Company name	Gibson Guitar Corporation
Company logo
Company slogan	"Prestige-Quality-Innovation."
Company type	Private
Foundation	October 11, 1902
Founder	Orville Gibson
Location	Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Key people	Orville Gibson, Ted McCarty, Les Paul, Seth Lover
Area served	Global
Industry	Musical instruments
Subsid	Aeolian, Baldwin, Chickering, Electar, Epiphone, Garrison, Gibson Amphitheatre, Hamilton, Kramer, Maestro, MaGIC, Slingerland, Steinberger, Tobias, Valley Arts Guitar, Wurlitzer
Homepage	Gibson.com

The Gibson Guitar Corporation, of Nashville, Tennessee, USA, is a manufacturer of acoustic and electric guitars. Gibson also owns and makes guitars under such brands as Epiphone, Kramer, Valley Arts, Tobias, Steinberger, and Kalamazoo. In addition to guitars, the company makes pianos through its Baldwin unit, Slingerland drums, as well as many accessory items.

Company founder Orville Gibson made mandolins in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the late 1890s. He invented archtop guitars by using the same type of carved, arched tops found on violins. By the 1930s, the company was also making flattop acoustic guitars, as well as one of the first commercially available hollow-body electric guitars, which were used and popularized by Charlie Christian. In the early 1950s, Gibson introduced its first solid-body electric guitar and its most popular guitar to date—the Les Paul. After being purchased by the Norlin corporation in the late 1960s Gibson's quality and fortunes took a steep decline until early 1986, when the company was rescued by its present owners. Gibson Guitar is a privately held corporation (company stock is not publicly traded on a stock exchange), owned by chief executive officer Henry Juszkiewicz and president David H. (Dave) Berryman.

Gibson has enjoyed a double digit growth rate since the acquisition in 1986, growing sales revenues and market share. It is now the number one company in the electric guitar market, and continues to expand both market share and revenues. It is one of a handful of musical instrument companies that has invested in a proprietary global distribution system selling directly to dealers in most major countries. Gibson is the largest manufacturer of guitars in the United States.

History

Orville Gibson (born 1856, Chateaugay, New York) started making mandolins in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. The mandolins were distinctive in that they featured a carved, arched solid wood top and back and bent wood sides. Prior to this, mandolins had a flat solid wood top and a bowl-like back similar to a lute. These bowl-back mandolins were very fragile and unstable. Disdainful of the shape, Orville Gibson characterized them as "potato bugs". Gibson's innovation made a distinctive, darker-sounding mandolin that was easier to manufacture in large numbers. Orville Gibson's mandolin design, with its single-pieced carved sides and a single-pieced neck, was patented in 1898; it would be the only innovation he patented. Orville Gibson died in 1918 of endocarditis (inflammation of the inside lining of the heart chambers and valves).

1902–1950

Orville Gibson began to sell his unique instruments in 1894 out of a one room work shop in Kalamazoo Michigan. In 1902 Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co, Ltd. was incorporated to market the instruments. Initially, the company produced only Orville Gibson's original designs. Aware of changing trends, the company hired designer Lloyd Loar in 1919 to create newer instruments.

During the 1920s Gibson was responsible for many innovations in banjo*, guitar and mandolin design. In 1922, the Gibson F5 mandolin model was introduced. That particular model later became known as the ultimate bluegrass mandolin. Gibson soon became the leading manufacturer of archtop guitars, particularly the L-5 model, also a Loar design. Loar left the company in 1924.

In the 1930s, Gibson began exploring the concept of an electric guitar. In 1936 they introduced their first "Electric Spanish" model, the ES-150. Other companies were producing electric guitars but the Gibson is generally recognized as the first commercially successful electric guitar. Other instruments were also "electrified"; such as steel guitars, banjos and mandolins.

During World War II, instrument manufacturing basically stopped at Gibson due to shortages of wood and metal. Only a few instruments were made with whatever parts were at hand. Gibson did war production instead, making wood parts for various military needs. Such shortages continued for a few years after the war and the only notable change occurred in 1946 when the Gibson name on the instrument headstock changed from a cursive script to the block style used to this day. This is seen at the head of the information block at top.

In 1944 Gibson was purchased by Chicago Musical Instruments, which took over marketing and sales of Gibson products while allowing the Kalamazoo factory to operate largely independently.

The ES-175 was introduced in 1949. The model has seen some variations over the years but it is still in production.

Gibson and Ted McCarty

In 1948, Gibson hired music industry veteran Ted McCarty. He was promoted to company president in 1950. During his tenure (1950–1966), Gibson greatly expanded and diversified its line of instruments. The first notable addition was the "Les Paul" guitar. McCarty was well aware of the strong sales of the Fender Telecaster. In 1950, Gibson decided to make a solid-body guitar of its own according to its own design philosophy despite the fact many other guitar manufacturers were contemptuous of the concept of a solid-body guitar. Designed by the guitarist Les Paul, it was released as his signature model in 1952. The "Les Paul" was offered in several models, including the Custom, the Standard, the Special and the Junior.

In the mid-50s, the Thinline series was produced. Many guitarists did not like the bulk of a full-size archtop and wanted a thinner guitar. The first to be produced was the Byrdland. The first Byrdlands were slim, custom built, L-5 models for guitarists Billy Byrd and Hank Garland. Later, a shorter neck was added. Other guitarists who tried Gibson samples liked the idea and the model went into production. Other models such as the ES-350T and the ES-225T were introduced as less costly alternatives.

In 1958, Gibson introduced the ES-335T model. Similar in size to the hollow-body Thinlines, the ES-335 family had a solid center, giving the string tone a longer sustain.

In the late 50s, McCarty was aware the Gibson was perceived as a "conservative" company, generally making traditionally shaped instruments. He decided to change that. In 1958, Gibson produced two new designs: the eccentrically-shaped Explorer and Flying V. These "modernistic" guitars did not sell initially. It was only in the late 1960s and early 70s when the two guitars were reintroduced to the market that they sold very well. The Firebird, in the early 60s, was a reprise of the modernistic idea, though less extreme.

In the 1950s, Gibson also produced the Tune-o-matic bridge system and its version of the humbucking pickup.

In 1961 the body design of the "Les Paul" was changed, due to the demand for a double-cutaway body design. Les Paul did not care for the new body style and let his endorsement lapse, and the new body design then became known as the SG (for "solid guitar"). The "Les Paul" returned to the Gibson catalog in 1968 due to the influence of players such as Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Peter Green. Both the "bombs" "Les Paul" and the SG later became very popular with Southern Rock, hard rock and heavy metal guitarists; Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Jeff Beck with the Jeff Beck Group and solo in the 1970s, the twin-lead line-up of Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson of Thin Lizzy, Duane Allman, Slash of Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver and Ace Frehley of Kiss are known for their preference for a Les Paul. Pete Townshend of The Who, Angus Young of AC/DC, Frank Zappa of Mothers of Invention, Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden, Robby Krieger of The Doors, Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd (known also for his SG in "Free Bird") and Joe Solo are some of the better-known SG players.

The 70s to today

In 1969 Gibson parent Chicago Musical Instruments was taken over by a South American brewing conglomerate, E.C.L., which changed its name to Norlin Inc. (for ECL president Norton Stevens and CMI president Maurice Berlin). This began an era widely perceived as being characterized by corporate mismanagement and decreasing product quality similar to Fender's period under CBS ownership.

Between 1974 and 1984 production of Gibson guitars was shifted from Kalamazoo to Nashville, Tennessee. Early Nashville-built guitars suffered from both inexperienced workers, and climate-control problems in the humid South. The Kalamazoo plant was kept going for a few years as a custom-instrument shop, but was closed in 1984. The Gibson Guitar Corp. was within three months of going out of business before it was bought by Henry E. Juszkiewicz, David H. Berryman, and Gary A. Zebrowski in January 1986. The survival and success of Gibson today is largely attributed to this change in ownership. Currently, Juszkiewicz stands as CEO and Berryman as president of the company. More recently new production plants have been opened, such as Memphis, Tennessee as well as Bozeman, Montana. The Memphis facility is used for semi-hollow and custom shop instruments, while the Bozeman facility is dedicated to acoustic instruments.

In 1994, Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz asked an executive at Gibson to search out an organization that was working towards an environmentally conscious and sustainable wood supply. That executive found the Rainforest Alliances Smart Wood program. After months of discussions with little result Henry flew to New York to attend the Rainforest Alliance’s annual gala. He offered to subsidized the program to start certifying wood for Gibson and went on to join the Board for the organization and promote broadly intelligent use of natural resources. Today Gibson has supported many conservation organizations actively like Green Peace, Environmental Defense, and a variety of others. Juszkiewicz believes strongly that industry should show leadership in their use of natural resources.

Four years later (1998), Gibson had revealed the fruits of those relationships with the Les Paul SmartWood Exotics. The new line consisted of six guitars featuring tops fashioned from unusual, "smartly" harvested tropical woods. Each guitar listed for $1299 new, and in the spirit of philanthropy, Gibson donated a portion of the profits from the SmartWood guitar sales to the Rainforest Alliance.

Gibson in general has been very active in supporting numerous non-profit organizations, eventually founding the Gibson Foundation.

Juszkiewicz and Gibson also helped to found Music Rising, a non-profit devoted to helping in the recovery of the devastating flood in New Orleans, with music producer Bob Ezrin and Edge from U2.

Since 2007 the Gibson Guitar Corporation has teamed up with Music Saves Lives and donated several guitars to be designed by various artists (Mike Onclay, Ryan Seaman, Cory Burke, Josh Kenyon, Colby Nichols, Andrew Holder, Sara Antoinette Martin), signed by bands (Bad Religion, Pennywise, Coheed and Cambria, Reel Big Fish, NoFx, Bouncing Souls, Thrice, Katy Perry, Meg and Dia, Jack's Mannequin) and then auctioned off to support the non-profit.

In mid 2009 Gibson reduced its work force to adjust for a decline in guitar industry sales in the United States.,

Gibson continued to gain market share during 2009 and started calling people back in early 2010.

In the Movies

A company that studies product placement called MoviePlacement.com reports that Gibson Guitars have been seen in many feature films including Black Snake Moan, Yes Man, Crazy Heart, , Dan in Real Life, I Love You Man, Juno, School of Rock, and Hannah Montana The Movie.

Recent Gibson Innovation

Gibson has spent millions of dollars in Research and Development, starting in the 1980s, pursuing improvements in the state of the instrument.

In 1999, Gibson developed an Ethernet-based protocol called "MaGIC" in partnership with 3COM; it was used in an instrument called the "Digital Guitar". This was the first Gibson effort to introduce high technology into an instrument.

Gibson has released a series of new technology models of which the Dusk Tiger was the latest new concept release in December 2009. Gibson continues to innovate in design and product features incorporating some of the most recent technology advances, including the use of German made Plek machines to significantly improve the performance of instruments.

Today, one model of Gibson guitars (Robot Guitar) can tune itself in less than 10 seconds using robotic technology developed by Gibson and Tronical GmbH. Gibson had worked with a company that pioneered self tuning - Transperfomance (Colorado) but introduced the Tronical version which was simpler, faster and less intrusive.

They continue to manufacture the classic designs including the Les Paul, the SG and the ES-335.

Part of Gibson is the world's largest custom shop that manufactures historically accurate reproductions, artist-designed models and very limited run hand-crafted instruments.

In January 2010, Gibson released the Keb' Mo' Bluesmaster acoustic-electric guitar in honor of the 3-time Grammy winner.

Subsidiary companies

Many other instrument manufacturers are owned by Gibson including Kramer, Steinberger, Tobias and Valley Arts Guitar. It is now a brand used by Gibson-Baldwin Musical Education, which sells various student guitars under different brand names. In 2007, Gibson purchased Canadian guitar manufacturer Garrison Guitars; as of 2009, the acoustic guitars from the Gibson Songmaker Series are manufactured in the old Garrison plant in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Unauthorized copies

On multiple occasions, Gibson has sought legal action against other guitar manufacturers who implement similar body styles in their designs. The first such action was against Hoshino/Elger (Ibanez), which had fabricated near-identical (in looks) copies of the Les Paul. This 1977 lawsuit was not over Ibanez's copy of the Les Paul's body shape, but instead for their use of Gibson's 'open book' headstock shape (even though Ibanez had redesigned their headstock to be a near-identical copy of a Guild headstock in 1976).

In 2000, Gibson took the Fernandes guitar company to the Tokyo High Court for allegedly copying Gibson designs. Gibson did not prevail in the case. Gibson also sued PRS Guitars, forcing them to stop making their Singlecut model, which is much less similar to the Les Paul in appearance. The lawsuit against PRS was initially successful. However; in 2005, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the lower court decision and ordered the dismissal of Gibson's suit against PRS. The decision also immediately vacated the injunction prohibiting the sale and production of PRS’s Singlecut Guitar. Paul Reed Smith Guitars announced that it would immediately resume production of its Singlecut guitars attributed to Ted McCarty.

Many companies make a model similar to Les Paul. Gibson has been very aggressive in protecting their rights in these instruments which include register trademark in the US and other countries Tokai, Stellar and Myaxe. Illegal forgeries have most recently been manufactured in China and are being sold as authentic fooling many consumers looking for a good deal. These forgeries can generally be identified upon close inspection. The most prominent identifier pertaining to some Chinese Gibson Les Paul forgeries is in the truss rod cover being affixed to the headstock of the forged guitar with three screws whereas an authentic Gibson guitar employs two. However, newer copies now have two-screw truss rod covers, making it more difficult to detect copies. The key to spotting them is in the angle of the headstock.

Authorized Gibson Designs

On May 10, 1957, Gibson purchased the Epiphone guitar company, which at the time was one of their main competitors. The original plan was to continue selling Epiphone's successful upright bass, but Gibson soon realized they could satisfy requests from music stores by producing Epiphone-branded guitars. From the early 1970s the Epiphone brand name has used Epiphone and Gibson designs and has been increasingly used by Gibson for lower priced guitars manufactured in countries other than the United States. Epiphone guitars have been made in the US, Japan, Korea, Indonesia and China. Orville by Gibson was another Gibson-authorized brand of guitars that used Gibson designs and were made and sold only in Japan.

Bluegrass

All of Gibson's American made bluegrass instruments (such as the banjo, mandolin and the Dobro) are manufactured at the "Gibson Showcase" at Opry Mills Mall in Nashville; production is overseen by master luthier David Harvey. The factory is open to the public and also houses a store selling the full line of Gibson products.

Gibson serial numbers

In 1977, Gibson standardized the serial number system that is still in use today. An eight digit (or 9 digit after July 2005) number on the back shows the date on which the instrument was produced, where it was produced and its order of production that day (e.g. first instrument stamped that day, second, third, fourth etc.). The serial numbers are deciphered using the following system:

YDDDYRRR

YY is the production year

DDD is the day of the year the guitar was stamped

RRR is the production order/plant designation number

Production order/plant designation numbers numbers are as follows:

001-499 Kalamazoo, Michigan (1975–1984)

500-999 Nashville, Tennessee (1975–1990)

001-299 Bozeman, Montana (after 1989)

300-999 Nashville, Tennessee (after 1990)

For example, the serial number 90992487 means that the instrument was produced on the 99th day of 1992 (Wednesday 8 April) in Nashville, TN and that it was the 187th instrument stamped that day.

In July 2005 Gibson introduced a 9 digit serial number system. The system is largely the same as the 8 digit system used before, however the 6th digit now represents the batch number. The first 5 and last 3 digits remain the same.

An exception is the year 1994, Gibson's Centennial Year: Many 1994 serial numbers start with "94", followed by a 6-digit production number.

Instruments

Electric guitars

Gibson is especially well known for their electric guitars—solidbody models like the Les Paul, the SG, the Flying V, the Explorer and the Firebird; hollowbody models like the ES-175 and the "bomb" ES-335; as well as high-end archtops such as the L-5 and the Citation.

Acoustic guitars

Gibson's acoustic guitars are widely celebrated around the world and used by many professional musicians; among them are the J-200, the J-45, the Hummingbird, the Dove, and the L-00.

Bass guitars

The first Gibson bass guitar, the EB-1, was produced in 1953 in response to the success of the Fender Precision Bass introduced two years earlier. The EB-1 and other early Gibson basses used a shorter scale length of 30.5", as opposed to the Fender standard 34". In 1963 Gibson produced their first 34" model, the Gibson Thunderbird, and have since produced basses in a variety of scale lengths.

Despite being such a revered six-string guitar manufacturer, Gibson has had much success from their line of bass models such the Thunderbird (based on the Firebird), the EB-0 and EB-3 (based on the SG), the Gibson Ripper, and the Gibson Grabber, both first manufactured in the 1970s.

Artists who use Gibson instruments

Recent criticism and controversy

In recent years, there have been outcries from former employees regarding CEO Juszkiewicz and his management methods.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Raid

The Nashville-based guitar manufacturer is being investigated for violating the Lacey Act. The Lacey act was amended less than 2 years ago to include wood products. On November 17, 2009 federal authorities seized an unknown quantity of alleged endangered and illegal rare wood purchased by Gibson which was stored at the company's factory. No charges have been made but the investigation is ongoing. Until the investigation has been concluded, Henry E. Juszkiewicz, CEO and Chairman of Gibson Guitar Corporation, has taken a leave of absence as a board member of the Rainforest Alliance. The Rainforest Alliance has issued an official statement on the matter.

However, according to later updates, no arrests have been made. Authorities were unable to confirm whether any items from Gibson's plant were seized.

References

External links

Official website, Gibson Guitar Company

Official web page, Gibson Acoustic Guitars

Official website, Gibson Custom Shop

Gibson Montana Division

Gibson Serial Numbers

Great Gibson Guitar Reviews

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-USA/Dusk-Tiger/Next-Generation.aspx

Category:Guitar manufacturing companies Category:Banjo manufacturing companies Category:Companies established in 1902 Category:Companies based in Nashville, Tennessee Category:Manufacturing companies based in Tennessee Category:Guitar amplifier manufacturers

Name	Mel Gibson
Caption	at the 1990 Air America premiere
Birth date	January 03, 1956
Birth place	Peekskill, New York, U.S.
Birth name
Nationality	Australian-American
Religion	Roman Catholic
Occupation	Actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter
Years active	1976–present
Parents	Hutton GibsonAnne (née Reilly, deceased)
Children	6 sons, 2 daughters
Spouse	Robyn Moore Gibson (1980-present)

Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO (born January 3, 1956) is an Irish-American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.

After appearing in the Mad Max and Lethal Weapon series, Gibson went on to direct and star in the Academy Award-winning Braveheart. In 2004, he directed and produced The Passion of the Christ, a controversial, yet successful, film portraying the last hours in the life of Jesus Christ. Outside his career, remarks by Gibson have generated accusations of homophobia, antisemitism, racism, and misogyny; he has previously attributed the statements to his battle with alcoholism.

Early life

Gibson was born in Peekskill, New York, the sixth of 11 children, and the second son of Hutton Gibson and Irish-born Anne Patricia (née Reilly, died 1990). His paternal grandmother was the Australian opera soprano, Eva Mylott (1875–1920). One of Gibson's younger brothers, Donal, is also an actor. Gibson's first name comes from Saint Mel, fifth-century Irish saint, and founder of Gibson's mother's native diocese, Ardagh, while his second name, Colm-Cille, and is the name of the parish in County Longford where Gibson's mother was born and raised. Because of his mother, Gibson holds dual Irish and American citizenship.

Soon after being awarded $145,000 in a work-related-injury lawsuit against New York Central Railroad on February 14, 1968, Hutton Gibson relocated his family to West Pymble, Sydney, Australia. Gibson was 12 years old at the time. The move to Hutton's mother's native Australia was for economic reasons, and because Hutton thought the Australian Defence Forces would reject his oldest son for the draft during the Vietnam War.

Gibson was educated by members of the Congregation of Christian Brothers at St. Leo's Catholic College in Wahroonga, New South Wales, during his high school years.

Career

Gibson gained very favorable notices from film critics when he first entered the cinematic scene, as well as comparisons to several classic movie stars. In 1982, Vincent Canby wrote that “Mr. Gibson recalls the young Steve McQueen... I can't define "star quality," but whatever it is, Mr. Gibson has it.” Gibson has also been likened to “a combination Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart.” Gibson's roles in the "Mad Max" series of films, Peter Weir's Gallipoli, and the "Lethal Weapon" series of films earned him the label of "action hero". Later, Gibson expanded into a variety of acting projects including human dramas such as Hamlet, and comedic roles such as those in Maverick and What Women Want. He expanded beyond acting into directing and producing, with: The Man Without a Face, in 1993; Braveheart, in 1995; The Passion of the Christ, in 2004; and Apocalypto, in 2006. Jess Cagle of Time has compared Gibson to Cary Grant, Sean Connery, and Robert Redford.

Stage

Gibson studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney. The students at NIDA were classically trained in the British-theater tradition rather than in preparation for screen acting. As students, Gibson and actress Judy Davis played the leads in Romeo and Juliet, and Gibson played the role of Queen Titania in an experimental production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. After graduation in 1977, Gibson immediately began work on the filming of Mad Max, but continued to work as a stage actor, and joined the State Theatre Company of South Australia in Adelaide. Gibson’s theatrical credits include the character Estragon (opposite Geoffrey Rush) in Waiting for Godot, and the role of Biff Loman in a 1982 production of Death of a Salesman in Sydney. Gibson’s most recent theatrical performance, opposite Sissy Spacek, was the 1993 production of Love Letters by A. R. Gurney, in Telluride, Colorado.

Australian television and cinema

While a student at NIDA, Gibson made his film debut in the 1977 film Summer City, for which he was paid $400.

Gibson then played the title character in the film Mad Max (1979). He was paid $15000 for this role.

During this period Gibson also appeared in Australian television series guest roles. He appeared in serial The Sullivans as naval lieutenant Ray Henderson, in police procedural Cop Shop,

Gibson joined the cast of the World War II action film Attack Force Z, which was not released until 1982 when Gibson had become a bigger star. Director Peter Weir cast Gibson as one of the leads in the critically acclaimed World War I drama Gallipoli, which earned Gibson another Best Actor Award from the Australian Film Institute. The film Gallipoli also helped to earn Gibson the reputation of a serious, versatile actor and gained him the Hollywood agent Ed Limato. The sequel Mad Max 2 was his first hit in America (released as The Road Warrior). In 1982 Gibson again attracted critical acclaim in Peter Weir’s romantic thriller The Year of Living Dangerously. Following a year hiatus from film acting after the birth of his twin sons, Gibson took on the role of Fletcher Christian in The Bounty in 1984. Playing Max Rockatansky for the third time in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, in 1985, earned Gibson his first million dollar salary.

Hollywood

Early Hollywood years

Mel Gibson's first American film was Mark Rydell’s 1984 drama The River, in which he and Sissy Spacek played struggling Tennessee farmers. Gibson then starred in the gothic romance Mrs. Soffel for Australian director Gillian Armstrong. He and Matthew Modine played condemned convict brothers opposite Diane Keaton as the warden's wife who visits them to read the Bible. In 1985, after working on four films in a row, Gibson took almost two years off at his Australian cattle station. He returned to play the role of Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon, a film which helped to cement his status as a Hollywood "leading man". Gibson's next film was Robert Towne’s Tequila Sunrise, followed by Lethal Weapon 2, in 1989. Gibson next starred in three films back-to-back: Bird on a Wire, Air America, and Hamlet; all were released in 1990.

1990s

During the 1990s, Gibson alternated between commercial and personal projects. His films in the first half of the decade were Forever Young, Lethal Weapon 3, Maverick, and Braveheart. He then starred in Ransom, Conspiracy Theory, Lethal Weapon 4, and Payback. Gibson also served as the speaking and singing voice of John Smith in Disney’s Pocahontas.

After 2000

In 2000, Gibson acted in three films that each grossed over $100 million: The Patriot, Chicken Run, and What Women Want. While promoting Signs, Gibson said that he no longer wanted to be a movie star and would only act in film again if the script were truly extraordinary. In 2010, Gibson appeared in Edge of Darkness, which marked his first starring role since 2002 and was an adaptation of the BBC miniseries, Edge of Darkness. In 2010, following an outburst at his ex-girlfriend that was made public, Gibson was dropped from the talent agency of William Morris Endeavor.

Producer

After his success in Hollywood with the Lethal Weapon series, Gibson began to move into producing and directing. With partner Bruce Davey, Gibson formed Icon Productions in 1989 in order to make Hamlet. In addition to producing or co-producing many of Gibson's own star vehicles, Icon has turned out many other small films, ranging from Immortal Beloved to An Ideal Husband. Gibson has taken supporting roles in some of these films, such as The Million Dollar Hotel and The Singing Detective. Gibson has also produced a number of projects for television, including a biopic on The Three Stooges and the 2008 PBS documentary Carrier. Icon has grown from being just a production company to also be an international distribution company and film exhibitor in Australia and New Zealand.

Director

Mel Gibson has credited his directors, particularly George Miller, Peter Weir, and Richard Donner, with teaching him the craft of filmmaking and influencing him as a director. According to Robert Downey, Jr., studio executives encouraged Gibson in 1989 to try directing, an idea he rebuffed at the time. Gibson made his directorial debut in 1993 with The Man Without a Face, followed two years later by Braveheart, which earned Gibson the Academy Award for Best Director. Gibson had long planned to direct a remake of Fahrenheit 451, but in 1999 the project was indefinitely postponed because of scheduling conflicts. Gibson was scheduled to direct Robert Downey, Jr. in a Los Angeles stage production of Hamlet in January 2001, but Downey's drug relapse ended the project. In 2002, while promoting We Were Soldiers and Signs to the press, Gibson mentioned that he was planning to pare back on acting and return to directing. In September 2002, Gibson announced that he would direct a film called The Passion in Aramaic and Latin with no subtitles because he hoped to "transcend language barriers with filmic storytelling." In 2004, he released the controversial film The Passion of the Christ, with subtitles, which he co-wrote, co-produced, and directed. The film went on to become the highest grossing rated R film of all time with $370,782,930 in U.S. box office sales. Gibson directed a few episodes of Complete Savages for the ABC network. In 2006, he directed the action-adventure film Apocalypto, his second film to feature sparse dialogue in a non-English language.

Honors

On July 25, 1997, Gibson was named an honorary Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), in recognition of his "service to the Australian film industry". The award was honorary because substantive awards are made only to Australian citizens. In 1985, Gibson was named "The Sexiest Man Alive" by People, the first person to be named so. Gibson quietly declined the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres from the French government in 1995 as a protest against France's resumption of nuclear testing in the Southwest Pacific. Time magazine chose Mel Gibson and Michael Moore as Men of the Year in 2004, but Gibson turned down the photo session and interview, and the cover went instead to George W. Bush.

Landmark films

Mad Max series

Gibson got his breakthrough role as the leather-clad post-apocalyptic survivor in George Miller's Mad Max. The independently financed blockbuster helped to make him an international star everywhere but in the United States, where the actors' Australian accents were dubbed with American accents. The original film spawned two sequels: Mad Max 2 (known in North America as The Road Warrior), and Mad Max 3 (known in North America as Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome). A fourth movie, , is in development, but both Gibson and George Miller have indicated that the starring role would go to a younger actor.

Gallipoli

Gibson played the role of the cynical Frank Dunne alongside co-star Mark Lee in the 1981 Peter Weir film. Gallipoli is about several young men from rural Western Australia who enlist in the Australian Army during the First World War. They are sent to Turkey, where they take part in the Gallipoli Campaign. During the course of the movie, the young men slowly lose their innocence about the purpose of war. The climax of the movie occurs on the ANZAC battlefield at Gallipoli and depicts the brutal attack at the Nek. According to Gibson, “Gallipoli was the birth of a nation. It was the shattering of a dream for Australia. They had banded together to fight the Hun and died by the thousands in a dirty little trench war." The critically acclaimed film helped to further launch Gibson's career. He won the award for Best Actor in a Leading Role from the Australian Film Institute. According to John Hiscock of The Daily Telegraph, the film did, indeed, establish Gibson as an international talent.

Gibson was initially reluctant to accept the role of Guy Hamilton. "I didn't necessarily see my role as a great challenge. My character was, like the film suggests, a puppet. And I went with that. It wasn't some star thing, even though they advertised it that way." Gibson saw some similarities between himself and the character of Guy. "He's not a silver-tongued devil. He's kind of immature and he has some rough edges and I guess you could say the same for me."

Hamlet

Gibson made the unusual transition from the action to classical genres, playing the melancholic Danish prince in Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet. Gibson was cast alongside such experienced Shakespearean actors as Ian Holm, Alan Bates, and Paul Scofield. He described working with his fellow cast members as similar to being "thrown into the ring with Mike Tyson".

Braveheart

Mel Gibson directed, produced, and starred in Braveheart, an epic telling of the legend of Sir William Wallace, a 13th century Scottish patriot. Gibson received two Academy Awards, Best Director and Best Picture for his second directorial effort. In winning the Academy Award for Best Director, Gibson became only the sixth actor-turned-filmmaker to do so. Braveheart influenced the Scottish nationalist movement and helped to revive the film genre of the historical epic. The Battle of Stirling Bridge sequence in Braveheart is considered by critics to be one of the all-time best directed battle scenes.

The Passion of the Christ

Gibson directed, produced, co-wrote, and self-funded the 2004 film The Passion of the Christ, which chronicled the passion and death of Jesus Christ. The cast spoke the languages of Aramaic, Latin, and Hebrew. Although Gibson originally announced his intention to release the film without subtitles; he relented on this point for theatrical exhibition. The highly controversial film sparked divergent reviews, ranging from high praise to criticism of the violence and charges of antisemitism. Gibson also sparked controversy with his statements regarding New York Times writer Frank Rich, "I want to kill him. I want his intestines on a stick.... I want to kill his dog" in response to Rich's suggestion that the film could fuel antisemitism.

The movie grossed US$611,899,420 worldwide and $370,782,930 in the US alone, surpassing any motion picture starring Gibson. In US box offices, it became the eighth (at the time) highest-grossing film in history and the highest-grossing rated R film of all time. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards and won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Dramatic Motion Picture.

Apocalypto

Gibson received further critical acclaim for his directing of the 2006 action-adventure film Apocalypto. Gibson's fourth directorial effort is set in Mesoamerica during the early 16th century against the turbulent end times of a Maya civilization. The sparse dialogue is spoken in the Yucatec Maya language by a cast of Native American descent.

Future films

In March 2007, Gibson told a screening audience that he was preparing another script with Farhad Safinia about the writing of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Gibson's company has long owned the rights to The Professor and the Madman, which tells the story of the creation of the OED.

Gibson has dismissed the rumors that he is considering directing a film about Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa. Asked in September 2007 if he planned to return to acting and specifically to action roles, Gibson said: "I think I’m too old for that, but you never know. I just like telling stories. Entertainment is valid and I guess I’ll probably do it again before it's over. You know, do something that people won’t get mad with me for."

In 2005, the film Sam and George was announced as the seventh collaboration between director Richard Donner and Gibson. In February 2009, Donner said that this Paramount project was “dead,” but that he and Gibson were planning another film based on an original script by Brian Helgeland for production in fall 2009.

It was reported, in 2009, that Gibson would star in The Beaver, a film directed by former Maverick co-star, Jodie Foster. He has also expressed an intention to direct a movie set during the Viking Age, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. The as-yet untitled film, like The Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto, will feature dialogue in period languages. However, some sources have speculated that DiCaprio might opt out of the project.

In June 2010, Gibson was in Brownsville, Texas, filming scenes for another movie, tentatively titled How I Spent My Summer Vacation, about a career criminal put in a tough prison in Mexico.

In October 2010, it was reported that Gibson would have a small role in , but he was removed from the film after the cast and crew objected to his involvement.

Personal life

Family

Gibson met Robyn Denise Moore in the late 1970s soon after filming Mad Max when they were both tenants at a house in Adelaide. At the time, Robyn was a dental nurse and Mel was an unknown actor working for the South Australian Theatre Company. On June 7, 1980, they were married in a Catholic church in Forestville, New South Wales and she became known as Robyn Gibson. The couple have one daughter, six sons, and two grandchildren.

After 26 years of marriage, the couple separated in August 2006. Nearly three years after the separation began, Robyn filed for divorce on April 13, 2009, citing irreconcilable differences. In a joint statement, the Gibsons declared, "Throughout our marriage and separation we have always strived to maintain the privacy and integrity of our family and will continue to do so." The divorce filing followed the March 2009 release of photographs appearing to show him on a beach embracing another woman.

On April 28, 2009, Gibson made a red carpet appearance with Oksana Grigorieva, a Russian pianist and an artist on Gibson's record label. Grigorieva has a son (born 1997) with actor Timothy Dalton. Grigorieva gave birth to Gibson's daughter Lucia on October 30, 2009. In April 2010, it was made public that Gibson and Grigorieva had split. On June 21, 2010, Grigorieva filed a restraining order against Gibson to keep him away from her and their child. The restraining order was modified the next day regarding Gibson's contact with their child. Gibson obtained a restraining order against Grigorieva on June 25, 2010. In response to claims by Grigorieva that an incident of domestic violence occurred in January 2010, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department launched a domestic violence investigation in July 2010.

Investments

Gibson is a property investor, with multiple properties in Malibu, California, several locations in Costa Rica, a private island in Fiji and properties in Australia. In December 2004, Gibson sold his Australian farm in the Kiewa Valley for $6 million. Also in December 2004, Gibson purchased Mago Island in Fiji from Tokyu Corporation of Japan for $15 million. Descendants of the original native inhabitants of Mago, who were displaced in the 1860s, have protested the purchase. Gibson stated it was his intention to retain the pristine environment of the undeveloped island. In early 2005, he sold his Montana ranch to a neighbor. In April 2007 he purchased a ranch in Costa Rica for $26 million, and in July 2007 he sold his Tudor estate in Connecticut (which he purchased in 1994 for $9 million) for $40 million to an unnamed buyer. Also that month, he sold a Malibu property for $30 million that he had purchased for $24 million two years before. In 2008, he purchased the Malibu home of David Duchovny and Téa Leoni.

Religious and political views

Faith

Gibson was raised a Traditionalist Catholic. When he was asked whether is an intolerant position, he said that "through the merits of Jesus' sacrifice... even people who don't know Jesus are able to be saved, but through him." Acquaintance Father William Fulco has said that Gibson denies neither the Pope nor Vatican II. Gibson told Diane Sawyer that he believes non-Catholics and non-Christians can go to heaven.

Gibson's traditionalist Catholic beliefs have been the target of criticism, especially during the controversy over his film The Passion of the Christ. Gibson stated in the Diane Sawyer interview that he feels that his "human rights were violated" by the often vitriolic attacks on his person, his family, and his religious beliefs which were sparked by The Passion. and “politically very liberal” (by acquaintance William Fulco). Gibson's Icon Productions originally agreed to finance Moore's film, but later sold the rights to Miramax Films. Moore said that his agent Ari Emanuel claimed that "top Republicans" called Mel Gibson to tell him, "don’t expect to get more invitations to the White House". Icon's spokesman dismissed this story, saying "We never run from a controversy. You'd have to be out of your mind to think that of the company that just put out The Passion of the Christ."

In a July 1995 interview with Playboy magazine, Gibson said President Bill Clinton was a "low-level opportunist" and someone was "telling him what to do". He said that the Rhodes Scholarship was established for young men and women who want to strive for a "new world order" and this was a campaign for Marxism. Gibson later backed away from such conspiracy theories saying, "It was like: 'Hey, tell us a conspiracy'... so I laid out this thing, and suddenly, it was like I was talking the gospel truth, espousing all this political shit like I believed in it." In the same 1995 Playboy interview, Gibson argued that men and women are unequal as a reason against women priests.

In 2004, he publicly spoke out against taxpayer-funded embryonic stem-cell research that involves the cloning and destruction of human embryos. In March 2005, he condemned the outcome of the Terri Schiavo case, referring to Schiavo's death as "state-sanctioned murder".

Gibson questioned the Iraq War in March 2004. In 2006, Gibson said that the "fearmongering" depicted in his film Apocalypto "reminds me a little of President Bush and his guys." Gibson later defended his comments In 1999 when asked about the comments to El País, Gibson said, "I shouldn't have said it, but I was tickling a bit of vodka during that interview, and the quote came back to bite me on the ass." Gibson was barred from coming near Grigorieva or her daughter due to a domestic violence-related restraining order. while forensic experts have questioned the validity of some of the tapes.

Racism

On July 8, 2010, Gibson was alleged to have made a racial slur against Latinos using the term "wetbacks" as he suggested turning in one of his employees to immigration authorities. On July 9, 2010, some audio recordings alleged to be of Gibson were posted on the internet.

In December 2010, Winona Ryder claimed in an interview with GQ magazine that at a party in 1995, Gibson made "a really horrible gay joke", and then attacked her as "an oven-dodger" — a comment which at the time she did not understand.

Anti-semitism in The Passion of the Christ

Gibson's 2004 film The Passion of the Christ sparked a fierce debate over alleged anti-semitic imagery and overtones. Gibson denied that the film was anti-semitic, but critics remained divided. Some agreed that the film was consistent with the Gospels and traditional Catholic teachings, while others argued that it reflected a selective reading of the Gospels.

Alcohol abuse

Gibson has said that he started drinking at the age of thirteen. In a 2002 interview about his time at NIDA, Gibson said, "I had really good highs but some very low lows. I found out recently I'm manic depressive."

Gibson was banned from driving in Ontario for three months, in 1984, after rear-ending a car, in Toronto, while under the influence of alcohol. He retreated to his Australian farm for over a year to recover, but he continued to struggle with drinking. Despite this problem, Gibson gained a reputation in Hollywood for professionalism and punctuality, so that Lethal Weapon 2 director Richard Donner was shocked when Gibson confided that he was drinking five pints of beer for breakfast. He took more time off acting in 1991 and sought professional help. That year, Gibson's attorneys were unsuccessful at blocking the Sunday Mirror from publishing what Gibson shared at AA meetings. In 1992, Gibson provided financial support to Hollywood's Recovery Center, saying, "Alcoholism is something that runs in my family. It's something that's close to me. People do come back from it, and it's a miracle."

DUI incident with antisemitic remarks

On July 28, 2006, Gibson was arrested for DUI while speeding in his vehicle with an open container of alcohol. A leaked report revealed that during Gibson's July 28, 2006 arrest for driving under the influence he made anti-semitic remarks to arresting officer James Mee, who is Jewish, saying "Fucking Jews...the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." Gibson issued two apologies for the incident through his publicist, and in a later interview with Diane Sawyer, he affirmed the accuracy of the quotations. He admitted to making anti-semitic remarks during his arrest and apologized for his "despicable" behavior, saying the comments were "blurted out in a moment of insanity" and asked to meet with Jewish leaders to help him "discern the appropriate path for healing." After Gibson's arrest, his publicist said he had entered a recovery program to battle alcoholism. On August 17, 2006, Gibson pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor drunken-driving charge and was sentenced to three years on probation.

Prankster

Gibson has a reputation for practical jokes, puns, Stooge-inspired physical comedy, and doing outrageous things to shock people. As a director he sometimes breaks the tension on set by having his actors perform serious scenes wearing a red clown nose. Helena Bonham Carter, who appeared alongside him in Hamlet, said of him, "He has a very basic sense of humor. It's a bit lavatorial and not very sophisticated." During the filming of Hamlet, Gibson would relieve pressure on the set by mooning the cast and crew, directly following a serious scene. In addition to inserting several homages to the Three Stooges in his Lethal Weapon movies, Gibson produced a 2000 television movie about the comedy group which starred Michael Chiklis as Curly Howard. As a gag, Gibson inserted a single frame of himself smoking a cigarette into the 2005 teaser trailer of Apocalypto.

Philanthropy

Gibson and his former wife have contributed a substantial amount of money to various charities, one of which is Healing the Children. According to Cris Embleton, one of the founders, the Gibsons gave millions to provide lifesaving medical treatment to needy children worldwide. They also supported the restoration of Renaissance artwork and gave millions of dollars to NIDA.

Gibson donated $500,000 to the El Mirador Basin Project to protect the last tract of virgin rain forest in Central America and to fund archeological excavations in the "cradle of Mayan civilization." In July 2007, Gibson again visited Central America to make arrangements for donations to the indigenous population. Gibson met with Costa Rican President Óscar Arias to discuss how to "channel the funds." During the same month, Gibson pledged to give financial assistance to a Malaysian company named Green Rubber Global for a tire recycling factory located in Gallup, New Mexico. While on a business trip to Singapore in September 2007, Gibson donated to a local charity for children with chronic and terminal illnesses.

Filmography

Gibson's acting career began in 1976, with a role on the Australian television series The Sullivans and has continued for 34 years. In his career, Gibson has appeared in 43 films, including the Mad Max and Lethal Weapon film series. In addition to acting, Gibson has also directed four films, including Braveheart and The Passion of the Christ; produced 11 films; and written two films. Films either starring or directed by Mel Gibson have earned over $2.5 billion, in the United States alone. Gibson's filmography includes television series, feature films, television films, and animated films.

Awards and accomplishments

People's Choice Awards: Favorite Motion Picture Actor (1991, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2004) People's Choice Awards: Favorite Motion Picture Star in a Comedy (2001) ShoWest Award: Director of the Year (1996) American Cinematheque Gala Tribute: American Cinematheque Award (1995) Hasty Pudding Theatricals: Man of the Year (1997) Australian Film Institute: Global Achievement Award (2002) Honorary Doctorate Recipient and Undergraduate Commencement Speaker, Loyola Marymount University (2003) World's most powerful celebrity by US business magazine Forbes (2004) Hollywood Reporter Innovator of the Year (2004) Honorary fellowship in Performing Arts by Limkokwing University (2007) Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema Award at the Irish Film and Television Awards (2008)

References

Bibliography

External links

"Exclusive: Mel Gibson's Apocalyto Now" (sic), by Tim Padgett/Veracruz, Time magazine

Category:1956 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:21st-century writers Category:Actors from New York Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American immigrants to Australia Category:American people of Australian descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American philanthropists Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American screenwriters Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:American television producers Category:American Traditionalist Catholics Category:American voice actors Category:Antisemitism in the United States Category:Best Director Academy Award winners Category:Best Director Golden Globe winners Category:Former students of the National Institute of Dramatic Art Category:Officers of the Order of Australia Category:People convicted of alcohol-related driving offenses Category:People from Sydney Category:People from Westchester County, New York Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:People with bipolar disorder Category:Producers who won the Best Picture Academy Award Category:Racism in the United States

Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	Lester William Polsfuss
Born	June 09, 1915Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States
Died	White Plains, New York, United States
Genre	Jazz, Country, Blues
Occupation	Innovator, Inventor, Musician, Songwriter
Instrument	Guitar, Banjo, Harmonica
Years active	1928–2009
Url	lespaulonline.com
Notable instruments	Gibson Les Paul

Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 13, 2009)—known as Les Paul—was an American jazz and country guitarist, songwriter and inventor. He was a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which "made the sound of rock and roll possible". He is credited with many recording innovations. Although he was certainly not the first to use the technique, his early experiments with overdubbing (also known as sound on sound), delay effects such as tape delay, phasing effects and multitrack recording were among the first to attract widespread attention.

His innovative talents extended into his playing style, including licks, trills, chording sequences, fretting techniques and timing, which set him apart from his contemporaries and inspired many guitarists of the present day. He recorded with his wife Mary Ford in the 1950s, and they sold millions of records.

Among his many honours, Paul is one of a handful of artists with a permanent, stand-alone exhibit in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is prominently named by the music museum on its website as an "architect" and a "key inductee" along with Sam Phillips and Alan Freed.

Biography

Early life

Paul was born Lester William Polsfuss outside Milwaukee, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, to George and Evelyn (1888–1989) (née Stutz) Polsfus. His family was of German ancestry and Paul's mother was related to the founders of Milwaukee's Valentin Blatz Brewing Company and the makers of the Stutz Bearcat automobile; his parents divorced when he was a child. The Prussian family name was first simplified by his mother to Polfuss before he took his stage name of Les Paul. He also used the nicknames Red Hot Red and Rhubarb Red.

While living in Wisconsin, he first became interested in music at age eight, when he began playing the harmonica. After an attempt at learning the banjo, he began to play the guitar. It was during this time that he invented a neck-worn harmonica holder, which allowed him to play the harmonica hands-free while accompanying himself on the guitar. Paul's device is still manufactured using his basic design. By age thirteen, Paul was performing semi-professionally as a country-music singer, guitarist and harmonica player. At age seventeen, Paul played with Rube Tronson's Texas Cowboys, and soon after he dropped out of high school to join Wolverton's Radio Band in St. Louis, Missouri, on KMOX.

Early career

Paul migrated to Chicago in 1934, where he continued to perform on radio. His first two records were released in 1936. One was credited to "Rhubarb Red", Paul's hillbilly alter ego, and the other was as an accompanist for blues-artist Georgia White. It was during this time that he began playing jazz and adopted his stage name.

Paul's jazz-guitar style was strongly influenced by the music of Django Reinhardt, whom he greatly admired. Following World War II, Paul sought out and befriended Reinhardt. After Reinhardt's death in 1953, Paul furnished his headstone. One of Paul's prize possessions was a Selmer Maccaferri acoustic guitar given to him by Reinhardt's widow. (older half-brother of guitarist Chet Atkins) and bassist/percussionist Ernie "Darius" Newton. They left Chicago for New York in 1939, landing a featured spot with Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians radio show. Chet Atkins later wrote that his brother, home on a family visit, presented the younger Atkins with an expensive Gibson archtop guitar that had been given to Jim Atkins by Les Paul. Chet recalled that it was the first professional-quality instrument he ever owned.

Paul was dissatisfied with acoustic-electric guitars and began experimenting at his apartment in Queens, NY with a few designs of his own. Famously, he created several versions of "The Log", which was nothing more than a length of common 4x4 lumber with a bridge, guitar neck and pickup attached. For the sake of appearance, he attached the body of an Epiphone hollow-body guitar, sawn lengthwise with The Log in the middle. This solved his two main problems: feedback, as the acoustic body no longer resonated with the amplified sound, and sustain, as the energy of the strings was not dissipated in generating sound through the guitar body. These instruments were constantly being improved and modified over the years, and Paul continued to use them in his recordings long after the development of his eponymous Gibson model.

While experimenting in his apartment in 1940, Paul nearly succumbed to electrocution. During two years of recuperation, he relocated to Hollywood, supporting himself by producing radio music and forming a new trio. He was drafted into the US Army shortly after the beginning of World War II, where he served in the Armed Forces Network, backing such artists as Bing Crosby, the Andrews Sisters, and performing in his own right.

As a last-minute replacement for Oscar Moore, Paul played with Nat King Cole and other artists in the inaugural Jazz at the Philharmonic concert in Los Angeles, California, on July 2, 1944. The recording, still available as Jazz at the Philharmonic- the first concert- shows Paul at the top of his game, both in his solid four to the bar comping in the style of Freddie Green and for the originality of his solo lines. Paul's solo on 'Blues' is an astonishing tour de force and represents a memorable contest between himself and Nat 'King' Cole. Much later in his career, Paul declared that he had been the victor and that this had been conceded by Cole. His solo on Body and Soul is a fine demonstration both of his admiration for and emulation of the playing of Django Renhardt, as well as his development of some very original lines.

Also that year, Paul's trio appeared on Bing Crosby's radio show. Crosby went on to sponsor Paul's recording experiments. The two also recorded together several times, including a 1945 number-one hit, "It's Been a Long, Long Time." In addition to backing Crosby, The Andrews Sisters and other artists, Paul's trio also recorded a few albums of their own on the Decca label in the late 1940s.

In January 1948, Paul shattered his right arm and elbow in a near-fatal automobile accident on an icy Route 66 just west of Drumright, Oklahoma. Mary Ford was driving the Buick convertible, which rolled several times down a creekbed; they were on their way back from Wisconsin to Los Angeles after performing at the opening of a restaurant owned by Paul's father. Doctors at Oklahoma City's Wesley Presbyterian Hospital told him that they could not rebuild his elbow so that he would regain movement; his arm would remain permanently in whatever position they placed it in. Their other option was amputation. Paul instructed surgeons, brought in from Los Angeles, to set his arm at an angle—just under 90 degrees—that would allow him to cradle and pick the guitar. It took him nearly a year and a half to recover.

Guitar builder

, one of the world's most popular electric guitars, was named after the man who invented it.]] Paul's innovative guitar, "The Log", built after-hours in the Epiphone guitar factory in 1940, was one of the first solid-body electric guitars. Adolph Rickenbacker had marketed a solid-body guitar in the 1930s and Leo Fender also independently created his own in 1946. Although Paul approached the Gibson Guitar Corporation with his idea of a solid body electric guitar, they showed no interest until Fender began marketing its Esquire and Telecaster models.

The arrangement persisted until 1961, when declining sales prompted Gibson to change the design without Paul's knowledge, creating a much thinner, lighter and more aggressive-looking instrument with two cutaway "horns" instead of one. Paul said he first saw the "new" Gibson Les Paul in a music-store window, and disliked it. Although his contract required him to pose with the guitar, he said it was not "his" instrument and asked Gibson to remove his name from the headstock. Others claimed that Paul ended his endorsement contract with Gibson during his divorce to avoid having his wife get his endorsement money. Gibson renamed the guitar "Gibson SG", which stands for "Solid Guitar", and it also became one of the company's best sellers.

The original Gibson Les Paul-guitar design regained popularity when Eric Clapton began playing the instrument a few years later, although he also played an SG and an ES-335. Paul resumed his relationship with Gibson and endorsed the original Gibson Les Paul guitar from that point onwards. His personal Gibson Les Pauls were much modified by him—Paul always used his own self-wound pickups and customized methods of switching between pickups on his guitars. To this day, various models of Gibson Les Paul guitars are used all over the world by both novice and professional guitarists. A less-expensive version of the Gibson Les Paul guitar is also manufactured for Gibson's lower-priced Epiphone brand.

On January 30, 1962, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued Paul a patent, Patent No. 3,018,680, for an "Electrical Music Instrument."

Multitrack-recording innovations

In 1948, Capitol Records released a recording that had begun as an experiment in Paul's garage, entitled "Lover (When You're Near Me)", which featured Paul playing eight different parts on electric guitar, some of them recorded at half-speed, hence "double-fast" when played back at normal speed for the master. ("Brazil", similarly recorded, was the B-side.) This was the first time that Les Paul used multitracking in a recording (Paul had been shopping his multi-tracking technique, unsuccessfully, since the 30's. Much to his dismay, Sidney Bechet used it in 1941 to play half a dozen instruments on "Sheik of Araby"). These recordings were made not with magnetic tape, but with acetate discs. Paul would record a track onto a disk, then record himself playing another part with the first. He built the multitrack recording with overlaid tracks, rather than parallel ones as he did later. By the time he had a result he was satisfied with, he had discarded some five hundred recording disks.

Paul even built his own disc-cutter assembly, based on automobile parts. He favored the flywheel from a Cadillac for its weight and flatness. Even in these early days, he used the acetate-disk setup to record parts at different speeds and with delay, resulting in his signature sound with echoes and birdsong-like guitar riffs. When he later began using magnetic tape, the major change was that he could take his recording rig on tour with him, even making episodes for his fifteen-minute radio show in his hotel room. He later worked with Ross Snyder in the design of the first eight-track recording deck (built for him by Ampex for his home studio.)

Electronics engineer Jack Mullin had been assigned to a U.S. Army Signal Corps unit stationed in France during World War II. On a mission in Germany near the end of the war, he acquired and later shipped home a German Magnetophon (tape recorder) and fifty reels of I.G. Farben plastic recording tape. Back in the U.S., Mullin rebuilt and developed the machine with the intention of selling it to the film industry, and held a series of demonstrations which quickly became the talk of the American audio industry.

Within a short time, Crosby had hired Mullin to record and produce his radio shows and master his studio recordings on tape, and he invested US$50,000 in a Northern California electronics firm, Ampex. With Crosby's backing, Mullin and Ampex created the Ampex Model 200, the world's first commercially produced reel-to-reel audio tape recorder. Crosby gave Les Paul the second Model 200 to be produced. Using this machine, Paul placed an additional playback head, located before the conventional erase/record/playback heads. This allowed Paul to play along with a previously recorded track, both of which were mixed together on to a new track. This was a mono tape recorder with just one track across the entire width of quarter-inch tape; thus, the recording was "destructive" in the sense that the original recording was permanently replaced with the new, mixed recording.

Paul's re-invention of the Ampex 200 inspired Ampex to develop two-track and three-track recorders, which allowed him to record as many tracks on one tape without erasing previous takes. These machines were the backbone of professional recording, radio and television studios in the 1950s and early 1960s. In 1954, Paul continued to develop this technology by commissioning Ampex to build the first eight-track tape recorder, at his expense. His design became known as "Sel-Sync" (Selective Synchronization), in which specially modified electronics could either record or play back from the record head, which was not optimized for playback but was acceptable for the purposes of recording an "overdub" (OD) in sync with the original recording. This is the core technology behind multitrack recording.

Les Paul & Mary Ford

Paul met country-western singer Colleen Summers in 1945. They began working together in 1948, at which time she adopted the stage name Mary Ford. They were married in 1949. The couple's hits included "How High the Moon", "Bye Bye Blues", "The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise", and "Vaya con Dios". These songs featured Ford harmonizing with herself.

Like Crosby, Paul and Ford used the now-ubiquitous recording technique known as close miking, where the microphone is less than from the singer's mouth. This produces a more-intimate, less-reverberant sound than is heard when a singer is or more from the microphone. When implemented using a cardioid-patterned microphone, it emphasizes low-frequency sounds in the voice due to a cardioid microphone's proximity effect and can give a more relaxed feel because the performer isn't working so hard. The result is a singing style which diverged strongly from unamplified theater-style singing, as might be heard in musical comedies of the 1930s and 1940s.

Radio and television programs

Paul had hosted a fifteen-minute radio program, The Les Paul Show, on NBC radio in 1950, featuring his trio (himself, Ford and rhythm player Eddie Stapleton) and his electronics, recorded from their home and with gentle humor between Paul and Ford bridging musical selections, some of which had already been successful on records, some of which anticipated the couple's recordings, and many of which presented re-interpretations of such jazz and pop selections as "In the Mood", "Little Rock Getaway", "Brazil" and "Tiger Rag". Over ten of these shows survive among old-time radio collectors today.

The show also appeared on television a few years later with the same format, but excluding the trio and retitled The Les Paul & Mary Ford Show (also known as Les Paul & Mary Ford at Home) with "Vaya Con Dios" as a theme song. Sponsored by Warner Lambert's Listerine mouthwash, it was widely syndicated during 1954–1955, and was only five minutes (one or two songs) long on film, therefore used as a brief interlude or fill-in in programming schedules. Since Paul created the entire show himself, including audio and video, he maintained the original recordings and was in the process of restoring them to current quality standards up until his death.

During his radio shows, Paul introduced the fictional "Les Paulverizer" device, which multiplies anything fed into it, like a guitar sound or a voice. Paul has stated that the idea was to explain to the audience how his single guitar could be multiplied to become a group of guitars. The device even became the subject of comedy, with Ford multiplying herself and her vacuum cleaner with it so she could finish the housework faster.

Later career

In 1965, Paul went into semi-retirement, although he did return to the studio occasionally. He and Ford had divorced in December 1962, as she could no longer cope with the traveling lifestyle their act required of them. Paul's most-recognizable recordings from then through the mid-1970s were an album for London Records/Phase 4 Stereo, Les Paul Now (1968), on which he updated some of his earlier hits; and, backed by some of Nashville's celebrated studio musicians, a meld of jazz and country improvisation with fellow guitar virtuoso Chet Atkins, Chester and Lester (1976), for RCA Victor.

By the late 1980s, Paul had returned to active live performance. In 2006, at age 90, he won two Grammys at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards for his album Les Paul & Friends: American Made World Played. He also performed every Monday night, accompanied by a trio which included guitarist Lou Pallo, bassist Paul Nowinksi (and later, Nicki Parrott) and pianist John Colianni, originally at Fat Tuesdays, and later at the Iridium Jazz Club on Broadway in the Times Square area of New York City.

Composer Richard Stein (1909–1992) sued Paul for plagiarism, charging that Paul's "Johnny (Is the Boy for Me)" was taken from Stein's 1937 song "Sanie cu zurgălăi" (Romanian for "Sledge with Bells"). A 2000 cover version of "Johnny" by Belgian musical group Vaya Con Dios that credited Paul prompted another action by the Romanian Musical Performing and Mechanical Rights Society.

For many years Les Paul would sometimes surprise radio hosts Steve King and Johnnie Putman with a call to the "Life After Dark Show" on WGN (AM) in Chicago. These calls would take place in the wee hours of Tuesday Morning following his show at the Iridium Jazz Club. Steve and Johnnie continue to honor Les on Tuesday Mornings at 2:35 AM with their segment "A Little More Les" drawing from around 30 hours of recorded conversations with Les.

Death

On August 12, 2009, His family and friends were by his side Paul is survived by his four children and his companion Arlene Palmer. His attorney told the media Paul had been "in and out of the hospital" because of illness.

Upon learning of his death many artists and musicians paid tribute by publicly expressing their sorrow. After learning of Paul's death, former Guns N' Roses and current Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash called him "vibrant and full of positive energy." U2 guitarist The Edge said, "His legacy as a musician and inventor will live on and his influence on rock and roll will never be forgotten."

On August 21, 2009, he was buried near Milwaukee in Waukesha, Wisconsin at Prairie Home Cemetery which indicated that his plot would be in an area where visitors can easily view it. Like his funeral in New York on August 19, the burial was private, but earlier in the day a public memorial viewing of the closed casket was held in Milwaukee at Discovery World with 1,500 attendees who were offered free admission to the Les Paul House of Sound exhibit for the day.

Awards and honors

Paul was initiated into the Gamma Delta chapter of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity at the University of Miami in 1952. He has earned the Presidential award from the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity.

In 1979, Paul and Ford's 1951 recording of "How High the Moon" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Paul received a Grammy Trustees Award for his lifetime achievements in 1983.

In 1988, Paul was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Jeff Beck, who said, "I've copied more licks from Les Paul than I'd like to admit." In 1991, the Mix Foundation established an annual award in his name; the Les Paul Award which honors "individuals or institutions that have set the highest standards of excellence in the creative application of audio technology". In 2005, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his development of the solid-body electric guitar. In 2006, Paul was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. He was named an honorary member of the Audio Engineering Society. In 2007, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.

A one-hour biographical documentary film The Wizard of Waukesha was shown at the Los Angeles International Film Exposition (FILMEX) March 4–21, 1980, and later on PBS television. A biographical, feature-length documentary titled Chasing Sound: Les Paul at 90 made its world première on May 9, 2007, at the Downer Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Paul appeared at the event and spoke briefly to the enthusiastic crowd. The film is distributed by Koch Entertainment and was broadcast on PBS on July 11, 2007, as part of its American Masters series and was broadcast on October 17, 2008, on BBC Four as part of its Guitar Night. The première coincided with the final part of a three-part documentary by the BBC broadcast on BBC ONE The Story of the Guitar.

In June 2008, an exhibit showcasing his legacy and featuring items from his personal collection opened at Discovery World in Milwaukee. The exhibit was facilitated by a group of local musicians under the name Partnership for the Arts and Creative Excellence (PACE). Paul played a concert in Milwaukee to coincide with the opening of the exhibit.

Paul's hometown of Waukesha is planning a permanent exhibit to be called "The Les Paul experience."

In July 2005, a 90th-birthday tribute concert was held at Carnegie Hall in New York City. After performances by Steve Miller, Peter Frampton, Jose Feliciano and a number of other contemporary guitarists and vocalists, Paul was presented with a commemorative guitar from the Gibson Guitar Corporation.

On November 15, 2008, he received the American Music Masters award through the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a tribute concert at the State Theater in Cleveland, Ohio. Among the many guest performers were Duane Eddy, Eric Carmen, Lonnie Mack, Jennifer Batten, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Dennis Coffey, James Burton, Billy Gibbons, Lenny Kaye, Steve Lukather, Barbara Lynn, Katy Moffatt, Alannah Myles, Richie Sambora, The Ventures and Slash.

In February 2009, only months prior to his death, Les Paul sat down with Scott Vollweiler of Broken Records Magazine, in which would be one of Les Paul's final interviews. His candid answers were direct and emotional. Broken Records Magazine had planned to run that cover feature the following month but due to delays was held until the summer. 3 days before the release, Les Paul died. The issue would be his final cover feature of his storied career.

In August, 2009, Paul was named one of the ten best electric guitar players of all-time by Time magazine.

Personal life

Paul married Virginia Webb in 1938. They had two children, Gene (Lester Jr.), born in 1941 and named after actor-songwriter Gene Lockhart, and Russell (Rusty), born 1944, before divorcing in 1949. Later that year, Paul and Mary Ford (born Iris Colleen Summers) were married. They adopted a girl, Colleen, in 1958 and their son Robert (Bobby) was born the following year. They had also lost a child, who was born prematurely and died only four days old. Les Paul and Mary Ford divorced in 1963.

Paul was the godfather of rock guitarist Steve Miller of the Steve Miller Band, to whom Paul gave his first guitar lesson. Miller's father was best man at Paul's 1949 wedding to Mary Ford.

Paul resided for many years in Mahwah, New Jersey.

Discography

Hit Singles

Albums

Feedback (1944)—compilation

Les Paul Trio (1946)—compilation

Hawaiian Paradise (1949)

The Hit Makers! (1950)

The New Sound (1950)

Les Paul's New Sound, Volume 2 (1951)

Bye Bye Blues! (1952)

Gallopin' Guitars (1952)—compilation

Les and Mary (1955)

Time to Dream (1957)

Lover's Luau (1959)

The Hits of Les and Mary (1960)—compilation

Bouquet of Roses (1962)

Warm and Wonderful (1962)

Swingin' South (1963)

Fabulous Les Paul and Mary Ford (1965)

Les Paul Now! (1968)

Guitar Tapestry

Lover

The Guitar Artistry of Les Paul (1971)

The World is Still Waiting for the Sunrise (1974)—compilation

The Best of Les Paul with Mary Ford (1974)—compilation

Chester and Lester (1976)—with Chet Atkins

Guitar Monsters (1977)—with Chet Atkins

Les Paul and Mary Ford (1978)—compilation

Multi Trackin' (1979)

All-Time Greatest Hits (1983)—compilation

''The Very Best of Les Paul with Mary Ford'

Famille Nombreuse (1992)—compilation

The World Is Waiting (1992)—compilation

(1992)—compilation

All-Time Greatest Hits (1992)—compilation

Their All-Time Greatest Hits (1995)—compilation

Les Paul: The Legend and the Legacy (1996; a four-CD box set chronicling his years with Capitol Records)

16 Most Requested Songs (1996)—compilation

The Complete Decca Trios—Plus (1936–1947) (1997)—compilation

California Melodies (2003)

''Les Paul - The Legendary Fred Waring Broadcasts (2004)

Les Paul & Friends: American Made World Played (2005)

Les Paul And Friends: A Tribute To A Legend (2008)

Singles

"It's Been a Long, Long Time"—Bing Crosby & The Les Paul Trio (1945), #1 on Billboard Pop singles chart, 1 week, December 8

"Rumors Are Flying"—Andrews Sisters & Les Paul (1946)

"Guitar Boogie" (1947)

"Lover (When You're Near Me)" (1948)

"Brazil" (1948)

"What Is This Thing Called Love?" (1948)

"Nola" (1950)

"Goofus" (1950)

"Little Rock 69 Getaway" (1950/1951)

"Tennessee Waltz"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1950/1951)

"Mockingbird Hill"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1951)

"How High The Moon"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1951), #1, Billboard Pop singles chart, 9 weeks, April 21 – June 16; #1, Cashbox, 2 weeks

"I Wish I Had Never Seen Sunshine"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1951)

"The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1951)

"Just One More Chance"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1951)

"Jazz Me Blues" (1951)

"Josephine" (1951)

"Whispering" (1951)

"Jingle Bells" (1951)

"Tiger Rag"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1952)

"I'm Confessin' (That I Love You)"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1952)

"Carioca" (1952)

"In the Good Old Summertime"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1952)

"Smoke Rings"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1952)

"Meet Mister Callaghan" (1952)

"Take Me In Your Arms And Hold Me"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1952)

"Lady of Spain" (1952)

"My Baby's Coming Home"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1952)

"Bye Bye Blues"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1953)

"I'm Sitting On Top Of The World"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1953)

"Sleep" (Fred Waring's theme song) (1953)

"Vaya Con Dios"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1953), #1, Billboard Pop singles chart, 11 weeks, August 8 – October 3, November 7–14; #1, Cashbox, 5 weeks

"Johnny (Is The Boy For Me)"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1953)

"Don'cha Hear Them Bells"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1953), #13, Billboard; #32, Cashbox

"The Kangaroo" (1953), #23, Cashbox

"I Really Don't Want To Know"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1954)

"I'm A Fool To Care"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1954)

"Whither Thou Goest"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1954)

"Mandolino"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1954)

"Song in Blue"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1954), #17, Cashbox

"Hummingbird"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1955)

"Amukiriki (The Lord Willing)"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1955)

"Magic Melody"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1955)

"Texas Lady"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1956)

"Moritat" (Theme from "Three Penny Opera") (1956)

"Nuevo Laredo"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1956)

"Cinco Robles (Five Oaks)"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1957)

"Put A Ring On My Finger"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1958)

"Jura (I Swear I Love You)"—Les Paul & Mary Ford (1961)

"Love Sneakin' Up On You"-Les Paul, Joss Stone & Sting (2005)

See also

Ampex

Discovery World

Gibson Les Paul

Gibson SG

List of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees

Mary Ford

References

External links

lespaulfoundation.org, Les Paul Foundation website (includes Legacy, Foundation & Community websites)

Remembering Les Paul Photos and extended interviews with Les on WGN Chicago's Steve & Johnnie early morning show

Staff writer (August 13, 2009). "Les Paul", obituary at The Daily Telegraph (Accessed August 24, 2009)

Staff writer (November 15, 2007). "Les Paul Receives 2007 National Medal of Arts", article at Modern Guitars Magazine (Accessed September 4, 2009)

"Les Paul, 'The Wizard of Waukesha'", a biography (undated) at the Wisconsin Historical Society's official website

Les Paul - Discovery World 2005 video (requires Adobe Flash)at Discovery World's (museum) official website

The Les Paul Show, archive of Paul's NBC radio show at the Internet Archive's official website (includes MP3 files (free) of eleven of their radio shows including their audition show)

The Wizard of Waukesha (1980), at Variety's official website

The Wizard of Waukesha (1980) at Allmovie's official website

Les Paul - 'Miles of Music', two video interviews of and performances by Paul (5–6 minutes each; requires Adobe Flash) with Bob Miles on Miles of Music (milesofmusic.tv), a cable-access television program

CLASSIC TRACKS: Les Paul & Mary Ford 'How High The Moon'

Photo Library from performances at Iridium

Les Paul's final interview

Category:American jazz guitarists Category:American musical instrument makers Category:American radio personalities Category:Capitol Records artists Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Deaths from pneumonia Category:Decca Records artists Category:American musicians of German descent Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Guitar makers Category:Infectious disease deaths in New York Category:Inventors of musical instruments Category:Lead guitarists Category:Musicians from New Jersey Category:Musicians from Wisconsin Category:National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees Category:People from Mahwah, New Jersey Category:People from Waukesha, Wisconsin Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients Category:1915 births Category:2009 deaths

For the basketball player, see Daniel Gibson

Dan Gibson (Montreal, January 19, 1922 – March 18, 2006) was a Canadian photographer, cinematographer and sound recordist.

During the late 1940s, Dan Gibson took photographs and made nature films, including Audubon Wildlife Theatre. He produced many films and television series. It was through this film-making that Dan learned how to record wildlife sound. He pioneered techniques of recording, and also helped design equipment to optimize results, including the “Dan Gibson Parabolic Microphone”. Some of his early recordings of the 1950s and 1960s were released on LP records, and started his Solitudes series, which was introduced in 1981.

Dan is well regarded for his contributions to the Friends of Algonquin Park, and his ongoing support for the Algonquin Park Residents Association. Having a lease of land in Algonquin Provincial Park gave Dan and his family (Wife: Helen, Children: Mary-Jane or "Kirkie," Holly, Dan, and Gordon) a unique opportunity to connect with nature, and it certainly fueled his passion for the study, preservation and interaction with wildlife.

In 1994, Dan was awarded The Order of Canada for his environmental works. In 1997, Dan was awarded the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award at the Juno Awards ceremony in Hamilton, Ontario.

In 2004, he released his first DVD, Natural Beauty, which was originally shot in High Definition.

Major productions

Wings In The Wilderness - Feature Film (Narrated by Lorne Greene)

Audubon Wildlife Theatre - 78 episode TV series

Wildlife Cinema - multiple episode TV series

To The Wild Country - 10 episode TV series (Narrated by Lorne Greene)

Wild Canada - multiple episode TV series

Film awards

Whitethroat - Golden Gate Award - 1965 San Francisco Film Festival

Land of the Loon - Best TV Film of the Year and Certificate of Honour for outstanding contribution to the art of cinematography from the CSC, 1967 Canadian Film Awards

Adventure Trent Severn - Award of Merit, 1967 Canadian Film Awards

Winter Potpourri - Michigan Outdoor Writers Award of Merit 1969

Sounds of Nature - Etrog for Best Sound in a Non-theatrical Film, 1971 Canadian Film Awards

Fly Geese F-L-Y - Blue Ribbon Award for Best Children’s Film, 1972 American Film Festival

Golden Autumn - Teddy Award, 1973 U.S. National Outdoor-Travel Film Festival

Dan Gibson’s Nature Family - Best Wildlife Film of the Year, 1972 Canadian Film Awards

Return of the Giants - Best Wildlife Film of the Year, 1973 Canadian Film Awards

Land of the Big Ice - Best Wildlife Film of the Year, 1974 Canadian Film Awards

Wings In The Wilderness - Etrog for Best Sound in a Non-theatrical Film and Certificate of Honour for outstanding contribution to the art of cinematography from the CSC, 1975 Canadian Film Awards

Return of the Winged Giants - John Muir Award fo Best Ecological Film, 1977 National Educational Film Festival, USA and Best Wildlife Film, 1977 Saskatchewan International Film Festival

Album awards

Solitudes albums have sold over 20,000,000 worldwide

15 Solitudes albums have been Certified Gold (50,000 units sold) in Canada

11 Solitudes albums have been Certified Platinum (100,000 units sold) or multi-Platinum status.

Discography

Some popular albums are:

Solitudes 25: Silver Anniversary Collection Best of Solitudes: 20th Anniversary Listen to the Mockingbird Loon Echo Lake Natural Beauty DVD Rolling Thunder Wildlife Identification by Sound

Notes

External links

Solitudes website

Category:1922 births Category:2006 deaths Category:Canadian naturalists Category:Upper Canada College alumni

Name	Niko Bellic
Birthdate	April 29, 1978
Birthplace	An unstated part of Eastern Europe
Firstgame	Grand Theft Auto IV
Series	Grand Theft Auto
Voiceactor	Michael Hollick

Niko Bellic is the main protagonist and playable character in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV. He is a 30-year-old former soldier who moved to Liberty City to escape his troubled past and pursue the "American Dream". Niko was persuaded to move by his cousin Roman, who claimed to be living a life of luxury, with beautiful women, sports cars and lots of money. It soon becomes apparent, however, that he runs a failing taxi business, has mounting debts and various criminals from Liberty City's underworld have put a price on his head. Aware of Niko's violent past, Roman had lied to convince his cousin to move to the city, knowing that Niko would fight against his pursuers, and eventually be the one to turn his lies into a reality. (It is also stated that Roman is motivated partially by desire to see his cousin again.) Niko, however, also has other, underlying motivations for moving to Liberty City, which are revealed as the story unfolds.

Biography

Niko's nationality is never specified in the game, although he speaks and reads Serbian and it is said he is from the Balkans. Niko's nationality has been a subject of some debate: prior to the game being launched, it was believed he was Russian and articles have interpreted the character as being from Croatia or Serbia. In-game, several different nationalities are mentioned by other characters when referring to Niko, including Serbian and Polish. Executive producer Dan Houser spoke on the matter saying that Niko is "from that gray part of broken-down Eastern Europe", suggesting that Niko's nationality was left intentionally vague.

Niko's father was a violent alcoholic, who abused him, his mother and elder brother. Niko's mother, Milica, who possessed a maternal and caring nature, regretted that her sons were forced to endure such hardships as children, since Niko and his brother grew up during the difficult times of the Yugoslav Wars. His elder brother was killed in action in the war, a war in which Niko participated as an enraged youth, motivated by ill-founded nationalism. Niko witnessed numerous atrocities during the war, including the murder and mutilation of over 50 children, which led to his cynical perspective on life, with certain degrees of regret, depression, emotional and social detachment. A defining moment in the war for Niko was when his army unit of fifteen young men from his village were ambushed by the enemy. Niko barely escaped the ambush, and weeks later concluded that the unit had been betrayed by one of their own soldiers, so he returned to the pit where his friends were buried and shoveled up, counted, and identified each of the corpses. From this he learned there were two other survivors: Florian Cravic and Darko Brevic. Niko vowed to search for the perpetrator, motivated not solely by revenge, but a need for closure and to move on with his own life. Despite this, Niko possesses certain skills which were acquired during his early army training, such as close quarter combat, shooting and swimming.

By the end of the war, Niko experienced difficulty finding work and leading a normal life. His cousin Roman decided to settle in the United States, in order to lead a new life in Liberty City before the war. Niko, knowing only violence, turned to the Balkanic criminal underworld for the following ten years, while at the same time trying to search for the two other men who survived the ambush. At some point during this time, he was briefly imprisoned. After he was released, Niko joined a smuggling and trafficking ring run by Russian criminal Rodislav "Ray" Bulgarin. Niko would eventually discover that Florian Cravic, one of the two survivors of the ambush, was also residing in Liberty City.

During one smuggling run into Italy, the boat that Niko was working on sank in the Adriatic Sea a mile from the nearest shoreline. Niko managed to abandon the ship and swim to safety, however everything else placed on the ship was lost beyond salvaging. Bulgarin accused Niko of escaping with the money on board. Although Niko denied the accusations, Bulgarin refused to believe him and he was too powerful to argue with, so Niko joined the merchant navy in order to flee from Bulgarin. He spent the following seven months at sea in the Atlantic Ocean, befriending the crew of the Platypus and contemplating Roman's request for him to come to Liberty City. Roman had been asking Niko to come to Liberty City to share his lavish life of a mansion, a sports car, money and beautiful women, which Niko desired and perceived as a "break". Niko was also motivated to come to Liberty City in order to locate Florian Cravic and evade Bulgarin.

Life in Liberty City

Upon arriving in Liberty City, Niko realizes that Roman's stories of success were entirely exaggerated; he actually lives in a small, decrepit apartment, runs a small taxi depot Niko's hardened past proves useful for his cousin, and Niko is forced to protect Roman and himself from the loan sharks that keep harassing him. Roman soon introduces Niko to friends and enemies alike, all of whom offer work which Niko accepts, giving him access to money and contacts that can help him locate "that special someone". Starting from Roman, Niko's relationships keep expanding over the course of the game.

Initially, Niko worked with his cousin in Broker, helping him to remove the threat of loan sharks and expanding his taxi business. After killing Vladimir Glebov, a Russian loan shark with influential friends, Niko later found work with a powerful Russian Mafia don, Mikhail Faustin, and his erstwhile assistant, Dimitri Rascalov. Faustin later ordered Niko to murder the son of rival don Kenny Petrovic on a whim, and in order to spare himself and his cousin from the wrath of Petrovic, Niko was coerced into killing Faustin by Rascalov. Rascalov would then reveal himself to be an associate of Bulgarin, who was now based in Liberty City, and Niko and Roman were forced to flee Broker after their apartment and taxi depot were firebombed.

Niko moved to Bohan, where he made contact with various drug dealers, including Elizabeta Torres and Playboy X. He forged further contacts with Irish crime family the McRearys, dejected former criminal Dwayne Forge and Ray Boccino, a caporegime in the Pegorino Family. Through the latter, Niko was able to gain further entry into the world of the Liberty City Commission, working for would-be Don Jimmy Pegorino. Thanks to this vast network of contacts, Niko was able to move into a penthouse apartment in the center of Algonquin and enjoyed a high standard of living; he was still frustrated by his failure to find the perpetrator behind the attack on his former unit.

Eventually, Niko tracks down Florian Cravic, only to discover he has become a flamboyant homosexual secretly dating the Deputy Mayor of Liberty City, Bryce Dawkins, also intent on forgetting the past; Niko then concludes that Darko Brevic was the man responsible for the atrocity. Thanks to his work for a shady government agency, United Liberty Paper, Niko was later rewarded by having Brevic flown specifically to Liberty City, where he, along with Roman, would finally be able to confront him. Niko is given a choice to either kill Darko or let him live. If Niko kills Darko, then he later admits that he didn't feel any better by his move. If Niko lets Darko live, then he is at first disappointed but decides that he did the right thing.

Niko would later be presented with the chance to complete a heroin deal with bitter enemy Dimitri Rascalov, on behalf of Pegorino, and here Niko either attempts to complete the deal, only to be betrayed, upon which point he must shoot his way to the money, or instead Niko goes straight to the boat where Rascalov is hiding and kills him there. If the first path is chosen, Roman is murdered by a hitman sent by Rascalov; if the second path is chosen, Kate McReary, Niko's girlfriend, is murdered by an enraged Pegorino. Following these various endings, Niko either tracks down and kills Rascalov, or chases and murders Pegorino, aided by the contacts he has built up throughout his time in the city. With all of his loose ends tied up, Niko muses on the American Dream and concludes that it is a hollow promise, which no one can truly achieve.

During the game it is shown that Niko's view of American culture is one of confusion and mild disgust. The rampant materialism annoys him and he has trouble relating to Roman's fascination with the country. Also, after working for so many criminals, the cynicism he developed in the Balkans is merely reinforced in Liberty City.

Personality

Niko is portrayed as a very down-to-business person, and is very protective when it comes to his family and those closest to him, especially Roman, despite the fact that Roman often gets him into further trouble. During the game, many of his female acquaintances often point out that Niko has sophisticated manners and appears to be a very decent person. Niko also maintains a no-nonsense attitude, and at many times throughout the game attempts to resolve conflicts between two parties without the use of violence. However, he is shown to get angry easily when he is met with irrationally, is falsely blamed or cheated - a trait that might have been aggravated by his past experiences during the war, and he is often quite sarcastic. However, he is also portrayed as a caring figure; the player can have Niko help various random people on the streets who are having problems, and Niko also consoles the family of a friend after one of their family members dies. He appears to be a more mature and sensible person than many of his acquaintances. Also, Niko possesses an ability to manipulate people into giving him his own way — for instance, when Francis McReary is trying to get him to assassinate someone threatening to expose him, Niko simply refuses unless he is paid for his services - when McReary tells him that the target sells drugs to kids, he responds "the world is full of bad people, Mr. McReary."

The most significant aspect of Niko's personality is his cynicism, which he gained in the war. He criticizes his acquaintances for expecting him to have fun amidst his troubled situation. Niko's biggest weakness is his inability to let go of the past - which causes him much aggression when the issue of finding his betrayers comes up; Niko is criticized by many of his friends and most notably Roman, for this weakness. Despite that, Niko holds on firm to his belief that one of the main reasons he is in America is to resolve and put closure to his past. Niko also has a prominent distaste for drugs— he regularly refuses Little Jacob's offers of marijuana, frequently criticises Brucie's steroid addiction, expresses disgust for the heroin he deals with, and never drinks alcohol except in the cutscene after his confrontation with Darko and when controlled by the player. Along with this, Niko also has a somewhat positive view of law enforcement. He willingly goes to the funeral of slain police commissioner Francis McReary and he also has said that cops are just people trying to survive. He also criticizes Roman for prank calling the police because he thinks that Roman may someday need the help of the police. He still has these views even though many of the people around him do not and in many missions Niko can only succeed by killing or shooting at law enforcement.

Role in games

Grand Theft Auto IV

Niko is the main protagonist and playable character in Grand Theft Auto IV, with the player following his experiences upon arriving, and settling in Liberty City. After settling in the city, he is faced with decisions that the player can determine.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned

Niko makes several, non-playable appearances in the Grand Theft Auto IV expansion pack, The Lost and Damned. Niko meets the game’s protagonist, Johnny Klebitz, twice during the game much like in his main story along with a cameo in the game’s intro, when a man he accidentally bumps into swears at him, prompting him to swear back at the man in his native Serbian language. Niko first helps Johnny sell some Heroin but the deal is a sting. The second time they meet is to make a diamond deal with the Jewish Mob, but Luis Lopez attacks the deal and Johnny steals the money. Niko was also responsible for many of the events that provide the storyline of The Lost and Damned. Among these events were the killing of Lost member Jason Michaels, on the orders of Mikhail Faustin, which lead to The Lost’s leader, Billy Grey, to falsely claim that it was an attack by The Angels of Death, provoking the gang war between them. Also, Johnny is responsible for one of Niko's problems in GTA IV; he kidnapped Roman for the Russians. Later, when Niko works for Ray Boccino, he assassinates the treasurer of The Lost, Jim Fitzgerald, after Johnny steals Ray’s money during a diamond trade. This event acts as part of a chain of events that leads to the break up of The Lost. Niko's voice is later heard after Johnny bugs Bryce Dawkins Infernus and listens to it: since the car has been given to Niko as a gift, Niko can be heard yelling at the police. Later he is seen at various stages in the credits.

Niko is referred to as "a Serb" in a dialogue between The Lost members.

Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony

Niko is shown in the introduction first committing the robbery then fleeing the scene of the bank robbery with Packie and Derrick. He is seen later in the Libertonian and one last time during the final diamond trade for Gracie Ancelotti.

Characterization

Niko Bellic is voiced by Michael Hollick. Hollick was paid about $100,000 for his voice acting and motion-capture work over the course of about 15 months from 2006 to 2007. Hollick was paid about $1,050 a day for his work on the game, about 50% more than the standard Screen Actors Guild-negotiated rate for actors, although he claimed it was still a fraction of the income he would get from a movie or TV-show performance, and that he was upset about not getting residuals from game sales, putting the blame on the union for not securing such agreements.

Reception

Niko's character has been well received by critics. IGN comments "...Niko's struggles with his ruthless nature never inhibit the gameplay, but instead enhance the emotional gravity of a brilliant storyline. The more absurd the action becomes, the greater we feel the very real pathos of Niko Bellic..." Eurogamer says "[Niko] himself is quickly sympathetic - his moral latitude is rooted in horrible war stories, but he's warm-hearted - and imposing.." GameDaily included him in a top 25 list of video game anti-heroes, stating that he has a heart-of-gold and beneath his rough exterior. In another article, they list the "scary foreigner" as one of their top 25 video game archetypes, using Niko as an example of this due to his "European thug" appearance. They also used him as an example for the "walking stereotype" archetype.

See also

Grand Theft Auto IV

Grand Theft Auto (series)

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto IV

Pretty Village, Pretty Flame

References

External links

Niko Bellić on Grand Theft Wiki

Category:2008 introductions Category:Fictional assassins Category:Fictional drug dealers Category:Fictional gangsters Category:Fictional immigrants to the United States Category:Fictional mass murderers Category:Fictional military personnel Category:Fictional mobsters Category:Fictional twins Category:Fictional Yugoslav War veterans Category:Fictional criminals Category:Fictional mercenaries Category:Fictional soldiers Category:Grand Theft Auto IV Category:Grand Theft Auto characters Category:Male video game characters

Name	Jon Lajoie
Birth date
Birth place	Montreal, Quebec
Other names	MC Vagina, Matthew Desp,Simon "Wet Dick" Bergeron, Gofuck Yourself
Occupation	Comedian, musician, actor
Nationality	Canadian
Website	http://www.jonlajoie.com/

Jonathan "Jon" Lajoie (born August 21, 1980) is a Canadian comedian, actor, rapper, singer, musician and Internet celebrity from Montreal, Quebec.

Background

Lajoie was born in St Hubert, Qc and raised in Montreal, Quebec. His father is French-Canadian and his mother is English-Canadian. He graduated from Dawson College's theatre program in 2001. Since 1998, he has acted as an English-Canadian musician named Thomas Edison in Radio-Canada's French-Canadian sitcom L'auberge du chien noir.

Internet videos

Jon Lajoie first became popular through the music video "Everyday Normal Guy" , in which he, in ironic contrast to typical rap songs, sings about his bland, run-of-the-mill daily activities and his peaceful nature. Many of Lajoie's other videos, including The Bastard Breaks Up, "2 Girls 1 Cup Song", "Show Me Your Genitals", "Sunday Afternoon", and "High as Fuck", are also popular. Two of his music videos have developed into three-part series: "Everyday Normal Guy" was followed by "Everyday Normal Guy 2" and "Everyday Normal Crew", with the "WTF Collective" video supposedly being presented by "Normal Guy Productions"; and "Show Me Your Genitals" was followed by "Show Me Your Genitals 2: E=MC Vagina" and "I Kill People" (under the alias MC Vagina). His videos have received millions of views on several websites.

Lajoie has released other songs: "Cold-Blooded Christmas," which tells a story in which he mistakenly shoots and kills Santa Claus thinking he is an intruder, then cuts the body into pieces and burns them in his fireplace (only to find out that the Santa was his Uncle Bob); "Alone in the Universe", a style parody of Coldplay with lyrics that deal with masturbation; "Michael Jackson is Dead", a criticism of those who reversed their opinion of Jackson after his death; "Radio Friendly Song", poking fun at 'canned' 4 minute soft rock that is popular on the radio; and the aforementioned "WTF Collective", a parody of rap groups such as Wu-Tang Clan, G-Unit, and D12. In the video, Lajoie acts as 12 different MCs: MC Confusing, MC Insecure, MC Amnesia, MC Public Urination, MC Fatigue, MC Doesn't Know What Irony Is, MC Gets Sidetracked Easily, MC Lethal Weapons 1, 2, & 3, MC Lethal Weapon 4, MC Shit My Pants Frequently, MC Final Verse, and the Chorus Guy. In "WTF Collective 2", Jon returns as MC Confusing, MC Fatigue, MC Final Verse and as a suicidal Chorus Guy, along with 8 new MC's, one of whom acts as 2 MC's (MC Knows Too Many Facts About Bees and MC In The Closet Homosexual), bringing the total up to 9 new MC's. Also new to the WTF Collective 2 are: MC Historical Inaccuracy, MC Don't Know How To Pluralize Word(s), MC Canadian Stereotype, MC Homophobic Fucking Asshole, MC Extremely Inappropriate Rhymes, and MC Extremely Politically Correct. After the Chorus Guy commits suicide at the end of the song, he is replaced by MC Vagina. Lajoie also recently released a video for "Pop Song", directed by Julien Demers-Arsenault, and choreography by Mabel Palomino. The song plays with the 90's boy bands, and today's teens artists, such as Justin Bieber and the Jonas Brothers.

Lajoie's songs are often parodies of everyday things, such as stay-at-home dads, pathetic attempts at having sexual intercourse with girls, and doing chores on Sunday afternoons. His commercial parodies advertise undesirable products like "pedophile beards" and "rapist glasses" (other products advertised included "serial killer vans," "public masturbator trenchcoats," a "there's gotta be something wrong with that guy hat", and pencil crayons) or mundane human behaviour such as "breathing". He also created commercials for "being gay", "not giving a fuck", "Hands" and "mainstream media". His other projects include song parodies, such as a parody of The Beatles' "Blackbird", including vulgar lyrics that spoof McCartney's state of mind at the time.

An occasional source of humor in Lajoie's videos is the appearance of his friend Steve, an Arabic, overweight man with a thick beard who doesn't speak often, except to say the line, "You want some [more] of this, bitch?" In "Everyday Normal Crew", Steve refuses to say it until Lajoie pays him. In the same video, Lajoie claims that Steve will "probably have a heart attack sometime soon".

Lajoie's videos have also portrayed him as a fan of the Montreal Canadiens, especially in the video Canadiens vs. Flyers in which he saves a woman being harassed by a man wearing a Philadelphia Flyers T-shirt. At the end of the video, Lajoie refers to Carey Price as "Jesus" Price.

Beyond the Internet

The League

Lajoie currently has a role in the FX Network TV show called The League as Taco McArthur a perpetually stoned and unemployed musician. Created by the husband-and-wife duo of Jeff Schaffer (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Jackie Marcus Schaffer, the show revolves around five guys who love fantasy football and they will do anything to win the league while dealing with other problems. Other ensemble cast members include Mark Duplass, Steve Rannazzisi, Nick Kroll, and Paul Scheer.

Comedy Central Presents

Jon Lajoie filmed an episode of Comedy Central Presents on November 7, 2009. It premiered on March 5, 2010. The same special aired uncensored as part of Comedy Central's Secret Stash on June 6 at 1:30 AM (EST). The special featured the world premiere of the video for his song "Pop Song".

Discography

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;" |- !Year !Cover !Name !Label |- |2009 | |You Want Some of This? |Normal Guy Productions |- |2010 | |I Kill People |Normal Guy Productions |}

References

External links

Official website

Lajoie on Funny or Die

The Lance – Jon Lajoie's transition from online to stage, Dec. 3, 2008

Jon Lajoie Conquers web with Coarse Songs – AOL Music

Category:1980 births Category:Living people Category:Canadian comedians Category:Canadian comedy musicians Category:Canadian Internet personalities Category:Canadian rappers Category:Canadian stand-up comedians Category:Anglophone Quebec people Category:Quebecers of French descent Category:People from Longueuil Category:Musicians from Montreal Category:Dawson College alumni

Name	Don Gibson
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Donald Eugene Gibson
Born	April 03, 1928
Died	November 17, 2003
Origin	Shelby, North Carolina
Instrument	Guitar
Genre	Country
Occupation	Singer-songwriter
Years active	1948–2003
Label	RCA, Hickory
Associated acts	Dottie West, Sue Thompson

Donald Eugene Gibson (April 3, 1928–November 17, 2003) was an American songwriter and country musician. A Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, Gibson penned such country standards as "Sweet Dreams" and "I Can't Stop Loving You", and enjoyed a string of country hits from 1957 into the early 1970s.

Biography

Don Gibson was born in Shelby, North Carolina, into a poor working-class family, and he dropped out of school in the second grade.

His first band was called Sons of the Soil, with whom he made his first recording in 1948.

In 1957, he journeyed to Nashville to record "Oh Lonesome Me" and "I Can't Stop Loving You" for RCA. The afternoon session resulted in a double-sided hit on both the country and pop charts.

"Oh Lonesome Me" set the pattern for a long series of other RCA hits. "Blue Blue Day", recorded prior to "Oh, Lonesome Me" was a number 1 hit in 1958. Later singles included "Look Who's Blue" (1958), "Don't Tell Me Your Troubles" (1959), "Sea of Heartbreak" (1961); "Lonesome No. 1", "I Can Mend Your Broken Heart" (1962), and "Woman (Sensuous Woman)", a number one country hit in 1972.

Gibson recorded a series of successful duets with Dottie West in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the most successful of which were the Number two country hit "Rings of Gold" (1969) and the top 10 hit "There's a Story Goin' Round" (1970). West and Gibson released an album together in 1969, titled Dottie and Don. He also recorded several duets with Sue Thompson among these being the Top 40 hits, "I Think They Call It Love" (1972), "Good Old Fashioned Country Love" (1974) and "Oh, How Love Changes" (1975).

A talented songwriter, Gibson was nicknamed The Sad Poet because he frequently wrote songs that told of loneliness and lost love. His song "I Can't Stop Loving You", has been recorded by over 700 artists, most notably by Ray Charles in 1962. He also wrote and recorded "Sweet Dreams", a song that would become a major 1963 crossover hit for Patsy Cline. Roy Orbison was a great fan of Gibson's songwriting, and in 1967, he recorded an album of his songs simply titled Roy Orbison Sings Don Gibson. Gibson's wide appeal was also shown in Neil Young's recorded version of "Oh Lonesome Me" on his 1970 album After the Gold Rush, which is one of the few songs Young has recorded that he did not write.

Gibson was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1973, and in 2001, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Following his death from natural causes on November 17, 2003, he was buried in the Sunset Cemetery in his hometown of Shelby, North Carolina.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Singles from collaboration albums

References

Wolfe, Stacey (1998). "Don Gibson". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 199.

External links

Gibson discography at Emory Law

Gibson in the Country Music Hall of Fame

Gibson at the Nashville Songwriters Foundation

Category:1928 births Category:2003 deaths Category:American country singers Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:RCA Victor artists Category:People from Shelby, North Carolina

Name	Deborah Gibson
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Deborah Ann Gibson
Born	August 31, 1970Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Genre	Dance-popHouse-popTeen popFreestyle
Occupation	Singer-songwriterRecord producerActressBroadway performerTeen idol
Voice type	Soprano
Years active	1982–present
Label	Atlantic EMISMEJ
Associated acts	Jordan KnightEic Martin
Url	Official Site

Deborah Ann "Debbie" Gibson (born August 31, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter. She became famous at the age of 16. The following year, she was pronounced the youngest artist to write, produce, and perform a #1 single on the Billboard hot 100, with her song "Foolish Beat" and she remains the youngest female to write, record, and perform a #1 single to date.

She appeared on the covers of teen magazines (in the USA), such as Tiger Beat. She has gone on to starring roles on Broadway and touring musicals, as well as independent film and television work. She continues to record, and reached the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart as high as #24 during 2006 in a duet with Jordan Knight titled "Say Goodbye."

Early life

Gibson was born in Brooklyn, New York, the third daughter of four for Diane and Joseph Gibson. She grew up in the Long Island suburb of Merrick. At the age of five, she began performing in community theater with her sisters Karen, Michele and Denise and cousin T.J Normandin and wrote her first song, "Make Sure You Know Your Classroom." At age eight, she sang in the children's chorus at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. She began playing the ukulele and taking piano lessons soon after, including with American pianist Morton Estrin. Gibson said that her household was probably the only one where you would hear kids fighting over piano playing time.

Music career

1987–90

In 1987, while performing around the United States at nightclub venues, Gibson was recording what would become her debut album, "Out Of The Blue." The album was recorded in four weeks. Four singles from Out Of The Blue reached the Top 5 of the Billboard Top 100: "Only in My Dreams", "Shake Your Love", "Out Of The Blue", and the # 1 hit "Foolish Beat", followed by "Staying Together", which performed more modestly, reaching # 22. "Foolish Beat" set a record for Gibson, making her (at 17) the youngest artist ever to write, produce, and perform a Billboard # 1 single, as entered in the 1988 Guinness Book of World Records, and she remains the youngest female artist to write, record, and perform a #1 single to date. By the time Out Of The Blue was established as a hit album, and she had success in the UK, as well as in Japan and southeast Asia, with her Out Of The Blue tour. By the end of 1988, Out of the Blue had gone triple platinum. The Out Of The Blue music videos on VHS was certified platinum by the RIAA, as well as Live In Concert "The Out of The Blue tour VHS video was certified 2x platinum by the RIAA.

In October 1988, Gibson sang the national anthem for Game One of the Major League Baseball World Series. Throughout 1988 and early 1989, Gibson was racking up studio time recording her second album release. Electric Youth was released in March 1989, and spent five weeks at #1 on Billboard's Top 200 Album Chart. The first single released, "Lost in Your Eyes", was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, garnering Debbie with another achievement Electric Youth album and single "Lost In Your Eyes" simultaneously at #1. She shared ASCAP Songwriter of the Year Award 1989 with Bruce Springsteen. Subsequent singles from this album missed the Top 10: Electric Youth (#11), No More Rhyme (#17) and We Could Be Together (#71). The Electric Youth album was certified 2x platinum by the RIAA. Another successful "The Electric Youth" world tour, and Live Around the World tour on vhs certified 2x platinum by the RIAA followed.

In tandem with the album, she created a perfume called Electric Youth that was distributed by Revlon, and other makeup essentials for young girls that were distributed nationwide through Natural Wonder Cosmetics, another of her sponsors at the time.

For all her success of the era, Gibson also attracted a lot of detractors. She was the subject of the parody song Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child, which peaked at #15 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1989, and was a frequent target of stand-up comedian Bill Hicks, most notably in his 1989 Sane Man performance.

1990–95

Gibson recorded two more albums for Atlantic Records: Anything Is Possible (1990), and Body Mind Soul (1993). "Anything Is Possible", co-written with Motown mainstay Lamont Dozier, peaked at #26 on Billboard's Hot 100 in January 1991. Subsequent singles from Anything Is Possible failed to chart on The Billboard Hot 100, although "One Step Ahead" scored on the Billboard Hot Maxi Singles and Hot Dance chart, peaking at #21 and #18 respectively. Body Mind Soul, which was released in February of 1993, spawned another minor hit in "Losin' Myself", which was accompanied by a somewhat contraversial video clip featuring Gibson as a stripper. And while second single "Shock Your Mama" would fare well in Europe and the UK, "Losin' Myself" remains Gibson's last American Billboard Hot 100 chart appearance to date. Atlantic released a greatest hits package in 1995.

During this time, Gibson was part of a supergroup that recorded the charity single Voices that Care which peaked at # 11 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

In 1995, she signed with EMI's SBK Records division and recorded what would be her only album for the label, Think With Your Heart. This album is an Adult Contemporary heavy album consisting of piano ballads and keyboard ballads. The album's producer, Niko Bolas (usually Neil Young's co-producer), was producing the reunion album for veteran punk band Circle Jerks, and invited Gibson to a recording session for that band's album. She sang background vocals on the song "I Wanna Destroy You," as well as appearing at and participating in the Circle Jerks' performance at punk venue CBGB, wearing one of the band's t-shirts and sharing a microphone with frontman Keith Morris.

Independent releases

After parting company with EMI, Gibson formed her own record label, Espiritu, to release her original material. Her sixth album, Deborah, marked her full return to dance-pop. Deborah includes the lead single "Only Words." "Only Words" (Dance Edit) became a Top 40 Hot Dance Music/Club Play hit. The album's other single is the ballad, "Naturally." Deborah was well received and remains respected, though it only sold 20,000 in the US.

In 2001, Gibson released her seventh album on her then-new record label, Golden Egg, titled M.Y.O.B. (AKA Mind Your Own Business). It features the three singles, the sensual pop song "What You Want," the Latin-infused Dance-pop song "Your Secret," and the bass heavy "M.Y.O.B." Highlights from the album include the sultry Latin flavored Smooth Jazz song "In Blue," her vintage style ballad "Wishing You Were Here," "Jaded," and a remix of "M.Y.O.B." Her single M.Y.O.B. had the background vocals of her two nieces.

In 2005, Gibson co-wrote and recorded a song titled "Someone You Love" with the O'Neill Brothers. With the O'Neill Brothers, Gibson released an updated, acoustic version of her former #1 hit "Lost in Your Eyes." There was a PBS special late 2005, and it was Emmy nominated in February 2006.

Theater career

Gibson debuted on Broadway in 1992, playing Eponine in Les Misérables. She then went to London, starring as Sandy (tried out for by 800 other girls before producers chose Gibson) in the West End production of Grease to sold out shows, breaking box office sales records. The single version of "You're the One That I Want", a duet with Craig McLachlan, taken from the Original Cast Recording, reached #13 on the UK charts in 1993.

On returning to the States, she appeared in the Broadway touring production, this time playing Rizzo. She played Fanny Brice in a revamped Funny Girl tour. She has had many successful theater credits; she was among the many actresses who took the starring role of Belle in the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast. She replaced Kerry Butler in July 1997 and was in the show until 1998 when she was then succeeded by Kim Huber. She also starred the critically lauded production of (in a production staged at The Paper Mill Playhouse). She starred as Louise opposite Broadway legend Betty Buckley. She participated in the national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, where she played the part of The Narrator, and starred as Cinderella in the national tour of Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical with Eartha Kitt as the Fairy Godmother. In October 2002, she starred as Velma Kelly in the Boston production of Chicago. In 2003, she played Sally Bowles in the Broadway revival of Cabaret. From March to April 2004, she played the role of 'Marta' in the UCLA Reprise! production of Company.

Gibson starred as Anna Leonowens in Cabrillo Music Theatre's production of the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II musical The King and I which began October 17, 2008 in the Kavli Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza and ran through October 26.

Reality TV

In mid-2003, Gibson was a judge on the American Idol spin-off American Juniors which lasted one season.

In January 2006, she joined the cast of Skating with Celebrities on Fox Television, partnered with former Canadian World Champion figure skater Kurt Browning. She was voted out in the third episode.

Music 2005–present

The March 2005 issue of Playboy featured a nude pictorial of Gibson, coinciding with the release of her single, "Naked." She has said that the magazine had asked her five times to pose for them since she turned 18. The single peaked #35 on the Billboard "Hot single sales" chart in March 2005.

Following her Skating with Celebrities appearance, she has had a resurgence of popularity in niche markets. Her single "Your Secret" came back from its dormant state and became popular on some radio stations including Super 91.7 WMPH in Wilmington, Delaware. "Your Secret" has been on their request show, Total Control Radio, for 12 months. "Your Secret" reached # 1 on its third week on that station's chart in May 2006. It charted along with a few of her other singles, "M.Y.O.B." and "Only Words" (Dance Edit) which is a Eurodance mix of the song. They all have become recurrent hits on the station since.

Gibson continues to tour and has become a popular attraction at Gay Pride parades and various charity and music festivals around the US. Her 2006 single, "Say Goodbye," featuring dance-pop artist Jordan Knight, has made a good impression on the Soft AC and Hot AC radio formats, becoming the third-most added single on the format during summer 2006. It debuted at #35 on the Billboard magazine Hot Contemporary chart, peaking at # 24 in early September through late November. The same year, Gibson appeared in the independent film Coffee Date with Wilson Cruz and Jonathan Silverman.

On November 14, 2006, Gibson released the song "Famous" on her official website. The song was written by Gibson and Tiziano Lugli, and the recording was produced by T. Lugli. On May 2007 the world premiere of Electric Youth: The Musical was unveiled at The Starlight Theatre in Orlando, FL. The musical featured 14 of Gibsons's songs and was directed by Dean Parker. On August 24, 2007, Gibson and Frankie Avalon hosted Time Life Presents Dick Clark's American Bandstand 50th Anniversary Collection.

On September 2007, Gibson considered creating a camp on the West Coast. She is the founder and creator of Camp Electric Youth, a children's summer day camp which ran from July 7–18, 2008. It claims to be the first camp of its kind in the Los Angeles area. The camp was reportedly attended by "over 120 talented singers, actors and dancers" from around the world.

Gibson was a judge for the online talent competition, Total Pop Star, along with Andrew Van Slee (producer and judge), and Joey Lawrence (from Blossom). The first season ran from Nov 12, 2007 – May 30, 2008, though it was later extended to June.

In January 2008, Gibson announced that she would revive and perform her 80s hits—along with her Broadway role songs—during a three-run week in May 2008 at Harrah's in Atlantic City.

She later appeared on the April 2008 cover of Lavender Magazine (a GLBT magazine in Minnesota) and was interviewed about her career and upcoming projects. Then on the 24th, Gibson hosted and performed on Spotlightlive 80's Karaoke Experience in New York singing songs such as "Only in My Dreams", "Out of the Blue", "Love Shack" (an original hit for the B-52's) and "9 to 5" (made famous by Dolly Parton).

She performed with Samantha Fox, Tiffany, & Rick Astley at the Colisee Pepsi in Quebec City, Canada on April 10, 2009.

Gibson has confirmed in interviews that she is working on a new album. Previews of possible singles were played on her YouTube channel in June 2009 through a video she uploaded herself.

Performed as Mother Nature in Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy at Foxwoods/MGM Casino from July 27 to September 1, 2010

Announced on her official website "I Love You" the first single off her newest album Ms Vocalist is #1 on the international cable radio charts for the week of Nov 3rd! Debbie covers J-Pop tunes for the Ms Vocalist album that were originally sung by Japanese artists plus Japanese/English version of her hit #1 song Lost in your eyes and a duet with Eric Martin. The first official music video from the new album is "I Love You" which was released on Gibson Official Youtube site on October 19, 2010

Movies/Tv Shows

On January 6, 2008 Gibson appeared on Deal or No Deal along with Corey Feldman as part of an '80s special.

Gibson co-starred with actor Lorenzo Lamas in the low-budget action/adventure film Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus, produced by The Asylum and released on May 19, 2009. The film's trailer has become a viral hit, scoring over one million hits on MTV.com and YouTube. The film premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Ironically, Gibson's former music rival Tiffany had her film Necrosis (a.k.a. Blood Snow) premiere at the Cannes as well.

Tiffany and Debbie Gibson will star in a Syfy original movie entitled Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, set to be released in 2011. The pairing was at the suggestion of Tiffany, who wanted to play off their supposed rivalry.

Personal life

Over the years, Gibson has been the subject of stalkers. Robert Bardo, who was convicted for murdering actress Rebecca Schaeffer in 1989, had a wall in his house adorned with pictures of Gibson and Tiffany. In May 1998, Michael Falkner, a disgruntled fan from Eau Claire, WI, was arrested outside Manhattan's Palace Theater, where Gibson was performing in the live musical adaptation of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. This was after Gibson received threatening letters, emails and faxes from Falkner, who used the alias 'Starcade'. On April 15, 2008, Gibson filed for a restraining order against Bassas Jorge Puigdollers, a fan club member from Spain who had been allegedly stalking her since 2002. However, a temporary restraining order was not issued by the court, and a court date was set to determine if a restraining order was appropriate in the matter. The proceeding was dismissed when Gibson failed to show up at the courthouse for the hearing to present her case.

Gibson dated actor Chris Bruno, Jonathan Kanterman, and is currently in a relationship with Dr. Rutledge Taylor.

Discography

Studio albums

Out of the Blue (1987)

Electric Youth (1989)

Anything Is Possible (1990)

Body Mind Soul (1992)

Think With Your Heart (1995)

Deborah (1997)

M.Y.O.B. (2001)

(2003)

Ms. Vocalist (2010)

Charted singles

The following singles charted in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, Republic of Ireland and/or the Netherlands.

Filmography

Film

Ghostbusters (1984) (uncredited)

My Girlfriend's Boyfriend (1999)

Wedding Band (2001)

Soulkeeper (2001)

Celeste in the City (2004)

Coffee Date (2006)

Body/Antibody (2007)

Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus (2009)

Mega Python vs. Gatoroid (2011)

Television

Beverly Hills, 90210 (1991)

Street Justice (1991)

Step by Step (1995)

That '80s Show (2002)

American Juniors (2003)

Skating with Celebrities (2006)

Celebrity Ghost Stories (2010)

Awards/Achievements

Career Highlights

Youngest person to ever write, produce and perform a #1 single (1988)

Debut Album of the Year - "Out of the Blue" - New York Music Awards (1989)

Debut Artist of the Year - New York Music Awards (1989)

ASCAP Songwriter of the Year (tied with Bruce Springsteen) (1989)

Nominated Favorite Female Music Performer - People's Choice Awards (1990)

Rock Producer of the Year - American Songwriter Awards (1990)

Nominated Best Pop Female Vocalist - American Music Awards (1990)

Artist of the Year - New York Music Awards (1990)

Song of the Year - "Lost In Your Eyes" - New York Music Awards (1990)

Best Pop Female Vocalist - New York Music Awards (1990)

Active supporter of charities

Pediatric AIDS Foundation

The Make-A-Wish Foundation

St. Mary's Children & Families Foundation

Red Cross Clothes Drive

Children International

References

External links

Official website: Deborah-Gibson.com

Category:1970 births Category:American dance musicians Category:American female singers Category:American house musicians Category:American musical theatre actors Category:American pop singers Category:American record producers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American sopranos Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:Freestyle musicians Category:Living people Category:Musicians from New York Category:People from Brooklyn Category:People from Nassau County, New York

Alt	Christian Bale in a black suit at a movie premiere.
Caption	Bale in June 2009
Birth name	Christian Charles Philip Bale
Birth date	January 30, 1974
Birth place	Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales, United Kingdom In addition to starring roles in big budget Hollywood films, he has long been heavily involved in films produced by independent producers and art houses.

In The Prestige, an adaptation of the Christopher Priest novel about a rivalry between two Victorian stage magicians, Bale was reunited with Batman Begins Michael Caine and director Christopher Nolan. The cast of The Prestige also included Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Piper Perabo, and David Bowie. I'm Not There, a film in which Bale again worked alongside Todd Haynes and Heath Ledger (who would go on to play The Joker in The Dark Knight), is an artistic reflection of the life of Bob Dylan. He starred opposite Russell Crowe in a commercially and critically successful Western film, .

Bale was originally cast to play George W. Bush in Oliver Stone's film W., but dropped out due to the prosthetics involved. Bale played John Connor in Terminator Salvation and FBI agent Melvin Purvis in Michael Mann's Public Enemies.

Terminator Salvation incident

In July 2008, Bale had an angry tirade on the sets of Terminator Salvation, while filming in New Mexico. In February 2009, the audio recording of the incident was released. The tirade was directed at Shane Hurlbut, director of photography for the film. According to Bale, Hurlbut had, for the second time, ruined his concentration by walking onto the set during a scene. The recording is of a highly agitated Bale directing profanities at Hurlbut, threatening and belittling him, and finally threatening to quit the film if Hurlbut repeated his offence without being fired for it. It was reported that Warner film executives sent the tape to the insurer of the film in case Bale decided to quit the movie. In an interview with E! Online, assistant director and producer of Terminator Salvation, Bruce Franklin, said it was an isolated incident. "If you are working in a very intense scene and someone takes you out of your groove ... It was the most emotional scene in the movie ... [A]nd for him to get stopped in the middle of it. He is very intensely involved in his character. He didn't walk around like that all day long. It was just a moment and it passed", Franklin said.

Actors Whoopi Goldberg and Terry Crews, directors Darren Aronofsky and Ron Howard, as well as Ain't It Cool News website creator Harry Knowles have also publicly defended Bale's actions, some of them citing the practice that crew members are to remain still while the camera is rolling. The incident also inspired experimental band The Mae Shi to write the song, "R U Professional", which features samples from the recording. Stephen Colbert parodied the incident on the 4 February 2009 episode of The Colbert Report, in which guest Steve Martin repeatedly walked in front of the camera and was berated by Colbert. The incident was re-enacted on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, with Inside the Actor's Studio host James Lipton giving performances of both Bale and the crewmember. An episode of the animated comedy series Family Guy also mixed in the voice of Peter Griffin interacting with Bale and reacting to Bale's comments as if they were directed at him to comedic effect.

After remaining silent for most of the week, Bale gave a public apology on 6 February 2009, to a Los Angeles radio station, KROQ. He stated that the outburst was "inexcusable" and that it was motivated by the day's shooting intensity. Bale said he "acted like a punk", and that he and Hurlbut talked after the incident and "resolved this completely". Bale acknowledged that the two worked together for several hours after the incident, and "at least a month after that... I've seen a rough cut of the movie and he has done a wonderful job. It looks fantastic".

Writer/director Joe Carnahan confirmed in November 2007 that Bale is also involved in the upcoming movie Killing Pablo in which he is to play Major Steve Jacoby. According to a Nuts magazine interview, Bale stated that he will be in the running to play the role of Solid Snake in a film adaptation of Metal Gear Solid. In early 2010, Bale was confirmed to be starring in a romantic love story that will be directed by Terrence Malick and will also star Javier Bardem, Rachel McAdams and Olga Kurylenko. Niels Arden Oplev, director of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, is to have Bale as lead in his current project The Last Photograph, which Oplev hopes to start filming early 2011.

Personal life

On 29 January 2000, Bale married Sandra "Sibi" Blažić (born 1970), former model, make-up artist and personal assistant to Winona Ryder; the couple have a daughter, Emmeline, who was born on 27 March 2005 in Santa Monica, California. Since 1992, Bale has resided in Los Angeles.

Bale has three elder sisters – Erin Bale, a musician; Sharon Bale, a computer professional; and Louise Bale, a theatre actress and director. The Bale family is deeply rooted in show business, especially theatre. Bale is a distant relative of British actress Lillie Langtry, while his uncle, Rex Bale, and maternal grandfather were actors as well. it was Steinem's first marriage (at the age of 66), and the couple were together until David Bale's death in 2003, aged 62.

Bale has stated that he is a big fan of late comedian Chris Farley and of Farley's film Beverly Hills Ninja.

Film and television credits

Other awards and nominations

{| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year ! Award ! Award category ! Title of work ! Result |- | 2009 | West Point Cadet Choice Awards | Best Exemplification of Leadership | | Won |}

References

External links

Category:1974 births Category:Alumni of Bournemouth School Category:English child actors Category:English expatriates in the United States Category:English film actors Category:Living people Category:People from Haverfordwest Category:People from Bournemouth Category:People from the Greater Los Angeles Area