The Songwriters Hall of Fame is an arm of the National Academy of Popular Music. It was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and music publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. The goal is to create a museum but as of April, 2008, the means do not yet exist and so instead it is an online virtual museum, striving toward that goal. It has an office in New York City, United States, and holds workshops, showcases, and provides scholarships to promising artists to help develop new songwriting talent.

New inductees are voted on annually. At each annual event, gifted and promising songwriters are awarded a scholarship called the Abe Olman Publisher's Award for Excellence in Songwriting, named for one of the founding members.

Alongside the induction of new songwriters are a variety of awards. Currently, the awards are the "Hal David Starlight Award" (for young artists who have already made an impression on the music industry), the "Johnny Mercer Award" (for artists who are already on the Songwriters Hall of Fame and have a number of outstanding works), the "Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award" (an award given to songwriters who have done a lot to increase the success of songs), "Abe Olman Publisher Award" (awarded to publishers who have had a lot of "famous" pieces) and the "Towering Song/Towering Performance" Awards.

To date there have been 345 individuals inducted into the SHOF, with the British rock band Queen and the American band Crosby, Stills & Nash being the only bands (rather than an individual) to ever be inducted into the hall of fame.

Members

A

Adams, Lee (1989)

Adamson, Harold (1972)

Adler, Richard (1984)

Ager, Milton (1972)

Ahlert, Fred (1970)

Akst, Harry (1983)

Alter, Louis (1975)

Anderson, Leroy (1988)

Anka, Paul (1993)

Arlen, Harold (1971)

Ashford, Nickolas (2002)

Aznavour, Charles (1996)

B

Bacharach, Burt (1971)

Ball, Ernest (1970)

Barry, Jeff (1991)

Barry, John (1998)

Bartholomew, Dave (1998)

Bates, Katharine Lee (1970)

Bell, Thom (2006)

Benjamin, Bennie (1984)

Bergman, Alan (1980)

Bergman, Marilyn (1980)

Berlin, Irving (1970)

Bernstein, Leonard (1971)

Berry, Chuck (1986)

Billings, William (1970)

Black, Don (2007)

Blackwell, Otis (1991)

Bland, James (1970)

Blane, Ralph (1983)

Bloom, Rube (1982)

Bock, Jerry (1971)

Bon Jovi, Jon (2009)

Bricusse, Leslie (1989)

Brockman, James (1970)

Brooks, Garth (2002)

Browne, Jackson (2007)

Brown, James (2000)

Brown, Lew (1970)

Brown, Nacio Herb (1970)

Bryan, Alfred (1970)

Bryant, Boudleaux (1986)

Bryant, Felice (1986)

Burgie, Irving (2007)

Burke, Joe (1970)

Burke, Johnny (1970)

C

Caesar, Irving (1972)

Cahn, Sammy (1972)

Cash, Johnny (1977)

Caldwell, Anne (1970)

Carmichael, Hoagy (1971)

Carey, Mariah (2007)

Carroll, Harry (1970)

Chaplin, Saul (1985)

Clapton, Eric (2001)

Clare, Sidney (1970)

Cobain, Kurt (1996)

Cohan, George M. (1970)

Cohen, Leonard (2010)

Coleman, Cy (1981)

Collins, Phil (2003)

Comden, Betty (1980)

Conrad, Con (1970)

Cooke, Sam (1987)

Coots, J. Fred (1972)

Cosby, Henry (2006)

Coslow, Sam (1970)

Coward, Sir Noel (1988)

Creed, Linda (1992)

Crewe, Bob (1985)

Croce, Jim (1990)

Cropper, Steve (2005)

D

Danks, Hart P. (1970)

Darin, Bobby (1999)

David, Hal (1972)

David, Mack (1975)

Davis, Benny (1975)

Davis, Marc (2006)

Davis, Mac (2006)

Deacon, John (2003 as part of Queen)

De Koven, Reginald (1970)

DeLange, Eddie (1989)

Denver, John (1996)

De Paul, Gene (1985)

De Rose, Peter (1970)

De Sylva, B.G. (Buddy) (1970)

Diamond, Neil (1984)

Dietz, Howard (1972)

Dixon, Mort (1970)

Domino Jr., Antoine ("Fats") (1998)

Donaldson, Walter (1970)

Dozier, Lamont (1988)

Drake, Ervin (1983)

Dresser, Paul (1970)

Dreyer, Dave (1970)

Dubin, Al (1970)

Duke, Vernon (1970)

Dylan, Bob (1982)

E

Ebb, Fred (1983)

Edwards, Gus (The Star Maker) (1970)

Egan, Raymond B. (1970)

Eliscu, Edward (1975)

Ellington, Duke (1971)

Emmett, Daniel Decatur (1970)

Evans, Ray (1977)

F

Fain, Sammy (1972)

Fields, Dorothy (1971)

Fiorito, Ted (1970)

Fisher, Fred (1970)

Fogerty, John (2005)

Foster, Stephen (1970)

Fox, Charles (2004)

Freed, Arthur (1972)

Frey, Glenn (2000)

Friml, Rudolf (1971)

G

Gamble, Kenneth (1995)

Gaudio, Bob (1995)

Gershwin, George (1970)

Gershwin, Ira (1971)

Gibb, Barry (1994)

Gibb, Maurice (1994)

Gibb, Robin (1994)

Gilbert, L. Wolfe (1970)

Gillespie, Haven (1972)

Gilmore, Patrick S. (1970)

Gimbel, Norman (1984)

Goffin, Gerry (1987)

Gordon, Mack (1970)

Green, Adolph (1980)

Green, Al (2004)

Green, Bud (1975)

Green, John (1972)

Greenfield, Howard (1991)

Greenwich, Ellie (1991)

Grofe, Ferde (1970)

Guthrie, Woody (1970)

H

Hall, Daryl (2004)

Hamlisch, Marvin (1986)

Hammerstein II, Oscar (1970)

Handman, Lou (1975)

Handy, W.C. (Father of the Blues) (1970)

Hanley, James F. (1970)

Harbach, Otto (1970)

Harburg, E.Y. ("Yip") (1971)

Harnick, Sheldon (1971)

Harris, Charles K. (1970)

Hart, Lorenz (Larry) (1970)

Hayes, Isaac (2005)

Henderson, Ray (1970)

Henley, Don (2000)

Herbert, Victor (1970)

Herman, Jerry (1982)

Heyman, Edward (1975)

Hilliard, Bob (1983)

Hoffman, Al (1984)

Holland, Brian (1988)

Holland, Edward (1988)

Holly, Buddy (1986)

Howard, Harlan (1997)

Huff, Leon (1995)

J

Jackson, Michael (2002)

Jacobs Bond, Carrie (1970)

Jagger, Sir Mick (1993)

Jenkins, Gordon (1982)

Jennings, Will (2006)

Jobim, Antonio Carlos (1991)

Joel, Billy (1992)

John, Sir Elton (1992)

Johnson, Howard (1970)

Johnson, James P. (1970)

Johnson, James W. (1970)

Johnston, Arthur (1970)

Jones, Isham (1970)

Joplin, Scott (1970)

K

Kaempfert, Bert (1993)

Kahal, Irving (1970)

Kahn, Gus (1970)

Kalmar, Bert (1970)

Kander, John (1983)

Keidis, Anthony

Kennedy, Jimmy (1997)

Kern, Jerome (1970)

Key, Francis Scott (1970)

King, Carole (1987)

Koehler, Ted (1972)

Kristofferson, Kris (1986)

L

Lane, Burton (1972)

Lawrence, Jack (1975)

Lecuona, Ernesto (1997)

Ledbetter, Huddie (1970)

Lee, Peggy (1999)

Legrand, Michel (1990)

Leiber, Jerry (1985)

Leigh, Carolyn (1985)

Lennon, John (1987)

Lerner, Alan Jay (1971)

Leslie, Edgar (1972)

Lewis, Sam (1970)

Little Richard (2003)

Livingston, Jay (1977)

Livingston, Jerry (1981)

Loesser, Frank (1970)

Loewe, Frederick (1972)

M

MacDonald, Ballard (1970)

Madden, Edward (1970)

Magidson, Herb (1980)

Mancini, Henry (1984)

Manilow, Barry (2002)

Mann, Barry (1987)

Marks, Johnny (1981)

Martin, Hugh (1983)

Masser, Michael (2007)

May, Brian (2003 as part of Queen)

Mayfield, Curtis (2000)

Mayer, John (2009)

McCarthy, Joseph (1970)

McCartney, Sir Paul (1987)

McHugh, Jimmy (1970)

McLean, Don (2004)

Mercer, Johnny (1971)

Mercury, Freddie (2003 as part of Queen)

Merrill, Bob (1987)

Meyer, George W. (1970)

Meyer, Joseph (1972)

Mitchell, Joni (1997)

Monaco, Jimmy (1970)

Moret, Neil (1970)

Morrison, Van (2003)

Morse, Theodore (1970)

Moy, Sylvia (2006)

Muir, Lewis F. (1970)

N

Nelson, Willie (2001)

Nevin, Ethelbert (1970)

Newley, Anthony (1989)

Newman, Randy (2002)

Noble, Ray (1996)

Norworth, Jack (1970)

O

Oates, John (2004)

Olcott, Chauncey (1970)

Orbison, Roy (1989)

P

Parish, Mitchell (1972)

Parton, Dolly (2001)

Payne, John Howard (1970)

Pierpont, J.S. (1970)

Pinkard, Maceo (1984)

Pisavadia, Andrew (2008)

Pollack, Lew (1970)

Pomus, Jerome "Doc" (1992)

Porter, Cole (1970)

Porter, David (2005)

Pruett, Jordan (2010)

Q

Queen (2003)

R

Rainger, Ralph (1970)

Randazzo, Teddy (2007)

Raye, Don (1985)

Razaf, Andy (1972)

Redding, Otis (1994)

Rehbein, Herb (1993)

Revel, Harry (1970)

Rexford, Eben E. (1970)

Rice, Sir Tim (1999)

Richards, Keith (1993)

Richie, Lionel (1994)

Robin, Leo (1972)

Robinson, Smokey (1990)

Rodgers, Jimmie (1970)

Rodgers, Richard (1970)

Romberg, Sigmund (1970)

Rome, Harold (1982)

Root, George F. (1970)

Rose, Billy (1970)

Rose, Fred (1985)

Rose, Vincent (1970)

Ross, Jerry (1982)

Ruby, Harry (1970)

Russell, Bob (1970)

Rzeznik, John (2008)

S

Sager, Carole Bayer (1987)

Sambora, Richie (2009)

Schwartz, Arthur (1972)

Schwartz, Jean (1970)

Sedaka, Neil (1983)

Seeger, Pete (1972)

Sherman, Richard M. (2005)

Sherman, Robert B. (2005)

Shuman, Mort (1992)

Sigman, Carl (1972)

Simon, Carly (1994)

Simon, Paul (1982)

Simpson, Valerie (2002)

Smith, Harry B. (1970)

Smith, Samuel Francis (1970)

Snider, Todd (2008)

Snyder, Ted (1970)

Sondheim, Stephen (1975)

Sousa, John Phillip (1970)

Spackman, Richard J. (2008)

Spector, Phil (1997)

Springsteen, Bruce (1999)

Steiner, Max (1995)

Sterling, Andrew B. (1970)

Stillman, Al (1982)

Sting (2002)

Stock, Larry (1998)

Stoller, Mike (1985)

Strayhorn, Billy (1984)

Strong, Barrett (2004)

Strouse, Charles (1985)

Styne, Jule (1972)

T

Tierney, Harry A. (1970)

Taupin, Bernie (1992)

Taylor, James (2000)

Taylor, Roger (2003 as part of Queen)

Thomas, Rob (2004)

Tobias, Charles (1970)

Tobias, Harry (1983)

Turk, Roy (1970)

V

Van Alstyne, Egbert (1970)

Van Heusen, Jimmy (1971)

Von Tilzer, Albert (1970)

Von Tilzer, Harry (1970)

W

Waller, Thomas ("Fats") (1970)

Ward, Samuel A. (1970)

Warren, Diane (2001)

Warren, Harry (1971)

Washington, Ned (1972)

Wayne, Mabel (1972)

Webb, Jimmy (1986)

Webber, Andrew Lloyd (1995)

Webster, Paul Francis (1972)

Weil, Cynthia (1987)

Weil, Michael (2006)

Weill, Kurt (1970)

Weinstein, Bobby (2007)

Weiss, George David (1984)

Wenrich, Percy (1970)

Whitfield, Norman (2004)

Whiting, Richard (1970)

Wilder, Alec (1983)

Williams, Clarence (1970)

Williams, Hank (1970)

Williams, John (1998)

Williams, Paul (2001)

Williams, Spencer (1970)

Willson, Meredith (1982)

Wilson, Brian (2002)

Winner, Septimus (Sep) (1970)

Withers, Bill (2005)

Wonder, Stevie (1983)

Woods, Harry M. (1970)

Work, Henry C. (1970)

Wrubel, Allie (1970)

Y

Yellen, Jack (1972)

Youmans, Vincent (1970)

Young, Joe (1970)

Young, Rida Johnson (1970)

Young, Victor (1970)

References

See also

Inductees of the Songwriters Hall of Fame

:Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame

External links

Songwriters Hall of Fame

Category:Awards established in 1969

Name	Loretta Lynn
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Loretta Ramey
Alias	The Coal Miner's Daughter
Born	April 14, 1932
Origin	Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, USA
Instrument	Vocals, Guitar
Genre	Country, honky tonk, gospel
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, Actress author
Years active	1960–present
Label	Zero (1960) Decca/MCA (1961 - 1989) Columbia (1993) Audium (2000) Interscope (2004)
Associated acts	Ernest Tubb, Patsy Cline, Conway Twitty, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, Tammy Wynette, Jack White, Crystal Gayle, Peggy Sue, The Lynns,
Url	Loretta Lynn Official Site

Loretta Lynn (born Loretta Webb on April 14, 1932) is an American actress, country music singer-songwriter, author, business woman, and philanthropist from Kentucky; she was one of the leading country vocalists and songwriters during the 1960s, and continues to be one of the most successful vocalists of all time.

In the '60s and '70s, Lynn achieved over 70 hits as a solo artist and a duet partner.

Her best-selling 1976 autobiography, Coal Miner's Daughter, was made into a hit Academy Award-winning film starring Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones in 1980.

Including solo and duet work, Loretta Lynn has released 16 number one country hits over the course of her career.

Childhood and early adulthood

Born to Melvin "Ted" Webb (1906–1959) and Clara Marie (Ramey) Webb (1912–1981) and named in honor of Loretta Young, Loretta Webb was the second of eight children; her youngest sister is country singer Crystal Gayle. She is also, on her mother's side, distantly related to country singer Patty Loveless. Lynn grew up in Butcher Holler, a section of Van Lear, a mining community near Paintsville, Johnson County, Kentucky. Her mother, Clara, was of Scots-Irish and Cherokee ancestry. Her father, Ted, was a coal miner, storekeeper, and farmer. She was married to Oliver Vanetta Lynn, commonly known as "Doolittle," "Doo," or "Mooney" (for running moonshine), on January 10, 1948, at 13 years of age. In an effort to break free of the coal mining industry, Lynn moved to the logging community Custer, Washington, with her husband, at the age of 14. The Lynns had six children - Betty Sue, Jack Benny, Cissy, Ernest Ray, and twins Peggy and Patsy (named after Patsy Cline).

Lynn always had a passion for music. Before getting married, she regularly sang at churches and in local concerts. After she married, she stopped singing in public, wishing rather to focus on her family life. Instead, she passed her love of music on to her children, often singing to them around the house. When Loretta was 24, Doolittle bought her a guitar as an anniversary present, which she taught herself to play.

Even though they were married for nearly 50 years and had six children together, Lynn and her husband also fought frequently, but, she said, "he never hit me one time that I didn’t hit him back twice."

Zero Records president Don Grashey arranged a recording session in Hollywood, where four of Lynn's own compositions were recorded: "I'm A Honky Tonk Girl," "Whispering Sea," "Heartache Meet Mister Blues," and "New Rainbow." Her first release featured "Whispering Sea" and "I'm A Honky Tonk Girl." Musicians backing her on the single included 17 dollar acoustic guitarist Speedy West and guitarist Roy Lanham. With Zero's initial support, Lynn went on to become one of country music’s greats.

Lynn signed her first contract on February 1, 1960, with Zero Records. She recorded her first release in March of that year, with bandleader Speedy West on steel guitar, Harold Hensely on fiddle, Roy Lanham on guitar, on bass, and Muddy Berry on drums. The material was recorded at United Western Recorders, in Hollywood, CA and engineered by Don Blake and produced by Grashey.

In 1960, under the Zero label, Lynn recorded "I'm A Honky Tonk Girl." The Lynns toured the country to promote the release to country stations, In the latter half of the decade, although she still worked within the confines of honky tonk, her sound became more personal, varied, and ambitious, particularly lyrically. Beginning with 1966's Number 2 hit "You Ain't Woman Enough," Lynn began writing songs with a feminist viewpoint, which was unheard of in country music.

1967 – 1980: Breakthrough success

In 1967, she reached #1 with "Don't Come Home A' Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)". Lynn's album, Don't Come Home A' Drinkin, went to number one and became one of the first albums by a female country artist to reach sales of 500,000 copies. Lynn's next album, Fist City was released in 1968. The title track became Lynn's second #1 hit, as a single in earlier that year, and the other single from the album, "What Kind of a Girl (Do You Think I Am)" peaked within the Top 10. In 1968 her next studio album, Your Squaw Is on the Warpath spawned two Top 5 Country hits, the title track and "You've Just Stepped In (From Stepping Out on Me)". In 1969 her next single, "Woman of the World (Leave My World Alone)" was Lynn's third chart-topper, followed by a subsequent Top 10, "To Make a Man (Feel Like a Man)".

Lynn was reportedly once inspired to write a song about a real woman who she suspected was flirting with her husband. The song, "You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man)" was an instant hit and became one of Lynn's all-time best. Despite some criticism, Lynn's openness and honesty drew fans from around the nation, including some who were not previously familiar with country music.

Lynn's career continued to be successful into the 1970s, especially following the success of Lynn's hit "Coal Miner's Daughter", which peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Chart in 1970. "Coal Miner's Daughter" tells the story of Lynn's life growing up in rural Butcher Hollow, Kentucky. The song would later serve as the impetus for the best-selling biography (1976) and the Oscar-winning biopic starring Sissy Spacek (1980), both of which share the song's title. The song became Lynn's first single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #83. Lynn would have a series of singles that would chart low on the Hot 100 between 1970 and 1975.

In 1971, she began a professional partnership with Conway Twitty. As a duo, Lynn and Twitty had five consecutive Number 1 hits between 1971 and 1975: "After the Fire Is Gone" (1971), "Lead Me On" (1971), "Lousiana Woman, Mississippi Man" (1973), "As Soon as I Hang Up the Phone" (1974), and "Feelins'" (1974). The hit-streak kick-started what would become one of the most successful duos of country history. For four consecutive years (1972–1975), Lynn and Twitty were named the "Vocal Duo of the Year" by the Country Music Association. In addition to their five Number 1 singles, they had seven other Top 10 hits between 1976 and 1981. In 1973, "Rated X" peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Chart, and was considered one of Lynn's most controversial hits. The next year Lynn's next single, "Love Is the Foundation" also became a #1 Country hit from her album of the same name. The second and last single from that album, "Hey Loretta" became a Top 5 hit. Lynn continued to reach the Top 10 until the end of the decade, including with 1975's "The Pill", considered to be the first song to discuss birth control, other than an obscure 1967 song in French, Pilule d'Or (The Golden Pill) by Luc Dominique, the former Singing Nun.

Her unique material, which sassily and bluntly addressed issues in the lives of many women (particularly in the South), made her stand out among female country vocalists. As a songwriter, Lynn believed no topic was off limits, as long as it spoke to other women, and many of her songs were autobiographical. Her 1980 and 1981 albums, Loretta and Lookin' Good spawned these hits. Lynn was the first woman in country music to have 50 Top 10 hits. Her last Top 10 record as a soloist was "I Lie" in 1982, but her releases continued to chart until the end of the decade. Lynn continued to have Top 20 hits throughout the 1980s. One of her last solo releases was 1985's "Heart Don't Do This to Me," which reached #19; her last Top 20 hit. In 1993, Lynn stopped releasing singles and focused more on touring than promoting. As a concert artist, she remained a top draw throughout her career, but by the early 1990s she drastically cut down the number of personal appearances due to the fragile health of her husband, who died in 1996.

Lynn's 1985 album, Just a Woman spawned a Top 40 hit. In 1987, Lynn lent her voice to a song on k.d. Lang's album, Shadowland with other Country stars, Kitty Wells and Brenda Lee called "Honky Tonk Angels Medley".

Lynn's 1988 album Who Was That Stranger would be her last solo album for a major record company until 2004. She remained one of country music’s most popular and well-loved stars. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988.

1990 – present: Later music career

Lynn returned to the public eye in 1993 with the trio album Honky Tonk Angels, recorded with Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette, and the following year released a three-CD boxed set chronicling her career. In 1995, she taped a seven-week series on the Nashville Network (TNN) titled Loretta Lynn & Friends, and performed about 50 dates that year as well. The album's charting single, a cover of "Silver Threads and Golden Needles" reached #68. The album became very successful for the trio, peaking at #6 on the Top Country Albums chart and #42 on the main Billboard album chart. It sold over 800,000 copies in the United States, earning them a "Gold"-certified album by the RIAA shortly after its release.

In 1996, Lynn lost her husband of 50 years, Moony Lynn.

In 2000, Lynn released her first album in several years, entitled Still Country. In it, she included a song, "I Can't Hear the Music," as a tribute to her late husband. She also released her first new single in over 10 years from the album, "Country In My Genes". While the album gained positive critical notices, sales were low in comparison with her releases in the 1970s. In 2002, Lynn published her second autobiography, Still Woman Enough, and in 2004, she published a cookbook, You're Cookin' It Country.

In 2004, Lynn made a comeback with the highly successful album Van Lear Rose, the second album on which Lynn either wrote or co-wrote every song. The album was produced by her "friend forever" Jack White of The White Stripes, and featured guitar work and backup vocals by White. Her collaboration with White allowed Lynn to reach new audiences and generations, even garnering high praise in magazines that specialize in mainstream and alternative rock music, such as Spin and Blender. Rolling Stone voted the album the second best of the year for 2004. (White has long been an admirer of Lynn and claims she is his favorite singer. He has covered several songs of hers, including the controversial "Rated X.")

"Have Mercy" by Lynn was featured in the first season for the television series Hung (TV series) and included on the Hung (television soundtrack) in 2010.

Loretta Lynn is working on the follow-up to 2004's Van Lear Rose, plus a new CD of re-recorded versions of some of her hits over the past 45 years. She is hoping to release both CDs by the end of 2010.

On November 9, 2010, Lynn released a new album titled Loretta Lynn: A Tribute to a Coal Miner's Daughter, featuring stars like Reba McEntire, Faith Hill and Carrie Underwood to re-record Loretta's hits over the past 50 years.

Personal life

Marriage and children

Lynn was married to Doolittle "Doo" Lynn from 1948 until his death in 1996. They were married shortly before she reached the age of 14, in Kentucky. The Lynn family had four children before she turned 19, and then had twins in the early 60s: Peggy and Patsy Lynn. Patsy Lynn was named in honor of Patsy Cline. Lynn's twin daughters formed their own Country music duo group, The Lynns, in 1998, released two singles off their debut album on Reprise Records, and were nominated for "Vocal Duo of the Year" by the Country Music Association.

One of Lynn's granddaughters, Tayla, is one-third of the group Stealing Angels.

On July 22, 1984, Jack Benny Lynn, Loretta's eldest son, drowned while trying to ford the Duck River at the family ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. He was 34.

Family

Lynn is the second of eight children. Some of her siblings, including Jay Lee Webb and Peggy Sue, have pursued short-lived country music careers in the past. The most successful of Lynn's siblings to gain success on the Country charts is Crystal Gayle, who is best-known for a series of Country-pop crossover ballads in the late 70s and 80s, including the #1 Country and #2 Pop hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". Gayle had other #1 hits as well. Gayle and Lynn have previously toured together. Lynn is also distantly related to country singer Patty Loveless, who was raised around the same area Lynn had been raised as a child.

Current home and life

Lynn owns a ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, billed as "The 7th Largest Attraction in Tennessee," featuring a recording studio, museums, lodging, and other attractions. The ranch is centered around her large plantation home, along with a replica of her Butcher Hollar cabin. She no longer lives in the plantation home, but tours of the house are available. The house is said to be haunted. In 2006, Lynn underwent shoulder surgery after injuring herself in a fall.

Honors and awards

Lynn has written over 160 songs and released 70 albums. She has had ten Number 1 albums and sixteen Number 1 singles on the country charts. Lynn has won dozens of awards from many different institutions, including four Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, eight Broadcast Music Incorporated awards, and ten Academy of Country Music awards.

In 1972, Lynn was the first woman named "Entertainer of the Year" by the Country Music Association, and is one of six women to have received CMA's highest award. She was named "Artist of the Decade" for the 1970s by the Academy of Country Music. Lynn was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1999. She was also the recipient of Kennedy Center Honors in 2003. Lynn is also ranked 65th on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2001, "Coal Miner's Daughter" was named among NPR's "100 Most Significant Songs of the 20th Century". In 2002, Lynn placed at #3 on CMT television's special of the 40 Greatest Women of Country Music, hosted by Billy Campbell. At Number 1 was Lynn's friend and mentor, Patsy Cline.

Celebrating Women's History Month 2004 at the State Capitol Rotunda in Frankfort, Kentucky, the Kentucky Commission on Women honored Loretta Lynn as an outstanding role model. Her portrait by Alison Lyne hangs in the Kentucky Women Remembered exhibit in the West Wing of the Capitol.

On November 4, 2004, Loretta Lynn, who has been a BMI affiliate for over 45 years, was honored as a BMI Icon at the BMI Country Awards.

On March 17, 2007, Berklee College of Music presented Lynn an Honorary Doctorate of Music degree for her contribution to the world of country music. The degree was presented to her on stage at the Grand Ole Opry. In 2008 Loretta Lynn was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York City. To date Lynn has been inducted into more music Hall Of Fames than any other female recording artist. 2010 saw the country music icon receiving the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for her 50 years in country music.

Loretta Lynn appeared at the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on November 10, 2010 and was honored for fifty years in country music.

Controversies and Politics

In her heyday, Lynn was not a stranger to controversy. She possibly had more banned songs than any other artist in the history of country music, including "Rated X," about the double standards divorced women face, "Wings Upon Your Horns," about the loss of teenage virginity, and "The Pill," lyrics by T. D. Bayless, about a wife and mother becoming liberated via the birth control pill. Her song "Dear Uncle Sam," released in 1966 during the Vietnam War, describes a wife's anguish at the loss of a husband to war. It has been included in live performances during the current Iraq War. However, her approach has been more nonpartisan than apolitical. She has visited the White House six times since 1976, under both Republican and Democratic presidents and in her autobiography, said her father was a Republican and her mother was a Democrat. In 2002's Still Woman Enough, she discusses her longtime friendship and support for Jimmy Carter, yet during the same time period made her only recorded political donations ($4,300) to Republican candidates and Republican-aligned PACs. She is known to have a friendly relationship with both George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, who awarded her Kennedy Center Honors in 2003 At other times, she has also questioned both political parties: "Dear Uncle Sam" was written in 1966 during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration to "recount the human costs of the Vietnam War", and made a return to her live sets during the Iraq War under George W. Bush's presidency.

While a recognized "advocate for ordinary women", she is also famously suspicious of the bra-burning Women's Liberation movement. She once stated, "I'm not a big fan of Women's Liberation, but maybe it will help women stand up for the respect they're due." Along these lines, her music has spanned from "The Pill" and "Rated X" to more culturally-conservative gospel albums.

Discography

Albums:

1963: Loretta Lynn Sings

1964: Before I'm Over You

1965: Songs from My Heart

1965: Hymns

1965: Blue Kentucky Girl

1965: Mr. & Mrs. Used to Be

1966: I Like 'em Country

1966: You Ain't Woman Enough

1966: A Country Christmas

1967: Don't Come Home a Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind) (US: Gold)

1967: Ernest Tubb & Loretta Lynn Singin' Again

1967: Singin' With Feelin'

1968: Fist City

1968: Who Says God Is Dead!

1968: Loretta Lynn's Greatest Hits (US: Gold)

1969: Your Squaw Is on the Warpath

1969: If We Put Our Heads Together

1969: Woman of the World / To Make a Man

1970: Wings Upon Your Horns

1970: Loretta Lynn Writes 'em & Sings 'em

1970: Coal Miner's Daughter (US: Gold)

1971: I Wanna Be Free

1971: We Only Make Believe (US: Gold)

1971: You're Lookin' At Country

1972: Lead Me On (US: Gold)

1972: One's on the Way

1972: God Bless America Again

1972: Here I Am Again

1973: Entertainer of the Year - Loretta

1973: Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man

1973: Love Is the Foundation

1974: They Don't Make 'em Like My Daddy

1974: Country Partners

1974: Loretta Lynn's Greatest Hits Vol. II (US: Gold)

1975: Back To The Country

1975: Feelin's

1975: Home

1976: When the Tingle Becomes a Chill

1976: United Talent

1976: Somebody, Somewhere

1977: I Remember Patsy

1977: Dynamic Duo

1978: Out of My Head and Back in Bed

1978: Honky Tonk Heroes

1979: We've Come a Long Way Baby

1979: Diamond Duet

1979: The Very Best of Loretta and Conway (US: Gold)

1979: All My Best

1980: Loretta

1980: Lookin' Good

1981: Two's a Party

1981: I Lie

1982: Making Love From Memory

1983: Lyin', Cheatin', Woman Chasin' Honky Tonkin', Whiskey Drinkin' You

1985: Just a Woman

1987: 20 Greatest Hits (With Conwat Twitty)

1988: Who Was That Stranger

1988: 20 Greatest Hits

1989: Makin' Believe

1990: Peace in the Valley

1991: Country Music Hall of Fame Series

1993: Honky Tonk Angels (US: Gold)

1994: Honky Tonk Girl: The Loretta Lynn Collection

2000: Still Country

2002: All-Time Greatest Hits

2004: Van Lear Rose

2005: The Definitive Collection

2006: Gold

2007: Number 1's

2010: 50th Anniversary Collection

2010:

See also

Academy of Country Music

List of country musicians

Country Music Hall of Fame

Coal Miner's Daughter a biographical film about Lynn, starring Sissy Spacek which earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress

Collaborations

Performed with Sheryl Crow and Miranda Lambert on the song "Coal Miner's Daughter" from (2010).

References

Further reading

In The Country of Country: A Journey to the Roots of American Music, Nicholas Dawidoff, Vintage Books, 1998. ISBN 0-375-70082-X

Are You Ready for the Country: Elvis, Dylan, Parsons and the Roots of Country Rock, Peter Dogget, Penguin Books, 2001. ISBN 0-14-026108-7

Dreaming Out Loud: Garth Brooks, Wynonna Judd, Wade Hayes and the changing face of Nashville, Bruce Feiler, Avon Books, 1998. ISBN 0-380-97578-5

External links

Loretta Lynn's Radio appearance on "The Motley Fool"

Loretta Lynn at the Country Music Hall of Fame

Loretta Lynn at the Grand Ole Opry

Official Website of the Van Lear, Kentucky Historical Society, Inc.

60 Minutes II interview with Loretta Lynn and Jack White

Category:1932 births Category:Living people Category:American country singers Category:American female singers Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American female guitarists Category:Songwriters from Kentucky Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Feminist artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:Decca Records artists Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Appalachian culture Category:Musicians from Kentucky Category:People from Johnson County, Kentucky Category:People from Whatcom County, Washington Category:Writers from Kentucky Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent Category:History of women in Kentucky

Name	Raphael Saadiq
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Charles Ray Wiggins|Born = May 14, 1966
Origin	Oakland, California, United States
Instrument	Vocals, bass guitar, guitar, keyboards
Genre	R&B;, soul, rock, hip hop
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, producer
Years active	1983-present
Label	Pookie Entertainment/Columbia Records, Sony
Associated acts	Tony! Toni! Toné!, Lucy Pearl, Joss Stone

Raphael Saadiq (born Charlie Ray Wiggins in Oakland, California; May 14, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Saadiq has been a standard bearer for "old school" R&B; since his early days as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné! He also produced songs of such artists as Joss Stone, D'Angelo, TLC, Mary J. Blige, and John Legend. He and D'Angelo were occasional members of The Ummah, a music production collective, composed of members Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest, and the late Jay Dee (also known as J Dilla) of the Detroit-based group Slum Village.

Saadiq's latest critically acclaimed album, The Way I See It, released on September 16, 2008, featuring artists Stevie Wonder, Joss Stone and Jay-Z, received three Grammy Award Nominations and voted Best Album on iTunes of 2008.

Early life

Saadiq was born in Oakland, California, the second-youngest of 14 siblings and half-siblings. His early life was marked by tragedy; he experienced the deaths of several of his siblings as a young child. When Saadiq was seven years old, his brother was murdered. One of his brothers overdosed on heroin and another committed suicide because he was unable to deal with his addiction to the drug. His sister died as a result of a car crash during a police chase in a residential neighborhood. Saadiq states that he does not want his music to be reflective of the tragedies he experienced, saying that "And through all of that I was makin' records, but it wasn't comin' out in the music. I did it to kinda show people you can have some real tough things happen in your life, but you don't have to wear it on your sleeve." At the age of 12, he joined a group called "The Gospel Humminbirds". In 1984, shortly before his eighteenth birthday, Saadiq heard about tryouts in San Francisco for Sheila E.'s backing band on Prince's Parade Tour. At the audition, he chose the name "Raphael", and had difficulty remembering to respond to the name when he heard that he got the part to play bass in the band. As he confirmed by telling noted R&B; writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning 'Blues & Soul' in May 2009, "I just wanted to have my own identity!"

Tony! Toni! Toné would become major R&B; superstars throughout the late-1980s and 1990s. However, after the 1996 album entitled House of Music, which did produce several hits, nonetheless failed to duplicate previous success, Tony! Toni! Toné! went their separate ways.

Lucy Pearl

In 1999, Saadiq's next big project became the R&B; supergroup Lucy Pearl. He recorded the self-titled album with Dawn Robinson (En Vogue) and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest). The group only lasted for one album.

Solo work

"Ask of You"

In 1995, Saadiq had his biggest solo hit to date, when "Ask of You", featured on the Higher Learning Soundtrack peaked at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the R&B; chart. In 1997, Saadiq hooked up with EPMD for the tune "Da Joint". Two years later, he teamed up with Q-Tip for another minor hit, "Get Involved", which was featured on the animated TV series The PJs and on its soundtrack.

Instant Vintage

He released his first solo album Instant Vintage in 2002 and earned 5 Grammy nominations.

Ray Ray

Released the album Ray Ray in 2004 on his own record label Pookie Entertainment.

All the Hits at the House of Blues

Released a 2 disc live album All The Hits AT The House of Blues in 2003 on his own record label Pookie Entertainment.

The Way I See It

Saadiq's latest release, his third solo album, The Way I See It, released on Columbia Records on September 16, 2008, available in a collector's edition box set of 7" 45 rpm singles as well as on traditional CD, was critically well-received, made several critics' 2008 best albums lists, and garnered three Grammy nominations including Best R&B; Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals (for "Never Give You Up", featuring Stevie Wonder & CJ Hilton); Best Traditional R&B; Vocal Performance (for "Love That Girl") and Best R&B; Album for The Way I See It.

The Way I See It was released in September 2008, and Saadiq is currently touring and promoting the project. Touring with a nine piece band, Saadiq hit the 2009 summer music festival circuit with performances at Bonnaroo, Hollywood Bowl, Outside Lands, Pori Jazz Festival, Stockholm Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz, Essence Music Festival, Summer Spirit Festival, and Nice Jazz Festival, Bumbershoot Music Festival and Austin City Limits. Saadiq has been touring Europe extensively, and held a five-night residency at the House of Blues in Tokyo, Japan in June 2009.

Music from The Way I See It is featured in the following motion pictures: Madea Goes To Jail, Bride Wars, Cadillac Records, Secret Life of Bees, In Fighting (Rogue), and It's Complicated.

Music producer

In 1995, Saadiq produced and performed on Otis & Shug's debut album, We Can Do Whatever.

His 2000 song collaboration "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" won D'Angelo a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B; Vocal Performance; it was also nominated for Grammy Award for Best R&B; Song. The song was ranked #4 on Rolling Stone's "End of Year Critics & Readers Poll" of the top singles of 2000. D'Angelo's album Voodoo won a Grammy Award for Best R&B; Album at the 2001 Grammy Awards.

In 2004, Saadiq produced a remix of the song "Crooked Nigga Too" by the late Tupac Shakur which is featured on the album Loyal To The Game.

In 2007, Saadiq produced Introducing Joss Stone, the third album of British soul singer Joss Stone.

He produced songs for LeToya Luckett's forthcoming second album Lady Love, released August 2009.

In 2009, Saadiq produced "Please Stay" and "Love Never Changes" for Ledisi's August 2009 release "Turn Me Loose". Saadiq also was the executive producer for an emerging group called Tha Boogie. Tha Boogie's first EP was released on iTunes and is titled "Love Tha Boogie, Vol. 1 (Steal This Sh*t).

Other artists he has collaborated with include , Lil' Skeeter, Ludacris, The Bee Gees, Musiq Soulchild, Jaguar Wright, Chanté Moore, Lionel Richie, Marcus Miller, Noel Gourdin, Nappy Roots, Calvin Richardson, T-Boz from TLC, Floetry, Leela James, Amp Fiddler, John Legend, Joss Stone, Young Bellz, Anthony Hamilton, Babyface, Ledisi, Goapele, Ghostface Killah, Ginuwine, Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind & Fire, Bilal, Chali 2na, as well as many others.

Other

In 2002, Saadiq founded his own record label, Pookie Entertainment. Among the artists on the label are Joi and Truth Hurts.

On April 13, 2007, Saadiq played the role of Anthony Hayes in Disturbia.

In 2008, Saadiq formed a new label called Velma Records, a place where Raphael promises "people can express themselves like I did with The Way I See It... where they can dream something up and just go with it".

In 2009, Saadiq announced his video game development company called IllFonic. The first video game in development by IllFonic is titled Ghetto Golf, with an expected release late in 2010.

In 2009, Saadiq teamed up Bentley Kyle Evans, Jeff Franklin, Martin Lawrence, and Trenten Gumbs to create a new sitcom called Love That Girl! starring Tatyana Ali. Raphael is an executive producer and composer for Love That Girl!. The show is currently in development.

In 2010, Saadiq sang as part of the chorus in the 2010 remake of "We Are the World" for Haiti.

Awards/Nominations

BET Awards

*2009, BET Centric Award (nominated)

Grammy Awards

*2009, Best R&B; Performance by a Duo or Group "Never Give You Up" (nominated)

*2009, Best R&B; Album The Way I See It (nominated)

*2009, Best Traditional R&B; Vocal Performance "Love That Girl" (nominated)

*2007, Best Traditional R&B; Vocal Performance "I Found My Everything" (nominated)

*2005, Best R&B; Performance by a Duo or Group "Show Me the Way" (nominated)

*2003, Best Urban/Alternative Performance "Be Here" (nominated)

*2003, Best R&B; Song "Love of My Life (Ode to Hip-Hop)" (winner)

*2003, Best R&B; Song "Be Here" (nominated)

*2003, Best R&B; Album Instant Vintage (nominated)

*2003, Best Song Written for a Motion Picture of Television Special "Love of My Life (Ode to Hip-Hop)" (nominated)

*2002, Best R&B; Song "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" (nominated)

*1995, Best R&B; Song "Anniversary" (nominated)

Soul Train Awards

*2009, Best R&B;/Soul Male Artist (nominated)

Discography

Instant Vintage (2002)

All Hits at the House of Blues (2003)

Ray Ray (2004)

The Way I See It (2008)

Stone Rollin’ (2011)

Singles

{|class="wikitable" !rowspan="2"|Year !rowspan="2" width="250"|Song !colspan="4"|Chart positions !rowspan="2"|Album |- !width="40"|^{U.S. Hot 100} !width="40"|^{U.S. R&B;} !width="40"|U.S. Adult R&B; !width="40"|^U.K. |- |rowspan="1"|1995 |align="left"|"Ask of You" |align="center"|19 |align="center"|2 |align="center"|— |align="center"|76 |align="left"|Higher Learning OST |- |rowspan="1"|1999 |align="left"|"Get Involved" (feat. Q-Tip) |align="center"|67 |align="center"|21 |align="center"|— |align="center"|36 |align="left"|The P.J.'s OST |- |rowspan="2"|2002 |align="left"|"Be Here" (feat. D'Angelo) |align="center"|99 |align="center"|68 |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="left" rowspan="2"|Instant Vintage |- |align="left"|"Still Ray" |align="center"|— |align="center"|79 |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |rowspan="2"|2004 |align="left"|"Rifle Love" (feat. Lucy Pearl & Tony! Toni! Toné!) |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="left" rowspan="3"|Ray Ray |- |align="left"|"Chic Like You" (feat. Allie Baba) |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |rowspan="1"|2005 |align="left"|"I Want You Back" (feat. Teedra Moses) |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |rowspan="2"|2008 |align="left"|"Love That Girl" |align="center"|— |align="center"|45 |align="center"|13 |align="center"|— |align="left" rowspan="6"|The Way I See It |- |align="left"|"Big Easy" (feat. The Infamous Young Spodie & The Rebirth Brass Band) |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |rowspan="4"|2009 |align="left"|"100 Yard Dash" |align="center"|— |align="center"|125 |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |align="left"|"Never Give You Up" (feat. Stevie Wonder & CJ Hilton) |align="center"|— |align="center"|26 |align="center"|4 |align="center"|— |- |align="left"|"Let's Take a Walk" |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |align="left"|"Staying in Love" |align="center"|— |align="center"|74 |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |align="center" colspan="15"| "—" denotes the single failed to chart or wasn't released. |}

Radio confirmed by rap-up.com

References

External links

Official website

Category:1966 births Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:African American musicians Category:African American male singers Category:American male singer-songwriters Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American soul singers Category:Neo soul singers Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:People from Oakland, California

Phil Ramone (born 1941) is a South-African violinist, composer, recording engineer, and record producer.

Biography

As a young child in South Africa, Ramone was a musical prodigy, beginning to play the violin at age three and performing for Queen Elizabeth II at age ten. In the late 1940s he trained as a classical violinist at The Juilliard School, where one of his classmates was Phil Woods.

A&R; Recording

In 1959, he established an independent recording studio A&R; Recording (the initials were derived from the last initials of Ramone and his then-business partner Jack Arnold). There he quickly gained a reputation as a sound engineer and music producer, in particular for his use of innovative technology. Among those whose music he has produced are The Guess Who, Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick, Laura Branigan, Karen Carpenter, Ray Charles, Peter Cincotti, Chicago, Natalie Cole, Bob Dylan, Gloria Estefan, Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, Elton John, Sheena Easton, Fito Páez, Quincy Jones, B. B. King, Diane Schuur, Julian Lennon, Madonna, Richard Marx, Paul McCartney, George Michael, Sinéad O'Connor, Luciano Pavarotti, Andre Previn, Carly Simon, Paul Simon, Frank Sinatra, Rod Stewart, James Taylor, Olivia Newton-John, Liza Minnelli, Barry Manilow, Clay Aiken, Patricia Kaas, Peter Paul and Mary, and Melissa Errico. He is also credited with recording Marilyn Monroe's rendition of "Happy Birthday to You" to President John F. Kennedy .

Among the technical innovations he introduced; optical surround sound for movies, and digital recording techniques. His studio was the first to release music commercially on compact disc; Billy Joel's 52nd Street was the first album to be broadly released on the medium.

His book, Making Records: The Scenes Behind the Music, written with Chuck Granata, was released on October 9, 2007.

On July 8, 2008 Columbia records released The Stranger 30th Anniversary which features interviews with Ramone. This box set includes a remastered version of the 1977 Billy Joel album, The Stranger by Ramone.

Among the many albums Ramone has produced is Shelby Lynne's 2008 tribute to Dusty Springfield, Just a Little Lovin'.

In the summer of 2009, Ramone produced Gershwin Across America, a tribute album to music of the George and Ira Gershwin. The album features Jason Mraz, Jewel, Darius Rucker, Paul Simon among others.

In 2010, Ramone gave production help on the first full-album release album, Nikki, by Montreal teen jazz artist Nikki Yanofsky.

Awards

Ramone has won 15 Grammy awards

1965 - Best Engineered Recording (non classical), for Getz/Gilberto

1970 - Best Musical Show Album for producing Promises, Promises

1976 - Album of the Year for producing Still Crazy After All These Years

1979 - Record of the Year for producing "Just the Way You Are"

1980 - Album of the Year for producing 52nd Street

1981 - Producer of the Year (non classical)

1984 - Best Album Of Original Score Written For A Motion Picture Or A Television Special, for Flashdance

1995 - Best Musical Show Album for producing Passion

2003 - Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, for producing "Playin' With My Friends: Bennett Sings The Blues"

He also won an Emmy Award in 1973 as sound mixer for "Duke Ellington...We Love You Madly", a tribute to Duke Ellington broadcast on CBS.

Ramone has been awarded honorary degrees by Five Towns College and Berklee College of Music. He is also on the Berklee's Board of Trustees.

He was awarded a Fellowship by the Audio Engineering Society in 2007.

See also

Gene Lees, Meet Me at Jim & Andy's: Jazz Musicians and Their World, Oxford University Press (November 22, 1990) — Jim and Andy's was a beloved bar/diner downstars from one of the A&R; Studios (next to Manny's on 48th) and has many references to Phil Ramone. The bar had a direct line from A&R; Studios and when a the studio had a "no-show," Phil Ramone would use the line to inquire whether a substitute musician was available.

References

Further reading

Ramone, Phil; Granata, Charles L., Making records: the scenes behind the music, New York : Hyperion, 2007. ISBN 9780786868599

External links

Phil Ramone online

Phil Ramone myspace

Category:Audio engineers Category:American record producers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:1941 births Category:Living people

Name	Phil Collins
Landscape	Yes
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Philip David Charles Collins
Born	January 30, 1951Chiswick, London, England
Instrument	Drums, vocals,piano, guitar,keyboards,bass guitar
Genre	PopRock
Occupation	Singer-songwriter,musician, actor
Years active	1968–present
Label	Virgin, Atlantic
Associated acts	Genesis, Brand X, Flaming Youth, Philip Bailey, Eric Clapton, The Phil Collins Big Band
Url

Philip David Charles Collins, LVO (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, keyboardist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for English progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist.

Collins sang the lead vocals on several chart hits in the United Kingdom and the United States between 1978 and 1994, either as a solo artist or with Genesis. His singles, often dealing with lost love, ranged from the drum-heavy "In the Air Tonight", dance pop of "Sussudio", piano-driven "Against All Odds", to the political statements of "Another Day in Paradise". His international popularity transformed Genesis from a progressive rock group to a regular on the pop charts and an early MTV mainstay.

Collins's professional music career began as a drummer, first with obscure rock group Flaming Youth and then more famously with Genesis. In Genesis, Collins originally supplied backing vocals for front man Peter Gabriel, singing lead on only two songs: "For Absent Friends" from 1971's Nursery Cryme album and "More Fool Me" from Selling England by the Pound, which was released in 1973. Following Gabriel's departure in 1975, Collins became the group's lead singer. As the decade closed, Genesis's first international hit, "Follow You, Follow Me", demonstrated a drastic change from the band's early years.

His concurrent solo career, heavily influenced by his personal life, brought both him and Genesis commercial success. According to Atlantic Records, Collins's total worldwide sales as a solo artist, as of 2000, were 150 million. He has won seven Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and two Golden Globes for his solo work. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010.

Collins is one of only three recording artists (along with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson) who have sold over 100 million albums worldwide both as solo artists and (separately) as principal members of a band. According to Billboard magazine, when his work with Genesis, his work with other artists, as well as his solo career is totalled, Collins has the most top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the 1980s. In 2008, Collins was ranked the 22nd most successful artist on the "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists".

Early life and career

Collins was born in Chiswick, London. He was given a toy drum kit for Christmas when he was five. Later, his uncle Mark Wade made him a makeshift one that he used regularly. As Collins grew older these were followed by more complete sets bought by his parents. He practiced by playing alongside the television and radio, and never learned to read and write conventional musical notation; instead, he uses a system he devised himself.

His professional training began at fourteen when he entered Barbara Speake Stage School. He began a career as a child actor and model, and won his first major role as The Artful Dodger in the London production of Oliver!. He was an extra in The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night – one of hundreds of screaming teenagers during the TV concert sequence and seen fleetingly in a close-up. He was also in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as one of the children who stormed the castle at the end of the movie but was edited out. He also auditioned for the role of Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (1968), a role won by fellow "Artful Dodger" actor, Leonard Whiting. Collins was among the last three finalists for the role of "I.Q." on the American children's television show The Bugaloos (he lost out to English actor/musician John McIndoe).

Despite the beginnings of an acting career, Collins continued to gravitate towards music. While attending Chiswick Community School he formed a band called The Real Thing and later joined The Freehold. With the latter group, he wrote his first song titled "Lying Crying Dying".

Collins's first record deal came as drummer for Flaming Youth who released a single album, Ark 2 (1969). A concept album inspired by the recent media attention surrounding the moon landing, Ark 2 (with Ronnie Caryl, Brian Chatton and Gordon (Flash) Smith), failed to make much commercial success despite positive critical reviews. Melody Maker featured the album as "Pop Album of the Month", describing it as "adult music beautifully played with nice tight harmonies". The album's main single, "From Now On", failed on the radio. After a year of touring, band tensions and the lack of commercial success dissolved the group. In 1970, the 19-year old Collins played percussion on the George Harrison song "The Art of Dying". Harrison credited him in the liner notes to the remastered CD version of the album released in 2000.

Genesis era

In 1970, Collins answered a Melody Maker classified ad for "...a drummer sensitive to acoustic music, and acoustic twelve-string guitarist". Genesis placed the ad after having already lost three drummers over two albums. The audition occurred at the home of Peter Gabriel's parents. Prospective candidates performed tracks from the group's second album, Trespass (1970). Collins arrived early, listened to the other auditions while swimming in Gabriel's parents' pool, and memorised the pieces before his turn.

" featured the members of Genesis in puppet form, with the single cover (parodying the With the Beatles album and using puppets from the satirical TV show Spitting Image).]]

Collins won the audition. Nursery Cryme was released a year later. Although his role remained primarily that of drummer and backing vocalist for the next five years, he twice sang lead vocals: once on "For Absent Friends" (from Nursery Cryme) and once on "More Fool Me" (from Selling England by the Pound).

In 1974, while Genesis were recording the album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Brian Eno (who is credited with "Enossification" for electronic vocal effects on the track "Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging") needed a drummer for his album Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy). Collins was sent to fill the gap, and played drums in lieu of payment for Eno's work with the band.

In 1975, following the final tour supporting the concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Gabriel left the group to pursue a solo career. Collins became lead vocalist after a lengthy but ultimately fruitless search for Gabriel's replacement (where he sang back up with the over 400 hopefuls that reportedly auditioned). In the short term, the group recruited former Yes and King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford to play drums during live shows, although Collins continued to play during longer instrumental sections. Bruford's drumming can be heard on the track "The Cinema Show" on the live album Seconds Out. He was soon replaced by ex-Frank Zappa band member Chester Thompson, who became a mainstay of the band's live line-up. Collins, however, continued to play drums on all of the band's studio recordings.

The first album with Collins as lead vocalist, 1976's A Trick of the Tail, reached the American Top 40, and peaked high as #3 on the UK charts. Said Rolling Stone, "Genesis has managed to turn the possible catastrophe of Gabriel's departure into their first broad-based American success.". Following the recording of Genesis's next album Wind and Wuthering guitarist Steve Hackett left the group to pursue his own solo career. The group decided to continue as a trio for recording with Mike Rutherford playing guitar and bass in the studio, although the lineup was regularly augmented by Chester Thompson and American guitarist Daryl Stuermer for concert tours.

Collins simultaneously performed in a jazz fusion group called Brand X. The band recorded their first album, Unorthodox Behaviour, with Collins as drummer, but because Genesis was Collins's priority, there were several Brand X tours and albums without him. Collins credits Brand X as his first use of a drum machine as well as his first use of a home 8-track tape machine.

Collins also performed on Steve Hackett's first solo album, Voyage of the Acolyte, on which he sang lead vocals and played drums.

As the decade closed, Genesis began a shift from their progressive rock roots and toward more accessible, radio-friendly pop-rock music. The album ...And Then There Were Three... featured their first UK Top 10 and U.S. Top 40 single, "Follow You Follow Me".

In the 1980s, while Collins developed as a songwriter and established a parallel career as a solo artist, Genesis recorded a series of highly successful albums including Duke, Abacab, Genesis, and Invisible Touch. The latter album's title track reached #1 on the American Billboard singles chart, the only Genesis song to do so. The group received an MTV "Video of the Year" nomination in 1987 for the single "Land of Confusion" (which featured puppet caricatures created by the British satirical team Spitting Image) but lost out to Peter Gabriel's solo hit, "Sledgehammer". Reviews were generally positive, with Rolling Stone's J.D. Considine stating, "every tune is carefully pruned so that each flourish delivers not an instrumental epiphany but a solid hook."

Collins left Genesis in 1996 to focus on his solo career; The last studio album with him as the lead singer was 1991's We Can't Dance. He and Gabriel reunited with other Genesis members in 1999 to re-record "The Carpet Crawlers" for Genesis's . When in the mid-2000s discussions of a possible Genesis reunion arose, Collins stated that he would prefer to return as the drummer, with Gabriel handling the vocals. Eventually was announced for 2007, with the Collins/Rutherford/Banks lineup.

In March 2010, Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio was asked to pay tribute to Genesis, one of his favorite bands, upon being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In addition to Anastasio's speech, Phish appeared and performed two Genesis songs, "Watcher of the Skies" and "No Reply At All". Collins and his Genesis bandmates (minus Peter Gabriel) attended the ceremony but they did not perform.

Solo career

Early solo recordings (1981–1983)

The dominant theme running through Collins's early solo recordings (although never specifically mentioned in his songs) was the acrimonious breakdown of his first marriage and then-recent divorce. Two songs he wrote on the Genesis album Duke, "Please Don't Ask", and the Top 20 hit "Misunderstanding", dealt with failed relationships. One year earlier, he had played drums and sung backing vocals on John Martyn's Grace and Danger, an album whose main theme is also marriage break-up. With the recording of his first solo album, Face Value, Collins attributed his divorce as his main influence, as can be inferred from songs such as "If Leaving Me Is Easy". Collins made his live debut as a solo performer, appearing at the invitation of producer Martin Lewis at the Amnesty International benefit show, The Policeman's Other Ball at the Theatre Royal in London in September 1981, performing two songs from Face Value including "In the Air Tonight" and "The Roof is Leaking" accompanying himself on piano. Face Value became an international success topping the charts in at least seven countries and hitting the top ten of the Billboard 200 eventually going triple-platinum in the U.S. Hits from the album included "In the Air Tonight", "I Missed Again" and "If Leaving Me Is Easy". In 1982, he produced ABBA member Frida's solo album, Something's Going On, which helped to spawn the title track, "I Know There's Something Going On", which became a hit.

Much like Face Value, much of the songs from Collins's 1982 follow-up album, Hello, I Must Be Going!, came from Collins's marital problems with his first wife such as "I Don't Care Anymore" and "Do You Know and Do You Care". Collins’s early albums had a dark presence, usually heavy on the drums. Regarding Face Value, he says, "I had a wife, two children, two dogs, and the next day I didn't have anything. So a lot of these songs were written because I was going through these emotional changes." There were occasional poppier influences–Face Value's "Behind the Lines", for example, was a jazzy remake of a Genesis song he co-wrote. Face Value was a critical and multi-platinum success, and saw Collins’s profile increase further. Hello, I Must Be Going! gave him a UK #1 for his cover of The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love". The album went triple-platinum in the United States, like its predecessor. The Supremes' cover was his first Top 10 U.S. hit (it also hit the Top 10 of Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart). The album also reached #2 on the UK album chart, spending well over a year there.

Two years before, Collins had played drums on Peter Gabriel's third self-titled record (often referred to as Melt), the first record to feature the "gated reverb" sound, which was used on the song "Intruder". Gabriel reportedly "didn't want any metal on the record" and asked Collins to leave his cymbals at home, to concentrate on the sound of his kit more heavily than usual. Studio engineer Hugh Padgham augmented the drum sound by using a microphone normally intended for studio communication rather than recording and feeding it through a signal processor called a noise gate. This allowed the reverberation added to the drums to be suddenly cut off before it naturally decayed. The result was the arresting "gated reverb" which became Collins signature sound. This was the same 'big drum sound' used on such songs as "In The Air Tonight", "Mama" by Genesis, and Frida's "There's Something Going On".

Superstardom (1984–1992)

Collins changed his musical style with the release of the ballad, "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)", which was the theme song to the movie of the same name in 1984. The more pop-friendly and radio-accessible single became Collins's first solo single to reach number-one on the Billboard Hot 100. Later that year, Collins contributed to production on Earth, Wind & Fire singer Phillip Bailey's debut album, Chinese Wall, collaborating with Bailey on the hit duet, "Easy Lover". Collins featured on Band Aid's "Do They Know it's Christmas", he played drums and sang on the song. Collins released his most successful album, No Jacket Required, in early 1985. It contained the hits "Sussudio", "One More Night", "Don't Lose My Number", and "Take Me Home", as well as the less known yet equally robust "Who Said I Would", and "Only You Know and I Know". The album featured Sting, Helen Terry and ex-bandmate Peter Gabriel as backing vocalists. He also recorded the successful song "Separate Lives", a duet with Marilyn Martin, and an American number one, for the movie White Nights. Collins had three American number one songs in 1985, the most by any artist that year. No Jacket Required went on to win several Grammy awards including Album of the Year.

No Jacket Required received criticism that the album was too safe, despite its upbeat reviews and commercial success. A positive review by David Fricke of Rolling Stone ended, "After years on the art-rock fringe, Collins has established himself firmly in the middle of the road. Perhaps he should consider testing himself and his new fans' expectations next time around." "Sussudio" also drew criticism for sounding too similar to Prince's "1999", a charge that Collins did not deny. Nevertheless, the album went straight to #1 in the U.S. and UK. In 1985, Collins was invited by Bob Geldof to perform at the Live Aid charity event. Collins had the distinction of being the only performer to appear at both the UK concert at Wembley Stadium and the US concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. He accomplished this by performing early in the day at Wembley as both a solo artist and alongside Sting, then transferring to a Concorde flight to the USA enabling him to perform his solo material, and drum for Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton in Philadelphia. While being a guest on major artists' hit recordings, Collins continued to enjoy solo success even while on tour with Genesis, besides from his number-one duet with Marilyn Martin in 1986, Collins would score two more hits from movies with the singles, "Two Hearts" (1988) and "Groovy Kind of Love" (1988), the latter two from the soundtrack of his feature film, Buster.

In 1989, Collins produced another successful album, ...But Seriously, featuring the anti-homelessness anthem "Another Day in Paradise", with David Crosby on backing vocals. (Collins later went on to co-write, sing and play on the song "Hero" on Crosby's 1993 album Thousand Roads.) "Another Day in Paradise" went to Number 1 on the Billboard Charts at the end of 1989 and won Collins a Grammy for Record of the Year (1990). In the process, it became the last #1 US pop hit of the 1980s. The album ...But Seriously became the first #1 US album of the 1990s. Other songs included "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven" (#4 US, #15 UK), "Do You Remember?" (not released in the UK, but a #4 hit in the US), and "I Wish It Would Rain Down" (the latter featuring Clapton on guitar) (#3 US, #7 UK). Songs about apartheid and homelessness demonstrated Collins’s turn to politically-driven material. This theme recurred on his later albums. A live album, Serious Hits... Live!, followed.

Later solo work and Genesis reunion (1993–2008)

Collins's record sales began to drop with the 1993 release of Both Sides, a largely experimental album that, according to Collins, included songs that "were becoming so personal, so private, I didn't want anyone else's input". Featuring a less polished sound and fewer up-tempo songs than his previous albums, Both Sides was a significant departure. Collins used no backing musicians, performed all the vocal and instrumental parts at his home studio, and used rough vocal takes for the final product. The album was not well received by radio. Its two biggest hits were "Both Sides of the Story" and "Everyday". Collins worked on the album completely independently of his record company, and took them by surprise when he delivered them a completed album that they were unaware he was making.

Collins attempted a return to poppier music with Dance into the Light, which Entertainment Weekly reviewed by saying that "(e)ven Phil Collins must know that we all grew weary of Phil Collins". It included minor hits such as the title track and The Beatles-inspired "It's in Your Eyes". Although the album went Gold in the US, it sold considerably less than his previous albums. Despite this the subsequent tour regularly sold out arenas.

In 1996, Collins formed The Phil Collins Big Band. With Collins as drummer, the band performed jazz renditions of various Collins and Genesis hits. The Phil Collins Big Band did a world tour in 1998 that included a performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. In 1999, the group released the CD A Hot Night in Paris including big band versions of "Invisible Touch", "Sussudio", and the more obscure "The Los Endos Suite" from A Trick of the Tail. , 6834 Hollywood Blvd]] A compilation album Hits was released in 1998 and sold very well, returning Collins to multi-platinum status in America. The album's sole new track, a cover of the Cyndi Lauper hit "True Colors", received considerable play on US Adult Contemporary stations while peaking at #2. Some of Collins's earlier hits (e.g. "I Missed Again", "If Leaving Me Is Easy", etc.) and other successes were not included in this compilation.

Collins's next single, "You'll Be in My Heart", from the Disney animated movie Tarzan, spent 19 weeks at #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart – the longest time ever up to that point. The song won Collins an Academy Award for Best Song. It was his third nomination in the songwriters category, after being nominated in 1985 and 1989. Collins was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, on 16 June 1999.

, Spain in July 2004.]]

In 2002 Collins released Testify. Metacritic's roundup of album reviews found this record to be the worst-reviewed album at the time of its release, though it has since been "surpassed" by three more recent releases. The album's "Can't Stop Loving You" (a Leo Sayer cover) was yet another #1 Adult Contemporary smash hit for Collins. Testify sold 140,000 copies in the United States by year's end, although a successful worldwide tour followed.

That same year Collins accepted an invitation to drum for the "house band" at a concert celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee. In 2003 announced his last solo tour - the "First Final Farewell Tour", a tongue-in-cheek reference to the multiple farewell tours of other popular artists. In 2006 he worked with Disney on a Broadway production of Tarzan, a musical which received generally mixed reviews. In 2007 Collins reunited with his Genesis bandmates Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford for , a tour of Europe and North America. During the tour Genesis performed at the Live Earth concert at Wembley Stadium. Following the band's performance, presenter Jonathan Ross had to apologise to viewers watching the televised version as Collins had used a swear word while singing "Invisible Touch".

Current work (2009–present)

In October 2009, it was reported that Collins was to record a Motown covers album. He told a German newspaper, "I want the songs to sound exactly like the originals", and that the album would feature up to 30 songs. In January 2010, Chester Thompson said that the album had been completed and would be released some time soon. He also revealed that Collins managed to play the drums on the album despite the adverse effects of his recent spinal operation. It was the first solo album Collins had recorded which consisted entirely of songs written by other people.

Going Back was released on 13 September 2010, entering the UK charts at number 4, rising to number one the following week. In early summer 2010, Collins played six concerts entirely dedicated to the music from Going Back. These included a special programme, Phil Collins: One Night Only, which was broadcast on ITV1 on 18 September 2010.

Sound samples

Drums and other equipment

Phil Collins uses Gretsch drums and Sabian Cymbals. Drums (all single headed concert toms except for the snare): 20" Bass Drum, 18" Floor Tom, 16" Floor Tom, 15" Mounted Tom, 12" Tom, 10" Tom, 8" Tom, 14"x4" Snare, 14" Phil Collins Special.

Cymbals: HH Medium Crash 20" – HH Extra Thin Crash 17" – Hi-Hats 15" – HH Chinese 20" – HH Medium-Thin Crash 16" -HH Chinese 22" – HH Raw Bell Dry Ride 21".

Until 1986, Collins played Paiste and Zildjian Cymbals. Other drums he's used over the years are Premier, Noble & Cooley, Pearl, Simmons and Ludwig drums. He uses a Ludwig Speed King pedal and Pro Mark sticks.

Other instruments which have become synonymous with Collins's sound (particularly in his post-1978 Genesis and subsequent solo career) include the Roland CR-78 and Roland TR-808 drum machines, and the Yamaha CP-70 electric grand piano.

Films, theatre and television

The majority of Collins's film work has been through music. Four of his seven American number one songs came from film soundtracks, and his work on Disney's Tarzan earned him an Oscar. Collins even sang German, Italian, Spanish and French versions of the Tarzan soundtrack for the respective film versions. Collins's acting career has been brief. As a child, he appeared in three films, although two of the films were for brief moments as an extra. Besides the aforementioned A Hard Day's Night (1964), Collins's first lead role was in a children's film Calamity the Cow (1967).

Collins wrote and performed the title song to Against All Odds in 1984. The song became the first of his seven American number one songs and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song. Collins was not invited to perform the song at that year's presentation, although he was in the audience as the song's composer. Collins had arranged his U.S. tour to accommodate the possibility of appearing on the telecast in the event his song was nominated for an Oscar. It is believed that the producers of that year's Academy Awards show were not aware of his prominence as a musical performer. A note to Collins's label from telecast co-producer Larry Gelbart explaining the lack of invitation stated, "Thank you for your note regarding Phil Cooper (emphasis added). I'm afraid the spots have already been filled". Collins instead watched Ann Reinking perform his song. For a long time afterwards, he would introduce his performance of "Against All Odds" at his concerts by saying: "Miss Ann Reinking's not here tonight, so I guess I'll have to sing my own song".

As a vocalist, Collins sang Stephen Bishop's composition "Separate Lives" for the film White Nights (1985) as a duet with Marilyn Martin. The single of the recording became another Number One hit for Collins. The song itself was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song (a category that honours the composer, not the vocalists). Bishop's song had parallels to some of the songs on Collins's first two albums. Writer Stephen Bishop noted that he was inspired by a failed relationship and called "Separate Lives" "a song about anger". When the song was being nominated for an Academy Award, in interviews about the original snub by the Academy for "Against All Odds", Collins would jokingly say "the hell with him – I'm going up too," referring to if Bishop's song were to win the award.

Collins's first film role since becoming a musician came in 1988 with Buster about the Great Train Robbery, which took place in England in the 1960s. The movie received good reviews and Collins contributed four songs to the film's soundtrack. His rendition of "Groovy Kind of Love", originally a 1966 single by The Mindbenders, with lyrics by Toni Wine and music by Carole Bayer Sager, but with the melody of the Rondo section of Muzio Clementi's "Sonatina in G major", op. 36 no. 5 reached Number One. The film also spawned the hit single "Two Hearts", which he wrote in collaboration with legendary Motown songwriter Lamont Dozier; the two artists would go on to win a Golden Globe for Best Original Song and receive an Oscar nomination in the same category, the second such honour for Collins; "Big Noise", written by Phil Collins and Lamont Dozier, which included Collins on vocals (although the song was not released as a single, an instrumental version of this song appeared as the B-side to the single version of "A Groovy Kind Of Love".) The final song, "Loco In Acapulco", was another collaboration between him and Dozier, with the vocals performed by the legendary Motown group The Four Tops. Movie critic Roger Ebert said the role of Buster was "played with surprising effectiveness" by Collins, although the film's soundtrack proved more successful than the movie did.

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Collins had cameo appearances in Steven Spielberg's Hook (1991) and the AIDS docudrama And the Band Played On (1993). He starred in 1993's Frauds, which competed for the Palme d'Or at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. He supplied voices to two animated features: Amblin's Balto (1995) and Disney's The Jungle Book 2 (2003). A long-discussed but never completed project was a movie titled The Three Bears; originally meant to star him alongside Danny DeVito and Bob Hoskins, he often mentioned the film, though an appropriate script never materialised.

Collins performed the soundtrack to the animated film Tarzan (1999) for The Walt Disney Company. Collins won an Academy Award for "You'll Be in My Heart", which he performed at that year's telecast as well as during a Disney-themed Super Bowl halftime show. The song, which he also recorded in Spanish among other languages, became his only appearance on Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks. They had a son, Simon Collins, and Collins adopted Bertorelli's daughter Joely Collins, now a Canadian actress. They divorced in 1980, after she started an affair with their painter and decorator. Collins later appeared on the BBC's Top of the Pops singing his 1981 solo hit "In The Air Tonight" with a pot of paint and brush positioned near his piano. Collins has since claimed that the presence of the paint and brush was coincidental. # Collins met his second wife, Jill Taverman, in 1980. They were married from 1984 to 1996. They had one daughter, named Lily Collins, who was born in 1989. Collins openly admits that some of their divorce-related correspondence was by fax (one, about access to their daughter, was reproduced in The Sun), but denies that this took her by surprise. In 2008, Collins was quoted in People Magazine: "Marriage is a difficult proposition. But I haven't given up on it, either.

Collins was appointed a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order in 1994 in recognition of his work on behalf of the Prince's Trust.

Bob Geldof said of Collins after recording the drums for the Band Aid single "Feed The World (Do They Know its Christmas)", "Phil Collins is a magnificent soul. He has touched the world through his music and he continues to fight against world poverty. He is one of life's true heroes."

Collins has stated he is a supporter of animal rights and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). In 2005, he donated an autographed drumstick in support of PETA's campaign against Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Collins also has a lifelong interest in the Alamo. He has collected hundreds of artifacts related to the famous 1836 battle in San Antonio, Texas, narrated a light and sound show about the Alamo, and spoken at related events.

Collins has often been mentioned erroneously in the British media as being a supporter of the Conservative Party and an opponent of the Labour Party. Shortly before the 2005 election (when Collins was living in Switzerland), Noel Gallagher is reported as saying: "Vote Labour. If you don't and the Tories get in, Phil is threatening to come back." However, Collins has since stated that although he did once claim many years earlier that he might leave Britain if most of his income was taken in tax, which was Labour Party policy at that time for top earners, he has never been a Conservative Party supporter and he left Britain for Switzerland in 1994 purely because he met a woman who lived there. He said of Gallagher: “I don’t care if he likes my music or not. I do care if he starts telling people I’m a wanker because of my politics. It’s an opinion based on an old misunderstood quote.” Despite his claim that he did not leave Britain for tax purposes, he was one of several super-rich figures living in tax havens who were singled out for criticism in a report by the charity Christian Aid in 2008.

Collins founded the Little Dreams Foundation in February 2000, which aims to "realise the dreams of children in the fields of sports and art" by providing future prodigies aged 4 to 16 years with financial, material, and mentoring support with the help of experts in various fields.

Collins supports the South African charity The Topsy Foundation, which provides relief services to some of South Africa's most under-resourced rural communities through a multi-faceted approach to the consequences of HIV and AIDS and extreme poverty, and he donates all royalties earned in South Africa to the organization.

Court case

On 29 March 2000, Phil Collins launched a case against two former musicians from his band to recoup $780,000 (£500,000) in royalties that were overpaid. Louis Satterfield, 62, and Rahmlee Davis, 51, claim they signed a contract giving them 0.5 per cent of the royalties from a live album recorded during Collins's Serious Hits… Live! tour in 1990. Their claim was they were an integral part of the whole album, however Collins responded the two should only receive royalties from the five tracks they were involved in. Collins, instead of asking for the money back – $390,000 (£250,000) from each, instead sought to recoup the funds by withholding future royalties, which amounted to less than an annual sum of $20,000 (£12,500) each.

Robert Howe, representing Phil Collins Limited, said at the time, "The defendants claim royalties in respect to recordings to which they have made no contribution. They appeared in five out of 15 tracks but say they are entitled to full royalties on the whole album, which flies in the face of common-sense." Howe further said that Collins felt the two men had been well rewarded in relation to the nine-month tour. "He [Collins] is not seeking for them to put a hand in their pockets and pay back as much as a penny," according to Mr Howe.

On 19 April 2000, the British High Court ruled that the two musicians would receive no more royalty money from Phil Collins. The amount that Collins was seeking was halved, and Louis Satterfield and Rhamlee Davis, the American performers who originally brought the suit forward in California, would not have to repay any of it. Collins had not sought actual repayment but wanted a declaration from the court that he could stop paying royalties to the performers who claimed they were entitled to royalties on all 15 tracks of an album recorded during Collins's 1990 Seriously, Live! World Tour. The judge ruled, however, the men should have been paid for only the five tracks on which they performed, including the hit "Sussudio".

Health problems

Collins reported losing his hearing in his right ear in 2000 due to a viral infection. In September 2009, it was reported that Collins could no longer play drums, due to a recent operation to repair dislocated vertebrae in his neck. However, a statement from Collins on the Genesis band website said, "There isn't any drama regarding my 'disability' and playing drums. Somehow during the last Genesis tour I dislocated some vertebrae in my upper neck and that affected my hands. After a successful operation on my neck, my hands still can't function normally. Maybe in a year or so it will change, but for now it is impossible for me to play drums or piano. I am not in any 'distressed' state, stuff happens in life."

Discography

Studio albums

{|class="wikitable" ! Release date ! Title |- | 1981 | Face Value |- | 1982 | Hello, I Must Be Going! |- | 1985 | No Jacket Required |- | 1989 | ...But Seriously |- | 1993 | Both Sides |- | 1996 | Dance into the Light |- | 2002 | Testify |- | 2010 | Going Back |}

Number one singles

"In the Air Tonight" re-entered the New Zealand charts in 2008 at #3 and then peaked at #1, after featuring in the 'Cadbury Gorilla' advert.

See also

List of awards and nominations received by Phil Collins

Touring and studio musicians of Phil Collins

Brand X

Notes

References

Bronson, Fred The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. Billboard Books, New York. 1998. Pg. 624. ISBN 0-8230-7641-5

Coleman, Ray. Phil Collins: The Definitive Biography, Simon & Schuster. London. 1997. ISBN 0-684-81784-5

Giammetti, Mario. Phil Collins - The Singing Drummer. Edizioni Segno. Tavagnacco. 2005. ISBN 88-7282-836-8

Rosen, Craig. The Billboard Book of Number One Albums. Billboard Books, New York. 1996. ISBN 0-8230-7586-9 (Two essays about Collins)

Thompson, Dave. Turn It On Again: Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, and Genesis. Back Beat Books. San Francisco. 2004. ISBN 0-87930-810-9

Whitburn, John. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. Billboard Books, New York. 2000. ISBN 0-8230-7690-3

External links

Phil Collins's official website- Phil Collins's Site at Atlantic Records

Genesis' official website

Little Dreams Foundation A project of Phil Collins and his estranged wife Orianne, supporting young musicians

Category:1951 births Category:1970s singers Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:Ballad musicians Category:Best Song Academy Award winning songwriters Category:BRIT Award winners Category:British expatriates in Switzerland Category:English-language singers Category:English drummers Category:English film actors Category:English male models Category:English male singers Category:English pop singers Category:English rock drummers Category:English rock singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English television actors Category:English voice actors Category:Genesis (band) members Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:Lieutenants of the Royal Victorian Order Category:Living people Category:Musicians from London Category:People from Chiswick Category:Silver Clef Awards winners Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees

Name	Leonard Cohen
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Leonard Norman Cohen
Born	September 21, 1934Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, synthesizer
Genre	Folk, folk rock, rock, spoken word
Occupation	Musician, songwriter, poet, novelist
Years active	1956 - present
Label	Columbia

Leonard Norman Cohen, CC, GOQ (born 21 September 1934) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships. Famously reclusive, having once spent several years in a Zen Buddhist monastery, and possessing a persona frequently associated with mystique, he is extremely well-regarded by critics for his literary accomplishments, for the richness of his lyrics, and for producing an output of work of high artistic quality over a five-decade career.

Musically, Cohen's earliest songs (many of which appeared on the 1967 album, Songs of Leonard Cohen) were rooted in European folk music. In the 1970s, his material encompassed pop, cabaret and world music. Since the 1980s, his high baritone voice has evolved into lower registers (bass baritone and bass), with accompaniment from a wide variety of instruments and female backup singers.

Over 2,000 renditions of Cohen's songs have been recorded. Cohen has been inducted into both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour. While giving the speech at Cohen's induction into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10, 2008, Lou Reed described Cohen as belonging to the "highest and most influential echelon of songwriters."

Early life

Cohen was born on September 21, 1934 in Westmount, Montreal, Quebec, into a middle-class Jewish family. His mother, of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry, emigrated from Lithuania while his great-grandfather emigrated from Poland. He grew up in Westmount on the Island of Montreal. His father, Nathan Cohen, who owned a substantial Montreal clothing store, died when Cohen was nine years old. On the topic of being a Kohen, Cohen has said that, "I had a very Messianic childhood." He told Richard Goldstein in 1967. "I was told I was a descendant of Aaron, the high priest." Cohen attended Herzliah High School, where he studied with poet Irving Layton. As a teenager, he learned to play the guitar, and formed a country-folk group called the Buckskin Boys. His father's will provided him with a modest trust income, sufficient to allow him to pursue his literary ambitions, without having to worry about where his rent would come from.

Poetry and novels

In 1951, Cohen enrolled at McGill University, where he became president of the McGill Debating Union. His literary influences during this time included Yeats, Irving Layton, Whitman, Federico Garcia Lorca and Henry Miller. His first published book of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies (1956), was published under Louis Dudek as the first book in the McGill Poetry Series while Cohen was still an undergraduate student. Cohen's book, The Spice-Box of Earth (1961) made him well known in poetry circles, especially in his native Canada.

After completing an undergraduate degree, Cohen spent a term in McGill's law school and then a year (1956-7) at Columbia University.

Cohen wrote poetry and fiction throughout much of the 1960s. He preferred to live in quasi-reclusive circumstances, at the time. After moving to Hydra, a Greek island, Cohen published the poetry collection Flowers for Hitler (1964), and the novels The Favourite Game (1963) and Beautiful Losers (1966). His novel The Favourite Game is an autobiographical bildungsroman about a young man who discovers his identity through writing.

Cohen's writing process, as he told an interviewer in 1998, is "...like a bear stumbling into a beehive or a honey cache: I'm stumbling right into it and getting stuck, and it's delicious and it's horrible and I'm in it and it's not very graceful and it's very awkward and it's very painful and yet there's something inevitable about it."

Recording career

1960s and 1970s

In 1967, Cohen moved to the United States to pursue a career as a folk music singer-songwriter. During the 60s, he was a fringe figure in Andy Warhol's "Factory" crowd. Warhol speculated that Cohen had spent time listening to Nico in clubs and that this had influenced his musical style. His song "Suzanne" became a hit for Judy Collins and was for many years his most covered song. After performing at a few folk festivals, he came to the attention of Columbia Records representative John H. Hammond.

Cohen's first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967), was widely acclaimed by folk music buffs. He became a cult name in the U.S., as well as in the UK, where the album spent over a year on the album charts. Several of the songs on that first album were covered by other popular folk artists, including James Taylor, and Judy Collins. Cohen followed up that first album with Songs from a Room (1969) (featuring the often-recorded "Bird on the Wire"), Songs of Love and Hate (1971), Live Songs (1973) and New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974).

In 1971, Cohen's music was used in the soundtrack to Robert Altman's film McCabe & Mrs. Miller. When Cohen was on a stay in Nashville, Altman phoned to ask permission to use some tracks off Songs of Leonard Cohen. Coincidentally, earlier that same day, Cohen had seen Altman's then-current film Brewster McCloud in a local theater. He hadn't paid attention to the credits so when Altman asked permission to use Cohen's songs in his new film, Cohen had to ask him who he was. Altman mentioned his hit film MASH, but Cohen had never heard of it. When Altman mentioned his lesser-known Brewster McCloud, Cohen replied, "Listen, I just came out of the theater. I saw it twice. You can have anything of mine you want!"

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Cohen toured the United States, Canada and Europe. Beginning around 1974, his collaboration with pianist and arranger John Lissauer created a live sound praised by the critics. During this time, Cohen toured twice with Jennifer Warnes as a back-up singer (in 1972 and 1979). Warnes would become a fixture on Cohen's future albums and she recorded an album of Cohen songs in 1987, Famous Blue Raincoat.

In 1977, Cohen released Death of a Ladies' Man (one year later, in 1978, Cohen released a volume of poetry with the coyly revised title, Death of a Lady's Man). The album was produced by Phil Spector, known as the inventor of the "wall of sound" technique, which backs up pop music with many layers of instrumentation, an approach very different from Cohen's usually minimalist instrumentation. The recording of the album was fraught with difficulty—Spector reportedly mixed the album in secret studio sessions, and Cohen said Spector once threatened him with a crossbow. Cohen thought the end result "grotesque," but also "semi-virtuous."

In 1979, Cohen returned with the more traditional Recent Songs. Produced by Cohen himself and Henry Lewy (Joni Mitchell's sound engineer) the album included performances by a jazz-fusion band introduced to Cohen by Mitchell and oriental instruments (oud, Gypsy violin and mandolin). In 2001 Cohen released an album of live recordings of songs from his 1979 tour, entitled .

1980s

In 1984, Cohen released Various Positions, including "Dance Me to the End of Love" and the frequently covered "Hallelujah". Columbia declined to release the album in the United States, where Cohen's popularity had declined in previous years. Throughout his career, Cohen's music has sold better in Europe and Canada than in the U.S. He once sarcastically expressed how touched he is at the modesty the American company showed in promoting his records.

In 1986, he appeared in the episode "French Twist" of the TV series Miami Vice. In 1987, Jennifer Warnes's tribute album Famous Blue Raincoat helped restore Cohen's career in the U.S., and the following year he released I'm Your Man, which marked a drastic change in his music. Synthesizers ruled the album and Cohen's lyrics included more social commentary and dark humour.

1990s

The use of the album track "Everybody Knows" (co-written by Sharon Robinson) in the 1990 film Pump Up the Volume helped expose Cohen's music to a younger audience. The song also featured prominently in fellow Canadian Atom Egoyan's 1994 film, Exotica. In 1992, Cohen released The Future, which urges (often in terms of biblical prophecy) perseverance, reformation, and hope in the face of grim prospects. Three tracks from the album - "Waiting for the Miracle", "The Future" and "Anthem" - were featured in the movie Natural Born Killers.

In the title track, Cohen prophesied impending political and social collapse, reportedly as his response to the L.A. unrest of 1992: "I've seen the future, brother: it is murder." In "Democracy", Cohen criticises America but says he loves it: "I love the country but I can't stand the scene". Further, he criticises the American public's lack of interest in politics and addiction to television: "I'm neither left or right/I'm just staying home tonight/getting lost in that hopeless little screen".

Nanni Moretti's film Caro diario (1993) features "I'm Your Man", as Moretti himself rides his Vespa along the streets of Rome.

In 1994, following a tour to promote The Future, Cohen retreated to the Mt. Baldy Zen Center near Los Angeles, beginning what became five years of seclusion at the center. The album include a recent musical setting of Cohen's "As the mist leaves no scar", a poem originally published in The Spice-Box of Earth in 1961 and adapted by Spector into "True Love Leaves No Traces" on Death of a Ladies' Man.

Book of Longing

Cohen's book of poetry and drawings, Book of Longing, was published in May 2006; in March a Toronto-based retailer offered signed copies to the first 1500 orders placed online. All 1500 sold within hours. The book quickly topped bestseller lists in Canada. On May 13, 2006, Cohen made his first public appearance in thirteen years, at an in-store event at a bookstore in Toronto. Approximately 3000 people turned up for the event, causing the streets surrounding the bookstore to be closed. He sang two of his earliest and best-known songs: "So Long, Marianne" and "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye", accompanied by the Barenaked Ladies and Ron Sexsmith. Also appearing with him was Anjani, the two promoting her new CD, along with his book.

2008-2010 World Tour

2008 tour

January 13, 2008, Cohen quietly announced a long-anticipated concert tour. The tour, Cohen's first in 15 years, began May 11 in Fredericton, NB to wide critical acclaim, and was prolonged until Winter of 2010. The schedule encompassed Canada and Europe, including performances at The Big Chill (music festival), the Montreal Jazz Festival, and on the Pyramid Stage at the 2008 Glastonbury Festival on 29 June 2008. His performance at Glastonbury was hailed by many as the highlight of the festival, and his performance of "Hallelujah" as the sun went down received a rapturous reception and a lengthy ovation from a packed Pyramid Stage field. He also played two shows in London's O2 Arena, and in Dublin he gave a "milestone concert."

In September, October and November 2008, Cohen gave a marathon tour through Europe, including stops in Austria, Ireland, Poland, Romania, Italy, Germany, and Scandinavia. In London, he played two more shows in O2 Arena and two additional shows at the Royal Albert Hall.

Live in London

On March 21, 2009, Cohen released Live in London, recorded on July 17, 2008 at London's O2 Arena and released on DVD and as a two-CD set. The album contains 25 songs and is over two-and-a-half hours long. It was the first official DVD in Cohen's recording career.

2009 tour

The third leg of Cohen's World Tour 2008-2009 encompassed New Zealand and Australia from January 20 to February 10, 2009. In January 2009, The Pacific Tour first came to New Zealand. Simon Sweetman in The Dominion Post (Wellington) of 21 January wrote "It is hard work having to put this concert in to words so I'll just say something I have never said in a review before and will never say again: this was the best show I have ever seen.".

The first concert in Australia tour took place at Rochford Winery in Victoria's Yarra Valley on January 24 in perfect weather in front of an audience of about 7,000. The Sydney Entertainment Centre show on January 28 sold out rapidly, which motivated promoters to announce a second show at the venue. The first performance was well-received, and the audience of 12,000 responded with five standing ovations. Cohen gave generous credit to his touring band, his long-time collaborator and vocalist Sharon Robinson, and the "sublime" The Webb Sisters. (Cohen now frequently introduces them as "The Sublime Webb Sisters", apparently his own epithet).

In February 2009, in response to hearing about the devastation to the Yarra Valley region of Victoria in Australia, he donated $200,000 to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal in support of those affected by the extensive Black Saturday bushfires that razed the area just weeks after his performance at the Rochford Winery in the A Day on the Green concert. Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper reported: "Tour promoter Frontier Touring said $200,000 would be donated on behalf of Cohen, fellow performer Paul Kelly and Frontier to aid victims of the bushfires."

The US market always being difficult for Cohen, the possibilities were tested by one single show which was added to the tour itinerary immediately after the Pacific leg - on February 19, 2009, Cohen played his first American concert in fifteen years at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. The North American Tour of 2009 opened on April 1 and included the performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Friday, April 17, 2009, in front of one of the largest outdoor theatre crowds in the history of the festival. His performance of Hallelujah was widely regarded as one of the highlights of the festival, thus repeating the major success of the 2008 Glastonbury appearance.

On July 1, 2009, Cohen started his marathon European tour, his third in two years. The itinerary mostly included sport arenas and open air Summer festivals in Germany, UK, France, Spain, Ireland, but also performances in Serbia in the Belgrade Arena, in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Turkey, and again in Romania. On August 3, Cohen gave an open air show at the Piazza San Marco in Venice.

On September 18, 2009, at a concert in Valencia, Spain, Cohen collapsed halfway through performing his song "Bird on the Wire", the fourth song in the two-act set list; the concert was suspended. It was reported that Cohen had stomach problems, and possibly food poisoning.

The most controversial concert during the tour was held in Tel Aviv, Israel, at Ramat Gan Stadium. The event was surrounded by public discussion due to a proposed cultural boycott of Israel. Nevertheless, tickets for the Tel Aviv concert, Cohen's first performance in Israel since 1980, sold out in less than 24 hours. It was announced that the proceeds from the sale of the 47,000 tickets would go into a charitable fund in partnership with Amnesty International and would be used by Israeli and Palestinian peace groups for projects providing health services to children and bringing together Israeli veterans and former Palestinian fighters and the families of those killed in the conflict. However, on August 17, 2009, Amnesty International released a statement saying they were withdrawing from any involvement with the concert or its proceeds. Amnesty International later stated that its withdrawal was not due to the boycott but "the lack of support from Israeli and Palestinian NGOs." The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) led the call for the boycott, claiming that Cohen was "intent on whitewashing Israel's colonial apartheid regime by performing in Israel." On September 24 at the Ramat Gan concert, Cohen was highly emotional about the Israeli-Palestinian NGO Bereaved Families for Peace. He mentioned the organization twice, saying "It was a while ago that I first heard of the work of the 'Bereaved Parents for Peace'. That there was this coalition of Palestinian and Israeli families who had lost so much in the conflict and whose depth of suffering had compelled them to reach across the border into the houses of the enemy. Into the houses of those, to locate them who had suffered as much as they had, and then to stand with them in aching confraternity, a witness to an understanding that is beyond peace and that is beyond confrontation. So, this is not about forgiving and forgetting, this is not about laying down one's arms in a time of war, this is not even about peace, although, God willing, it could be a beginning. This is about a response to human grief. A radical, unique and holy, holy, holy response to human suffering. Baruch Hashem, thank God, I bow my head in respect to the nobility of this enterprise." At the end of the show he blessed the crowd by the Priestly Blessing, a Jewish blessing offered by Kohanim. Cohen's surname derives from this Hebrew word for priest, thus identifying him as a Levite — a descendant of the ancient priestly tribe of Levi.

The sixth leg of the 2008-2009 world tour went again to US, with fifteen shows in October and November, with the final show in San Jose. It included two new songs, Feels So Good and The Darkness.

The 2009 world tour earned a reported $9.5 million, putting Cohen at number 39 on Billboard magazine's list of the year's top musical "money makers."

Songs From the Road

On September 14, 2010, Sony Music released live CD/DVD album Songs from the Road, with the selection of 2008 and 2009 live performances.

2010 tour

Cohen's 2008-2009 world tour has been prolonged well into 2010. Originally scheduled to start in March, the first dozen of original European dates have been postponed to September and October due to Cohen's lower-back injury. Officially billed as "World Tour 2010", the tour started on July 25, 2010 in Arena Zagreb, Croatia, where 16 of Cohen's albums simultaneously entered the Croatian Top 40, and continued through August, with stops in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Scandinavia, and Ireland, where on 31 July 2010 Cohen performed at Lissadell House in County Sligo. It was Cohen’s eighth Irish concert in just two years after a hiatus of more than 20 years. On August 12 Cohen played 200th show of the tour, in Scandinavium, Gothenburg, Sweden, where he already played in October 2008; the show was four hours long.

The Fall leg of the European tour started in early September in Florence, Italy, and continued through Germany, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and Austria, where Cohen performed at the famous open-air opera stage of Römersteinbruch bei St. Margarethen im Burgenland, and then continued with dates in France, Poland, Russia (Moscow's State Kremlin Palace), Slovenia and Slovakia. In Slovenia's Arena Stožice, Cohen accepted Croatia's Porin music award for best foreign live video programme, which he won for his Live in London DVD.

The third leg of the 2010 tour started on October 28, in New Zealand, and continued in Australia, including an open-air concert at the Hanging Rock. It was the first show ever organised at the site. The tour finished with seven special dates added in Vancouver, Portland, Victoria, Oakland, with two final shows in Las Vegas' The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, on December 10 and 11. The very last concert on December 11 was the 246th show on the world tour which started on May 11, 2008.

In 2010 shows, Cohen has regularly performed three unreleased songs-in-progress, "The Darkness", "Feels So Good", and "Born In Chains", saying on his Forum they are part of the forthcoming album. At least one more song has been tried out at the daily sound checks.

Themes

Recurring themes in Cohen's work include love, sex, religion, depression, and music itself. He has also engaged with certain political themes, though sometimes ambiguously so. "Suzanne" mixes a wistful type of love song with a religious meditation, themes that are also mixed in "Joan of Arc". "Famous Blue Raincoat" is from the point of view of a man whose marriage has been broken by his wife's infidelity with his close friend, and is written in the form of a letter to that friend. "Everybody Knows" starts off with social inequality ("...the poor stay poor/ And the rich get rich"), but this is just the laying of the foundation that leads up to the real issue: Infidelity and betrayal.

"Sisters of Mercy" depicts his encounter with two women in a hotel room in Edmonton, Canada. Claims that "Chelsea Hotel #2" treats his affair with Janis Joplin without sentimentality are countered by claims that the song reveals a more complicated set of feelings than straightforward love. Cohen confirmed that the subject is Janis with some embarrassment. "She wouldn't mind", he declares, "but my mother would be appalled". "Don't Go Home with Your Hard-On" also deals with sexual themes.

Cohen comes from a Jewish background, reflected in his song "Story of Isaac", and also in "Who by Fire", whose words and melody echo the Unetaneh Tokef, an 11th century liturgical poem recited on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Broader Jewish themes sound throughout the album Various Positions. Hallelujah, which has music as a secondary theme, begins by evoking the biblical king David composing a song that "pleased the Lord", and continues with references to Bathsheba and Samson. The lyrics of "Whither Thou Goest", performed by him and released in his album Live in London, are adapted from the Bible (Ruth 1:16-17, King James Version). If it be Your Will also has a strong air of religious resignation. In his concert in Ramat Gan, Israel, on the 24 September 2009, Cohen spoke Jewish prayers and blessings to the audience in Hebrew. He opened the show with the first sentence of Ma Tovu. At the middle he used Baruch Hashem, and he ended the concert reciting the blessing of Birkat Cohanim.

In his early career as a novelist, Beautiful Losers grappled with the mysticism of the Catholic/Iroquois Catherine Tekakwitha. Cohen has also been involved with Buddhism since the 1970s and was ordained a Buddhist monk in 1996; however he is still religiously Jewish: "I'm not looking for a new religion. I'm quite happy with the old one, with Judaism."

He is described as an observant Jew in an article in The New York Times:

Mr. Cohen is an observant Jew who keeps the Sabbath even while on tour and performed for Israeli troops during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. So how does he square that faith with his continued practice of Zen?

"Allen Ginsberg asked me the same question many years ago," he said. "Well, for one thing, in the tradition of Zen that I've practiced, there is no prayerful worship and there is no affirmation of a deity. So theologically there is no challenge to any Jewish belief."

Having suffered from depression during much of his life (although less so recently), Cohen has written much (especially in his early work) about depression and suicide. "Beautiful Losers" and "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" are about suicide; darkly comic "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong" mentions suicide; "Dress Rehearsal Rag" is about a last-minute decision not to commit suicide. An atmosphere of depression pervades "Please Don't Pass Me By" and "Tonight Will Be Fine". As in the aforementioned "Hallelujah", music itself is the subject of "Tower of Song", "A Singer Must Die", and "Jazz Police".

Social justice often shows up as a theme in his work, where he, especially in later albums, expounds leftist politics, albeit with culturally conservative elements. In "Democracy", he laments "the wars against disorder/ … the sirens night and day/ … the fires of the homeless/ … the ashes of the gay." He concludes that the United States is actually not a democracy. He has made the observation (in Tower of Song) that, "the rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor/ And there's a mighty judgment coming." In the title track of The Future he recasts this prophecy on a pacifist note: "I've seen the nations rise and fall/ …/ But love's the only engine of survival." In "Anthem", he promises that "the killers in high places [who] say their prayers out loud/ … [are] gonna hear from me."

Several Cohen songs speak of abortion, always either as something distasteful or even atrocious. In "The Future", he sings, with mordant sarcasm, "Destroy another fetus now/ We don't like children anyhow". In "Stories of the Street" Cohen speaks of "The age of lust is giving birth/ And both the parents ask/ The nurse to tell them fairy tales/ from both sides of the glass". "Diamonds in the Mine" is often described as a song about abortion because of the lyrics, "The only man of energy/ Yes the revolution's pride/ He trained a hundred women/ Just to kill an unborn child". However, research suggests these lyrics are referring to Charles Manson, his followers, and Sharon Tate's unborn baby from the Manson "Family" murders of 1969.

War is an enduring theme of Cohen's work that—in his earlier songs and early life—he approached ambivalently. Challenged in 1974 over his serious demeanor in concerts and the military salutes he ended them with, Cohen remarked: "I sing serious songs, and I'm serious onstage because I couldn't do it any other way...I don't consider myself a civilian. I consider myself a soldier, and that's the way soldiers salute." In "Field Commander Cohen" he imagines himself as a soldier of sorts, socializing with Fidel Castro in Cuba—where he had actually lived at the height of US-Cuba tensions in 1961, allegedly sporting a Che Guevara-style beard and military fatigues. This song was written immediately following Cohen's front-line stint with the Israeli air force, the "fighting in Egypt" documented in a passage of "Night Comes On". In 1973, Cohen, who had traveled to Jerusalem to sign up on the Israeli side in the Yom Kippur War, had instead been assigned to a USO-style entertainer tour of front-line tank emplacements in the Sinai Desert, coming under fire. A poetic mention of then-General Ariel Sharon, delivered in the same mode as his Fidel Castro allusions, has given birth to the legend that Cohen and Sharon shared cognac together during Cohen's term in the Sinai.

Deeply moved by encounters with Israeli and Arab soldiers, he left the country to write "Lover Lover Lover". This song has been interpreted as a personal renunciation of armed conflict, and ends with the hope his song will serve a listener as "a shield against the enemy". He would later remark, "'Lover, Lover, Lover' was born over there; The whole world has its eyes riveted on this tragic and complex conflict. Then again, I am faithful to certain ideas, inevitably. I hope that those of which I am in favour will gain." Asked which side he supported in the Arab-Israeli conflict, Cohen responded, "I don't want to speak of wars or sides ... Personal process is one thing, it's blood, it's the identification one feels with their roots and their origins. The militarism I practice as a person and a writer is another thing. ... I don't wish to speak about war."

His recent politics continue a lifelong predilection for the underdog, the "beautiful loser." Whether recording "The Partisan", a French Resistance song by Anna Marly and Emmanuel d'Astier, or singing his own "The Old Revolution", written from the point of view of a defeated royalist, he has throughout his career expressed in his music sympathy and support for the oppressed. Although Cohen's fascination with war is often as metaphor for more general cultural and personal issues, as in New Skin for the Old Ceremony, by this measure his most "militant" album.

Cohen blends pessimism about political/cultural issues with humour and (especially in his later work) gentle acceptance. His wit contends with his stark analysis, as his songs are often verbally playful and cheerful: In "Tower of Song", the famously raw-voiced Cohen sings ironically that he was "… born with the gift/ Of a golden voice." The generally dark "Is This What You Wanted?" contains playful lines "You were the whore and the beast of Babylon/ I was Rin Tin Tin." In concert, he often plays around with his lyrics ("If you want a doctor/ I'll examine every inch of you" from "I'm Your Man" sometimes becomes "If you want a Jewish doctor …"). He may introduce one song by using a phrase from another song or poem—for example, introducing "Leaving Green Sleeves" by paraphrasing his own "Queen Victoria": "This is a song for those who are not nourished by modern love."

Cohen has also recorded such love songs as Irving Berlin's "Always" or the more obscure soul number "Be for Real" (originally sung by Marlena Shaw), chosen in part for their unlikely juxtaposition to his own work.

Lawsuits

On October 8, 2005, Cohen alleged that his longtime former manager, Kelley Lynch, misappropriated over US $5 million from Cohen's retirement fund leaving only $150,000. Cohen was sued in turn by other former business associates. As a result it has been widely reported that Cohen may never be able to collect the awarded amount. In 2007, U.S. District Judge Lewis T. Babcock dismissed a claim by Cohen for more than US $4.5 million against Colorado investment firm Agile Group, and in 2008 he dismissed a defamation suit that Agile Group filed against Cohen. Cohen has been under new management since April 2005.

Personal life

In the 1960s, during his stay at Hydra, Cohen befriended the Scandinavian novelists Axel Jensen and Göran Tunström. He lived there with Axel's wife Marianne Jensen (now: Ihlen Stang) and their son Axel after they broke up. The song "So Long, Marianne" is about her.

Cohen has been married once, to Los Angeles artist Suzanne Elrod in the 1970s. He has downplayed the marriage as an important relationship, and has said that "cowardice" and "fear" have prevented him from ever actually marrying. He had two children with Elrod: a son, Adam, born in 1972 and a daughter, Lorca, named after poet Federico García Lorca, born in 1974. Adam Cohen began a career as a singer-songwriter in the mid-1990s and fronts a band called Low Millions. Elrod took the cover photograph on Cohen's Live Songs album and is pictured on the cover of the Death of a Ladies' Man album.

Cohen and Elrod had split by 1979. "Suzanne", one of his best-known songs, refers to Suzanne Verdal, the former wife of his friend, the Québécois sculptor Armand Vaillancourt, rather than Elrod. In the 1990s, Cohen was romantically linked to actress Rebecca De Mornay.

Awards, titles and honours

In 1964, Cohen's first novel The Favourite Game won the Québec Literary Competition Prize (awarded 1923-70 by the Province of Québec).

In 1968, Cohen refused a Governor General's Award (in category for English language poetry or drama) for Selected Poems 1956–1968.

In 1970, Cohen received an honorary degree from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada.

In 1984, 1983 made-for-TV short musical film I am a Hotel, written by Cohen and based on his songs, won The Golden Rose, the main award at the international television festival Rose d'Or in Montreux.

In 1985, Book of Mercy won the Canadian Author's Association Literary Award for Poetry.

In 1986, Cohen and Lewis Furey won the Genie Award for Best Original Song (for "Angel Eyes" from Night Magic) .

In 1988, CBS awarded Cohen with the Columbia Records Crystal Globe Award, reserved for artists who sell more than five million copies of an album in foreign territories (for I'm Your Man).

In 1989, Cohen was nominated for Juno Awards as Canadian Entertainer of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year.

In 1991, Cohen was made Officer of the Order of Canada, inducted into the Juno/Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and nominated for a Juno Award for Songwriter of the Year.

In 1992, Cohen received an honorary degree from McGill University, Montreal.

In 1993, Cohen won the Juno Award for Male Vocalist of the Year. The video for Closing Time, directed by Curtis Wehrfritz, won for Best Video. He was also nominated as Producer of the Year (with co-producer Leanne Ungar, for Closing Time).

In 1993, Cohen won the Governor General's Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.

In 1994, Cohen won the Juno Award for Songwriter of the Year and was nominated for the Juno Award for Album of the Year (for The Future). The video for The Future, directed by Curtis Wehrfritz, was nominated for Juno Award for Best Video.

In 1996, he was ordained a Rinzai Buddhist monk.

In 2001, Cohen received Nagroda Muzyczna Fryderyk, the annual Polish music award, for best foreign album (Ten New Songs).

In 2002, Cohen (with Sharon Robinson) was nominated for Juno Award as Best Songwriter (for Boogie Street, In My Secret Life, and You Have Loved Enough).

In 2002, Cohen's video In My Secret Life, directed by Floria Sigismondi, was nominated for the Juno Award as Best Video, his "Ten New Songs" was nominated for Best Pop Album, and he was nominated for Best Artist.

In 2002, Cohen was awarded a SNEP Award for more than 100,000 copies sold of Ten New Songs in France.

In 2003, Cohen was made a Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honour.

In 2004, Beautiful Losers was chosen for inclusion in Canada Reads 2005.

In 2005, Cohen was included to the Canadian Folk Music Walk of Fame.

In 2006, Cohen was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In 2007, Cohen received a Grammy for Album of the Year as a featured artist on Herbie Hancock's . In 2008, Cohen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2008, Cohen was made a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec. In 2009 his album Live in London was Long Listed for the Polaris Music Prize

In 2010, Cohen received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 2010, Cohen received the Porin Award in Croatia in category of foreign video programme, for his Live in London DVD.

In 2010, Cohen was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Discography

Studio albums

Tribute albums

Many other cover albums have been recorded by many artists.

Hallelujah

In 1996, John Cale's cover of this song first appears in the independent film Basquiat. John Cale also performed this song in the 2001 Dreamworks movie Shrek. The cover when watching the actual movie was by John Cale, but the original soundtrack for the movie had a Rufus Wainwright version. John Cale's version was also featured on the television series Scrubs.

In 2004, fellow Canadian k.d. lang released the album Hymns of the 49th Parallel which featured Leonard's song Hallelujah. The critically acclaimed album rose to the number 2 position on the Canadian Albums Chart. She subsequently performed the song live, on February 12, 2010, at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada.

Jeff Buckley recorded one of the best-known versions of "Hallelujah" for his debut album Grace in 1994. to critical acclaim. It was used during the final minutes of the West Wing episode Posse Comitatus, the last episode of season 3. On March 7, 2008, Jeff Buckley's version of Cohen's "Hallelujah", went to number 1 on the iTunes chart after Jason Castro performed the song on the seventh season of the television series American Idol. Another major boost for Cohen's song exposure came when singer-songwriter Kate Voegele released her version of "Hallelujah" from her 2007 album Don't Look Away and appeared as a regular character, named Mia, on season five of the teenage television show One Tree Hill.

In December 2008, two versions of "Hallelujah" placed No. 1 and 2 in the UK Christmas singles chart, with X Factor winner Alexandra Burke at No. 1 and Jeff Buckley at No. 2, following a campaign by Buckley fans to get his version to no. 1 rather than the X Factor version. As a result, online downloads of Cohen's original version placed it at No. 36, 24 years after its initial release.

Books

Let Us Compare Mythologies (poetry) 1956

The Spice-Box of Earth (poetry) 1961

The Favourite Game (novel) 1963

Flowers for Hitler (poetry) 1964

Beautiful Losers (novel) 1966

Parasites of Heaven (poetry) 1966

Selected Poems 1956–1968 (poetry) 1968

The Energy of Slaves (poetry) 1972

Death of a Lady's Man (poetry and prose) 1978

Book of Mercy (prose, poetry, psalms) 1984

Stranger Music (selected poems and songs) 1993

Book of Longing (poetry, prose, drawings) 2006

Film and television

Cohen was the subject of the 1965 documentary Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Leonard Cohen, directed by Donald Brittain and Don Owen and produced by the National Film Board of Canada. This film, which pre-dates Cohen's career as a songwriter, explores his career as a well-known Canadian poet. Cohen also appeared in Owen's 1967 film The Ernie Game, which was entered into the 18th Berlin International Film Festival.

Cohen's music also appeared the following year in the 1966 NFB animated short Angel.

In 1968 Cohen performed on the BBC, both on the Julie Felix Show and in his own special, split into two thirty minute shows. The first clip still exists, while the second is only available as a bootleg CD.

Cohen makes a cameo appearance performing "The Stranger Song" in the Canadian film The Ernie Game (1968), which is based on the stories of Bernard Cole Spencer.

Cohen's 1970 performance at the Isle of Wight Festival was filmed by Murray Lerner, but remained unreleased until 2009 when it was released as Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight 1970, and included Lerner's 2009 documentary material.

Robert Altman's 1971 western McCabe and Mrs. Miller used three Cohen songs on its soundtrack, as well the instrumental parts of The Stranger Song performed by Cohen. Multiple record singles were released during the film's distribution. In 1972, Cohen's European tour was filmed by British director Tony Palmer; the re-edited material appeared in 1974 under the title Bird On a Wire and exists only as a bootleg VHS tape. Palmer's authorised and restored film was released in 2010. In October 1979, Cohen recorded a show for German TV show RockPop Special, available only as a bootleg. The show is often rebroadcasted by the German satellite TV channel 3Sat.

The Song Of Leonard Cohen, a 1980 documentary by Harry Rasky, featuring Irving Layton, includes highlights from Cohen's 1979 European tour and tracks from the LP Recent Songs.

In 1983, Cohen wrote and starred in made-for-TV short musical film I am a Hotel, based on his songs. It won the Golden Rose award at the Rose d'Or television festival in Montreux in 1984.

In 1985, Cohen co-wrote and co-composed Night Magic (starring Carole Laure) with fellow Quebecker, Lewis Furey.

Cohen is subject of the BBC documentary Songs from the Life of Leonard Cohen, filmed during his 1988 tour.

In 1988, Spanish TV station RTE televised the full version of Cohen's show in San Sebastian, May 20, later aired in number of European countries and still rerun on the Spanish TV. It remains the only completely televised Cohen show.

In 1989, Cohen gave his first major performance on US television on Austin City Limits (recorded in November 1988). He performed for the show again in July 1993. Both programs have been often rebroadcast by the PBS.

Cohen appeared as villain Francois Zolan in the "French Twist" episode of the American television series Miami Vice (season 2, episode 17), originally broadcast on February 21, 1986.

Three of Cohen's songs from his album The Future ("Waiting for the Miracle", "Anthem", and "The Future") are used in Oliver Stone's 1994 film Natural Born Killers. Songs from this album have also appeared in the films Wonder Boys (2000), starring Michael Douglas and The Life of David Gale (2003), starring Kevin Spacey.

In 1994, Cohen narrated NFB-produced documentary The Tibetan Book of the Dead.

Cohen's years at the Mt. Baldy Zen Centre were the subject of 1997 French documentary Leonard Cohen: Spring 96 by Armelle Brusq, released on DVD in 2009.

In 2001, Cohen's song Hallelujah was used on the soundtrack of Shrek, in a version by John Cale.

The Favourite Game (Le Jeu de l'ange), based on his novel of the same title, was released in Canada in 2003.

was released in 2006. It features a 2005 tribute concert to Cohen, "Came So Far For Beauty", held at the Sydney Opera House and produced by Hal Willner. The film, directed by Lian Lunson, has appearances by Nick Cave, Beth Orton, Antony of Antony and the Johnsons, Rufus and Martha Wainwright, and a performance of "Tower of Song" by Cohen and U2. The film also features Cohen recalling significant parts of his life and career.

Cohen is the subject of a two-part documentary, Leonard Cohen: Under Review 1934-1977 (2007) and Leonard Cohen: Under Review 1978-2006 (2008), available separately on DVD.

Some of Cohen's songs, including Who By Fire and I'm Your Man, were featured in the season 5 finale and season 6 premiere of Criminal Minds.

See also

Music of Canada

List of Quebec musicians

Music of Quebec

Culture of Quebec

List of people with depression

References

Further reading

Anthony Reynolds, Leonard Cohen, a remarkable life, Omnibus Press, 2010.

Gilles Tordjman, Leonard Cohen, Le Castor Astral, Paris, 2006. ISBN 978-2-85920-671-X Alberto Manzano, Leonard Cohen, la biografía, Libros Cúpula, 2010.

External links

Official website

The Leonard Cohen Files (extensive fansite run with Cohen's co-operation)

Bird on a Wire: Tony Palmer's 1972 Concert Film (TCM Movie Morlocks)

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Name	John Rzeznik
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	John Joseph Theodore Rzeznik
Born	December 05, 1965
Origin	Buffalo, New York, United States
Instrument	Vocals, Guitar, Drums
Genre	Rock, Alternative rock.
Years active	1986–present
Occupation	Singer, songwriter, guitarist,
Associated acts	Goo Goo Dolls
Label	Metal Blade RecordsWarner MusicWarner Bros.
Url	GooGooDolls.com

John Joseph Theodore Rzeznik (born December 5, 1965), also known as Johnny Rzeznik, is an American songwriter, lead guitarist, vocalist and producer. He is best known as the frontman of rock band the Goo Goo Dolls, of which he is a founding member and with whom he has recorded nine studio albums.

Early life

Rzeznik was born in Buffalo, New York, the youngest of five children of Edith (née Pomeroy) and Joseph Rzeznik, a bar proprietor and postal clerk. His name is pronounced REZ-nik and means 'butcher' in Polish. Both of Rzeznik's parents were musicians, playing the clarinet and flute. Rzeznik had a strict Catholic upbringing on Buffalo's working-class East Side. Rzeznik's father died from diabetic coma at the age of fifty-five when Rzeznik was sixteen years old. Six months later his mother died from a sudden heart attack. Having lost both of his parents, he was brought up by his four older sisters. It was during this period and while attending high school that Rzeznik began playing the guitar.

Career

Goo Goo Dolls

In 1986, he formed the band that became the Goo Goo Dolls with Robby Takac. Previously John had been in a band with Takac's cousin, called The Beaumonts. It is thought the band was originally called The Sex Maggots, however Rzeznik admitted this was a joke on stage one night, and he was "never actually in a band called The Sex Maggots". They got the name Goo Goo Dolls from an ad in a True Detective magazine when a concert promoter asked them to, fearing the local newspapers would not print an advert for a show featuring a band with such a name.

In the early days of The Goo Goo Dolls, the band performed at gigs relentlessly, with Robby as the frontman (Rzeznik gradually becoming the frontman over the next few albums, as each new album contained more songs sung by Rzeznik than the last). They were soon picked up by a small record label, Celluloid. Under Celluloid they released their first eponymous album (later the re-prints would be referred to as "First Release") on a $750 budget. This attracted the attention of a larger record label, Metal Blade, who released their next few albums. For the next few years the band toured, produced albums and held down regular jobs.

Other activity

Following the album Gutterflower, John wrote "Always Know Where You Are" and "I'm Still Here" for the Disney film Treasure Planet, which were also released as a single independently from the band.

From October to December 2007, Rzeznik was a judge alongside Sheila E. and Australian Idol judge and marketing manager Ian "Dicko" Dickson on the Fox network's The Next Great American Band.

On June 19, 2008, John Rzeznik was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and was awarded the Hal David Starlight award.

Musical style

Influences

Most of the music Rzeznik listened to while growing up was influenced by his sisters, and comprised mostly classic rock such as, The Rolling Stones and The Kinks. The youngest of his four older sisters moved towards punk music and Rzeznik became interested in bands such as the Ramones and The Clash. Rzeznik attributes his gift for melody to listening to bands such as KISS, Cheap Trick, The Cure and Rush in the early 1980s.

Guitar tunings

Rzeznik is well known for his distinctive and unusual guitar tunings. Many of his newer songs, particularly the more acoustic-oriented ones, are performed with his guitars tuned to an open chord with several of the strings tuned to the same note but in different octaves. This gives the guitar a shimmery, jangly sound almost like a 12-string guitar. Perhaps the most famous example of this is his signature hit "Iris", but other examples include "Name," "Black Balloon," "Think About Me," and "Here Is Gone." Conversely, on earlier albums such as "Superstar Car Wash" and "A Boy Named Goo," Rzeznik often utilized a conventional standard tuning.

Songwriting

Rzeznik believes that writing is not just an inspirational thing but that writing music is "ninety nine percent perspiration." He says that when writing a song, he often "runs tape and screws around with stuff," and that his songs are often both biographical and autobiographical.

Notable performances

At the 2004 Fashion Rocks! concert in New York, Rzeznik performed a duet version of the song Iris with Canadian pop singer Avril Lavigne. The Goo Goo Dolls also performed the song "Name" at a live concert with LeeAnn Rimes. Rzeznik also performed Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" with Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit for the victims of September 11 as a tribute to the heroes.

On July 4, 2004, Rzeznik and his bandmates returned home to Buffalo and played a free show to give back to their loyal fans, over 60,000 of whom attended. The day quickly became a city triumph when rain came pouring down during their performance. It turned out to be one of the strongest rain storms of the year in Buffalo, but the Goo Goo Dolls did not stop playing. Rzeznik declared, "We're going to keep going until this shit stops". This performance was captured on DVD and CD for the public in the Goo Goo Dolls release .

Rzeznik also performed a version of U2's "All I Want is You" on the album Les Paul and Friends.

Equipment

Rzeznik has used many different guitar brands and models over the years. On Superstar Car Wash, he endorsed ESP guitars. The liner notes of A Boy Named Goo list Epiphone as his guitar of choice. Since the late '90s, Rzeznik has been using Fender electric guitars. He has used many variations such as the Stratocaster, Telecaster, Jaguar and a "Halfcaster" (a Stratocaster cut in half). He also used Guild acoustic guitars on both the "Dizzy Up the Girl" and "Gutterflower" tours. Guild models used include several D-55s (unusually, most of his D-55s were built in Fender's Corona, California Shop), a black F65CE, multiple Peregrine/S7CE Customs (a Guild Custom Shop Model), a black Songbird/S4CE, and a black F47M. Live performances of this time sometimes showed the auxiliary guitarist, Greg Suran, using some Guild acoustics such as the DV-52 and F-47M in natural finishes.

Since beginning the "Let Love In" tour, Rzeznik has been experimenting with Gibson Les Paul guitars and semi-hollow body electric guitars. He also uses Taylor 800 and 900 series acoustic guitars while on tour. He has stated that the Taylor Expression System (9V version) is one of the only forms of acoustic guitar amplification that still let the guitars "sound like wood" when played through a house PA system.

Early studio footage from the Goo Goo Dolls' upcoming 9th studio album, Something for the Rest of Us shows John playing Taylor acoustics, in addition to Gibson acoustic and electric guitars.

Discography

Goo Goo Dolls (1986), Celluloid Records later re-released as First Release (1987), Metal Blade Records

Jed (1989), Metal Blade Records

Hold Me Up (1990), Metal Blade Records

Superstar Car Wash (1993), Metal Blade Records

A Boy Named Goo (1995), Metal Blade Records

Dizzy Up The Girl (1998), Warner Bros. Records

Gutterflower (2002), Warner Bros. Records

Let Love In (2006), Warner Bros. Records

Something for the Rest of Us (2010), Warner Bros. Records

Solo singles

{| class="wikitable" ! rowspan="2" |Year ! rowspan="2" |Title ! colspan="3" |Chart positions ! rowspan="2" |Album |- !style="width:3em;font-size:75%"|US !style="width:3em;font-size:75%"|US Pop - Treasure Planet (2003)

Yardbirds featuring Johnny Rzeznik - "For Your Love" - Birdland (2003)

"Once in a Lifetime" - Good Morning Miami theme

"All I Want is You" - Les Paul & Friends: American Made World Played (2005)

Ian Gillan - ''Gillan's Inn" (2006)

References and notes

External links

Goo Goo Dolls official site

Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:American rock guitarists Category:American male singers Category:American rock singer-songwriters Category:American people of Polish descent Category:American musicians of Polish descent Category:People from Buffalo, New York

Name	John Mayer
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	John Clayton Mayer
Born	October 16, 1977Bridgeport, Connecticut
Origin	Fairfield, Connecticut, U.S.
Instrument	Guitar, vocals, omnichord, piano, vibraphone, percussion
Genre	Blues rock, pop rock, blue-eyed soul, acoustic rock, soft rock
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, graphic designer, columnist, comedian
Years active	–present
Label	Arista, Aware, Columbia
Associated acts	John Mayer Trio
Url
Notable instruments	Fender StratocasterMartin GuitarsGibson Guitars

John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, where he attended Fairfield Warde High School. He then attended Berklee College of Music in Boston before moving to Atlanta, Georgia in 1997, where he refined his skills and gained a following. His first two studio albums, Room for Squares and Heavier Things, did well commercially, achieving multi-platinum status. In 2003, he won a Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Grammy Award for "Your Body Is a Wonderland".

Mayer began his career performing mainly acoustic rock, but gradually began a transition towards the blues genre in 2005 by collaborating with renowned blues artists such as B. B. King, Buddy Guy, and Eric Clapton, and by forming the John Mayer Trio. The blues influence can be heard on his album Continuum, released in September 2006. At the 49th Annual Grammy Awards in 2007 Mayer won Best Pop Vocal Album for Continuum and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Waiting on the World to Change". He released his fourth studio album, Battle Studies, in November 2009.

Mayer's career pursuits have extended to stand-up comedy, design, and writing; he has written pieces for magazines, most notably for Esquire. He is also involved in philanthropic activities through his "Back to You" fund. Several high-profile romantic relationships and his involvement with the media caused him to become a tabloid staple, beginning in 2006.

Early life

Mayer was born on October 16, 1977 in Bridgeport, Connecticut to Margaret, an English teacher, and Richard, a high school principal. He grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut, the second of three children. Mayer is Jewish on his father's side, and has said that he "relat[es] to Judaism". Growing up in Fairfield, Mayer became friends with future tennis star James Blake. He attended Fairfield Warde High School (then called Andrew Warde High School), although he was enrolled in the Center for Global Studies at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk for his junior year. (Then known as the Center for Japanese Studies Abroad, it is a magnet program for students wanting to learn Japanese.) During an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Mayer said that he had played the clarinet for a while in middle school, with minor success. After watching Michael J. Fox's guitar performance as Marty McFly in Back to the Future, Mayer became fascinated with the instrument, and when he turned 13, his father rented one for him.

Soon after, a neighbor gave him a Stevie Ray Vaughan cassette, which began Mayer’s intense love of the blues. Mayer started taking lessons from a local guitar-shop owner, and soon became consumed with playing the instrument. His singular focus concerned his parents, and they took him twice to see a psychiatrist—but Mayer was determined to be fine. Mayer considered skipping college to pursue his music, but the disapproval of his parents dissuaded him from doing so. Shortly thereafter, he began suffering from panic attacks, and lived with the fear of having to enter a mental institution. After graduation, he worked for fifteen months at a gas station until he saved enough money to buy a 1996 Stevie Ray Vaughan signature Stratocaster.

Career

Early career

John Mayer enrolled in the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, at age nineteen. In Atlanta they formed a two-man band called LoFi Masters and began performing in local coffee houses and club venues such as Eddie's Attic. As a result, the two parted ways, and Mayer embarked on a solo career. Mayer and LaBruyere then began to perform throughout Georgia and nearby states.

Major label success

Mayer’s reputation began to build, and a March 2000 appearance at South by Southwest brought him to the attention of "launch" label, Aware Records. After including him in the Aware Festival concerts and having his songs included on Aware compilations, in early 2001, Aware released Mayer’s internet-only album entitled, Room for Squares. During that time, Aware inked a deal with Columbia Records that gave Columbia first pick in signing Aware artists, and so in September of the same year, Columbia remixed and re-released Room for Squares. As part of the major label "debut", the album's artwork was updated, and the track "3x5" was added. The re-release also included reworked studio versions of the first four songs from his indie album, Inside Wants Out.

By the end of 2002, Room for Squares had spawned several radio hits, including "No Such Thing," "Your Body Is a Wonderland", and ultimately, "Why Georgia". In 2003, Mayer won a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Your Body Is a Wonderland." In his acceptance speech he remarked, "This is very, very fast, and I promise to catch up." He also figuratively referred to himself as being sixteen, a remark that many mistook to mean that he was only sixteen years old at the time.

In 2003, Mayer released a live CD and DVD of a concert in Birmingham, Alabama entitled, Any Given Thursday. The concert featured songs previously not recorded, such as "Man on the Side" (co-written with Cook) and "Something's Missing", which later appeared on Heavier Things. The concert also included "Covered In Rain". According to the accompanying DVD documentary, this song is "part two" of the song "City Love", which features the line "covered in rain". Commercially, the album quickly peaked at number seventeen on the Billboard 200 chart. The CD/DVD received conservative, although consistent, praise, with critics torn between his pop-idol image, and (at the time) emerging guitar prowess. Erik Crawford (of Allmusic) asked "Is he the consummate guitar hero exemplified when he plays a cover of Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'Lenny', or is he the teen idol that the pubescent girls shriek for after he plays 'Your Body Is a Wonderland?'"

Heavier Things, Mayer's second album, was released in 2003 to generally favorable reviews. Rolling Stone, Allmusic and Blender all gave positive, although reserved, feedback. PopMatters said that it "doesn't have as many drawbacks as one might assume". The album was commercially successful, and while it did not sell as well as Room for Squares, it peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. Mayer earned his first number one single with the song "Daughters" as well as a 2005 Grammy for Song of the Year, beating out fellow contenders Alicia Keys and Kanye West. He dedicated the award to his grandmother, Annie Hoffman, who died in May 2004. He also won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, beating Elvis Costello, Prince, and Seal for the award. In his February 9, 2009 interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Mayer said that he thought he shouldn't have won the Grammy for Song of the year because he thought that Alicia Keys' If I Ain't Got You was the better song. Because of this, he removed the top half of the Grammy and gave it to Keys, and kept the bottom part for himself. At the 37th Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in 2006, Mayer was honored with the Hal David Starlight Award.

Mayer again recorded live concerts across seven nights of his U.S. tour in 2004. These recordings were released to the iTunes music store under the title as/is, indicating that the errors were included along with the good moments. A few months later, a "best of" CD was compiled from the as/is nights. The album included a previously unreleased cover of Marvin Gaye's song "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)", featuring a solo from Mayer's support act—jazz and blues turntablist, DJ Logic. All the album covers of the as/is releases feature drawings of anthropomorphic bunnies.

, John Mayer and Steve Jobs at Macworld 11, SF Moscone Center.]] With increased exposure, Mayer's talent came into demand in other areas. Steve Jobs invited Mayer to perform during the keynote address of Apple's annual Macworld Conference & Expo, in January 2004, as Jobs introduced the software application GarageBand. The gig led to Mayer becoming a fixture of the event. He rejoined Jobs on stage for a solo performance at Macworld 2007, following the announcement of the iPhone. Mayer has also done endorsements, such as a Volkswagen commercial for the Beetle's guitar outlet and for the BlackBerry Curve.

Change in musical direction

Mayer began to collaborate extensively, often working with artists outside of his own genre. He appeared on Common's song "Go!" and on Kanye West's "Bittersweet Poetry". Following these collaborations, Mayer received praise from rap heavyweights Jay-Z and Nelly. When asked about his presence in the hip hop community, Mayer said, "It's not music out there right now. That's why, to me, hip-hop is where rock used to be."

It was around this time that Mayer began hinting a change in his musical interests, announcing that he was "closing up shop on acoustic sensitivity."

John Mayer Trio

This sample features an extended electric guitar solo.}}

In the spring of 2005, Mayer formed the John Mayer Trio with bassist Pino Palladino and drummer Steve Jordan, both of whom he had met through previous studio sessions. The trio played a combination of blues and rock music. In October 2005, the Trio opened for The Rolling Stones during a sold-out club tour of their own, and that November, released a live album called Try! The band took a break in mid-2006. In September 2006, Mayer announced plans for the Trio to begin work on a future studio album.

Continuum era

Mayer's third studio album, titled Continuum, was released on September 12, 2006, and was produced by Mayer and Steve Jordan. Mayer suggested the album was intended to combine his signature pop music with the feel, sound, groove, and sensibilities of the blues. In that vein, two of the tracks from his trio release Try!—the funky "Vultures" and the blues centerpiece "Gravity"—also were included on Continuum.

The first single from Continuum was "Waiting on the World to Change", which debuted on The Ron and Fez Show. The song was the third most downloaded song of the week on the iTunes Music Store following its release on July 11, 2006, and debuted at #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. On August 23, 2006, Mayer debuted the entire album on the Los Angeles radio station Star 98.7, giving commentary on each track. A subsequent version was released the next day on the Clear Channel Music website as a streaming sneak preview. On September 21, 2006, Mayer appeared on , playing "Waiting on the World to Change" and "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room." The song "Gravity" was featured on the television series House in the episode "Cane & Able" and Numb3rs. He recorded a session for the British program Live From Abbey Road at Abbey Road Studios on October 22, 2006.

On December 7, 2006, Mayer was nominated for five 2007 Grammys, including "Album of the Year." The John Mayer Trio also received a nomination for their album, Try!. He won two: Best Pop Song with Vocal for "Waiting on the World to Change" and Best Pop Album for Continuum. Mayer remixed an acoustic version of his single "Waiting on the World to Change" with vocal additions from fellow musician Ben Harper. In preparation for recording Continuum, Mayer had booked the Village Recorder in Los Angeles to record five demo acoustic versions of his songs with veteran musician Robbie McIntosh. These recordings became The Village Sessions, an EP released on December 12, 2006. As usual, Mayer oversaw the artwork of the release.

Mayer was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone (#1020) in February 2007, along with John Frusciante and Derek Trucks. He was named as one of the "New Guitar Gods," and the cover nicknamed him "Slowhand, Jr.," a reference to Eric Clapton.

On November 20, 2007, the re-issue of Continuum became available online and in stores. The release contains a bonus disc of six live songs from his 2007 tour: five from Continuum and a cover of the Ray Charles song "I Don't Need No Doctor". His new single, "Say", also became available through iTunes. On December 6, 2007, "Belief" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. He accompanied Alicia Keys on guitar on her song "No One" at the ceremony.

In February 2008, Mayer hosted a three-day Caribbean cruise event that included performances with various musicians including David Ryan Harris, Brett Dennen, Colbie Caillat and Dave Barnes, among others. The event was called "The Mayercraft Carrier" and was held aboard the cruise ship known as the Carnival Victory. A follow up cruise titled "Mayercraft Carrier 2" set sail from Long Beach, California on March 27–31, 2009 on the Carnival Splendor.

On July 1, 2008, Mayer released Where the Light Is a live concert film of Mayer's performance at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on December 8, 2007. The film was directed by Danny Clinch. It features an acoustic set and a set with the John Mayer Trio, followed by a set with John's band from the Continuum album. The DVD and Bluray bonus material includes footage of Mayer backstage and playing outside on Mulholland Drive.

Australian artist Guy Sebastian invited Mayer to collaborate on three songs from his 2009 album Like it Like That. Mayer also played guitar on the title track of Crosby Loggins's debut LP, Time to Move, released on July 10, 2009.

On July 7, 2009, Mayer performed an instrumental guitar version of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" at Jackson's memorial service.

Battle Studies

On November 17, 2009, Mayer's fourth studio album, Battle Studies, was released and debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart. The album consists of 11 tracks with a total time of 45 minutes. The first single from the album, "Who Says", was released on September 24, 2009 in advance of album, and was followed on October 19 by the single "Heartbreak Warfare". Despite the album's commercial success, critics were mixed with their praise; while some reviews were glowing, calling it his "most adventurous", others called the album "safe" and noted that "Mayer the singer-songwriter and Mayer the man about town sometimes seem disconnected, like they don’t even belong in the same body." Mayer himself admitted to Rolling Stone that he thought Battle Studies was not his best album.

Other projects

Philanthropic activities

In 2002, Mayer began the "Back To You" Fund, a non-profit organization that focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts, and talent development. The foundation raises funds through the auction of exclusive John Mayer items, such as guitar picks, t-shirts, and signed CDs, made available on Mayer's auction site. The auctions have been successful, with some tickets selling for more than seventeen times their face value.

In an April 2007 blog entry, Mayer announced a new effort to help reverse global warming, dubbed "Another Kind of Green" (originally "Light Green", but changed because of copyright concerns). He envisioned it mostly as a line of "products that are cheap, easy alternatives to cut down on plastics," and encouraging others to do the same through his blog. He has also converted his tour bus to bio-diesel fuel. In the summer of 2007, the environmental advocacy group Reverb set up informational booths and helped his crew conserve energy on his tour dates.

Mayer has performed at a number of benefits and telethons for charity throughout his career. In response to the Virginia Tech massacre, Mayer (along with Dave Matthews Band, Phil Vassar, and Nas) performed a free concert at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium on September 6, 2007. On December 8, 2007, Mayer hosted the First Annual Charity Revue, a tradition he has continued each year. Charities who have benefited from the concerts include Toys for Tots, Inner City Arts, and the Los Angeles Mission. Both CDs and DVDs of the first concert were released under the title "Where the Light Is" in July 2008. It has not been announced whether the DVD proceeds will go to charity or not. Mayer also appeared on Songs for Tibet, a celebrity initiative to support Tibet and the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso.

Design

In a Rolling Stone interview, Mayer recalled that after former Columbia Records head, Don Ienner, panned Continuum, he briefly considered quitting music and studying design full time. The guitar was limited to a run of only 404, an Atlanta area code. This model was followed by the release of two Fender signature Stratocaster electric guitars, beginning in 2005. A third Stratocaster, finished in charcoal frost metallic paint with a racing stripe, was also a limited-release, with only 100 guitars made. In January, 2006, Martin Guitars released the Martin OMJM John Mayer acoustic guitar. The guitar was intended to have many of the attributes of the Martin OM-28 John Mayer but with a more affordable price tag. In August 2006, Fender started manufacturing SERIES II John Mayer Stratocasters. The new Olympic white with mint green pickguard and cream plastics replaced the shoreline gold model. In January 2007, Two Rock collaborated with Mayer on custom-designed amps. Only 25 (all signed by Mayer himself) were made available to the public. June 2007 saw the release of the "album art" guitar, with the Continuum motif repeated on the face of the instrument, as well as a 500-run John Mayer signature Fender Stratocaster in Cypress-Mica. Included with the limited Cypress-Mica model was the INCSvsJM gig bag that Mayer collaborated on with Incase designs. Not surprisingly, Mayer is a passionate collector of guitars, and in 2006 his collection was estimated at more than 200. The winner was Tim Fagan of L.A., as announced in the following January's issue.

Mayer has been active online, and has maintained four blogs: a MySpace page, a blog at his official site, another at Honeyee.com, one at tumblr.com, as well as a photoblog at StunningNikon.com. He also is one of the most-followed persons on the micro-blogging site Twitter, reaching 3 million followers in January 2010. Although his posts often deal with career-related matters, they also contain jokes, videos, photos, his convictions, and his personal activities; they sometimes overlap in content. He is noted for writing the blogs himself, and not through a publicist. In the mid-2000s, stand-up comedy became a sporadic hobby of Mayer's.

Television

In 2004, Mayer hosted a one-shot, half-hour comedy special on VH1 entitled John Mayer Has a TV Show, with antics including wearing a bear suit while anonymously teasing concertgoers in the parking lot outside one of his concerts. The American network CBS announced on January 14, 2009 that they were in negotiations with Mayer for a variety show; it may air as a special or as a regular series. In an interview with Rolling Stone, posted online on January 22, 2010, Mayer confirmed that the program, also called John Mayer Has a TV Show, was still in development, and that personnel were being hired. He described the concept as "a high quality music performance show, where I could also steer it a little bit. It's about there being a bastion of artists being made to look good and sound good.".

Mayer has made many appearances on talk shows and other television programs, most notably, on a Chappelle's Show comedy skit, Late Night with David Letterman and on the final episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Mayer made an appearance with Rob Dyrdek in the MTV show Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory, in which Mayer helped Dyrdek write a song dedicated to Dyrdek's mother.

Touring

Mayer has toured with many musical groups, including Maroon 5, Guster, Howie Day, Mat Kearney, Counting Crows, Ben Folds, The Wallflowers, Teitur, Brett Dennen, Sheryl Crow, Colbie Caillat, Train, OneRepublic and Paramore. Crow and Mayer, who had just previously appeared on the Cars Soundtrack together, co-headlined a tour that ran from August to October 2006. In 2007, Mayer toured Europe, hoping to reach the popularity abroad that he enjoys in North America. The initial North American Continuum tour ended on February 28, 2007, with a show at Madison Square Garden, a performance which the New York Post described as "career-defining." In 2010, Mayer and Keith Urban performed at a CMT Crossroads concert which saw Mayer and Urban performing a medley of their own songs together and a rendition of George Michael's single, "Faith". This performance was led to Urban and Mayer teaming up again for future performances, including at the 2010 CMT Awards.

Mayer allows audio taping at most of his live performances, and he also allows for the non-commercial trading of those recordings. He does this to give fans the opportunity to recreate the live experience, and to encourage fan interaction.

Touring band members

;Current members

David Ryan Harris – guitar, backing vocals (2003–present)

Robbie McIntosh – guitar, slide guitar, backing vocals (2006–present)

Sean Hurley – bass, backing vocals (2008–present)

Charlie Wilson – keyboards (2009–present)

Keith Carlock - drums, percussion (2010–present)

Bob Reynolds – saxophones, flute (2006–2008, 2010–present)

Bryan Lipps - trumpet (2010–present)

;Former members

David LaBruyere – bass (1999–2008)

Nir Z - drums (2001)

Matt Mangano - guitar (2001)

Matt Johnson - drums (2002)

Stephen Chopek – drums, percussion (2001–2002)

Michael Chaves – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (2001–2005)

Kevin Lovejoy – keyboards (2003–2004)

Erik Jekabsen – trumpet, flugelhorn (2003–2004)

Chris Karlic – saxophone, flute (2003–2005)

J.J. Johnson – drums (2003–2005, 2006–2008)

Onree Gill – keyboards (2004–2005)

Chuck McKinnon – trumpet, flugelhorn (2004–2005)

Ricky Peterson – keyboards, organ, backing vocals (2006–2007)

Tim Bradshaw – keyboards, organ, lap steel guitar, backing vocals (2007–2008)

Kenna Ramsey - backing vocals (2009–2010)

Melanie Taylor - backing vocals (2009–2010)

Steve Jordan – drums, percussion, backing vocals (2003, 2005–2006, 2009–2010)

Brad Mason - trumpet, flugelhorn (2006–2008)

Personal life

Mayer follows the discipline of Krav Maga. He hosts an annual Interfaith Baking Contest, in which he judges his favorite from pictures of baked goods sent in by his fans during the end-of-year, holiday season.

Mayer has a number of tattoos. These include: "Home" and "Life" (from the song title) on the back of his left and right arms respectively, "77" (his year of birth) on the left side of his chest, and a koi-like fish on his right shoulder. His entire left arm is covered in a sleeve tattoo that he acquired gradually, ending in April 2008; it includes: "SRV" (for his idol, Stevie Ray Vaughan) on his shoulder, a decorated rectangle on his biceps, a dragon-like figure on his inner arm, and various other floral designs. In 2003, he got a tattoo of three squares on his right forearm, which, he has explained, he will fill in gradually. As of 2010, two are filled.

He is an avid collector of watches and owns timepieces worth tens of thousands of dollars. Mayer also has an extensive collection of sneakers, estimated () at more than 200 pairs.

Mayer's parents concluded an uncontested divorce on May 27, 2009. After the divorce, Mayer moved his (82-year-old) father to an assisted-living facility in Los Angeles. Despite rumors to the contrary, Mayer did not date Heidi Klum in 2003. When Ryan Seacrest asked Mayer on the red carpet of the 2007 Grammy Awards, about his relationship with Simpson, Mayer responded in Japanese. Despite some initially conflicting translations, he said, "Jessica is a lovely woman, and I'm glad to be with her." Simpson also accompanied Mayer for a portion of his 2007 Continuum tour, and the two went on a trip to Rome in March of that year. However, the couple split in May 2007. He began dating actress Minka Kelly in September 2007, but they split up before the year's end. Mayer began dating actress Jennifer Aniston in April 2008, but Mayer broke it off the following August. They resumed dating in October 2008 and split up again in March 2009. His relationships with high-profile celebrities has led to his having a reputation as a "womanizer." Mayer's relationship with Jessica Simpson coincided with some personal behavior changes that served to significantly increase his tabloid exposure. Previously, Mayer had expressed his resolve to completely avoid drugs, alcohol, clubbing, "red-carpet" events, dating celebrities and anything else that he felt would detract from his focus on his music. In interviews, however, Mayer has alluded to experiencing an extreme "anxiety bender" episode in his twenties that motivated him to be less reclusive.

Mayer's relationship with the media has drawn controversy. He has been called long-winded and self-aware, culminated in an impromptu press conference outside of his gym in New York, where he explained why he had broken-up with Aniston. The fall-out was unfavorable, and he was branded a "" for "saving face"; and maintains he did it to take responsibility for hurting her. He apologized via Twitter for his use of the word "nigger," saying, "It was arrogant of me to think I could intellectualize...a word that is so emotionally charged." He also tearfully apologized to his band and fans at his concert in Nashville later that night.

Solo discography

Room for Squares (2001)

Heavier Things (2003)

Continuum (2006)

Battle Studies (2009)

Awards

Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Mayer has won seven awards from fifteen nominations.

Others awards and nominations

See also

Battle Studies World Tour

Notes

Footnotes

References

Edwards, G. (2006) Is Tiny Dancer Really Elton's Little John?, New York: Crown Publishing Group. ISBN 0-307-34603-X

External links

;Official

;Written by Mayer

Segment on Jimi Hendrix that Mayer wrote for Rolling Stone

Segment on Brett Dennen, that Mayer wrote for Rolling Stone

"Music Lessons with John Mayer", database of Mayer's Esquire column at Esquire.com

;General

Comprehensive John Mayer guitar tabs

"Square pegged", Mayer's first feature article in 2001, from Creative Loafing

Rolling Stone Q&A; Podcast: John Mayer, from December 2005: transcript

Iceberg Radio interview with John Mayer from September 2006: Listen: (32K) (64K)

John Mayer Exclusive Performance and Behind the Scenes footage on AOL Sessions

"John Mayer's Soft-Sell 'World'", NPR Morning Edition interview from March 2007. (listen) (read)

Nikon Podcast #3: "Exclusive Interview with John Mayer" (posted September 9, 2007) (listen)

Category:1977 births Category:American male singers Category:American philanthropists Category:American pop singers Category:American rock guitarists Category:American rock singer-songwriters Category:Berklee College of Music alumni Category:Blue-eyed soul singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:American Jews Category:Jewish American musicians Category:Krav Maga practitioners Category:Live Music Archive artists Category:Living people Category:Music of Atlanta, Georgia Category:Musicians from Connecticut Category:People from Atlanta, Georgia Category:People from Bridgeport, Connecticut Category:People of Jewish descent Category:People with synesthesia Category:American bloggers

Name	Billy Joel
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	William Martin Joel
Alias	Bill Joel,Bill Martin
Birth date	May 09, 1949
Birth place	The Bronx, New York City,
Origin	Hicksville, New York,
Instrument	Vocals, piano/keyboards, guitar, harmonica, accordion
Genre	Rock, pop, jazz, classical
Occupation	Singer-songwriter
Years active	1964–present
Label	Columbia,Family Productions,Famous Music,Sony Classical
Associated acts	Echoes,The Hassles,Attila,Elton John,Bruce Springsteen
Url
Notable instruments	Piano

William Martin "Billy" Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to the RIAA.

Joel had Top 40 hits in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s; achieving 33 Top 40 hits in the United States, all of which he wrote singlehandedly. He is also a six-time Grammy Award winner, a 23-time Grammy nominee and has sold over 150 million records worldwide. He was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame (1992), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1999), the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (2006) and the Hit Parade Hall of Fame (2009). Joel "retired" from recording pop music in 1993 but continues to tour (often with Elton John).

Life and career

Early life

Joel was born to a Jewish family in The Bronx, New York

Joel's father was an accomplished classical pianist. Billy reluctantly began piano lessons at an early age, at his mother's insistence; his teachers included the noted American pianist Morton Estrin and musician/songwriter Timothy Ford. His interest in music, rather than sports, was a source of teasing and bullying in his early years. (He has said in interviews that his piano instructor also taught ballet. Her name was Frances Neiman, and she was a Juilliard trained musician. She gave both classic piano and ballet lessons in the studio attached to the rear of her house, leading neighborhood bullies to mistakenly think he was learning to dance.) As a teenager, Joel took up boxing so that he would be able to defend himself. He boxed successfully on the amateur Golden Gloves circuit for a short time, winning twenty-two bouts, but abandoned the sport shortly after having his nose broken in his twenty-fourth boxing match.

Joel attended Hicksville High School, class of 1967. Joel however did not graduate from Hicksville. Due to playing at a piano bar, he was one English credit short of the graduation requirement; he overslept on the day of an important exam, owing to his late-night musician's lifestyle. He left high school without a diploma to begin a career in music. "I told them, 'the hell with it. If I'm not going to Columbia University, I'm going to Columbia Records and you don't need a high school diploma over there'." Columbia did, in fact, become the label that eventually signed him. In 1992, he submitted essays to the school board and was awarded his diploma at Hicksville High's annual graduation ceremony—25 years after he had left.

Early career

Upon seeing The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, Joel decided to pursue a full-time musical career, and set about finding a local Long Island band to join. Eventually he found the Echoes, a group that specialized in British Invasion covers. The Echoes became a popular New York attraction, convincing him to leave high school to become a professional musician. He began playing for the Echoes when he was 14 years old.

Joel began playing recording sessions with the Echoes in 1965, when he was 16 years old. Joel played piano on several recordings produced by Shadow Morton, including (as claimed by Joel, but denied by songwriter Ellie Greenwich) the Shangri-Las' Leader of the Pack, as well as several records released through Kama Sutra Productions. During this time, the Echoes started to play numerous late-night shows.

Later, in 1965, the Echoes changed their name to the Emeralds and then to the Lost Souls. For two years, Joel played sessions and performed with the Lost Souls. In 1967, he left that band to join the Hassles, a Long Island band that had signed a contract with United Artists Records. Over the next year and a half, they released The Hassles in 1967, Hour of the Wolf in 1968, and four singles, all of which failed commercially. Following The Hassles' demise in 1969, he formed the duo Attila with Hassles drummer Jon Small. Attila released their eponymous debut album in July 1970, and disbanded the following October. The reason for the group's break-up has been attributed to Joel's affair with Small's wife, Elizabeth, whom Joel eventually married.

Cold Spring Harbor

Joel signed his first solo record contract with Family Productions, and subsequently recorded his first solo album. Cold Spring Harbor (a reference to the Long Island town of the same name), was released in 1971. However, the album was mastered at the wrong speed, and the album was initially released with this error, resulting in Joel's sounding a semitone too high. The onerous terms of the Family Productions contract also guaranteed him very little money from the sales of his albums.

Popular cuts such as "She's Got a Way" and "Everybody Loves You Now" were originally released on this album, although they did not gain much attention until released as live performances in 1981 on Songs in the Attic. Since then, they have become favorite concert numbers. Cold Spring Harbor gained a second chance on the charts in 1984, when Columbia reissued the album after slowing it down to the correct speed. The album reached #158 in the US and #95 in the UK nearly a year later. Cold Spring Harbor caught the attention of Merrilee Rush ("Angel of the Morning") and she recorded a femme version of "She’s Got a Way (He’s Got a Way)" for Scepter Records in 1971.

Joel gigged locally in New York City in the fall of 1971 and moved out to Los Angeles early in 1972, adopting the stage name Bill Martin. While in California he did a six month gig in The Executive Room piano bar on Wilshire Boulevard. It was there he composed his signature hit "Piano Man" about the various patrons of the lounge. Subsequently he toured with his band members (Rhys Clark on drums, Al Hertzberg on guitar, and Larry Russell on bass) until the end of June 1972 throughout the US and Puerto Rico, opening for headliners such as J. Geils Band, The Beach Boys and Taj Mahal. At the Mar y sol festival in Puerto Rico, he electrified the crowd and got a big boost for his career., returning to New York City in 1975.

Early Columbia years: 1973–1976

Joel's experiences in Los Angeles connected him with record company executives, who bought out his contract with Ripp under the condition that the Family Productions logo be displayed alongside the Columbia logo for the next ten albums. There was a stipulation that Family Productions would receive a 25-cent royalty for every album Joel sold. The stand-out track for Piano Man was the title track, which, despite only making it to #25 on the Billboard Hot 100, stands as Joel's signature song (he ends nearly all of his concerts with it).

The touring band changed as well, Don Evans replacing Al Hertzberg on guitar, and Patrick McDonald taking over the bass position, to be replaced in 1974 by Doug Stegmeyer, who remained with Billy until 1989. Tom Whitehorse on banjo and pedal steel and then Johnny Almond on sax and keyboards rounded out the band. Billy's infectious spirit and talent galvanized the band into a tight performing unit, touring the U.S. and Canada extensively and appearing on the popular music shows of the day. Joel remained in Los Angeles to write Streetlife Serenade, his second album on the Columbia label. It was around this time that Jon Troy, an old friend from the New York neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, acted as Joel's manager although he would soon be replaced by Joel's wife Elizabeth. References to both suburbia and the inner city pepper the album.

The stand-out track on the album is "The Entertainer", a #34 hit in the U.S. which picks up thematically where "Piano Man" left off. Joel was upset that "Piano Man" had been significantly edited down to make it more radio-friendly, and in "The Entertainer," he refers to the edit with sarcastic lines such as "If you're gonna have a hit, you gotta make it fit, so they cut it down to 3:05", alluding to shortening of singles for radio play, as compared with the longer versions that appear on albums. Although Streetlife Serenade is often considered one of Joel's weaker albums (Joel has confirmed his distaste for the album), it nevertheless contains some notable tracks, including the title track, "Los Angelenos" and the instrumental "Root Beer Rag", which was a staple of his live set in the '70s and was resurrected frequently in 2007 and 2008. Streetlife Serenade also marks the beginning of a more confident vocal style on Joel's part.

In late 1975, he played piano and organ on several tracks on Bo Diddley's The 20th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll all-star album.

Disenchanted with the L.A. music scene, Joel returned to New York in 1976. There he recorded Turnstiles, for which he used his own hand-picked musicians in the studio for the first time, and also adopted a more hands-on role. Songs were initially recorded at Caribou Ranch with members of Elton John's band, and produced by famed Chicago producer James William Guercio, but Joel was dissatisfied with the results. The songs were re-recorded in New York, and Joel took over, producing the album himself.

The minor hit "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" echoed the Phil Spector sound, and was covered by Ronnie Spector (in a 2008 radio interview, Joel said he does not perform "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" in his live shows anymore because it is in too high a key and "shreds" his vocal cords.) The album also featured the song "New York State of Mind", a bluesy, jazzy epic that has become one of Joel's signature songs, and which was later covered by fellow Columbia labelmates Barbra Streisand, on her 1977 Streisand Superman album, and as a duet with Tony Bennett, on his 2001 album. Other songs on the album include "Summer, Highland Falls", "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)" and "Say Goodbye to Hollywood", which became a Top 40 hit in 1981 in a live version. Songs such as "Prelude/Angry Young Man" would become a mainstay of his concerts for years.

The Stranger and 52nd Street

For The Stranger, Columbia Records teamed Joel with producer Phil Ramone. The album yielded four Top-25 hits on the Billboard charts in the US: "Just the Way You Are" (#3), "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" (#17), "Only the Good Die Young" (#24), and "She's Always a Woman" (#17). Album sales exceeded Columbia's previous top-selling album, Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water, and was certified multi-platinum. His first-ever Top Ten album, it reached #2 on the charts. Ramone subsequently produced every Billy Joel studio release up to Storm Front, initially released in 1989. This album also featured "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant", an album-oriented rock classic, which has become one of his most well known songs. The song references a restaurant, Fontana di Trevi, near Carnegie Hall where he went when performing there, and the song's famous signature line – A bottle of white, a bottle of red, perhaps a bottle of rosé instead?" was actually spoken to him verbatim by a waiter once at Fontana di Trevi while he was ordering, inspiring part of the song.

The Stranger netted Joel Grammy nominations for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, for "Just the Way You Are", which was written as a gift to his wife Elizabeth. He received a late night phone call to his hotel room in Paris (he was on tour) in February 1979, letting him know he had won in both categories.

Joel faced high expectations on his next album. 52nd Street was conceived as a day in Manhattan, and was named after the famous street of same name which hosted many of the world's premier jazz venues and performers throughout the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. Fans purchased over seven million copies on the strength of the hits "My Life" (#3), "Big Shot" (#14), and "Honesty" (#24). This helped 52nd Street become Joel's first #1 album. "My Life" eventually became the theme song for a new US television sitcom, Bosom Buddies, which featured actor Tom Hanks in one of his earliest roles. The album won Grammys for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male and Album of the Year. 52nd Street was the first album to be released on compact disc when it went on sale alongside Sony's CD player CDP-101 on October 1, 1982, in Japan.

Despite the publicity photos and album cover showing Joel holding a trumpet, he does not play the instrument on the album, though two tracks on the album do feature some well-known jazz trumpeters. Freddie Hubbard plays two solos in "Zanzibar," and Jon Faddis joins Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker in the horn section for "Half a Mile Away".

In 1979, Billy Joel travelled to Havana, Cuba, to participate in the historic Havana Jam festival that took place between March 2–4, alongside Rita Coolidge, Kris Kristofferson; Stephen Stills, the CBS Jazz All-Stars, the Trio of Doom, Fania All-Stars, Billy Swan, Bonnie Bramlett, Mike Finnegan, Weather Report, plus an array of Cuban artists such as Irakere, Pacho Alonso, Tata Güines and Orquesta Aragón. His performance is captured on Ernesto Juan Castellanos's documentary Havana Jam '79.

Early 1980s

The success of his piano-driven ballads like Just the Way You Are, She's Always a Woman and Honesty never sat well with Joel, as many critics were quick to slap the "balladeer" tag on him. With Glass Houses, he attacked the new wave popularity with aplomb and delivered several harder-edged songs custom made for the live shows in arenas and stadiums he was by then playing almost exclusively. The front cover consisted of Joel's real-life modern glass house. The album spent 6 weeks at #1 on the Billboard chart and yielded such hits as "You May Be Right" (used as the theme song, covered by Southside Johnny, for the CBS mid-90s sitcom Dave's World) (#7, May 1980), "Close To The Borderline" (B-side of the "You May Be Right" single), Don't Ask Me Why (#19, September 1980), Sometimes a Fantasy (#36, November 1980) and It's Still Rock & Roll to Me, which became Joel's first Billboard #1 song in July 1980. Glass Houses won the Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male. It would also win the American Music Award for Favorite Album, Pop/Rock category. The album's closing song, Through The Long Night, (B-side of the It's Still Rock & Roll to Me single) was a lullaby that featured Joel harmonizing with himself in a song he says was inspired by The Beatles' Yes It Is.

The Nylon Curtain went to #7 on the charts, partially due to heavy airplay on MTV for the videos to the singles Allentown and Pressure. Allentown spent six weeks at a peak position of #17 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it one of the most-played radio songs of 1982, pushing it into 1983's year-end Top 70, and making it the most successful song from The Nylon Curtain album, besting "Pressure," which peaked at #20 (where it resided for three weeks) and Goodnight Saigon which reached #56 on U.S. charts.

Christie Brinkley and An Innocent Man

The song Uptown Girl was one of the first songs written when Joel returned from vacation. Many believe that Uptown Girl was about supermodel Christie Brinkley, whom he started dating during the song's creation (the music video also included Brinkley). However, Michael Heatley and Frank Hopkinson in their book, The Girl In The Song, speculate that it was actually about Elle, his future missus Christie, and a then-unknown model/singer named Whitney Houston, who were staying at the same hotel as him. The song became a worldwide hit upon its release, #3 in the U.S. and Joel's sole #1 in the United Kingdom.

The resulting album, An Innocent Man, was compiled as a tribute to the rock and roll music of the 1950s and 1960s, and also resulted in Joel's second Billboard #1 hit, Tell Her About It, which was the first single off the album in the summer of 1983. The album itself reached #4 on the charts and #2 in UK. It also boasted 6 top-30 singles, the most of any album in Joel's catalog. At the time the album came out that summer, WCBS-FM began playing The Longest Time both in regular rotation and on the Doo Wop Shop. Many fans wanted this to be the next single released in the fall, but that October, Uptown Girl would be released, peaking at #3 and ranking at #20 on Billboard's 1983 Hot 100 year-end chart. Also, the James Brown-inspired song "Easy Money" would be featured in the 1983 Rodney Dangerfield film of the same name.

In December the title song, An Innocent Man, would be released as a single and would peak at #10 in the U.S. and #8 in the UK, early in 1984. That March The Longest Time would finally be released as a single, peaking at #14 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. That summer, Leave a Tender Moment Alone would be released and hit #27 while Keeping the Faith would peak at #18 in January 1985. In the video for Keeping the Faith, Christie Brinkley also plays the "redhead girl in a Chevrolet". An Innocent Man was also nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy, but lost to Michael Jackson's Thriller. Billy Joel also participated in the USA For Africa We Are The World project in 1985.

Following the success of An Innocent Man, Joel had been approached to release an album of his most successful singles. This was not the first time this topic had come up, but Joel had initially considered "Greatest Hits" albums as marking the end of one's career. This time, he agreed, and Greatest Hits Vol. 1 and 2 was released as a 4-sided album and 2-CD set, with the songs in sequence of when they were released. The new songs "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" and "The Night Is Still Young" were recorded and released as singles to support the album; both reached the top 40, peaking at #9 and #34, respectively. Greatest Hits was highly successful and has since been certified double diamond by the RIAA for over 10.5 million copies (21 million units) sold. To date it is the sixth best selling album in American music history according to the RIAA.

Coinciding with the Greatest Hits album release, Joel released a 2-volume Video Album that was a compilation of the promotional videos he had recorded from 1977 to the present time. Along with videos for the new singles off the Greatest Hits album, Joel also recorded a video for his first hit, "Piano Man", for this project.

Though it broke into the Top Ten, The Bridge was not a success in relation to some of Joel's other albums, but it yielded the hits "A Matter of Trust" and "Modern Woman" from the film Ruthless People, a dark comedy from the directors of Airplane! (both #10). In a departure from his "piano man" persona, Joel is shown in its video playing a Les Paul-autographed Gibson guitar. The ballad "This is the Time" also charted, peaking at #18, and has been a favorite on the prom circuit ever since. The reason "Modern Woman" has been left off many of Joel's compilation sets (the exception appears to be My Lives) is that he has since said in interviews he doesn't care for the song.

On November 18, 1986, an extended version of the song "Big Man On Mulberry Street" was used on a season three episode of Moonlighting. The episode itself was also titled "Big Man on Mulberry Street". In a dream sequence, Maddie Hayes envisions David Addison with his ex-wife. An extra horn solo was added to the song. The Bridge was also Joel's last album to carry the Family Productions logo, finally severing his ties with Artie Ripp.

At around this time, Joel completed voice work on Disney's Oliver & Company, released in 1988, a loose adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist. Joel brought both his acting and musical talents to the film as Dodger. For the film, Joel recorded a song titled "Why Should I Worry?" Critics were generally positive toward the film, and pointed to Joel's acting contribution as one of its highlights, despite it being his first acting job. In interviews, Joel explained that he took the job due to his love of Disney cartoons as a child.

Joel has also stated in many interviews, most recently in a 2008 interview in Performing Songwriter magazine, that he does not think The Bridge is a good album.

The Russia trip

Throughout his tour supporting The Bridge, Joel and his handlers started planning a trip to the Soviet Union. He would be one of the first American rock acts to play there since the Berlin Wall went up, a fact not lost on history buff Joel. There would be live performances at indoor arenas in Moscow, Leningrad and Tbilisi. Joel and his family (including young daughter Alexa) and his full touring band made the trip in June 1987. The entourage was filmed for television and video to eventually offset the cost of the trip, and the concerts were simulcast on radio around the world.

Most of that audience took a long while to warm up to Joel's energetic show, something that never had happened in other countries he had performed in. According to Joel, each time the fans were hit with the bright lights, anybody who seemed to be enjoying themselves froze. In addition, people who were "overreacting" were removed by security.

The album КОНЦЕРТ (Russian for "Concert") was released in October 1987. Singer Peter Hewlitt was brought in to hit the high notes on his most vocally challenging songs, like "An Innocent Man." Joel also did versions of The Beatles' classic "Back in the U.S.S.R." and Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are a-Changin'". It has been estimated that Joel lost more than $1 million of his own money on the trip and concerts, but he has said the goodwill he was shown there was well worth it.

The first single for the album "We Didn't Start the Fire", was released in September 1989 and it became Joel's third and most recent US #1 hit, spending two weeks at the top; it was also Billboard's second-last #1 single of the 1980s. Storm Front was released in October, and it eventually became Joel's first #1 album since Glass Houses, nine years earlier. Storm Front was Joel's first album since Turnstiles to be recorded without Phil Ramone as producer. For this album, he wanted a new sound, and worked with Mick Jones of Foreigner fame. Joel also revamped his backing band, firing everyone, save drummer Liberty DeVitto, guitarist David Brown, and saxophone player Mark Rivera, and bringing in new faces, including talented multi-instrumentalist Crystal Taliefero. Storm Front's second single, "I Go to Extremes" made it to #6 in early 1990. The album was also notable for its song "Leningrad", written after Joel met a clown in the Soviet city of that name during his tour in 1987, and "The Downeaster Alexa", written to underscore the plight of fishermen on Long Island who are barely able to make ends meet. Another well-known single from the album is the ballad "And So It Goes" (#37 in late 1990). The song was originally written in 1983, around the time Joel was writing songs for An Innocent Man; but "And So It Goes" did not fit that album's retro theme, so it was held back until Storm Front.

In the summer of 1992 Joel filed another $90 million dollar lawsuit against his former lawyer Allen Grubman, alleging a wide range of offences including fraud, breach of fiduciary responsibility, malpractice and breach of contract but the case was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

Joel started work on River of Dreams in early 1993. Its cover art was a colorful painting by Christie Brinkley that was a series of scenes from each of the songs on the album. The eponymous first single was the last top 10 hit Joel has penned to date, reaching #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 & ranking at #21 on Billboard's 1993 year-end Hot 100 chart. In addition to the title track, the album includes the hits "All About Soul" (with Color Me Badd on backing vocals) and "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)", written for his daughter, Alexa. A radio remix version of "All About Soul" can be found on The Essential Billy Joel (2001), and a demo version appears on My Lives (2005). The song "The Great Wall of China" was written about his ex-manager Frank Weber and was a regular in the setlist for Joel's 2006 tour. "2000 Years" was prominent in the millennium concert at Madison Square Garden, December 31, 1999, and "Famous Last Words" closed the book on Joel's pop songwriting for more than a decade.

1994–2007

On August 25, 1994, Joel and second wife Christie Brinkley divorced. On December 31, 1999, Joel performed at New York's Madison Square Garden. At the time, Joel said that it would be his last concert. The concert (dubbed The Night of the 2000 Years) ran for close to four hours and was later released as .

1997's "To Make You Feel My Love" and "Hey Girl" both charted from Joel's Greatest Hits Volume III album. Joel wrote and recorded the song "Shameless" that was later covered by Garth Brooks and reached number 1 on Billboard's country charts. Joel performed with Brooks during his Central Park concert in 1997 with an estimated 980,000 people in attendance, the largest audience to attend a U.S. concert.

In 2001, Joel released Fantasies & Delusions, a collection of classical piano pieces. All were composed by Joel and performed by Richard Joo. Joel often uses bits of these songs as interludes in live performances, and some of them are part of the score for the hit show Movin' Out. The album topped the classical charts at #1. Joel performed "New York State of Mind" live on September 21, 2001, as part of the benefit concert, and on October 20, 2001, along with "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)", at the Concert for New York City in Madison Square Garden. That night, he also performed "Your Song" with Elton John.

In 2005, Columbia released a box set, My Lives, which is largely a compilation of demos, b-sides, live/alternate versions and even a few Top 40 hits. The compilation also includes the Umixit software, in which people can remix "Zanzibar", "Only the Good Die Young", "Keepin' The Faith", and live versions of "I Go to Extremes" and "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" with their PC. Also, a DVD of a show from the River of Dreams tour is included.

On January 7, 2006, Joel began a tour across the United States. Having not written, or at least released, any new songs in 13 years, he featured a sampling of songs from throughout his career, including major hits as well as obscure tunes like "Zanzibar" and "All for Leyna". His tour included an unprecedented 12 sold-out concerts over several months at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The singer's stint of 12 shows at Madison Square Garden broke a previous record set by New Jersey native Bruce Springsteen, who played 10 sold-out shows at the same arena. The record earned Joel the first retired number (12) in the arena owned by a non-athlete. This honor has also been given to Joel at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia where a banner in the colors of the Philadelphia Flyers is hung honoring Joel's 46 Philadelphia sold-out shows. He also had a banner raised in his honor for being the highest grossing act in the history of the Times Union Center (formerly the Knickerbocker Arena and Pepsi Arena) in Albany, New York. This honor was given to him as part of the April 17, 2007, show he did there. On June 13, 2006, Columbia released 12 Gardens Live, a double album containing 32 live recordings from a collection of the 12 different shows at Madison Square Garden during Joel's 2006 tour.

Joel visited the United Kingdom and Ireland for the first time in many years as part of the European leg of his 2006 tour. On July 31, 2006, he performed a free concert in Rome, with the Colosseum as the backdrop. Organizers estimated 500,000 people turned out for the concert, which was opened by Bryan Adams.

Joel toured South Africa, Australia, Japan, and Hawaii in late 2006, and subsequently toured the Southeastern United States in February and March 2007 before hitting the Midwest in the spring of 2007. On January 3 of that year, news was leaked to the New York Post that Billy had recorded a new song with lyrics—this being the first new song with lyrics he'd written in almost 14 years. The song, entitled "All My Life", was Joel's newest single (with second track "You're My Home", live from Madison Square Garden 2006 tour) and was released into stores on February 27, 2007. On February 4, Joel sang the national anthem for Super Bowl XLI, becoming the first to sing the national anthem twice at a Super Bowl. and on April 17, 2007, Joel was honored in Albany, New York, for his ninth concert at the Times Union Center. He is now holding the highest box office attendance of any artist to play at the arena. A banner was raised in his honor marking this achievement.

On December 1, 2007, Joel premiered his new song "Christmas in Fallujah". The song was performed by Cass Dillon, a new Long Island based musician, as Joel felt it should be sung by someone in a soldier's age range. The track was dedicated to servicemen based in Iraq. Joel wrote it in September 2007 after reading numerous letters sent to him from American soldiers in Iraq. "Christmas in Fallujah" is only the second pop/rock song released by Joel since 1993's River of Dreams. Proceeds from the song benefitted the Homes For Our Troops foundation.

2008–present

On January 26, 2008, Joel performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra celebrating the 151st anniversary of the Academy of Music. Joel premiered his new classical piece entitled, "Waltz No. 2 (Steinway Hall)". He also played many of his less well-known pieces with full orchestral backing, including the rarely performed Nylon Curtain songs "Scandinavian Skies" and "Where's the Orchestra?".

On March 10, Joel inducted his friend John Mellencamp into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. During his induction speech, Joel said:

Joel's staying power as a touring act continues to the present day. He sold out 10 concerts at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut from May to July 2008. Mohegan Sun honored him with a banner displaying his name and the number 10 to hang in the arena. On June 19, 2008, he played a concert at the grand re-opening of Caesars Windsor (formerly Casino Windsor) in Windsor, Ontario, Canada to an invite-only crowd for Casino VIPs. His mood was light, and joke-filled, even introducing himself as "Billy Joel's dad" and stating "you guys overpaid to see a fat bald guy." He also admitted that Canadian folk-pop musician Gordon Lightfoot was the musical inspiration for "She's Always A Woman".

On July 16, 2008, and July 18, 2008, Joel played the final concerts at Shea Stadium before its demolition. His guests included Tony Bennett, Don Henley, John Mayer, John Mellencamp, Steven Tyler, Roger Daltrey, Garth Brooks, and Paul McCartney. McCartney ended the show with a reference to his own performance there with the Beatles in 1965, the first major stadium concert of the rock and roll industry.

On December 11, 2008, Joel recorded his own rendition of "Christmas in Fallujah" during a concert at Acer Arena in Sydney and released it as a live single in Australia only. It is the only official release of Joel performing "Christmas in Fallujah", as Cass Dillon sang on the 2007 studio recording and the handful of times the song was played live in 2007. Joel sang the song throughout his December 2008 tour of Australia.

On May 19, 2009, Joel's former drummer, Liberty DeVitto, filed a lawsuit in NYC claiming Joel and Sony Music owed DeVitto over 10 years of royalty payments. DeVitto has never been given songwriting credit on any of Joel's songs, but he claims that he helped write some of them. In April 2010, it was announced that Joel and DeVitto amicably resolved the lawsuit.

Face-to-Face tours

Beginning in 1994, Joel toured extensively with Elton John on a series of "Face to Face" tours, making them the longest running and most successful concert tandem in pop music history. During these shows, the two have played their own songs, each other's songs and performed duets. They grossed over US $46 million in just 24 dates in their sold out 2003 tour. Joel and John resumed the Face to Face tour in March 2009 Joel told Rolling Stone magazine: "We’ll probably pick it up again. It’s always fun playing with him."

Personal life

Celebrity dating

Joel mentioned in a television interview on the UK's Channel Five that he had dated Elle Macpherson in the 1980s prior to his marriage to Christie Brinkley. Joel has also said that the songs "This Night," "Uptown Girl" and "And So It Goes" were written about his relationship with Macpherson.

Marriages and family

Joel married his business manager, Elizabeth Weber Small, on September 5, 1973. She was the former wife of his music partner, Jon Small, in the short-lived band Attila. They divorced on July 20, 1982.

Joel married Christie Brinkley on March 23, 1985. Their daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, was born December 29, 1985. Alexa was given the middle name of Ray after Ray Charles, one of Joel's musical idols. Joel and Brinkley divorced on August 25, 1994, although the couple remain friendly.

On October 2, 2004, Joel married 23-year-old Katie Lee. At the time of the wedding, Joel was 55. Joel's daughter, Alexa Ray, then 18, served as maid-of-honor. Joel's second wife, Christie Brinkley, attended the union and gave the couple her blessing. Lee works as a restaurant correspondent for the PBS show, George Hirsch: Living it Up!. In 2006, Katie Lee hosted Bravo's Top Chef. She did not return for a second season, instead going on tour with her husband. She then began writing a weekly column in Hamptons magazine, and became a field correspondent for the entertainment television show Extra. On June 17, 2009, both confirmed that they have split after five years of marriage.

Other businesses

In 1996, Joel merged his long-held love of boating with his desire for a second career. He formed, with Long Island boating businessman Peter Needham, the Long Island Boat Company.

Joel plans to open 20th Century Cycles in Oyster Bay, Long Island that will sell custom made retro styled motorcycles and accessories and serve as a hangout for enthusiasts.

Depression

Joel battled with depression for many years. In 1970, a career downturn and personal problems aggravated his condition. He left a suicide note (which became the lyrics to "Tomorrow Is Today") and attempted to commit suicide by drinking furniture polish, saying later, "I drank furniture polish. It looked tastier than bleach." His drummer, Jon Small, rushed him to the hospital. Joel checked into Meadowbrook Hospital, where he was put on suicide watch and received treatment for depression. Joel later recorded "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" as a message to help prevent teen suicide.

Substance abuse treatment

In 2002, Joel entered Silver Hill Hospital, a substance abuse and psychiatric center in New Canaan, Connecticut. In March 2005, he checked into the Betty Ford Center, where he spent 30 days for the treatment of alcohol-related problems.

Politics

Although Joel has donated money to Democratic candidates running for office, he has never publicly endorsed any candidate or made clear his political affiliation.

Religion

Joel was born to non-observant Jewish parents and considers himself a cultural Jew.

On November 16, 2010, in an interview on the Howard Stern Show, Billy Joel said that he doesn't believe in a god, and that he is an atheist.

Influences

Joel's music reflects influences from many different genres, including: classical music, 1950s doo wop, Broadway/Tin Pan Alley, jazz, blues, gospel, pop music, and rock & roll. Ray Charles also had a large impact on Billy Joel's music and personal life. Charles had such a profound effect on Joel that he even named his daughter Alexa Ray after Charles.

These various influences have in part led to his broad success over a long period of time but have also made him difficult to categorize in popular music today.

Among many of Joel's influences are: Beethoven, The Beatles, Joel has been presented with multiple honorary doctorates:

Doctor of Humane Letters from Fairfield University (1991)

Doctor of Music from Berklee College of Music (1993)

Doctor of Humane Letters from Hofstra University (1997)

Doctor of Music from Southampton College (2000)

Doctor of Fine Arts from Syracuse University (2006)

Doctor of Musical Arts from the Manhattan School of Music (2008)

His High School Diploma was finally awarded 25 years after he left High School by the School Board.

Joel was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio in 1999.

Joel was also named MusiCares Person of the Year for 2002, an award given each year at the same time as the Grammy Awards. At the dinner honoring Joel, various artists performed versions of his songs including Nelly Furtado, Stevie Wonder, Jon Bon Jovi, Diana Krall, Rob Thomas and Natalie Cole. He was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006. In 2005, Joel received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Joel has banners in the rafters of the Times Union Center, Nassau Coliseum, Madison Square Garden, Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT, Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, and Hartford Civic Center in Hartford. (Joel is erroneously cited as the first artist to perform a concert at Yankee Stadium in New York City; The Isley Brothers first performed there in 1969, and the Latin supergroup, The Fania All-Stars played and recorded live albums at the stadium during the 1970s.)

He has also sponsored the Billy Joel Visiting Composer Series at Syracuse University.

Joel is the only performing artist to have played both Yankee and Shea Stadiums, as well as Giants Stadium.

Other media contributions

Don Kirshner's Rock Concert (1974) (Television) (Performed "Piano Man", "Somewhere Along the Line", and "Captain Jack")

The Midnight Special (1975) (Television) (Sang "Travelin' Prayer" and "The Ballad of Billy the Kid")

The Mike Douglas Show (1976) (Television)

Billy Joel Tonight (1976) (Time Life Video) (VHS) (Palmer Auditorium, Connecticut College, New London, CT)

Saturday Night Live (February 18, 1978) (NBC) (hosted by Chevy Chase) (Sang "Just The Way You Are" and "Only The Good Die Young") (Billy passed up going to his 10 year high school reunion to appear on the show)

The Old Grey Whistle Test (1978) (London, England) (Television)

Musikladen (1978) (German television concert)

20/20 (1980) (Television)

Saturday Night Live (November 14, 1981) (NBC) (hosted by Bernadette Peters) (Sang "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)" and "She's Got A Way" live via satellite hook-up from his Mid-town Manhattan recording studio)

Live from Long Island (1982) (CBS/Fox) (VHS) (Originally aired on HBO as Billy Joel: A Television First. Recorded live at Nassau Coliseum)

MTV Special: Innocent Man Tour (1983) (Television) ("Behind-the-scenes" look at Joel's Innocent Man tour)

From a Piano Man to an Innocent Man (1984) (BBC Television Broadcast)

Today (June 1984) Introduces music video for "The Longest Time."

Farm Aid (September 1985) (Television)

Contributed piano on Twisted Sister's song "Be Chrool to Your Scuel" on their 1985 album Come Out and Play

Video Album, Vol. 1 (1986) (CBS/Fox) (VHS)

Video Album, Vol. 2 (1986) (CBS/Fox) (VHS)

Late Night with David Letterman (September 1986)

MLB World Series Game 2 (October 19, 1986) (Television) (Performed the National Anthem)

Live From Leningrad USSR (1987) (CBS) (VHS) (Originally aired on HBO)

Oliver & Company (1988) (Provided both the voice and singing voice for the character Dodger in the Disney full-length animated feature.)

Sesame Street (1988) (Sang "Just the Way You Are" to Oscar the Grouch, and "The Alphabet Song" with the kids)

1989 NFL Super Bowl XXIII (Sang National Anthem, Joe Robbie Stadium, Miami, Florida)

Late Night with David Letterman (August 17, 1989) (NBC) Performs with musical guest Mick Jones

Saturday Night Live (October 21, 1989) (NBC) (hosted by Kathleen Turner) (Sang "We Didn't Start The Fire" and "The Downeaster Alexa") (acts in a sketch called "Die Squaren Ost Berliner" which was a German take-off of "Hollywood Squares" as a character named Josef Besselmeier)

Eye of the Storm (1990) (VHS) (Sony) (Compilation of five music videos from the Storm Front album)

Live at Yankee Stadium (1990) (Sony) (DVD/VHS)

A Matter of Trust (1991) (CBS) (VHS) (Documentary of the 1986 Russian tour)

Late Show with David Letterman (August 30, 1993) First musical guest on the show, performing "No Man's Land"

Saturday Night Live (October 23, 1993) (NBC) (hosted by John Malkovich) (Sang "The River Of Dreams" and "All About Soul")

Shades of Grey (1993) (Sony) (PBS documentary on the making of River of Dreams. Released on VHS)

Live from the River of Dreams (Sony) (1994) (Originally aired on 3Sat (German television); released on DVD in the My Lives box set in 2005) Live from Frankfurt, Germany.

During the 1994 Grammy Award Show, the director cut short Frank Sinatra's acceptance speech for receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award. Joel extended his performance of "The River of Dreams" by stopping the song partway through, looking at the celebrity audience with a grin while pretending to check his watch and saying, "valuable advertising time going by...dollars...dollars...dollars..." which was met with laughter from the audience. He then resumed playing the song.

Greatest Hits, Vol. III (Sony) (1997) (DVD/VHS)

The Rosie O'Donnell Show (1997) (Television)

Behind the Music (1997) (Television)

VH1 Storytellers (1997) (Television)

VH1 Video Time Line (1998) (Television)

60 Minutes (April 26, 1998) Interviewed by Steve Kroft.

Inside the Actor's Studio (1999) (Bravo Network)

Mad About You: "Murray at the Dog Show" (1999) (NBC Television) (Appeared as himself; wrote the music for the song "Lullabye For You" which was featured in the episode. Paul Reiser wrote the lyrics.)

ABC 2000 (1999/2000) (Television, VHS) (International broadcast; portions of Joel's New Year's Eve concert were aired live)

Piano Grand! A Smithsonian Celebration (2000) (Joel served as host and performer; aired on PBS; released on DVD)

MLB World Series- Subway Series Game 1 (2000) (Television) (Performed the National Anthem)

America: A Tribute To Heroes (2001) (Television, Radio, DVD)

Charlie Rose (2001) (PBS television/DVD)

The Concert for New York City (2001) (Television, VHS/DVD)

A&E; Special: In His Own Words (2001) (A&E; Network) (Master class recorded at the University of Pennsylvania)

The Essential Video Collection (2001) (Sony) (DVD/VHS) (Music Video compilation)

Movin' Out (2002), is a musical based on twenty-four Billy Joel songs which was a smash hit on Broadway from 2002 to 2005 (last Broadway show was on December 11, 2005). Joel was composer, lyricist, and orchestrator and won a Tony Award for Best Orchestrations. The musical is really a dance performance choreographed by famed choreographer Twyla Tharp, with Joel's songs sung by Michael Cavanaugh.

The 2003 Tony Awards (Television) (Performed "New York State of Mind")

The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2005) (Television) (Performed "Miami 2017" and "Only the Good Die Young")

Late Night with Conan O'Brien (2005) (NBC) (Performed "Everybody Loves You Now" and "Vienna")

The Today Show (2005) (NBC) (Performed "Keepin' the Faith" and "She's Right on Time")

The Today Show (2006) (NBC) (Performed "The Good Life" with Tony Bennett live)

The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch (2006) (CNBC)

American Chopper (2006) ("The Billy Joel Bike") (Television, DVD)

Tokyo, Japan (2006) (Television, DVD) (Concert was taped and produced by The Fuji Television Network)

NFL Super Bowl XLI (2007) (Joel is the first to sing the National Anthem in two Super Bowls.)

The Oprah Winfrey Show (March 24, 2008) (Appeared with wife, Katie, and performed "Only the Good Die Young")

The South Bank Show (July 13, 2008) (Joel discussed his career)

The Howard Stern Show (November 16, 2010) (Sirius XM) (Interview and musical performance)

See also

List of best-selling music artists

References

External links

Billy Joel – Official Website

Billy Joel at Rolling Stone.com

History of Live Performances by Billy Joel

Interview at TonyAwards.com

Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Grammy Award winners Category:2010s singers Category:2000s singers Category:1990s singers Category:1980s singers Category:1970s singers Category:English-language singers Category:American pop rock singers Category:American rock singer-songwriters Category:American pop pianists Category:American rock pianists Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of English descent Category:American atheists Category:Jewish atheists Category:New York Democrats Category:Musicians from New York Category:People from Long Island Category:People from the Bronx Category:1949 births Category:Living people

Name	Albert Hammond
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Albert Hammond
Born	May 18, 1944London, England
Origin	Gibraltar
Instrument	Guitar, piano
Genre	Popular music
Occupation	Singer, musician, songwriter, producer
Years active	1960–present
Associated acts	The Family Dogg, Duffy
Url	alberthammond.net

Albert Hammond OBE (born 18 May 1944) is a British-Gibraltarian singer, songwriter and music producer.

Birth and early success

Hammond was born in London, England, where his family had been evacuated from Gibraltar during World War II. His family returned to Gibraltar shortly after his birth, where he grew up.

He then moved to the United States, where he continued his professional career as a musician. He is known for his hits of the 1970s, released on Columbia subsidiary Mums Records, such as: # "It Never Rains in Southern California" # "The Free Electric Band" (the only single of his to chart in the UK) # "I Don't Wanna Die in an Air Disaster" # "I'm a Train" # "Down by the River"

Written with Carole Bayer Sager, "When I Need You" was first recorded by Hammond on his 1976 album When I Need You. Produced by Richard Perry, Leo Sayer's version made #1 on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in February 1977, after three of his earlier singles had stalled at #2. A hit worldwide, it reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a week in May 1977. Leapy Lee has released a new version of When I Need You on his first recording since 1970.

Hammond had tremendous success as a singer-songwriter with his Spanish recordings. His releases on Epic Records allowed him to successfully tour every region of Latin America. It was during this period that he met Manuel Montoya, CBS Mexico executive, who later became his personal manager in 1985, leading to Grammy Award winning production of Lani Hall, "Es Facil Amar", producer and writer of "Cantaré, Cantarás" (the Latin American equivalent of "We Are The World"), and collaborations with Roberto Livi on recordings by Raphael, Eydie Gorme and others.

Hammond also collaborated with Diane Warren on "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" a No. 1 in 1987 for Starship and "I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love," a hit for Chicago, which peaked at No. 3 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1988. Hammond also wrote "One Moment in Time," the theme song to the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, as performed by Whitney Houston. With Hal David, Hammond co-wrote "To All The Girls I've Loved Before", a hit in 1984 for Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson.

He wrote several hits for Tina Turner, (including "I Don't Wanna Lose You," "Be Tender With Me Baby," "Way of the World" and "Love Thing") and who also recorded the original version of Hammond/Warren's "Don't Turn Around," a UK No. 1 for Aswad in 1988, and a hit for Ace of Base five years later.

In 2005 he released his first album in many years, Revolution of the Heart (where Todd Sharpville was his music director), and the single "This Side of Midnight."

Present day

In 2008, Hammond met Kasaan Steigen of Los-Angeles based Trigger Management who became his personal manager, leading to Hammond's collaborations with British singer Duffy and others. Duffy's resulting album, Endlessly, co-written and co-produced by Hammond, was released in November 2010.

In 2010, Hammond was also working on Legend, a new recording of duets of his greatest hits, featuring such artists as Elena Paparizou and Bonnie Tyler, to be released on Sony Spain on November 23.

His son, Albert Hammond, Jr. is a successful solo musician and also a member of The Strokes.

Awards and accolades

In 1987, Hammond's composition with Diane Warren "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" (recorded by Starship) was nominated for an Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy. In 1988, Hammond won an Emmy Award for the song "One Moment in Time" (recorded by Whitney Houston) a song he wrote along with John Bettis, as the theme song for the Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea.

In 2000, he received an OBE. On the 19 June 2008, Hammond was inducted in the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Hammond was immortalised in song by Half Man Half Biscuit in their 1986 track "Albert Hammond Bootleg".

Other songwriting credits

"When You Tell Me That You Love Me"

"It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna Be"

"Through the Storm" - a duet with Aretha Franklin and Elton John

"Careless Heart" - written with Roy Orbison and Diane Warren

"Once in a Lifetime" - written with Antonia Armato and Dennis Morgan

"Just Walk Away"

"Moonlight Lady"

"Smokey Factory Blues" - written by Hammond and Hazelwood, and recorded by Johnny Cash on his John R. Cash album. Also recorded by Steppenwolf on the Slow Flux album

Discography

1972 - ''It Never Rains in Southern California

1973 - ''The Free Electric Band

1974 - Albert Hammond

1975 - ''99 Miles from L.A.

1976 - ''Canta Sus Grandes Éxitos en Español e Inglés

1976 - ''My Spanish Album

1977 - ''Mi Album de Recuerdos

1977 - ''When I Need You

1978 - ''Albert Louis Hammond

1978 - ''Greatest Hits

1979 - ''Al Otro Lado del Sol

1981 - ''Comprenderte

1981 - ''Your World and My World

1982 - ''Somewhere in America

1986 - Hammond and West (Dutch edition)

1987 - Hammond and West (German edition)

1988 - The Very Best Of (CBS)

1989 - Best of Me

1991 - Songsmith

1992 - Exitos

1995 - Greatest Hits

1996 - It Never Rains in Southern California (Golden Classics album)

1996 - Coplas & Songs

1997 - El Nuevo Mundo de los Gnomos (soundtrack) (Various artists)

1998 - Todas Sus Grabaciones en Espanol para Discos (Epic) (1975–1978)

1999 - It Never Rains in Southern California

1999 - The Very Best Of (Sony)

2004 - It Never Rains in Southern California / The Free Electric Band

2005 - Revolution of the Heart

See also

List of Gibraltarians

Music of Gibraltar

Inductees of the Songwriters Hall of Fame

References

External links

Official website

A Profile on Albert Hammond

Albert Hammond - 5 Minute Interview with John Matthew Hall of The Independent

Category:English singer-songwriters Category:People from London Category:1944 births Category:Living people Category:English male singers Category:Gibraltarian musicians Category:English record producers Category:English songwriters Category:Gibraltarian immigrants to the United States Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire

Name	Alan Menken
Occupation	Composer, Singer-songwriter, Musician
Birth date	July 22, 1949
Birth place	New Rochelle, New York, U.S.
Years active	1980-present
Spouse	Janis Roswick-Menken (1972-present) (2 daughters)

Alan Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American musical theatre and film composer and pianist.

Menken is best known for his numerous scores for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas, each of which won him two Academy Awards. He also composed the scores for The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Enchanted, and Tangled. Menken has collaborated on several occasions with lyricists including Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Stephen Schwartz. He has won a total of eight Oscars, more than any other living individual. He has been Oscar-nominated a total of eighteen times.

Life and career

Menken was born in Manhattan into a Jewish family, the son of Judith and Norman Menken, a dentist. He developed an interest in music at an early age, studying piano and violin. He went to New Rochelle High School in New Rochelle, New York. He attended college as a pre-med student, but later changed his focus to music at NYU Steinhardt. After college, he attended the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop. He performed frequently in local clubs and worked as a composer of jingles and songs and as an accompanist.

In the late 1970s, Menken wrote several shows that were successfully showcased, but were not produced. Menken's first major professional work was with Ashman for the Off-Broadway 1979 WPA Theatre production of the play God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, an adaptation of a Kurt Vonnegut novel. This was well received, but three years later, he achieved greater success with the 1982 Off-Broadway musical Little Shop of Horrors, again with Ashman, for which he earned a Drama Desk Award nomination. Little Shop was adapted for a successful motion picture and later received a Broadway run.

In 1983, Menken received the BMI Career Achievement Award for his body of work for musical theater, including Little Shop of Horrors, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Real Life Funnies, Atina: Evil Queen of the Galaxy (produced in workshop as Battle of the Giants), Patch, Patch, Patch, and contributions to numerous revues including Personals and Diamonds. In 1987, a musical adaptation of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, with lyrics by David Spencer, was produced in Philadelphia. In 1992, the WPA Theatre produced Menken's Weird Romance, also with lyrics also by Spencer. Menken's 1994 musical based on the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol, with lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and book by Mike Ockrent, debuted at Madison Square Garden's Paramount Theater. The show proved successful and is becoming an annual New York holiday event. Menken received both Tony Award and Drama Desk Award nominations for the music to the stage musical version of Beauty and the Beast which opened on Broadway in 1994.

Menken is best known, however, for his work over the past two decades with Walt Disney Pictures scoring numerous films, including Disney animated classics The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules and Home on the Range, and most recently, Disney's 2010 animated film Tangled. He also wrote music for the Disney live-action films Newsies (1992) and Enchanted (2007). Menken has received dual Academy Awards for Best Score and Best Song on four of these projects. With eight Academy Award wins (four each for Best Original Score and Best Original Song), Menken is second only to Alfred Newman and Walt Disney for the most Oscars won by an individual, tied with late costume designer Edith Head. He currently holds the record for the most wins for a living person, and was named Disney Legend in 2001.

A musical version of The Little Mermaid opened on Broadway in January 2008. Menken's Sister Act the Musical was produced in 2009.

Menken and his wife, Janis, a former ballet dancer, reside in upstate New York with their two children, Anna and Nora.

Menken received the 2,422nd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on November 10, 2010.

He is currently at work on stage adaptations of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Newsies and Aladdin.

In December 2010, he was a guest on NPR's new quiz show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

Filmography

Feature

Score and songs

Little Shop of Horrors 1986 (Oscar nominee)

The Little Mermaid 1989 (Oscar winner)

Beauty and the Beast 1991 (Oscar winner)

Newsies 1992

Aladdin 1992 (Oscar winner)

Life with Mikey 1993

Pocahontas 1995 (Oscar winner)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1996 (Oscar nominee)

Hercules 1997 (Oscar nominee)

Home on the Range 2004

The Shaggy Dog 2006

Enchanted 2007 (Oscar nominee)

Tangled 2010

Songs only

Rocky V (the song "The Measure of a Man", score by Bill Conti) 1990

(the song "My Christmas Tree") 1992

Television

Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue (supervising composer, the song "Wonderful Ways to Say No") 1990

A Christmas Carol 2004

Musicals

Little Shop of Horrors 1982 Off-Broadway and 2003 Broadway revival

Weird Romance 1992 Off-Broadway and 2007 revival

Beauty and the Beast 1994 Broadway (Tony nominee)

A Christmas Carol 1995 Perennial holiday run (10 years) The Theatre at Madison Square Garden

King David 1997

Der Glöckner von Notre Dame 1999 German musical

The Little Mermaid 2008 Broadway (Tony nominee)

Sister Act the Musical 2009

Leap of Faith (musical) 2010 (Los Angeles)

Other

- Theatrical show at Disney California Adventure

Upcoming projects

Leap of Faith, a work-in-progress musical, based on the film Leap of Faith. A workshop was held in May 2008. The Center Theatre Group presented the musical at the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, in early September 2010, with Rob Ashford as director/choreographer.

Disney has announced that Der Glöckner Von Notre Dame, the Berlin stage musical adaptation of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame will be coming to the Broadway stage in the next couple of years. Although the extended music and new songs with lyrics by Stephen Schwartz were completed for the 1999 premiere in Germany, the show is being fine tuned for American audiences, and in 2011, it will be ready for a Broadway premiere.

, a $100 million attraction under construction at Disney California Adventure Park as of 2010. This new attraction is a part of the park's nearly $1.6 billion expansion plan.

A film version of the Beauty and the Beast musical.

Menken has also adapted Aladdin to a Broadway musical, with a book by Chad Beguelin. The songs will be the ones featured in the movie, along with cut songs written by both Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, and the song that Menken wrote by himself for the theatrical adaption at California Adventure (To Be Free). Casey Nicholaw is expected to direct and choreograph the stage musical Aladdin which is expected to run at the 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle, Washington, July 7-31, 2011. The musical "is not being groomed for a Broadway future."

Menken along with Weird Romance collaborator David Spencer wrote the musical The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, which is currently in Canada.

Awards

Academy Award nominations and wins

1986

* Nominated, Original Song (with Howard Ashman) - "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space", from Little Shop of Horrors

1989

* Won, Original Score - The Little Mermaid

* Won, Original Song (with Howard Ashman) - "Under the Sea", from The Little Mermaid

* Nominated, Original Song (with Howard Ashman) - "Kiss the Girl", from The Little Mermaid

1991

* Won, Original Score - Beauty and the Beast

* Won, Original Song (with Howard Ashman) - "Beauty and the Beast", from Beauty and the Beast

* Nominated, Original Song (with Howard Ashman) - "Belle", from Beauty and the Beast

* Nominated, Original Song (with Howard Ashman) - "Be Our Guest", from Beauty and the Beast

1992

* Won, Original Score - Aladdin

* Won, Original Song (with Tim Rice) - "A Whole New World", from Aladdin

* Nominated, Original Song (with Howard Ashman) - "Friend Like Me", from Aladdin

1995

* Won, Original Song (with Stephen Schwartz) - "Colors of the Wind", from Pocahontas

* Won, Original Musical or Comedy Score (with Stephen Schwartz) - Pocahontas

1996:

* Nominated, Original Musical or Comedy Score (with Stephen Schwartz) - The Hunchback of Notre Dame

1997

* Nominated, Original Song (with David Zippel) - "Go the Distance", from Hercules

2007

* Nominated, Original Song (with Stephen Schwartz) - "Happy Working Song", from Enchanted

* Nominated, Original Song (with Stephen Schwartz) - "So Close", from Enchanted

* Nominated, Original Song (with Stephen Schwartz) - "That's How You Know", from Enchanted

Golden Globe nominations and wins

1990

* Won, Best Original Score - Motion Picture for The Little Mermaid''

* Won, Best Original Song (with Howard Ashman) - Motion Picture from - "Under the Sea" The Little Mermaid

* Nominated, Best Original Song (with Howard Ashman) - Motion Picture - "Kiss the Girl" from The Little Mermaid

1992

* Won, Best Original Score - Motion Picture for Beauty and the Beast

* Won, Best Original Song - Motion Picture (with Howard Ashman) for Beauty and the Beast, from Beauty and the Beast

* Nominated, Best Original Song - Motion Picture (with Howard Ashman) for Be Our Guest, from Beauty and the Beast

1993

* Won, Best Original Score - Motion Picture for Aladdin

* Won, Best Original Song - Motion Picture (with Tim Rice) - "A Whole New World", from Aladdin

* Nominated, Best Original Song - Motion Picture (with Howard Ashman) for Friend Like Me, from Aladdin

* Nominated, Best Original Song - Motion Picture (with Howard Ashman) for Prince Ali from Aladdin

1996

* Won, Best Original Song - Motion Picture (with Stephen Schwartz) for "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas

* Nominated, Best Original Score - Motion Picture for Pocahontas

1997

* Nominated, Best Original Score - Motion Picture for The Hunchback of Notre Dame

1998

* Nominated, Best Original Song - Motion Picture (with David Zippel) - Go the Distance from Hercules

2008

* Nominated, Best Original Song - Motion Picture (with Stephen Schwartz) - That's How You Know from Enchanted

2011

* Nominated, Best Original Song - Motion Picture (with Glenn Slater) - I See The Light from Tangled

Tony Awards and Drama Desk Awards

1983 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music - Little Shop of Horrors [nominee]

1994 Tony Award for Best Original Score - Beauty and the Beast [nominee]

1994 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music - Beauty and the Beast [nominee]

2008 Tony Award for Best Original Score - The Little Mermaid [nominee]

Other awards

2001 Disney Legends

Further reading

Disney Biography of Menken

Menken, Alan. Britannica Book of the Year, 1997. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved September 6, 2007.

Interview with Alan Menken, theartsdesk.com. Posted May 16, 2010.

References

External links

MusicalTalk interview with Alan Menken

SoundtrackNet entry for Alan Menken

The Whole New World of Alan Menken

Alan Menken: "BEAUTY AND THE BEAST captures the magic of Disney animations and brings it to the stage" Alan Menken in Barcelona's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Comprehensive Q&A; with Alan Menken on theartsdesk.com (May 16, 2010)

Category:1949 births Category:American film score composers Category:Jewish American composers and songwriters Category:American musical theatre composers Category:Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners Category:Best Song Academy Award winning songwriters Category:Disney people Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:People from New Rochelle, New York Category:Rocky music