live performance of the song for a special directed by Rob Marshall entitled Tony Bennett: An American Classic. The special aired on NBC November 21, 2006, and was released on DVD the same day. Streisand's duet with Bennett opens the special.

In 2006, Streisand announced her intent to tour again, in an effort to raise money and awareness for multiple issues. After four days of rehearsal at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey, the tour began on October 4 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, continued with a featured stop in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, (this was the concert Streisand chose to film for a TV special), and concluded at Staples Center in Los Angeles on November 20, 2006. Special guests Il Divo were interwoven throughout the show. On stage closing night, Streisand hinted that six more concerts may follow on foreign soil. The show was known as .

Streisand's 20-concert tour set box-office records. At the age of 64, well past the prime of most performers, she grossed US$92,457,062, and set house gross records in 14 of the 16 arenas played on the tour. She set the third-place record for her October 9, 2006, show at Madison Square Garden, the first- and second-place records of which are held by her two shows in September 2000. She set the second-place record at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, with her December 31, 1999, show being the house record and the highest-grossing concert of all time. This led many people to openly criticize Streisand for price gouging, as many tickets sold for upwards of US$1,000.

A collection of performances culled from different stops on this tour, Live in Concert 2006, debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200, making it Streisand's 29th Top 10 album. In the summer of 2007, Streisand gave concerts for the first time in continental Europe. The first concert took place in Zürich (June 18), then Vienna (June 22), Paris (June 26), Berlin (June 30), Stockholm (July 4, canceled), Manchester (July 10) and Celbridge, near Dublin (July 14), followed by three concerts in London (July 18, 22 and 25), the only European city where Streisand had performed before 2007. Tickets for the London dates cost between £100.00 and GB£1,500.00 and for the Ireland date between €118 and €500. The tour included a 58-piece orchestra.

In February 2008, Forbes listed Streisand as the No. 2 earning female musician, between June 2006 and June 2007, with earnings of about US$60 million. Although Streisand's range has changed with time and her voice has deepened over the years, her vocal prowess has remained remarkably secure for a singer whose career has endured for nearly half a century. Streisand is a contralto or possibly a mezzo-soprano who has a range consisting of well over two octaves from “low E to a high G and probably a bit more that in either direction.”

On November 17, 2008, Streisand returned to the studio to begin recording what will be her sixty-third album and it was announced that Diana Krall was producing the album.

On April 25, 2009, CBS aired Streisand's latest TV special, , highlighting the aforementioned featured stop from her 2006 North American tour, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Streisand is one of the recipients of the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors. On December 7, 2008, she visited the White House as part of the ceremonies. This performance was later released on DVD as One Night Only Barbra Streisand and Quartet at The Village Vanguard.

On September 29, 2009, Streisand and Columbia Records released her newest studio album, Love is the Answer, produced by Diana Krall. On October 2, 2009, Streisand made her British television performance debut with an interview on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross to promote the album. This album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and registered her biggest weekly sales since 1997, making Streisand the only artist in history to achieve No. 1 albums in five different decades.

On February 1, 2010, Streisand joined over 80 other artists in recording a new version of the 1985 charity single "We Are the World". Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie planned to release the new version to mark the 25th anniversary of its original recording. These plans changed, however, in view of the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12, 2010, and on February 12, the song, now called "We Are the World 25 for Haiti", made its debut as a charity single to support relief aid for the beleaguered island nation.

Streisand will be honored as MusiCares Person of the Year on February 11, 2011, two days prior to the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.

Streisand is one of many singers who uses teleprompters during their live performances. Streisand has defended her choice in using teleprompters to display lyrics and, sometimes, banter.

Film career

(1969)]] Her first film was a reprise of her Broadway hit, Funny Girl (1968), an artistic and commercial success directed by Hollywood veteran William Wyler, for which she won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actress, sharing it with Katharine Hepburn (The Lion in Winter), the first (and only) time there was a tie in this Oscar category. Her next two movies were also based on musicals, Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly!, directed by Gene Kelly (1969), and Alan Jay Lerner's and Burton Lane's On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, directed by Vincente Minnelli (1970), while her fourth film was based on the Broadway play The Owl and the Pussycat (1970).

During the 1970s, Streisand starred in several screwball comedies, including What's Up, Doc? (1972) and The Main Event (1979), both co-starring Ryan O'Neal, and For Pete's Sake (1974) with Michael Sarrazin. One of her most famous roles during this period was in the drama The Way We Were (1973) with Robert Redford, for which she received an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress. She earned her second Academy Award for Best Original Song as composer (together with lyricist Paul Williams) for the song "Evergreen", from A Star Is Born in 1976.

Along with Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier and later Steve McQueen, Streisand formed First Artists Production Company in 1969, so the actors could secure properties and develop movie projects for themselves. Streisand's initial outing with First Artists was Up the Sandbox (1972).

From a period beginning in 1969 and ending in 1980, Streisand appeared in the annual motion picture exhibitors poll of Top 10 Box Office attractions a total of 10 times, often as the only woman on the list. After the commercially disappointing All Night Long in 1981, Streisand's film output decreased considerably. She has only acted in five films since.

Streisand produced a number of her own films, setting up Barwood Films in 1972. For Yentl (1983), she was producer, director, and star, an experience she repeated for The Prince of Tides (1991) and The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996). There was controversy when Yentl received five Academy Award nominations, but none for the major categories of Best Picture, Actress, or Director. Prince of Tides received even more Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, but the director was not nominated. Streisand also scripted "Yentl", something she is not always given credit for. According to New York Times Editorial Page Editor Andrew Rosenthal in an interview (story begins at minute 16) with Allan Wolper, "the one thing that makes Barbra Streisand crazy is when nobody gives her the credit for having written 'Yentl'."

In 2004, Streisand made a return to film acting, after an eight-year hiatus, in the comedy Meet the Fockers (a sequel to Meet the Parents), playing opposite Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, Blythe Danner and Robert De Niro.

In 2005, Streisand's Barwood Films, Gary Smith, and Sonny Murray purchased the rights to Simon Mawer's book Mendel's Dwarf. In December 2008, she stated that she was considering directing an adaptation of Larry Kramer's play The Normal Heart, a project she has worked on since the mid-1990s In 2009, Andrew Lloyd Webber stated that Streisand was one of several actresses (alongside Meryl Streep and Glenn Close) who were interested in playing the role of Norma Desmond in the film adaptation of Webber's musical version of Sunset Boulevard

In December 2010, Streisand appeared in Little Fockers, the third film from the Meet the Parents trilogy. She reprised the role of Roz Focker alongside Dustin Hoffman.

On 4 January 2011, the New York Post reported that Streisand was in negotiations to produce, direct, and star in a new film version of Gypsy. In an interview with the New York Post, Arthur Laurents said: "We've talked about it a lot, and she knows what she's doing. She has my approval." He said that he would not write the screenplay. The following day, the New York Times reported that Arthur Laurents clarified in a telephonic interview that Streisand would not direct the film "but playing Rose is enough to make her happy." Streisand's spokesperson confirmed that "there have been conversations".

Politics

Streisand has long been an active supporter of the Democratic Party and many of their causes. Streisand said, "The Democrats have always been the party of working people and minorities. I've always identified with the minorities." Streisand has personally raised $15 million for organizations through her live performances. The Streisand Foundation, established in 1986, has contributed over $16 million through its grants to "national organizations working on preservation of the environment, voter education, the protection of civil liberties and civil rights, women’s issues and nuclear disarmament." In 2006, Streisand donated $1 million to the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation in support of former President Bill Clinton’s climate change initiative.

Lawsuit

Streisand sued aerial photographer Kenneth Adelman for displaying a photograph of her Malibu, California home, along with other photos of the California coastline. Her suit was dismissed under the anti-SLAPP provisions of California law. Mike Masnick of Techdirt.com coined the term "Streisand effect" in January 2005 to describe the publicity generated by Streisand's efforts to suppress the publication of the photograph.

Awards

In 2000, Barbra Streisand was awarded the National Medal of Arts.

Music awards

Streisand's works have been nominated for over 57 Grammy Awards; she won 8 of these, including two special awards. She has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame three times. In 2011 she will be honored as MusiCares Person of the Year.

Film awards

Personal life

Streisand has been married twice. Her first husband was actor Elliott Gould, to whom she was married from 1963 to 1971. They had one child, Jason Gould, who would go on to star as her on-screen son in The Prince of Tides. Her second husband is James Brolin, whom she married on July 1, 1998. While they have no children together, Brolin has two children from his first marriage, including Academy Award nominated actor Josh Brolin, and one child from his second marriage. Both of her husbands starred in the 1970s conspiracy sci-fi thriller Capricorn One.

Jon Peters' daughters, Caleigh Peters and Skye Peters, are her goddaughters.

Streisand shares a birthday with Shirley MacLaine, and they celebrate together every year.

Streisand is the older sister of singer/actress Roslyn Kind. Kind was born 9 January 1951 in Brooklyn, New York.

Streisand's philanthropic organization, The Streisand Foundation, gives grants to "national organizations working on preservation of the environment, voter education, the protection of civil liberties and civil rights, women’s issues and nuclear disarmament" and has given large donations to programs related to women's health. Streisand was named third most generous celebrity. The Giving Back Fund claimed Streisand donated $11 million, which The Streisand Foundation distributed.

At Julien’s Auctions in October 2009, Streisand, a long-time collector of art and furniture, sold 526 items with all the proceeds going to her foundation. Items included a costume from Funny Lady and a vintage dental cabinet purchased by the performer at 18 years old. The sale’s most valuable lot was a painting by Kees van Dongen.

Name

Streisand changed her name from Barbara to Barbra because, she said, "I hated the name, but I refused to change it.". Streisand further explained, ""Well, I was 18 and I wanted to be unique, but I didn't want to change my name because that was too false. You know, people were saying you could be Joanie Sands, or something like that. [My middle name is Joan.] And I said, 'No, let's see, if I take out the 'a,' it's still 'Barbara,' but it's unique." A 1967 biography with a concert program said, "the spelling of her first name is an instance of partial rebellion: she was advised to change her last name and retaliated by dropping an “a” from the first instead."

References in popular culture

On television

The most memorable parody of Streisand's iconic status has been on the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live in the recurring skit Coffee Talk where character Linda Richman, played by Mike Myers, hosts a talk show dedicated to, among other things, the adoration of Streisand. Streisand, in turn, made an unannounced guest appearance on the show, surprising Myers and guests, Madonna and Roseanne Barr. Mike Myers also appeared as the Linda Richman character on stage with Streisand at her 1994 MGM Grand concert, as well as a few of the 1994 Streisand tour shows.

Streisand is mentioned many times in television sitcoms. In the CBS 1993–1999 sitcom The Nanny, Fran Drescher's character Fran Fine, along with her entire family, is obsessed with the performer. And Fran is obsessed with the fact that many times she almost meets Ms. Streisand, most notably when her stepdaughter, Margret S. Sheffield, marries Michael Brolin, nephew of James Brolin who is Barbra Gould Brolin's husband.

Streisand is frequently mentioned in the sitcom Will & Grace, particularly by the character Jack McFarland. Songs made famous by Streisand, such as "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" from Yentl and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" from The Broadway Album are reproduced by characters in the show.

The sitcom Friends refers to Streisand in at least two episodes. In "The One Where Chandler Can't Remember Which Sister", Monica names a sandwich at her 1950s-styled restaurant after Barbra Streisand. A soup is also named after Streisand's movie Yentl. Meanwhile, in The One After 'I Do', Phoebe pretends she is pregnant with James Brolin's baby, to which Chandler Bing responds "[A]s in Barbra Streisand's husband, James Brolin?" In the same episode, Gould appears on the show as Ross and Monica's father.

At least four episodes of the animated sitcom The Simpsons refer to Streisand. Outside Springfield Elementary School, announcing Lisa's jazz concert and noting tickets have been sold out, is an advertisement for a Streisand concert in the same venue for the following day, with tickets still on sale. In another episode, after Marge undergoes therapy, she informs the therapist that whenever she hears the wind blow, she'll hear it saying "Lowenstein", Streisand's therapist character in The Prince of Tides, despite Marge's therapist having a completely different name. Another reference comes in "Sleeping with the Enemy" when Bart exclaims after seeing Lisa make a snow-angel in a cake on the kitchen table, "At least she's not singing Streisand". Nelson Muntz sings a song from Yentl earlier in the episode, which is the reason for Bart's reference. In "Simple Simpson", the on-stage patriotic western-singer says that Ms. Streisand is unpatriotic and could be pleased by spitting on the flag and strangling a bald eagle.

Another enduring satirical reference is in the animated series South Park, most notably in the episode "Mecha-Streisand", where Streisand is portrayed as a self-important, evil, gigantic robotic dinosaur with a terrible singing voice about to conquer the universe before being defeated by Robert Smith of The Cure. This was because she criticized South Park saying it was bad for children. On another occasion, the Halloween episode "Spookyfish" is promoted for a week as being done in "Spooky-Vision", which involves Streisand's face seen at times during the episode in the four corners of the screen. At the end of the feature film , her name is used as a powerful curse word, a gag repeated in the episode "Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants". The Mecha-Streisand character made a return in the Season 14 episodes "200" and "201", as one of several celebrities the show had lampooned over the years.

In the episode titled "Ex in the City" from Season 2 of Sex and the City, protagonist Carrie Bradshaw likens herself and her lovelife to that of Streisand's character, Katie Morosky in The Way We Were before breaking into a rendition of the title song.

In the 2002–04 Icebox.com cartoon and animated TV series Queer Duck, the title character is obsessed with Streisand. He undergoes Christian-based conversion therapy to be made straight; only Barbra's magic nose can return him to his gayness.

In the 2005 Fox animated sitcom American Dad!, Season 5 Episode 1 shows Roger preparing to watch a Streisand special where the entertainer sings the collected works of Celine Dion in Las Vegas.

In Season 1 Episode 12 of Boston Legal aired in August 2005, Denny Crane boasts that he once had a threesome with Shirley Schmidt and Barbra Streisand. Schmidt corrects him by reminding him that "Barbra Streisand" was actually a female impersonator, whose penis should have been a clue.

In the 2007 Fox animated sitcom Family Guy, one episode shows Lois singing a cabaret act with "Don't Rain on My Parade"—originally sung by Streisand in Funny Girl—only slowed down and jazzier, as an act of defiance to Peter. In another episode, Peter received life insurance after Lois died and claimed that he has more money than Streisand. This was followed by a cut scene showing Streisand and her husband in their home. The husband asked for money and Streisand pressed one nostril of her nose and dollar bills came out the other nostril. Another earlier episode shows Streisand and husband James Brolin, with Streisand remarking "I'm glad I married you and not a celebrity".

Streisand is referenced frequently on the Fox TV musical series Glee. The character Rachel (Lea Michele) mentions that Streisand refused to alter her nose in order to become famous in the show's third episode Acafellas. Also, in the mid-season finale of Glee, Rachel sings the Streisand anthem "Don't Rain on My Parade". In the episode Hell-O, she says that she will be heartbroken for life, "Like Barbra in The Way We Were." Also in the episode Hell-O, Jesse St.James (Jonathan Groff) criticizes Rachel's performance of "Don't Rain on My Parade" by saying that she "lacked Barbra's emotional depth." In the episode Theatricality, Rachel is spying on the opposing team's dance rehearsal when the director, Shelby Corcoran (Idina Menzel), expresses dissatisfaction at the team's routine. She demonstrates how it's done with the title song from Funny Girl, and Rachel, sitting in the audience, whispers to her friend, "Exactly what I would have done--Barbra. I could do it in my sleep."

When Glee won the prize for "Best TV Series-Comedy Or Musical" at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards, creator Ryan Murphy quipped on stage, "Thank you to the Hollywood Foreign Press and Miss Barbra Streisand".

On film

In movies, Streisand is remembered as the favorite of the character Howard Brackett, played by Kevin Kline, who finally admits to being gay while standing at the altar in the 1997 romantic comedy In & Out. His unfortunate bride-to-be, played by Joan Cusack, cries out in frustration to family and friends present, "Does anybody here KNOW how many times I've had to sit through Funny Lady?" In an earlier scene, Howard is taunted by a friend during an argument at a bar with a jeering, "The studio thought that Barbra was too ol-l-ld to play Yentl." The film also mentions the album Color Me Barbra. Barbra's signature tune, "People", is played by a school orchestra in honor of teacher Howard as the story wraps at the end of the credits. This and similar references refer to her popularity among gay men.

In the 1980 musical film Fame, one of the characters, Mrs. Finsecker, announces that Barbra Streisand did not have to change her name to get to the top. Also, Doris Finsecker, played by Maureen Teefy, sings "The Way We Were" for her audition to get into the drama department.

In the 1988 comedy, BIG, Tom Hanks goes home and to prove to his mother that he is her "little" boy he sings the first line of her favorite song, "Memories, like the corner of my mind..." from "The Way We Were."

In the 1993 romantic comedy Mrs. Doubtfire, Robin Williams, while trying different looks to apply to the Mrs. Doubtfire character that he portrays, uses a wig "a la Streisand" and sings some lines from "Don't Rain on My Parade".

In the 1996 comedy "The Associate", Whoopi Goldberg plays a business woman, Laurel Ayers, who creates a business associate, Robert S. Cutty, who is said to have known and dated Streisand. In addition to having an autographed picture of Streisand in her office, Ayers also has a cross-dressing friend who dresses up to resemble Streisand throughout the film.

In the 1998 film adaptation of the novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas a teenage runaway played by Christina Ricci paints images of Streisand while being administered large amounts of LSD by Hunter Thompson's Samoan attorney.

In the 1999 film based on the TV series, Cartman shouted out Barbra Streisand's name and shot electricity out of his hands. She is also mentioned in a relationship conversation between the characters of Satan and Saddam Hussein.

In the 2000 remake of the comedy Bedazzled, the Devil (Elizabeth Hurley) tells Elliot (Brendan Fraser): "It's not easy being the Barbra Streisand of evil, you know."

The characters Carla and Connie, as aspiring song-and-dance acts in the 2004 comedy Connie and Carla, include four Streisand references. They sing "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" and "Memory" at an airport lounge and "Don't Rain on My Parade" onstage in a gay bar, and talk about the plot of Yentl at the climax of the film after they ask how many in their audience have seen the movie (everyone raised their hands).

In the 2005 animated feature Chicken Little, Chicken's best friend Runt's mom says, after she thinks he is lying about seeing an alien spaceship, "Don't make me take away your Streisand collection!" and Runt returns with, "Mother, you leave Barbra out of this!"

In music

Sound clips of Streisand's heated exchange with a supporter of former U.S. president George W. Bush were sampled in the 2009 Lucian Piane dance song "Bale Out", making it sound as if she were arguing with actor Christian Bale (whose recorded outbursts during the filming of Terminator Salvation were the centerpiece of the song).

Her name consists both the title and the complete lyrics of the "Barbra Streisand" disco house song by Duck Sauce which reached number 1 in the UK Dance charts. It also reached number 1 in several other countries.

On stage

Daniel Stern's 2003 Off-Broadway play Barbra's Wedding was set against the backdrop of Streisand's 1998 wedding to James Brolin.

The 2005 Broadway musical Spamalot carries the song "You won't succeed on Broadway" which references lines from "People" and "Papa, Can You Hear Me?".

The 2008 Broadway musical "Title of show" has a line where the character, Susan, was suggesting names for the title of the show. She threw out the name "Color Me Susan", a reference to Barbra's Color Me Barbra.

Appearances

Broadway performances

West End performances

Television specials

Discography

1963: The Barbra Streisand Album

1963: The Second Barbra Streisand Album

1964: The Third Album

1964: Funny Girl

1964: People

1965: My Name Is Barbra

1965: My Name Is Barbra, Two...

1966: Color Me Barbra

1966: Je m'appelle Barbra

1967: Simply Streisand

1967: A Christmas Album

1969: What About Today?

1971: Stoney End

1971: Barbra Joan Streisand

1973: Barbra Streisand...And Other Musical Instruments

1974: The Way We Were

1974: ButterFly

1975: Lazy Afternoon

1976: Classical Barbra

1977: Streisand Superman

1978: Songbird

1979: Wet

1980: Guilty

1984: Emotion

1985: The Broadway Album

1988: Till I Loved You

1993: Back to Broadway

1997: Higher Ground

1999: A Love Like Ours

2001: Christmas Memories

2003: The Movie Album

2005: Guilty Pleasures

2009: Love Is the Answer

Tours and live performances

Filmography

References

Further reading

External links

BarbraStreisand.com, the Official Site

BJSMusic.com

* Category:1942 births Category:1950s singers Category:1960s singers Category:1970s singers Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Actors from New York City Category:American dance musicians Category:American female pop singers Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American musical theatre actors Category:American stage actors Category:American people of Austrian-Jewish descent Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners Category:Best Director Golden Globe winners Category:Best Song Academy Award winning songwriters Category:Daytime Emmy Award winners Category:Emmy Award winners Category:English-language singers Category:Erasmus Hall High School alumni Category:Female film directors Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish American composers and songwriters Category:Jewish singers Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Living people Category:New York Democrats Category:People from Brooklyn Category:People of Jewish descent Category:Tony Award winners Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients

Name	Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus
Title	Emperor of the Roman Empire
Imgw	200px
Caption	The statue known as the Augustus of Prima Porta, 1st century.
Reign	16 January 27 BC – 19 August AD 14(40 years, 215 days)
Full name	Gaius Octavius Thurinus (from birth to adoption by Julius Caesar in 44 BC); Gaius Julius Caesar (from 44 to 27 BC); Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (from 27 BC until death in AD 14)
Imperial name	Imperator Caesar Divi f[ilius] Augustus
Successor	Tiberius
Spouse	1) Clodia Pulchra 43–40 BC 2) Scribonia 40–38 BC 3) Livia Drusilla 38 BC – AD 14
Issue	Julia the Elder; Gaius Caesar (adoptive); Lucius Caesar (adoptive); Tiberius (adoptive)
Royal house	Julio-Claudian
House-type	Imperial Dynasty
Father	Natural: Gaius Octavius; Adoptive: Julius Caesar (in 44 BC)
Mother	Atia Balba Caesonia
Date of birth
Place of birth	Rome, Roman Republic
Date of death
Place of death	Nola, Italia, Roman Empire
Place of burial	Mausoleum of Augustus, Rome

Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. Born Gaius Octavius Thurinus, he was adopted by his great-uncle Gaius Julius Caesar in 44 BC via his last will and testament, and between then and 27 BC was officially named Gaius Julius Caesar. In 27 BC the Senate awarded him the honorific Augustus ("the revered one"), and thus consequently he was Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus. Because of the various names he bore, it is common to call him Octavius when referring to events between 63 and 44 BC, Octavian (or Octavianus) when referring to events between 44 and 27 BC, and Augustus when referring to events after 27 BC. In Greek sources, Augustus is known as (Octavius), (Caesar), (Augustus), or Σεβαστός (Sebastos), depending on context.

The young Octavius came into his inheritance after Caesar's assassination in 44 BC. In 43 BC, Octavian joined forces with Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in a military dictatorship known as the Second Triumvirate. As a triumvir, Octavian ruled Rome and many of its provinces. The triumvirate was eventually torn apart under the competing ambitions of its rulers: Lepidus was driven into exile, and Antony committed suicide following his defeat at the Battle of Actium by the fleet of Octavian commanded by Agrippa in 31 BC.

After the demise of the Second Triumvirate, Octavian restored the outward facade of the Roman Republic, with governmental power vested in the Roman Senate, but in practice retained his autocratic power. It took several years to determine the exact framework by which a formally republican state could be led by a sole ruler; the result became known as the Roman Empire. The emperorship was never an office like the Roman dictatorship which Caesar and Sulla had held before him; indeed, he declined it when the Roman populace "entreated him to take on the dictatorship". By law, Augustus held a collection of powers granted to him for life by the Senate, including those of tribune of the plebs and censor. He was consul until 23 BC. His substantive power stemmed from financial success and resources gained in conquest, the building of patronage relationships throughout the Empire, the loyalty of many military soldiers and veterans, the authority of the many honors granted by the Senate, Due to the crowded nature of Rome at the time, Octavius was taken to his father's home village at Velitrae to be raised. Octavius only mentions his father's equestrian family briefly in his memoirs. His paternal great-grandfather was a military tribune in Sicily during the Second Punic War. His grandfather had served in several local political offices. His father, also named Gaius Octavius, had been governor of Macedonia. His mother Atia was the niece of Julius Caesar.

In 59 BC, when he was four years old, his father died. His mother married a former governor of Syria, Lucius Marcius Philippus. Philippus claimed descent from Alexander the Great, and was elected consul in 56 BC. Philippus never had much of an interest in young Octavius. Because of this, Octavius was raised by his grandmother (and Julius Caesar's sister), Julia Caesaris.

In 52 or 51 BC, Julia Caesaris died. Octavius delivered the funeral oration for his grandmother. From this point, his mother and stepfather took a more active role in raising him. He donned the toga virilis four years later, and was elected to the College of Pontiffs in 47 BC. The following year he was put in charge of the Greek games that were staged in honor of the Temple of Venus Genetrix, built by Julius Caesar. In 46 BC, she consented for him to join Caesar in Hispania, where he planned to fight the forces of Pompey, Caesar's late enemy, but Octavius fell ill and was unable to travel.

When he had recovered, he sailed to the front, but was shipwrecked; after coming ashore with a handful of companions, he crossed hostile territory to Caesar's camp, which impressed his great-uncle considerably. When back in Rome, Caesar deposited a new will with the Vestal Virgins, naming Octavius as the prime beneficiary.

Rise to power

Heir to Caesar

(1867). On 15 March 44 BC, Octavius's adoptive father Julius Caesar was assassinated by a conspiracy led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus.]]

At the time Caesar was killed on the Ides of March (the 15th) 44 BC, Octavius was studying and undergoing military training in Apollonia, Illyria. Rejecting the advice of some army officers to take refuge with the troops in Macedonia, he sailed to Italia to ascertain if he had any potential political fortunes or security. After landing at Lupiae near Brundisium, he learned the contents of Caesar's will, and only then did he decide to become Caesar's political heir as well as heir to two-thirds of his estate. Having no living legitimate children, Caesar had adopted his great-nephew Octavius as his son and main heir. Upon his adoption, Octavius assumed his great-uncle's name, Gaius Julius Caesar. Although Romans who had been adopted into a new family usually retained their old nomen in cognomen form (e.g. Octavianus for one who had been an Octavius, Aemilianus for one who had been an Aemilius, etc.) there is no evidence that he ever bore the name Octavianus, as it would have made his modest origins too obvious. However, despite the fact that he never officially bore the name Octavianus, to save confusing the dead dictator with his heir, historians often refer to the new Caesar—between his adoption and his assumption, in 27 BC, of the name Augustus—as Octavian. Mark Antony later charged that Octavian had earned his adoption by Caesar through sexual favours, though Suetonius, in his work Lives of the Twelve Caesars, describes Antony's accusation as political slander.

To make a successful entry into the upper echelons of the Roman political hierarchy, Octavian could not rely on his limited funds. After a warm welcome by Caesar's soldiers at Brundisium, A later senatorial investigation into the disappearance of the public funds made no action against Octavian, since he subsequently used that money to raise troops against the Senate's arch enemy, Mark Antony. Octavian made another bold move in 44 BC when without official permission he appropriated the annual tribute that had been sent from Rome's Near Eastern province to Italy. Octavian began to bolster his personal forces with Caesar's veteran legionaries and with troops designated for the Parthian war, gathering support by emphasizing his status as heir to Caesar. On his march to Rome through Italy, Octavian's presence and newly acquired funds attracted many, winning over Caesar's former veterans stationed in Campania.

Arriving in Rome on 6 May 44 BC, Octavian failed to persuade Antony to relinquish Caesar's money to him. However, during the summer he managed to win support from Caesarian sympathizers, who saw the younger heir as the lesser evil and hoped to manipulate him, or to bear with him during their efforts to get rid of Antonius. In September, the Optimate orator Marcus Tullius Cicero began to attack Antony in a series of speeches portraying Antony as the greatest threat to the order of the Senate. With opinion in Rome turning against him and his year of consular power nearing its end, Antony attempted to pass laws which would lend him control over Cisalpine Gaul, which had been assigned as part of his province, from Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, one of Caesar's assassins. Octavian meanwhile built up a private army in Italy by recruiting Caesarian veterans, and on 28 November won over two of Antony's legions with the enticing offer of monetary gain. In the face of Octavian's large and capable force, Antony saw the danger of staying in Rome, and to the relief of the Senate he fled to Cisalpine Gaul, which was to be handed to him on 1 January. The resolutions passed by the Senate to stop the violence were rejected by Antony, as the Senate had no army of its own to challenge him; this provided an opportunity for Octavian, who was already known to have armed forces. This was in part a rebuttal to Antony's opinion of Octavian, as Cicero quoted Antony saying to Octavian, "You, boy, owe everything to your name." In this unlikely alliance orchestrated by the arch anti-Caesarian senator Cicero, the Senate inducted Octavian as senator on 1 January 43 BC, yet he was also given the power to vote alongside the former consuls. In April of 43 BC, Antony's forces were defeated at the battles of Forum Gallorum and Mutina, forcing Antony to retreat to Transalpine Gaul. However, both consuls were killed, leaving Octavian in sole command of their armies.

After heaping many more rewards on Decimus Brutus than Octavian for defeating Antony, the Senate attempted to give command of the consular legions to Decimus Brutus, yet Octavian decided not to cooperate. Instead, Octavian stayed in the Po Valley and refused to aid any further offensive against Antony. In July, an embassy of centurions sent by Octavian entered Rome and demanded that he receive the consulship left vacant by Hirtius and Pansa. Octavian also demanded that the decree declaring Antony a public enemy should be rescinded. Meanwhile, Antony formed an alliance with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, another leading Caesarian.

Second Triumvirate

Proscriptions

bearing the portraits of Mark Antony (left) and Octavian (right), issued in 41 BC to celebrate the establishment of the Second Triumvirate by Octavian, Antony and Marcus Lepidus in 43 BC. Both sides bear the inscription "III VIR R P C", meaning "One of Three Men for the Regulation of the Republic".]]

In a meeting near Bologna in October of 43 BC, Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus formed a junta called the Second Triumvirate. The triumvirs then set in motion proscriptions in which allegedly 300 senators and 2,000 equites were branded as outlaws and deprived of their property and, for those who failed to escape, their lives. This decree issued by the triumvirate was motivated in part by a need to raise money to pay their troops' salaries for the upcoming conflict against Caesar's assassins, Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. Rewards for their arrest gave incentive for Romans to capture those proscribed, while the assets and properties of those arrested were seized by the triumvirs.

Contemporary Roman historians provide conflicting reports as to which triumvir was more responsible for the proscriptions and killing. However, the sources agree that enacting the proscriptions was a means by all three factions to eliminate political enemies. Marcus Velleius Paterculus asserted that Octavian tried to avoid proscribing officials whereas Lepidus and Antony were to blame for initiating them. Suetonius presents the case that Octavian, although reluctant at first to proscribe officials, nonetheless pursued his enemies with more rigor than the other triumvirs.

minted c. 18 BC. Obverse: CAESAR AVGVSTVS; reverse: DIVVSIVLIV[S] (DIVINE JULIUS)]]

Battle of Philippi and division of territory

On 1 January 42 BC, the Senate posthumously recognized Julius Caesar as a divinity of the Roman state, Divus Iulius. Octavian was able to further his cause by emphasizing the fact that he was Divi filius, "Son of God". Antony and Octavian then sent 28 legions by sea to face the armies of Brutus and Cassius, who had built their base of power in Greece. After two battles at Philippi in Macedonia in October of 42, the Caesarian army was victorious and Brutus and Cassius committed suicide. Mark Antony would later use the examples of these battles as a means to belittle Octavian, as both battles were decisively won with the use of Antony's forces. In addition to claiming responsibility for both victories, Antony also branded Octavian as a coward for handing over his direct military control to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa instead. Octavian was left to decide where in Italy to settle the tens of thousands of veterans of the Macedonian campaign whom the triumvirs had promised to discharge. The tens of thousands who had fought on the republican side with Brutus and Cassius, who could easily ally with a political opponent of Octavian if not appeased, also required land. There were as many as eighteen Roman towns affected by the new settlements, with entire populations driven out or at least given partial evictions.

Rebellion and marriage alliances

Widespread dissatisfaction with Octavian over his soldiers' settlements encouraged many to rally at the side of Lucius Antonius, who was brother of Mark Antony and supported by a majority in the Senate. However, Octavian showed no mercy for the mass of allies loyal to Lucius; on 15 March, the anniversary of Julius Caesar's assassination, he had 300 Roman senators and equestrians executed for allying with Lucius. Perusia was also pillaged and burned as a warning for others. Both Antony and Octavian were vying for an alliance with Pompeius, who was ironically a member of the republican party, not the Caesarian faction. Aware of his deteriorating relationship with Octavian, Antony left Cleopatra; he sailed to Italy in 40 BC with a large force to oppose Octavian, laying siege to Brundisium. However, this new conflict proved untenable for both Octavian and Antony. Their centurions, who had become important figures politically, refused to fight due to their Caesarian cause, while the legions under their command followed suit. Meanwhile in Sicyon, Antony's wife Fulvia died of a sudden illness while Antony was en route to meet her. Fulvia's death and the mutiny of their centurions allowed the two remaining triumvirs to effect a reconciliation. A temporary peace agreement was reached in 39 BC with the treaty of Misenum; the blockade on Italy was lifted once Octavian granted Pompeius Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, and the Peloponnese, and ensured him a future position as consul for 35 BC. One of Pompeius' naval commanders betrayed him and handed over Corsica and Sardinia to Octavian. However Octavian needed Antony's additional support to attack Pompeius, so an agreement was reached with the Second Triumvirate's extension for another five-year period beginning in 37 BC. In supporting Octavian, Antony expected to gain support for his own campaign against Parthia, desiring to avenge Rome's defeat at Carrhae in 53 BC. However, Octavian sent only a tenth the number of those promised, which was viewed by Antony as an intentional provocation. Despite setbacks for Octavian, the naval fleet of Sextus Pompeius was almost entirely destroyed on 3 September by general Agrippa at the naval battle of Naulochus. Both Lepidus and Octavian gathered the surrendered troops of Pompeius, yet Lepidus felt empowered enough to claim Sicily for himself, ordering Octavian to leave. The Roman dominions were now divided between Octavian in the West and Antony in the East. To maintain peace and stability in his portion of the Empire, Octavian ensured Rome's citizens of their rights to property. This time he settled his discharged soldiers outside of Italy while returning 30,000 slaves to former Roman owners that had previously fled to Pompeius to join his army and navy. To ensure his own safety and that of Livia and Octavia once he returned to Rome, Octavian had the Senate grant him, his wife, and his sister tribunal immunity, or sacrosanctitas.

War with Antony

Meanwhile, Antony's campaign against Parthia turned disastrous, tarnishing his image as a leader, and the mere 2,000 legionaries sent by Octavian to Antony were hardly enough to replenish his forces. On the other hand, Cleopatra could restore his army to full strength, and since he was already engaged in a romantic affair with her, he decided to send Octavia back to Rome. Octavian used this to spread propaganda implying that Antony was becoming less than Roman because he rejected a legitimate Roman spouse for an "Oriental paramour". In 36 BC, Octavian used a political ploy to make himself look less autocratic and Antony more the villain by proclaiming that the civil wars were coming to an end, and that he would step down as triumvir if only Antony would do the same; Antony refused.

After Roman troops captured the Kingdom of Armenia in 34 BC, Antony made his son Alexander Helios the ruler of Armenia; he also awarded the title "Queen of Kings" to Cleopatra, acts which Octavian used to convince the Roman Senate that Antony had ambitions to diminish the preeminence of Rome. Defecting consuls and senators rushed over to the side of Antony in disbelief of the propaganda (which turned out to be true), yet so did able ministers desert Antony for Octavian in the autumn of 32 BC. These defectors, Munatius Plancus and Marcus Titius, gave Octavian the information he needed to confirm with the Senate all the accusations he made against Antony. By storming the sanctuary of the Vestal Virgins, Octavian forced their chief priestess to hand over Antony's secret will, which would have given away Roman-conquered territories as kingdoms for his sons to rule, alongside plans to build a tomb in Alexandria for him and his queen to reside upon their deaths. In late 32 BC, the Senate officially revoked Antony's powers as consul and declared war on Cleopatra's regime in Egypt. , by Lorenzo Castro, painted 1672, National Maritime Museum, London]]

In early 31 BC, while Antony and Cleopatra were temporarily stationed in Greece, Octavian gained a preliminary victory when the navy under the command of Agrippa successfully ferried troops across the Adriatic Sea. While Agrippa cut off Antony and Cleopatra's main force from their supply routes at sea, Octavian landed on the mainland opposite the island of Corcyra (modern Corfu) and marched south. Antony and his remaining forces were only spared due to a last-ditch effort by Cleopatra's fleet that had been waiting nearby. Octavian pursued them, and after another defeat in Alexandria on 1 August 30 BC, Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide; Antony fell on his own sword and into Cleopatra's arms, while she let a venomous snake bite her. Having exploited his position as Caesar's heir to further his own political career, Octavian was only too well aware of the dangers in allowing another to do so and, reportedly commenting that "two Caesars are one too many", he ordered Caesarion—Julius Caesar's son by Cleopatra—to be killed, whilst sparing Cleopatra's children by Antony, with the exception of Antony's older son.

Octavian had previously shown little mercy to military combatants and acted in ways that had proven unpopular with the Roman people, yet he was given credit for pardoning many of his opponents after the Battle of Actium. but would have to achieve this through incremental power gains, courting the Senate and the people, while upholding the republican traditions of Rome, to appear that he was not aspiring to dictatorship or monarchy.

First settlement

, Paris).]]

In 27 BC, Octavian made a show of returning full power to the Roman Senate and relinquishing his control of the Roman provinces and their armies. Although Octavian was no longer in direct control of the provinces and their armies, he retained the loyalty of active duty soldiers and veterans alike.

To a large extent the public was aware of the vast financial resources Augustus commanded. When he failed to encourage enough senators to finance the building and maintenance of networks of roads in Italy, he undertook direct responsibility for them in 20 BC. This was publicized on the Roman currency issued in 16 BC, after he donated vast amounts of money to the aerarium Saturni, the public treasury.

The Senate proposed to Octavian, the victor of Rome's civil wars, that he once again assume command of the provinces. The senate's proposal was a ratification of Octavian's extra-constitutional power. Through the senate Octavian was able to continue the appearance of a still-functional constitution. Feigning reluctance, he accepted a ten-year responsibility of overseeing provinces that were considered chaotic. The provinces ceded to him, that he might pacify them within the promised ten-year period, comprised much of the conquered Roman world, including all of Hispania and Gaul, Syria, Cilicia, Cyprus, and Egypt. Moreover, command of these provinces provided Octavian with control over the majority of Rome's legions.

While Octavian acted as consul in Rome, he dispatched senators to the provinces under his command as his representatives to manage provincial affairs and ensure his orders were carried out. Augustus, from the Latin word Augere (meaning to increase), can be translated as "the illustrious one". It was a title of religious rather than political authority. Princeps, comes from the Latin phrase primum caput, "the first head", originally meaning the oldest or most distinguished senator whose name would appear first on the senatorial roster; in the case of Augustus it became an almost regnal title for a leader who was first in charge. Princeps had also been a title under the Republic for those who had served the state well; for example, Pompey had held the title. Augustus also styled himself as Imperator Caesar divi filius, "Commander Caesar son of the deified one". This crown was usually held above the head of a Roman general during a triumph, with the individual holding the crown charged to continually repeat "memento mori", or, "Remember, you are mortal", to the triumphant general. Additionally, laurel wreaths were important in several state ceremonies, and crowns of laurel were rewarded to champions of athletic, racing, and dramatic contests. Thus, both the laurel and the oak were integral symbols of Roman religion and statecraft; placing them on Augustus' doorposts was tantamount to declaring his home the capital. However, Augustus renounced flaunting insignia of power such as holding a scepter, wearing a diadem, or wearing the golden crown and purple toga of his predecessor Julius Caesar. If he refused to symbolize his power by donning and bearing these items on his person, the Senate nonetheless awarded him with a golden shield displayed in the meeting hall of the Curia, bearing the inscription virtus, pietas, clementia, iustitia—"valor, piety, clemency, and justice." Piso was a well known member of the republican faction, and serving as co-consul with him was another means by Augustus to show his willingness to make concessions and cooperate with all political parties. In the late spring Augustus suffered a severe illness, and on his supposed deathbed made arrangements that would put in doubt the senators' suspicions of his anti-republicanism. Augustus prepared to hand down his signet ring to his favored general Agrippa. Augustus bestowed only properties and possessions to his designated heirs, as a system of institutionalized imperial inheritance would have provoked resistance and hostility amongst the republican-minded Romans fearful of monarchy.

on a three layered sardonyx cameo, AD 14/20]] Soon after his bout of illness subsided, Augustus gave up his permanent consulship. Although he had resigned as consul, Augustus retained his consular imperium, leading to a second compromise between him and the Senate known as the Second Settlement. This was a clever ploy by Augustus; by stepping down as one of two consuls, this allowed aspiring senators a better chance to fill that position, while at the same time Augustus could "exercise wider patronage within the senatorial class." Earlier as a consul he had the power to intervene, when he deemed necessary, with the affairs of provincial proconsuls appointed by the Senate. As a proconsul Augustus did not want this authority of overriding provincial governors to be stripped from him, so imperium proconsulare maius, or "power over all the proconsuls" was granted to Augustus by the Senate. This allowed him to convene the Senate and people at will and lay business before it, veto the actions of either the Assembly or the Senate, preside over elections, and the right to speak first at any meeting. Also included in Augustus' tribunician authority were powers usually reserved for the Roman censor; these included the right to supervise public morals and scrutinize laws to ensure they were in the public interest, as well as the ability to hold a census and determine the membership of the Senate. With the powers of a censor, Augustus appealed to virtues of Roman patriotism by banning all other attire besides the classic toga while entering the Forum. There was no precedent within the Roman system for combining the powers of the tribune and the censor into a single position, nor was Augustus ever elected to the office of censor. Julius Caesar had been granted similar powers, wherein he was charged with supervising the morals of the state, however this position did not extend to the censor's ability to hold a census and determine the Senate's roster. The office of the tribune plebis began to lose its prestige due to Augustus' amassing of tribunal powers, so he revived its importance by making it a mandatory appointment for any plebeian desiring the praetorship.

—Augustus as Pontifex Maximus]] In addition to tribunician authority, Augustus was granted sole imperium within the city of Rome itself: all armed forces in the city, formerly under the control of the prefects and consuls, were now under the sole authority of Augustus. With maius imperium proconsulare, Augustus was the only individual able to receive a triumph as he was ostensibly the head of every Roman army. In 19 BC, Lucius Cornelius Balbus, governor of Africa and conqueror of the Garamantes, was the first man of provincial origin to receive this award, as well as the last. Ensuring that his status of maius imperium proconsulare was renewed in 13 BC, Augustus stayed in Rome during the renewal process and provided veterans with lavish donations to gain their support. In 22 BC there was a food shortage in Rome which sparked panic, while many urban plebs called for Augustus to take on dictatorial powers to personally oversee the crisis. In 19 BC, the Senate voted to allow Augustus to wear the consul's insignia in public and before the Senate, Like his tribune authority, the granting of consular powers to him was another instance of holding power of offices he did not actually hold. On 5 February 2 BC, Augustus was also given the title pater patriae, or "father of the country".

Later Roman Emperors would generally be limited to the powers and titles originally granted to Augustus, though often, to display humility, newly appointed Emperors would decline one or more of the honorifics given to Augustus. Just as often, as their reign progressed, Emperors would appropriate all of the titles, regardless of whether they had actually been granted them by the Senate. The civic crown, which later Emperors took to actually wearing, consular insignia, and later the purple robes of a Triumphant general (toga picta) became the imperial insignia well into the Byzantine era.

War and expansion

s; however, areas under Roman control shown here were subject to change even during Augustus' reign, especially in Germania.]] Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus chose Imperator, "victorious commander" to be his first name, since he wanted to make the notion of victory associated with him emphatically clear. By the year 13, Augustus boasted 21 occasions where his troops proclaimed "imperator" as his title after a successful battle. , a successful military commander under Augustus before he was designated as his heir and successor]]

By the end of his reign, the armies of Augustus had conquered northern Hispania (modern Spain and Portugal), the Alpine regions of Raetia and Noricum (modern Switzerland, Bavaria, Austria, Slovenia), This region proved to be a major asset in funding Augustus' future military campaigns, as it was rich in mineral deposits that could be fostered in Roman mining projects, especially the very rich gold deposits at Las Medulas for example. The poet Horace dedicated an ode to the victory, while the monument Trophy of Augustus near Monaco was built to honor the occasion. The capture of the Alpine region also served the next offensive in 12 BC, when Tiberius began the offensive against the Pannonian tribes of Illyricum and his brother Nero Claudius Drusus against the Germanic tribes of the eastern Rhineland. Both campaigns were successful, as Drusus' forces reached the Elbe River by 9 BC, yet he died shortly after by falling off his horse. To ensure security of the Empire's eastern flank, Augustus stationed a Roman army in Syria, while his skilled stepson Tiberius negotiated with the Parthians as Rome's diplomat to the East. Werner Eck claims that this was a great disappointment for Romans seeking to avenge Crassus' defeat by military means. However, Maria Brosius explains that Augustus used the return of the standards as propaganda symbolizing the submission of Parthia to Rome. The event was celebrated in art such as the breastplate design on the statue Augustus of Prima Porta and in monuments such as the Temple of Mars Ultor ('Mars the Avenger') built to house the standards.

Although Parthia always posed a threat to Rome in the east, the real battlefront was along the Rhine and Danube rivers. Victory in battle was not always a permanent success, as newly conquered territories were constantly retaken by Rome's enemies in Germania. Augustus retaliated by dispatching Tiberius and Drusus to the Rhineland to pacify it, which had some success although the battle of AD 9 brought the end to Roman expansion into Germany. The Roman general Germanicus took advantage of a Cherusci civil war between Arminius and Segestes; they defeated Arminius, who fled that battle but was killed later in 21 due to treachery.

Death and succession

struck under Augustus, c. AD 13–14; the reverse shows Tiberius riding on a quadriga, celebrating the fifteenth renewal of his tribunal power. At least six potential heirs, including Agrippa and his sons, had expired or proven incapable of succeeding Augustus, before he finally settled on Tiberius in AD 9.]]

The illness of Augustus in 23 BC brought the problem of succession to the forefront of political issues and the public. To ensure stability, he needed to designate an heir to his unique position in Roman society and government. This was to be achieved in small, undramatic, and incremental ways that did not stir senatorial fears of monarchy. Some Augustan historians argue that indications pointed toward his sister's son Marcellus, who had been quickly married to Augustus' daughter Julia the Elder. Other historians dispute this due to Augustus' will read aloud to the Senate while he was seriously ill in 23 BC, instead indicating a preference for Marcus Agrippa, who was Augustus' second in charge and arguably the only one of his associates who could have controlled the legions and held the Empire together. Although this granting of power would have shown Augustus' favor for Agrippa, it was also a measure to please members of his Caesarian party by allowing one of their members to share a considerable amount of power with him. He took the consulship in 5 and 2 BC so he could personally usher them into their political careers, and they were nominated for the consulships of AD 1 and 4. Augustus also showed favor to his stepsons, Livia's children from her first marriage, Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus and Tiberius Claudius, granting them military commands and public office, and seeming to favor Drusus. However, Drusus' marriage to Antonia, Augustus' niece, was a relationship far too embedded within the family to disturb over succession issues. While Drusus' marriage to Antonia was considered an unbreakable affair, Vipsania was "only" the daughter of the late Agrippa from his first marriage. Although no specific reason is known for his departure, it could have been a combination of reasons, including a failing marriage with Julia. After the early deaths of both Lucius and Gaius in AD 2 and 4 respectively, and the earlier death of his brother Drusus (9 BC), Tiberius was recalled to Rome in June AD 4, where he was adopted by Augustus on the condition that he, in turn, adopt his nephew Germanicus. This continued the tradition of presenting at least two generations of heirs. The only other possible claimant as heir was Postumus Agrippa, who had been exiled by Augustus in AD 7, his banishment made permanent by senatorial decree, and Augustus officially disowned him. Postumus Agrippa was murdered at his place of exile either shortly before or after the death of Augustus.

On 19 August AD 14, Augustus died while visiting the place of his father's death at Nola, and Tiberius—who was present alongside Livia at Augustus' deathbed—was named his heir. Augustus' famous last words were, "Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit"—referring to the play-acting and regal authority that he had put on as emperor. Publicly, though, his last words were, "Behold, I found Rome of clay, and leave her to you of marble." An enormous funerary procession of mourners traveled with Augustus' body from Nola to Rome, and on the day of his burial all public and private businesses closed for the day. Coffin-bound, Augustus' body was cremated on a pyre close to his mausoleum. It was proclaimed that Augustus joined the company of the gods as a member of the Roman pantheon. Shotter suggests that Augustus' deification, coupled with Tiberius' "extremely conservative" attitude towards religion, obliged Tiberius to suppress any open resentment he might have harbored. Also, the historian R. Shaw-Smith points to letters of Augustus to Tiberius which display affection towards Tiberius and high regard for his military merits. Copies of the text were inscribed throughout the Empire upon his death. The inscriptions in Latin featured translations in Greek beside it, and were inscribed on many public edifices, such as the temple in Ankara dubbed the Monumentum Ancyranum, called the "queen of inscriptions" by historian Theodor Mommsen. There are a few known written works by Augustus that have survived. This includes his poems Sicily, Epiphanus, and Ajax, an autobiography of 13 books, a philosophical treatise, and his written rebuttal to Brutus' Eulogy of Cato. However, historians are able to analyze existing letters penned by Augustus to others for additional facts or clues about his personal life.

Many consider Augustus to be Rome's greatest emperor; his policies certainly extended the Empire's life span and initiated the celebrated Pax Romana or Pax Augusta. He was intelligent, decisive, and a shrewd politician, but he was not perhaps as charismatic as Julius Caesar, and was influenced on occasion by his third wife, Livia (sometimes for the worse). Nevertheless, his legacy proved more enduring. The city of Rome was utterly transformed under Augustus, with Rome's first institutionalized police force, fire fighting force, and the establishment of the municipal prefect as a permanent office. With Rome's civil wars at an end, Augustus was also able to create a standing army for the Roman Empire, fixed at a size of 28 legions of about 170,000 soldiers. This was supported by numerous auxiliary units of 500 soldiers each, often recruited from recently conquered areas. With his finances securing the maintenance of roads throughout Italy, Augustus also installed an official courier system of relay stations overseen by a military officer known as the praefectus vehiculorum. In the year 6 Augustus established the aerarium militare, donating 170 million sesterces to the new military treasury that provided for both active and retired soldiers. One of the most lasting institutions of Augustus was the establishment of the Praetorian Guard in 27 BC, originally a personal bodyguard unit on the battlefield that evolved into an imperial guard as well as an important political force in Rome. They had the power to intimidate the Senate, install new emperors, and depose ones they disliked; the last emperor they served was Maxentius, as it was Constantine I who disbanded them in the early 4th century and destroyed their barracks, the Castra Praetoria.

in Nubia]] Although the most powerful individual in the Roman Empire, Augustus wished to embody the spirit of Republican virtue and norms. He also wanted to relate to and connect with the concerns of the plebs and lay people. He achieved this through various means of generosity and a cutting back of lavish excess. In the year 29 BC, Augustus paid 400 sesterces each to 250,000 citizens, 1,000 sesterces each to 120,000 veterans in the colonies, and spent 700 million sesterces in purchasing land for his soldiers to settle upon. In 28 BC, he melted down 80 silver statues erected in his likeness and in honor of him, an attempt of his to appear frugal and modest. Had Augustus died earlier (in 23 BC, for instance), matters might have turned out differently. The attrition of the civil wars on the old Republican oligarchy and the longevity of Augustus, therefore, must be seen as major contributing factors in the transformation of the Roman state into a de facto monarchy in these years. Augustus' own experience, his patience, his tact, and his political acumen also played their parts. He directed the future of the Empire down many lasting paths, from the existence of a standing professional army stationed at or near the frontiers, to the dynastic principle so often employed in the imperial succession, to the embellishment of the capital at the emperor's expense. Augustus' ultimate legacy was the peace and prosperity the Empire enjoyed for the next two centuries under the system he initiated. His memory was enshrined in the political ethos of the Imperial age as a paradigm of the good emperor. Every emperor of Rome adopted his name, Caesar Augustus, which gradually lost its character as a name and eventually became a title. However, for his rule of Rome and establishing the principate, Augustus has also been subjected to criticism throughout the ages. The contemporary Roman jurist Marcus Antistius Labeo (d. AD 10/11), fond of the days of pre-Augustan republican liberty in which he had been born, openly criticized the Augustan regime. In the beginning of his Annals, the Roman historian Tacitus (c. 56–c.117) wrote that Augustus had cunningly subverted Republican Rome into a position of slavery. The 3rd century historian Cassius Dio acknowledged Augustus as a benign, moderate ruler, yet like most other historians after the death of Augustus, Dio viewed Augustus as an autocrat. In his criticism of Augustus, the admiral and historian Thomas Gordon (1658–1741) compared Augustus to the puritanical tyrant Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658). In his Memoirs of the Court of Augustus, the Scottish scholar Thomas Blackwell (1701–1757) deemed Augustus a Machiavellian ruler, "a bloodthirsty vindicative usurper", "wicked and worthless", "a mean spirit", and a "tyrant". The measures of taxation in the reign of Augustus were determined by population census, with fixed quotas for each province. Citizens of Rome and Italy paid indirect taxes, while direct taxes were exacted from the provinces. As it was effectively considered Augustus' private property rather than a province of the Empire, it became part of each succeeding emperor's patrimonium. Instead of a legate or proconsul, Augustus installed a prefect from the equestrian class to administer Egypt and maintain its lucrative seaports; this position became the highest political achievement for any equestrian besides becoming Prefect of the Praetorian Guard. The highly productive agricultural land of Egypt yielded enormous revenues that were available to Augustus and his successors to pay for public works and military expeditions, (Note that it was not his birthday month.)

Building projects

(Altar of Peace), 13 BC to 9 BC]] On his deathbed, Augustus boasted "I found Rome of bricks; I leave it to you of marble". Although there is some truth in the literal meaning of this, Cassius Dio asserts that it was a metaphor for the Empire's strength. Marble could be found in buildings of Rome before Augustus, but it was not extensively used as a building material until the reign of Augustus. The relief sculptures decorating the Ara Pacis visually augmented the written record of Augustus' triumphs in the Res Gestae. Its reliefs depicted the imperial pageants of the praetorians, the Vestals, and the citizenry of Rome. To celebrate his victory at the Battle of Actium, the Arch of Augustus was built in 29 BC near the entrance of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, and widened in 19 BC to include a triple-arch design. In that year, Augustus arranged a system where the Senate designated three of its members as prime commissioners in charge of the water supply and to ensure that Rome's aqueducts did not fall into disrepair.

The Corinthian order of architectural style originating from ancient Greece was the dominant architectural style in the age of Augustus and the imperial phase of Rome. Suetonius once commented that Rome was unworthy of its status as an imperial capital, yet Augustus and Agrippa set out to dismantle this sentiment by transforming the appearance of Rome upon the classical Greek model.

Ancestry

Descendants

Augustus's only child was his daughter. :1. Julia the Elder, 39 BC – AD 14, had five children; ::A. Gaius Caesar, 20 BC – AD 4, died without issue ::B. Julia the Younger, 19 BC – AD 28, had two children; :::I. Aemilia Lepida (fiancee of Claudius), 4 BC – AD 53, had five children; ::::a. Marcus Junius Silanus Torquatus, 14 – 54, had one child; :::::i. Lucius Junius Silanus Torquatus the younger, 50–66, died young ::::b. Junia Calvina, 15–79, died without issue ::::c. Decimus Junius Silanus Torquatus, d. 64 without issue ::::d. Lucius Junius Silanus Torquatus the elder, d. 49 without issue ::::e. Junia Lepida, ca 18–65, issue unknown ::C. Lucius Caesar, 17 BC – AD 2, died without issue ::D. Agrippina the Elder, 14 BC – AD 33, had six children; :::I. Nero Caesar, 6–30, died without issue :::II. Drusus Caesar, 7–33, died without issue :::III. Caligula, 12–41, had one child; ::::a. Julia Drusilla, 39–41, died young :::IV. Agrippina the Younger, 15–59, had one child; ::::a. Nero, 37–68, had one child; :::::i. Claudia Augusta, Jan. 63 – April 63; died young :::V. Drusilla (sister of Caligula), 16–38, died without issue :::VI. Julia Livilla, 18–42, died without issue ::E. Agrippa Postumus, 12 BC – AD 14, died without issue

See also

Augustan literature (ancient Rome)

Augustan poetry

Caesar's Comet

Gaius Maecenas

Gaius Octavian (Rome character)

Indo-Roman trade and relations

Julio-Claudian family tree

Octavia (gens)

Notes

Footnotes

Citations

Bivar, A.D.H. (1983). "The Political History of Iran Under the Arsacids", in The Cambridge History of Iran (Vol 3:1), 21–99. Edited by Ehsan Yarshater. London, New York, New Rochelle, Melbourne, and Sydney: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-20092-X.

Blackburn, Bonnie & Holford-Strevens, Leofranc. (1999). The Oxford Companion to the Year. Oxford University Press. Reprinted with corrections 2003.

Bourne, Ella. "Augustus as a Letter-Writer", Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association (Volume 49, 1918): 53–66.

Brosius, Maria. (2006). The Persians: An Introduction. London & New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-32089-5 (hbk).

Bunson, Matthew. (1994). Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire. New York: Facts on File Inc. ISBN 0-8160-3182-7

Chisholm, Kitty and John Ferguson. (1981). Rome: The Augustan Age; A Source Book. Oxford: Oxford University Press, in association with the Open University Press. ISBN 0-19-872108-0

Dio, Cassius. (1987) The Roman History: The Reign of Augustus. Translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-044448-3.

Eck, Werner; translated by Deborah Lucas Schneider; new material by Sarolta A. Takács. (2003) The Age of Augustus. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing (hardcover, ISBN 0-631-22957-4; paperback, ISBN 0-631-22958-2).

Eder, Walter. (2005). "Augustus and the Power of Tradition", in The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus (Cambridge Companions to the Ancient World), ed. Karl Galinsky, 13–32. Cambridge, MA; New York: Cambridge University Press (hardcover, ISBN 0-521-80796-4; paperback, ISBN 0-521-00393-8).

Everitt, Anthony (2006) Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor. Random House Books. ISBN 1-4000-6128-8.

Gruen, Erich S. (2005). "Augustus and the Making of the Principate", in The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus (Cambridge Companions to the Ancient World), ed. Karl Galinsky, 33–51. Cambridge, MA; New York: Cambridge University Press (hardcover, ISBN 0-521-80796-4; paperback, ISBN 0-521-00393-8).

Kelsall, Malcolm. "Augustus and Pope", The Huntington Library Quarterly (Volume 39, Number 2, 1976): 117–131.

Scott, Kenneth. "The Political Propaganda of 44–30 B.C." Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, Vol. 11, (1933), pp. 7–49.

Shaw-Smith, R. "A Letter from Augustus to Tiberius", Greece & Rome (Volume 18, Number 2, 1971): 213–214.

Shotter, D.C.A. "Tiberius and the Spirit of Augustus", Greece & Rome (Volume 13, Number 2, 1966): 207–212.

Southern, Pat. (1998). Augustus. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-16631-4.

Starr, Chester G., Jr. "The Perfect Democracy of the Roman Empire", The American Historical Review (Volume 58, Number 1, 1952): 1–16.

Rowell, Henry Thompson. (1962). The Centers of Civilization Series: Volume 5; Rome in the Augustan Age. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-0956-4

Further reading

Bleicken, Jochen. (1998). Augustus. Eine Biographie. Berlin.

Galinsky, Karl. Augustan Culture. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998 (paperback, ISBN 0-691-05890-3).

Lewis, P. R. and G. D. B. Jones, Roman gold-mining in north-west Spain, Journal of Roman Studies 60 (1970): 169–85

Jones, R. F. J. and Bird, D. G., Roman gold-mining in north-west Spain, II: Workings on the Rio Duerna, Journal of Roman Studies 62 (1972): 59–74.

Jones, A.H.M. "The Imperium of Augustus", The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 41, Parts 1 and 2. (1951), pp. 112–119.

Jones, A.H.M. Augustus. London: Chatto & Windus, 1970 (paperback, ISBN 0-7011-1626-9).

Osgood, Josiah. Caesar's Legacy: Civil War and the Emergence of the Roman Empire. New York: Cambridge University Press (USA), 2006 (hardback, ISBN 0-521-85582-9; paperback, ISBN 0-521-67177-9).

Raaflaub, Kurt A. & Toher, Mark (eds.). Between Republic and Empire: Interpretations of Augustus and His Principate. Berkeley; Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1993 (paperback, ISBN 0-520-08447-0).

Reinhold, Meyer. The Golden Age of Augustus (Aspects of Antiquity). Toronto, ON: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1978 (hardcover, ISBN 0-89522-007-5; paperback, ISBN 0-89522-008-3).

Roebuck, C. (1966). The World of Ancient Times. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

Southern, Pat. Augustus (Roman Imperial Biographies). New York: Routledge, 1998 (hardcover, ISBN 0-415-16631-4); 2001 (paperback, ISBN 0-415-25855-3).

Zanker, Paul. The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus (Thomas Spencer Jerome Lectures). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1989 (hardcover, ISBN 0-472-10101-3); 1990 (paperback, ISBN 0-472-08124-1).

External links

;Primary sources

Cassius Dio's Roman History: Books 45–56, English translation

Gallery of the Ancient Art: August

Humor of Augustus

Life of Augustus by Nicolaus of Damascus, English translation

Suetonius' biography of Augustus, Latin text with English translation

The Res Gestae Divi Augusti (The Deeds of Augustus, his own account: complete Latin and Greek texts with facing English translation)

The Via Iulia Augusta: road built by the Romans; constructed on the orders of Augustus between the 13–12 B.C.

;Secondary source material

Augustus—short biography at the BBC

Brown, F. The Achievements of Augustus Caesar, Clio History Journal, 2009.

"Augustus Caesar and the Pax Romana"—essay by Steven Kreis about Augustus's legacy

"De Imperatoribus Romanis"—article about Augustus at Garrett G. Fagan's online encyclopedia of Roman Emperors

Octavian / Augustus—pages by Yong-Ling Ow

Category:Characters in Book VI of the Aeneid Category:Deified Roman emperors Category:Heirs of Caesar Category:Imperial Roman consuls Category:Iulii Category:Julio-Claudian Dynasty Category:Octavii Category:People from Rome (city) Category:Republican holders of the role of pontifex maximus Category:63 BC births Category:14 deaths Category:1st-century BC Romans Category:1st-century BC clergy Category:1st-century clergy Category:1st-century Roman emperors