Kansas () is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name (natively ''kką:ze'') is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind," although this was probably not the term's original meaning. Residents of Kansas are called "Kansans."

For thousands of years what is now Kansas was home to numerous and diverse Native American tribes. Tribes in the Eastern part of the state generally lived in villages along the river valleys. Tribes in the Western part of the state were semi-nomadic and hunted large herds of bison. Kansas was first settled by European Americans in the 1830s, but the pace of settlement accelerated in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery issue. When officially opened to settlement by the U.S. government in 1854, abolitionist Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery settlers from neighboring Missouri rushed to the territory to determine if Kansas would become a free state or a slave state. Thus, the area was a hotbed of violence and chaos in its early days as these forces collided, and was known as Bleeding Kansas. The abolitionists eventually prevailed and on January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state. After the Civil War, the population of Kansas grew rapidly, when waves of immigrants turned the prairie into farmland. Today, Kansas is one of the most productive agricultural states, producing high yields of wheat, sorghum and sunflowers.

History

For millennia, the land that is currently Kansas was inhabited by Native Americans. The first European to set foot in present-day Kansas was Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, who explored the area in 1541.

In 1803, most of modern Kansas was secured by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Southwest Kansas, however, was still a part of Spain, Mexico, and the Republic of Texas until the conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1848. From 1812 to 1821, Kansas was part of the Missouri Territory. The Santa Fe Trail traversed Kansas from 1821 to 1880, transporting manufactured goods from Missouri and silver and furs from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Wagon ruts from the trail are still visible in the prairie today.

In 1827, Fort Leavenworth became the first permanent settlement of white Americans in the future state. The Kansas-Nebraska Act became law on May 30, 1854, establishing the U.S. territories of Nebraska and Kansas, and opening the area to broader settlement by whites. Kansas Territory stretched all the way to the Continental Divide and included the sites of present-day Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo. Missouri and Arkansas sent settlers into Kansas all along its eastern border. These settlers attempted to sway votes in favor of slavery. The secondary settlement of Americans in Kansas Territory were abolitionists from Massachusetts and other Free-Staters, who attempted to stop the spread of slavery from neighboring Missouri. Directly presaging the American Civil War, these forces collided, entering into skirmishes that earned the territory the name of Bleeding Kansas. Kansas was admitted to the United States as a slave-free state on January 29, 1861, making it the 34th state to enter the Union. By that time the violence in Kansas had largely subsided. However, during the Civil War, on August 21, 1863, William Quantrill led several hundred men on a raid into Lawrence, destroying much of the city and killing nearly two hundred people. He was roundly condemned by both the conventional confederate military and the partisan rangers commissioned by the Missouri legislature. His application to that body for a commission was flatly rejected due to his pre war criminal record.

After the Civil War, many veterans constructed homesteads in Kansas. Many African Americans also looked to Kansas as the land of "John Brown", and led by men like Benjamin "Pap" Singleton began establishing black colonies in the state. At the same time, the Chisholm Trail was opened and the Wild West era commenced in Kansas. Wild Bill Hickok was a deputy marshal at Fort Riley and a marshal at Hays and Abilene. Dodge City was another wild cowboy town, and both Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp worked as lawmen in the town. In one year alone, 8 million head of cattle from Texas boarded trains in Dodge City bound for the East, earning Dodge the nickname "Queen of the Cowtowns."

In part as a response to the violence perpetrated by cowboys, on February 19, 1881 Kansas became the first U.S. state to adopt a Constitutional amendment prohibiting all alcoholic beverages.

Geography

Kansas is bordered by Nebraska on the north; Missouri on the east; Oklahoma on the south; and Colorado on the west. The state is divided into 105 counties with 628 cities, and is located equidistant from the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The geographic center of the 48 contiguous states is located in Smith County near Lebanon. The geodetic center of North America was located in Meades Ranch, Kansas, Osborne County until 1983. This spot was used until that date as the central reference point for all maps of North America produced by the U.S. government. The geographic center of Kansas is located in Barton County.

Geology

Kansas is underlain by a sequence of horizontal to gently westward dipping sedimentary rocks. A sequence of Mississippian, Pennsylvanian and Permian rocks underlie the eastern and southern part of the state. The western half of the state consists of Cretaceous through Tertiary sediments derived from the erosion of the uplifted Rocky Mountains to the west. The northeastern corner of the state was subjected to glaciation in the Pleistocene and is covered by glacial drift and loess.

Topography

The western two-thirds of the state, lying in the great central plain of the United States, has a generally flat or undulating surface, while the eastern third has many hills and forests. The land gradually rises from east to west; its altitude ranges from along the Verdigris River at Coffeyville in Montgomery County, to at Mount Sunflower, one half mile from the Colorado border, in Wallace County. It is a popular belief that Kansas is the flattest state in the nation, reinforced by a well-known 2003 study stating that Kansas was indeed "flatter than a pancake". This has since been called into question, with most scientists ranking Kansas somewhere between 20th and 30th flattest state, depending on measurement method. Its average elevation is 2,000 feet, higher than 36 states.

Rivers

The Missouri River forms nearly of the state's northeastern boundary. The Kansas River (locally known as the Kaw), formed by the junction of the Smoky Hill and Republican rivers at appropriately-named Junction City, joins the Missouri at Kansas City, after a course of across the northeastern part of the state. The Arkansas River (pronunciation varies), rising in Colorado, flows with a bending course for nearly across the western and southern parts of the state. It forms, with its tributaries (the Little Arkansas, Ninnescah, Walnut, Cow Creek, Cimarron, Verdigris, and the Neosho), the southern drainage system of the state. Other important rivers are the Saline and Solomon Rivers, tributaries of the Smoky Hill River; the Big Blue, Delaware, and Wakarusa, which flow into the Kansas River; and the Marais des Cygnes, a tributary of the Missouri River. Spring River is located between Riverton (Fuglies), Kansas and Baxter Springs, Kansas.

National parks and historic sites

Areas under the protection of the National Park Service include:

Brown v. Board Of Education National Historic Site in Topeka

California National Historic Trail

Fort Larned National Historic Site in Larned

Fort Scott National Historic Site

Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail

Nicodemus National Historic Site at Nicodemus

Oregon National Historic Trail

Pony Express National Historic Trail

Santa Fe National Historic Trail

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve near Strong City

Climate

Kansas contains three climatic types, according to the Köppen climate classification: it has humid continental, semi-arid steppe, and humid subtropical. The eastern two-thirds of the state (especially the northeastern portion) has a humid continental climate, with cool to cold winters and hot, often humid summers. Most of the precipitation falls in the summer and spring. The western third of the state – from about the U.S. Route 183 corridor westward – has a semiarid steppe climate. Summers are hot, often very hot, and generally less humid. Winters are highly changeable between warm and very cold. The western region receives an average of about of precipitation per year. Chinook winds in the winter can warm western Kansas all the way into the 80°F (27°C) range. The far south-central and southeastern reaches of the state have a humid subtropical climate with hot, humid summers, milder winters and more precipitation than the rest of the state. Although not strictly falling in all of the zones, some features of all three climates can be found in most of the state, with droughts and changeable weather between dry and humid not uncommon, and both warm and cold spells in the winter.

Precipitation ranges from about 47 inches (1200 mm) annually in the southeast of the state, to about 16 inches (400 mm) in the southwest. Snowfall ranges from around 5 inches (130 mm) in the fringes of the south, to 35 inches (900 mm) in the far northwest. Frost-free days range from more than 200 days in the south, to 130 days in the northwest. Thus, Kansas is the 9th or 10th sunniest state in the country, depending on the source. Western Kansas is as sunny as California and Arizona.

In spite of the frequent sunshine throughout much of the state, due to its location at a climatic boundary prone to multiple air masses, the state is also vulnerable to strong thunderstorms, especially in the spring months. Many of these storms become Supercell thunderstorms. These can spawn tornadoes, often of EF3 strength or higher. According to statistics from the National Climatic Data Center, Kansas has reported more tornadoes (for the period 1 January 1950 through 31 October 2006) than any state except for Texas – marginally even more than Oklahoma. It has also – along with Alabama – reported more F5 or EF5 tornadoes than any other state. These are the most powerful of all tornadoes. Kansas averages over 50 tornadoes annually.

According to NOAA, the all-time highest temperature recorded in Kansas is 121°F (49.4°C) on July 24, 1936, near Alton, and the all-time low is −40°F (−40°C) on February 13, 1905, near Lebanon.

Kansas's record high of 121°F (49.4°C) ties with North Dakota for the fifth-highest record high in an American state, behind California (134°F/56.7°C), Arizona (128°F/53.3°C), Nevada (125°F/51.7°C), and New Mexico (122°F/50°C).

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Demographics

As of 2007, Kansas has an estimated population of 2,775,997, which is an increase of 20,180, or 0.7%, from the prior year and an increase of 87,579, or 3.3%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 93,899 people (that is 246,484 births minus 152,585 deaths) and a decrease due to net migration of 20,742 people out of the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 44,847 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 65,589 people. The population density of the state is 52.9 people per square mile. The center of population of Kansas is located in Chase County, at , approximately three miles north of the community of Strong City. {| style="margin:auto;" | |}

As of 2004, the population included 149,800 foreign-born (5.5% of the state population). The ten largest reported ancestry groups, which account for over 85% of the population, in the state are: German (33.75%), Irish (14.4%), English (14.1%), American (7.5%), French (4.4%), Scottish (4.2%), Dutch (2.5%), Swedish (2.4%), Italian (1.8%), and Polish (1.5%). People of German ancestry are especially strong in the northwest, while those of English ancestry and descendants of white Americans from other states are especially strong in the southeast. Mexicans are present in the southwest and make up nearly half the population in certain counties. Many African Americans in Kansas are descended from the Exodusters, newly freed blacks who fled the South for land in Kansas following the Civil War.

Religion

The religious makeup of Kansas was as follows:

Christian 86%

Protestant 49%

*Baptist 22%

*United Methodist 16%

*Episcopalian/Anglican 7%

*United Church of Christ 4%

Latter Day Saints/Mormons 2%

Roman Catholic 29%

Jehovah's Witness 2%

Non denominational 1%

Other Christian 3%

Non-religious 9%

Jewish 2%

Other 2%

As of the year 2000, the RCMS reported that the three largest denominational groups in Kansas are Mainline Protestant, Evangelical Protestant, and Catholic. The Catholic Church has the highest number of adherents in Kansas (at 405,844), followed by the United Methodist Church with 206,187 members reported and the Southern Baptist Convention, reporting 101,696 adherents.

Though small, the Kansas Baha'i community has the distinction of being the second in the western hemisphere, founded in 1897 in Enterprise, Kansas. {| style="float:right; margin:0 0 1em 1em; clear:right; text-align:right;" | |}

Rural flight

Kansas is one of the slowest-growing states in the nation. Known as a rural flight, the last few decades have been marked by a migratory pattern out of the countryside into cities.

Out of all the cities in these Midwestern states, 89% have fewer than 3,000 people, and hundreds of those have fewer than 1,000. In Kansas alone, there are more than 6,000 ghost towns and dwindling communities, according to one Kansas historian, Daniel C. Fitzgerald.

At the same time, some of the communities in Johnson County (metropolitan Kansas City) are among the fastest-growing in the country.

Economy

The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that the total GDP in 2008 was $122.7 billion, making its United States's 32nd highest state by GDP. Per capita personal income in 2008 was $35,013. As of January 2010, the states unemployment rate is 6.4%.

The agricultural outputs of the state are cattle, sheep, wheat, sorghum, soybeans, cotton, hogs, corn, and salt. Eastern Kansas is part of the Grain Belt, an area of major grain production in the central United States. The industrial outputs are transportation equipment, commercial and private aircraft, food processing, publishing, chemical products, machinery, apparel, petroleum and mining. {|align=right | |- | style="text-align: right;"| {| style="float:right; width:310px; background:#f9f9f9; border:1px #aaa solid; border-collapse:collapse;" |- ! colspan="5" style="background:#ffdead;" | Largest Employers (as of 2007) |- !style="background: #e3e3e3;"|Rank !style="background: #e3e3e3;"|Business !style="background: #e3e3e3;"|Employees !style="background: #e3e3e3;"|Location !style="background: #e3e3e3;"|Industry |- | #1 | Sprint Nextel | 12,000 | Overland Park | Telecommunications |- style="background: #e3e3e3;" | #2 |Cessna | 11,300 | Wichita | Aviation |- | #3 | Spirit AeroSystems | 10,900 | Wichita | Aviation |- style="background: #e3e3e3;" | #4 | Hawker Beechcraft | 6,767 | Wichita | Aviation |- | #5 | Embarq | 3,800 | Overland Park | Telecommunications |- style="background: #e3e3e3;" | #6 | Black & Veatch | 3,800 | Overland Park | Engineering |- | #7 | Boeing | 3,005 | Wichita | Aviation |- style="background: #e3e3e3;" | #8 | Farmers Insurance | 3,000 | Olathe | Insurance |- | #9 | YRC Worldwide | 2,600 | Overland Park | Trucking |- style="background: #e3e3e3;" | #10 | Garmin | 2,500 | Olathe | GPS Technology |- | #11 | Learjet | 2,250 | Wichita | Aviation |- style="background: #e3e3e3;" | #12 | Koch Industries | 2,000 | Wichita | Chemicals/Materials |- | #13 | Schwan Food Company | 2,000 | Salina | Food |- style="background: #e3e3e3;" | #14 | Collective Brands | 1,700 | Topeka | Apparel |- | #15 | Blue Cross and Blue Shield | 1,603 | Topeka | Insurance |} |} Kansas ranks 8th in U.S. oil production. Production has experienced a steady, natural decline as it becomes increasingly difficult to extract oil over time. Since oil prices bottomed in 1999, oil production in Kansas has remained fairly constant, with an average monthly rate of about in 2004. The recent higher prices have made carbon dioxide sequestration and other oil recovery techniques more economical.

Kansas ranks 8th in U.S. natural gas production. Production has steadily declined since the mid-1990s with the gradual depletion of the Hugoton Natural Gas Field—the state's largest field which extends into Oklahoma and Texas. In 2004, slower declines in the Hugoton gas fields and increased coalbed methane production contributed to a smaller overall decline. Average monthly production was over 32 billion cubic feet (0.9 km³).

The Kansas economy is also heavily influenced by the aerospace industry. Several large aircraft corporations have manufacturing facilities in Wichita and Kansas City, including Spirit AeroSystems, Boeing, Cessna, Learjet, and Hawker Beechcraft (formerly Raytheon).

Major company headquarters in Kansas include the Sprint Nextel Corporation (with world headquarters in Overland Park), Embarq (with national headquarters in Overland Park), YRC Worldwide (Overland Park), Garmin (Olathe), Payless Shoes (national headquarters and major distribution facilities in Topeka), and Koch Industries (with national headquarters in Wichita).

Taxes

Kansas has three income brackets for income tax calculation, ranging from 3.5% to 6.45%. The state sales tax in Kansas is 6.3%. Various cities and counties in Kansas have an additional local sales tax. Except during the 2001 recession (March–November 2001) when monthly sales tax collections were flat, collections have trended higher as the economy has grown and two rate increases have been enacted. Total sales tax collections for 2003 amounted to $1.63 billion, compared to $805.3 million in 1990.

Revenue shortfalls resulting from lower than expected tax collections and slower growth in personal income following a 1998 permanent tax reduction has contributed to the substantial growth in the state's debt level as bonded debt increased from $1.16 billion in 1998 to $3.83 billion in 2006. Some increase in debt was expected as the state continues with its 10-year Comprehensive Transportation Program enacted in 1999. As of June 2004, Moody's Investors Service ranked the state 14th for net tax-supported debt per capita. As a percentage of personal income, it was at 3.8%—above the median value of 2.5% for all rated states and having risen from a value of less than 1% in 1992. The state has a statutory requirement to maintain cash reserves of at least 7.5% of expenses at the end of each fiscal year, however, lawmakers can vote to override the rule, and did so during the most recent budget agreement.

Transportation

Kansas is served by two Interstate highways with one beltway, two spur routes, and three bypasses, with over a total of in all. The first section of Interstate in the nation was opened on I-70 just west of Topeka on November 14, 1956. I-70 is a major east/west route connecting to St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, in the east and Denver, Colorado, in the west. Cities along this route (from east to west) include Kansas City, Lawrence, Topeka, Junction City, Salina, Hays, and Colby. I-35 is a major north/south route connecting to Des Moines, Iowa, in the north and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in the south. Cities along this route (from north to south) include Kansas City (and suburbs), Ottawa, Emporia, El Dorado, and Wichita.

Spur routes serve as connections between the two major routes. I-135, a north/south route, connects I-70 at Salina to I-35 at Wichita. I-335, a northeast/southwest route, connects I-70 at Topeka to I-35 at Emporia. I-335 and portions of I-35 and I-70 make up the Kansas Turnpike. Bypasses include I-470 around Topeka and I-235 around Wichita. I-435 is a beltway around the Kansas City Metropolitan Area while I-635 bypasses through Kansas City, Kansas.

US Route 69 runs north and south, from Minnesota to Texas. The highway passes through the eastern section of Kansas, from the Kansas City area, through Louisburg, Fort Scott, Frontenac, Pittsburg, and Baxter Springs before entering Oklahoma. Kansas also has the second largest state highway system in the country after California. This is because of the high number of counties and county seats (105) and the intertwining of them all.

In January 2004, the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) announced the new Kansas 511 traveler information service. By dialing 511, callers will get access to information about road conditions, construction, closures, detours and weather conditions for the state highway system. Weather and road condition information is updated every 15 minutes.

The state's only major commercial (Class C) airport is Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, located along US-54 on the western edge of the city. Manhattan Regional Airport in Manhattan offers daily flights to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, making it the second-largest commercial airport in the state. Most air travelers in northeastern Kansas fly out of Kansas City International Airport, located in Platte County, Missouri. For those in the far western part of the state, Denver International Airport is a popular option. Connecting flights are also available from smaller Kansas airports in Dodge City, Garden City, Great Bend, Hays, Hutchinson, and Salina. Forbes Field in Topeka sustained commercial flights on Allegiant Air for short period of time until that service was terminated in 2007.

Law and government

State and local politics

The top executives of the state are Republican Governor Sam Brownback and Lieutenant Governor Jeff Colyer. Both officials are elected on the same ticket to a maximum of two consecutive four-year terms. The state's Attorney General is Republican Derek Schmidt of Independence.

The legislative branch of the state government is the Kansas Legislature. The bicameral body consists of the Kansas House of Representatives, with 125 members serving two-year terms, and the Kansas Senate, with 40 members serving four-year terms.

The judicial branch of the state government is headed by the Kansas Supreme Court. The court has seven judges, who are selected via the Missouri Plan.

Kansas has a reputation as a progressive state with many firsts in legislative initiatives—it was the first state to institute a system of workers' compensation (1910) and to regulate the securities industry (1911). Kansas also permitted women's suffrage in 1912, almost a decade before the federal constitution was amended to require it. Suffrage in all states would not be guaranteed until ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. The council-manager government was adopted by many larger Kansas cities in the years following World War I while many American cities were being run by political machines or organized crime, notably the Pendergast Machine in neighboring Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas was also at the center of ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', a 1954 Supreme Court decision that banned racially segregated schools throughout the U.S.

Kansas was one of the few states in which Franklin D. Roosevelt had limited political support, winning Kansas only twice in his four campaigns, although he won the state over Kansas governor Alfred M. Landon during the landslide of 1936. The state backed Republicans Wendell Willkie and Thomas E. Dewey in 1940 and 1944, respectively. Kansas also supported Dewey in 1948 despite the presence of incumbent president Harry S. Truman, who hailed from Independence, Missouri, approximately 15 miles east of the Kansas-Missouri state line. Since FDR carried Kansas in 1932 and 1936, only one Democrat has won Kansas' electoral votes, Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Over the past four decades, Kansas has remained more socially conservative than many parts of the nation. The 1990s brought new restrictions on abortion, the defeat of prominent Democrats, including Dan Glickman, and the Kansas State Board of Education's 1999 decision to eliminate evolution from the state teaching standards, a decision that was later reversed. In 2005, voters accepted a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. The next year, the state passed a law setting a minimum age for marriage at 15 years. In 2008, Governor Sebelius vetoed permits for the construction of new coal-fired energy plants in Kansas, saying: "We know that greenhouse gases contribute to climate change. As an agricultural state, Kansas is particularly vulnerable. Therefore, reducing pollutants benefits our state not only in the short term – but also for generations of Kansans to come." However, shortly after Mark Parkinson became governor in 2009 upon Sebelius's resignation, Parkinson announced a compromise plan to allow construction of a coal-fired plant.

In 2010, Sam Brownback was elected governor with 63 percent of the state vote. He was sworn in as governor in 2011, Kansas' first Republican governor in eight years. Brownback had established himself as a very conservative member of the U.S. Senate in years prior, but since becoming governor has made several controversial decisions. In May 2011, much to the opposition of art leaders and enthusiasts in the state, Brownback eliminated the Kansas Arts Commission, making Kansas the first state without an arts agency. In July 2011, Brownback announced plans to close the Lawrence branch of the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services as a cost-saving measure. Hundreds rallied against the decision. Lawrence City Commission later voted to provide the funding needed to keep the branch open.

Federal politics

The state's current delegation to the Congress of the United States includes Republican Senators Pat Roberts of Dodge City and Jerry Moran of Hays; and Republican Representatives Tim Huelskamp of Fowler (District 1), Lynn Jenkins of Topeka (District 2), Kevin Yoder of Overland Park (District 3), and Mike Pompeo of Wichita (District 4).

Historically, Kansas has been strongly Republican, dating from the Antebellum age when the Republican Party was created out of the movement opposing the extension of slavery into Kansas Territory. Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since the 1932 election, when Franklin D. Roosevelt won his first term as President in the wake of the Great Depression. This is the longest Senate losing streak for either party in a single state. Senator Sam Brownback was a candidate for the Republican party nomination for President in 2008. Brownback was not a candidate for re-election to a third full term in 2010, but he was elected Governor in that year's general election. Moran defeated Tiahrt for the Republican nomination for Brownback's seat in the August 2010 primary, then won a landslide general election victory over Democrat Lisa Johnston.

The only non-Republican presidential candidates Kansas has given its electoral vote to are Populist James Weaver and Democrats Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt (twice), and Lyndon Johnson. In 2004, George W. Bush won the state's six electoral votes by an overwhelming margin of 25 percentage points with 62% of the vote. The only two counties to support Democrat John Kerry in that election were Wyandotte, which contains Kansas City, and Douglas, home to the University of Kansas, located in Lawrence. The 2008 election brought similar results as John McCain won the state with 57% of the votes. Douglas, Wyandotte, and Crawford County were the only counties in support of President Barack Obama.

State law

: The legal drinking age in Kansas is 21. In lieu of the state retail sales tax, a 10% Liquor Drink Tax is collected for liquor consumed on the licensed premises and an 8% Liquor Enforcement Tax is collected on retail purchases. Although the sale of cereal malt beverage (also known as 3.2 beer) was legalized in 1937, the first post-Prohibition legalization of alcoholic liquor did not occur until the state's constitution was amended in 1948. The following year the Legislature enacted the Liquor Control Act which created a system of regulating, licensing, and taxing, and the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) was created to enforce the act. The power to regulate cereal malt beverage remains with the cities and counties. Liquor-by-the-drink did not become legal until passage of an amendment to the state's constitution in 1986 and additional legislation the following year. As of November 2006, Kansas still has 29 dry counties and only 17 counties have passed liquor-by-the-drink with no food sales requirement. Today there are more than 2600 liquor and 4000 cereal malt beverage licensees in the state.

Important cities and towns

align="right"Overland Park, KansasKansas City, Kansas style="text-align:center;"Topeka, KansasOlathe, KansasLawrence, KansasShawnee, KansasManhattan, KansasLenexa, KansasSalina, KansasHutchinson, KansasLeavenworth, Kansas style="text-align:center;"Leawood, KansasDodge City, KansasGarden City, Kansas style="text-align:center;"Emporia, Kansas style="text-align:center;"Junction City, KansasDerby, KansasPrairie Village, Kansas style="text-align:center;"Liberal, KansasHays, KansasPittsburg, KansasNewton, KansasGardner, KansasGreat Bend, Kansas

+Cities with population of at least 15,000
!!City!!Population*!!Growth rate**!!Metro area
1	Wichita, Kansas>Wichita	382,368||	11.1%	Wichita
2	Overland Park||	173,372	16.3%	Kansas City Metropolitan Area>Kansas City, MO-KS
3	Kansas City||	145,786
4	Topeka||	127,473	4.2%	Topeka
5	Olathe||	125,872	35.4%	Kansas City
6	Lawrence||	87,643	9.4%	Lawrence
7	Shawnee||	62,209	29.6%	Kansas City
8	Manhattan||	52,281	16.6%	Manhattan
9	Lenexa||	48,190	19.8%	Kansas City
10	Salina||	47,707	4.4%	‡
11	Hutchinson||	42,080	3.2%	‡
12	Leavenworth||	35,251
13	Leawood||	31,867	15.2%	Kansas City
14	Dodge City||	27,340	8.6%	‡
15	Garden City||	26,658
16	Emporia||	24,916
17	Junction City||	23,353	13.0%	Manhattan
18	Derby||	22,158	24.4%	Wichita
19	Prairie Village||	21,447
20	Liberal||	20,525	4.4%	‡
21	Hays||	20,510	2.5%	‡
22	Pittsburg||	20,233	5.1%	‡
23	Newton||	19,132	11.3%	Wichita
24	Gardner||	19,123	103.5%	Kansas City
25	Great Bend||	15,995	4.2%	‡
colspan = 5

Kansas has 627 incorporated cities. By state statute, cities are divided into three classes as determined by the population obtained "by any census of enumeration." A city of the third class has a population of less than 5,000, but cities reaching a population of more than 2,000 may be certified as a city of the second class. The second class is limited to cities with a population of less than 25,000, and upon reaching a population of more than 15,000, they may be certified as a city of the first class. First and second class cities are independent of any township and are not included within the township's territory.

Northeast Kansas

The northeastern portion of the state, extending from the Eastern border to Junction City and from the Nebraska border to south of Johnson County is home to more than 1.5 million people in the Kansas City (Kansas portion), Manhattan, Lawrence,and Topeka metropolitan areas. Overland Park, a young city incorporated in 1960, has the largest population and the largest land area in the county. It is home to Johnson County Community College, the state's largest community college, and the corporate campus of Sprint Nextel, the largest private employer in the metro area. In 2006 the city was ranked as the 6th best place to live in America; the neighboring city of Olathe was 13th. Olathe is the county seat and home to Johnson County Executive Airport. The cities of Olathe, Shawnee, and Gardner have some of the state's fastest growing populations. The cities of Overland Park, Lenexa, Olathe, and Gardner are also notable because they lie along the former route of the Santa Fe Trail. Among cities with at least one thousand residents, Mission Hills has the highest median income in the state.

Several institutions of higher education are located in Northeast Kansas including Baker University (the oldest university in the state, founded in 1858 and affiliated with the United Methodist Church) in Baldwin City, Benedictine College (sponsored by St. Benedict's Abbey and Mount St. Scholastica Monastery and formed from the merger of St. Benedict's College (1858) and Mount St. Scholastica College (1923)) in Atchison, MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Ottawa University in Ottawa and Overland Park, Kansas City Kansas Community College and KU Medical Center in Kansas City, and KU Edwards Campus in Overland Park. Less than an hour's drive to the west, Lawrence is home to the University of Kansas, the largest public university in the state, and Haskell Indian Nations University.

To the north, Kansas City, Kansas, with the second largest land area in the state, contains a number of diverse ethnic neighborhoods. Its attractions include the Kansas Speedway, Kansas City T-Bones and The Legends at Village West retail and entertainment center. Further up the Missouri River, the city of Lansing is the home of the state's first maximum-security prison. Historic Leavenworth, founded in 1854, was the first incorporated city in Kansas. North of the city, Fort Leavenworth is the oldest active Army post west of the Mississippi River. The city of Atchison was an early commercial center in the state and is well known as the birthplace of Amelia Earhart.

To the west, nearly a quarter million people reside in the Topeka metropolitan area. Topeka is the state capital and home to Washburn University. Built at a Kansas River crossing along the old Oregon Trail, this historic city has several nationally registered historic places. Further westward along Interstate 70 and the Kansas River is Junction City with its historic limestone and brick buildings and nearby Fort Riley, well known as the home to the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division, also known as the "Big Red One". A short distance away, the city of Manhattan is home to Kansas State University, the second largest public university in the state and the nation's oldest land-grant university, dating back to 1863. South of the campus, Aggieville dates back to 1889 and is the state's oldest shopping district of its kind.

Wichita

In south-central Kansas, the four-county Wichita metropolitan area is home to nearly 600,000 people. Wichita is the largest city in the state in terms of both land area and population. 'The Air Capital' is a major manufacturing center for the aircraft industry and the home of Wichita State University. With a number of nationally registered historic places, museums, and other entertainment destinations, it has a desire to become a cultural mecca in the Midwest. Although Wichita's population growth has been anemic in recent years, surrounding suburbs are among the fastest growing cities in the state. The population of Goddard has grown by more than 11% per year since 2000. Other fast-growing cities include Andover, Maize, Park City, Derby, and Haysville.

Up river (the Arkansas River) from Wichita is the city of Hutchinson. The city was built on one of the world's largest salt deposits, and it has the world's largest and longest wheat elevator. It is also the home of Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, Prairie Dunes Country Club and the Kansas State Fair. North of Wichita along Interstate 135 is the city of Newton, the former western terminal of the Santa Fe Railroad and trailhead for the famed Chisholm Trail. To the southeast of Wichita are the cities of Winfield and Arkansas City with historic architecture and the Cherokee Strip Museum (in Ark City). The city of Udall was the site of the deadliest tornado in Kansas on May 25, 1955; it killed 80 people in and near the city. To the southwest of Wichita is Freeport, the state's smallest incorporated city (population 5).

Around the state

Located midway between Kansas City, Topeka, and Wichita in the heart of the Bluestem Region of the Flint Hills, the city of Emporia has several nationally registered historic places and is the home of Emporia State University, well known for its Teachers College. It was also the home of newspaper man William Allen White.

Southeast Kansas

Southeast Kansas has a unique history with a number of nationally registered historic places in this coal-mining region. Located in Crawford County (dubbed the Fried Chicken Capital of Kansas), Pittsburg is the largest city in the region and the home of Pittsburg State University. The neighboring city of Frontenac in 1888 was the site of the worst mine disaster in the state in which an underground explosion killed 47 miners. "Big Brutus" is located a mile and a half outside the city of West Mineral. Along with the restored fort, historic Fort Scott has a national cemetery designated by President Lincoln in 1862.

Central and North-Central Kansas

Salina is the largest city in central and north-central Kansas. South of Salina is the small city of Lindsborg with its numerous Dala horses. Much of the architecture and decor of this town has a distinctly Swedish style. To the east along Interstate 70, the historic city of Abilene was formerly a trailhead for the Chisholm Trail and was the boyhood home of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. To the west is Lucas, the Grassroots Art Capital of Kansas.

Northwest Kansas Westward along the Interstate, the city of Russell, traditionally the beginning of sparsely-populated northwest Kansas, is the home of former U.S. Senator Bob Dole and the boyhood home of U.S. Senator Arlen Specter. The city of Hays is home to Fort Hays State University and the Sternberg Museum of Natural History, and is the largest city in the northwest with a population of around 20,000. Two other landmarks are located in smaller towns in Ellis County: the "Cathedral of the Plains" is located east of Hays in Victoria, and the boyhood home of Walter Chrysler is west of Hays in Ellis. West of Hays, population drops dramatically, even in areas along I-70, and only two towns containing populations of more than 4,000: Colby and Goodland, which are located 35 miles apart along I-70.

Southwest Kansas

Dodge City, famously known for the cattle drive days of the late 19th century, was built along the old Santa Fe Trail route. The city of Liberal is located along the southern Santa Fe Trail route. The first wind farm in the state was built east of Montezuma. Garden City has the Lee Richardson Zoo.

Education

Education in Kansas is governed at the primary and secondary school level by the Kansas State Board of Education. The state's public colleges and universities are supervised by the Kansas Board of Regents.

Twice since 1999 the Board of Education has approved changes in the state science curriculum standards that encouraged the teaching of intelligent design. Both times, the standards were reversed after changes in the composition of the board in the next election.

Sports

Professional

!Club	!Sport	!League	!City
Sporting Kansas City	Soccer	Major League Soccer
Kansas City T-Bones	Baseball
Kansas Koyotes		American Professional Football League
Topeka Golden Giants	Baseball	National Baseball Congress
Topeka Mudcats		Women's Spring Football League
Topeka Roadrunners	Ice hockey	North American Hockey League
Wichita Thunder	Ice hockey	Central Hockey League
Wichita Wild		Indoor Football League
Wichita Wingnuts	Baseball

Sporting Kansas City, who have played their home games at CommunityAmerica Ballpark since 2008, are the first top-tier professional sports league and first Major League Soccer team to be located within Kansas. From the start of the 2011 season, the team will move to Livestrong Sporting Park, a brand new $165m soccer specific stadium.

Historically, many Kansans have supported the major league sports teams of Kansas City, Missouri, including the Kansas City Royals (MLB), the Kansas City Chiefs (NFL) and the Kansas City Brigade (AFL) – in part because the home stadiums for these teams are just miles from the Kansas border. The Chiefs and the Royals play at the Truman Sports Complex, located about from the Kansas-Missouri state line. The Kansas City Brigade play in the newly opened Sprint Center, which is even closer to the state line. Additionally, from 1973 to 1997 the flagship radio station for the Royals was WIBW in Topeka, Kansas.

Western Kansans sometimes also support the major league teams from Denver, while those who live close to the Oklahoma state line may support the Dallas Cowboys. All Chiefs games are televised throughout Kansas by television stations in Topeka and Wichita.

Two major auto racing facilities are located in Kansas. The Kansas Speedway located in Kansas City hosts races of the NASCAR, IRL, and ARCA circuits. Also, the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) holds drag racing events at Heartland Park Topeka. The Sports Car Club of America has its national headquarters in Topeka.

History

The history of professional sports in Kansas probably dates from the establishment of the minor league Topeka Capitals and Leavenworth Soldiers in 1886 in the Western League. The African-American Bud Fowler played on the Topeka team that season, one year before the "color line" descended in professional baseball.

In 1887, the Western League was dominated by a reorganized Topeka team called the Golden Giants – a high-priced collection of major leaguer players, including Bug Holliday, Jim Conway, Dan Stearns, Perry Werden and Jimmy Macullar, which won the league by 15½ games. On April 10, 1887, the Golden Giants also won an exhibition game from the defending World Series champions, the St. Louis Browns (the present-day Cardinals), by a score of 12–9. However, Topeka was unable to support the team, and it disbanded after one year.

College

:''See List of college athletic programs in Kansas''

NCAA Division I schools

While there are no franchises of the four major professional sports within the state, many Kansans are fans of the state's major college sports teams, especially the Wildcats of Kansas State University, known as "KSU" or "K-State" and the Jayhawks of the University of Kansas, commonly referred to as "KU". Wichita State University, which also fields teams (called the Shockers) in Division I of the NCAA, is best known for its baseball program, winning the College World Series in 1989.

Both KU and K-State have tradition-rich programs in men's basketball. The Jayhawks are a perennial national power, ranking second in all-time victories among NCAA programs, behind Kentucky. In 2008, the Jayhawks won their fifth national crown (third NCAA tournament title). K-State also had a long stretch of success on the hardwood, lasting from the 1940s to the 1980s. After a 12-year absence, the Wildcats returned to the NCAA tournament in 2008 and made it into the Elite Eight in 2010. KU is tied for 4th all-time with 13 Final Four appearances, while K-State has made four appearances in the Final Four. Wichita State has made one Final Four appearance.

However, success on the football field has been infrequent for either team. When the two teams met in 1987, KU's record was 1–7 and K-State's was 0–8. Fittingly, the Governor's Cup that year, dubbed the "Toilet Bowl" by the media, ended in a 17–17 tie when the Jayhawks blocked a last-second K-State field goal attempt. There have been recent breakthroughs for both schools. KU won the Orange Bowl for the first time in their third visit to the Orange Bowl in 2008, capping a 12–1 season, the best in school history. K-State was historically one of the worst college football programs in the country, until Bill Snyder arrived to coach the Wildcats in 1989. He turned K-State into a national force for most of the 1990s and early 2000s, until he retired after the 2005 season. Snyder returned to the sideline in 2009. The team won the Fiesta Bowl in 1997 and took the Big 12 Conference championship in 2003.

Smaller colleges

Notable success has also been achieved by the state's smaller schools in football. Pittsburg State University, a NCAA Division II participant, has claimed three national titles in football, two in the NAIA and most recently the 1991 NCAA Division II national title. Pittsburg State became the winningest NCAA Division II football program in 1995. PSU passed Hillsdale College at the top of the all-time victories list in the 1995 season on its march to the national runner-up finish. The Gorillas, in 96 seasons of intercollegiate competition, have accumulated 579 victories – posting a 579–301–48 overall mark.

Washburn University, in Topeka, won the NAIA Men's Basketball Championship in 1987. The Fort Hays State University men won the 1996 NCAA Division II title with a 34–0 record, and the Washburn women won the 2005 NCAA Division II crown. St. Benedict's College (now Benedictine College), in Atchison, won the 1954 and 1967 Men's NAIA Basketball Championships.

The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference has its roots as one of the oldest college sport conferences in existence and participates in the NAIA and all ten member schools are in the state of Kansas. Other smaller school conference that have some members in Kansas are the Heartland Conference, the Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference, the Midwest Christian College Conference, and the Heart of America Athletic Conference. Many junior colleges also have active athletic programs.

High school

The Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) is the organization which oversees interscholastic competition in the state of Kansas at the high school level. It oversees both athletic and non-athletic competition, and sponsors championships in several sports and activities.

Notable residents

Landmarks

See also

Arkansas River

Great Plains

List of National Register of Historic Places in Kansas

List of people from Kansas

U.S. state

References

External links

State of Kansas

Kansas Travel and Tourism Division

Kansas State Historical Society

Kansas State Databases – Annotated list of searchable databases produced by Kansas state agencies

USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Kansas

Kansas Department of Transportation maps

Cutler's History of Kansas

;Maps

2011 Kansas Highway Map, KDOT

2011 Kansas Railroad Map, KDOT

Kansas Maps from the Perry-Castañeda Library map collection at the University of Texas

Category:States and territories established in 1861 Category:States of the United States

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Kansas City refers to two cities and a metropolitan area situated at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers. Kansas City, Missouri, the largest city in Missouri, anchors the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, which has a population of over two million. Kansas City, Kansas sits across the river from downtown Kansas City, Missouri and is the third-largest city in Kansas.

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri encompassing parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties. It is situated at the junction of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers (Kaw Point) and sits opposite Kansas City, Kansas. It is the largest city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. It is the most populous city in Missouri, the seventh largest city in the Midwest, and the 35th most populous city in the United States. As of 2009, the city had an estimated population of 482,299.

It is home to a Major League Baseball team, the Kansas City Royals, and an NFL team, the Kansas City Chiefs. Kansas City is home to 17 four-year colleges and universities. It also has two accredited medical schools (University of Missouri Kansas City and Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences), a dental school, and a pharmacy school.

The city's tap water was recently rated the cleanest among the 50 largest cities in the United States, containing no detectable impurities. The city is famous for 18th Street and Vine where jazz saxophone and composition legend, Charlie Parker (Charles "Yard Bird" Parker, Jr.), rehearsed in an empty lot. It is known as the "world's barbecue capital." It hosts the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Kansas City Art Institute along with other museums and galleries housing notable collections. It is also home to the Liberty Memorial and The National World War I Museum. Kansas City has more fountains than any other city in the world except Rome, Italy.

Kansas City Metropolitan Area

The Kansas City Metropolitan Area is a metropolitan area situated at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers (Kaw Point) and straddles the state border between Missouri and Kansas. The 15-county Kansas City Metropolitan Statistical Area, anchored by Kansas City, Missouri, is the 27th largest in the United States with an estimated population of 1,990,831 in the year 2008.

The Combined Statistical Area also includes the Micropolitan Statistical Areas of Atchison, Kansas, and Warrensburg, Missouri, with estimated populations of 16,481 and 52,016, respectively, giving a total population of 2,059,328 in the year 2008.

In 2007, Worldwide ERC and Primary Relocation recognized Kansas City 3rd overall as one of the "Best Cities for Relocating Families" in the United States.

Also in 2010, Money Magazine rated Overland Park, Kansas the 7th best city to live in the United States. Neighboring city Olathe, Kansas, was rated 13th and Lee's Summit, Missouri, 44th best. Kansas City is one of 2 metropolitan areas to have 2 cities in the top 15, the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex being the other.

Kansas City, Kansas

Kansas City, Kansas (KCK) is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Wyandotte County (WyCo); it is part of the "Unified Government" which also includes the cities of Bonner Springs and Edwardsville. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 146,867. Situated at the junction of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers (Kaw Point), the city is opposite Kansas City, Missouri, which anchors the bi-state Kansas City Metropolitan Area.

Attractions in Kansas City, Kansas include the Sporting Kansas City MLS team, The Legends at Village West lifestyle center type shopping complex, Kansas Speedway, and Schlitterbahn Vacation Village.

North Kansas City, Missouri

North Kansas City is a city in Clay County, Missouri, United States. The population was 4,714 as of the 2000 census but a large business/industrial base swells the daytime population by thousands more. Originally a northern suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, it is now nearly surrounded by Kansas City, Missouri, which extends far north of North Kansas City's northernmost border

References

Category:Kansas City metropolitan area

cs:Kansas City de:Kansas City es:Kansas City fr:Kansas City ko:캔자스 시 ia:Kansas City it:Kansas City ms:Kansas City nl:Kansas City ja:カンザスシティ no:Kansas City pt:Kansas City ru:Канзас-Сити scn:Kansas City sk:Kansas City fi:Kansas City sv:Kansas City th:แคนซัสซิตี

name	Fats Domino |
background	solo_singer
birth name	Antoine Dominique Domino
alias	Fats, The Fat Man
born	February 26, 1928New Orleans, LouisianaUnited States
instrument	Piano, vocals
genre	R&B;, rock and roll, piano blues, boogie-woogie
occupation	Songwriter, musician
years active	1949–present
label	Imperial, ABC, Mercury, Broadmoor, Reprise, Sonet, Warner Bros. Records, Toot Toot
website	}}

Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino Jr. (born February 26, 1928) is an American R&B; and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language.

Career

Imperial Records era (1949–1962)

Domino first attracted national attention with "The Fat Man" in 1949 on Imperial Records. This song is an early rock and roll record, featuring a rolling piano and Domino doing "wah-wah" vocalizing over a strong back beat. It sold over a million copies and is widely regarded as the first rock and roll record to do so.

Fats Domino released a series of hit songs with producer and co-writer Dave Bartholomew, saxophonists Herbert Hardesty and Alvin "Red" Tyler and drummer Earl Palmer. Other notable and long-standing musicians in Domino's band were saxophonists Reggie Houston, Lee Allen, and Fred Kemp, Domino's trusted bandleader. Domino finally crossed into the pop mainstream with "Ain't That A Shame" (1955), which hit the Top Ten, though Pat Boone characteristically hit #1 with a milder cover of the song that received wider radio airplay in a racially-segregated era. Domino eventually had 37 Top 40 singles.

Domino's first album, ''Carry on Rockin''', was released under the Imperial imprint, #9009, in November 1955 and subsequently reissued as ''Rock and Rollin' with Fats Domino'' in 1956. Combining a number of his hits along with some tracks that had not yet been released as singles, the album went on under its alternate title to reach #17 on the "Pop Albums" chart.

His 1956 up-tempo version of the 1940 Vincent Rose, Al Lewis & Larry Stock song, "Blueberry Hill" reached #2 in the Top 40, was #1 on the R&B; charts for 11 weeks, and was his biggest hit. "Blueberry Hill" sold more than 5 million copies worldwide in 1956–57. The song had earlier been recorded by Gene Autry, and Louis Armstrong among many others. He had further hit singles between 1956 and 1959, including "When My Dreamboat Comes Home" (Pop #14), "I'm Walkin'" (Pop #4), "Valley of Tears" (Pop #8), "It's You I Love" (Pop #6), "Whole Lotta Loving" (Pop #6), "I Want to Walk You Home" (Pop #8), and "Be My Guest" (Pop #8).

Domino appeared in two films released in 1956: ''Shake, Rattle & Rock!'' and ''The Girl Can't Help It''. On December 18, 1957, Domino's hit "The Big Beat" was featured on Dick Clark's ''American Bandstand''.

On January 2, 1956, a riot broke out at Fats Domino's show in Fayetteville, NC, with police resorting to tear gas to break up the unruly crowd. Domino jumped out of a window to avoid the melee; he and two other band members were slightly injured.

Domino continued to have a steady series of hits for Imperial through early 1962, including "Walkin' to New Orleans" (1960) (Pop #6), co-written by Bobby Charles, and "My Girl Josephine" (Pop #14) from the same year. After Imperial Records was sold to outside interests in early 1963, Domino left the label: "I stuck with them until they sold out," he claimed in 1979. In all, Domino recorded over 60 singles for the label, placing 40 songs in the top 10 on the R&B; charts, and scoring 11 top 10 singles on the pop charts. Twenty-two of Domino's Imperial singles were double-sided hits.

Post-Imperial recording career (1963–1970s)

Domino moved to ABC-Paramount Records in 1963. The label dictated that he record in Nashville rather than New Orleans. He was assigned a new producer (Felton Jarvis) and a new arranger (Bill Justis); Domino's long-term collaboration with producer/arranger/frequent co-writer Dave Bartholomew, who oversaw virtually all of his Imperial hits, was seemingly at an end.

Jarvis and Justis changed the Domino sound somewhat, notably by adding the backing of a countrypolitan-style vocal chorus to most of his new recordings. Perhaps as a result of this tinkering with an established formula, Domino's chart career was drastically curtailed. He released 11 singles for ABC-Paramount, but only had one top 40 entry with "Red Sails In The Sunset" (1963). By the end of 1964 the British Invasion had changed the tastes of the record-buying public, and Domino's chart run was over.

Despite the lack of chart success, Domino continued to record steadily until about 1970, leaving ABC-Paramount in mid-1965 and recording for a variety of other labels: Mercury, Dave Bartholomew's small Broadmoor label (reuniting with Bartholomew along the way), and Reprise. His final chart single was on Reprise, a cover of The Beatles' "Lady Madonna" which peaked at #100 in 1968. He also continued as a popular live act for several decades.

He made a cameo appearance in the movie ''Any Which Way You Can'', filmed in 1979 and released in 1980.

Later career (1980s–2005)

In the 1980s, Domino decided he would no longer leave New Orleans, having a comfortable income from royalties and a dislike for touring, and claiming he could not get any food that he liked any place else. His induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and an invitation to perform at the White House failed to persuade Domino to make an exception to this policy.

Fats Domino was persuaded to perform out of town periodically for Dianna Chenevert, agent, founder and president of New Orleans based Omni Attractions, during the 1980s and early 1990s. Most of these engagements were in and around New Orleans, but also included a concert in Texas at West End Market Place in downtown Dallas on October 24, 1986.

On October 12, 1983, ''USA Today'' reported that Domino was included in Chenevert's Southern Stars poster which was created for the agency (along with historically preserving childhood photographs of other famous living musicians from New Orleans and Louisiana). Domino provided a photograph of his first recording session, which was the only one he had left from his childhood. Domino autographed these posters, whose recipients included ''USA Today'''s Gannett president Al Neuharth, and Peter Morton founder of the Hard Rock Cafe. ''Times-Picayune'' columnist Betty Guillaud noted on September 30, 1987 that Domino also provided Chenevert with an autographed pair of his shoes (and signed a black grand piano lid) for the Hard Rock location in New Orleans.

Domino lived in a mansion in a predominantly working-class Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood, where he was a familiar sight in his bright pink Cadillac automobile. He makes yearly appearances at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and other local events. Domino was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. In 1998, President Clinton awarded him the National Medal of Arts. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked him #25 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time."

Domino and Hurricane Katrina

When Hurricane Katrina was approaching New Orleans in August 2005, Dianna Chenevert encouraged Domino to evacuate, but he chose to stay at home with his family, partly because of his wife Rosemary's poor health. His house was in an area that was heavily flooded. Chenevert e-mailed writers at the Times Picayune newspaper and the Coast Guard with the Dominos' location.

Someone thought Domino was dead, and spray-painted a message on his home, "RIP Fats. You will be missed", which was shown in news photos. On September 1, talent agent, Al Embry, announced that he had not heard from the musician since before the hurricane had struck.

Later that day, CNN reported that Domino was rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter. Embry confirmed that Domino and his family had been rescued. The Domino family was then taken to a Baton Rouge shelter, after which they were picked up by JaMarcus Russell, the starting quarterback of the Louisiana State University football team, and Fats' granddaughter's boyfriend. He let the Dominos stay in his apartment. The ''Washington Post'' reported that on September 2, they had left Russell's apartment after sleeping three nights on the couch. "We've lost everything," Domino said, according to the ''Post''.

By January 2006, work to gut and repair Domino's home and office had begun. For the meantime, the Domino family is residing in Harvey, Louisiana.

Chenevert replaced the Southern Stars poster Fats Domino lost in Katrina and President George W. Bush also made a personal visit and replaced the National Medal of Arts that President Bill Clinton had previously awarded Fats. The gold records were replaced by the RIAA and Imperial Records catalog owner Capitol Records.

Post-Katrina activity

Domino was the first artist to be announced as scheduled to perform at the 2006 Jazz & Heritage Festival. However, he was too ill to perform when scheduled and was only able to offer the audience an on-stage greeting. Domino also released an album ''Alive and Kickin''' in early 2006 to benefit the Tipitina's Foundation, which supports indigent local musicians. The title song was recorded after Katrina, but most of the cuts were from unreleased sessions in the 1990s.

On January 12, 2007, Domino was honored with ''OffBeat'' magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual Best of the Beat Awards held at House of Blues in New Orleans. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin declared the day "Fats Domino Day in New Orleans" and presented Fats Domino with a signed declaration. ''OffBeat'' publisher Jan Ramsey and WWL-TV's Eric Paulsen presented Fats Domino with the Lifetime Achievement Award. An all-star musical tribute followed with an introduction by the legendary producer Cosimo Matassa. The Lil' Band O' Gold rhythm section, Warren Storm, Kenny Bill Stinson, David Egan and C.C. Adcock, not only anchored the band, but each contributed lead vocals, swamp pop legend Warren Storm leading off with "Let the Four Winds Blow" and "The Prisoner Song," which he proudly introduced by saying, "Fats Domino recorded this in 1958.. and so did I." The horn section included Lil' Band O' Gold's Dickie Landry, the Iguanas' Derek Huston, and long-time Domino horn men Roger Lewis, Elliot "Stackman" Callier and Herb Hardesty. They were joined by Jon Cleary (who also played guitar in the rhythm section), Al "Carnival Time" Johnson, Irma Thomas, George Porter, Jr. (who, naturally, came up with a funky arrangement for "You Keep On Knocking"), Art Neville, Dr. John and Allen Toussaint, who wrote and debuted a song in tribute of Domino for the occasion. Though Domino didn't perform, those near him recall him playing air piano and singing along to his own songs.

Fats Domino returned to stage on May 19, 2007, at Tipitina's at New Orleans, performing to a full house. A foundation has been formed and a show is being planned for Domino and the restoration of his home, where he intends to return someday. "I like it down there" he said in a February, 2006 CBS News interview.

In September 2007, Domino was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. He has also been inducted into the Delta Music Museum Hall of Fame in Ferriday. In December 2007, Fats Domino was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

In May 2009, Domino made an unexpected appearance for The Domino Effect, a namesake concert aimed at raising funds to help rebuild schools and playgrounds damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Influence

He was an important influence on the music of the 1960s and 1970s and acknowledged as such by some of the top artists of that era. Paul McCartney reportedly wrote the Beatles song "Lady Madonna" in an emulation of Domino's style, combining it with a nod to Humphrey Lyttelton's 1956 hit "Bad Penny Blues," a record Joe Meek engineered. Domino did manage to return to the "Hot 100" charts one final time in 1968—with his own recording of "Lady Madonna." That recording, as well as covers of two other Beatles songs, appeared on his Reprise LP ''Fats Is Back'', produced by Richard Perry and recorded by a band that included New Orleans piano player James Booker; Domino played piano only on one track, "I'm Ready." Also was the influence behind the naming of Jamaican ska band Justin Hinds and the Dominoes in the 1960s; Justin's favorite singer being Fats Domino. Both John Lennon and Paul McCartney later recorded Fats Domino songs. Domino's rhythm, accentuating the offbeat as in the song "Be My Guest," was an influence on ska music.

Singles discography

Nationally charted hits shown in bold.

A-Side	B-Side	Year	Label + Cat. No.	Chart positions
				! width="60"	US R&B;	UK
Detroit City Blues	The Fat Man	1949	Imperial 5058
Boogie-Woogie Baby	Little Bee	1950	Imperial 5065
Hide Away Blues	She's My Baby	1950	Imperial 5077
Hey La Bas Boogie	Brand New Baby	1950	Imperial 5085
Every Night about This Time	Korea Blues	1950	Imperial 5099
Tired of Crying	What's the Matter Baby	1951	Imperial 5114
Don't You Lie to Me	Sometimes I Wonder	1951	Imperial 5123
Right From Wrong	No, No Baby	1951	Imperial 5138
Rockin' Chair	Careless Love	1951	Imperial 5145
I'll Be Gone	You Know I Miss You	1952	Imperial 5167
Goin' Home	Reeling and Rocking	1952	Imperial 5180
Poor Poor Me	Trust in Me	1952	Imperial 5197
How Long	Dreaming	1952	Imperial 5209
Nobody Loves Me	Cheatin'	1953	Imperial 5220
Going to the River	Mardi Gras in New Orleans	1953	Imperial 5231
Please Don't Leave Me	The Girl I Love	1953	Imperial 5240
Rose Mary	You Said You Loved Me	1953	Imperial 5251
Something's Wrong	Don't Leave Me This Way	1953	Imperial 5262
You Done Me Wrong	Little School Girl	1954	Imperial 5272
Where Did You Stay	Baby Please	1954	Imperial 5283
You Can Pack Your Suitcase	I Lived My Life	1954	Imperial 5301
Love Me	Don't You Hear Me Calling You	1954	Imperial 5313
I Know	Thinking of You	1954	Imperial 5323
Don't You Know	Helping Hand	April 1955	Imperial 5340
Ain't That a Shame	La La	August 1955	Imperial 5348
All By Myself	Troubles of My Own	September 1955	Imperial 5357
Poor Me		November 1955	Imperial 5369
	I Can't Go On	1955	Imperial 5369
Bo Weevil		April 1956	Imperial 5375
	Don't Blame It on Me	1956	Imperial 5375
I'm in Love Again		March 1956	Imperial 5386
When My Dreamboat Comes Home		July 1956	Imperial 5396
	So Long
		September 1956	Imperial 5407
	Honey Chile
		December 1956	Imperial 5417
	What's the Reason I'm Not Pleasing You
I'm Walkin'	I'm in the Mood for Love	February 1957	Imperial 5428
The Rooster Song	My Happiness//As Time Goes By//Hey La Bas (4 song EP)	1957	Imperial 147
Valley of Tears		April 1957	Imperial 5442
	It's You I Love
When I See You		July 1957	Imperial 5454
	What Will I Tell My Heart
Wait and See		September 1957	Imperial 5467
	I Still Love You
The Big Beat		December 1957	Imperial 5477
	I Want You to Know
Yes My Darling	Don't You Know I Love You	February 1958	Imperial 5492
Sick and Tired		April 1958	Imperial 5515
	No, No
Little Mary	Prisoner's Song	July 1958	Imperial 5526
Young School Girl	It Must Be Love	August 1958	Imperial 5537
Whole Lotta Loving		October 1958	Imperial 5553
	Coquette
Telling Lies		January 1959	Imperial 5569
	When the Saints Go Marching In
I'm Ready		April 1959	Imperial 5585
			Imperial 5585
I Want to Walk You Home		July 1959	Imperial 5606
	I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday
Be My Guest		October 1959	Imperial 5629
	I've Been Around
Country Boy		January 1960	Imperial 5645
	If You Need Me
Tell Me That You Love Me		April 1960	Imperial 5660
	Before I Grow Too Old
Walking to New Orleans		June 1960	Imperial 5675
	Don't Come Knockin'
Three Nights a Week		August 1960	Imperial 5687
	Put Your Arms Around Me Honey
My Girl Josephine		October 1960	Imperial 5704
	Natural Born Lover
Ain't That Just Like a Woman		January 1961	Imperial 5723
	What a Price
Shu Rah		March 1961	Imperial 5734
	Fell in Love on Monday
It Keeps Rainin'	I Just Cry	May 1961	Imperial 5753
Let The Four Winds Blow	Good Hearted Man	July 1961	Imperial 5764
What A Party		September 1961	Imperial 5779
	Rockin' Bicycle
I Hear You Knocking		November 1961	Imperial 5796
	Jambalaya (On the Bayou)
You Win Again		February 1962	Imperial 5816
	Ida Jane
My Real Name	My Heart Is Bleeding	May 1962	Imperial 5833
Dance with Mr. Domino		July 1962	Imperial 5863
	Nothing New (Same Old Thing)
Did You Ever See a Dream Walking		September 1962	Imperial 5875
	Stop the Clock
Won't You Come on Back	Hands Across the Table	November 1962	Imperial 5895
Hum Diddy Doo	Those Eyes	January 1963	Imperial 5909
You Always Hurt the One You Love	Trouble Blues	March 1963	Imperial 5937
True Confession		May 1963	Imperial 5959
One Night	I Can't Go on This Way	1963	Imperial 5980
There Goes (My Heart Again)		May 1963	ABC 10444
	Can't Go on Without You
When I'm Walking (Let Me Walk)		July 1963	ABC 10475
	I've Got a Right to Cry
	Song For Rosemary	1963	ABC 10484
I Can't Give You Anything But Love	Goin' Home	August 1963	Imperial 66005
Who Cares		1963	ABC 10512
	Just a Lonely Man	1963	ABC 10512
Your Cheatin' Heart	When I Was Young	1964	Imperial 66016
Lazy Lady		1964	ABC 10531
	I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire	1964	ABC 10531
If You Don't Know What Love Is	Something You Got Baby	1964	ABC 10545
Mary, Oh Mary	Packin' Up	1964	ABC 10567
Sally Was a Good Old Girl	For You	1964	ABC 10584
Kansas City	Heartbreak Hill	1964	ABC 10596
Why Don't You Do Right	Wigs	1965	ABC 10631
Let Me Call You Sweetheart	Goodnight Sweetheart	1965	ABC 10644
I Done Got Over It	I Left My Heart In San Francisco	1965	Mercury 72463
What's That You Got?	It's Never Too Late	1965	Mercury 72485
The Lady in Black	Working My Way Up Steady	1967	Broadmoor 104
Big Mouth	Wait 'Til It Happens to You	1967	Broadmoor 105
One For The Highway	Honest Papas Love Their Mamas Better	1968	Reprise 0696
Lady Madonna	One for the Highway	1968	Reprise 0763
Lovely Rita	Wait 'Till It Happens to You	1968	Reprise 0775
Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey	So Swell When You're Well	1969	Reprise 0843
Make Me Belong to You	Have You Seen My Baby	1970	Reprise 0891
New Orleans Ain't the Same	Sweet Patootie	1970	Reprise 0944
Sleeping on the Job	After Hours	1978	Sonet 2168 -UK
Whiskey Heaven	''--''	1980	Warner Bros. 49610

Notes and references

External links

Fats Domino on Rock & Roll Hall of Fame site

Fats Domino discography (music city)

Fats Domino at history-of-rock.com

Imperial album discography

Article on Domino's return concert

Fats Domino: ''Walking to New Orleans'' special

Category:1928 births Category:Living people Category:American blues pianists Category:Boogie-woogie pianists Category:New Orleans R&B; musicians Category:People from New Orleans, Louisiana Category:African American musicians Category:African American rock musicians Category:American rhythm and blues musicians Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American rock singers Category:American pianists Category:Songwriters from Louisiana Category:Blues Hall of Fame inductees Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:Stride pianists Category:Imperial Records artists Category:Louisiana Creole people Category:Musicians from New Orleans, Louisiana Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners

an:Fats Domino bg:Фатс Домино ca:Fats Domino cs:Fats Domino da:Fats Domino de:Fats Domino et:Fats Domino es:Fats Domino fr:Fats Domino hr:Fats Domino io:Fats Domino id:Fats Domino it:Fats Domino mr:फॅट्स डॉमिनो nl:Fats Domino ja:ファッツ・ドミノ no:Fats Domino nn:Fats Domino pl:Fats Domino pt:Fats Domino ro:Fats Domino ru:Домино, Фэтс scn:Fats Domino simple:Fats Domino fi:Fats Domino sv:Fats Domino uk:Фетс Доміно

Name	Kyle Orton
Currentteam	Denver Broncos
Currentnumber	8
Currentpositionplain	Quarterback
Birth date	November 14, 1982
Birth place	Altoona, Iowa
Heightft	6
Heightin	4
Weight	225
Debutyear	2005
Debutteam	Chicago Bears
College	Purdue
Draftyear	2005
Draftround	4
Draftpick	106
Pastteams	Chicago Bears (–) Denver Broncos (–present)
Status	Active
Highlights	Honorable mention All-Big Ten (2003) First-team All-Big Ten (2004) AFC Offensive Player of the Week (Week 5, 2009)
Statweek	10
Statseason	2010
Statlabel4	TD-INT
Statvalue4	71-49
Statlabel5	Passing yards
Statvalue5	12,774
Statlabel6	QB Rating
Statvalue6	79.8
Nfl	ORT716150 }}

Kyle Raymond Orton (born November 14, 1982 in Altoona, Iowa) is an American football quarterback for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the fourth round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He played college football at Purdue.

High school career

Kyle Orton attended Southeast Polk High School in Runnells (now Pleasant Hill), Iowa, where he also participated in basketball, tennis, and track and field.

At the end of his high school career, Orton was the No. 2 ranked QB in the nation by SuperPrep and No. 7 by Rivals.com. His career passing statistics were 208 for 450 (46.2%), 3,176 yards with 24 touchdowns, and 18 interceptions. He earned honorable mention all-state and first team all-conference his senior year, after completing 95 of 192 attempts (49.5%), 1,366 yards with 12 touchdowns, and 5 interceptions.

Orton wore uniform No. 18 in honor of former Nebraska Cornhuskers' quarterback Brook Berringer who died in a plane crash in 1996.

College career

Orton grew up a Husker fan, but chose to attend a program with a stronger passing attack. Orton tied former Purdue quarterback Drew Brees' record for number of passing yards in a game (522 vs. Indiana Hoosiers), and is the only Purdue quarterback to start ''four'' consecutive bowl games (Brees and Mark Herrmann started ''three'' straight). Orton started in the 2001, '02 and '04 Sun Bowl and the 2003 Capital One Bowl.

In 2004, Orton was the preseason third-team "All-American" quarterback, behind USC's Matt Leinart and Oklahoma's Jason White. Orton had a nice start to the season, having led Purdue to a 5-0 start with 18 touchdowns and no interceptions. He was a Heisman Trophy hopeful, until his fumble was run back for a touchdown late in the 4th quarter against the undefeated 12th ranked Wisconsin Badgers, giving the 5th ranked Purdue its first of several losses that season. Later that season, he received multiple injuries, in consecutive games against Michigan and Northwestern forcing him to lose his starting position for a month. Brandon Kirsch then replaced him during that time.

Orton makes a cameo in NCAA Football 2006, where he says "EA Sports, it's in the game," along with Derek Anderson in the game's introduction.

Professional career

Chicago Bears

2005

In the 2005 NFL season, Orton was rushed into the Bears starting lineup as a rookie after a preseason injury to starter Rex Grossman, and the poor play of back-up Chad Hutchinson.

Orton started 15 games of the season, however was replaced by Grossman after halftime during the Bears' Week 15 victory against the Atlanta Falcons.

After sitting for Week 16, Orton started the regular season finale, Week 17, against the Minnesota Vikings. The outcome of this game, for the Chicago Bears, did not have any effect on their post-season hopes. The Bears had already clinched the NFC North championship and a first-round bye in the 2005-06 playoffs with their Week 16 victory over the Green Bay Packers. Grossman then started for the Bears in their only post-season game. They lost to the Carolina Panthers.

Overall, the Bears had a record of 10-5 in games that Orton started, including an eight-game winning streak after a 1-3 start. Despite the team's success, Orton finished with the lowest quarterback rating in the NFL (59.7) among all "qualified" quarterbacks (those with 224+ pass attempts). Despite the low rating, the Bears coaches repeatedly insisted that they were pleased with Orton's performance. The coaching staff asked Orton to minimize mistakes and to let the rushing attack and the defense win ballgames rather than employing an aggressive passing attack.

Measuring Orton's victories, his rookie season was successful. His 15 starts and 10 victories are both rookie records for Bears quarterbacks, and the 10 victories are the third most in the NFL, since 1970, behind Ben Roethlisberger's 14 victories in '04, and Joe Flacco's and Matt Ryan's 11 victories in '08.

2006

Following the 2005 season, the Bears signed veteran Brian Griese as the team’s second string quarterback. Orton, now demoted, became the Bears’ third-string quarterback, and did not see any playtime throughout the entire 2006 season.

2007

The following off-season, the Bears acquired Chris Leak, who had previously led the Florida Gators to a BCS Championship, shortly after the 2007 NFL Draft. Leak struggled in training camp, while Orton, who had trained in the off season, excelled but was placed at third string. According to the ''Chicago Tribune'', Orton was en route to overtake Griese's (then) second string position. Orton continued to show signs of improvement in the preseason. He completed sixteen of twenty-five passes for 151 yards and one touchdown en route to leading the Bears to a comeback victory over the Houston Texans.

After the Bears lost their chances of making a post-season berth, Lovie Smith chose to start Orton over Griese. Orton made his first start in nearly two seasons on December 17, 2007 against the Minnesota Vikings. The Bears lost the game 20-13. Orton finished with 22 completions on 38 attempts, 184 yards, and 1 interception. He improved in the final two meaningless games of the season, leading the Bears to two consecutive victories, passing for 294 yards, 3 touchdowns and an interception.

2008

On February 25, 2008 the Bears and Orton agreed to a one-year contract extension running through the 2009 season. Competition for the starting quarterback job was expected to be fierce with Rex Grossman, during training camp.

On August 18, after deadlock against Grossman in games with the Kansas City Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks, Bears head coach Lovie Smith named Orton the team's starting QB for the 2008 season in Week 3 of the ''preseason'', despite not throwing a pass over 17 yards or for a touchdown in the first two preseason games.

On September 7, 2008, Orton led the Bears to a 29-13 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in the first regular season game of the season. He threw for a career high 334 yards and two touchdowns, while completing 24 of 34 passes in a 34-7 victory over the Detroit Lions. He finished the game with a career high, at that time, passer rating of 121.4.

From the start of November 2008, Kyle Orton passed for ten touchdowns, and four interceptions, leading the Bears to a 4-3 record. Orton sustained an ankle injury against the Detroit Lions in Week 9 of the NFL season, and did not start the next week. He rushed himself back into the starting lineup a week after Grossman had a solid outing for someone coming off the bench against the Titans. After his return, Orton threw eight touchdowns, and eight interceptions while averaging a quarterback rating of 66.9, including ratings of 39.1 against Minnesota, 49.2 against New Orleans, and 48.7 against Green Bay.

The Bears finished the season with a 9-7 record, while missing the playoffs by one game. Coach Lovie Smith was pleased with Orton's performance and believed he would be the team's starting quarterback for the following season. However, Jerry Angelo, the team's general manager, stated he wished to further solidify the quarterback position in the long run.

Denver Broncos

2009

On April 2, 2009, the Bears traded Orton (along with their first and third-round draft picks in 2009 and their first-round pick in '10) to the Denver Broncos for Pro Bowl quarterback Jay Cutler and the Broncos' fifth round pick in '09.

On June 13, Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels declared Orton the starting quarterback for the season. Orton led the Broncos to a 12-7 victory in the 2009 season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals. The game was won on a deflected pass that landed in the arms of Brandon Stokley who took it 87 yards for a touchdown.

Over the next five weeks, Orton led the Broncos to a surprising 6-0 record to begin the season. His most impressive effort in that streak came against the New England Patriots, when he completed 35-48 passes for 330 yards and orchestrated a 98-yard drive to tie the game and send it into overtime. He threw his first interception of the season to Randy Moss at the end of the first half. It was his first in 173 pass attempts which dated back to 2008 when he was with the Chicago Bears. He led another drive for the game-winning field goal in overtime. On Tuesday, October 13, 2009, Kyle Orton was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week, for that effort.

On Nov. 15, Orton suffered an ankle injury on the road against the Washington Redskins. He came out of the game at halftime with a career high passer rating of 134.7. The injury kept him from starting the next game against the Chargers. He did return partway through that game, replacing Chris Simms.

For the 2009 season (playing in 16 games with 15 starts), Orton threw 21 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions with an 86.8 QB rating.

2010

Orton was named the Broncos starting quarterback for 2010. He signed a one-year contract extension (through the 2011 season), on August 19, 2010. On September 26, 2010, Orton threw for 476 yards against the Indianapolis Colts, a career-high. Less than two months later, November 14, Orton threw a career-high four touchdown passes against the Kansas City Chiefs. Later in the season, Orton suffered an injury against the Kansas City Chiefs, and Tim Tebow played the last three games of the season. Orton finished the season with 3,653 yards, 20 touchdowns, and nine interceptions.

2011

In July of 2011, the Broncos had a competition to see which quarterback would be named first on the depth chart. In August of 2011, Orton was named first-string quarterback, ahead of Tim Tebow, with Brady Quinn as 3rd-string.

Statistics

{|class=wikitable style="text-align:center;" !rowspan=2|Season !rowspan=2|Team !colspan=3|Games !colspan=8|Passing !colspan=2|Sacks !colspan=4|Rushing |- !GP!!GS!!W-L !Comp!!Att!!Pct!!Yds!!Y/Att!!TD!!INT!!Rating !#!!Yds !Att!!Yds!!Avg!!TD |- !2005!!rowspan=4|Chicago Bears |15||15||10-5 |190||368||51.6||1,869||5.1||9||13||59.7 |30||190 |24||44||1.8||0 |- !2006 |0||0||0-0 |0||0||-||0||-||0||0||- |0||0 |0||0||-||0 |- !2007 |3||3||2-1 |43||80||53.8||478||6.0||3||2||73.9 |2||12 |5||-1||-0.2||0 |- !2008 |15||15||9-6 |272||465||58.5||2,972||6.4||18||12||79.6 |27||160 |24||49||2.0||3 |- !2009 !! rowspan=2|Denver Broncos |16||15||8-7 |336||541||62.1||3,802||7.0||21||12||86.8 |29||159 |24||71||3.0||0 |- !2010 |13||13||3-10 |293||498||58.8||3,653||7.3||20||9||87.5 |34||243 |22||98||4.4||0 |- !colspan=2|Total !62!!61||32-30 !1,134!!1,952!!58.1!!12,774!!6.5!!71!!48!!79.6 !122!!764 !99!!261!!2.6!!3 |}

2010 reflects up to Week 16.

See also

List of NFL quarterbacks who have passed for 400 or more yards in a game

References

External links

Denver Broncos bio

Purdue Boilermakers bio

Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:People from Polk County, Iowa Category:American football quarterbacks Category:Players of American football from Iowa Category:Purdue Boilermakers football players Category:Chicago Bears players Category:Denver Broncos players

da:Kyle Orton fr:Kyle Orton ru:Ортон, Кайл

name	Les Humphries Singers
landscape	yes
background	group_or_band
origin	Hamburg, Germany
genre	Pop, Gospel, Country
years active	1969 - 1980
associated acts	Les Humphries Singers Reunion
past members	}}

The Les Humphries Singers was a 1970s musical group formed in Hamburg, Germany in 1969 by the English born Les Humphries (born John Lesley Humphreys, 10 August 1940, in Croydon, Surrey, England - died 26 December 2007, in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England), who had been inspired to do his own version of the Edwin Hawkins Singers.

The Les Humphries Singers dissolved at the end of the 1970s, after Humphries had left due to tax liabilities to his English homeland, Alton, Hampshire.

In his later years, Humphries led a quiet life in London. In March 2008, the German newspaper ''Bild'' reported his death on 26 December 2007 in a London hospital.

Members

The group consisted of a large number of singers of diverse ethnic origin, some of whom such as John Lawton also performed with other groups. Another member was Jürgen Drews, who later started a long-running solo career, starting with his 1976 hit in Germany, "Ein Bett im Kornfeld", a cover version of "Let Your Love Flow" by the Bellamy Brothers. Linda Thompson (born 21 September 1948 as Linda Übelherr), who had previously been a member of the Cornely Singers and Love Generation, was a member from 1973 to 1974, and later joined Silver Convention, and had a solo career as Linda G. Thompson, sang as a duo with Jerry Rix, and later joined The Hornettes. Henner Hoier (born 19 April 1945), who was a member from 1970 to 1971, had been a member of the Rivets from 1964 to 1968 and of the Rattles from 1968 to 1970. From 1972 onwards, he had a solo career, and from 1988 to 1993 he was a member of the Rattles and from 1994 of the Rivets. He has also composed and produced music, and appeared in the musical ''Only You''.

Additional members included Liz Mitchell, later front woman with Boney M., and John Lawton, who also sang for the German progressive/hard rock band Lucifer's Friend and would go on to be the frontman for Uriah Heep.

Other members included:

Jimmy Bilsbury (1969–77, 1982, 1992)

Earl Jordan (1972–76, 1982)

Barry St. John (1972–73)

Victor Scott (1970–76, 1982, 1992)

Christopher Yim (1971–76, 1992)

Peggy Evers (1970–76)

Judy Archer (1970–76)

Elvira Herbert (1972–75)

Dave O'Brien (1973–76)

Sheila McKinlay (1973–75, 1982, 1992)

Enry David-Fascher (1970–72)

Myrna David (1971–72)

Malcolm Magaron (1970–72)

Claudia Schwarz (1974–76)

Emily Woods-Jensen (1974–76, 1992)

Dornée Edwards (1970–71)

Maddy Verhaar (1975–76)

Lil Walker

Don Adams (1975)

Tina Kemp-Werner (1970–74)

Barbara Johnson

Gail Stevens (1974)

Goldy Kloen-Evert (1970–71)

Irene Bendorf (1971)

Renate Andersen-Bilsbury (1974–76, 1982)

Musical background and style

The Les Humphries Singers performed a mix of popular music and gospel covers and had some success in Europe with this approach. Much like contemporary disco act Boney M., their music focused on Rhythm and blues, gospel, and disco, but often with psychedelic phasing or flanger effects on solos and bridges, and, much like James Last, much larger background choruses in the studio to emulate a live atmosphere. The Les Humphries Singers at the time brought something from the flair of the hippie movement into contemporary German-produced (but English-sung) pop music, especially due to their mixed ethnic background and peculiar fashion sense.

Hits and later reunions

Two of their earliest and best known hits were "Mexico" (1972) which was based on the 1957 Jimmy Driftwood country hit "The Battle of New Orleans", and "Mama Loo" (1973), based on "Barbara Ann" by The Beach Boys. In 1976 they represented Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest with the Ralph Siegel title "Sing Sang Song", reduced to only six singers (their usual line-ups consisted of 20 performers and up), and came in 15th place, which they regarded as their beginning of the end as a band. At the same time, they were the resident vocal band on the internationally syndicated TV series "The International Pop Proms", working with James Last and other renowned artists.

They disbanded shortly thereafter the same year, but enjoyed a short comeback as a pure live act from 1991 until 1993 performing their old hits.

In 2006, the original band members formed 'The Original Singers' without Humphries, but with new members Chris Dakota, David Tobin, Jay Jay van Hagen and Willi Meyer, re-recording their old hits and also releasing new material.

The former members, Jürgen Drews, Tina Kemp-Werner, Judy Archer and Peggy Evers-Hartig, formed a group called the Les Humphries Singers Reunion in 2009.

Hit singles

Year	Title	Chart positions
		!width="30"	!width="30"	!width="30"	!width="30"

References

External links

Extensive Discography

Category:Musical groups from Hamburg Category:German Eurovision Song Contest entrants Category:Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1976 Category:Musical groups established in 1969 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1993

da:Les Humphries Singers de:The Les Humphries Singers es:Les Humphries Singers fr:Les Humphries singers it:Les Humphries Singers nl:Les Humphries Singers no:Les Humphries Singers sv:Les Humphries Singers