It is the peak of the Perseid meteor shower. It is also known as the "Glorious Twelfth" in the UK, as it marks the traditional start of the grouse shooting season.

Events

30 BC – Cleopatra VII Philopator, the last ruler of the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty, commits suicide, allegedly by means of an asp bite.

1099 – First Crusade: Battle of Ascalon  Crusaders under the command of Godfrey of Bouillon defeat Fatimid forces led by Al-Afdal Shahanshah. This is considered the last engagement of the First Crusade.

1121 – Battle of Didgori: the Georgian army under King David the Builder wins a decisive victory over the famous Seljuk commander Ilghazi.

1164 – Battle of Harim: Nur ad-Din Zangi defeats the Crusader armies of the County of Tripoli and the Principality of Antioch.

1323 – Signature of the Treaty of Nöteborg between Sweden and Novgorod (Russia), that regulates the border between the two countries for the first time.

1480 – Battle of Otranto: Ottoman troops behead 800 Christians for refusing to convert to Islam.

1499 – First engagement of the Battle of Zonchio between Venetian and Ottoman fleets.

1624 – The president of Louis XIII of France's royal council is arrested, leaving Cardinal Richelieu in the role of the King's principal minister.

1676 – Praying Indian John Alderman shoots and kills Metacomet, the Wampanoag war chief, ending King Philip's War.

1687 – Battle of Mohács: Charles of Lorraine defeats the Ottomans.

1793 – The Rhône and Loire (Lêre) ''départments'' are created when the former ''département'' of Rhône-et-Loire is split into two.

1806 – Santiago de Liniers re-takes the city of Buenos Aires after the first British invasion.

1831 – French intervention forces William I of the Netherlands to abandon his attempt to suppress the Belgian Revolution.

1851 – Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine.

1877 – Asaph Hall discovers the Mars moon Deimos.

1883 – The last quagga dies at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam.

1898 – An Armistice ends the Spanish-American War.

1898 – The Hawaiian flag is lowered from Iolani Palace in an elaborate annexation ceremony and replaced with the flag of the United States to signify the transfer of sovereignty from the Republic of Hawai`i to the United States.

1914 – World War I: the United Kingdom declares war on Austria-Hungary; the countries of the British Empire follow suit.

1944 – Waffen SS troops massacre 560 people in Sant'Anna di Stazzema.

1944 – Alençon is liberated by General Leclerc, the first city in France to be liberated from the Nazis by French forces.

1952 – The Night of the Murdered Poets: 13 prominent Jewish intellectuals are murdered in Moscow.

1953 – Nuclear weapons testing: the Soviet atomic bomb project continues with the detonation of ''Joe 4'', the first Soviet thermonuclear weapon.

1953 – The islands of Zakynthos and Kefalonia in Greece are severely damaged by an earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale.

1960 – ''Echo 1A'', NASA's first successful communications satellite, is launched.

1964 – South Africa is banned from the Olympic Games due to the country's racist policies.

1964 – Charlie Wilson, one of the Great Train Robbers, escapes from Winson Green Prison in Birmingham, England.

1969 – Violence erupts after the Apprentice Boys of Derry march in Derry, Northern Ireland, resulting in a three-day communal riot known as the Battle of the Bogside.

1976 – Between 1,000 and 3,500 Palestinians are killed in the Tel al-Zaatar massacre, one of the bloodiest events of the Lebanese Civil War

1977 – The first free flight of the Space Shuttle Enterprise.

1977 – The Sri Lankan riots of 1977, targeting the minority Sri Lankan Tamil people, begin, less than a month after the United National Party came to power. Over 300 Tamils are killed.

1978 – The Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China is signed.

1980 – The Montevideo Treaty, establishing the Latin American Integration Association, is signed.

1981 – The IBM Personal Computer is released.

1982 – Mexico announces it is unable to pay its enormous external debt, marking the beginning of a debt crisis that spreads to all of Latin America and the Third World.

1985 – Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashes into Osutaka ridge in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, killing 520, to become the worst single-plane air disaster.

1992 – Canada, Mexico and the United States announce completion of negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

1994 – Major League Baseball players go on strike. This will force the cancellation of the 1994 World Series.

2000 – The Oscar class submarine K-141 ''Kursk'' of the Russian Navy explodes and sinks in the Barents Sea during a military exercise.

2005 – Sri Lanka's foreign minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, is fatally shot by an LTTE sniper at his home.

2007 – The bulk carrier M/V ''New Flame'' collides with the oil tanker ''Torm Gertrud'' at the southernmost tip of Gibraltar, ending up partially submerged.

Births

1503 – King Christian III of Denmark and Norway (d. 1559)

1566 – Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain (d. 1633)

1604 – Tokugawa Iemitsu, Japanese shogun (d. 1651)

1629 – Tsar Alexei I of Russia (d. 1676)

1644 – Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Bohemian composer (d. 1704)

1647 – Johann Heinrich Acker, German writer (d. 1719)

1686 – John Balguy, English philosopher (d. 1748)

1696 – Maurice Greene, English composer (d. 1755)

1720 – Konrad Ekhof, German actor (d. 1778)

1762 – King George IV of the United Kingdom (d. 1830)

1774 – Robert Southey, English poet and biographer (d. 1843)

1831 – Helena Blavatsky, Russian theosophist (d. 1891)

1856 – Diamond Jim Brady, American financier (d. 1917)

1859 – Katharine Lee Bates, American poet (d. 1929)

1860 – Klara Hitler, Austrian mother of dictator Adolf Hitler (d. 1907)

1866 – Jacinto Benavente, Spanish writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1954)

1867 – Edith Hamilton, German-born American classicist (d. 1963)

1872 – Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1956)

1876 – Mary Roberts Rinehart, American mystery writer (d. 1958)

1877 – Albert Bartha, Hungarian military officer and politician (d. 1960)

1880 – Radclyffe Hall, British poet, novelist and LGBT activist (d. 1943)

1880 – Christy Mathewson, American baseball player (d. 1925)

1881 – Cecil B. DeMille, American film director (d. 1959)

1883 – Pauline Frederick, American actress (d. 1938)

1883 – Martha Hedman, Swedish-American actress (d. 1974)

1883 – Marion Lorne, American actress (d. 1968)

1885 – Jean Cabannes, French physicist (d. 1959)

1886 – Sir Keith Murdoch, Australian journalist and newspaper owner (d. 1952)

1887 – Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1961)

1889 – Zerna Sharp, American writer and educator (''Dick and Jane'') (d. 1981)

1891 – C. E. M. Joad, English philosopher and broadcaster (d. 1953)

1892 – Alfred Lunt, American actor (d. 1977)

1897 – Maurice Fernandes, Guyanese West Indies cricketer (d. 1981)

1899 – Ben Sealey, Trinidadian West Indies cricketer (d. 1963)

1902 – Mohammad Hatta, first Vice President of Indonesia (d. 1980)

1904 – Tamás Lossonczy, Hungarian painter (d. 2009)

1904 – Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia, only son of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia (d. 1918)

1906 – Harry Hopman, Australian tennis player and coach (d. 1985)

1906 – Tedd Pierce, American animator (d. 1972)

1907 – Joe Besser, American actor and comedian (d. 1988)

1907 – Benjamin Henry Sheares, second President of Singapore (d. 1981)

1910 – Jane Wyatt, American actress (d. 2006)

1910 – Yusof bin Ishak, first President of Singapore (d. 1970)

1911 – Cantinflas, Mexican actor (d. 1993)

1912 – Samuel Fuller, American film director (d. 1997)

1913 – Richard Bare, American director

1914 – Gerd Buchdahl, German philosopher (d. 2001)

1914 – Ruth Lowe, Canadian pianist and composer (''I'll Never Smile Again'') (d. 1981)

1915 – Michael Kidd, American choreographer (d. 2007)

1918 – Guy Gibson, British aviator, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1944)

1919 – Vikram Sarabhai, Indian physicist (d. 1971)

1922 – Fulton Mackay, Scottish actor (d. 1987)

1923 – John Holt, Jamaican West Indies cricketer (d. 1997)

1924 – Derek Shackleton, English cricketer (d. 2007)

1924 – Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, 6th President of Pakistan (d. 1988)

1925 – Dale Bumpers, American politician

1925 – Norris McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records (d. 2004)

1925 – Ross McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records (d. 1975)

1925 – George Wetherill, American physicist (d. 2006)

1926 – John Derek, American actor (d. 1998)

1926 – Joe Jones, American R&B; singer (d. 2005)

1926 – Wallace Markfield, American writer (d. 2002)

1927 – Porter Wagoner, American singer (d. 2007)

1928 – Charles Blackman, Australian artist

1928 – Bob Buhl, American baseball player (d. 2001)

1928 – Dan Curtis, American film and television producer and director (d.2006)

1929 – Buck Owens, American singer (d. 2006)

1930 – George Soros Hungarian-born American financier and political activist

1930 – Jacques Tits, Belgian mathematician

1931 – William Goldman, American screenwriter

1932 – Dallin H. Oaks, American The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apostle and former Utah Supreme Court Justice

1932 – Charlie O'Donnell, American game show announcer (d. 2010)

1932 – Sirikit, Queen consort of Thailand, wife of Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX)

1933 – Parnelli Jones, American race car driver and team owner

1935 – John Cazale, American actor (d. 1978)

1937 – Walter Dean Myers, American novelist and poet

1938 – Jean-Paul L'Allier, Canadian politician, 38th Mayor of Quebec

1939 – Michael D. Antonovich, American politician

1939 – Skip Caray, American TV and radio baseball announcer (Atlanta Braves) (d. 2008)

1939 – George Hamilton, American actor

1939 – Roy Romanow, Canadian politician

1940 – Eddie Barlow, South African cricketer (d. 2005)

1941 – Réjean Ducharme, Canadian novelist and playwright

1942 – Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt, German physician

1943 – Deborah Walley, American actress (d. 2001)

1945 – Ron Mael, American keyboardist (Sparks)

1946 – Terry Nutkins, British TV presenter

1947 – Sam Rosen, American sportscaster

1949 – Panagiotis Chinofotis, Greek politician

1949 – Mark Knopfler, British singer-songwriter and guitarist (Dire Straits)

1949 – Rick Ridgeway, American mountaineer

1950 – Jim Beaver, American actor and writer

1951 – Willie Horton, American murderer and rapist

1952 – Chen Kaige, Chinese film director

1954 – Ibolya Dávid, Hungarian lawyer and politician

1954 – Sam J. Jones, American actor

1954 – Pat Metheny, American guitarist

1955 – Ann M. Martin, American children's writer

1955 – Terry Taylor, American professional wrestler

1956 – Bruce Greenwood, Canadian actor

1956 – Sidath Wettimuny, Sri Lankan cricketer

1957 – Friedhelm Schütte, German footballer

1958 – Jürgen Dehmel, German bass player and songwriter (Nena)

1959 – Amanda Redman, English actress

1960 – Laurent Fignon, French cyclist (d. 2010)

1960 – Greg Thomas, England cricketer

1960 – Eduardo Tokeshi, Peruvian artist

1961 – Roy Hay, British guitarist and keyboardist (Culture Club)

1961 – Lawrence Hayward, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Felt, Denim, Go Kart Mozart)

1961 – Mark Priest, New Zealand cricketer

1963 – Kōji Kitao (Futahaguro Koji), Japanese sumo wrestler (the 60th Yokozuna) and professional wrestler

1963 – Sir Mix-a-Lot, American rapper

1965 – Peter Krause, American actor

1967 – Andy Hui, Hong Kong actor and singer

1967 – Andrey Plotnikov, Russian race walker

1967 – Regilio Tuur, Dutch boxer

1968 – Thorsten Boer, German footballer

1968 – Andras Jones, American actor

1969 – Aga Muhlach, Filipino actor

1969 – Tanita Tikaram, British singer

1969 – Stuart Williams, Nevisian West Indies cricketer

1970 – Charles Mesure, British actor

1970 – Jim Schlossnagle, American baseball coach

1970 – Anthony Swofford, American novelist

1971 – Michael Ian Black, American comedian

1971 – Yvette Nicole Brown, American actress

1971 – Rebecca Gayheart, American actress

1971 – Pete Sampras, American tennis player

1972 – Mark Kinsella, Irish footballer

1972 – Takanohana Kōji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 65th Yokozuna

1972 – Gyanendra Pandey, Indian cricketer

1972 – Del the Funky Homosapien, American hip hop artist

1973 – Joseba Beloki, Spanish cyclist

1973 – Jonathan Coachman, American professional wrestler and executive

1973 – Todd Marchant, American ice hockey player

1973 – Richard Reid, British terrorist (the "Shoe Bomber")

1973 – Muqtada al-Sadr, Iraqi theologian and political leader

1974 – Matt Clement, American baseball player

1975 – Casey Affleck, American actor

1976 – Pedro Collins, Barbadian cricketer

1976 – Mikko Lindström, Finnish guitarist (HIM)

1976 – Brad Lukowich, Canadian ice hockey player

1976 – Richard McCourt, English children's television presenter

1976 – Henry Tuilagi, Samoan rugby union footballer

1976 – Antoine Walker, American basketball player

1976 – Wednesday 13, American vocalist (Wednesday 13, Murderdolls)

1977 – Plaxico Burress, American football player

1977 – Jesper Grønkjær, Danish footballer

1977 – Park Yong-ha, South Korean actor and singer (d. 2010)

1978 – Chris Chambers, American football player

1978 – Hayley Wickenheiser, Canadian ice hockey player

1979 – D.J. Houlton, American baseball player

1979 – Cindy Klassen, Canadian speed skater

1979 – Austra Skujytė, Lithuanian athlete

1980 – Maggie Lawson, American actress

1980 – Dominique Swain, American actress

1980 – Matt Thiessen, Canadian singer-songwriter (Relient K)

1980 – Jade Villalon, American singer-songwriter

1981 – Tony Capaldi, Northern Irish footballer

1981 – Djibril Cissé, French footballer

1982 – Iza Calzado, Filipino TV actress

1982 – Alexandros Tzorvas, Greek footballer

1983 – Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Dutch footballer

1983 – Manoa Vosawai, Italian rugby player

1983 – Mark Webster, Welsh Dart player

1984 – Marian Rivera, Filipino actress

1985 – Franck Moutsinga, German rugby player

1988 – Justin Gaston, American actor, model and singer

1988 – Leah Pipes, American actress

1989 – Tom Cleverley, English footballer

1990 – Marvin Zeegelaar, Dutch footballer

1990 – Mario Balotelli, Italian footballer

1990 – Enzo Pineda, Filipino television actor

Deaths

30 BC – Cleopatra VII (b. 69 BC)

875 – Louis II of Italy, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 825)

1424 – Yongle Emperor of China (b. 1360)

1484 – Pope Sixtus IV (b. 1414)

1484 – George of Trebizond, Greek philosopher (b. 1395)

1512 – Alessandro Achillini, Italian philosopher (b. 1463)

1577 – Thomas Smith, English diplomat and scholar (b. 1513)

1588 – Alfonso Ferrabosco the elder, Italian composer (b. 1543)

1612 – Giovanni Gabrieli, Italian composer

1633 – Jacopo Peri, Italian composer (b. 1561)

1638 – Johannes Althusius, German writer (b. 1557)

1648 – Ibrahim I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1615)

1674 – Philippe de Champaigne, French painter (b. 1602)

1689 – Pope Innocent XI (b. 1611)

1778 – Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, British general and politician (b. 1714)

1809 – Mikhail Kamensky, Russian field marshal (b. 1738)

1810 – Etienne Louis Geoffroy, French pharmacist and entomologist (b. 1725)

1822 – Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, English politician and statesman (b. 1769)

1827 – William Blake, English poet and artist (b. 1757)

1829 – Charles Sapinaud de La Rairie, French royalist general and counterrevolutionary (b. 1760)

1848 – George Stephenson, British locomotive designer (b. 1781)

1849 – Albert Gallatin, Swiss-American politician, 4th United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1761)

1851 – John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune, British barrister and a pioneer in women's education in India (b. 1801)

1861 – Eliphalet Remington, American inventor (b. 1793)

1864 – Sakuma Shōzan, Japanese reformer (b. 1811)

1865 – William Jackson Hooker, English botanist (b. 1785)

1891 – James Russell Lowell, American poet and essayist (b. 1819)

1896 – Thomas Chamberlain, American Civil War military figure (b. 1841)

1900 – Wilhelm Steinitz, Austrian chess player (b. 1836)

1901 – Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, Finnish-born Swedish explorer (b. 1832)

1904 – William Renshaw, British tennis player (b. 1861)

1914 – John Philip Holland, Irish submarine designer (b. 1840)

1918 – Anna Held, Polish-born American actress and singer (b. 1872)

1922 – Arthur Griffith, Irish politician (b. 1871)

1924 – Sándor Bródy, Hungarian author and journalist (b. 1863)

1928 – Leoš Janáček, Czech composer (b. 1854)

1934 – Hendrik Petrus Berlage, Dutch architect (b. 1856)

1935 – Friedrich Schottky, German mathematician (b. 1851)

1941 – Bobby Peel, English cricketer (b. 1857)

1941 – 1st Marquess of Willingdon, Governor General of Canada, Viceroy of India (b. 1866)

1943 – Vittorio Sella, Italian photographer (b. 1859)

1944 – Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., brother of President John F. Kennedy (b. 1915)

1948 – Harry Brearley, English inventor (b. 1871)

1952 – David Bergelson, Ukrainian-born Soviet Yiddish language writer (b. 1884)

1955 – Thomas Mann, German writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1875)

1955 – James B. Sumner, American chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1887)

1959 – Mike O'Neill, Irish-born American baseball player (b. 1877)

1964 – Ian Fleming, English novelist, creator of James Bond (b. 1908)

1967 – Esther Forbes, American novelist (b. 1891)

1973 – Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1881)

1973 – Karl Ziegler, German chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1898)

1979 – Sir Ernst Boris Chain, British biochemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1906)

1982 – Henry Fonda, American actor (b. 1905)

1982 – Salvador Sánchez, Mexican boxer (b. 1959)

1982 – Varlam Shalamov, Russian writer (b. 1907)

1984 – Lenny Breau, American jazz guitarist (b. 1941)

1985 – Kyu Sakamoto, Japanese singer (b. 1941)

1985 – Manfred Winkelhock, German race car driver (b. 1951)

1988 – Jean-Michel Basquiat, American painter and graffiti artist (b. 1960)

1989 – William Shockley, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1910)

1989 – Samuel Okwaraji, Nigerian footballer (b. 1964)

1990 – B. Kliban, American cartoonist (b. 1935)

1990 – Dorothy Mackaill, British-born American actress (b. 1903)

1992 – John Cage, American composer (b. 1912)

1996 – Robert Gravel, French-Canadian actor and theatrical director (b. 1945)

1996 – Mark Gruenwald, American comic book writer and editor (b. 1953)

1996 – Viktor Hambardzumyan, Soviet Armenian scientist (b. 1908)

1997 – Luther Allison, American blues guitarist (b. 1939)

1999 – Jean Drapeau, Canadian politician (b. 1916)

2000 – Loretta Young, American actress (b. 1913)

2002 – Enos Slaughter, American baseball player (b. 1916)

2004 – Sir Godfrey Hounsfield, English electrical engineer and inventor, Nobel laureate (b. 1919)

2004 – Peter Woodthorpe, British actor (b. 1931)

2005 – John Loder, English sound engineer and record producer (b. 1946)

2007 – Merv Griffin, American television host and game show creator (b. 1925)

2007 – Mike Wieringo, American comic book artist (b. 1963)

2008 – Christie Allen, English-born Australian pop singer (b. 1954)

2009 – Les Paul, American guitarist (b. 1915)

2010 – Isaac Bonewits, American writer and neopaganist (b. 1949)

2010 – Richie Hayward, American musician (Little Feat) (b. 1946)

2010 – André Kim, South Korean Fashion Designer (b. 1935)

2010 – Guido de Marco, Maltan politician and diplomat (b. 1931)

2011 – Jani Lane, American musician (Warrant) (b. 1964)

2011 – Robert Robinson, British television presenter (Ask The Family, Call My Bluff) (b. 1927)

Holidays and observances

Christian Feast Day:

* Euplius

* Herculanus of Brescia

* Pope Innocent XI

* August 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

The Feast of the Prophet and his Bride

Glorious Twelfth (United Kingdom)

HM the Queen's Birthday and National Mother's Day (Thailand)

International Youth Day (International)

The first day of Awa Dance Festival (Tokushima)

External links

BBC: On This Day

On This Day in Canada

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Category:Days of the year Category:August Category:Discordian holidays

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name	Shane Dawson
size	175px
birth name	Shane Yaw
birth date	July 19, 1988
birth place	Long Beach, California, U.S.
occupation	YouTube video maker (actor, comedian)
yearsactive	2008–present
known for	Sketch Comedy, vlogging
website	}}

Shane Dawson (born Shane Yaw, July 19, 1988) is an American YouTube comedian and actor. Dawson is known for making comedy videos featuring many recurring characters (such as Shananay, Ned the Nerd, S. Deezy, Shane's Mom and Aunt Hilda), impersonations (such as Paris Hilton and Miley Cyrus), and spoofs of popular music videos and TV shows. As of August 2011 his main YouTube channel is the fifth most subscribed channel of all time, behind RayWilliamJohnson, Nigahiga, Machinima.com and Smosh. Dawson has since expanded on YouTube by adding his second channel (eleventh most subscribed) where he posts video blogs and the series "Ask Shane", which moved to his main channel February 26, 2011.

Dawson's career began when he and several friends would turn in videos instead of homework in high school. Dawson's first videos on Youtube were old assignments that he turned in during high school.

In November 2009, he was featured on ''Attack of the Show!'' In 2010, Forbes magazine named him their 25th most famous web celebrity.

Personal life

Dawson grew up in Long Beach, California, where he attended Lakewood High School. Dawson has revealed in a video, that as a teenager he was over-weight and would get bullied a lot, as well as being beaten by his alcoholic father, who then abandoned the family. He has since lost 150 pounds. Shane has three dogs - Miley, Charlie & Chocolate as well as two cats, Muffins and Snoop. They often appear in his videos. He used to work in Jenny Craig, Inc. along with his mother and brother, but was fired after he uploaded a video of himself pole dancing in the building he worked in. His mother, brother and about 6 other coworkers who appeared in the video also got fired after the company saw the video.

Shane Dawson currently resides in Sherman Oaks, California.

YouTube channels

thumb|Shane Dawson plays a number of recurring characters including (from left to right) Shane, Aunt Hilda, S-Deezy, Shananay, Ned, Mom, and Paris Hilton Shane Dawson posts new videos on his main channel, ShaneDawsonTV, every Saturday and video blogs on his second channel, ShaneDawsonTV2, throughout the week. Every Monday, posted on his second channel, he also has an "Ask Shane" webseries where he answers questions from his viewers. This series is similar to a previous web series, "Viewer Orgy Party", which currently only airs approximately once a month. His third YouTube channel, Shane, is where he posts unedited videos directly from his iPhone. He began using this channel in May, 2010. He has also begun a new series called "Shane and friends" on his main channel which he does once every month. This series includes him giving advice and talking as basically all his characters. Shane often collaborates with other YouTubers or appears in their videos, such as BrittaniLouiseTaylor, TheFineBros, JoeNationTV and ijustine.

In August 2010, he announced that he was going to write a TV pilot and post it on his main channel, featuring himself and his characters from previous videos, about him in high school.

SD High

On August 11, 2010, Dawson announced that he was in the making of a 30-minute pilot which he will call ''SD High''. Previously, the funding he needed for the pilot was provided by digital media group Take180 after he helped them out with acting in their own videos. The pilot is based on two previous videos which Dawson uploaded to his main channel recently. In his previous videos, the story centers around a teenage boy in school, and his interactions with the other characters. The pilot was due to be released towards the end of September 2010 on his main YouTube Channel, however Dawson later announced that he had been contacted by a television studio to produce the pilot for their TV channel(s). According to Dawson, there is some uncertainty involving the pilot, however it may be a TV show in the future. On March 26, 2011, Dawson uploaded a video to YouTube explaining to his audience that he's working with Happy Madison Productions, Sony Pictures, and some other YouTubers including TheFineBros and BrittaniLouiseTaylor to create the TV show. The video contains an explanation from Dawson about what he's working on, and a 'mock trailer', made up of clips from previous episodes on his YouTube channel, for the show. The pilot is currently in production.

Awards and nominations

Shane Dawson has been nominated for various awards. On August 9, 2010, Dawson won the award for Choice Web Star at the 2010 Teen Choice Awards. Although the category was not featured at the awards show, Dawson stated in a video that he posted to YouTube the next day that "It was just great to be nominated and at the show itself". The nominees for that category included fellow YouTubers Justine Ezarik, Charles Trippy, Lucas Cruikshank, best known for his Fred character, and singer Greyson Chance.

! Year	! Category	! Award	! Result
	Best Vlogger	The Streamy Awards
	Choice Web Star	Teen Choice Awards
	Choice Web Star	Teen Choice Awards

References

External links

Official Website

ShaneDawsonTV, Shane Dawson's YouTube channel

ShaneDawsonTV2, Shane Dawson's 2nd YouTube channel

Shane, Shane Dawson's iPhone YouTube channel

Category:American Internet personalities Category:Living people Category:1988 births Category:People from Long Beach, California

ar:شين داوسن de:Shane Dawson et:Shane Dawson es:Shane Dawson fr:Shane Dawson it:Shane Dawson he:שיין דוסון nl:Shane Dawson ja:シェーン・ドーソン pl:Shane Dawson pt:Shane Dawson ru:Доусон, Шейн sk:Shane Dawson sl:Shane Dawson fi:Shane Dawson sv:Shane Dawson zh:谢恩·多森

Name	Taylor Swift
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Taylor Alison Swift
Birth date	December 13, 1989
Birth place	Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, ganjo, piano, ukulele
Genre	Country pop, pop, country, dance-pop
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, actress
Years active	2006–present
Label	Big Machine
Associated acts	Nathan Chapman, Liz Rose
Website	150pxTaylor Swift's signature }}

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.

In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. In November 2008, Swift released her second album, ''Fearless'', and the recording earned Swift four Grammy Awards, including the Album of the Year, at the 52nd Grammy Awards. ''Fearless'' and ''Taylor Swift'' finished 2008 at number-three and number-six respectively, with sales of 2.1 and 1.5 million. ''Fearless'' topped the ''Billboard'' 200 for 11 non-consecutive weeks. Swift was named ''Artist of the Year'' by ''Billboard'' Magazine in 2009. Swift released her third album ''Speak Now'' on October 25, 2010, which sold 1,047,000 copies in its first week.

In 2008, her albums sold a combined four million copies, making her the best-selling musician of the year in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. ''Forbes'' ranked Swift 2009's 69th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $18 million, 2010's 12th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million and 2011's 7th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million, too. Swift was ranked the 38th Best Artist of the 2000s by ''Billboard''. In January 2010 Nielsen SoundScan listed Swift as the most successful digital artist in music history with over 34.3 million digital tracks sold. On June 2011, renowned site The Boot named Swift and Carrie Underwood ''The Country Royalty'', as they were the only female country artists to be ranked on ''Rolling Stone'' Queens of Pop list. , she has sold over 20 million albums and 34.3 million singles worldwide. She has been listed in the 2012 ''Guinness Book Of World Records'' as the Fastest Selling Digital Album by a Female Artist for her album ''Speak Now'', and Most Simultaneous U.S. Hot 100 Hits by a Female Artist. In 2011, ''Billboard'' named her woman of the year.

Early life

Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania, and raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Andrea Gardner (née Finlay), a homemaker who previously worked in finance, and Scott Kingsley Swift, a stockbroker. Her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay (née Moehlenkamp), was an opera singer. Swift has a younger brother, Austin. She grew up on a Christmas-tree farm.

When Swift was in fourth grade, she won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem, "Monster in My Closet". At the age of ten, a computer repairman showed her how to play three chords on a guitar, sparking her interest in learning the instrument. Afterwards, Swift wrote her first song, "Lucky You". When Swift was 12, she devoted an entire summer to writing a 350-page novel, which remains unpublished. She began writing songs regularly and used it as an outlet to help her with her pain from not fitting in at school. Swift was a victim of bullying, and spent her time writing songs to express her emotions. She also started performing at local karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs.

Swift began to regularly visit Nashville, Tennessee, and work with local songwriters. When she was 14, her family relocated to Nashville. Her first major show was a well-received performance at the Bloomsburg Fair. In Tennessee, Swift attended Hendersonville High School, but was subsequently homeschooled for her junior and senior years. In 2008, she earned her high school diploma.

Swift's greatest musical influence is Shania Twain. Her other influences include LeAnn Rimes, Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, and Swift's grandmother. Although her grandmother was a professional opera singer, Swift's tastes always leaned more toward country music. In her younger years, she developed a love for Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton. She also credits the Dixie Chicks for demonstrating the impact that one can have by "stretching boundaries".

Music career

2000–2005: musical beginnings

At age 11, Swift made her first trip to Nashville, hoping to obtain a record deal by distributing a demo tape of her singing with karaoke songs. She gave a copy to every label in town, but was rejected. After Swift returned to Pennsylvania, she was asked to sing at the US Open tennis tournament, where her rendition of the national anthem received much attention.

When Swift was 15, she rejected RCA Records because the company wanted to keep her on an artist development deal. After performing at Nashville's songwriters' venue, The Bluebird Café, she caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, who signed her to his newly formed record label, Big Machine Records. At age 14, she became the youngest staff songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house.

2006–2008: ''Taylor Swift''

Swift released her debut single, "Tim McGraw", in mid-2006, reaching No.6 on ''Billboard'' magazine's Hot Country Songs chart. Her self-titled debut album was later released on October 24, 2006. Debuting high on the ''Billboard'' 200, the album sold 39,000 copies during its first week. It peaked at No.1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums and No.5 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Her debut album spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of the Top Country Albums charts and remained at the top for 24 out of 91 weeks. The only other country artists this decade to achieve the number-one sales position for 20 weeks or more are The Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood. The music video for "Tim McGraw" won Swift an award for Breakthrough Video of the Year at the 2007 CMT Music Awards. Her pursuit of country music stardom was the subject of "GAC Short Cuts", a part-documentary, part-music-video series airing since the summer of 2006. On May 15, 2007, Swift performed "Tim McGraw" at the Academy of Country Music Awards. Swift has been an opening act for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill on their Soul2Soul 2007 tour. She has opened in the past for George Strait, Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts as well. The second single from the ''Taylor Swift'' album, "Teardrops on My Guitar", was released February 24, 2007. In mid-2007, the song peaked at No.2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and No.33 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song was re-released with a pop remix that brought "Teardrops on My Guitar" to No.13 on the Hot 100 and No.11 on the Pop 100. In October 2007, Swift was awarded Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Assn. Intl., making her the youngest artist ever to win the award. Her third song off her debut album, "Our Song" spent six weeks at No.1 on the Country charts, peaked at No.16 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and rose to No.24 on the ''Billboard'' Pop 100. Swift recorded a holiday album, ''Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection,'' which was released exclusively at Target in late 2007. Swift was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best New Artist, but lost to Amy Winehouse. Swift's successful single, "Picture to Burn", was the fourth single from her debut album. The song debuted and soon peaked at No.3 on the Billboard Country chart in spring 2008. left|upright|thumb|Swift performing at Yahoo HQ in 2007 "Should've Said No" became Swift's second No.1 single. In Summer 2008, Swift released ''Beautiful Eyes'', an EP sold exclusively at Wal-Mart. In its first week of release, the album sold 45,000 copies, debuting at No.1 on ''Billboard'''s Top Country Albums chart and No.9 on the ''Billboard'' 200. With her self-titled debut album sitting at No.2 during the same week, Swift became the first artist since 1997 to hold the Top 2 positions of the Top Country Albums chart. In October 2008, Swift performed a duet with best selling rock band Def Leppard in a taped show in Nashville, Tennessee, and their collaboration was up for both Performance of the Year and Wide Open Country Video of the Year at the CMT Music Awards in 2009.

2008–2010: ''Fearless'' and MTV VMA incident

Swift's second studio album, ''Fearless'', was released in the United States on November 11, 2008. The album debuted at No.1 on the ''Billboard'' 200 Album Chart. Its sales of 592,304 were the highest debut of any country artist in 2008. This is also the largest opening U.S. sales week in 2008 by a female artist in all genres of music, and the fourth biggest overall behind Lil Wayne, AC/DC and Coldplay. Its lead single "Love Story" became a hit on both the country and pop charts. During the first week of release, more than 129,000 of Swift's sales were sold digitally. This gives Swift the best online start for any country album in history. It also makes Swift the fourth biggest week for a digital album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking them in 2004. Through its eighth week of release, ''Fearless'' has sold more than 338,467 downloads, making it the bestselling country album in digital history. In second place is Swift's debut ''Taylor Swift'' with sales of 236,046 downloads as of April 18, 2009. In its debut week, seven songs in total on ''Fearless'' were charted on ''Billboard'' Hot 100, tying Swift with Miley Cyrus for the most by a female artist in a single week. With "White Horse" charted at #13, this gave Swift her sixth top 20 debut of 2008, a calendar year record for any artist in the history of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Of the 13 tracks on ''Fearless'', 11 have already spent time on the Hot 100. "Change", a song from the album, was selected as part of a soundtrack supporting Team USA's efforts in the 2008 Summer Olympics. The song was also featured as part of the soundtrack of NBC's broadcast package of the Olympics. The lead single from the album, "Love Story", was released on September 12, 2008. The Fearless album includes the "Love Story" music video which is based on ''Romeo and Juliet''. The song has reached No.2 on iTunes Store Top Downloaded Songs and No.4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Fifteen weeks after being added to pop radio, "Love Story" also became the first country crossover recording to hit number one on the Nielsen BDS CHR/Top 40 chart in the 16-year-history of the list, as well as number one on the Mediabase Top 40 Chart. The second single from ''Fearless'', "White Horse", was released on December 8, 2008. The music video for the song premiered on CMT on February 7, 2009. Though it missed the No.1 spot on Billboard's Hot Country Songs as of the week April 11, 2009, "White Horse" claimed the No.1 spot atop the USA Today/Country Aircheck chart (powered by Mediabase) in that week. "Forever & Always", another song from the album, was based on Swift's relationship with singer Joe Jonas. She was the first artist in the history of Nielsen SoundScan to have two different albums in the Top 10 on the year end album chart. It also was the first album by a female artist in country music history to log eight weeks at No.1 on The ''Billboard'' 200. In mid-January 2009, Swift became the first country artist to top the 2 million mark in paid downloads with three different songs. Swift is ''Billboard'''s Top Country Artist and Hot Country Songwriter of 2008; she is also country music's best-selling artist of 2008. Swift ranked seventh on Nielsen SoundScan Canada's top-10 selling artists across all genres in 2008. ''Fearless'' and ''Taylor Swift'' took the No.1 and No.2 slots on 2008 Year-End Canadian Country Albums Chart. Swift sang the Star-Spangled Banner at game three of the World Series in Philadelphia on October 25, 2008. In January 2009, Swift announced her North American Fearless Tour planned for 52 cities in 38 states and provinces in the US and Canada over the span of 6 months. The tour kicked off April 23 in Evansville, Indiana. In the same month, Swift made her first musical guest appearance on ''Saturday Night Live''. On February 8, 2009, Swift performed her song "Fifteen" with Miley Cyrus at the 51st Grammy Awards. As of the week ending February 8, 2009, Swift's single "Love Story" became the country song with the most paid downloads in history. Since the release of Swift's second album, ''Fearless'', she has released one new song "Crazier" for the soundtrack of the feature film ''Hannah Montana: The Movie''. At the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, Swift picked up Album of the Year honors as a performer and producer for ''Fearless''. Swift is the youngest artist in history to win the ACM ''Album of the Year'' award. The Academy lauded her for career achievements including selling more albums in 2008 than any other artist in any genre of music, the breakthrough success of her debut album, and the worldwide crossover success of her No.1 single "Love Story". The Academy also cited Swift's contribution to helping country music attract a younger audience. As of late April 2009, Swift has sold more than 14 million downloads, as well as three Gold Mobile Ringtones. On April 28, 2009, Swift gave a free, private concert to students at Bishop Ireton High School, a small Catholic school in Alexandria, Virginia after the school won a national "TXT 2 WIN" contest from Verizon Wireless. The students sent over 19,000 text messages to Verizon during a roughly one month long contest. Swift played for about an hour during the school's field day, an annual day-long recess with games and activities. On October 8, 2009 Swift's official website announced that her sold-out Fearless Tour would return to North America for 37 additional dates in 2010.

Scheduled to perform on September 13, 2009, Swift attended the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. This was her first VMA performance, where she became the first country music artist to win an MTV Video Music Award. During the show, as Swift was on stage accepting the award for Best Female Video for "You Belong with Me," singer/rapper Kanye West came on stage and took the microphone from Swift, saying that Beyoncé's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", nominated for the same award, was "one of the best videos of all time," an action that caused the many audience members to boo West. He handed the microphone back to a stunned and reportedly upset Swift, who did not finish her acceptance speech. When Beyoncé later won the award for Best Video of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", she called Swift up on stage so that she could finish her acceptance speech. Following the awards show, West apologized for his verbal outburst in a blog entry (which was subsequently removed). He was criticized by various celebrities for the outburst, and even by President Barack Obama who called West a "jackass" in an "off the record" comment. He later posted a second apology on his blog and made his first public apology one day after the incident on the debut episode of ''The Jay Leno Show''. On September 15, 2009, Swift talked about the matter on ''The View'', where she said she was at first excited to see West on stage and then disappointed once he acted out. She said West had not spoken to her following the incident. Following her appearance on ''The View'', West contacted her to apologize personally; Swift said she accepted his apology. However, on November 8, 2010, in an interview with a Minnesota radio station, West seemed to recant a bit of his past apologies by attempting to describe the act at the 2009 awards show as "selfless" and downgrade the perception of disrespect it created. Swift would later perform a song at the 2010 VMA called "Innocent" which is about the incident and in the song she absolves West of his actions. On November 11, 2009, Swift became the youngest artist ever to win the Country Music Association Award for Entertainer of the year, and is one of only six women to win the Country Music Association's highest honor. On the chart week of November 14, 2009, Swift set a record for the most songs on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 by a female artist at the same time with eight singles from the re-release of her 2008 album ''Fearless'' namely five debut new songs in the top 30: "Jump Then Fall" at #10, "Untouchable" at #19, "The Other Side of the Door" at #22, "Superstar" at No.27 and "Come in With the Rain" at No.30 and three already-charted songs that were released as singles—"You Belong with Me" (#14), "Forever & Always" which re-entered the chart at #34, and "Fifteen" (#46). In addition, the song "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls which features Swift, debuted at No.80 in the same issue. This gives Swift six debuts in one week, the biggest number of debuts by any female artist of all time. It also lifts the number of her simultaneously-charting songs to nine, setting another record for the biggest number of charting songs by the same female artist in the same week. When "Fifteen" reached No.38 on the chart week of November 21, 2009, Swift became the female artist with the most Top 40 singles this decade, surpassing Beyoncé. "Fifteen" became Swift's twentieth Top 40 single overall. "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls and John Mayer's "Half of My Heart" both featured Swift, peaking at No.40 and No.25 respectively. The two songs are her 21st and 22nd Top 40 singles. ''Fearless'' was the best-selling album of 2009 in the US with more than 3.2 millions copies sold in that year. Swift claimed both the No.1 and No.2 positions atop Nielsen's BDS Top 10 Most Played Songs chart (all genres), with "You Belong With Me" and "Love Story," respectively. She also topped the all format 2009 Top 10 Artist Airplay chart with over 1.29 million song detections, and the Top 10 Artist Internet Streams chart with more than 46 million song plays.

2010–present: ''Speak Now''

Swift released the track "Today Was a Fairytale" as a digital download on iTunes on January 19, 2010. The song was featured on the soundtrack for the film ''Valentine's Day'', in which she made her feature-film acting debut. The song debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at No. 2, becoming her sixth Top 10 and 23rd Top 40 single on that chart. According to Nielsen SoundScan, with sales of "Today Was a Fairytale" more than 325,000 in its first week, Swift has broken the record for first-week download sales by a female artist. The song also debuted at number one on the Canadian Hot 100, making it Swift's first number one hit in Canada. In February 2010, Swift brought her Fearless Tour to 5 cities in Australia. Opening acts included Gloriana. In mid-July 2010, ''Billboard'' revealed that Swift's new album is called ''Speak Now''. It was released on October 25, 2010. She has written the album completely by herself in Arkansas, New York, Boston and Nashville with Nathan Chapman serving as co-producer. On Wednesday, August 4, 2010, the lead single from the album, "Mine," was leaked onto the internet. Big Machine Records decided to rush the release of the song to counteract the leak. Swift appeared at the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on November 10, 2010. In 2011, Swift visited Singapore as the first stop of the Asian leg of her first world tour. Hong Kong is the last stop of the Speak Now World Tour and Swift will begin the European and American leg afterwards. Swift's first live album, ''Speak Now World Tour: Live'', featuring all seventeen performances from the North American leg of her concert tour, is scheduled for a November 21, 2011 release. Many dates on the Speak Now World Tour were cancelled due to Swift suffering from bronchitis and was told she is unable to perform. Swift sold approximately 4,470,000 albums in the US in 2010 (more than any other artist) and sold 9.9 million digital tracks. She was ranked second on ''Rolling Stone'''s lists of Top 16 "Queen Of Pops" of the decade. Swift appeared on the ''Hamish & Andy'' show where she performed a new song called "Chaperone Dads", which is dedicated to a select group of her fans. The week following the release of her "Sparks Fly" video Swift jumped from nineteen to ten on the ''Billboard'''s Social 50. Swift has revealed that she has already written 25 songs for an untitled follow-up album to ''Speak Now'', set to release in the later part of 2012. She commented on them, "They’re sad. If I'm being honest."

On December 23, 2011, Taylor announced via Twitter, "Something I've been VERY excited about for a VERY long time is going to be happening VERY soon." Several hours later, Taylor announced that she is featured on ''The Hunger Games'' Official Movie Soundtrack. Her song, entitled "Safe & Sound", was the first track released from the album. The song was co-written by The Civil Wars, who also co-recorded the song with Taylor. On January 8, 2012, Taylor was elected the fifth top artist (fourth female top artist) of all-time with the best-selling digital music tracks. Taylor has sold 41,821,000 million digital tracks as of the end of 2011 according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Songwriting style

Swift's lyrics are highly autobiographical; she has said that "If you listen to my albums, it’s like reading my diary." For example, the song "Forever & Always" was inspired by her relationship with Joe Jonas, while the song "Hey Stephen" was written about a boy whom she toured with in the past. "Fifteen" was written about her freshman year of high school. It has been said that her lyrics "can be tinged with acid: the quiet loner girl getting one over on the cheerleaders, or a caustic payback for the boy who dumped her." She has also indicated that she tries to write so her fans can relate to the lyrics, saying "My goal is to never write songs that my fans can't relate to." She parodied her confrontational style of songwriting during her appearance on ''Saturday Night Live''; during her opening monologue, she performed an original song that featured lines such as "You might think I'd bring up Joe, that guy who broke up with me on the phone/ Hey, Joe, I'm doing real well, tonight I'm hosting 'SNL'" referring to her highly publicized relationship with Joe Jonas.

The intensely personal nature of the songs has drawn her attention in the music industry. Swift once said, "I thought people might find them hard to relate to, but it turned out that the more personal my songs were, the more closely people could relate to them." Due to the autobiographical nature of her songs, some fans have researched the songs' origins. Swift once said, "Every single one of the guys that I’ve written songs about has been tracked down on MySpace by my fans." ''The New York Times'' described Swift as "one of pop's finest songwriters, country’s foremost pragmatist and more in touch with her inner life than most adults".

Other work

Acting

In 2008, Swift made her acting debut in Brad Paisley's music video "Online". In that same year Swift filmed a documentary for MTV entitled ''MTV's Once Upon a Prom'' and a documentary with Def Leppard for CMT entitled ''CMT Crossroads'', which premiered on November 7, 2008. Swift collaborated with the Jonas Brothers in their 3D Concert Film, ''Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience''. The film was released on February 27, 2009 in North America and brought in $12.7 million on its opening weekend. Swift made her primetime television acting debut on CBS's ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' "Turn, Turn, Turn" as Haley Jones on March 5, 2009 in the U.S. and Canada. The episode was watched by 20.8 million viewers. Swift made a cameo appearance in Kellie Pickler's music video "Best Days of Your Life". Swift also appeared in ''Hannah Montana: The Movie'' credited as herself. The film was released on April 10, 2009 in North America. The television show Dateline NBC showcased an hour on Swift on May 31, 2009. The episode titled ''Dateline NBC: On Tour With Taylor Swift'' included scenes from her tour bus, concert footage, and rehearsals. Swift both hosted and performed as the musical guest for the November 7, 2009 episode of ''Saturday Night Live''. In 2010, Swift made her feature film acting debut as Felicia in the film ''Valentine's Day''. For this role she won the Teen Choice Award for Movie Female Breakout. She has been cast to voice the role of Audrey in the animated film ''The Lorax'', set to be released in 2012. In January 2012, Swift was offered the role of Eponine in the film adaptation of the musical, ''Les Misérables''.

Cover model and recognition

Swift has been featured on the cover of a number of magazines. She has been a cover girl for ''Blender'', for which she was one of two country artists during the magazine’s fifteen year run to be a cover subject. She was included in ''People'''s annual "100 Most Beautiful People" 2008, 2009, and 2010 lists. Additionally, she was named number fifty-seven on ''Maxim's'' sexiest women of 2008, number fifty on the 2009 list and number thirty-one on the 2010 list. ''CosmoGirl'' voted Swift as the "2008 Girl of the Year". Swift was named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as one of "The RS 100: Agents of Change". She was nominated as a candidate for ''TIME''s "2009 The Time 100 Finalists" list, which is determined by online voting. ''People'' magazine named Swift one of 25 Most Intriguing People of 2009.

Merchandise

Jakks Pacific released a celebrity doll of Swift in late 2008. Swift has been the face of L.E.I. Jeans (Life Energy Intelligence) since 2008. Swift and the L.e.i. Clothing Line made a deal to create a line based on Swift's style of dressing, which will appear in Wal-Mart in the coming months. However, Swift said she does not want to be called a designer. Instead, she says she will inspire the clothing company's dress line based on her own style. "I don't look at it like I'm branching out as a designer... It's not the Taylor Swift designer line." In 2009, Swift became the National Hockey League's newest celebrity spokesperson. She appears in commercials for the Nashville Predators.

In May 2009, Swift filed a lawsuit (kept sealed until August 2010) against numerous sellers of unauthorized counterfeit merchandise bearing her name, likeness, and trademarks, where she demanded a trial by jury, sought a judgement for compensatory damages, punitive damages, three times the actual damages sustained, and statutory damages, and sought for recovery of her attorney's fees and prejudgement interest. Nashville's U.S. District Court granted an injunction and judgment against the sellers, who had been identified at Swift's concerts in several states. The court ordered merchandise seized from the defendants to be destroyed. On July 15, 2011, Swift's official website announced that she had partnered with Elizabeth Arden to launch a fragrance, which is to be released in October 2011. The fragrance's name, "Wonderstruck", is a reference to the song "Enchanted" featured on her ''Speak Now'' album. Swift is also working with American Greetings, Inc.

Philanthropy

On September 21, 2007, Swift helped launch a campaign to protect children from online predators. She has teamed up with Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen to combat internet sex crimes. The year-long campaign, in partnership with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, will distribute Internet safety information and materials to parents and students across the state. In early 2008, Swift donated the pink Chevy pick-up truck given to her by her record label to the children’s charity, the ''Victory Junction Gang''; in June 2008, Swift donated all the proceeds from her merchandise sales at the 2008 Country Music Festival to Red Cross, the ''Nashville Area Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund'' and the ''National American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund''.

Swift donated $100,000 to the Red Cross in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008. Swift has teamed up with Sound Matters to make listeners aware of listening "responsibly". Swift supports @15, a teen-led social change platform underwritten by Best Buy to give teens opportunities to direct the company's philanthropy through the newly-created @15 Fund. Swift's song, "Fifteen", is featured in this campaign. Swift lent her support to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal by joining the lineup at Sydney's Sound Relief concert, reportedly making the biggest contribution of any artist playing at Sound Relief to the Australian Red Cross. Swift donated her prom dress, which raised $1,200 for charity, to DonateMyDress.org. On November 20, 2009 after a live performance on BBC's Children in Need night Swift announced to Sir Terry Wogan she would donate £13,000 of her own money to the cause.

On December 13, Swift's own birthday, she donated $250,000 to various schools around the country which she had either attended or been involved with. Swift has donated a pair of her shoes – a gently-worn pair of black Betsey Johnson heels with her autograph on the sole – to the Wish Upon a Hero Foundation's Hero in Heels fundraiser for auction to raise money to benefit women with cancer.

In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, Swift donated $500,000 during a flood relief telethon hosted by WSMV, a Nashville television station.

On May 23, 2011, Taylor Swift transformed what was to have been the final dress rehearsal for the North American leg of her Speak Now tour into a benefit concert for victims of recent tornadoes in the United States southeast region. The concert in Nashville drew more than 13,000 people and raised more than $750,000 from proceeds from ticket sales, merchandise and other facets of the show. The benefit concert for tornado relief was subsequently honored at the 2011 Do Something Awards. In July 2011, Swift further aided to the cause by donating $250,000 to Alabama football coach Nick Saban's charity Nick's Kids to aid in the tornado relief efforts of West Alabama.

Personal life

In addition to her relationship with Joe Jonas, which ended in October 2008, Swift's dating history has included other celebrities: Taylor Lautner, for three months in 2009; and Jake Gyllenhaal, from late 2010 to early 2011. Swift has also been romantically linked to John Mayer. There has been speculation that the songs "Dear John" and "The Story of Us" from her album ''Speak Now'' are about Mayer. In October 2011, she revealed to Ellen Degeneres on her show ''Ellen'' that, "I don't even have, like, kind of a boyfriend. I don't have someone that I'm texting that is a guy that someday might be my boyfriend. There's like nothing going on right now."

In November 2011, Taylor adopted a Scottish fold kitten. She named her Meredith after the character Meredith Grey from the popular ABC drama ''Grey's Anatomy''. The kitten appeared in the official music video for Taylor's song ''Ours'' alongside Taylor and ''Friday Night Lights'' star Zach Gilford.

Filmography

>

! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
2007		Herself	Guest; Episode: Season 2 Finale
2008	''CMT Crossroads''	Herself	Episode: "Taylor Swift and Def Leppard"
2009	''Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience''	Herself
2009	''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation''	Haley Jones
2009	''Hannah Montana: The Movie''	Herself	Cameo
2009	''Saturday Night Live''	Herself	Host/Musical Guest
2009		Herself	Guest; Episode: Week 6 results
2010		Felicia	Movie acting debut
2010	''Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless''	Herself	Main Role
2010		Herself	Guest; Episode: 200th episode
2012	''''	Audrey
2012	''Bruno the Robot''	Various

Discography

Albums

''Taylor Swift'' (2006)

''Fearless'' (2008)

''Speak Now'' (2010)

Awards and nominations

Tours

Fearless Tour (2009–10)

Speak Now World Tour (2011–2012)

References

External links

Category:1989 births Category:American child singers Category:American country banjoists Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American female guitarists Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American pianists Category:American pop singers Category:American television actors Category:Big Machine Records artists Category:Child pop musicians Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Pennsylvania Category:People from Reading, Pennsylvania Category:People from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania Category:Ukulele players

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Name	Keith Urban
Landscape	Yes
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Keith Lionel Urban
Born	October 26, 1967Whangarei, New Zealand
Origin	Caboolture, Queensland, Australia
Instrument	Vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, Banjo, piano, bass, mandolin, bouzouki, Ebow, drums, sitar
Genre	Country
Occupation	Singer-songwriter
Years active	1990–present
Label	Capitol Records Nashville
Spouse	Nicole Kidman (2006 – present) Children Sunday Rose (7 July 2008) Faith Margret (28 December 2010)
Associated acts	The Ranch, Brooks & Dunn, Brad Paisley, Dann Huff, Radney Foster, John Butler Trio, John Mayer, Trisha Yearwood, Nelly Furtado, John Fogerty, Bon Jovi, Carrie Underwood, Richard Marx
Website	KeithUrban.net }}

Keith Lionel Urban (born 26 October 1967) is a New Zealand-born Australian, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban was born in New Zealand and began his career in Australia at an early age. In 1991, he released a self-titled debut album, and charted four singles in Australia before moving to the United States in 1992. Eventually, Urban found work as a session guitarist before starting a band known as The Ranch, which recorded one studio album on Capitol Records and charted two singles on the ''Billboard'' country charts.

Still signed to Capitol, he made his solo American debut in 1999 with the album ''Keith Urban''. Certified platinum in the U.S., it also produced his first American Number One in "But for the Grace of God". His breakthrough hit was the Number One "Somebody Like You", from his second Capitol album ''Golden Road'' (2002). This album also earned Urban his first Grammy Award win for "You'll Think of Me", its fourth single and the fourth ''Billboard'' Number One of his career. 2004's ''Be Here'', his third American album, produced three more Number Ones, and became his highest-selling album, earning 4× Multi-Platinum certification. ''Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing'' was released in 2006, producing the record-setting No.17 country chart debut of "Once in a Lifetime", as well as Urban's second Grammy for the song "Stupid Boy", while a Greatest Hits package entitled ''Greatest Hits: 18 Kids'' followed in late 2007. This album was re-released a year later as ''Greatest Hits: 19 Kids'' with one track added: the number one "You Look Good in My Shirt", which he had previously recorded on ''Golden Road''. Additional albums ''Defying Gravity'' and ''Get Closer'' were released on 31 March 2009 and 16 November 2010, respectively.

Urban has released a total of nine studio albums (one of which was released only in the United Kingdom), as well as one album in The Ranch. He has charted more than fifteen singles on the U.S. country charts, including ten Number Ones. Urban plays acoustic and electric guitar, as well as banjo, bass guitar, mandolin, piano, sitar, bouzouki and drums.

Life and career

Background

Keith Lionel Urban was born in Whangarei, New Zealand but later moved and lived with his parents in Caboolture, Queensland, Australia. By age six, Urban was already thinking about getting into the music business. He began learning the techniques at age seven and began winning young singing contests by age eight.

A few years later he began to make inroads into the Australian country music scene with regular appearances on the Reg Lindsay Country Homestead TV Program, Mike McClellands Music Program and various other TV Programs performing in duet with Jenny Wilson, local Brisbane girl with whom he won a golden guitar award at the Tamworth Country Music Festival. He also performed regularly on stage at the Northern Suburbs Country Music Club near Caboolture.

In 1990, Urban signed with EMI in Australia and recorded his first solo album, which charted four No. 1 country hits in Australia, New Zealand, and Germany. Urban toured as a back-up to Slim Dusty in 1993-4. In the mid 1990s, Dusty and Urban recorded a re-worked duet of Dusty's classic "Lights on the Hill" and Urban appeared for the first time at the Grand Ole Opry backing Dusty.

In 1992, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he found work as a guitarist for Brooks & Dunn and can be seen backing Alan Jackson in his music video for "Mercury Blues". Later, Urban formed The Ranch, a three-piece group that released one album in 1997. Originally the front man for The Ranch, Urban disbanded the group to pursue a solo career in 1998. In 1999, Urban found "Vocal Coach to the Stars" Brett Manning, and worked with him up until 2001.

In Nashville, Urban became a frequent user of cocaine. After reaching a personal nadir in 1998, he became determined to give up the habit and checked into Cumberland Heights, a treatment center in Nashville. After cleaning up, Urban released his self-titled American debut in 1999, which produced three top 5 hits and secured for him the Top New Male Vocalist Award at the 2001 Academy of Country Music Awards and the 2001 Country Music Association's Horizon Award. Widely regarded for his guitar skills, has performed as a session musician on albums such as Garth Brooks' ''Double Live'', Dixie Chicks' ''Fly'', and Paul Brandt's ''This Time Around''.

Urban performed "Lights on the Hill" for Tamworth's 2004 tribute concert following the death of Australia's Slim Dusty, an artist whom Urban had both written for and covered.

Urban was also a judge for the 8th annual Independent Music Awards.

''Golden Road'' & ''Be Here''

Urban released ''Golden Road'' in 2002, and the success of the single "Somebody Like You" sent his career into high gear. Touring as a supporting act for renowned country acts Brooks & Dunn, Martina McBride and Kenny Chesney honed Urban's skills and stage-craft. Country video channel CMT signed on as the title sponsor of Urban's first headlining arena tour titled ''Keith Urban Be Here '04'' with opening act Katrina Elam. Urban continued his meteoric rise to fame in 2005 with a very successful tour with Elam called ''Alive in '05''. He performed in the Live 8 Philadelphia concert on 2 July 2005 and had been chosen by The Gap to appear alongside seven other musical stars in their "Favorites" campaign. He was named the 2005 CMA's Male Vocalist of the Year. He released a DVD in late September 2005 entitled ''Livin' Right Now'', recorded in at the Wiltern Theater in California in December 2004.

In 2005 Urban played in front of European audiences for the first time. In May Urban supported Bryan Adams on his UK and Ireland tour, which included dates in Earls Court, London, SECC, Glasgow and The Point, Dublin. On 6 June a UK only album, ''Days Go By'' was released, this album contained songs from both ''Be Here'' and ''Golden Road'' .

In October Urban returned for a headlining tour with Nerina Pallot and Richard Winsland as support acts.

Urban has recently performed "Better Life" on the CMA Awards and "You'll Think of Me" on the American Music Awards. He also performed at the Grammys playing "You'll Think of Me" and "The Lucky One" with Faith Hill. At the 2006 ACM Awards Urban performed "Tonight I Wanna Cry" and played guitar for Brooks & Dunn's song "Believe."

''Love, Pain, & The Whole Crazy Thing''

On Monday 21 August 2006, Urban made history when his new single "Once in a Lifetime" debuted at #17, setting a new record for the highest-debuting country single in the 62-year history of Billboard's country charts. The record was formerly held by Garth Brooks' "Good Ride Cowboy" and Eddie Rabbitt's "Every Which Way But Loose", both of which debuted at #18. "Good Ride Cowboy" was the highest in the BDS era (1990–present). The song however would soon be beaten by Kenny Chesney's ''Don't Blink'', which debuted at #16, and later Garth Brooks' "More Than A Memory", which debuted at #1.

Urban is also a winner of numerous "Golden Guitars", which are presented annually during the Tamworth Country Music Festival at "The Country Music Association of Australia's Annual Awards" in Tamworth, Australia. He is also a former winner of the Toyota Starmaker Contest, which is held each year in conjunction with the CMAA Awards and the Tamworth Country Music Festival.

Keith was named artist of the month for July 2007 on the television network GAC (Great American Country). He answered a question of the day every day that month, and did multiple interviews about love, life, his new album and his stay in rehab.

On 7 July 2007, Keith performed with Alicia Keys at one of Al Gore's Live Earth concerts held around the world. The concerts were held to raise awareness of global warming. Keith performed at the concert held in New York City and said in an interview that global warming is not a political issue, and what he is doing to help the environment is running all bio-diesel buses in his Love, Pain and The Whole Crazy World Tour.

Urban released his first greatest hits collection, ''Greatest Hits: 18 Kids'', on 20 November 2007. The CD contains all of his top 10 hits, along with two new songs, "Romeo's Tune" and "Got It Right This Time (The Celebration)."

In January 2008, Urban embarked on the Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride Tour with fellow country singer Carrie Underwood. In early May 2008, Urban debuted a new song at the Grand Ole Opry titled "A New Sunshine". And in late May 2008, Urban re-recorded a song from his sophomore CD, "You Look Good in My Shirt". The song was released on the radio at the end of May. "Over the years it ("You Look Good In My Shirt") has always played like a hit song," said Keith. "That, combined with numerous requests from both fans and radio about why it was never a single, inspired us to get back into the studio and re-record the song."(keithurban.net) The single was a pre-cursor to the "Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy World Tour" concert DVD release in the Fall of '08. Urban's newest release "Defying Gravity" was released 31 March 2009.

"You Look Good in My Shirt" was the first single from Keith Urban's re-recorded 2007 album, ''Greatest Hits: 18 Kids''. The album was released under a different title, ''Greatest Hits: 19 Kids'' on 19 August 2008. Keith Urban was also featured on Brad Paisley's instrumental album titled ''Play'', on a song called "Start a Band."

''Defying Gravity''

Urban recently announced that the lead single for his forthcoming 5th studio album will be titled "Sweet Thing". This song became the first No.1 single off the album. The song was co-written with Monty Powell, who wrote some of Urban's past hits, and co-produced with his longtime producer Dann Huff. The album, ''Defying Gravity'', was released on 31 March 2009, through Capitol Records. Its second single, "Kiss a Girl", debuted in March 2009. Urban performed this song on American Idol, during the season 8 finale, as a duet with eventual winner Kris Allen. Its third single, "Only You Can Love Me This Way", is another chart-topping song, co-written by Steve McEwan and John Reid. Defying Gravity debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200. This was Urban's first No.1 CD. His past two albums debuted at #3.

Keith Urban has received four nominations on the 2009 CMA Awards, including Entertainer Of The Year and Male Vocalist Of The Year for a fourth consecutive year in a row. He also earned a nomination for Album Of The Year for ''Defying Gravity'' and shares a nomination with Brad Paisley for Music Video Of The Year for "Start A Band".

A video for "Hit The Ground Runnin'" premiered on 2 October on CMT and CMT.com.

Urban's 2009 Escape Together tour, supporting the album, ''Defying Gravity'', featured many big name opening acts, including Taylor Swift, Sugarland, and Jason Aldean. On 27 June 2009 Keith filmed a video for the song, "Only You Can Love Me This Way", at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.

On 5 May 2010, whilst being interviwed by CNN about the flooding in Nashville, Urban stated that he was about to begin recording a new album, but all his guitars were now underwater.

Urban's 2010 Summer Lovin' tour consisted of mostly festival shows.

''Get Closer''

In May 2010, Urban entered the studio to begin work on a new album. The recording process was documented in a blog on his official website. At the beginning of September, it was announced that the album would be titled ''Get Closer'' and would see release on 16 November. At the same time, "Put You in a Song" was revealed to be the first single and was released digitally and to radio on 13 September.

Keith Urban appeared at the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on 10 November 2010.

To promote the new album, Keith played surprise concerts at New York City's Penn Station as well as a train station in Philadelphia. The impromptu concerts included a 4-song set list mixing in new and old hits.

On 30 November, Keith played a free concert at The Ice Palace of the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Fans lined up days in advance to hear him play the first single (Put You in a Song) from "Get Closer" and a short collection of past hits. He also played a tribute to Johnny Cash with "Folsom Prison Blues" and Steve Miller's "The Joker"

On 15 December, After appearing on Oprah's Australian special, Keith decided to play an acoustic set in Pitt St Mall in Sydney Australia. There he played in front of 2500+ people. He also called up a young fan to play his single Put You In a Song.

Urban announced the "Get Closer – World Tour 2011", an Australian, American and Canadian tour in support of the album. His American tour features country artist Jake Owen supporting. The Canadian leg features The Band Perry as the opening act.

Personal life

Starting in 1992, Urban dated veterinary technician Laura Sigler for eight years. Urban proposed to Sigler in 2001, but the pair eventually split in 2002.

Urban dated supermodel Niki Taylor on and off from 2002 to 2004.

Urban met Australian actress Nicole Kidman at ''G'Day LA'', a Hollywood event honoring Australians, in January 2005, but they reportedly didn't begin dating until 6 months later. Kidman and Urban were married on Sunday, 25 June 2006, at the Cardinal Cerretti Memorial Chapel on the grounds of St Patrick's Estate, Manly in Sydney.

On 19 October 2006, Urban checked himself into the Betty Ford Center in California. 20 October, Urban issued a statement saying: ''"I deeply regret the hurt this has caused Nicole and the ones who love and support me. One can never let one's guard down on recovery, and I'm afraid that I have."'' On 18 January 2007, Urban announced his completion of rehab and his plans to go on tour to promote his new album, ''Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing''.

On 2 February 2007, Urban filed a lawsuit against a New Jersey painter by the same name, who has a web site KeithUrban.com. The singer wanted to acquire the rights to the URL. Keith Urban the singer's URL is KeithUrban.NET. The painter counter sued. The lawsuit was settled in the painter's favor.

On 1 October 2007, while riding, Urban skidded off his motorbike when a paparazzo followed him near his home in Sydney; Urban was not hurt. In a statement released by his publicists, Urban says the incident was "the result of one person's desire to do his job and my desire to maintain my privacy." Urban says he tried to avoid an oncoming car and dropped his bike. He says the photographer came to his assistance without taking photos.

On 7 January 2008, Nicole Kidman confirmed she and Urban were expecting their first child together. Kidman's publicist said "the couple are thrilled and cannot wait." Kidman gave birth to their first child, a daughter, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban, on 7 July 2008 in Nashville, Tennessee. She weighed 2.93 kg (6 lbs, 7.5 oz). On his website, Urban stated,

"Earlier this morning Nic gave birth to our beautiful baby girl, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban. We want to thank everybody that has kept us in their thoughts and prayers. We feel very blessed and grateful that we can share this joy with all of you today."

On 28 December 2010, Urban and Kidman welcomed a second daughter, Faith Margaret Kidman Urban, via surrogate at Nashville's Centennial Women's Hospital. The baby is biologically Urban and Kidman's. On 17 January 2011, Keith posted this statement on his website: "Our family is truly blessed, and just so thankful, to have been given the gift of baby Faith Margaret. No words can adequately convey the incredible gratitude that we feel for everyone who was so supportive throughout this process, in particular our gestational carrier." Faith's middle name is after Kidman's late grandmother.

Discography

Studio albums

''Keith Urban'' (1991)^A

''Keith Urban in The Ranch'' (1997)

''Keith Urban'' (1999)

''Golden Road'' (2002)

''Be Here'' (2004)

''Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing'' (2006)

''Defying Gravity'' (2009)

''Get Closer'' (2010)

Compilation albums

''Days Go By'' (2005)

''Greatest Hits: 18 Kids'' (2007)^B

Number one singles

"But for the Grace of God" (2001)

"Somebody Like You" (2002)

"Who Wouldn't Wanna Be Me" (2003)

"You'll Think of Me" (2004)

"Days Go By" (2004)

"Making Memories of Us" (2005)

"Better Life" (2005)

"You Look Good in My Shirt" (2008)

"Start a Band" (with Brad Paisley) (2009)

"Sweet Thing" (2009)

"Only You Can Love Me This Way" (2009)

"Without You" (2011)

^A Released only in Australia, but later re-released independently in 2005. ^B Re-released in 2008 as ''Greatest Hits: 19 Kids'', with one track added.

Tours

Official Tours

Get Closer 2011 World Tour (2011) – supporting his seventh studio album, ''Get Closer,'' released on 16 November 2010

Summer Lovin' 2010 (2010) – supporting his sixth studio album, ''Defying Gravity,'' released on 31 March 2009

Escape Together World Tour 2009 (2009) – supporting his sixth studio album, ''Defying Gravity,'' released on 31 March 2009

Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride (2008) – supporting his fifth studio album, ''Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing'' touring with Carrie Underwood supporting her album ''Carnival Ride''

Love, Pain & the Whole crazy World Tour (2007) – supporting his fifth studio album, ''Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing''

Still Alive in 06 (2006) – supporting his fourth studio album, ''Be Here''

Alive In 05 (2005) – supporting his fourth studio album, ''Be Here''

Livin' Right Now Tour (2004) – supporting his fourth studio album, ''Be Here''

Supporting Tours

Eagles Summer 2010 Tour (2010) – touring with The Eagles and The Dixie Chicks. It was announced on 16 March 2010 that Keith will be hitting the road with The Eagles and The Dixie Chicks for a North American stadium concert tour. 5 concert dates have been announced so far, which include Boston, and Chicago.

Brooks & Dunn's Neon Circus & Wild West Show 2001

Band

Touring Band

2010–2011

Danny Rader has recently been added to Urban's touring band.

2010

After four years with the band, Chris Rodriguez and Brad Rice departed. Coming off the Escape Together World Tour, the two were told Urban would not be mounting big tours for awhile, and that a smaller band was all that was needed. The following band was from 2010 onwards for the CMT Crossroads and the Summerlovin Tour, as well as the current tour with The Eagles:

Keith Urban – lead vocals, lead guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, bass guitar, bouzouki, e-bow, drums

Chris McHugh – drums, percussion

Brian Nutter – acoustic guitar, rhythm guitar, keyboards, ganjo, mandolin, bass guitar, background vocals, drums

Jerry Flowers – bass guitar, piano, acoustic guitar, background vocals

2007–2009

The following band was used for Keith's Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride Tour (2008), Love, Pain & the whole crazy World Tour (2007) and soon for the Escape Together World Tour (2009):

Keith Urban – lead vocals, lead guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, bass guitar, bouzouki, e-bow, drums

Chris McHugh – drums, percussion

Chris Rodriguez – acoustic guitar, rhythm guitar, ganjo, mandolin, bass guitar, background vocals

Brian Nutter – acoustic guitar, rhythm guitar, keyboards, ganjo, mandolin, bass guitar, background vocals, drums

Jerry Flowers – bass guitar, piano, acoustic guitar, background vocals

Brad Rice – rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, ganjo, mandolin, background vocals

2005–2006

Jerry Flowers replaced Mark Hill as the bass player. Jerry was a member of The Ranch in 1997 and 1998.

2004

The following band was used for Keith's Be Here 2004 Tour:

Mark Hill – bass guitar

Steven King – piano, keyboards

Chad Jeffers – acoustic guitar, ganjo, mandolin, dobro

Chris Rodriguez – Instruments above

Chris McHugh – Instruments above

Pre-2005

The following band was used before 2004

Peter Clarke – drums

Jason Mowery – fiddle, mandolin

Scotty Huff – acoustic guitar, banjo, rhythm guitar

Tim Horsely – drums

Robbie Harrington – bass guitar

Randall Waller

Jimmy Mattingly

Millard Powers

Awards & honors

! Year	! Awards	! Category
1977		''Best Solo Act'' (junior)
1978	''Special Encouragement Award'' (10 years & under)
1980	''Best Junior Guitarist''
1981	''Best Gospel Singer''
	''Best Duet''
''Best Junior Guitarist''
1983	''Junior Male Vocalist''
1990	''Star Maker Award''
	''Golden Guitar Award''
''Best New Talent''
	''Golden Guitar Award''
''Male Vocalist of the Year''
1997
1998
	Academy of Country Music Awards	Top New Male Vocalist
Country Music Association Awards	Horizon Award
ARIA Music Awards	Outstanding Achievement award
VMA Awards	Male Vocalist award
	ARIA Music Awards
	Song of the Year; "Somebody Like You"
TCMA Awards	Video Clip of the Year; "Somebody Like You"
	Country Music Association Awards	Male Vocalist of the Year
FCMA Awards	Best Foreign Music
		Album of the Year; ''Be Here''
Top Male Vocalist
French Association of Country Music	Artist of the Year
ARIA Music Awards	Country Album of the Year; ''Be Here''
	Male Vocalist of the Year
Entertainer of the Year
International Artist of the Year
	Top-selling Pop Catalog Album of the Year; ''Golden Road''
	Grammy Awards	''Best Male Country Vocal Performance''; "You'll Think of Me"
Academy of Country Music Awards	Top Male Vocalist
French Association of Country Music	Best Live Performance
Country Music Association Awards	Male Vocalist of the Year
2007	ARIA Music Awards	Best Country Album; ''Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing''
2008	Grammy Awards	Best Male Country Vocal Performance; "Stupid Boy"
	Academy of Country Music Awards	Vocal Event of the Year; "Start A Band" (w/ Brad Paisley)
Country Music Association Awards	Musical Event of the Year; "Start A Band" (w/ Brad Paisley)
CMT Music Awards	Collaborative Video of the Year; "Start A Band" (w/ Brad Paisley)
American Music Awards	Country – Favorite Male Artist
	Grammy Awards
People's Choice Awards	Favorite Male Artist
CMT Music Awards	Best Male Video
	Grammy Awards	Best Male Country Vocal Performance; '''Til Summer Comes Around''
Teen Choice Awards	Choice Music: Male Country Artist

Notes

External links

Category:1967 births Category:ARIA Award winners Category:Australian pianists Category:Australian guitarists Category:Australian country guitarists Category:Australian country singers Category:Australian country singer-songwriters Category:Australian expatriates in the United States Category:Australian multi-instrumentalists Category:Lead guitarists Category:Australian people of New Zealand descent Category:Capitol Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:People from Whangarei Category:People from Queensland

da:Keith Urban de:Keith Urban es:Keith Urban fr:Keith Urban it:Keith Urban la:Keith Urban hu:Keith Urban nl:Keith Urban ja:キース・アーバン no:Keith Urban pl:Keith Urban pt:Keith Urban ru:Урбан, Кит simple:Keith Urban fi:Keith Urban sv:Keith Urban tr:Keith Urban zh:凯斯·艾尔本

name	Kanye West
background	solo_singer
birth name	Kanye Omari West
birth date	June 08, 1977
birth place	Atlanta, Georgia, United States
origin	Chicago, Illinois, United States
genre	Hip hop
instrument	Vocals, keyboards, sampler, percussion, synthesizer
occupation	Producer, rapper, musician, singer
years active	1996–present
label	GOOD Music, Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam
associated acts	Go Getters, Child Rebel Soldier, Jay-Z, The Throne, Common, John Legend, Kid Cudi, Rihanna, Jeff Bhasker, Pusha T, Mos Def, Mr Hudson, Talib Kweli, Big Sean, A-Trak, Pharrell, Lupe Fiasco, RZA
website	}}

Kanye Omari West (; born June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album ''The Blueprint'', as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and Janet Jackson. His style of production originally used pitched-up vocal samples from soul songs incorporated with his own drums and instruments. However, subsequent productions saw him broadening his musical palette and expressing influences encompassing '70s R&B;, baroque pop, trip hop, arena rock, folk, alternative, electronica, synth-pop, and classical music.

West released his debut album ''The College Dropout'' in 2004, his second album ''Late Registration'' in 2005, his third album ''Graduation'' in 2007, his fourth album ''808s & Heartbreak'' in 2008, and his fifth album ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'' in 2010. West released a collaborative album, ''Watch the Throne'', with Jay-Z on August 8, 2011, which is the duo's first collaborative album. His five solo albums, all of which have gone platinum, have received numerous awards and critical acclaim. As of 2011, West has won a total of fourteen Grammy Awards. All albums have been very commercially successful, with ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'' becoming his fourth consecutive No.1 album in the U.S. upon release. West has had 5 songs exceed 3 million in digital sales as of July 2011, with "Gold Digger" selling 3,086,000, "Stronger" selling 4,402,000, "Heartless" selling 3,742,000, "E.T." selling over 4,000,000 and "Love Lockdown" selling over 3,000,000 placing him third in overall digital sales of the past decade. He has sold over 25 million digital songs in the United States placing him second for solo male artists on the list and sixth overall for best selling digital artists.

West also runs his own record label GOOD Music, home to artists such as John Legend, Common and Kid Cudi. West's mascot and trademark is "Dropout Bear," a teddy bear which has appeared on the covers of three of his five albums as well as various single covers and music videos. About.com ranked Kanye West No.8 on their "Top 50 Hip-Hop Producers" list. On May 16, 2008, Kanye West was crowned by MTV as the year's No.1 "Hottest MC in the Game." On December 17, 2010, Kanye West was voted as the MTV Man of the Year by MTV. Billboard ranked Kanye West No. 3 on their list of Top 10 Producers of the decade. West has also been included in the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world as well as being listed in a number of ''Forbes''' annual lists.

Early life

Kanye West was born in Atlanta, Georgia, where he lived with his parents. When he was three years old, his parents divorced, and he and his mother moved to Chicago, Illinois. His father was Ray West, a former Black Panther who was one of the first black photojournalists at ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,'' and is now a Christian counselor. West's mother, Dr. Donda West, was a Professor of English at Clark Atlanta University, and the Chair of the English Department at Chicago State University before retiring to serve as West's manager. He was raised in a middle-class background, attending Polaris High School in suburban Oak Lawn, Illinois after living in Chicago. When asked about his grades in high school, West replied, "I got A's and B's. And I'm not even frontin'".

West attended art classes at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, and also enrolled at Chicago State University, but dropped out to focus on his music career. While attending school, West produced for local artists. He later gained fame by producing hit singles for major hip hop/R&B; artists, including Jay-Z, Talib Kweli, Cam'ron, Paul Wall, Common, Mobb Deep, Jermaine Dupri, Scarface, The Game, Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson, John Legend among others. He also "ghost-produced" for his mentor Deric Angelettie, according to his song "Last Call" and the credits of Nas' "Poppa Was a Playa".

Music career

1996–2003: Career beginnings

Kanye West's first career productions came on Chicago rapper Grav's 1996 debut album ''Down to Earth''. West produced eight tracks on the album. While the album did not attract much attention and would be the only album released by Grav, West would soon be producing for higher profile artists. In 1998–1999 he produced for well-known artists such as Jermaine Dupri, Foxy Brown, Goodie Mob, and the group Harlem World.

West got his big break in the year 2000, when he began to produce for artists on Roc-a-Fella Records. He produced the well-received Jay-Z song "This Can't Be Life" off of the album ''The Dynasty: Roc La Familia''. West would later state that to create the beat for "This Can't Be Life", he sped up the drum beat from Dr. Dre's song "Xxplosive".

After producing for Jay-Z earlier, West’s sound was featured heavily on Jay-Z's critically acclaimed album ''The Blueprint,'' released September 11, 2001. His work was featured on the lead single "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)," "Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)" and a diss track against Nas and Mobb Deep named "Takeover"; West has worked with Mobb Deep and Nas since the track's release.

After meeting great commercial success and critical acclaim for his productions on ''The Blueprint'', West became a sought after producer in the hip-hop industry, even before he became known as a rapper and solo artist. In the years 2002–2003 he would produce for artists such as Nas, Scarface, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, T.I., Ludacris, DMX, and Monica. He also continued producing for Roc-a-Fella Records artists and contribued four tracks to Jay-Z's follow up album to ''The Blueprint'', ''The Blueprint²: The Gift & the Curse''.

After great successes as a producer, West now looked to pursue a career as a rapper and solo artist, but struggled to get a record deal. Chris Anokute, then A&R; at Def Jam, said that when West regularly dropped by the office to pick up his producer checks he would play demos of solo material to Anokute in his cubicle and bemoan the fact that no one was taking him seriously as a rapper. Jay-Z admitted that Roc-A-Fella was initially reluctant to support West as a rapper, claiming that he saw him as a producer first and foremost. Multiple record companies felt he was not as marketable as rappers who portray the "street image" prominent in hip hop culture. Beginning his career as a rapper, Kanye West recorded the third verse on the song "The Bounce" off of Jay-Z's ''The Blueprint²: The Gift & the Curse'', an album he produced for, from the same label he was signed to as a rapper.

2004–05: ''The College Dropout'' and ''Late Registration''

On October 23, 2002, West was involved in a near fatal car crash while driving home from the recording studio. The crash provided inspiration for West's first single, "Through the Wire". West's faith is apparent in many of his songs, such as "Jesus Walks", which became a staple at his benefit performances, such as the Live 8 concert. These songs were featured on West's debut album, ''The College Dropout'', which was released on Roc-A-Fella Records in February 2004, and went on to receive critical acclaim. The album also defined the style for which West would become known, including wordplay and sampling. The album was eventually certified triple platinum. Guest appearances included Jay-Z, Ludacris, GLC, Consequence, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Common, and Syleena Johnson. The album also featured the singles, "All Falls Down" and "The New Workout Plan", as well as Twista's number one single, "Slow Jamz". During 2003 West also co-produced songs for British singer Javine Hylton, even appearing in the music video to Real Things playing the love interest of Javine.

West was involved in a financial dispute over Royce Da 5'9"'s song "Heartbeat", produced by West and released on ''Build & Destroy: The Lost Sessions''. West maintains that Royce never paid for the beat, but recorded to it and released it; hearing him on the beat, the original customers decided not to buy it from West. After the disagreement, West vowed to never work with Royce again. Other Kanye West-produced hit singles during the period ''The College Dropout'' was released included "I Changed My Mind" by Keyshia Cole, "Overnight Celebrity" by Twista and "Talk About Our Love" by Brandy.

Taking a more eclectic route, West collaborated with American film score composer Jon Brion to construct his second album, ''Late Registration'', which was released on August 30, 2005. Like its predecessor, the sophomore effort garnered universal acclaim from music critics. ''Late Registration'' topped countless critic polls and was revered as the best album of the year by numerous publications, including ''USA Today'', ''Spin'', and ''Time''. ''Rolling Stone'' awarded the album the highest position on their end of the year record list and hailed it as a "sweepingly generous, absurdly virtuosic hip-hop classic." The record earned the number one spot on the ''Village Voice'''s Pazz & Jop critics' poll of 2005 for the second consecutive year. ''Late Registration'' was also a commercial success, selling over 860,000 copies in its first week alone and topping the ''Billboard 200''. Grossing over 2.3 million units sold in the United States alone by year's end, ''Late Registration'' was considered by industry observers as the sole majorly successful album release of the fall of 2005, a season that was plagued by steadily declining CD sales. The second album earned eight Grammy Award nominations including ''Album of the Year'' and ''Record of the Year'' for the song "Gold Digger". The album is certified triple platinum.

On August 22, 2005, the MTV special ''All Eyes On Kanye West'' aired, in which West spoke out against homophobia in hip-hop. He claimed that hip-hop has always been about "speaking your mind and about breaking down barriers, but everyone in hip-hop discriminates against gay people." He then reflected on a personal experience. He said that he had a "turning point" when he realized one of his cousins was gay. He said regarding this experience: "This is my cousin. I love him and I've been discriminating against gays." He drew comparison between African Americans' struggle for civil rights and today's gay rights movement. The following year, in an interview with ''Entertainment Weekly'', West further expounded his experiences with and views on the relationship between the black and gay communities.

In September 2005, West announced that he would release his Pastelle Clothing line in spring 2006: "Now that I have a Grammy under my belt and ''Late Registration'' is finished, I am ready to launch my clothing line next spring." In that year, West produced the hit singles "Go" by Common and "Dreams" by The Game.

2007–09: ''Graduation'' and ''808s & Heartbreak''

In 2007, it was announced that West would be starring in a series directed by Larry Charles. He has been working on the pilot episode for the past two years with Larry Charles and Rick Rubin. He also had this to say on January 14: "I wouldn't do something as cliché as a reality show. At least give me the credit for being more creative than that. It's a situational half-hour comedy. It's fictional, and loosely based on my life. " West also collaborated with Japanese hip-hop group Teriyaki Boyz to produce the single "I Still Love H.E.R.," a reference to Common's 1994 single "I Used to Love H.E.R.". Further to this, during a radio appearance in early 2007, West, like many of his peers, recorded an impromptu freestyle to the popular song "Throw Some D's." The song that to all other rappers was about automobile rims, was used by West to comically refer to D-cup breasts. Because of the unexpected success of the song, West went on to make a video for the freestyle, in which he is seen playing his 'Old Ass Cousin'.

West was also featured in a new song called "Classic (Better Than I've Ever Been)". It was believed to be a single for, ''Graduation'', because he is featured on the track, but Nike quickly explained that it was for the Nike Air Force 1's anniversary. It was meant only to be an exclusive track for the company.

On March 25, 2007, he and his father Ray West supported World Water Day by having a "Walk for Water" rally. After a two-year break, West has returned to being a fashion columnist in lifestyle magazine ''Complex''. On July 7, 2007, West performed with The Police and John Mayer at the American leg of Live Earth. West hosted the August 17 edition of British comedy- variety show The Friday Night Project.

In July 2007, West changed the release date of ''Graduation'', his third album, from September 18, 2007, to the same release date as 50 Cent's album ''Curtis'', September 11, 2007. 50 Cent later claimed that if ''Graduation'' were to sell more records than ''Curtis,'' he would stop releasing solo albums. However, 50 Cent would later dispel his comments. The album has been certified double platinum. Guest appearances included T-Pain, Mos Def, and Lil Wayne.

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On August 26, 2007, West appeared as himself on the HBO television show ''Entourage'' which he used as a platform to premier his new single "Good Life" during the end credits. On September 9, 2007, West performed at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, losing in every category he was nominated for; he gave an angry speech immediately afterward. (see "Controversies" section)

Following the MTV stint, West was nominated in eight Grammy Award categories for the 50th annual Grammy Awards. He won four of them, including Best Rap Album for ''Graduation'' and Best Rap Solo Performance for "Stronger" from ''Graduation''. During the four-hour televised Grammy Awards ceremony, West also performed two songs: "Stronger" (with Daft Punk) and "Hey Mama" (in honor of his recently deceased mother).

West kicked off the Glow in the Dark Tour in Seattle at the Key Arena on April 16. The tour was originally scheduled to end in June in Cincinnati but was extended into August. Over the course of the tour West was joined by a varying group of opening acts, including Lupe Fiasco, Rihanna, N.E.R.D., DJ Craze, and Gnarls Barkley. On June 15, West was scheduled to perform a late night set at the Bonnaroo Music Festival. His performance started almost two hours late and ran for half of its alloted time, angering many fans in the audience. West later wrote an outraged entry on his blog, blaming the festival organizers as well as Pearl Jam's preceding set, which ran longer than expected.

On September 7, West debuted a new song "Love Lockdown" at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. "Love Lockdown" features no rapping and only singing using an auto-tune device. This song appears on West's fourth studio album, ''808s & Heartbreak''. The new album was expected to be released on December 16, but West announced on his blog on September 24, 2008, that he had finished the album and would be releasing it sometime in November, earlier than previously scheduled. In early October, West made a surprise appearance at a T.I. concert in Los Angeles, where he stated that ''808s & Heartbreak'' was scheduled to be released on November 25, though it was actually released on the 24th, and that the second single is "Heartless". The album was another number one album for West, even though the first week numbers fell well short of ''Graduation'' with 450,145 sold.

West performed at the American Music Awards ceremony on November 23. That same night he won two AMA awards, including Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album for ''Graduation'' and Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Male Artist. West performed at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August 2008, along with Wyclef Jean and N.E.R.D. in support of Barack Obama. On January 20, 2009, Kanye West performed at the Youth Inaugural Ball hosted by MTV for Obama's inauguration.

On February 17, 2009, West was named one of Top 10 Most Stylish Men in America by ''GQ''. The next day, February 18, 2009, West won International Male Solo Artist at The Brit Awards 2009. West was not in attendance but accepted his award with a video speech, saying "Barack is the 'Best Interracial Male' but I'm proud to be the Best International Male in the world.

In April 2009, Kanye West recorded a song called "Hurricane" with 30 Seconds to Mars to appear on their album ''This Is War'', but was not released due to legal issues with both record companies. The song was eventually released on the deluxe version of ''This Is War'', titled "Hurricane 2.0".

2010–present: ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'' and ''Watch the Throne''

In May 2010, West made an animated television guest appearance on Fox's animated television series ''The Cleveland Show'' (a spin-off of ''Family Guy'') as the voice behind "Kenny West", a rival of Cleveland Brown's son. In his first episode he performed in a rap battle with Cleveland's son. The producers stated working with West was a very good experience and a reason they chose him was because they knew he was a fan of ''Family Guy''. Kenny West re-appeared in the season 2 premiere of ''The Cleveland Show''.

West spent the first half of 2010 in Honolulu, Hawaii, working on his new album with the working title ''"Good Ass Job"'', later named ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'', released on November 22, 2010. West has cited Maya Angelou, Gil Scott-Heron and Nina Simone as his musical inspirations for this album. Outside production is said to come from RZA, Q-Tip, Pete Rock, and DJ Premier. West also had Justin Vernon flown into his studio on Oahu after seemingly expressing interest in sampling one of Bon Iver's songs; Vernon proceeded to feature on a number of new tracks, including "Lost In The World," which features Vernon's vocal line from Woods.

On May 28, the Dwele-assisted first single from the album, entitled "Power", leaked to the Internet. On June 30, the track was officially released via iTunes. The upcoming music video was quoted as being "apocalyptic, in a very personal way" by the director Marco Brambilla.

On September 12, 2010, West performed a new song, "Runaway" featuring Pusha T, at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. Shortly after the performance, Kanye revealed he was working on a 35 minute short film based around the song. The movie is said to be influenced by film noir and concerns a fallen phoenix whom Kanye falls in love with. On October 15, 2010, Kanye West was ranked 3rd in BET's "Top Ten Rappers of the 21st Century" list.

''Watch the Throne'', a collaborative studio album by West and Jay-Z, was released by Def Jam Recordings on August 8, 2011. It has been under production since August 2010 as part of West's GOOD Friday initiative of releasing new songs every Friday between August 20 and Christmas 2010. West said through a recent interview with MTV that the album is "going to be very dark and sexy, like couture hip hop." He appeared at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, performing the track "Lost in the World" from ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy''. On January 6, 2011, Kanye announced via Twitter that the first official single from ''Watch the Throne'' would be a song called "H•A•M" produced by Lex Luger. The song was released on January 11, 2011. On January 23, 2011, Kanye revealed via his Twitter account that he will be releasing a new album in summer 2011. On April 17, 2011, West closed the Coachella Festival with a headlining set that received glowing praise from fans and critics alike. On July 13, the official tracklisting for ''Watch The Throne'' was revealed. On July 20, a track titled "Otis" from the album was released in the iTunes Store. It samples "Try a Little Tenderness" by Otis Redding.

On October 19, 2011, West announced on his Twitter plans for a Spring 2012 GOOD Music album release.

Other ventures

Business ventures

In August 2008, West revealed plans to open 10 Fatburger restaurants in the Chicago area; the first was set to open in September 2008 in Orland Park. The second followed in January 2009, while a third location is yet to be revealed, although the process is being finalized. His company, KW Foods LLC, bought the rights to the chain in Chicago. Additionally, West planned to launch his fashion career, and applied for internships with major European fashion houses. He was due to release his own clothing line called Past Tell in 2009. He also collaborated with Nike to release his own shoe, Air Yeezys.

On January 22, 2009, during Paris Fashion Week, West introduced his first shoe line designed for Louis Vuitton. The line was released in summer 2009.

On October 01, 2011, Kanye West premiered his women's fashion label, DW Kanye West at Paris Fashion Week. He received support from DSquared2 duo Dean and Dan Caten, Olivier Theyskens, Jeremy Scott, Azzedine Alaïa, and the Olsen twins, who were also in attendance during his show. His debut fashion show received mixed-to-negative reviews, ranging from reserved observations by Style.com to excoriating commentary by The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, Elleuk.com, The Daily Telegraph, Harper's Bazaar and many others.

Philanthropy

West started the "Kanye West Foundation" in Chicago in 2003. On August 24, 2007, West hosted the inaugural benefit concert to launch the foundation's partnership with Strong American Schools. It is focused on helping Latino and African American children stay in school and to get a proper education through grade school, high school, and college. The foundation also helps children to stay in high school by finding a path through music. West has contributed over $500,000 to his foundation. The foundation has also been called the "Donda West Foundation".

Kanye West has appeared and participated in many fundraisers, benefit concerts, and has done community work for Hurricane Katrina relief, the Kanye West Foundation, the Millions More Movement, 100 Black Men of America, a Live Earth concert benefit, World Water Day rally and march, Nike runs, and a MTV special helping young Iraq War veterans who struggle through debt and PTSD a second chance after returning home.

Musical style and influences

At the start of his career, Kanye West's production style often used pitched-up vocal samples, usually from soul songs, with his own drums and instruments. His first major release featuring his trademark vocal sampling style was "This Can't Be Life", a track from Jay-Z’s ''The Dynasty: Roc La Familia''. West said he sped up the drum beat of Dr. Dre's "Xxplosive" to use as a replacement for his drums on "This Can't Be Life".

West has said that Wu-Tang Clan producer RZA influenced him in his style, and has said on numerous occasions that Wu-Tang rappers Ghostface Killah and Ol' Dirty Bastard were some of his all-time favorites, "Wu-Tang? Me and my friends talk about this all the time... We think Wu-Tang had one of the biggest impacts as far as a movement. From slang to style of dress, skits, the samples. Similar to the [production] style I use, RZA has been doing that." RZA himself has spoken quite positively of the comparisons, stating in an interview for ''Rolling Stone'', "All good. I got super respect for Kanye. He came up to me about a year or two ago. He gave me mad praising and blessings... For people to say Wu-Tang inspire Kanye, Kanye is one of the biggest artists in the world. That goes back to what we say: 'Wu-Tang is forever.' Kanye is going to inspire people to be like him." After hearing his work on ''The Blueprint'', RZA claimed that a torch-passing had occurred between him and West, saying, "The shoes gotta be filled. If you ain't gonna do it, somebody else is gonna do it. That's how I feel about rap today."

While his use of sampling has lessened over time, West's production continues to feature distinctive and intricate string arrangements. This characteristic arose from him listening to the English trip hop group Portishead, whose 1998 live album ''Roseland NYC Live'', with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra inspired him to incorporate string sections into his hip hop production. Though he was unable to afford live instruments beyond violin riffs provided by Israeli violinist Miri Ben-Ari around the time of his debut album, its subsequent commercial success allowed him to hire his very own eleven-piece string orchestra. For a time, West stood as the sole current pop star to tour with a string section.

West has stated on several occasions that outside of work, he favors listening to rock music over hip-hop. He cites Franz Ferdinand, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and The Killers as some of his favorite musical groups. Additionally, on ''Graduation'', West drew inspiration from arena rock bands such as U2, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin for melody and chord progression. Both a fan and supporter of indie culture, West uses his official website to promote obscure indie rock bands, posting up music videos and mp3s on a daily basis. This musical affinity is mutual, as West has collaborated with indie artists such as Santigold, Peter Bjorn and John and Lykke Li while his songs have gone on to be covered countless times by myriad rock bands.

Personal life

Relationships

Kanye West and designer Alexis Phifer ended their 18-month engagement in 2008. The couple had been dating on and off since 2002, with West eventually proposing in August 2006. According to a friend, the couple's relationship had become increasingly strained, burdened by the sheer amount of time and attention West was dedicating to his current concert tour. "It's always sad when things like this end, and we remain friends," Phifer told ''People''.

West was also in a high profile on/off relationship with Amber Rose from 2008 until the summer of 2010.

Mother's death

On November 10, 2007, West's mother, Donda West, died of complications from cosmetic surgery involving abdominoplasty and breast augmentation. TMZ reported that Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Andre Aboolian refused to do the surgery because Donda West had a health condition that placed her at risk for a heart attack. Aboolian referred her to an internist to investigate her cardiac issue. Donda never met with the doctor recommended by Aboolian and had the procedures performed by a third doctor, Jan Adams. She was 58 years old (1949–2007).

Adams sent condolences to Donda West's family but declined to publicly discuss the procedure because of confidentiality. He had previously been under scrutiny by the medical board. Adams appeared on ''Larry King Live'' on November 20, 2007 but left before speaking. Two days later, he appeared again, with his attorney, stating he was there to "defend himself." He said that the recently released autopsy results "spoke for themselves". The final coroner's report January 10, 2008 concluded that Donda West died of "coronary artery disease and multiple post-operative factors due to or as a consequence of liposuction and mammoplasty."

The funeral and burial for Donda West was held in Oklahoma City on November 20, 2007. West held his first concert following the funeral at The O2 in London on November 22. He dedicated a performance of "Hey Mama", as well as a cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'", to his mother, and did so on all other dates of his Glow in the Dark tour.

At a December 2008 press conference in New Zealand, West spoke about his mother's death for the first time. "It was like losing an arm and a leg and trying to walk through that," he told reporters.

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger passed the "Donda West Law," a legislation which makes it mandatory for patients to provide medical clearance for elective cosmetic surgery.

Legal issues

In December 2006, Robert "Evel" Knievel sued West for trademark infringement in West's video for "Touch the Sky." Knievel took issue with a "sexually-charged video" in which West takes on the persona of "Evel Kanyevel" and attempts flying a rocket over a canyon. The suit filed in federal court claims infringement on his trademarked name and likeness. Knievel also claims the "vulgar and offensive" images depicted in the video damage his reputation. The suit seeks damages and to stop distribution of the video. West's attorneys argued that the music video amounted to satire and therefore was covered under the First Amendment. Just days before his death in November 2007, Knievel amicably settled the suit after being paid a visit from West, saying, "I thought he was a wonderful guy and quite a gentleman."

On September 11, 2008, West and his road manager/bodyguard Don "Don C." Crowley were arrested at Los Angeles International Airport and booked on charges of felony vandalism after an altercation with the paparazzi in which West and Crowley broke the photographers' cameras. West was later released from the Los Angeles Police Department's Pacific Division station in Culver City on $20,000 bail bond. On September 26, 2008 the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said it would not file felony counts against West over the incident. Instead the case file was forwarded to the city attorney's office, which charged West with one count of misdemeanor vandalism, one count of grand theft and one count of battery and his manager with three counts of each on March 18, 2009. West's and Crowley's arraignment was delayed from an original date of April 14, 2009.

West was arrested again on November 14, 2008 at the Hilton hotel near Gateshead after another scuffle involving a photographer outside the famous Tup Tup Palace nightclub in Newcastle Upon Tyne. He was later released "with no further action", according to a police spokesperson.

Controversies

General media

West has had several controversies throughout his career. On September 2, 2005, during a benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina relief on NBC, A Concert for Hurricane Relief, West was a featured speaker. When West was presenting alongside actor Mike Myers, he deviated from the prepared script. Myers spoke next and continued to read the script. Once it was West's turn to speak again, he said "George Bush doesn't care about black people." At this point, telethon producer Rick Kaplan cut off the microphone and then cut away to Chris Tucker, who was unaware of the cut for a few seconds. Still, West's comment reached much of the United States. Bush stated in an interview that the comment was "one of the most disgusting moments” of his presidency.

In January 2006, West again sparked controversy when he appeared on the cover of ''Rolling Stone'' in the image of Jesus wearing a crown of thorns.

In November, 2010, Kanye West, in a taped interview with Matt Lauer for the Today Show, West expressed regret for his criticism of Bush. "I would tell George Bush in my moment of frustration, I didn't have the grounds to call him a racist," he told Lauer. "I believe that in a situation of high emotion like that we as human beings don't always choose the right words." The following day, Bush reacted to the apology in a live interview with Lauer saying he appreciated the rapper's remorse. "I'm not a hater," Bush said. "I don't hate Kanye West. I was talking about an environment in which people were willing to say things that hurt. Nobody wants to be called a racist if in your heart you believe in equality of races."

Reactions were mixed, but some felt that West had no need to apologize. "It was not the particulars of your words that mattered, it was the essence of a feeling of the insensitivity towards our communities that many of us have felt for far too long," noted Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons. Dr. Boyce Watkins said that West was, "now part of the establishment, where waffling on your principles is fully expected. Bush deserved no apology, for you don’t apologize to a criminal after repudiating him for an egregious crime. " Bush himself was acceptive towards the apology, saying, "I appreciate that. It wasn't just Kanye West who was talking like that during Katrina, I cited him as an example, I cited others as an example as well. You know, I appreciate that."

Award shows

In 2004, West had his first of a number of incidents involving music award events. At the American Music Awards of 2004, West stormed out of the auditorium after losing Best New Artist to country singer Gretchen Wilson. He later commented, "I felt like I was definitely robbed [...] I was the best new artist this year." After the 2006 Grammy nominations were released, West said he would "really have a problem" if he did not win the Album of the Year, saying, "I don't care what I do, I don't care how much I stunt – you can never take away from the amount of work I put into it. I don't want to hear all of that politically correct stuff." On November 2, 2006, when his "Touch the Sky" failed to win Best Video at the MTV Europe Music Awards, West went onto the stage as the award was being presented to Justice and Simian for "We Are Your Friends" and argued that he should have won the award instead. Hundreds of news outlets worldwide criticized the outburst. On November 7, 2006, West apologized for this outburst publicly during his performance as support act for U2 for their Vertigo concert in Brisbane. He later spoofed the incident in the season premiere of ''Saturday Night Live''.

On September 9, 2007, West suggested that his race had to do with his being overlooked for opening the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) in favor of Britney Spears; he claimed, "Maybe my skin’s not right." West was performing at the event; that night, he lost all 5 awards that he was nominated for, including Best Male Artist and Video of the Year. After the show, he was visibly upset that he had lost at the VMAs two years in a row, stating that he would not come back to MTV ever again. He also appeared on several radio stations saying that when he made the song "Stronger" that it was his dream to open the VMAs with it. He has also stated that Spears has not had a hit in a long period of time and that MTV exploited her for ratings.

On September 13, 2009, during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards while Taylor Swift was accepting her award for Best Female Video for "You Belong with Me", West went on stage and grabbed the microphone to proclaim that Beyoncé's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", nominated for the same award, was "one of the best videos of all time". He was subsequently removed from the remainder of the show for his actions. When Beyoncé later won the award for Best Video of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", she called Swift up on stage so that she could finish her acceptance speech. West was criticized by various celebrities for the outburst, and by President Barack Obama, who called West a "jackass" in an off-the-record comment. In addition, West's VMA disruption sparked a large influx of Internet photo memes with blogs, forums and "tweets" with the "Let you finish" photo-jokes. Subsequently, West posted two apologies for the outburst on his personal blog; one on the night of the incident and the other the same day he appeared on ''The Jay Leno Show'', on September 14, 2009, where he apologized again. After Swift appeared on ''The View'' two days after the outburst, partly to discuss the matter, West called her to apologize personally. Swift said she accepted his apology. In September 2010, West wrote a series of apologetic tweets addressed to Swift including "Beyonce didn't need that. MTV didn't need that and Taylor and her family friends and fans definitely didn't want or need that" and concluding with "I'm sorry Taylor." West also revealed he had written a song for Swift and if she did not accept the song, he would perform it himself. However, on November 8, 2010, in an interview with a Minnesota radio station, West seemed to recant a bit of his past apologies by attempting to describe the act at the 2009 awards show as "selfless" and downgrade the perception of disrespect it created.

Discography

Solo Albums

''The College Dropout'' (2004)

''Late Registration'' (2005)

''Graduation'' (2007)

''808s & Heartbreak'' (2008)

''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'' (2010)

Collaborations

''Watch the Throne'' (2011) – with Jay-Z

''G.O.O.D. Music'' (2012) – with GOOD Music artists

Filmography

''We Were Once a Fairytale'' (2009)

''Runaway'' (2010)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Kanye West at Beatbuggy

Category:1977 births Category:African American rappers Category:African American record producers Category:African American male singers Category:American bloggers Category:American Christians Category:American hip hop record producers Category:American music industry executives Category:American music video directors Category:American pop musicians Category:Songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state) Category:Brit Award winners Category:Chicago State University alumni Category:Electro-hop musicians Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Hip hop musicians Category:Hip hop singers Category:Living people Category:Mercury Records artists Category:People from Atlanta, Georgia Category:Rappers from Chicago, Illinois Category:Roc-A-Fella Records artists Category:World Music Awards winners

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