Name	Gorillaz
Landscape	Yes
Background	group_or_band
Origin	Essex, England
Genre	Alternative hip-hop
Years active	1998–present
Associated acts	Blur, The Good, the Bad & the Queen
Label	Parlophone, Virgin, EMI
Url
Current members	Damon AlbarnJamie Hewlett

Gorillaz is a musical project created in 1998 by British musician Damon Albarn and British cartoonist Jamie Hewlett. This project consists of the Gorillaz music itself and an extensive fictional universe depicting a "virtual band" of cartoon characters. This band is composed of four animated members: 2D (lead vocalist, keyboard), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (guitar, keyboard, and occasional vocals) and Russel Hobbs (drums and percussion). Their fictional universe is explored through the band's website and music videos, as well as a number of other media. The music is a collaboration between various musicians, Albarn being the only permanent musical contributor. Their style is a composition of multiple musical genres, with a large number of influences including: dub, hip hop, alternative rock, electronic and pop music.

The band's 2001 debut album Gorillaz sold over seven million copies and earned them an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Most Successful Virtual Band. It was nominated for the Mercury Prize 2001, but the nomination was later withdrawn at the band's request. Their second studio album, Demon Days, released in 2005, went five times platinum in the UK, double platinum in the United States, earned five Grammy Award nominations for 2006 and won one of them in the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category. Gorillaz have also released two B-sides compilations and a remix album. The combined sales of Gorillaz and Demon Days had, by 2007, exceeded 20 million albums. The band's third studio album, Plastic Beach, was released in 2010. Their newest album, The Fall, was released on 25 December 2010.

History

Early years (1998–1999)

Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett created Gorillaz in 1998 when they were living together in a flat on Westbourne Grove. The idea to create the band came about when the two were watching MTV, "if you watch MTV for too long, it's a bit like hell – there's nothing of substance there. So we got this idea for a cartoon band, something that would be a comment on that," Hewlett said. The band originally identified themselves as "Gorilla", and the first song they recorded was "Ghost Train", later released as a B-side on their single "Rock the House" and the B-side compilation G Sides. The trio of musicians behind Gorillaz' first incarnation included Damon Albarn, Del the Funkee Homosapien and Dan the Automator, who had previously worked together on the track "Time Keeps on Slipping" for Deltron 3030's eponymous debut album. The song can be seen as the genesis of the musical style that continued into Gorillaz' first album.

Phase One: Celebrity Takedown (2000–2003)

The band's first release was Tomorrow Comes Today EP, released in 2000. The band's first single, "Clint Eastwood", was released on 5 March 2001. Later that same month, their first full-length album, the self-titled Gorillaz, was released, producing four singles: "Clint Eastwood", "19-2000", "Tomorrow Comes Today", and "Rock the House". "19-2000 (Soulchild Remix)" became popular after being featured in both an Ice Breakers commercial, as well as in EA Sports' FIFA Football 2002. Around this time, a half-hour TV mockumentary entitled Charts of Darkness was released. It follows Channel 4 news reporter Krishnan Guru-Murthy attempting to track down Albarn and Hewlett after they were placed in an insane asylum.

The end of the year brought the song "911", a collaboration between Gorillaz and rap artists D12 (without Eminem) and Terry Hall about the 11 September attacks. Meanwhile G Sides, a compilation of the B-sides from the Tomorrow Comes Today EP and first three singles, was released in Japan on 12 December 2001 and quickly followed with international releases in early 2002. The new year also saw the band perform at the 2002 BRIT Awards, appearing in 3D animation on four large screens along with rap accompaniment by Phi Life Cypher. The band was nominated for six awards at the event, including Best British Group, Best British Album and Best British Newcomer, but left the award show empty-handed. Finally, Laika Come Home, a dub remix album, containing most of the tracks from Gorillaz reworked by Spacemonkeyz, was released in June 2002. The single to follow, "Lil' Dub Chefin'", contained an original track by the Spacemonkeyz titled "Spacemonkeyz Theme".

In November 2002, a DVD titled was released. The DVD contains the four Phase One promos, the abandoned video for "5/4", the Charts of Darkness documentary, the five Gorilla Bitez (short vignettes), a tour of the website by the MEL 9000 server and more. The DVD's menu was designed much like the band's website and depicts an abandoned Kong Studios. Rumors were circulating at this time that the Gorillaz team were busy preparing a film, but at an EMI interview, they later revealed that plans for the film were abandoned. Haruka Kuroda, who voices the character Noodle, told the fan website Gorillaz-Unofficial that Jamie Hewlett rejected many scripts before giving up on the film. Hewlett later explained why the film was abandoned, "We lost all interest in doing it as soon as we started meeting with studios and talking to these Hollywood executive types, we just weren't on the same page. We said, fuck it, we'll sit on the idea until we can do it ourselves, and maybe even raise the money ourselves."

Phase Two: Slowboat to Hades (2004–2007)

On 8 December 2004, the band's website reopened with an exclusive video entitled "Rock It". Along with the music video, there was an announcement of a new album on the way, which would be produced by Danger Mouse. A talent contest entitled Search for a Star was also launched on 15 December 2004, allowing fans to send in a minute-long clip of video or audio or an image file. A viral marketing project named Reject False Icons was formed criticising modern pop figures.

The first single from the album was "Feel Good Inc.", released as an EP in Japan and as a CD single in Europe and Australia. The single entered the UK Singles Chart at #22, several weeks before the CD single was released due to the single being released as a 7" vinyl in April, and new charts regulations included sales at online music stores, where the song had been available since 22 March. "Feel Good Inc." managed to reach #2 in the UK Singles Chart the week it was released, being the band's highest ever positioned single up to that point in time. The single stayed in the top ten for eight consecutive weeks. In the United States, it peaked at #14. The song also garnered a Record of the Year nomination for the 2006 Grammy Awards later that year. It was later included in the popular PlayStation 2 title SingStar, a game where players attempt to sing along karaoke style. It was also recently included on Activision´s Guitar Hero 5 and was released as downloadable content on Harmonix and MTV Games' Rock Band.

The album Demon Days was released on 11 May 2005 in Japan, 23 May in the United Kingdom and Australia, and on 24 May in the United States. The album debuted at #1 on the UK Albums Chart, but fell as low as #29 in just seven weeks. However, as the music video for the second single "DARE" started getting played on MTV and other music channels, Demon Days rose up to the top 10 again. "DARE" was released on 29 August 2005 in the UK, where it debuted at #1. A Japanese EP followed on 7 September. "DARE" eventually reached #87 in the United States, also becoming a Top 10 hit on the Modern Rock listings. Shortly afterwards, Gorillaz contributed an exclusive track entitled "Hong Kong" to the charity compilation released on 10 September 2005.

The third single off Demon Days was "Dirty Harry", which had already been released as a promotional single earlier that year. It was released in the United Kingdom on 21 November 2005. On its first week, it charted at #6. The release of the single raised the album once again back up to the top 10. The fourth and final single was the double A-side, "Kids with Guns"/"El Mañana". It was released in the UK on 10 April 2006. Unlike its Top 10 predecessors, "Kids With Guns" / "El Mañana" reached #27 upon its release in the UK. A week later, the single had fallen out of the Top 40 in the UK (see 2006 in British music). By the end of 2005, Demon Days had sold over a million copies in the UK, making it the UK's fifth best selling album of 2005. Demon Days has since gone five times platinum in the UK, and has sold over 6 million copies worldwide.

Plans were unveiled for Gorillaz to go on a holographic world tour in 2007 and 2008. The cartoon members would be shown as holograms on stage using Musion Eyeliner technology, giving them a life-like appearance on stage. The holograms were first used at the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards on 3 November 2005 and again at the 2006 Grammy Awards on 8 February 2006 with the addition of a virtual Madonna, where the band played a pre-recorded version of "Feel Good Inc." However, the tour was eventually called off due to budget issues. Jamie Hewlett has stated that "...it was extremely expensive, extremely difficult, a million and one things can go wrong, every second that the thing's playing."

In 2005, a set of Gorillaz figures were released by Kidrobot to coincide with the release of Demon Days. Two variations of the set were released, known as the Red and Black editions, and a limited edition Noodle from the music video for "DARE" was also released. Three new sets of Gorillaz vinyl figures were released in 2006. The Basic set was released on 16 October 2006 and the 2-tone and White edition sets were released on 2 November 2006.

On 21 September 2006, the main lobby of Kong Studios was destroyed by Murdoc for the money he had invested in it, as revealed in the game Escape to Plastic Beach. and a teaser clip for Slowboat to Hades appeared and could be played on a TV screen. The DVD was released on 30 October in the United Kingdom, and 31 October in the United States. The official Gorillaz illustrated autobiography, titled Rise of the Ogre, was released on 31 October 2006 in the United Kingdom, and 2 November in the United States. D-Sides, a compilation of B-side and remixes, was released on 19 November 2007 in the UK and on 20 November 2007 in the US.

Hopes for a Gorillaz film were revived in 2006 when Hewlett stated that they would be producing the film on their own. American film producer and Weinstein Company co-chairman, Harvey Weinstein, was also said to be collaborating with Albarn and Hewlett. In a September 2006 interview with Uncut magazine, Albarn was reported saying "[Gorillaz] has been a fantastic journey which isn't over, because we're making a film. We've got Terry Gilliam involved. But as far as being in a big band and putting pop music out there, it's finished. We won't be doing that any more." In an interview with the Gorillaz-Unofficial fansite, Jamie Hewlett and Cass Browne revealed that in the film the band members will act as other characters presenting a new story, instead of playing themselves. Hewlett also said that the film's soundtrack will be the next Gorillaz album. "The soundtrack will be the third album. Damon will do the soundtrack, which will be the soundtrack, which will be the third album." As of April 2007, Cass Browne is still finishing the script and Albarn has said that he hopes production of the film will begin in September 2007. No further news was heard about the film until February 2008 when, in an interview with Gorillaz-Unofficial, Hewlett said "Ultimately we didn't think that feel we're in a position to make the kind of movie we want to make with Gorillaz at the moment. [...] But I'd still like to make a full, lavishly-animated Gorillaz movie someday."

On 24 October 2007, the official Gorillaz fansite announced that a documentary film about the Gorillaz, titled Bananaz, would be released. The film, directed by Ceri Levy, documents the previous seven years of the band. The film was released online on the Babelgum website on 20 April 2009 followed by the DVD release on 1 June 2009.

Phase Three: Escape to Plastic Beach and The Fall (2007–present)

In late 2007, Albarn and Hewlett began working on Carousel, a new Gorillaz project which eventually evolved into the band's third studio album Plastic Beach.

Albarn said "I'm making this the biggest and most pop record I've ever made in many ways, but with all my experience to try and at least present something that has got depth."

On 18 January 2010, it was announced that Gorillaz would be headlining the final night of the Coachella music festival on 18 April 2010. The first single from the album, "Stylo", featuring Bobby Womack and Mos Def was leaked on 20 January 2010 in a Tumblr blog post by a Russian fan and then consequently made available for streaming through the band's official website as announced on Murdoc's Twitter page saying that "If anyone's going to leak my single it'll be me!". Parlophone president Miles Leonard described the song as "a dark, twisted track that sounds like the 'Saturday Night Fever' soundtrack on MDMA." "Stylo" was made available for download 26 January 2010. Further singles from the album include "On Melancholy Hill", "Superfast Jellyfish" and "Rhinestone Eyes", as well as "White Flag", which was released exclusively for Record Store Day 2010.

In mid-February 2010, a new interactive game world set on Plastic Beach appeared on the Gorillaz site. This game features gameplay very similar to the point and click style of the original Kong Studios during the first two phases of the band's story, and allows the player to traverse both the beaches of the island and the inside of the house and recording studios. As of late November Murdoc can be found trapped behind a bookcase and 2D is cowering in his room, while Russel and Noodle are nowhere to be seen. It is unknown as of so far whether there will be gradual changes and updates to the game as there were when Kong Studios was still intact, but many have speculated that Russel and Noodle will reappear as the lore of Gorillaz progresses.

Plastic Beach was first released on 3 March 2010 in Japan, followed by multiple other dates for other countries. The album received positive reviews from critics, despite having a more pop and electronic sound than the band's previous albums. To fit the Plastic Beach theme, the Gorillaz website was dramatically altered and changed. A virtual tour of the Plastic Beach was added, including a new Gorillaz game titled 'Escape to the Plastic Beach'. Several 'Shorts' of each band member was included in the follow-up to the albums release, to give fans an understanding of the fictional band members' story before their arrival to the island. A Windows 7 theme was also released. An international tour was announced in mid-2010 to promote the album, however it was only in the UK and Ireland. Later, in early July 2010, they announced their first world tour, titled the "Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour." The UK tour was merged with the world tour, and the UK dates were cancelled or rescheduled to fit the new schedule, causing some inconvenience with many European fans.

On 5 October 2010, Gorillaz announced their new single "Doncamatic" featuring the Manchester star Daley. It premiered later that same day on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show. The single was released on 22 November 2010.

Damon has been speaking about his plans after the album. Whether or not they will be considered "Phase 3" or a whole new phase is unknown, but he's gone on to say on many occasions that he has enough material for two new albums and is working on a tour demo album like his release Democrazy.

On 8 December 2010 Damon Albarn confirmed via an interview that a Gorillaz album recorded on the American leg of the Escape to Plastic Beach tour will be released to download for free exclusively to paying fan club members from the Gorillaz website on Christmas Day, 25 December 2010. On 15 December 2010, Albarn confirmed whilst interviewed on Triple J that the new album would be titled The Fall as it was recorded on their American tour in October. It has also since been confirmed that the first single off of the album will be titled "Phoner to Arizona". The official video for "Phoner to Arizona" was also released on Gorillaz' official website for free on December 24, 2010.

Band Members

Fictional band members

Stuart "2D" Pot – Lead vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar (1998–present)

Murdoc Niccals – Bass guitar (1998–present)

Noodle – Lead guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (2000–2006, 2010–present)

Russel Hobbs – Drums, percussion, DJ, MC (active 1998–2006)

Cyborg Noodle – Lead guitar (2010–present)

Former Members

Paula Cracker – Lead guitar (1998–2000)

Del the Ghost Rapper – Guest vocals (2001–2003)

Actual members

In the half-hour TV mockumentary Charts of Darkness, it was explicitly stated that Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett were behind the project. Albarn said "There could be fifty [people] here, but there's two." The first album featured the voice of Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto as Noodle, most notably on the song "19-2000", and Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads. Phil Cornwell provides the voice of Murdoc. The band's music videos (with the exception of "Rock It" and "Tomorrow Comes Today") are created by Passion Pictures. The live band's current lineup includes half of The Clash (Mick Jones and Paul Simonon).

Damon Albarn – Vocals, keyboards, guitar, bass guitar (1998–present)

Jamie Hewlett – Illustration, visuals, FX (1998–present)

Mike Smith – keyboards (1998 – present)

Cass Browne – Drums, percussion (1998 – present)

Live Members –

Live performances

, New York in April 2006]] Between 1 November and 5 November 2005, there was a Gorillaz festival at the Manchester Opera House. The event was filmed by an EMI film crew for a DVD release, Demon Days Live, in late March 2006. It was later announced that an American version of the event would take place from 2 April to 6 April 2006 at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem. Within an hour of release tickets were sold out. The 6 April show was filmed for a live webcast at MSN Video. Palladia (then known as MHD) also broadcasted an Apollo Theater show in HDTV on 31 December 2006.

At the 2006 Grammy Awards, held on 8 February 2006, Gorillaz opened the show using the same technique sharing the stage with Madonna.

A world tour was planned using the hologram technology described above. These will both feature the full Gorillaz production, including video animation, artwork and film. On 22 March they were announced for Roskilde Festival. On 22 April, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett appeared on The Colbert Report for an interview as the Gorillaz. They performed "Stylo" without animation of the members with special guests including Bobby Womack, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon, and with a backdrop featuring the animated music video.

Gorillaz took the Friday night Pyramid stage slot at the Glastonbury Festival on 25 June 2010, U2 having been forced to pull out. Damon Albarn became the first performer to headline Glastonbury two years in succession. Guest singers included De La Soul, Bobby Womack, Mark E Smith, Shaun Ryder, Snoop Dogg and a special appearance by Lou Reed.

Gorillaz kicked off their first ever world tour on 20 July at Byblos, Lebanon. The tour will then take them across America in October, Europe in November, and finally through Australia, New Zealand, and one date in Asia in December.

In 25 July 2010, Gorillaz performed a concert at the Citadel of Damascus in Syria.

The Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour officially kicked off in Montreal, Canada on 3 October to rave reviews.

During the Gorillaz show at Vector Arena in Auckland, New Zealand on 21 December, 2010, Damon Albarn announced that it would be their final live show with the Plastic Beach line up.

Discography

Studio albums

Gorillaz (2001)

Demon Days (2005)

Plastic Beach (2010)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Category:2000s music groups Category:2010s music groups Category:Animated musical groups Category:British hip hop groups Category:English dance music groups Category:English rock music groups Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Musical groups established in 1998 Category:Parlophone artists Category:World record holders Category:Fictional musical groups Category:British alternative rock groups

Category:Bands with fictional stage personas

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

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

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

Early life

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

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

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

Film career

1950s

Early career struggles

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

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

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

Rawhide

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

1960s

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1970s

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1980s

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

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

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

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

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

1990s

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

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

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

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

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

2000-present

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Politics

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

Personal life

Relationships

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

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

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

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

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

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

Music

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

Leisure

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

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

Awards and honors

Filmography

Discography

Notes

Bibliography and further reading

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External links

Charlie Rose show: An hour with Clint Eastwood

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

Category:1930 births Category:Actors from California Category:Akira Kurosawa Award winners Category:American actor-politicians Category:American actors of English descent Category:American actors of Scottish descent Category:American aviators Category:American composers Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American film producers Category:American firefighters Category:American libertarians Category:American people of Dutch descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American restaurateurs Category:American television actors Category:Best Director Academy Award winners Category:Best Director Golden Globe winners Category:California Republicans Category:César Award winners Category:Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Category:Eastwood family Category:English-language film directors Category:Fellini Gold Medalists Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Restaurateurs Category:Living people Category:Mayors of places in California Category:Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun Category:People from Oakland, California Category:People from Piedmont, California Category:People from San Francisco, California Category:Producers who won the Best Picture Academy Award Category:Spaghetti Western actors Category:Transcendental Meditation practitioners Category:United States Army soldiers Category:Western (genre) film actors Category:Western (genre) film directors

Name	Mos Def
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Dante Terrell Smith
Born	December 11, 1973Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
Origin	Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York City
Genre	Alternative hip hop
Occupation	Rapper, actor, singer, activist
Years active	1994–present
Label	Rawkus, Priority, Geffen, Downtown, GOOD Music
Associated acts	Soulquarians, Black Star, Talib Kweli, Native Tongues Posse, Dave Chappelle, Kanye West, The Roots, Blakroc, Gorillaz, Common, Jay Electronica, Curren$y, Immortal Technique

Dante Terrell Smith (born December 11, 1973) is an American actor and MC known by the stage name Mos Def (). Mos Def started his hip hop career in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. With Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, who released the album Black Star in 1998. He was a major force in the late 1990s underground hip hop explosion spearheaded by Rawkus Records. As a solo artist he has released the albums Black on Both Sides in 1999, The New Danger in 2004, True Magic in 2006, and The Ecstatic in 2009.

Initially recognized for his musical output, since the early 2000s, Mos Def's screen work has established him as one of only a handful of rappers who have garnered critical approval for their acting work. Mos Def has also been active in several social and political issues and was particularly vocal in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Music career

Mos Def began his music career in 1994 in the short-lived group Urban Thermo Dynamics with his younger brother D.c.Q and younger sister Ces. Despite their contract with Payday Records, the group only had two singles, and their debut album Manifest Destiny was not released until 2004, when it was distributed by Illson Media. In 1996, he emerged as a solo artist and worked with De La Soul and Da Bush Babees, before he released his own first single, "Universal Magnetic", which was a huge underground hit.

Mos Def signed with Rawkus Records and formed the group Black Star with Talib Kweli. They released an album, Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star, in 1998. Mostly produced by Hi-Tek, the album featured the hit singles, "Respiration" and "Definition", which would go on to be featured in VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip-Hop. Mos Def released his solo debut album Black on Both Sides in 1999, also through Rawkus. Around this time he also contributed to the Scritti Politti album Anomie & Bonhomie and Rawkus compilations Lyricist Lounge and Soundbombing.

After the collapse of Rawkus, he signed to Interscope/Geffen Records, which released his second solo album The New Danger in 2004. The New Danger contained a mix of several musical genres, including soul, blues, and rock and roll, performed with his rock band Black Jack Johnson, which contained members of the bands Bad Brains and Living Colour. The singles included "Sex, Love & Money" and the B-side "Ghetto Rock"; the latter went on to receive several Grammy Award nominations in 2004.

Mos Def has drawn some criticism from his fan base about "keeping it real" after he appeared in a commercial that endorsed the GMC Denali sport utility vehicle.

Mos Def's final solo album for Geffen Records, True Magic, was quietly released on December 29, 2006. True Magic features production from The Neptunes, Rich Harrison and Minnesota, among others. The album was released in a clear-case with no cover art. Neither Geffen nor Mos Def himself promoted the album at all, which is the main reason the album was received under the radar.

The song "Crime & Medicine" is essentially a cover of GZA's 1995 single "Liquid Swords", though it contains different verses. Also, the track "Undeniable" samples a version of the Barrett Strong/Norman Whitfield composition "Message from a Black Man". The song "Dollar Day" uses the same beat as Juvenile's "Nolia Clap".

MTV reported that this album isn't a full version, but a teaser/promotional debut. A new version of the album would be released spring 2007, with updated songs and cover art. However, on October 17, 2007, Okayplayer reported, through discussions with Mos Def's management, that these rumors were unsubstantiated. The CD was intended to be released without promotion or cover art, as per Mos Def's request. There would be no future re-release.

On November 7, 2007, Mos Def performed live in San Francisco at a venue called The Mezzanine. This performance was recorded for an upcoming "Live in Concert" DVD. During this performance Mos Def announced that he would be releasing a new album to be called The Ecstatic. He sang a number of new tracks; in later shows, Def previewed tracks produced by Madlib and was rumored to be going to Kanye West for new material. Producer and fellow Def Poet Al Be Back stated that he would be producing as well. The album was released on June 9, 2009; upon its release, only Madlib's production had made the cut, along with tracks by Preservation, The Neptunes, Mr. Flash, Madlib's brother Oh No, a song by J. Dilla, and Georgia Anne Muldrow.

Mos Def is also set to do a duo album with Jay Electronica titled Simpatico. It will contain nine songs.

Mos Def appears alongside Kanye West on the track "Two Words" from The College Dropout album, the track "Drunk And Hot Girls" and the bonus track "Good Night" off West's third major album, Graduation. In 2002, he released the 12" single Fine, which was featured in the Brown Sugar Motion Picture Soundtrack.

Mos Def also appears on the debut album from fellow New Yorkers Apollo Heights on a track titled, "Concern." In October, he signed a deal with Downtown Records and appeared on a remix to the song "D.A.N.C.E." by Justice. Mos Def appeared on Stephen Marley's album Mind Control on the song "Hey Baby." In 2009, Mos Def worked together with Somali rapper K'naan to produce the track "America" for K'naan's album Troubadour.

In April 2008 he appeared on the title track for a new album by The Roots entitled Rising Down. The new single, Life In Marvelous Times, was made officially available through iTunes on November 4, 2008, and is available for stream on the Roots' website Okayplayer.

April 2009 saw him traveling to South Africa for the first time where he performed accompanied by The Robert Glasper Experiment at the renowned Cape Town International Jazz Festival. He enticed his bemused African following with an encore introduced by his own rendition of John Coltrane's "Love Supreme" followed by a sneak preview of the track "M.D. (Doctor)", much to the delight of the fans.

Mos Def also designed two pairs of limited edition Converse shoes. The shoes were released to Foot Locker stores on August 1, 2009 in very limited amounts.

In late 2009, Mos Def created a brand of clothing line with UNDRCRWN called the "Mos Def Cut & Sew Collection." All clothing items will be sold in select stores located around the U.S. and almost exclusively on the UNDRCRWN website. 2009 also found Mos Def among the MCs collaborating with the Black Keys on the first Blakroc album, a project headed by the Black Keys and Damon Dash. Mos Def appeared with Jim Jones and the Black Keys on the Late Show with David Letterman to perform the Blakroc track "Ain't Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo)".

In March 2010, Mos Def's song Quiet Dog Bite Hard was featured in Palm's "Life moves fast. Don't miss a thing." campaign.

Mos Def features on the first single, "Stylo", from the third Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach, alongside soul legend Bobby Womack. He also appears on the track titled "Sweepstakes".

Mos Def has been an active contributor to the recovery of the oil spill in the Gulf, performing concerts and raising money towards the repair of the damages. In June 2010, he recorded a cover of the classic New Orleans song originally by Smokey Johnson, "" with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Lenny Kravitz and Trombone Shorty.

Influences

Slick Rick Gang Starr and Monster's Ball, Mos re-invigorated his acting career with his performance as a talented rapper who is reluctant to sign to a major label in Brown Sugar. He was nominated for an and a Teen Choice Award.

In 2001, he took a supporting role to Beyoncé Knowles and Mehki Phifer in the MTV movie as Lt. Miller, a crooked cop.

In 2002, he played the role of Booth in Suzan-Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog, a Tony-nominated and Pulitzer-winning Broadway play. He and co-star Jeffrey Wright won a Special Award from the Outer Critics Circle Award for their joint performance. He also received positive notices as the quirky Left Ear in the blockbuster hit, The Italian Job in 2003.

In television, Mos Def has appeared on Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show, and has hosted the award-winning HBO spoken word show, Def Poetry since its inception. The show's sixth season aired in 2007. He also appeared on the sitcom My Wife And Kids as the disabled friend of Michael Kyle (Damon Wayans).

Mos Def won Best Actor, Independent Movie at the 2005 Black Reel Awards for his portrayal of Detective Sgt. Lucas in The Woodsman. For his portrayal of Vivien Thomas in HBO's film Something the Lord Made, he was nominated for an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe, and won the . He also played a bandleader in HBO's Lackawanna Blues. He then landed the role of Ford Prefect in the 2005 movie adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

In 2006, Mos Def appeared in Dave Chappelle's Block Party alongside fellow Black Star companion Talib Kweli, while also contributing to the film's soundtrack. Also, Mos Def was featured as the black banjo player in the infamous "Pixie Sketch" from Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes. He was later edited out of it on the DVD. Additionally, Mos Def starred in the action film 16 Blocks alongside Bruce Willis and David Morse. He has a recurring guest role on Boondocks, starring as "Gangstalicious". He is also set to be in Toussaint, a film about Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture, opposite Don Cheadle and Wesley Snipes. He made a cameo appearance — playing himself — in the movie .

In 2008, Mos Def starred in the Michel Gondry movie Be Kind Rewind, playing a video rental store employee whose best friend is played by co-star Jack Black. He also portrayed Chuck Berry in the film Cadillac Records, for which he was nominated for a Black Reel Award and an .

In 2009, he appeared in the House episode entitled "Locked In" as a patient suffering from locked-in syndrome. His performance was well-received, with E! saying that Mos Def "delivers an Emmy-worthy performance." He was also in the 2009 film Next Day Air.

He also made an appearance on the children's show Yo Gabba Gabba! as Super Mr. Superhero.

Most recently, he appears in A Free Man of Color, John Guare's play at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre.

Social and political views

By the early 1990s, a brand of socially conscious hip hop that had been pioneered and popularized by Public Enemy, KRS-One, and De La Soul, among others, had been eclipsed in popularity by gangsta rap. Mos Def, as well as Talib Kweli, The Roots, Common, and others, helped socially aware rap music experience something of a comeback in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Mos Def's collaboration with Talib Kweli, Black Star, was released during the aftermath of the deaths of 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. and focused on violence and negativity in hip-hop, in collaboration with other acts that did the same. His music has also made reference to his Islamic faith, and his contention that black artists receive little credit for their role in the birth of rock and roll.

On Mos Def's 2004 album The New Danger, he took his penchant for experimentation to a new level. Most of the songs were more hip-hop flavored stylings of blues and rock, with fewer raps thrown in. This threw off fans who were expecting another full-blown rap album. The New Danger also featured the controversial song, "The Rape Over," a parody of Jay-Z's The Blueprint hit "Takeover". His label made him take the song off releases of the album, citing clearance issues with Jay-Z and The Doors, a band which the song samples. The song has garnered controversy over its veiled reference to Israeli-American record executive Lyor Cohen (the "tall Israeli" who then was head of The Island Def Jam Music Group).

Mos Def and Immortal Technique released a similarly controversial song, "Bin Laden" in 2004, which blamed the Reagan Doctrine and President George W. Bush for the September 11, 2001 attacks. A club remix song, featuring Eminem, was released the following year, in 2005.

In September 2005, Mos Def released the single "Katrina Clap," renamed "Dollar Day" for True Magic, (utilizing the instrumental for New Orleans rappers UTP's "Nolia Clap"). The song is a criticism of the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina. On the night of the MTV Video Music Awards, Mos Def pulled up in front of Radio City Music Hall on a flatbed truck and began performing the "Katrina Clap" single in front of a crowd that quickly gathered around him. He was subsequently arrested despite having a public performance permit in his possession.

On September 7, 2007, Mos Def appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher where he spoke about racism against African Americans, citing the government response to Hurricane Katrina, the Jena Six and the murder conviction of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Mos Def also claimed that Al-Qaeda was not responsible for 9/11, and that Al-Qaeda is not responsible for as much terrorism as they are portrayed to be. He appeared on Real Time again on March 27, 2009, and spoke about the risk of nuclear weapons. Mos Def said that he did not listen to any of Osama Bin Laden's messages because he did not trust the translations.

Personal life

In 1996, Def married Maria Yepes. After having two daughters, Chandani and Jauhara Smith, he filed for divorce in 2005. The divorce became final in 2006. Two years later, Def's divorce lawyers Blank Rome sued Def for more than $60,000 in unpaid legal bills.

In October, 2006 Mos Def appeared on 4Real, a documentary television series. Appearing in the episode "City of God," he and the 4Real crew traveled to City of God, a slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to meet Brazilian MC MV Bill and discover the crime and social problems of the community.

He has recently taken up skateboarding and said he's looking to host a skateboarding event in the United Arab Emirates.

Nominations

Black Movie Awards

* 2006 Source Awards

Black Reel Awards

* 2008, Best Supporting Actor: Cadillac Records

* 2003, Best Actor- Independent: Civil Brand

* 2004, Best Supporting Actor: The Italian Job

* 2005, Best Actor TV Movie/Mini-Series: Something the Lord Made

* 2005, Best Indie Actor: The Woodsman (won)

Emmy Award

* 2004, Best Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-Series: Something the Lord Made

Golden Globes

* 2005, Best Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-Series: Something the Lord Made

Grammy Awards

* 2005, Best Urban/Alternative Performance: "Sex, Love & Money"

* 2006, Best Urban/Alternative Performance: "Ghetto Rock"

* 2007, Best Rap Solo Performance: "Undeniable"

* 2010, Best Rap Solo Performance: "Casa Bey"

* 2010, Best Rap Album: "The Ecstatic"

* 2011, Best Short Form Music Video: "Stylo" (with Bobby Womack and Gorillaz)

* 2009, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture: Cadillac Records

* 2003, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture: Brown Sugar

* 2005, Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-Series: Something the Lord Made

Discography

1994: Manifest Destiny (with DCQ and Ces as Urban Thermo Dynamics)

1998: Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star (with Talib Kweli as Black Star)

1999: Black on Both Sides

2004: The New Danger

2006: True Magic

2009: The Ecstatic

Filmography

Also appeared on "Yo Gabba Gabba", under the screen name "Super Mr.Super Hero"

References

External links

Mos Def / Dante Smith discographies at Discogs.

Mos Def at Geffen Records.

Mos Def Fan Message Board

Category:9/11 conspiracy theorists Category:African American actors Category:African American rappers Category:American vegetarians Category:African American Muslims Category:Living people Category:Rappers from New York City Category:People from Brooklyn Category:Slam poets Category:1973 births Category:Converts to Islam Category:African American converts to Islam

Name	Bobby Womack
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Robert Dwayne Womack
Born	March 04, 1944Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Genre	R&B; soul, funk, deep soul, soul blues
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, drums, piano/keyboards
Voice type	Baritone
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, producer, instrumentalist, sideman
Years active	1961–1966 (groups) 1968–present (solo)
Label	United Artists, Minit, Beverly Glen Music, The Right Stuff, Solar, MCA, Columbia, Castle, Indigo Records
Associated acts	The Valentinos, Patti LaBelle, Sam Cooke, Cecil Womack, Womack and Womack, Mary Wells, Gorillaz
Url	http://bobbywomack.com/

Robert Dwayne "Bobby" Womack () (born March 4, 1944) is an American singer-songwriter and musician.

Biography

Early life and career; The Valentinos

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Womack was the third of five boys born to Friendly, Sr. and Naomi Womack in a housing project. Taking after their gospel-singing father, Womack and his four brothers Friendly, Jr., Cecil, Harry and Curtis formed The Womack Brothers and began touring the gospel circuit. One night, soul singer Sam Cooke spotted the Womack Brothers performing and immediately began seeking the group out for a recording contract. Signing with SAR Records, Cooke's own imprint, they eventually agreed to leave the gospel circuit for a career in secular music and the group was renamed as the Valentinos. Shortly afterward, they scored their first charted single, "Lookin' For a Love", which peaked at #8 on the Billboard R&B; chart. In 1964, they scored a second hit with "It's All Over Now". The latter song was written by Womack and would give the singer monetary royalties after The Rolling Stones' cover of "It's All Over Now" hit the top of the UK Singles Chart. The Valentinos' career dwindled after the death of Cooke in December 1964. The group stayed together for a year and a half (recording for Chess Records in the interim), before splitting up in 1966. They reformed in the late 1960s and recorded a few songs for Jubilee Records in the early 1970s, appearing on Soul Train in 1973. Womack struggled to get noticed in the music industry and secluded himself as a session musician.

Early solo career: sideman

As a session guitarist, Womack worked at record producer Chips Moman's American Studios in Memphis, and played on recordings by Joe Tex and The Box Tops. Until this point, around 1967, he had had little success as a solo artist, but at American he began to record a string of hit singles, including 1968's "What Is This" (his first chart hit), "It's Gonna Rain" and "More Than I Can Stand". During this period he became known as a songwriter, contributing many songs to Wilson Pickett's repertoire; these include "I'm in Love" and "I'm a Midnight Mover." He also applied guitar work on three of Aretha Franklin's hit-making late 1960s recordings, including Lady Soul, where he played guitar on Franklin's hit, "Chain of Fools". Among his most well-known works as a session musician from this period, his appearance as guitarist on Sly & the Family Stone's 1971 album There's a Riot Goin' On and on Janis Joplin's Pearl, which features a song by Womack and poet Michael McClure entitled "Trust Me". In 1971, on an album with jazz guitarist Gábor Szabó, he introduced his song "Breezin'", which later became a hit for George Benson.

Solo stardom

In 1968, Womack signed with Minit Records and put out his first charted single, "What Is This", following that up with "It's Gonna Rain", "More than I Can Stand", a soul-infused cover of Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon" and his bluesy rendition of The Mamas & the Papas' "California Dreamin'", which gave him his first top 50 pop single.

After moving to the United Artists label in 1971, he released the album Communication, scoring the hit "That's The Way I Feel About Cha", which became his first Top 40 single in 1972.

His follow-up album, Understanding, featured his original rendition of the single "I Can Understand It", which later became a funk hit for the Detroit-based band New Birth, and the Top 10 R&B; hit, "Harry Hippie", loosely based on Womack's late brother Harry, who died two years after the song was recorded. "Harry Hippie" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in Fenruary 1973. Understanding also yielded his first R&B; number one single with "A Woman's Gotta Have It", later to be covered by James Taylor in 1976, returning the favor of having Womack cover his seminal single, "Fire and Rain". In 1973, Womack wrote, produced and recorded the soundtrack album to Across 110th Street, with its title track becoming another successful hit for Womack.

In 1974, Womack reached the pinnacle of pop success when his remake of his old 1962 Valentinos single, "Lookin' for a Love" reached the Top 10 of the pop singles chart. Later hits included the funk singles "Check It Out" and "Daylight" and the single, "You're Welcome, Stop On By", later covered by Rufus featuring Chaka Khan. After 1976, few of Womack's songs hit the charts as he dealt with creative difficulties with his record labels. He left United Artists at the end of 1976, and fell out of favor with R&B; audiences by the end of the 1970s.

In 1981, he made a comeback with the release of The Poet, which included his Top 10 R&B; hit, "If You Think You're Lonely Now". Womack gained a sizable European fan base which grew with the release of 1984's The Poet II, which included the top ten R&B; duet with Patti LaBelle titled "Love Has Finally Come at Last". In 1985, he scored his final Top 10 R&B; single with "I Wish He Didn't Trust Me So Much".

In 1998, Womack performed George Gershwin's "Summertime" with The Roots for the Red Hot Organization's compilation album Red Hot + Rhapsody, a tribute to George Gershwin, which raised money for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS awareness and fighting the disease.

In 2010, Womack contributed lyrics and sang on "Stylo" alongside Mos Def, the first single from the third Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach. Womack was told to sing whatever was on his mind during the recording of "Stylo". "I was in there for an hour going crazy about love and politics, getting it off my chest", said Womack. He also provides vocals on the song "Cloud of Unknowing" in addition to the song "Bobby in Phoenix" on their December 2010 release "The Fall".

Legacy

Jodeci's K-Ci Hailey, a notable admirer of Womack's work, covered "If You Think You're Lonely Now" in 1994. Hailey again covered Womack in 2006 with his rendition of "A Woman's Gotta Have It". The song is referenced in Mariah Carey's song "We Belong Together", a number-one hit in June 2005. Carey sings "I can't sleep at night / When you are on my mind / Bobby Womack's on the radio / Singing to me: 'If you think you're lonely now.'" In 2007, R&B; singer Jaheim interpolated the song as "Lonely" on his album "The Making of a Man". Neo Soul Singer, Calvin Richardson also covered many of Womack's tunes.

Film director Quentin Tarantino used "Across 110th Street" (which, in a different version, had been the title song of the 1972 movie) in the opening and closing sequences of his 1997 film Jackie Brown. His work has been used in several other popular films, including Meet the Parents (2000), Ali (2001) and American Gangster (2007). A 2003 Saab commercial used Womack's interpretation of "California Dreamin'". In 2005, "Across 110th Street" appeared in the hit Activision video game . "Across 110th Street" was used in Rockstar Games video game Thug'z Depression:Live Or Die.

In 2008, Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child recorded her own version of his R&B; hit "Daylight" with Travis McCoy of the Gym Class Heroes, which became a hit in the UK Singles Chart, where it was previously released as a single by Womack in 1976.

Controversy

In March 1965, just three months after Sam Cooke's death, Womack created scandal by marrying Cooke's widow, Barbara Campbell. Womack claimed he married her for fear that, if she were left alone, she would "do something crazy". They divorced in 1970.

Womack's younger brother, Cecil, married Cooke and Campbell's daughter Linda. The controversy derailed Womack's career for some time. Womack and Linda collaborated on the hit song "Woman's Gotta Have It" and he applied background vocals for his brother and Linda as the pair teamed up as Womack & Womack.

Use in film

Womack's 1968 cover of "California Dreamin'" featured prominently in 2009 British film Fish Tank by Andrea Arnold, where the main character Mia dances to it and uses it as her audition piece. The collection CD on which the song appears also plays a role, and is "The Best of Bobby Womack" (2008), on which "California Dreamin'" appears on track 17, as Mia requests at her audition.

Womack's "Across 110th Street" featured in the opening and elsewhere in the film Jackie Brown, directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is used to emphasise the blaxploitation tone of the film. It was used again in the Denzel Washington film, "American Gangster", which depicted the actual circumstances described in the song.

Discography

Artist	Bobby Womack
Studio	26
Live	2
Compilation	9
Singles	47

Studio albums

1968: Fly Me to the Moon (Minit) - US #174, R&B; #34

1969: My Prescription (Minit) - R&B; #44

1971: Communication (United Artists) - US #83, R&B; #7, Jazz #20

1972: Understanding (United Artists) - US #43, R&B; #7

1972: Across 110th Street (United Artists) - US #50, R&B; #6

1973: Facts of Life (United Artists) - US #37, R&B; #6

1974: Lookin' for a Love Again (United Artists) - US #85, R&B; #5

1975: I Don't Know What the World Is Coming To (United Artists) - US #126, R&B; #20

1976: Safety Zone (United Artists) - US #147, R&B; #40

1975: I Can Understand It (United Artists) - same tracks as on Greatest Hits

1976: BW Goes C&W; (United Artists)

1976: Home Is Where the Heart Is (Columbia)

1977: Pieces (Columbia)

1979: Roads of Life (Arista) - R&B; #55

1981: The Poet (Beverly Glen) - US #29, R&B; #1

1984: The Poet II (Beverly Glen) - US #60, R&B; #5, UK #31

1985: So Many Rivers (MCA) - US #66, R&B; #5, UK #28

1985: Someday We'll All Be Free (Beverly Glen) - R&B; #59

1986: Womagic (MCA) - R&B; #68

1987: Last Soul Man (MCA)

1989: Save The Children (Solar)

1994: Soul Seduction Supreme (Castle)

1994: Resurrection (Continuum) - R&B; #91

1999: Back to My Roots (Capitol) - Gospel #27

1999: Traditions (Capitol)

2000: Christmas Album (Indigo) 2004: Fly Me To The Moon/My Prescription on one CD (Stateside Records) |- | rowspan="1"| 1962 |align="left"| "Lookin' For a Love" (with The Valentinos) | 72 | 8 | – |- | rowspan="1"| 1964 |align="left"| "It's All Over Now" (with The Valentinos) | 94 | – | – |- | rowspan="3"| 1968 |align="left"| "California Dreamin'" | 43 | 20 | – |- |align="left"| "Fly Me to the Moon" | 52 | 16 | – |- |align="left"| "What Is This" | – | 33 | – |- | rowspan="3"| 1969 |align="left"| "How I Miss You Baby" | 94 | 13 | – |- |align="left"| "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" | – | 48 | – |- |align="left"| "It's Gonna Rain" | – | 43 | – |- | rowspan="2"| 1970 |align="left"| "I'm Gonna Forget About You" | – | 30 | – |- |align="left"| "More Than I Can Stand" | 90 | 23 | – |- | rowspan="2"| 1971 |align="left"| "Communication" | – | 40 | – |- |align="left"| "The Preacher (Part 2)/More Than I Can Stand" | – | 30 | – |- | rowspan="3"| 1972 |align="left"| "That's The Way I Feel About Cha" | 27 | 2 | – |- |align="left"| "Sweet Caroline (Good Times Never Seemed So Good)" | 51 | 16 | – |- |align="left"| "Woman's Gotta Have It" | 60 | 1 | – |- | rowspan="4"| 1973 |align="left"| "Harry Hippie" | 31 | 8 | – |- |align="left"| "Across 110th Street" | 56 | 19 | – |- |align="left"| "Nobody Wants You When You're Down And Out" | 29 | 2 | – |- |align="left"| "I'm Through Trying To Prove My Love To You" | – | 80 | – |- | rowspan="2"| 1974 |align="left"| "Lookin' For a Love" (solo re-release) | 10 | 1 | – |- |align="left"| "You're Welcome, Stop On By" | 59 | 5 | – |- | rowspan="2"| 1975 |align="left"| "Check It Out" | 91 | 6 | – |- |align="left"| "It's All Over Now" (with Bill Withers) | – | 68 | – |- | rowspan="2"| 1976 |align="left"| "Daylight" | – | 5 | – |- |align="left"| "Where There's A Will, There's A Way" | – | 13 | – |- | rowspan="1"| 1977 |align="left"| "Home Is Where The Heart Is" | – | 43 | – |- | rowspan="1"| 1978 |align="left"| "Trust Your Heart" | – | 47 | – |- | rowspan="1"| 1979 |align="left"| "How Could You Break My Heart" | – | 40 | – |- | rowspan="1"| 1981 |align="left"| "Secrets" | – | 55 | – |- | rowspan="2"| 1982 |align="left"| "If You Think You're Lonely Now" | – | 3 | – |- |align="left"| "Where Do We Go From Here" | – | 26 | – |- | rowspan="3"| 1984 |align="left"| "It Takes a Lot of Strength to Say Goodbye" | – | 76 | – |- |align="left"| "Love Has Finally Come at Last" (with Patti LaBelle) | 88 | 3 | – |- |align="left"| "Tell Me Why" | – | 54 | 60 |- | rowspan="3"| 1985 |align="left"| "I Wish He Didn't Trust Me So Much" | – | 2 | 64 |- |align="left"| "Let Me Kiss It Where It Hurts" | – | 50 | – |- |align="left"| "Someday We'll All Be Free" | – | 74 | – |- | rowspan="1"| 1986 |align="left"| "(I Wanna) Make Love to You" | – | 57 | - |- | rowspan="3"| 1987 |align="left"| "How Could You Break My Heart" (UK-only release of 1979 single) | – | – | - |- |align="left"| "So The Story Goes" (with Living in a Box) | 81 | – | 34 |- |align="left"| "Living in a Box" | – | – | 70 |- | rowspan="1"| 1989 |align="left"| "Save the Children" | – | 83 | – |- | rowspan="1"| 1991 |align="left"| "I Wish I'd Never Met You" (with Mica Paris) | – | – | – |- | rowspan="1"| 1993 |align="left"| "I'm Back For More" (with Lulu) | – | – | 27 |- | rowspan="1"| 1995 |align="left"| "It's A Man's Man's Man's World" (with Jeanie Tracy) | – | – | 73 |- | rowspan="1"| 2004 |align="left"| "California Dreamin'" (re-release) | – | – | 59 |- | rowspan="1"| 2010 |align="left"| "Stylo" (with Gorillaz) | - | – | – |- | rowspan="1"| 2010 |align="left"| "Cloud of Unknowing" (with Gorillaz) | - | – | – |- | rowspan="1"| 2010 |align="left"| "Bobby In Phoenix" ("with Gorillaz") |}

Quotation

NME - March 1976

Awards/Nominations

Grammy Awards

*2011, Best Short-Form Music Video: "Stylo" shared w/ Mos Def & Gorillaz (Nominated)

References

External links

[ Allmusic Entry]

Bobby Womack interview by Pete Lewis, 'Blues & Soul' August 1994 (republished June 2008)

Angelfire Biography

Soul Patrol Biography

Soulwalking website

Category:1944 births Category:Living people Category:People from Cleveland, Ohio Category:Musicians from Ohio Category:African American musicians Category:African American singers Category:American baritones Category:American funk musicians Category:American funk guitarists Category:American funk singers Category:American rhythm and blues guitarists Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American soul guitarists Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American record producers Category:American soul singers Category:The Valentinos members Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees