Coordinates	40°26′30″N80°00′00″N
Name	N.E.R.D
Landscape	yes
Background	group_or_band
Origin	Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States
Genre	Funk, alternative rock, hip hop, dance punk
Years active	2001–present
Label	Virgin, Star Trak, Interscope
Associated acts	The Neptunes
Website
Current members	Pharrell WilliamsChad HugoShay Haley
Past members	Rhea }}

N.E.R.D (the acronym of No one Ever Really Dies, stylized as N*E*R*D) is an American rock, funk, and hip hop band. Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo were signed by Teddy Riley to Virgin Records as a duo, The Neptunes. After producing songs for several artists throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, the production duo formed the band with Shay Haley as a side project of The Neptunes in 2001. N.E.R.D's debut album, ''In Search Of...'', sold 603,000 copies in the United States and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was also awarded the second annual Shortlist Music Prize. The band's second album, ''Fly or Die'', sold 412,000 copies in the United States and was certified Gold by the RIAA.

In 2005, N.E.R.D ended their contract with Virgin and disbanded. Three years later, the band reunited under Star Trak Entertainment, a subsidiary of Interscope Records established by Williams and Hugo. The band's third album, ''Seeing Sounds'', sold 80,000 + copies in its first week.

History

Formation and early career

Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo met at the age of 12 at a summer camp for musicians in Virginia Beach; which they both disliked. They spent their free time making beats and performing in groups with fellow childhood friend Timbaland. Williams and Hugo met Shay Haley in high school and began performing together. The trio often met in Hugo's garage, where he beatboxed through a speaker system while Haley danced. After watching the duo perform at a high school talent show, Teddy Riley, a musician and producer, signed Williams and Hugo in 1992. After producing songs for several artists throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, the production duo formed N.E.R.D in 2001 as a side project.

2003–2004: ''Fly or Die''

The band recorded its second album, ''Fly or Die'', in 2003. They learned to play the songs live, as Chad Hugo told MTV News on December 9, 2003: "We're the ones playing the instruments live this time. I just started playing guitar last year so I'm learning as we go. Pharrell's playing drums. [Last time] we didn't have time to learn certain instruments so we got Spymob to help us out."

''Fly or Die'' was released in March 2004. The album debuted at number six on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 119,000 copies in its first week. The album sold 412,000 copies in the United States and was certified Gold by the RIAA. The first single, "She Wants to Move", has gone top 5 in the United Kingdom, top 20 in Norway, Ireland, and Denmark, and top 40 in Australia and the Netherlands. The music videos for "She Wants to Move" and its follow up single, "Maybe", have received strong support from the digital cable network VH1 Soul in America.

2005–2009: Hiatus and ''Seeing Sounds''

In 2005, N.E.R.D ended their contract with Virgin Records over a label dispute and the band disbanded. While touring, the band became "hooked" on the energy from their fans, which led them to begin recording their third studio album, spending their own money while still unsigned. Williams and Hugo later established Star Trak Entertainment, a subsidiary of Interscope Records. In March 2008, the band performed at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. While there they filmed a PSA for Rock the Vote saying why they thought voting was important and the issues they cared about that election year.

From April to June 2008, the band toured with Kanye West as an opening act along with Rihanna and Lupe Fiasco as part of the Glow in the Dark Tour. On June 13, they gave an energetic performance at the Isle of Wight festival, however they almost missed their scheduled show because they didn't know where the island was. On June 25, they performed in front of 40,000 people at the Isle of MTV 2008 at the Floriana granaries, Malta with free admission. On August 9, 2008, the band played at the Way Out West music festival held in the city park of Gothenburg, Sweden. In September 2008, N.E.R.D performed to a sold-out crowd at the House of Blues in Chicago, and brought special guest Bad Brains onstage.

N.E.R.D released their third studio album, ''Seeing Sounds'' in June 2008. The first single off the album, titled "Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom)", was first mentioned on their Billionaire Boys Club blog in January 2008. The second single off the album, titled "Spaz", was used in a TV commercial for the Microsoft Zune.

A song entitled "Soldier" featuring Santigold and Lil Wayne was featured on the soundtrack of the teen drama ''90210''. In late 2009, N.E.R.D. added a fourth member to the group named Rhea.

2010–present: ''Nothing (album)''

In 2010, N.E.R.D announced the release of their fourth studio album entitled ''Nothing'', which had a scheduled release date for September 7, 2010, but it was pushed back to November 2, 2010. The first single from the album, "Hot N' Fun" featuring Canadian recording artist Nelly Furtado, was released on May 18, 2010 on iTunes. It was released in the United Kingdom on August 30, 2010. On August 20, 2010, a track titled "Party People" leaked onto the internet. It was rumored to be the second single from the album. On September 28, 2010, they premiered another track from the album titled "Hypnotize U" on Late Show with David Letterman, the track is produced by electronic music duo Daft Punk. On September 30, 2010, in a interview with Mark Hoppus on A Different Spin with Mark Hoppus, Pharrell explained the album cover as "a mix of so many things. The feathers represent the peace, and the helmet represents the war. It's like where we are right now. There's a lot of war, that people can't necessarily explain. The economy sucks, girls are still beautiful. We wanted to make music that reflected that. So people can look back twenty years from now, and say 'this is what was going on". They then announced in the interview that the next two singles would be "I've Seen the Light" and "Hypnotize U". Pharrell described "Hypnotize U" as being "so different from the rest of the album," stating he was "very pleased because it serves a different purpose" in the album. On October 17, 2010, the standard edition and the deluxe edition of the album became available for pre-order on iTunes. It has been announced that they will be supporting Gorillaz on the North American leg of their 2010 'Escape to Plastic Beach' World tour.

Musical style

The band's sound generally contains elements of rock, funk and hip hop, while also encompassing R&B; and pop. Though the band rarely samples from other songs, the European release of their debut album, ''In Search Of...'', relied heavily on sampling. They have been praised for their heavy use of electronic, bass and funk beats, while others have suggested that The Neptunes are unable to blend R&B; and rock.

N.E.R.D's lyrics have been criticized. Ian Cohen of Pitchfork Media called the band's writing ability "far down the list of what N.E.R.D is actually good at", where Williams is often criticized for being excessively sexual. With the release of ''Fly or Die'', the album was advertised in ''Kerrang!'' magazine, which made Alexis Petridis of ''The Guardian'' feel that N.E.R.D's lyrics tried to "empathize with the alienated teenagers who make up ''Kerrang!''s readership".

Band members

Pharrell Williams - lead vocals, piano/keyboards, rhythm guitar, percussion

Chad Hugo - lead guitar, piano/keyboards, saxophone, bass guitar, backing vocals

Shay Haley - drums, percussion, backing vocals

Discography

Albums

{|class="wikitable" |- !rowspan="2"|Year ! rowspan="2" style="width:200px;"|Album details !colspan="10"|Peak chart positions !rowspan="2"|Sales and certifications |- !width="40"|US !width="40"|UK !width="40"|GER !width="40"|FRA !width="40"|AUS !width="40"|NZ !width="40"|SWI !width="40"|SWE !width="40"|IRL !width="40"|ITA |- |2002 |''In Search Of...''

Released: March 12, 2002

Label: Virgin

Format: CD, LP, DVD-A

| style="text-align:center;"|56 | style="text-align:center;"|28 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|17 | style="text-align:center;"|27 | style="text-align:center;"|— | RIAA certification: Gold U.S. sales: 603,000 |- |2004 |''Fly or Die''

Released: March 23, 2004

Label: Virgin

Format: CD, LP

| style="text-align:center;"|6 | style="text-align:center;"|4 | style="text-align:center;"|20 | style="text-align:center;"|31 | style="text-align:center;"|11 | style="text-align:center;"|22 | style="text-align:center;"|27 | style="text-align:center;"|9 | style="text-align:center;"|12 | style="text-align:center;"|10 | RIAA certification: Gold U.S. sales: 412,000 |- |2008 |''Seeing Sounds''

Released: June 10, 2008

Label: Star Trak, Interscope

Format: CD, LP, DI

| style="text-align:center;"|7 | style="text-align:center;"|20 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|45 | style="text-align:center;"|14 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|13 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|60 | style="text-align:center;"|97 | |- |2010 |''Nothing''

Released: November 2, 2010

Label: Star Trak, Interscope

Format: CD, LP, DI

| style="text-align:center;"|20 | style="text-align:center;"|83 | style="text-align:center;"| | style="text-align:center;"|43 | style="text-align:center;"|55 | style="text-align:center;"| | style="text-align:center;"|32 | style="text-align:center;"| | style="text-align:center;"| | style="text-align:center;"| | |- | colspan="20" style="text-align:center; font-size:8pt;"|"—" denotes releases that did not chart |}

Singles

{|class="wikitable" |- !rowspan="2"|Year !rowspan="2"|Title !colspan="10"|Peak chart positions ! rowspan="2" style="width:100px;"|Album |- !width="40"|US !width="40"|USR&B; !width="40"|USDance !width="40"|AUS !width="40"|BEL (Fla) !width="40"|CHE !width="40"|ITA !width="40"|NLD !width="40"|SWE !width="40"|UK |- | style="text-align:center;"|2001 |"Lapdance" (featuring Lee Harvey and Vita) | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|85 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|56 | style="text-align:center;"|47 | style="text-align:center;"|20 | rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;"|''In Search Of...'' |- | rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|2002 |"Rock Star" | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|32 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|74 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|15 |- |"Provider" | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|95 | style="text-align:center;"|43 | style="text-align:center;"|20 |- | rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|2004 |"She Wants to Move" | style="text-align:center;"|39 | style="text-align:center;"|69 | style="text-align:center;"|6 | style="text-align:center;"|21 | style="text-align:center;"|19 | style="text-align:center;"|36 | style="text-align:center;"|7 | style="text-align:center;"|10 | style="text-align:center;"|58 | style="text-align:center;"|5 | rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|''Fly or Die'' |- |"Maybe" | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|19 | style="text-align:center;"|48 | style="text-align:center;"|58 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|37 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|25 |- | rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|2008 |"Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom)" | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|69 | style="text-align:center;"|65 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|41 | rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;"|''Seeing Sounds'' |- |"Spaz" | style="text-align:center;"|106 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— |- | style="text-align:center;"|2009 |"Sooner or Later" | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— |- | rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;"|2010 |"Hot N' Fun" (featuring Nelly Furtado) | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|26 | style="text-align:center;"|52 | style="text-align:center;"|23 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|26 | style="text-align:center;"|88 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|49 | rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;"|''Nothing'' |- |"Hypnotize U" | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|54 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— |- | colspan="16" style="text-align:center; font-size:8pt;"|"—" denotes releases that did not chart |}

Notes A. "Lapdance" was re-released in the UK as a double A-side with "Provider". B. "She Wants to Move" only peaked on the Hot Digital Tracks chart. C. "Spaz" peaked outside of the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, therefore it is listed on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.

Notes

References

"Sprite Fresh Sound Studio Live Performance with N.E.R.D." November 1, 2010 ''Buzznet Media''

External links

Official website

Fan site with mixtapes

Category:American rock music groups Category:American hip hop groups Category:Winners of the Shortlist Music Prize Category:Musical groups established in 2001 Category:The Neptunes Category:Virgin Records artists Category:Interscope Records artists Category:Funk rock musical groups

da:N.E.R.D de:N.E.R.D es:N.E.R.D fr:N.E.R.D fy:N.E.R.D it:N.E.R.D nl:N.E.R.D ja:N.E.R.D no:N.E.R.D pl:N.E.R.D pt:N.E.R.D ru:N.E.R.D fi:N.E.R.D sv:N.E.R.D th:เอ็น.อี.อาร์.ดี tr:N.E.R.D

The phrase research and development (also R and D or, more often, R&D;), according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications".

Research and development is often scientific or towards developing particular technologies and is frequently carried out as corporate or governmental activity.

Overview

New product design and development is more often than not a crucial factor in the survival of a company. In an industry that is changing fast, firms must continually revise their design and range of products. This is necessary due to continuous technology change and development as well as other competitors and the changing preference of customers. Without an R&D; program, the firm must rely on strategic alliances, acquisitions, and networks to tap into the innovations of others.

A system driven by marketing is one that puts the customer needs first, and only produces goods that are known to sell. Market research is carried out, which establishes what is needed. If the development is technology driven then it is a matter of selling what it is possible to make. The product range is developed so that production processes are as efficient as possible and the products are technically superior, hence possessing a natural advantage in the market place.

R&D; has a special economic significance apart from its conventional association with scientific and technological development. R&D; investment generally reflects a government's or organization's willingness to forgo current operations or profit to improve future performance or returns, and its abilities to conduct research and development.

The top eight spenders in terms of percentage of GDP were Israel (4.53%), Sweden (3.73%), Finland (3.45%) Japan (3.39%), South Korea (3.23%), Switzerland (2.9%), Iceland (2.78%) and United States (2.62%). The Commitment to Development Index ranks these countries, rewarding them for research and development that support the creation and dissemination of innovations of value to developing countries.

In general, R&D; activities are conducted by specialized units or centers belonging to companies, universities and state agencies. In the context of commerce, "research and development" normally refers to future-oriented, longer-term activities in science or technology, using similar techniques to scientific research without predetermined outcomes and with broad forecasts of commercial yield.

Statistics on organizations devoted to "R&D;" may express the state of an industry, the degree of competition or the lure of progress. Some common measures include: budgets, numbers of patents or on rates of peer-reviewed publications. Bank ratios are one of the best measures, because they are continuously maintained, public and reflect risk.

In the U.S., a typical ratio of research and development for an industrial company is about 3.5% of revenues. A high technology company such as a computer manufacturer might spend 7%. Although Allergan (a biotech company) tops the spending table with 43.4% investment, anything over 15% is remarkable and usually gains a reputation for being a high technology company. Companies in this category include pharmaceutical companies such as Merck & Co. (14.1%) or Novartis (15.1%), and engineering companies like Ericsson (24.9%). Such companies are often seen as poor credit risks because their spending ratios are so unusual.

Generally such firms prosper only in markets whose customers have extreme needs, such as medicine, scientific instruments, safety-critical mechanisms (aircraft) or high technology military armaments. The extreme needs justify the high risk of failure and consequently high gross margins from 60% to 90% of revenues. That is, gross profits will be as much as 90% of the sales cost, with manufacturing costing only 10% of the product price, because so many individual projects yield no exploitable product. Most industrial companies get only 40% revenues.

On a technical level, high tech organizations explore ways to re-purpose and repackage advanced technologies as a way of amortizing the high overhead. They often reuse advanced manufacturing processes, expensive safety certifications, specialized embedded software, computer-aided design software, electronic designs and mechanical subsystems.

Research has shown that firms with a persistent R&D; strategy outperform those with an irregular or no R&D; investment programme.

Pharmaceuticals

Research often refers to basic experimental research; development refers to the exploitation of discoveries. Research involves the identification of possible chemical compounds or theoretical mechanisms. In the United States, universities are the main provider of research level products. In the United States, corporations buy licences from universities or hire scientists directly when economically solid research level products emerge and the development phase of drug delivery is almost entirely managed by private enterprise. Development is concerned with proof of concept, safety testing, and determining ideal levels and delivery mechanisms. Development often occurs in phases that are defined by drug safety regulators in the country of interest. In the United States, the development phase can cost between $10 to $200 million and approximately one in ten compounds identified by basic research pass all development phases and reach market. Pharmaceuticals market, however are extremely complex in many respects. Large public sector investment in biomedical R & D influence private companies' choices about what to work and how intensively to invest in research and development. The returns on private sector R & D are attractive, on average but they vary considerably from one drug to the next. Consumer demand for prescription drug is often indirect, mediated by doctors and health insurers. New drug must undergo costly and time consuming testing before they sold.

Business

Research and development is nowadays of great importance in business as the level of competition, production processes and methods are rapidly increasing. It is of special importance in the field of marketing where companies keep an eagle eye on competitors and customers in order to keep pace with modern trends and analyze the needs, demands and desires of their customers.

Unfortunately, research and development are very difficult to manage, since the defining feature of research is that the researchers do not know in advance exactly how to accomplish the desired result. As a result, higher R&D; spending does not guarantee "more creativity, higher profit or a greater market share".

R&D; alliance

An R&D; alliance is a mutually beneficial formal relationship between two or more parties to pursue a set of agreed goals while remaining independent organisations, where acquiring new knowledge is a goal by itself. The different parties agree to combine their knowledge to create new innovative products. Thanks to funding from government organizations, like the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), and modern advances in technology, R&D; alliances have now become more efficient. Every company has their own research and develop department.

R&D; Reorientation

Industrial sector is transforming from vertical integration to horizontal structure. So far this transformation has taken place in manufacturing, but now it’s the turn for R&D; to make a paradigm shift. The restructuring trends of manufacturing predict the future of R&D; to be focused, financially independent, universally expanded and distributed.

In 2003 with their article titled Reorienting R&D; for a Horizontal Future Downey, Greenberg and Kapur illustrated that a horizontal structure of development in all industrial disciplines is required because of emerging markets, cost cutting needs and globalization. Collaborative networks in a decentralized environment are producing better results because of flexibility and cost reduction. R&D; is spreading across the globe for faster development and unique innovations. Building block structure is getting popular in R&D; because it is more manageable and focused.

In a challenging market environment after manufacturing now companies are eyeing to reduce the development cost where R&D; needs to justify its existence as an independent profit center with increased productivity and reduced operational costs. This can only be achieved through collaboration and trade-offs. Formation of horizontal collaborative network is challenging because it incorporates the issues of adaptability, security, cultural differences, varying standards, trust and ownership. Globalization is pushing R&D; to concentrate on global design approach with the design flexibility where products can be tailored as per different geographic markets.

Innovating products in response to market requirements will keep organizations in business whereas knowing their own productivity and capacity will enable them to operate more effectively. Firms can make better investment decisions if they can predict their development cost. This will directly add to the bottom line of the business. In a race to improve the productivity, lower the cost and save time, firms should not forget to retain the expertise of their core competencies. The proper synchronization of global resources must be addressed in order to save time and money. Companies must support the development of innovation management system for future growth.

Companies are decentralizing their R&D; units across the globe to extract the time and diversity benefits. Customer centric orientation is most profitable approach for any firm to operate in a competitive environment. R&D; is an area where ‘The World is Flat’ theory applies perfectly. World is shrinking with the increasing pace of information technology, and the same time decentralization is making our days longer. In this fast pace environment managing intellectual property is more critical for businesses to keep themselves in the race. Never ending attempts should be made to optimize the development with minimal resources. Flattening the innovation process will result in technological development with greater profits and efficiency.

See also

Basic research

ERD3 (Energy research, development, demonstration and deployment)

Demonstration

Deployment

Innovation

List of countries by research and development spending

List of business and finance abbreviations

Research

R&D; 100 Awards

Science of science policy

Science policy

Technology Life Cycle

Neglected Tropical Disease Research and Development

Notes

External links

U.S. Federal Investments in Energy R&D;: 1961-2008

R&D; Magazine:

* R&D; 100 Awards.

DOE Funded Research Projects Win 30 R&D; Awards for 2008

USA Today May 2008 Q&A; with Texas Instruments CEO about Bayh-Dole Act

OECD Science, Technology and Industry Outlook 2008

2010 Science and Engineering Indicators – Research and Development: National Trends and International Linkages

Scientific Grant Awards Database Contains details of over 2,000,000 scientific research projects conducted over the past 25 years.

RAND R&D; Methods Used by Federal Agencies in USA.

af:Navorsing en Ontwikkeling ar:بحث وتطوير ca:R+D+I de:Forschung und Entwicklung et:Teadus- ja arendustegevus el:Έρευνα και Ανάπτυξη es:Investigación y desarrollo eu:Ikerkuntza eta garapena fa:تحقیق و توسعه fr:Recherche et développement gl:Investigación e Desenvolvemento ko:연구개발 hi:अनुसंधान एवं विकास id:Penelitian dan pengembangan it:Ricerca e sviluppo he:מחקר ופיתוח lt:Moksliniai tyrimai ir taikomoji veikla hu:Kutatás-fejlesztés nl:Onderzoek & Ontwikkeling ja:研究開発 pl:Prace badawczo-rozwojowe pt:Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento ru:НИОКР sv:Forskning och utveckling ta:ஆய்வும் விருத்தியும் tr:Araştırma ve geliştirme uk:Інноваційна діяльність vi:R&D; zh:研究開發

Coordinates

40°26′30″N80°00′00″N

{{infobox football club | clubname

N.E.C. | image 200px | fullname Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie | short name ''N.E.C.'' | nickname | founded | ground McDOS GoffertstadionNijmegen | capacity 12,500 | chairman Jan van Teeffelen | manager Alex Pastoor | league Eredivisie | season 2010-11 | position Eredivisie, 11th | pattern_la1_greenborder|pattern_b1_redhalf|pattern_ra1_redborder| leftarm1000000|body1008800|rightarm1000000|shorts1000000|socks1000000| pattern_la2_thinwhiteborder|pattern_b2_whitecollar|pattern_ra2_thinwhiteborder| leftarm2000000|rightarm2000000|body2000000|shorts2FFFFFF|socks2FFFFFF| website http://www.nec-nijmegen.nl/}}

Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie (), commonly abbreviated to N.E.C. (), is a Dutch football club from the city of Nijmegen. The oldest remnants of the club, ''"Eendracht"'' (Dutch for ''unity''), stem back to 15 November 1900. In 1903, Eendracht merged with Nijmegen to form the Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie. They are sometimes, erroneously, referred to as N.E.C. Nijmegen. The team's home ground is the 12,500-seat Stadion de Goffert.

The club has not won any major tournaments to date, though they were runners-up in the KNVB Cup competition in 1973, 1983, 1994, and 2000; they played in the UEFA Cup tournaments in 1983, 2003, and 2008.

History

General history

N.E.C. (Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie or, in English, Nijmegen Unity Combination) is the 41st oldest club in the Netherlands. It was known that the first football club was founded by "ordinary" workers, real people, and boys. Football was in 1900 already quite popular, but a football club was a real elitist activity. Associations as UD (Deventer), Quick (Nijmegen), Sparta Rotterdam, Vitesse, etc. were also all created by the sons of wealthy industrialists, middle and other notables.

Lower City

The founders of N.E.C. had a very different background to other Eredivisie clubs. They were, without exception, from the old Nijmegen Lower City, the place where the poorest people lived. It was not much more than a slum. The boys from downtown Nijmegen played football every day, not on a field, but on the streets and the Waalkade.

Uniquely some of those boys on 15 November 1900 made a decision to form their own football club. They did it all themselves, without help from outside. They coined the name Eendracht and decided that every week a fee of two cents would be paid. With that money, a new ball could be purchased from time-to-time.

In the first years, Eendracht only played games against teams from other parts of Nijmegen. The ''ploeggie'' from the downtown area appeared to be playing good football. When in 1903, a Nijmegen Football Association was formed, Eendracht was the first champion and was thereby promoted to the Geldersche Football Association. The football at Eendracht became a serious matter, especially two years later after promotion to the second class of the KNVB.

The name N.E.C. was established in April 1910. Eendracht merged that year with a club called Nijmegen. Nijmegen had been established for only two years and was founded by former members of Quick 1888 who felt little empathy with Quick, regarded at the time as an elite club. The Nijmegen Eendracht Combination seemed a golden find.

Money

It took decades for the first big successes to come. In 1936, N.E.C. was finally promoted to the First Class, which was the highest level at the time. The fact that N.E.C. progressed slowly had many causes, the most important being money, or rather, lack of money.

N.E.C. was a boys club of normal and hard-working people. There were no wealthy members that could provide large donations. The affiliation fee was often a problem, especially during crises such as World War I. N.E.C. perhaps didn't keep warm relations with the local directors. Indeed, the leading figures in Nijmegen possibly looked down on N.E.C.

Never First Classer

At the beginning of the 1920s, the situation improved slightly. N.E.C. bought land and moved to Hazenkampseweg. Finally, the club had its own sports complex. On top of this, memberships increased rapidly and the club became more popular. However, despite a new home and increased membership, success onfield did not necessarily follow. To achieve promotion into the first class competition, it was not enough in those years to just become champion of the second class. Stressful play-off matches were regularly played. Although N.E.C. become champion in 1928, 1929, 1931, and 1934, the club was not promoted. The club was mockingly titled: "Never First Classer." Finally in 1936, N.E.C. took the last obstacle. They won the play-off matches and reached the First Class.

Golden Years

Immediately after promotion, followed a period of great achievement. The question remained however, whether N.E.C. (had World War II not broken out) progressed to become one of the nation's top clubs.

N.E.C. in 1939 won the first East title and fought for the Dutch title with the other four district champions. N.E.C. came third, behind AFC Ajax and DWS also from Amsterdam. During the war, little football was played, but after liberation, N.E.C. resumed competition and again became the champion of the East in 1946. In 1947, N.E.C. retained the title and again became the third-most successful club in the Netherlands.

Professional football

For N.E.C., the introduction of professional football in 1954 came at the wrong time. The club had internal problems at the time, was not as well established as other clubs, and was not doing well financially. More than 80 'paying' clubs were called together and the KNVB reorganized their structure. Each time the competitions were classified, N.E.C. fell further from the top leagues. At the 11th hour, N.E.C. was saved from a return to the amateurs. At the beginning of the 1960s, N.E.C. began to recover, growing slowly upwards again. A major reason was support from the City of Nijmegen who began to see the importance of a 'paid' club like the Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie. N.E.C. could finally count on financial support in 1963. In 1964, N.E.C. was promoted to the first division again and three years later, N.E.C. reached finally the First League.

Full stadiums

The ensuing years were ones that Nijmegen residents look back at nostalgically. The ''Goffert'' was full every game. Season averages of 14,000 spectators were normal. There was even a year (1970–71) in which N.E.C. had attendances of 18,000 a game. N.E.C. flourished at this time, primarily on the back of great youth development and scouting.

Talented players were developed, played in the first team and, after a number of seasons sold for high fees. Frans Thijssen and Jan Peters are two such examples. Although the club never won a major prize, it was well regarded at this time. However, the first signs of decline came quickly. N.E.C. was not sustainable with major revenue sources being the sale of players and a healthy subsidy from the Nijmegen council.

Lean years

The degradation of 1974 was a kind of warning. N.E.C. graduated a year later again and was also seventh in the league, but it was going wrong again at the beginning of the 1970s.

No one could turn the tide; N.E.C. were in a downward spiral. Each year, the team fought against relegation and fewer spectators were watching the matches. N.E.C. was each year a top club in the first division or a tail club in the major league. The list is significant: relegation in 1983, promotion in 1985, relegation in 1986, promotion in 1989, relegation in 1991, and finally promotion in 1994. N.E.C. suffered many difficult years and disappeared almost from professional football from time-to-time. In 1981, the club got only support from the town when the professionals and amateurs would be separated. In 1987, the club was bankrupt, but N.E.C. remained existent only because 80% of all creditors waived their claims.

The chairman Henk van de Water formed the sponsor club OSRN on which N.E.C. got a little air. Just in the mid-1990s, N.E.C. found their way up again. Three years later, the club remained at the last minute in the Eredivisie, but in 1998, N.E.C. surprised many with an 8th place finish. Meanwhile, the prospects excelled. The audience numbers were rising continuously, all the way up to 10,000. The sponsor club was growing out of its jacket and there was a nice future up ahead in the new ''Goffertstadion''.

Cup Finals

N.E.C. reached the KNVB Cup Final four times. On two occasions N.E.C. were underdogs, but on 31 May 1973, the club was the overwhelming favorite. At De Kuip against NAC Breda, it however, went completely wrong for the Nijmegen club. N.E.C., with coach Wiel Coerver and players of the quality of Jan Peters, Frans Thijssen, Harrie Schellekens, Jan van Deinsen, and Cas Janssens, were unable to live up to expectations. Infighting was cited as a major cause of underperformance, with NAC Breda winning 2-0.

In 1983, N.E.C. unexpectedly reached the Cup Final. The club had been relegated that season, but reached the Cup Final. Their opponents AFC Ajax, were in both matches clearly better, winning twice 3-1.

In 1994, it was again remarkable that N.E.C. was in the final. N.E.C. was a first-division club at the time, but one with a very good team. A month after the cup, they were promoted via the promotion/relegation play-offs. N.E.C., with players of the ilk of Lok, Hoekman, van Wonderen, van der Weerden, and the lightning-quick Bennie Dekker, surprised in the semi-finals. Ajax were beaten in De Meer 2-1. In De Kuip at Feyenoord, Feyenoord won 2-1.

In the club's 100th year (2000), N.E.C. again reached the Cup Final. The competition presentations were not too good and hardly participation at the promotion/relegation play-offs was averted. The final against Roda JC for the 20,000 fans from Nijmegen was more or less a disappointment. N.E.C. lost with no scoring chances 2-0. The semi-finals (profit after penalties against AZ) were a highlight for many fans.

Nijmegen play in European Cup

In 1983, during the darkest period of the club's history, there was also a highlight in club's the history. N.E.C. played in the European Cup against FC Barcelona, while N.E.C. was mid-ranked in the First Division.

In the spring, N.E.C. lost the cup-final against Ajax and were also relegated to the First Division. But because the Amsterdammers also became champion of the Netherlands, N.E.C. made the unique fact that a First Division club was registered for the Eurocup II tournament; this performance was never repeated again in the Netherlands.

In the first round of the European tournament, N.E.C. defeated Norway's SK Brann. The club was a relative minnow, but N.E.C. had problems defeating the club from Norway. In Nijmegen, it finished 1-1 and two weeks later in Bergen, Michel Mommertz scored the winner (0-1).

A few days later, the draw was completed for the second round. The city of Nijmegen eagerly anticipated the fixture and were not disappointed when Barcelona, the club that had world superstars Diego Maradona and Bernd Schuster, were coming to Nijmegen. Both star players were injured by 19 October and did not take part in the games. But this was no big disappointment for the 25,000 spectators in the ''Goffertstadion''. N.E.C. took the lead with strikes from Anton Janssen and Michel Mommertz. However, Barcelona hit back eventually winning 3-2. The second leg in Barcelona, was an easy game for the Catalans, ending in a 2-0 win for the home team.

29 May 2003 was a historic day for the club. For the first time in its existence N.E.C. qualified on their own for the UEFA Cup. Following a late strike from Jarda Simr, N.E.C. finished fifth in the Eredivisie. This led to unprecedented scenes with jubilant fans invading the Waalwijk pitch. Back in Nijmegen, there was an explosion of joy with over 5,000 supporters in the Goffert watching the game on a large video screen. Similar scenes happened in the centre of Nijmegen with over 25,000 people celebrating.

2008

In 2008, N.E.C. qualified for the third time in its history for European competition. With this, Mario Been followed in the footsteps of former-coach Johan Neeskens. After a disappointing first half of the year the club was positioned on the bottom of the Eredivisie (17th place). But after the winter break, there was a remarkable resurrection from the Nijmegenars. From January 2008, N.E.C. played terrific football and scored many goals. Victory after victory resulted in an excellent 8th place in the Eredivisie. This position was rewarded by participation in the UEFA Cup play-offs. N.E.C. was also superior in the play-offs beating Roda JC, FC Groningen, and NAC Breda. With 31 undefeated matches in a row and with a 6-0 home victory at NAC Breda the highlight, N.E.C. reached European football again. The return match at Breda was a formality, but the team was also victorious. What followed was a great homage to many thousands of fans on the Goffertwei.

The year became even more successful following early rounds of the UEFA Cup. In the first round, the club defeated Dinamo Bucureşti in two heartstopping matches. After a 1-0 winning home game, N.E.C drew 0-0 in Romania to reach the group-stage of the UEFA Cup. The club from Nijmegen was then drawn against larger European clubs Tottenham Hotspur, Udinese, Spartak Moscow, and Dinamo Zagreb. All the experts gave the club little chance of reaching the next round, but N.E.C. defied the odds. After a stunning match against Zagreb, with a goal from Dinamo in the last minute, there stood a disappointing 3-2 on the scoreboard. N.E.C. were perhaps the better team but gained no points. After this, English team Tottenham came to the McDOS Goffertstadion and won with a score of 0-1. The club from Nijmegen was on the bottom of the pool and was almost out of the tournament. But there was hope in the Netherlands after a 1-2 victory against Spartak Moscow in Russia with a very important goal from Lasse Schöne. N.E.C. played its last match in Nijmegen against Udinese. To go to the next round, N.E.C. and Tottenham had to win (from Spartak Moscow). Tottenham were behind and after 45 minutes, while there was a disappointing 0-0 on the scoreboard in Nijmegen. But in the 74th minute, there was a sensational moment: Tottenham scored twice to eventually draw 2-2 against Spartak and Collins John almost simultaneously scored to make the score 1-0 for N.E.C. With a second goal from Jhon van Beukering (his third European goal of the season), N.E.C reached the next round.

The last 32 draw of the UEFA Cup saw N.E.C. fixtured to play against big German club Hamburger SV. The fairytale ended for the club from Nijmegen when the Germans won 0-3 in the Goffertstadion and 1-0 in Hamburg. However, the progression into the last 32 capped off the most successful year in the club's history. N.E.C. was lauded for their terrific football and their sociability. Supporters were complimented in Europe, especially by Franz Beckenbauer, who said he had never witnessed such great ambiance from away-supporters and that Premier League clubs had never seen so many away-fans at a club-match (4,500).

Stadium

N.E.C. plays its home matches in the De Goffert stadium (12,500 seats). The stadium was originally opened in 1939 and featured a cycling track between the pitch and the stands. In 2000, the rebuilt stadium was opened. The club wants to expand the stadium to 20,000 seats in 2011.

Rivals

Football club Vitesse of Arnhem is the main rival of N.E.C. The annual games between the two are called ''"de Gelderse derby."'' The rivalry has led to hooligans meeting after games that resulted in fights and public disorder.

Players & Staff

Current squad

As of 1 August 2011

''For recent transfers, see List of Dutch football transfers summer 2011''

On loan

Staff and management

N.E.C. in Europe

! Season	! Competition	! Round	! Country	! Club	! Score
	Intertoto Cup	Group, match 1		MŠK Žilina	1-1, 1-2
		Group, match 2			0-0, 1-1
		Group, match 3			2-0, 3-3
	Intertoto Cup	Group, match 1			3-2, 0-2
		Group, match 2			4-2, 0-6
		Group, match 3			Total: 3-4
	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	First Round			1-1, 1-0
		1/8 Finals			2-3, 0-2
	Intertoto Cup	Group, match 1		Fortuna Düsseldorf	4-3, 0-3
		Group, match 2			0-3, 2-2
		Group, match 3			0-1, 1-1
	UEFA Cup	First Round		Wisła Kraków	1-2, 1-2
	Intertoto Cup	Second Round			0-0, 0-1
	UEFA Cup	First Round			1-0, 0-0
		Group Stage			2-3
					0-1
					2-1
					2-0
		Third Round			0-3, 0-1

Domestic Results

Below is a table with N.E.C.'s domestic results since the introduction of the Eredivisie in 1956.

Domestic Results since 1956
Domestic league	League result	Qualification to	KNVB Cup season	Cup result
2010–11 Eredivisie	11th	-		third round
2009–10 Eredivisie	13th	-		quarter final
2008–09 Eredivisie	11th	-		quarter final
2007–08 Eredivisie	8th			round of 16
2006–07 Eredivisie	10th			third round
2005–06 Eredivisie	10th			round of 16
2004–05 Eredivisie	13th	-		third round
2003–04 Eredivisie	14th			quarter final
2002–03 Eredivisie	5th			third round
2001–02 Eredivisie	9th	-		group stage
2000–01 Eredivisie	12th	-		round of 16
1999–2000 Eredivisie	15th	-
1998–99 Eredivisie	11th	-		second round
1997–98 Eredivisie	8th	-		round of 16
1996–97 Eredivisie	17th	- (surviving promotion/relegation play-offs)		round of 16
1995–96 Eredivisie	17th	- (surviving promotion/relegation play-offs)		second round
1994–95 Eredivisie	15th	-		round of 16
		Eredivisie (winning promotion/releg. play-offs)
	4th	promotion/relegation play-offs: no promotion		second round
	8th	-		third round
1990–91 Eredivisie		Eerste Divisie (relegation)		second round
1989–90 Eredivisie	16th	- (surviving promotion/relegation play-offs)		round of 16
	4th	Eredivisie (winning promotion/releg. play-offs)		first round
	5th	-		round of 16
	6th	promotion/relegation play-offs: no promotion		first round
1985–86 Eredivisie		Eerste Divisie (relegation)
	7th	Eredivisie (winning promotion/releg. play-offs)		first round
	9th	promotion/relegation play-offs: no promotion		quarter final
1982–83 Eredivisie
1981–82 Eredivisie	13th	-		quarter final
1980–81 Eredivisie	16th	-		second round
1979–80 Eredivisie	15th	-		round of 16
1978–79 Eredivisie	15th	-		second round
1977–78 Eredivisie	15th	-		second round
1976–77 Eredivisie	16th	-		second round
1975–76 Eredivisie	7th	-		second round
		Eredivisie (promotion)		first round
1973–74 Eredivisie		Eerste Divisie (relegation)		round of 16
1972–73 Eredivisie	9th	-
1971–72 Eredivisie	7th	-		quarter final
1970–71 Eredivisie	8th	-
1969–70 Eredivisie	11th	-	1969-70	first round
1968–69 Eredivisie	12th	-	1968-69	quarter final
1967–68 Eredivisie	10th	-	1967-68	round of 16
		Eredivisie (promotion)	1966-67	first round
	6th	-	1965-66	group stage
	10th	-	1964-65	first round
		Eerste Divisie (promotion)	1963-64	round of 16
		promotion/relegation play-offs: no promotion	1962-63
	9th	-	1961-62	?
	4th	promotion/relegation play-offs: no promotion	1960-61	?
	8th (group A)	-	''not held''	''not held''
	6th (group B)	-	1958-59	?
	5th (group B)	-	1957-58	?
	10th (group B)	-	1956-57	?

N.E.C. records

! Record	Notes		! Date
Highest attendance (competition)	32,000		21-04-1968
Lowest attendance (competition)	1,000	Against Roda JC	14-05-1983
Biggest win	0-22	Against Overasseltse Boys	09-08-2008
Biggest win (competition)	0-7		10-03-1973
Biggest loss (competition)	9-1		05-11-1967
Match with highest score (competition)	3-7	Against RBC Roosendaal	04-01-1967
Most wins on a row	10		04-04-2008 until 30-08-2008
Most defeats in a row	10		03-10-1971 until 14-11-1971
Most matches without defeat	31		24-02-2008 until 21-09-2008
Most matches without win	16		22-01-1978 until 02-09-1978
Most matches without goal	7		03-03-1968 until 19-05-1968
Most matches without goal against	7		21-10-2005 until 18-12-2005
Top goalscorer	Bjorn Vleminckx	23	2010-2011
Most goals in a competition-match	Cas Janssens		10-03-1973
Youngest player (competition)	Jan Peters		17 years, 0 months, 25 days
Highest competition-rank	Eredivisie	5th Place	2002–2003
Lowest competition-rank	Eerste Divisie	10th Place	1964–1965
Most matches (Eredivisie)	Sije Visser	342
Most goals scored (Eredivisie)	Frans Janssen	54

Achievements

Eredivisie Winner Play-Offs: 1

:: 2007-08

KNVB Cup runner-up: 4

:: 1972-73, 1982-83, 1993-94, 1999-00

Eerste Divisie: 1

:: 1974-75

1e Klasse: 3

:: 1938-39, 1945-46, 1946-47

Managers

''Source''.

Ferenz György (1923–24) Smith (1929–30) Claus (1931–32) Longin (1932–33) Fons Lodenstijn (1933–36) Coen Delsen (1936–37) Bertus Schoester (1937–39) J. W. Julian (1939–40) Bertus Schoester (1940–42) George Charlton (1947–49) Jan Bijl (1949–54) Coen Delsen (1954–56) Ferdi Silz (1956–57) K. ter Horst (1957–58) Fons Lodenstijn (1958) ''(interim)'' Wim Groenendijk (1958–60) Joop de Busser (1960–61) Jan Remmers (1961–70) Wiel Coerver (1970–73) Meg de Jong (1973–74) Piet de Visser (1974–76) Hans Croon (1976–78) Leen Looyen (1978–81) Pim van de Meent (1981–85) Sandor Popovics (1985–87) Leen Looyen (1987–91) Jan Pruijn (1991–94) Kees van Kooten (1994–95) Leen Looyen (1995–96) ''(interim)'' Wim Koevermans (1995–96) Jimmy Calderwood (1997–99) Ron de Groot (1999-00) ''(interim)'' Johan Neeskens (2000–04) Cees Lok (2005) Ron de Groot (2005–06) Mario Been (2006–09) Dwight Lodeweges (2009) Wiljan Vloet (2009–11) Alex Pastoor (2011–present)

Notable players

; Netherlands Roy Beerens Kevin Bobson Rachid Bouaouzan Saïd Boutahar Wilfried Brookhuis Jack de Gier Ron de Groot Dennis de Nooijer Frank Demouge Romano Denneboom Jeroen Drost Ernest Faber Dennis Gentenaar Youssouf Hersi Danny Hesp Guus Hiddink Danny Hoekman Paul Jans Anton Janssen Tim Janssen Collins John Dick Jol Milano Koenders Willem Korsten Michel Langerak Bart Latuheru Jeffrey Leiwakabessy Jeremain Lens Cees Lok Muslu Nalbantoglu Edo Ophof Jan Peters Maikel Renfurm Bas Roorda Harry Schellekens Dennis Schulp Ferne Snoyl Pleun Strik Jasar Takak Frans Thijssen Jhon van Beukering Jan van Deinsen Mark van den Boogaart Björn van der Doelen Patrick van Diemen Kees van Wonderen Rob Wielaert Peter Wisgerhof Mike Zonneveld ; Australia Brett Holman (2006–08)

; Belgium Pieter Collen (2000–01) Bart van den Eede (2005–06) Björn Vleminckx (2009-11)

; Brazil Tininho (2004–06)

; Czech Republic Jarda Simr (2001–05)

; Denmark Dennis Rommedahl (2009) Niki Zimling (2010-11)

; Ecuador José Valencia Murillo (2004–06)

; England Chris Eagles (2006–07) David Jones (2006)

; Finland Antti Sumiala (1995–97)

; Germany Jörg Sobiech (1996–98)

; Hungary Krisztián Vadócz (2007–08)

; Macedonia Ǵorǵi Hristov (2000–03) Dževdet Šainovski (1997–99)

; Morocco Youssef El-Akchaoui (2006-10)

; Netherlands Antilles Moises Bicentini (1957–61)

; Paraguay Edgar Barreto (2004–07)

; Poland Janusz Kowalik (1974–76) Andrzej Niedzielan (2004–07)

; Serbia Nedeljko Bulatović (1966–67) Dejan Govedarica (2002–04)

; Spain Dani Fernández (2008–09) Manuel Sánchez Torres (1990–91)

; Sweden Jonas Olsson (2005–08)

Man of the Year

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%" !style="background: #DD0000;" align=center|Season !style="background: #DD0000;" width=73%|Name |- |align=center|2000/01 | Danny Hesp |- |align=center|2001/02 | Rob Wielaert |- |align=center|2002/03 | Rob Wielaert |- |align=center|2003/04 | Dennis Gentenaar |- |align=center|2004/05 | Peter Wisgerhof |- |align=center|2005/06 | Romano Denneboom |- |align=center|2006/07 | Jonas Olsson |- |align=center|2007/08 | Youssef El-Akchaoui |- |align=center|2008/09 | Lasse Schöne |- |align=center|2009/10 | Lorenzo Davids |- |align=center|2010/11 | Ramon Zomer |}

Topscorers by season

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%" !style="background: #008800;" align=center|Season !style="background: #008800;" width=70%|Name !style="background: #008800;" align=center|Goals |- |align=center|1994/95 | Danny Hoekman |align=center|14 |- |align=center|1995/96 | Antti Sumiala |align=center|9 |- |align=center|1996/97 | Antti Sumiala |align=center|8 |- |align=center|1997/98 | Emiel van Eijkeren |align=center|13 |- |align=center|1998/99 | Jack de Gier |align=center|16 |- |align=center|1999/00 | Jack de Gier |align=center|9 |- |align=center|2000/01 | Gorgi Hristov |align=center|15 |- |align=center|2001/02 | Frank Demouge |align=center|7 |- |align=center|2002/03 | Youssouf Hersi |align=center|9 |- |align=center|2003/04 | Youssouf Hersi |align=center|10 |- |align=center|2004/05 | Saïd Boutahar |align=center|8 |- |align=center|2005/06 | Andrzej Niedzielan |align=center|10 |- |align=center|2006/07 | Romano Denneboom |align=center|9 |- |align=center|2007/08 | Jhon van Beukering |align=center|11 |- |align=center|2008/09 | Youssef El-Akchaoui |align=center|6 |- |align=center|2009/10 | Bjorn Vleminckx |align=center|8 |- |align=center|2010/11 | Bjorn Vleminckx |align=center|23 |- |}

See also

Dutch football league teams

References

External links

;Official Official website of N.E.C. / Eredivisie.nl Official website Dutch Eredivisie

;General fan NEC Supportersforum / Official website Supportersclub / Fansite HKN Fansite ForzaNEC Fansite NECfan.nl NECToday.nl Fansite De Trouwe Honden Fansite NEC Nijmeguh

;News Football-Lineups.com / N.E.C. VI / N.E.C. Headliner / N.E.C.

;Multimedia N.E.C. Radio

NEC Category:Association football clubs established in 1900 Category:Dutch football clubs Category:Nijmegen Category:1900 establishments in the Netherlands

af:NEC Nijmegen ar:إن إي سي نيميغن bg:НЕК Ниймеген ca:NEC Nimega da:NEC Nijmegen de:NEC Nijmegen et:N.E.C. el:N.E.C. es:NEC Nijmegen fr:NEC Nimègue ko:NEC 네이메헌 hr:N.E.C. Nijmegen id:N.E.C. Nijmegen it:Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie lt:NEC Nijmegen hu:NEC nl:N.E.C. ja:NECナイメヘン no:NEC Nijmegen pl:NEC Nijmegen pt:NEC Nijmegen ro:NEC Nijmegen ru:НЕК (футбольный клуб) fi:NEC Nijmegen sv:NEC Nijmegen tr:NEC Nijmegen uk:Неймеген (футбольний клуб) zh:NEC奈梅亨

Coordinates	40°26′30″N80°00′00″N
name	Nelly Furtado
background	solo_singer
birth name	Nelly Kim Furtado
background	solo_singer
birth date	December 02, 1978
origin	Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
instrument	Vocals, guitar, keyboards, ukulele, trombone
vocal range	Mezzo-soprano (Ab3-G5)
genre	Pop, folk, R&B;, Latin pop
occupation	Singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, actress
years active	1996–present
label	DreamWorks, Geffen, MMG, Universal Music Latino
website
Associated acts	Gerald Eaton, Brian West, Timbaland, James Bryan }}

Nelly Kim Furtado (born December 2, 1978) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer and actress of Portuguese descent. She has sold 20 million albums worldwide and 18 million singles, bringing her total sales to nearly 40 million records. Furtado grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Furtado first gained fame with her debut album, ''Whoa, Nelly!'', and its single "I'm like a Bird", which won a 2001 Juno Award for Single of the Year and a 2002 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. It produced two more international singles: the more successful "Turn off the Light", and "Shit on the Radio (Remember the Days)". After giving birth to her daughter Nevis, her second studio album, ''Folklore'', was released. It was less commercially successful in the US. It produced three international singles: "Powerless (Say What You Want)", "Try", and "Força" (the theme of the 2004 European Football Championship).

In summer 2006, she released her third studio album, ''Loose''. It is her biggest success to date worldwide. It produced the number-one hits "Promiscuous", "Maneater", "Say It Right" and "All Good Things (Come to an End)". After a three-year break, in September 2009, she released her first full-length Spanish album, ''Mi Plan'', along with her first Spanish single "Manos al Aire", which topped the Billboard Hot Latin Songs. This made Furtado the first North American singer to top the Billboard Hot Latin Chart with an original Spanish song. Further singles released were "Más" and "Bajo Otra Luz". For ''Mi Plan'', Nelly received the Latin Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Album. On October 26, a remix album, ''Mi Plan Remixes'', was released. Furtado released her first greatest hits album, ''The Best of Nelly Furtado'', one month later on November 12, 2010.

Early life

Furtado was born on December 2, 1978, in Victoria, British Columbia to Portuguese parents, Maria Manuela and António José Furtado, both immigrants from the Azores. She was named after Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim. Her parents were born on São Miguel Island and emigrated to Canada in the late 1960s. Her siblings are Michael Anthony and Lisa Anne. She was raised in a Roman Catholic home.

At age four, she began performing and singing in Portuguese. Furtado's first public performance was when she sang a duet with her mother at a church on Portugal Day. She began playing musical instruments at the age of nine, learning the trombone, ukulele and – in later years – the guitar and keyboards. At the age of 12, she began writing songs, and as a teenager, she performed in a Portuguese marching band.

Furtado has acknowledged her family as the source of her strong work ethic; she spent eight summers working as a chambermaid with her mother, along with her brother and sister, who was a housekeeper in Victoria. She has stated that coming from a working class background has shaped her identity in a positive way.

Music career

1996–99: Musical beginnings

During a visit with her sister Lisa Anne in Toronto, the summer after eleventh grade, Furtado met Tallis Newkirk, member of the hip hop group Plains of Fascination. She contributed vocals to their 1996 album, ''Join the Ranks'', on the track "Waitin' 4 The Streets". After graduating from Mount Douglas Secondary School in 1996, she moved to Toronto to reside with her sister Lisa Anne. The following year, she formed Nelstar, a trip hop duo with Newkirk. Ultimately, Furtado felt the trip-hop style of the duo was "too segregated", and believed it did not represent her personality or allow her to showcase her vocal ability. She left the group and planned to move back home.

In 1997, she performed at the Honey Jam talent show. Her performance attracted the attention of The Philosopher Kings singer Gerald Eaton, who then approached her to write with him. He and fellow Kings member Brian West helped Furtado produce a demo. She left Toronto, but returned again to record more material with Eaton and West. The material recorded during these sessions led to her 1999 record deal with DreamWorks Records, where she was signed by A&R; executive Beth Halper, partner of Garbage drummer and record producer Butch Vig. Furtado's first single, "Party's Just Begun (Again)", was released that year on the ''Brokedown Palace: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack''.

2000–05: ''Whoa, Nelly!'' and ''Folklore''

Furtado continued the collaboration with Eaton and West, who co-produced her debut album, ''Whoa, Nelly!'', which was released in October 2000. Following the release of the album, Furtado headlined the "Burn in the Spotlight Tour" and also appeared on Moby's ''Area:One'' tour.

The album was an international success, supported by three international singles: "I'm like a Bird", "Turn off the Light", and "...On the Radio (Remember the Days)". It received four Grammy nominations in 2002, and her debut single won for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Furtado's work was also critically acclaimed for her innovative mixture of various genres and sounds. ''Slant Magazine'' called the album "a delightful and refreshing antidote to the army of 'pop princesses' and rap-metal bands that had taken over popular music at the turn of the millennium". The sound of the album was strongly influenced by musicians who had traversed cultures and "the challenge of making heartfelt, emotional music that's upbeat and hopeful". According to ''Maclean's'' magazine, ''Whoa, Nelly!'' had sold six million copies worldwide as of August 2006. Portions of the song "Scared of You" are in Portuguese, while "Onde Estás" is entirely in Portuguese, reflecting Furtado's Portuguese heritage. The International Release of "Whoa Nelly" featured fellow Canadian Esthero on the song titled "I Feel You".

In 2002, Furtado appeared on the song "Thin Line", on underground hip hop group Jurassic 5's album ''Power in Numbers''. The same year, Furtado provided her vocals to the Paul Oakenfold's song "The Harder They Come" from the album ''Bunkka'' and also made the song "These words are my own". She also had a collaboration with Colombian artist Juanes, in the song "Fotografia" where she showed her diversity of yet another language. Furtado was also featured in "Breathe" from Swollen Members "Monsters in the Closet" release; the video for "Breathe," directed by Spawn creator Todd MacFarlane, won the 2003 Western Canadian Music Awards Outstanding Video and MuchVIBE Best Rap Video.

Furtado's second album, ''Folklore'', was released in November 2003. The final track on the album, "Childhood Dreams", was dedicated to her daughter, Nevis. The album includes the single "Força" (meaning "strength"/ "power" or "you can do it!" in Portuguese), the official anthem of the 2004 European Football Championship. Furtado performed this song in Lisbon at the championship's final, in which the Portugal national team played. The lead single is "Powerless (Say What You Want)" and the second single is the ballad "Try". The album was not as successful as her debut, partly due to the album's less "poppy" sound, as well as underpromotion from her label DreamWorks Records. DreamWorks had just been sold to Universal Music Group. In 2005, DreamWorks Records, along with many of its artists including Furtado, was absorbed into Geffen Records.

"Powerless (Say What You Want)" was later remixed, featuring Colombian rocker Juanes, who had previously worked with Furtado on his track "Fotografía" ("Photograph"). The two would collaborate again on "Te Busqué" ("I searched for you"), a single from Furtado's 2006 album ''Loose''.

2006–08: ''Loose''

Furtado's third album, named ''Loose'', after the spontaneous, creative decisions she made while creating the album, was released in June 2006. In this album, primarily produced by Timbaland, Furtado experiments with sounds from R&B;, hip hop, and 1980s music. Furtado herself describes the album's sound as ''punk-hop'', described as "modern, poppy, spooky" and as having "a mysterious, after-midnight vibe... extremely visceral". She attributed the youthful sound of the album to the presence of her two-year-old daughter. The album received generally positive reviews from critics, with some citing the "revitalising" effect of Timbaland on Furtado's music, and others calling it "slick, smart and surprising". Some have labeled her a ''"sellout"'' for seemingly abandoning her folk and rock roots in favour of hip hop and R&B;, while others have accused her of attempting to "sex up" her music and appearance to sell more records.

''Loose'' has become the most successful album of Furtado's career so far, as it reached number one, not only in Canada and the United States, but also several countries worldwide. The album produced her first number-one hit in the United States, "Promiscuous", as well as her first number-one hit in the United Kingdom, "Maneater". The single "Say It Right" eventually became Furtado's most successful song worldwide, due to its huge success in Europe and in the United States, where it became her second number-one hit. "All Good Things (Come to an End)" became her most successful song in Europe, topping single charts in numerous countries there.

On February 16, 2007, Furtado embarked on the "Get Loose Tour". She returned in March 2007 to her hometown of Victoria to perform a concert at the Save-On Foods Memorial Centre. In honour of her visit, local leaders officially proclaimed March 21, 2007, the first day of spring, as Nelly Furtado Day. After the tour, she released her first live DVD/CD named ''Loose the Concert''. On April 1, 2007, Furtado was a performer and host of the 2007 Juno Awards in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She won all five awards for which she was nominated, including Album of the Year and Single of the Year. She also appeared on stage at the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium in London on July 1, 2007, where she performed "Say It Right", "Maneater", and "I'm like a Bird".

In 2007, Furtado and Justin Timberlake were featured on Timbaland's single "Give It to Me", which became her third number-one single in the U.S. and second in the UK. In late 2008, Furtado collaborated with James Morrison on a song called "Broken Strings" for his album ''Songs for You, Truths for Me''. The single was released on December 8 and peaked at No.2 on the UK Singles Chart in early January.

In 2007, Furtado leaked plans to ''Flare'' regarding a song she was set to duet for Kylie Minogue's return. However, the song was not featured on her album ''X'', though Minogue says the aforementioned song "is still outstanding" and has plans to pursue it. She said, "I am looking forward to getting in the studio and doing it because I know Nelly and I would have a great time together". The track has not appeared on Minogue's 2010 album ''Aphrodite'' either. In 2008, she sang with the Italian group "Zero Assoluto" the ballad Win or Lose – Appena prima di partire, released in Italy, France and Germany and whose video was shot in Barcelona. On December 31, 2008, ''El Diario La Prensa'' posted an article that Furtado is planning on recording songs in English and Spanish for her upcoming album and that it is "expected to launch on September 15, 2009".

2009–2010: ''Mi Plan'' and compilation albums

|source=— Furtado explaining song selected on ''The Best of Nelly Furtado''.}} Furtado made a guest appearance on Flo Rida's new album, ''R.O.O.T.S.'', which was released on March 31, 2009. The track is titled "Jump". Furtado has also made a guest appearance on Divine Brown's ''Love Chronicles'', co-writing and singing on the background of the song "Sunglasses".

In early March, a song called "Gotta Know" leaked onto the Internet and was said to be Nelly's. In response, on March 4, 2009, Furtado stated on her MySpace blog that the song is not hers and that she is recording two new albums: one in Spanish, and the other in Portuguese. Nelly Furtado announced via the Perez Hilton blog, that the Spanish album would be titled ''Mi Plan'' and the first single titled "Manos Al Aire" (in English, meaning "Hands in the Air"). The album will have twelve new songs, all in Spanish, as stated by Nelly in a message left in her official website. The second single "Más" was released on July 21, as it was announced on Nelly's official MySpace. The third single "Mi Plan" (ft. Alex Cuba) was released on iTunes on August 11, 2009 and "Bajo Otra Luz" (ft. Julieta Venegas and La Mala Rodriguez) is the fourth and final countdown single and it was released on September 1, 2009. She also invited the Mexican star Alejandro Fernández to sing a duet song named "Sueños" ("Dreams"). The video for "Manos al Aire" premiered on July 29 on It's On with Alexa Chung. On November 11, 2010 Furtado won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Album for ''Mi Plan''. She is the first Canadian to win a Latin Grammy award.

Furtado made a guest appearance on Canadian singer k-os's new album ''Yes!'', collaborating alongside Saukrates on the song "I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman," released in early July 2009. Nelly Furtado will make a guest appearance on Tiësto's single "Who Wants to Be Alone" on his new album ''Kaleidoscope'' which was released on October 6, 2009. Furtado also recorded "Manos al Aire" in Simlish for the new Sims 3 expansion, World Adventures.

On February 12, 2010, Nelly Furtado sang in a duet with Bryan Adams at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. The song was called "Bang The Drum" released on EMI album ''Sounds Of Vancouver 2010'' (a commemorative album). On February 14, 2010, she appeared again at the Winter Olympic Victory Ceremony after the awarding of the medals for the athletes. On April 13, 2010, Nelly announced on her Twitter account that ''Lifestyle'', her fourth English studio album, would not be released during the summer of 2010 and that she will go on a second leg of her Mi Plan Tour where she will get more inspiration for her upcoming album ''Lifestyle''. Nelly Furtado is featured in a new song by N.E.R.D. called "Hot N Fun". She also participated in the Young Artists for Haiti song, in which many Canadian artists came together and sang K'naan's inspirational song "Wavin' Flag" to raise money for the victims of the Haiti Earthquake.

To promote the tour in Brazil, on March 24, 2010, Furtado made a ''"VIP Pocket Show"'' in reality show program Big Brother Brasil 10 from Rede Globo, the country's leading channel. She performed 5 songs from the tour in acoustic versions ("Maneater", "I'm Like A Bird", "Try", "Say It Right" and "Turn Off The Light"). Nelly Furtado participated in the live DVD recording of the Brazilian singer Ivete Sangalo in Madison Square Garden on September 4, 2010. Nelly Furtado sang two new songs: "Girlfriend in the City" and "Night Is Young" on her concert in Warsaw, Poland.

Furtado was honoured with a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in October 2010. On October 26, 2010, Furtado released ''Mi Plan Remixes'' featuring 12 tracks of remixed hits from "Mi Plan." This album included the Original Spanglish Version of "Fuerte", her final release from ''Mi Plan''.

Furtado released her first greatest hits album entitled ''The Best of Nelly Furtado'' on November 16, 2010. The album's first single, "Night Is Young" premiered on BBC Radio 1 on October 3, 2010. The song was first released for digital download on October 12, 2010 in Australia. Three new songs will be on the greatest hits album, including "Night Is Young", another collaboration Salaam Remi entitled "Girlfriend in the City", and the Lester Mendez produced track, left over from the ''Loose'' sessions, "Stars".

2011–present: ''Lifestyle'' and other projects

On July 2, 2011, Furtado preformed a new track from her upcoming studio album. The acoustic ballad was entitled "Mystery". The proposed album is targeted for a 2012 release and has attracted producers such as The Neptunes, Tiësto, Timbaland, Ryan Tedder and Rodney Jerkins. At a concert in Lisbon,'Delta Tejo Festival', Furtado covered Jennifer Lopez's 2011 hit single "On the Floor" which incorporates Kaoma's 1989 single "Lambada". Furtado announced that she would include rapper Nas on her upcoming lead single, amongst others to be featured on the album. Another album feature surfaced is Passion Pit's lead singer Mike Angelakos on a track entitled "The Edge", while Furtado also expressed interest to work once again with rapper Missy Elliot. Furtado continued to collaborate with hip-hop producer Salaam Remi, who previously worked on the 2010 single Night Is Young, on "The Edge". The lyrics for the Salaam Remi produced track are reported to be influenced by the Tiger Woods cheating scandal, in which was originally referred to as "Elin's Song". Furtado proclaims that ''Lifestyle'' would be most like her 2000 debut Whoa, Nelly!, but containing elements from urban, alternative, and reggae. In addition is the first of Furtado's album to be completely in English. The influences for the album range from Janelle Monae, The xx, to Florence + the Machine.

Aside from ''Lifestyle'', Furtado was featured Game's second single on the The R.E.D. Album entitled "Mamma Knows" (produced by the Neptunes). For the Canadian film The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom, Furtado lent her vocals for the Dolly Parton gospel cover "The Seeker" featured during the credits of the film.

Other work

Record label

She has formed her own record label, Nelstar, in conjunction with Canadian independent label group Last Gang Labels. The first act signed to Nelstar is Fritz Helder & the Phantoms. Furtado released her first Spanish single "Manos al Aire" on the new label.

Philanthropy

For World AIDS Day in 2006, Furtado took part in an AIDS awareness concert in South Africa hosted by MTV, BET, and Nike; fellow performers included Enrique Iglesias, Kanye West, Kelly Rowland, Snoop Dogg and Kelly Clarkson. Furtado also hosted a program about AIDS on MTV, which also featured guests Alicia Keys and Justin Timberlake. She cites diverse influences, which include soul-trip/hip hop artists such as De La Soul, TLC, world music artists Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Amalia Rodrigues, as well as Caetano Veloso, Juanes, Jeff Buckley, Esthero, Björk, Cornershop, Oasis, Radiohead, The Smashing Pumpkins and Beck.

Furtado's music has also been influenced by her current residence, Toronto, which she calls "the most multicultural city in the entire world" and a place where she "can be any culture". Regarding Toronto's cultural diversity, she has said that she did not have to wait for the Internet revolution to learn about world music; she began listening to it at the age of five and continues to discover new genres.

Her biggest influence when growing up was Ani DiFranco:

"When I was a teenager, I wanted to be (the feminist punk-folk singer) Ani DiFranco. I never wanted to be part of corporate music."

Personal life

On September 20, 2003, in Toronto, Furtado gave birth to a daughter, Nevis, whose father is Jasper Gahunia [AKA DJ Lil' Jazz, Canadian DMC Champion 1998]. Furtado and Gahunia, who had been good friends for several years, remained together for four years until their breakup in 2005. Furtado told ''Blender'' magazine that they continue to be good friends and jointly share responsibility of raising Nevis.

In June 2006, in an interview with ''Genre'' magazine, when asked if she had "ever felt an attraction to women", Furtado replied "Absolutely. Women are beautiful and sexy". Some considered this an announcement of bisexuality, but in August 2006, she stated that she was "straight, but very open-minded". In November 2006, Furtado revealed that she once turned down $500,000 to pose fully clothed in ''Playboy''.

Furtado married Cuban sound engineer Demacio "Demo" Castellón, with whom she had worked on the ''Loose'' album, on July 19, 2008.

Furtado is one of several celebrities who have come under fire recently after 2011 reports from the New York Times and a WikiLeaks document revealed several entertainers had received extravagant sums to perform for the family of Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi. She has promised to donate to charity the $1 million she received for a 2007 concert.

Furtado publicly endorsed Green Party Leader, Elizabeth May in Saanich-Gulf Islands during the Federal election in 2011.

Discography

''Whoa, Nelly!'' (2000)

''Folklore'' (2003)

''Loose'' (2006)

''Mi Plan'' (2009)

Filmography

! Year	! Title	! Role	! Genre	Notes
2001		Herself	American Science fiction Television series	Performed "I'm like a Bird"
2006	''Floribella''	Herself	Portuguese Soap Opera
2007	''One Life to Live''	Herself	American Soap Opera
2007	''CSI: NY''	Ava Brandt	American police procedural television series	Played Ava, a professional criminal accused of murder.
2007	''Punk'd''	Herself	American hidden camera practical joke television series	A victim of a bomb scare
2008		Christa Balder	Video game adaptation	The wife of Max Payne's slain ex-partner
2010	''Big Brother Brasil''	Herself	Brazilian reality show	Live performance
2010	Score : A Hockey Musical	An Ardent Hockey Fan	Canadian Film	www.scoreahockeymusical.com

See also

List of awards and nominations received by Nelly Furtado

References

External links

Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:People from Victoria, British Columbia Category:Canadian dance musicians Category:Canadian female guitarists Category:Canadian female singers Category:Canadian folk guitarists Category:Canadian folk singers Category:Canadian multi-instrumentalists Category:Canadian pop guitarists Category:Canadian pop singers Category:Canadian rhythm and blues singers Category:Canadian Roman Catholics Category:Canadian singer-songwriters Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Latin Grammy Award winners Category:Juno Award winners Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Musicians from British Columbia Category:Canadian people of Portuguese descent Category:Portuguese-language singers Category:Spanish-language singers Category:Trip hop musicians Category:Fellows of the Royal Conservatory of Music

ar:نيللي فرتادو bn:নেলি ফুরটাডো bg:Нели Фуртадо ca:Nelly Furtado cs:Nelly Furtado cy:Nelly Furtado da:Nelly Furtado de:Nelly Furtado et:Nelly Furtado el:Νέλλυ Φουρτάντο es:Nelly Furtado eo:Nelly Furtado eu:Nelly Furtado fa:نلی فورتادو fr:Nelly Furtado ga:Nelly Furtado ko:넬리 퍼타도 hi:नेली फ़र्टाडो hr:Nelly Furtado io:Nelly Furtado id:Nelly Furtado is:Nelly Furtado it:Nelly Furtado he:נלי פורטדו ka:ნელი ფურტადო csb:Nelly Furtado lv:Nellija Furtado lt:Nelly Furtado hu:Nelly Furtado mk:Нели Фуртадо ms:Nelly Furtado nl:Nelly Furtado ja:ネリー・ファータド no:Nelly Furtado nn:Nelly Furtado uz:Nelly Furtado nds:Nelly Furtado pl:Nelly Furtado pt:Nelly Furtado ro:Nelly Furtado ru:Фуртадо, Нелли sq:Nelly Furtado simple:Nelly Furtado sk:Nelly Furtado sl:Nelly Furtado sr:Нели Фуртадо fi:Nelly Furtado sv:Nelly Furtado tl:Nelly Furtado ta:நெல்லி ஃபர்ட்டடோ th:เนลลี เฟอร์ทาโด tr:Nelly Furtado uk:Неллі Фуртаду ur:نیلی فرٹاڈو vi:Nelly Furtado zh:妮莉·費塔朵

Coordinates	40°26′30″N80°00′00″N
Name	"Weird Al" Yankovic
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Alfred Matthew Yankovic
Alias	"Weird Al" Yankovic
Birth date	October 23, 1959
Origin	Lynwood, California, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, accordion, keyboards
Occupation	Record producer, satirist, parodist, singer-songwriter, musician, director, producer, actor
Years active	1976–present
Genre	Parody, comedy, polka
Religion	Christianity
Label	Capitol, Scotti Brothers, Volcano
Associated acts	Dr. Demento
Website	www.weirdal.com }}

Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts. Since his first-aired comedy song in 1976, he had sold more than 12 million albums (as of 2007), recorded more than 150 parody and original songs, and has performed more than 1,000 live shows. His works have earned him three Grammy Awards among nine nominations, four gold records, and six platinum records in the United States. Yankovic's first top ten ''Billboard'' album (''Straight Outta Lynwood'') and single ("White & Nerdy") were both released in 2006, nearly three decades into his career.

Yankovic's success comes in part from his effective use of music video to further parody popular culture, the song's original artist, and the original music videos themselves, scene-for-scene in some cases. He directed later videos himself and went on to direct for other artists including Ben Folds, Hanson, Black Crowes, and The Presidents of the United States of America. In addition to recording his albums, Yankovic wrote and starred in the film, ''UHF'', and television show, ''The Weird Al Show''. He has also made guest appearances on many television shows, in addition to starring in ''Al TV'' specials on MTV.

Early life

The only child of Nick Louis Yankovic (June 4, 1917 – April 9, 2004) and Mary Elizabeth (February 7, 1923 – April 9, 2004), Alfred was born in Downey, California, and raised in the town of Lynwood. His father was born in Kansas City, Kansas of Serbian descent, and began living in California after serving during World War II; he believed "the key to success" was "doing for a living whatever makes you happy" and often reminded his son of this philosophy. Nick Yankovic married Mary Vivalda in 1949. Mary, who was of Italian and English descent, and had come to California from Kentucky, gave birth to Alfred ten years later.

Al's first accordion lesson, which sparked his career in music, was on the day before his sixth birthday. A door-to-door salesman traveling through Lynwood offered the Yankovic parents a choice of accordion or guitar lessons at a local music school. Yankovic claims the reason his parents chose accordion over guitar was "They figured there should be at least one more accordion-playing Yankovic in the world," referring to Frankie Yankovic, to whom he is not related directly. Also, Yankovic said, that "[his] parents chose the accordion because they were convinced it would revolutionize rock." He continued lessons at the school for three years before continuing to learn on his own. Yankovic's early accordion role models include Frankie Yankovic and Myron Floren (the accordionist on ''The Lawrence Welk Show''). In the 1970s, Yankovic was a big fan of Elton John and claims John's ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'' album "was partly how I learned to play rock 'n roll on the accordion." As for his influences in comedic and parody music, Yankovic lists artists including Tom Lehrer, Stan Freberg, Spike Jones, Allan Sherman, Shel Silverstein and Frank Zappa "and all the other wonderfully sick and twisted artists that he was exposed to through the ''Dr. Demento Radio Show''." Other sources of inspiration for his comedy come from ''Mad'' magazine, Monty Python, and the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker parody movies.

Yankovic began kindergarten a year earlier than most children, and he skipped the second grade. "My classmates seemed to think I was some kind of rocket scientist so I was labeled a nerd early on," he recalls. As his unusual schooling left him two years younger than most of his classmates, Yankovic was not interested in sports or social events at school. He was a straight-A student throughout high school, which earned him the honor of becoming valedictorian of his senior class. Yankovic was active in his school's extracurricular programs, including the National Forensic League, a play based upon ''Rebel Without a Cause'', the yearbook (for which he wrote most of the captions), and the Volcano Worshippers club, "which did absolutely nothing. We started the club just to get an extra picture of ourselves in the yearbook."

Yankovic went on to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo where he earned a degree in architecture.

Career

Dr. Demento and early fame

Yankovic received his first exposure via southern California and syndicated comedy radio personality Dr. Demento's radio show, saying "If there hadn't been a Dr. Demento, I'd probably have a real job now." In 1976, Dr. Demento spoke at Yankovic's school where the then 16 year old Yankovic gave him a homemade tape of original and parody songs performed on the accordion in Yankovic's bedroom into a "cheesy little tape recorder". The tape's first song was "Belvedere Cruisin'", about his family's Plymouth Belvedere, was played on Demento's comedy radio show, launching Yankovic's career. Demento said "'Belvedere Cruising' might not have been the very best song I ever heard, but it had some clever lines [...] I put the tape on the air immediately.". Yankovic also played at local coffeehouses, saying:

During Yankovic's sophomore year as an architecture student at Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo, he became a disc jockey at the university's radio station, KCPR. Yankovic said he had been nicknamed ''Weird Al'' by fellow students and "took it on professionally" as his persona for the station. In 1978, he released his first recording (as Alfred Yankovic), "Take Me Down", on the LP, ''Slo Grown'', as a benefit for the Economic Opportunity Commission of San Luis Obispo County. The song mocked famous nearby landmarks such as the fountain toilets at the Madonna Inn.

In mid-1979, shortly before his senior year, "My Sharona" by The Knack was on the charts and Yankovic took his accordion into the restroom across the hall from the radio station (to take advantage of the echo chamber acoustics) and recorded a parody titled "My Bologna". He sent it to Dr. Demento, who played it to good response from listeners. Yankovic met The Knack after a show at his college and introduced himself as the author of "My Bologna". The Knack's lead singer, Doug Fieger, said he liked the song and suggested that Capitol Records vice president Rupert Perry release it as a single. "My Bologna" was released as a single with "School Cafeteria" as its B-side, and the label gave Yankovic a six-month recording contract. Yankovic, who was "only getting average grades" in his architecture degree, began to realize that he might make a career of comedic music.

On September 14, 1980, Yankovic was a guest on the ''Dr. Demento Show'', where he was to record a new parody live. The song was called "Another One Rides the Bus", a parody of Queen's hit, "Another One Bites the Dust". While practicing the song outside the sound booth, he met Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, who told him he was a drummer and agreed to bang on Yankovic's accordion case to help Yankovic keep a steady beat during the song. They rehearsed the song just a few times before the show began. "Another One Rides the Bus" became so popular that Yankovic's first television appearance was a performance of the song on ''The Tomorrow Show'' (April 21, 1981) with Tom Snyder. On the show, Yankovic played his accordion, and again, Schwartz banged on the accordion case and provided comical sound effects.

Band and fame

1981 brought Yankovic on tour for the first time as part of Dr. Demento's stage show. His stage act in a Phoenix, Arizona, nightclub caught the eye of manager Jay Levey, who was "blown away". Levey asked Yankovic if he had considered creating a full band and doing his music as a career. Yankovic admitted that he had, so Levey held auditions. Steve Jay became Yankovic's bass player, and Jay's friend Jim West played guitar. Schwartz continued on drums. Yankovic's first show with his new band was on March 31, 1982. Several days later, Yankovic and his band were the opening act for Missing Persons.

Yankovic recorded "I Love Rocky Road", (a parody of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" as recorded by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts) which was produced by Rick Derringer, in 1982. The song was a hit on Top 40 radio, leading to Yankovic's signing with Scotti Brothers Records. In 1983, Yankovic's first self-titled album was released on Scotti Bros. He released his second album ''"Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D'' in 1984. The first single "Eat It", a parody of the Michael Jackson song "Beat It", became popular, thanks in part to the music video, a shot-for-shot parody of Jackson's "Beat It" music video, and what Yankovic described as his "uncanny resemblance" to Jackson. Peaking at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 14, 1984, "Eat It" remained Yankovic's highest-charting single until "White & Nerdy" placed at number 9 in October 2006.

In 1985, Yankovic co-wrote and starred in a mockumentary of his own life entitled ''The Compleat Al'', which intertwined the facts of his life up to that point with fiction. The movie also featured some clips from Yankovic's trip to Japan and some clips from the ''Al TV'' specials. ''The Compleat Al'' was co-directed by Jay Levey, who would direct ''UHF'' four years later. Also released around the same time as ''The Compleat Al'' was ''The Authorized Al'', a biographical book based on the film. The book, resembling a scrapbook, included real and fictional humorous photographs and documents.

Yankovic and his band toured as the opening act for The Monkees in mid-1987 for their second reunion tour of North America. Yankovic claims to have enjoyed touring with The Monkees, despite the fact "the promoter gypped us out of a bunch of money."

Yankovic also appeared on the Wendy Carlos recording of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" as the narrator in 1988. The album also included a sequel of Camille Saint-Saëns's composition The Carnival of the Animals entitled the "Carnival of the Animals Part II", with Yankovic providing humorous poems for each of the featured creatures in the style of Ogden Nash, who had written humorous poems for the original. Rubén Valtierra joined the band on keyboards in 1991, allowing Yankovic to concentrate more on singing and increasing his use of the stage space during concerts.

A factual biographical booklet of Yankovic's life, written by Dr. Demento, was released with the 1994 box set compilation ''Permanent Record: Al in the Box''. The Dr. Demento Society, which issues yearly Christmas re-releases of material from Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes, often includes unreleased tracks from Yankovic's vaults, such as "Pacman", "It's Still Billy Joel To Me" or the live version of "School Cafeteria".

New look and career to present

On January 24, 1998, Yankovic had LASIK eye surgery to correct his extreme myopia. In the same period, he shaved off his moustache and grew out his hair, thus radically changing his signature look (he had previously shaved his mustache in 1983 for the video of "Ricky" to resemble Desi Arnaz and 1996 for the "Amish Paradise" video). Yankovic reasoned, "If Madonna's allowed to reinvent herself every 15 minutes, I figure I should be good for a change at least once every 20 years." He parodied the reaction to this "new look" in a commercial for his nonexistent ''MTV Unplugged'' special. The commercial featured Yankovic in the short-haired wig from the music video for Hanson's "River", claiming his new look was an attempt to "get back to the core of what I'm all about", that being "the music".

Three of his latest albums feature the longest songs Yankovic has ever released. The "Albuquerque" track from ''Running with Scissors'' is 11 minutes and 25 seconds; "Genius in France" from ''Poodle Hat'' runs for 8 minutes and 56 seconds; "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" from ''Straight Outta Lynwood'' is 10 minutes and 53 seconds long. Before 2007 (apart from a one-off performance of "Albuquerque" in Albuquerque, New Mexico), these "epic" songs were not performed live in their entirety due to their length and complexity. ''(See Live performances for details)''

Yankovic has also started to explore digital distribution of his songs. On October 7, 2008, Yankovic released to the iTunes Store "Whatever You Like", a parody of the T.I. song of the same title, which Yankovic said he had come up with two weeks before. Yankovic said that the benefit of digital distribution is that "I don't have to wait around while my songs get old and dated—I can get them out on the Internet almost immediately." In 2009, Yankovic released four more songs: "Craigslist" on June 16, "Skipper Dan" on July 14, "CNR" on August 4, and "Ringtone" on August 25. These five digitally released songs were packaged as a digital EP titled ''Internet Leaks'', with "Whatever You Like" retroactively included in the set.

In 2011, Yankovic completed his thirteenth studio album. This album, titled ''Alpocalypse'', is his first studio album since ''Straight Outta Lynwood'', and was released on June 21, 2011. The album contains the five songs from the previous ''Internet Leaks'' digital download release, a polka medley called "Polka Face", a song called "TMZ" for which Bill Plympton created an animated music video, and five other new songs.

Yankovic had reported an interest in parodying Lady Gaga's material, and on April 20 announced that he had written and recorded a parody of "Born This Way" entitled "Perform This Way", to be the lead single for his new album. However, upon first submitting it to Lady Gaga's manager for approval (which Yankovic does as a courtesy), he was not given permission to release it commercially. As he had previously done under similar circumstances (with his parody of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful"), Yankovic then released the song for free on the internet. Soon afterwards, Gaga's manager admitted that he had denied the parody of his own accord without forwarding the song to his client, and upon seeing it online, Lady Gaga granted permission for the parody. Yankovic has stated that all of his proceeds from the parody and its music video will be donated to the Human Rights Campaign, to support the human rights themes of the original song.

Yankovic was also a judge for the 10th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.

Personal life

Yankovic married Suzanne Krajewski in 2001; their daughter, Nina, was born in 2003. They also have a pet cockatiel named Bo Veaner and another dog named Bambu. They used to have a pet poodle, named Bela (pictured atop Yankovic's head on the cover of his album, ''Poodle Hat''). Yankovic identifies as Christian and has stated that a couple from his church appeared on the cover of ''Poodle Hat''.

Yankovic changed his diet to become a vegan in 1992, after a former girlfriend gave him the book ''Diet for a New America'' and he felt "it made [...] a very compelling argument for a strict vegetarian diet." When asked how he can "rationalize" performing at events such as the ''Great American Rib Cook-Off'' when he is a vegan, he replied "The same way I can rationalize playing at a college even though I’m not a student anymore."

In 2004, Yankovic's parents were found dead in their Fallbrook, California, home, apparently the victims of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning from their fireplace that had been recently lit. The flue was closed, which trapped the carbon monoxide gas inside the house, suffocating them. Several hours after his wife notified him of his parents' death, Yankovic went on with his concert in Mankato, Minnesota, saying that "since my music had helped many of my fans through tough times, maybe it would work for me as well" and that it would "at least ... give me a break from sobbing all the time." Although Yankovic played the concert as planned, a scheduled meet and greet following the concert was canceled.

Music career

While Yankovic's song parodies (such as "Eat It") have resulted in success on the Billboard charts (''see List of singles by "Weird Al" Yankovic''), he has actually recorded an equally large number of original humorous songs ("You Don't Love Me Anymore" and "One More Minute"). His work depends largely on the satirizing of popular culture, including television (''see The TV Album''), movies ("The Saga Begins"), food (''see The Food Album''), popular music ("Bohemian Polka", "Polkarama"), and sometimes issues in contemporary news ("Headline News"). Yankovic claims he has no intention of writing "serious" music. In his reasoning, "There's enough people that do unfunny music. I'll leave the serious stuff to Paris Hilton and Kevin Federline."

Although many of Yankovic's songs are parodies of contemporary radio hits, it is rare that the song's primary topic lampoons the original artist as a person, or the song itself. Most Yankovic songs consist of the original song's music, with a separate, unrelated set of amusing lyrics. Yankovic considered that his first true satirical song was "Smells Like Nirvana", which references unintelligible lyrics in Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" Other satirical songs include "Achy Breaky Song", which refers to the song "Achy Breaky Heart", "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long", which refers to the repetitious lyrics in "Got My Mind Set on You", the unreleased "It's Still Billy Joel to Me", and Perform This Way", set to Lady Gaga's "Born This Way".

Yankovic's humor normally lies more in creating unexpected incongruity between an artist's image and the topic of the song, contrasting the style of the song with its content (such as the songs "Amish Paradise", "White & Nerdy", and "You're Pitiful"), or in pointing out trends or works which have become pop culture clichés (such as "eBay" and "Don't Download This Song").

Yankovic is the sole writer for all his songs and, for "legal and personal reasons", does not accept parody submissions or ideas from fans. There exists, however, one exception to this rule in the case of "Like a Surgeon". Madonna was reportedly talking with a friend and happened to wonder aloud when Yankovic was going to turn her "Like a Virgin" into "Like a Surgeon". Madonna's friend was a mutual friend of Yankovic's manager, Jay Levey, and eventually Yankovic himself heard the story from Levey.

Unlike other parody artists such as Allan Sherman, Yankovic strives to keep the backing music in his parodies the same as the original. While Sherman reproduced them orchestrally, Yankovic and his band essentially play the original song with new lyrics. Instead of using instrumental versions of the original songs, Yankovic and his band transcribe the original song by ear and re-record the song for Yankovic's parody version.

In addition to his parodies, Yankovic also includes a medley of various songs on most albums, each one reinterpreted as a polka, with the choruses or memorable lines of various songs juxtaposed for humorous effect. Yankovic has been known to say that converting these songs to polka was "...the way God intended." Because the polkas have become a staple of Yankovic's albums, he has said he tries to include one on each album because "fans would be rioting in the streets, I think, if I didn't do a polka medley."

Some of Yankovic's original songs are "style parodies" for which he chooses a band's entire body of work to honor/parody, rather than any single hit by that band. Such bands include Rage Against the Machine with "I'll Sue Ya" (which features many aspects of the hit song "Killing in the Name"), Devo with "Dare to Be Stupid", Talking Heads with "Dog Eat Dog", Frank Zappa with "Genius in France", Nine Inch Nails with "Germs", and Queen with "Ringtone". Others are style parodies in the style of a genre of music, rather than a specific band (for example, country music with "Good Enough For Now" and charity records with "Don't Download This Song").

Yankovic has contributed original songs to several films ("This Is the Life" from ''Johnny Dangerously''; "Polkamon" from the movie ''Pokémon: The Movie 2000'', and a parody of the James Bond title sequence in ''Spy Hard''), in addition to his own film, ''UHF''. Other songs of his have appeared in films or television series as well, such as "Dare to Be Stupid" in ''The Transformers: The Movie''.

One of Yankovic's recurring jokes involves the number 27. It is mentioned in the lyrics of several songs, and seen on the covers for ''Running With Scissors'', ''Poodle Hat'' and ''Straight Outta Lynwood''. Yankovic had originally just pulled the number 27 as a random figure to use in filling out lyrics, but as his fans started to notice the reuse of the number after the first few times, Yankovic began to purposely drop references to 27 within his lyrics, videos, and album covers. Yankovic explains that "It's just a number I started using that people started attaching a lot of importance to." Other recurring jokes revolve around the names Bob (the ''Al TV'' interviews often mention the name), Frank (e.g. "Frank's 2000" TV"), and the surname "Finkelstein" (e.g. the music video for "I Lost on Jeopardy", or Fran Dreischer's character, Pamela Finkelstein, in UHF). Also, a hamster called Harvey the Wonder Hamster is a recurring character in ''The Weird Al Show'' and the ''Al TV'' specials, as well as the subject of an original song on ''Alapalooza''. Some other recurring jokes include Yankovic borrowing, or being owed, $5. In a number of ''Al TV'' interviews, he often asks if he can borrow $5, being turned down every time. This motif also occurs in "Why Does This Always Happen to Me?", in which his deceased friend owes him $5. Another recurring joke is his attraction to female nostrils or nostrils in general. This also appears in numerous ''Al TV'' interviews as well as in several of his songs ("Albuquerque" and "Wanna B Ur Lovr" to name a few.) Yankovic also asks his celebrity guests if they could "shave his back for a nickel." This also appears in the song "Albuquerque". Yankovic has also put two backmasking messages into his songs. The first, in "Nature Trail to Hell", said "Satan Eats Cheez Whiz"; the second, in "I Remember Larry", said "Wow, you must have an awful lot of free time on your hands."

Yankovic's career in novelty and comedy music has outlasted many of his "mainstream" parody targets, such as Toni Basil, MC Hammer, and Men Without Hats. While most novelty artists are one-hit wonders, Yankovic's continued success (including the top 10 single "White & Nerdy" and album ''Straight Outta Lynwood'' in 2006) has enabled him to escape the stigma often associated with novelty music.

Music videos

While Yankovic's musical parodies generally do not include references to the songs or the artists of the original songs, Yankovic's music videos will sometimes parody the original song's music video in whole or in part. Most notably, the video for "Smells Like Nirvana" uses an extremely similar set to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", including using several of the same actors. This video contended with "Smells like Teen Spirit" at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Male Video. Other videos that draw directly from those of the original song include "Eat It", "Fat", "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*", "Bedrock Anthem", "Headline News", "It's All about the Pentiums", "Amish Paradise", "Like a Surgeon", and "White & Nerdy". The video for "Dare to Be Stupid" is, as stated by Yankovic, a style parody in general of Devo videos.

Several videos have included appearances by notable celebrities in addition to Yankovic and his band. Dr. Demento appeared in several of Yankovic's earlier videos, such as "I Love Rocky Road" and "Ricky". Actor Dick Van Patten is featured in both "Smells Like Nirvana" and "Bedrock Anthem"; Drew Carey, Emo Philips and Phil LaMarr appeared in "It's All About the Pentiums"; Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Donny Osmond, Judy Tenuta and Seth Green appeared in "White & Nerdy"; and Ruth Buzzi and Pat Boone appeared in "Gump". The video for "I Lost on Jeopardy" includes an appearance by Greg Kihn, the artist whose song, "Jeopardy", was being parodied, along with Don Pardo and Art Fleming, Jeopardy's original announcer and host, as themselves. Florence Henderson plays Al's Amish wife in "Amish Paradise".

While most videos that Yankovic creates are aired on music channels such as MTV and VH1, Yankovic has also worked with animation artists to create music videos for release with extended content albums. The DualDisc version of ''Straight Outta Lynwood'' features six videos set to songs from the release, including videos created by Bill Plympton and John Kricfalusi; one video, "Weasel Stomping Day" was created by the producers of the show ''Robot Chicken'', and aired as a segment of that program. As of fall 2010, Yankovic is again collaborating with Bill Plympton to create a video for a new song ("TMZ") which will appear on his upcoming album.

Reactions from original artists

Under the "fair use" provision of U.S. copyright law, affirmed by the United States Supreme Court, one does not need permission to record a parody. However, as a personal rule, and as a means of maintaining good relationships within the music community, Yankovic has always requested permission from the original artist before recording his parodies. He claims that only about two to three percent of the artists he approaches for parody permission deny his requests. Also, according to Stanford Libraries, fair use is unlikely to justify a parody song that parodies more than a few lines of song lyrics from an existing song. Most artists have had positive reactions to Yankovic's parodies. Several have considered it to be something of a badge of honor to have Yankovic ask permission to parody their song or style, since they felt that Yankovic would not choose to do so unless they were a success or had made some sort of cultural impact at the time. However, there are a few notable exceptions where people have not allowed parodies or have otherwise withdrawn permission.

Positive

Michael Jackson was a big fan of Yankovic, and Yankovic claimed that the artist "had always been very supportive" of his work. Jackson twice allowed him to parody his songs ("Beat It" and "Bad" became "Eat It" and "Fat", respectively). When he granted Yankovic permission to do "Fat", Jackson allowed him to use the same set built for his own "Badder" video from the ''Moonwalker'' video. Though Jackson allowed "Eat It" and "Fat", he requested that Yankovic not record a parody of "Black or White", entitled "Snack All Night", because he felt the message was too important. This refusal, coming shortly after the commercial failure of Yankovic's movie ''UHF'' in theaters, had initially set Yankovic back; however, Yankovic later recognized this as a critical time, as in searching for new parodies, he came across Nirvana and leading to a revitalization of his career with "Smells Like Nirvana". Yankovic has performed a concert-only parody "Snack All Night" in some of his live shows. Yankovic also has a cameo appearance, along with many other celebrities, in Jackson's music video for "Liberian Girl".

Dave Grohl of Nirvana said that the band felt they had "made it" after Yankovic recorded "Smells Like Nirvana", a parody of the grunge band's smash hit, "Smells Like Teen Spirit". On his ''Behind the Music'' special, Yankovic stated that when he called Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain to ask if he could parody the song, Cobain gave him permission, then paused and asked, "Um... it's not gonna be about food, is it?" Yankovic responded with, "No, it'll be about how no one can understand your lyrics." According to members of Nirvana interviewed for ''Behind the Music'', when they saw the video of the song, they laughed hysterically. Additionally, Cobain described Yankovic as "a musical genius."

Mark Knopfler approved Yankovic's parody of the Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing" for use in the film ''UHF'' on the provision that Knopfler himself be allowed to play lead guitar on the parody which was later titled "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*". Yankovic commented on the legal complications of the parody in the DVD audio commentary for ''UHF'', explaining "We had to name that song 'Money for Nothing 'slash' Beverly Hillbillies 'asterisk' because the lawyers told us that had to be the name. Those wacky lawyers! What ya gonna do?" The ''Permanent Record: Al in the Box'' booklet referred to the song's "compound fracture of a title." When a fan asked about the song's title, Yankovic shared his feelings on the title, replying "That incredibly stupid name is what the lawyers insisted that the parody be listed as. I'm not sure why, and I've obviously never been very happy about it."

The Presidents of the United States of America were so pleased with "Gump", Yankovic's parody of their song "Lump", that they ended the song with Yankovic's last line instead of their own ("And that's all I have to say about that") on the live recording of "Lump" featured on the compilation album ''Pure Frosting''. In 2008, Yankovic directed the music video for their song "Mixed Up S.O.B."

The song "The Saga Begins" (a parody of Don McLean's "American Pie") accurately states the entire plot of ''The Phantom Menace'', despite being written before the film's release. Yankovic got the plot details from rumor websites. He was slightly unsure about Anakin proposing to Amidala, so he attended a US$500 screening to confirm, and ended up making only very minor alterations to the lyrics. McLean was pleased with the parody, and even told Yankovic that the parody's lyrics sometimes enter his mind during live performances. Yankovic's parody not only replicates the music from the original Don McLean song, but it also replicates the multi-layered rhyming structure in the verses and chorus. Additionally, George Lucas loved the song and a Lucasfilm representative told Yankovic, "You should have seen the smile on his face."

Chamillionaire was also very pleased, even putting Yankovic's parody "White & Nerdy" (a parody of "Ridin'") on his official MySpace page before it was on Yankovic's own page. Chamillionaire stated in an interview, "He's actually rapping pretty good on it, it's crazy [...] I didn't know he could rap like that. It's really an honor when he does that. [...] Weird Al is not gonna do a parody of your song if you're not doing it big." In September 2007, Chamillionaire credited "White & Nerdy" for his recent Grammy win, stating "That parody was the reason I won the Grammy, because it made the record so big it was undeniable. It was so big overseas that people were telling me they had heard my version of Weird Al's song."

Yankovic was briefly denied permission to parody Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" for his song "Perform This Way" for release on his next album, but through his release of the song on YouTube and subsequent spread via Twitter, Lady Gaga and her staff asserted that her manager had made the decision without her input, and Gaga herself gave Yankovic permission to proceed with the parody's release. Gaga was considered "a huge Weird Al fan", and she stated that the parody was a "rite of passage" for her musical career and considered the song "very empowering".

Negative

One of Yankovic's most controversial parodies was 1996's "Amish Paradise", based on "Gangsta's Paradise" by hip-hop artist Coolio, which, in turn, was based on "Pastime Paradise" by Stevie Wonder. Reportedly, Coolio's label gave Yankovic the impression that Coolio had granted permission to record the parody, but Coolio maintains that he never did. While Coolio claimed he was upset, legal action never materialized, and Coolio accepted royalty payments for the song. After this controversy, Yankovic has always made sure to speak directly with the artist of every song he parodied. At the XM Satellite Radio booth at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show Yankovic and Coolio made peace. On his website, Yankovic wrote of this event, "I don’t remember what we said to each other exactly, but it was all very friendly. I doubt I’ll be invited to Coolio’s next birthday party, but at least I can stop wearing that bulletproof vest to the mall."

In 2003, Yankovic was denied permission to make a video for "Couch Potato", his parody of Eminem's "Lose Yourself": {{Block quote|Last year, Eminem forced me to halt production on the video for my 'Lose Yourself' parody because he somehow thought that it would be harmful to his image or career.}} For the ''Poodle Hat'' ''Al TV'' special, Yankovic raised the question of artistic expression in a fake interview with Eminem. As Yankovic has always done for his ''Al TV'' specials, he edited the footage of a previous Eminem interview and inserted himself asking questions for comic effect.

Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers expressed disappointment of Yankovic's parody of "Under the Bridge" and "Give it Away" called "Bedrock Anthem", saying that while he "[likes] Weird Al and everything", he "didn't think it was very good".

Refused parodies

On numerous occasions, Prince has refused Yankovic permission to record parodies of his songs. Yankovic has stated in interviews that he has "approached him every few years [to] see if he's lightened up." Yankovic related one story where, prior to the American Music Awards where he and Prince were assigned to sit in the same row, Yankovic got a telegram from Prince's lawyers, demanding he not make eye contact with the artist.

Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is a self-proclaimed Yankovic fan, but when Yankovic wished to create a polka medley of Led Zeppelin songs, Page refused. Yankovic was, however, allowed the very rare opportunity to re-record a sample of "Black Dog" for a segment of "Trapped in the Drive-Thru".

Paul McCartney, also a Yankovic fan, refused Yankovic permission to record a parody of Wings' "Live and Let Die", entitled "Chicken Pot Pie", because McCartney is a vegetarian and found the parody to be in bad taste.

In 2006, Yankovic gained James Blunt's permission to record a parody of "You're Beautiful". However, after Yankovic had recorded "You're Pitiful", Blunt's label, Atlantic Records, rescinded this permission, despite Blunt's personal approval of the song. The parody was pulled from Yankovic's ''Straight Outta Lynwood'' due to his label's unwillingness to "go to war" with Atlantic. Yankovic released the song as a free download on his MySpace profile, as well as his official website, and plays it in concert, since it was not Blunt himself objecting to the parody.

Live performances

Yankovic often describes his live concert performances as "a rock and comedy multimedia extravaganza" with an audience that "ranges from toddlers to geriatrics." Apart from Yankovic and his band performing his classic and contemporary hits, staples of Yankovic's live performances include a medley of parodies, many costume changes between songs, and a video screen on which various clips are played during the costume changes. A concert from Yankovic's 1999 tour for the ''Running with Scissors'' album ("Touring with Scissors") was released on VHS in 1999 and on DVD in 2000. Titled ''"Weird Al" Yankovic Live!'', the concert was recorded at the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, California, on October 2, 1999. For legal reasons, video clips (apart from those for Yankovic's own music videos) could not be shown for the home release, and unreleased parodies were removed from the parody medley for the performance.

2003 saw Yankovic on tour overseas for the first time. Before 2003, Yankovic and his band had toured only the United States and parts of Canada. Following the success of ''Poodle Hat'' in Australia, Yankovic performed eleven shows in Australia's major capital cities and regional areas in October of that year. Yankovic returned to Australia and toured New Zealand for the first time in 2007 to support the ''Straight Outta Lynwood'' album.

On September 8, 2007, Yankovic performed his 1,000th live show at Idaho Falls, Idaho. Yankovic is scheduled to tour in the summer of 2010. The initial plan was to tour after his 13th album will be released, but in a podcast in May 2010, Yankovic revealed that the album would not be released before or during the tour, but sometime after.

Yankovic performed his first ever European mini-tour, including an appearance at the All Tomorrow's Parties music festival in Minehead, England in December 2010. Yankovic was picked to perform by the Canadian band Godspeed You Black Emperor who curated the festival's lineup. Yankovic played three other dates in the UK around his festival appearance before performing a single date in the Netherlands.

Other work

''UHF''

In 1989, Yankovic starred in a full-length feature film, co-written by himself and manager Jay Levey, and filmed in Tulsa, Oklahoma called ''UHF''. A satire of the television and film industries, also starring Michael Richards, Fran Drescher, and Victoria Jackson, it brought floundering studio Orion their highest test scores since the movie ''RoboCop''. However, it was unsuccessful in theaters.

The film has since become a cult classic, with out-of-print copies of the VHS version selling for up to $100 on eBay until the release of the DVD in 2002. Yankovic occasionally shows clips from the film at his concerts (to which MGM, the film's current owner, initially objected in the form of a cease and desist letter). In an apparent attempt to make it more accessible to overseas audiences, where the term UHF is used less frequently to describe TV broadcasts, the film was titled ''The Vidiot From UHF'' in Australia and parts of Europe.

''UHF'' shows the creation of Yankovic's signature food—the Twinkie Wiener Sandwich. The snack consists of an overturned Twinkie split open as a makeshift bun, a hot dog, and Easy Cheese put together and dipped in milk before eating. Yankovic has stated that he has switched to using tofu hot dogs since becoming a vegetarian, but still enjoys the occasional Twinkie Wiener Sandwich.

Notable television appearances

Yankovic had a TV series called ''The Weird Al Show'', which aired from September 1997 to December 1997 on CBS. Though the show appeared to be geared at children, the humor was really more for his adult fans (as such, it is often compared to ''Pee-wee's Playhouse''). The entire series was released on DVD by Shout! Factory on August 15, 2006.

Yankovic has hosted ''Al TV'' on MTV and ''Al Music'' on MuchMusic many times, generally coinciding with the release of each new album. For ''Poodle Hat'', ''Al TV'' appeared on VH1 for the first time. A recurring segment of ''Al TV'' involves Yankovic manipulating interviews for comic effect. He inserts himself into a previously conducted interview with a musician, and then manipulates his questions, resulting in bizarre and comic responses from the celebrity.

VH1 produced a ''Behind the Music'' episode on Yankovic. His two commercial failures (his film ''UHF'' and his 1986 album ''Polka Party!'') were presented as having a larger impact on the direction of his career than they really had. Also, Coolio's later disapproval of "Amish Paradise" was played up as a large feud. Much was also made over his apparent lack of a love life, though he got married shortly after the program aired.

Yankovic has done voice-overs for a number of animated series. He appeared in a 2003 episode of ''The Simpsons'', singing "The Ballad of Homer & Marge" (a parody of John Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane") with his band. The episode, "Three Gays of the Condo", in which Marge hires Yankovic to sing the aforementioned song to Homer in an attempt to reconcile their marriage, later won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)". Yankovic also had a cameo in a 2008 episode, entitled "That 90's Show", during which he records a parody of Homer's grunge hit "Shave Me" entitled "Brain Freeze" (Homer's song, "Shave Me", was itself a parody of Nirvana's "Rape Me") making Yankovic one of only a handful of celebrities to appear twice on the show playing themselves. He has had one notable appearance in the animated Adult Swim show ''Robot Chicken'' voicing a kid who becomes a giant robot. The episode also featured Al's music video, "Weasel Stomping Day". Yankovic is the voice for Squid Hat on the Cartoon Network show, ''The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy''. He is also the announcer of the cartoon's eponymous video game adaptation. Yankovic had a guest appearance voicing Wreck-Gar, a waste collection vehicle Transformer in the ''Transformers: Animated'' cartoon series; previously, Yankovic's "Dare to Be Stupid" song was featured in the 1986 animated film ''The Transformers: The Movie'', during the sequence in which the Wreck-Gar character was first introduced; as such, the song is referenced in the episode. He also plays local TV talent show host Uncle Muscles on several episodes of ''Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job'' along with other appearances on the show. Weird Al has also supplied the voice of one-shot character 'Petroleum Joe' on ''The Brak Show''. He also voiced himself on a ''Back at the Barnyard'' episode.

An exhaustive list of television shows on which Yankovic has appeared is available on his official website.

Directing career

"Weird Al" Yankovic has directed many of his own music videos; he has directed all of his music videos from 1993’s "Bedrock Anthem" to 2006’s "White & Nerdy". He also directed the end sequence of 1986’s "Christmas at Ground Zero" (an original piece juxtaposing Christmas with nuclear warfare) from his ''Polka Party!'' album and the title sequence to ''Spy Hard'', for which he sang the title song. Yankovic wrote, directed and starred in the short 3-D movie attraction "Al's Brain: A 3-D Journey Through The Human Brain", which premiered at the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa, California in 2009. The $2.5 million project sponsored by the Orange County Fair, including a brief cameo by Sir Paul McCartney that Yankovic directed during McCartney's tour at the 2009 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Fair CEO Steve Beazley, who supported the project, considers the project a success and is considering leasing the exhibit to other fairs; the second appearance of the exhibit will be at the Puyallup Fair in Washington.

In addition to his own, he has directed several videos for Hanson (the ''Titanic'' sequences in "River"), The Black Crowes ("Only a Fool"), Ben Folds ("Rockin' the Suburbs"), Jeff Foxworthy ("Redneck Stomp" and "Party All Night"), Blues Explosion ("Wail"), and The Presidents of the United States of America ("Mixed Up S.O.B"). He has cameo appearances in his videos for Blues Explosion, Hanson (as the interviewer), and Ben Folds (as the producer fixing Folds' "shitty tracks").

Cartoon Network feature film

On January 25, 2010, Yankovic announced that he signed a production deal with Warner Bros. and is set to write and direct a live-action feature film. Although Yankovic previously wrote the script for ''UHF'', this was to be the first movie Yankovic directed. Little is currently known about the movie. However, Yankovic did state that he would not be starring in the movie, as Cartoon Network wanted a younger protagonist. During an interview on the Comedy Death-Ray Radio, Yankovic revealed that though Cartoon Network "loved" his script, the network decided that they were no longer intending to produce feature films. Yankovic stated that he would instead shop the script around to other potential studios.

Writing

Yankovic wrote ''When I Grow Up'' (ISBN 0-06-192691-4), a children's book released on February 1, 2011 and published by HarperCollins. The book features 8-year-old Billy presenting to his class the wide variety of imaginative career possibilities that he is considering. Yankovic stated that the idea for the book was based on his own "circuitous" career path. The book allows Yankovic to apply the humorous writing style found in his music in another medium, allowing him to use puns and rhymes. Yankovic worked with Harper Collins' editor Anne Hoppe—the first time that Yankovic has had an editor—and found her help as a positive experience. The book is illustrated by Wes Hargis, who, according to Yankovic, has a "a childlike quality and a very fun quality and a very imaginative quality" that matched well with Yankovic's writing. The book reached the #4 position on the New York Times Best Seller list for Children's Picture Books for the week of February 20, 2011.

Other media

In 2008, Weird Al joined Michael J. Nelson as a guest on the RiffTrax treatment of ''Jurassic Park''.

On November 10, 2009, Weird Al was a guest "internet scientist" on Rocketboom's "Know Your Meme" video series, in the installment on the topic of Autotune, hosted by Jamie Wilkinson.

Eric Appel produced a Funny or Die movie trailer for "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story", a fictional biographical film that parodies other films based on musicians; Yankovic (played by Aaron Paul) is seen hiding his "weirdness" from his parents (Gary Cole and Mary Steenburgen), making it big using song parodies with the help of Dr. Demento (Patton Oswalt), falling in and out of love with Madonna (Olivia Wilde), and fading into alcoholism and being arrested, where his father finally admits he is "weird" as well. Yankovic himself plays a music producer in the short.

Weird Al joined the band Hanson in their music video for "Thinking Bout Somethin" in which he plays the tambourine.

Yankovic contributes backing vocals for the song "Time" on Ben Folds' album ''Songs for Silverman''.

Yankovic also appeared in the recent ''Halloween II'' as himself on a news channel.

Yankovic was also one of many celebrities who took part in the NOH8 Campaign against Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage in California.

Yankovic was approached by a beer company to endorse their product. Yankovic had turned it down because he believed that "a lot of my fans were young and impressionable." Yankovic later posted on his Twitter account that he never regretted the decision.

Misattribution and imitators

Songs posted to file sharing networks are often misattributed to him due to their humorous subject matter. Often, his surname is misspelled (and thus mispronounced) as "Yankovich", among other variations. Much to the disdain of Yankovic, these misattributed files include songs that are racist, sexually explicit, or otherwise offensive. A young listener who had heard several of these offensive tracks by way of a file sharing service confronted Yankovic online, threatening a boycott due to his supposedly explicit lyrics. Quite a few of the songs, such as "Star Wars Cantina" by Mark Jonathan Davis (later of Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine), "Star Wars Gangsta Rap", "Yoda Smokes Weed", "Chewbacca" and several more have a ''Star Wars'' motif. Some songs misattributed to him are not songs, but spoken skits, such as "Sesame Street on crack", which is also widely misattributed to Adam Sandler.

Yankovic cites these misattributions as "his only real beef with peer-to-peer file sharing sites": }}

A list of songs frequently misattributed to Yankovic can be found at The Not Al Page and a list of all commercially released songs recorded by Yankovic can be found on his website.

Fan-driven campaigns

The Weird Al Star Fund is a campaign started by Yankovic's fans to get him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Their mission is to "solicit, collect, and raise the necessary money, and to compile the information needed for the application to nominate "Weird Al" Yankovic for a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame." Fans worldwide have sent donations to raise the US$15,000 needed for a nomination. In addition to the preferred method of cash donations, many methods were used to raise money for the cause, such as a live benefit show held April 11, 2006, and selling merchandise on the official website and eBay, including T-shirts, calendars, and cookbooks. On May 26, 2006, the campaign hit the then-$15,000 target, just five days before the May 31 deadline to submit the necessary paperwork. However, Yankovic was not included on the list of inductees for 2007. On February 9, 2007, the Hollywood Chamber Of Commerce raised the price to sponsor a new star to $25,000 and as such the Fund is accepting donations again. Yankovic's application was resubmitted for consideration in 2007, but he was not included among 2008's inductees.

Similar to the Weird Al Star Fund, a second fan-driven campaign called "Make the Rock Hall 'Weird'" has tried to enshrine him into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, for which he has been eligible since 2004. Previous attempts to raise awareness for the campaign and support Yankovic's nomination included a petition drive from 2006 to 2007, which raised over 9000 signatures; an art competition in 2005; additionally, a documentary film about the campaign is currently being developed. In addition to these efforts, an ongoing campaign is underway in which supporters of Yankovic's nomination are requested to send "sincere, thoughtful" letters to the Rock Hall Foundation's headquarters in New York. The Hall has not considered Yankovic for nomination since the campaign started in 2004. A 2009 ''Rolling Stone'' poll named Weird Al as the top artist that should be nominated for the Hall of Fame, followed by Rush and The Moody Blues in the top ten."

Discography

Studio albums

1984 1985 1986 1988 1989 1992 1993 1996 1999 2003 2006 2011

rowspan=2	Title	Releaseyear	Peak chart position
! style="width:3em;font-size:90%"	Billboard Comedy Album
''"Weird Al" Yankovic">"Weird Al" Yankovic (album)	"Weird Al" Yankovic''	1983	139
''"Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D''	|	17
''Dare to Be Stupid''	|	50
''Polka Party!''	|	177
''Even Worse''	|	27
''UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff''	|	146
''Off the Deep End''	|	17
''Alapalooza''	|	46
''Bad Hair Day''	|	14
''Running with Scissors (album)	Running with Scissors''	|	16
''Poodle Hat''	|	17	11
''Straight Outta Lynwood''	|	10	1
''Alpocalypse''	|	9	1

Note: Billboard Comedy Album chart was first published in November, 2004.

EPs

Title	Release year
''Another One Rides the Bus (EP)	Another One Rides the Bus''	1981
''Selections from Straight Outta Lynwood''	2006
''Internet Leaks''	2009

Compilation albums

Title	Release year
''Greatest Hits (Weird Al)	Greatest Hits''	1988
''The Food Album''	1993
''Permanent Record: Al in the Box''	1994
''Greatest Hits (Volume II)">Greatest Hits Volume II ("Weird Al" Yankovic album)	Greatest Hits (Volume II)''	1994
''The TV Album''	1995
''The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic''	2009

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

!Year	!Nominated work	!Award	!Result
	1984		"Eat It"	Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album	Best Comedy Recording
	Grammy Awards of 1986>1985		''Dare to Be Stupid''
	Grammy Awards of 1988>1987		''Polka Party!''
rowspan="3"		Fat (song)>Fat"	Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video	Best Concept Music Video
	''Even Worse''	Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album	Best Comedy Recording
	Peter and the Wolf">Peter and the Wolf ("Weird Al" Yankovic & Wendy Carlos album)>Peter and the Wolf''	Grammy Award for Best Album for Children	Best Recording for Children
	Grammy Awards of 1993>1992		''Off the Deep End''
	46th Grammy Awards>2003		''Poodle Hat''
rowspan="2"
	52nd Grammy Awards>2009

Gold and platinum records

! Recording	! Gold	! Platinum	! DoublePlatinum
''"Weird Al" Yankovic''	U.S.
''"Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D''	CanadaU.S.	U.S.
"Eat It"	AustraliaCanadaU.S.
''Dare to be Stupid''	U.S.	U.S.
''Even Worse''	CanadaU.S.	U.S.
''"Weird Al" Yankovic's Greatest Hits''	Canada
''Off the Deep End''	CanadaU.S.	CanadaU.S.
''The Food Album''	U.S.
''Alapalooza''	CanadaU.S.	Canada	Canada
''Greatest Hits Volume II''	Canada
''Bad Hair Day''	CanadaU.S.	CanadaU.S.
''Running With Scissors''	AustraliaCanadaU.S.	U.S.
''Straight Outta Lynwood''	U.S.
"White & Nerdy"	U.S.	U.S.

The "Eat It" single reached the #1 position on the Australian singles chart in 1984.

The "White & Nerdy" single was certified platinum for digital downloads and gold for ringtone downloads in the U.S.

Videography

The following is a comprehensive list of Yankovic's long form videos to date, with the United States release date.

Video title !! Release date
''The Compleat Al''	August 1985
	July 21, 1989
''The "Weird Al" Yankovic Video Library''	May 1992
''Alapalooza: The Videos''	December 1993
''"Weird Al" Yankovic: The Ultimate Collection''	1993
''Bad Hair Day: The Videos''	June 1996
''"Weird Al" Yankovic: The Videos''	January 1998
''"Weird Al" Yankovic Live!''	November 23, 1999
''"Weird Al" Yankovic: The Ultimate Video Collection''	November 3, 2003
''The Weird Al Show - The Complete Series''	August 15, 2006

Awards and nominations

{| |- |Grammy Award winners

"Fat" – Best Concept Music Video (1988)

|- |Grammy Award nominees

"Jurassic Park" – Best Music Video, Short Form (1994)

|- |Australian gold long form videos

''The Ultimate Video Collection''

|- |U.S. gold long form videos

''The "Weird Al" Yankovic Video Library''

''Alapalooza: The Videos''

''"Weird Al" Yankovic Live!''

''Bad Hair Day: The Videos''

|- |U.S. platinum long form videos

''The Ultimate Video Collection''

|}

Cameos and special appearances in film

1988: ''Tapeheads''

1988: ''The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!''

1991: ''The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear''

1994: ''Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult''

1996: ''Spy Hard''

1997: ''Safety Patrol''

2000: ''Nothing Sacred''

2002: ''Desperation Boulevard''

2003: ''Haunted Lighthouse''

2008: ''Nerdcore Rising''

2009: ''Halloween II''

References

External links

Official website

"Weird Al" timeline from Exclaim!

Category:1959 births Category:Accordionists Category:American accordionists Category:American comedy musicians Category:American male singers Category:American members of the Churches of Christ Category:American music video directors Category:American novelty song performers Category:American musicians of English descent Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:People of Yugoslav descent Category:American satirists Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American vegans Category:American vegetarians Category:American voice actors Category:California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo alumni Category:Christian vegans Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Nerdcore hip hop artists Category:Parody musicians Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:People from Lynwood, California Category:Polka musicians

ar:ويرد أل يانكوفيك ca:Weird Al Yankovic cs:Weird Al Yankovic da:"Weird Al" Yankovic de:Weird Al Yankovic es:"Weird Al" Yankovic eo:"Weird Al" Yankovic fr:Weird Al Yankovic ko:위어드 알 얀코빅 hr:"Weird Al" Yankovic id:"Weird Al" Yankovic is:„Weird Al“ Yankovic it:"Weird Al" Yankovic he:וירד אל ינקוביק la:Alfredus Yankovic lv:"Dīvainais Els" Jenkeviks hu:Alfred Matthew Yankovic nl:"Weird Al" Yankovic ja:アル・ヤンコビック no:«Weird Al» Yankovic pl:Weird Al Yankovic pt:"Weird Al" Yankovic ro:„Weird Al” Yankovic ru:«Странный Эл» Янкович simple:Weird Al Yankovic sl:»Weird Al« Yankovic sr:Weird Al Yankovic fi:”Weird Al” Yankovic sv:"Weird Al" Yankovic th:"เวียร์ด อัล" แยนคอวิค tr:"Weird Al" Yankovic uk:«Дивний Ел» Янковик zh:「怪人奧爾」揚科維奇