Coordinates	19°25′14″N99°10′54″N
Conventional long name	United States of America
Common name	the United States
Image coat	US-GreatSeal-Obverse.svg
Length	1776–present
Symbol type	Great Seal
National motto	In God We Trust(official)(traditional)(Latin: Out of Many, One)
Map width	220px
National anthem	"The Star-Spangled Banner"
Official languages	None at federal level
Languages type	National language
Languages	English (''de facto'')
Capital	Washington, D.C.
Largest city	New York City
Government type	Federal presidential constitutional republic
Leader title1	President
Leader name1	Barack Obama (D)
Leader title2	Vice President
Leader name2	Joe Biden (D)
Leader title3
Leader name3	John Boehner (R)
Leader title4	Chief Justice
Leader name4	John Roberts
Legislature	Congress
Upper house	Senate
Lower house	House of Representatives
Sovereignty type	Independence
Established event1	Declared
Established date1	July 4, 1776
Established event2	Recognized
Established date2	September 3, 1783
Established event3	Current constitution
Established date3	June 21, 1788
Area footnote
Area sq mi	3794101
Area km2	9826675
Area rank	3rd/4th
Area magnitude	1 E12
Percent water	6.76
Population estimate	}}

|population_estimate_year = 2011 |population_estimate_rank = 3rd |population_density_km2 = 33.7 |population_density_sq_mi = 87.4 |GDP_PPP_year = 2010 |GDP_PPP = $14.780 trillion |GDP_PPP_rank = 1st |GDP_PPP_per_capita = $47,123 |GDP_PPP_per_capita_rank = 6th |GDP_nominal = $14.780 trillion |GDP_nominal_rank = 1st |GDP_nominal_year = 2010 |GDP_nominal_per_capita = $47,132 |GDP_nominal_per_capita_rank = 9th |HDI_year = 2010 |HDI = 0.902 |HDI_rank = 4th |HDI_category = very high |EF_year = 2007 |EF = 8.0 gha |EF_rank = 6th |Gini = 45.0 |Gini_rank = 39th |Gini_year = 2007 |currency = United States dollar ($) |currency_code = USD |country_code = USA |utc_offset = −5 to −10 |utc_offset_DST = −4 to −10 |cctld = .us .gov .mil .edu |calling_code = +1 |date_format = m/d/yy (AD) |drives_on = right |demonym = American |footnotes = a. English is the official language of at least 28 states—some sources give a higher figure, based on differing definitions of "official". English and Hawaiian are both official languages in the state of Hawaii.

b. English is the ''de facto'' language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language.

c. Whether the United States or the People's Republic of China is larger is disputed. The figure given is from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's ''World Factbook''. Other sources give smaller figures. All authoritative calculations of the country's size include only the 50 states and the District of Columbia, not the territories.

d. The population estimate includes people whose usual residence is in the fifty states and the District of Columbia, including noncitizens. It does not include either those living in the territories, amounting to more than 4 million U.S. citizens (most in Puerto Rico), or U.S. citizens living outside the United States. }}

The United States of America (also called the United States, the States, the U.S., the USA, and America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.

At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2010 GDP of $14.780 trillion (23% of nominal global GDP and 20% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity).

Indigenous peoples have inhabited what is now the mainland United States for between 12,000 and 40,000 years since the Paleo-Indians crossed the Bearing land bridge from Asia to North America. This Native American population was greatly reduced by disease and warfare after European contact. The United States was founded by thirteen British colonies located along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed their right to self-determination and their establishment of a cooperative union. The rebellious states defeated the British Empire in the American Revolution, the first successful colonial war of independence. The current United States Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787; its ratification the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, comprising ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many fundamental civil rights and freedoms, was ratified in 1791.

Through the 19th century, the United States displaced native tribes, acquired the Louisiana territory from France, Florida from Spain, part of the Oregon Country from the United Kingdom, Alta California and New Mexico from Mexico, Alaska from Russia, and annexed the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Disputes between the agrarian South and industrial North over the expansion of the institution of slavery and states' rights provoked the Civil War of the 1860s. The North's victory prevented a permanent split of the country and led to the end of legal slavery in the United States. By the 1870s, its national economy was the world's largest. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. It emerged from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union left the United States as the sole superpower. The country accounts for 41% of global military spending, and it is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.

Etymology

In 1507, German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere "America" after Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci. The former British colonies first used the country's modern name in the 1776 Declaration of Independence, the "unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America". On November 15, 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, which states, "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be 'The United States of America.'" The Franco-American treaties of 1778 used "United States of North America", but from July 11, 1778, "United States of America" was used on the country's bills of exchange, and it has been the official name ever since.

The short form "United States" is also standard. Other common forms include the "U.S.", the "USA", and "America". Colloquial names include the "U.S. of A." and, internationally, the "States". "Columbia", a once popular name for the United States, derives from Christopher Columbus; it appears in the name "District of Columbia".

The standard way to refer to a citizen of the United States is as an "American". Although "United States" is the official appositional term, "American" and "U.S." are more commonly used to refer to the country adjectivally ("American values", "U.S. forces"). "American" is rarely used in English to refer to people not connected to the United States.

The phrase "United States" was originally treated as plural—e.g., "the United States are"—including in the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1865. It became common to treat it as singular—e.g., "the United States is"—after the end of the Civil War. The singular form is now standard; the plural form is retained in the idiom "these United States".

Geography and environment

The land area of the contiguous United States is approximately . Alaska, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, is the largest state at . Hawaii, occupying an archipelago in the central Pacific, southwest of North America, has just over . The United States is the world's third or fourth largest nation by total area (land and water), ranking behind Russia and Canada and just above or below China. The ranking varies depending on how two territories disputed by China and India are counted and how the total size of the United States is measured: calculations range from to to . Including only land area, the United States is third in size behind Russia and China, just ahead of Canada.

The coastal plain of the Atlantic seaboard gives way further inland to deciduous forests and the rolling hills of the Piedmont. The Appalachian Mountains divide the eastern seaboard from the Great Lakes and the grasslands of the Midwest. The Mississippi–Missouri River, the world's fourth longest river system, runs mainly north–south through the heart of the country. The flat, fertile prairie of the Great Plains stretches to the west, interrupted by a highland region in the southeast. The Rocky Mountains, at the western edge of the Great Plains, extend north to south across the country, reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet (4,300 m) in Colorado. Farther west are the rocky Great Basin and deserts such as the Mojave. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast. At 20,320 feet (6,194 m), Alaska's Mount McKinley is the tallest peak in the country and in North America. Active volcanoes are common throughout Alaska's Alexander and Aleutian Islands, and Hawaii consists of volcanic islands. The supervolcano underlying Yellowstone National Park in the Rockies is the continent's largest volcanic feature. The United States, with its large size and geographic variety, includes most climate types. To the east of the 100th meridian, the climate ranges from humid continental in the north to humid subtropical in the south. The southern tip of Florida is tropical, as is Hawaii. The Great Plains west of the 100th meridian are semi-arid. Much of the Western mountains are alpine. The climate is arid in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington and southern Alaska. Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar. Extreme weather is not uncommon—the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes occur within the country, mainly in the Midwest's Tornado Alley.

The U.S. ecology is considered "megadiverse": about 17,000 species of vascular plants occur in the contiguous United States and Alaska, and over 1,800 species of flowering plants are found in Hawaii, few of which occur on the mainland. The United States is home to more than 400 mammal, 750 bird, and 500 reptile and amphibian species. About 91,000 insect species have been described. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 protects threatened and endangered species and their habitats, which are monitored by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. There are fifty-eight national parks and hundreds of other federally managed parks, forests, and wilderness areas. Altogether, the government owns 28.8% of the country's land area. Most of this is protected, though some is leased for oil and gas drilling, mining, logging, or cattle ranching; 2.4% is used for military purposes.

Political divisions

The United States is a federal union of fifty states. The original thirteen states were the successors of the thirteen colonies that rebelled against British rule. Early in the country's history, three new states were organized on territory separated from the claims of the existing states: Kentucky from Virginia; Tennessee from North Carolina; and Maine from Massachusetts. Most of the other states have been carved from territories obtained through war or purchase by the U.S. government. One set of exceptions comprises Vermont, Texas, and Hawaii: each was an independent republic before joining the union. During the American Civil War, West Virginia broke away from Virginia. The most recent state—Hawaii—achieved statehood on August 21, 1959. The states do not have the right to secede from the union.

The states compose the vast bulk of the U.S. land mass; the two other areas considered integral parts of the country are the District of Columbia, the federal district where the capital, Washington, is located; and Palmyra Atoll, an uninhabited but incorporated territory in the Pacific Ocean. The United States also possesses five major overseas territories: Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands in the Caribbean; and American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific. Those born in the major territories (except for American Samoa) possess U.S. citizenship. American citizens residing in the territories have many of the same rights and responsibilities as citizens residing in the states; however, they are generally exempt from federal income tax, may not vote for president, and have only nonvoting representation in the U.S. Congress.

History

Native American and European settlement

The indigenous peoples of the U.S. mainland, including Alaska Natives, are believed to have migrated from Asia, beginning between 12,000 and 40,000 years ago. Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture, developed advanced agriculture, grand architecture, and state-level societies. After Europeans began settling the Americas, many millions of indigenous Americans died from epidemics of imported diseases such as smallpox.

In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached several Caribbean islands, making first contact with the indigenous people. On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La Florida"—the first documented European arrival on what would become the U.S. mainland. Spanish settlements in the region were followed by ones in the present-day southwestern United States that drew thousands through Mexico. French fur traders established outposts of New France around the Great Lakes; France eventually claimed much of the North American interior, down to the Gulf of Mexico. The first successful English settlements were the Virginia Colony in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of migration; by 1634, New England had been settled by some 10,000 Puritans. Between the late 1610s and the American Revolution, about 50,000 convicts were shipped to Britain's American colonies. Beginning in 1614, the Dutch settled along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.

In 1674, the Dutch ceded their American territory to England; the province of New Netherland was renamed New York. Many new immigrants, especially to the South, were indentured servants—some two-thirds of all Virginia immigrants between 1630 and 1680. By the turn of the 18th century, African slaves were becoming the primary source of bonded labor. With the 1729 division of the Carolinas and the 1732 colonization of Georgia, the thirteen British colonies that would become the United States of America were established. All had local governments with elections open to most free men, with a growing devotion to the ancient rights of Englishmen and a sense of self-government stimulating support for republicanism. All legalized the African slave trade. With high birth rates, low death rates, and steady immigration, the colonial population grew rapidly. The Christian revivalist movement of the 1730s and 1740s known as the Great Awakening fueled interest in both religion and religious liberty. In the French and Indian War, British forces seized Canada from the French, but the francophone population remained politically isolated from the southern colonies. Excluding the Native Americans (popularly known as "American Indians"), who were being displaced, those thirteen colonies had a population of 2.6 million in 1770, about one-third that of Britain; nearly one in five Americans were black slaves. Though subject to British taxation, the American colonials had no representation in the Parliament of Great Britain.

Independence and expansion

Tensions between American colonials and the British during the revolutionary period of the 1760s and early 1770s led to the American Revolutionary War, fought from 1775 to 1781. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress, convening in Philadelphia, established a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. Proclaiming that "all men are created equal" and endowed with "certain unalienable Rights", the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted largely by Thomas Jefferson, on July 4, 1776. That date is now celebrated annually as America's Independence Day. In 1777, the Articles of Confederation established a weak confederal government that operated until 1789.

After the British defeat by American forces assisted by the French and Spanish, Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States and the states' sovereignty over American territory west to the Mississippi River. Those wishing to establish a strong national government with powers of taxation organized a constitutional convention in 1787. The United States Constitution was ratified in 1788, and the new republic's first Senate, House of Representatives, and president—George Washington—took office in 1789. The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and guaranteeing a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791.

Attitudes toward slavery were shifting; a clause in the Constitution protected the transatlantic slave trade only until 1808. The Northern states abolished slavery between 1780 and 1804, leaving the slave states of the South as defenders of the "peculiar institution". The Second Great Awakening, beginning about 1800, made evangelicalism a force behind various social reform movements, including abolitionism.

Americans' eagerness to expand westward prompted a long series of Indian Wars. The Louisiana Purchase of French-claimed territory under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 almost doubled the nation's size. The War of 1812, declared against Britain over various grievances and fought to a draw, strengthened U.S. nationalism. A series of U.S. military incursions into Florida led Spain to cede it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819. The Trail of Tears in the 1830s exemplified the Indian removal policy that stripped the native peoples of their land. The United States annexed the Republic of Texas in 1845, amid a period when the concept of Manifest Destiny was becoming popular. The 1846 Oregon Treaty with Britain led to U.S. control of the present-day American Northwest. The U.S. victory in the Mexican-American War resulted in the 1848 cession of California and much of the present-day American Southwest. The California Gold Rush of 1848–49 further spurred western migration. New railways made relocation easier for settlers and increased conflicts with Native Americans. Over a half-century, up to 40 million American bison, or buffalo, were slaughtered for skins and meat and to ease the railways' spread. The loss of the buffalo, a primary resource for the plains Indians, was an existential blow to many native cultures.

Civil War and industrialization

Tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments over the relationship between the state and federal governments, as well as violent conflicts over the spread of slavery into new states. Abraham Lincoln, candidate of the largely antislavery Republican Party, was elected president in 1860. Before he took office, seven slave states declared their secession—which the federal government maintained was illegal—and formed the Confederate States of America. With the Confederate attack upon Fort Sumter, the Civil War began and four more slave states joined the Confederacy. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 declared slaves in the Confederacy to be free. Following the Union victory in 1865, three amendments to the U.S. Constitution ensured freedom for the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves, made them citizens, and gave them voting rights. The war and its resolution led to a substantial increase in federal power. The war remains the deadliest conflict in American history, resulting in the deaths of 620,000 soldiers.

After the war, the assassination of Lincoln radicalized Republican Reconstruction policies aimed at reintegrating and rebuilding the Southern states while ensuring the rights of the newly freed slaves. The resolution of the disputed 1876 presidential election by the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction; Jim Crow laws soon disenfranchised many African Americans. In the North, urbanization and an unprecedented influx of immigrants from Southern Southern and Eastern Europe hastened the country's industrialization. The wave of immigration, lasting until 1929, provided labor and transformed American culture. National infrastructure development spurred economic growth. The 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia completed the country's mainland expansion. The Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 was the last major armed conflict of the Indian Wars. In 1893, the indigenous monarchy of the Pacific Kingdom of Hawaii was overthrown in a coup led by American residents; the United States annexed the archipelago in 1898. Victory in the Spanish–American War the same year demonstrated that the United States was a world power and led to the annexation of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. The Philippines gained independence a half-century later; Puerto Rico and Guam remain U.S. territories.

World War I, Great Depression, and World War II

At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the United States remained neutral. Most Americans sympathized with the British and French, although many opposed intervention. In 1917, the United States joined the Allies, and the American Expeditionary Forces helped to turn the tide against the Central Powers. After the war, the Senate did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles, which established the League of Nations. The country pursued a policy of unilateralism, verging on isolationism. In 1920, the women's rights movement won passage of a constitutional amendment granting women's suffrage. The prosperity of the Roaring Twenties ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that triggered the Great Depression. After his election as president in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, a range of policies increasing government intervention in the economy, including the establishment of the Social Security system. The Dust Bowl of the mid-1930s impoverished many farming communities and spurred a new wave of western migration. The United States, effectively neutral during World War II's early stages after Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland in September 1939, began supplying materiel to the Allies in March 1941 through the Lend-Lease program. On December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, prompting the United States to join the Allies against the Axis powers as well as the internment of Japanese Americans by the thousands. Participation in the war spurred capital investment and industrial capacity. Among the major combatants, the United States was the only nation to become richer—indeed, far richer—instead of poorer because of the war. Allied conferences at Bretton Woods and Yalta outlined a new system of international organizations that placed the United States and Soviet Union at the center of world affairs. As victory was won in Europe, a 1945 international conference held in San Francisco produced the United Nations Charter, which became active after the war. The United States, having developed the first nuclear weapons, used them on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August. Japan surrendered on September 2, ending the war.

Cold War and protest politics

The United States and Soviet Union jockeyed for power after World War II during the Cold War, dominating the military affairs of Europe through NATO and the Warsaw Pact, respectively. While they engaged in proxy wars and developed powerful nuclear arsenals, the two countries avoided direct military conflict. Resisting leftist land and income redistribution projects around the world, the United States often supported authoritarian governments. American troops fought Communist Chinese forces in the Korean War of 1950–53. The House Un-American Activities Committee pursued a series of investigations into suspected leftist subversion, while Senator Joseph McCarthy became the figurehead of anticommunist sentiment.

The 1961 Soviet launch of the first manned spaceflight prompted President John F. Kennedy's call for the United States to be first to land "a man on the moon", achieved in 1969. Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear showdown with Soviet forces in Cuba. Meanwhile, the United States experienced sustained economic expansion. A growing civil rights movement, symbolized and led by African Americans such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and James Bevel, used nonviolence to confront segregation and discrimination. Following Kennedy's assassination in 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed under President Lyndon B. Johnson. He also signed into law the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon, expanded a proxy war in Southeast Asia into the unsuccessful Vietnam War. A widespread countercultural movement grew, fueled by opposition to the war, black nationalism, and the sexual revolution. Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, and others led a new wave of feminism that sought political, social, and economic equality for women.

As a result of the Watergate scandal, in 1974 Nixon became the first U.S. president to resign, to avoid being impeached on charges including obstruction of justice and abuse of power. The Jimmy Carter administration of the late 1970s was marked by stagflation and the Iran hostage crisis. The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 heralded a rightward shift in American politics, reflected in major changes in taxation and spending priorities. His second term in office brought both the Iran-Contra scandal and significant diplomatic progress with the Soviet Union. The subsequent Soviet collapse ended the Cold War.

Contemporary era

Under President George H. W. Bush, the United States took a lead role in the UN–sanctioned Gulf War. The longest economic expansion in modern U.S. history—from March 1991 to March 2001—encompassed the Bill Clinton administration and the dot-com bubble. A civil lawsuit and sex scandal led to Clinton's impeachment in 1998, but he remained in office. The 2000 presidential election, one of the closest in American history, was resolved by a U.S. Supreme Court decision—George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, became president.

On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists struck the World Trade Center in New York City and The Pentagon near Washington, D.C., killing nearly three thousand people. In response, the Bush administration launched the global War on Terror, invading Afghanistan and removing the Taliban government and al-Qaeda training camps. Taliban insurgents continue to fight a guerrilla war. In 2002, the Bush administration began to press for regime change in Iraq on controversial grounds. Forces of a so-called Coalition of the Willing invaded Iraq in 2003, ousting Saddam Hussein. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused severe destruction along much of the Gulf Coast, devastating New Orleans. In 2008, amid a global economic recession, the first African American president, Barack Obama, was elected. In 2010, major health care and financial system reforms were enacted.

Government, elections, and politics

The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law". The government is regulated by a system of checks and balances defined by the U.S. Constitution, which serves as the country's supreme legal document. In the American federalist system, citizens are usually subject to three levels of government, federal, state, and local; the local government's duties are commonly split between county and municipal governments. In almost all cases, executive and legislative officials are elected by a plurality vote of citizens by district. There is no proportional representation at the federal level, and it is very rare at lower levels.

The federal government is composed of three branches:

Legislative: The bicameral Congress, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties, has the power of the purse, and has the power of impeachment, by which it can remove sitting members of the government.

Executive: The president is the commander-in-chief of the military, can veto legislative bills before they become law, and appoints the members of the Cabinet (subject to Senate approval) and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies.

Judicial: The Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the president with Senate approval, interpret laws and overturn those they find unconstitutional.

The House of Representatives has 435 voting members, each representing a congressional district for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population every tenth year. As of the 2000 census, seven states have the minimum of one representative, while California, the most populous state, has fifty-three. The Senate has 100 members with each state having two senators, elected at-large to six-year terms; one third of Senate seats are up for election every other year. The president serves a four-year term and may be elected to the office no more than twice. The president is not elected by direct vote, but by an indirect electoral college system in which the determining votes are apportioned to the states and the District of Columbia. The Supreme Court, led by the Chief Justice of the United States, has nine members, who serve for life.

The state governments are structured in roughly similar fashion; Nebraska uniquely has a unicameral legislature. The governor (chief executive) of each state is directly elected. Some state judges and cabinet officers are appointed by the governors of the respective states, while others are elected by popular vote.

The original text of the Constitution establishes the structure and responsibilities of the federal government and its relationship with the individual states. Article One protects the right to the "great writ" of habeas corpus, and Article Three guarantees the right to a jury trial in all criminal cases. Amendments to the Constitution require the approval of three-fourths of the states. The Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times; the first ten amendments, which make up the Bill of Rights, and the Fourteenth Amendment form the central basis of Americans' individual rights. All laws and governmental procedures are subject to judicial review and any law ruled in violation of the Constitution is voided. The principle of judicial review, not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, was declared by the Supreme Court in ''Marbury v. Madison'' (1803).

Parties and ideology

The United States has operated under a two-party system for most of its history. For elective offices at most levels, state-administered primary elections choose the major party nominees for subsequent general elections. Since the general election of 1856, the major parties have been the Democratic Party, founded in 1824, and the Republican Party, founded in 1854. Since the Civil War, only one third-party presidential candidate—former president Theodore Roosevelt, running as a Progressive in 1912—has won as much as 20% of the popular vote.

Within American political culture, the Republican Party is considered center-right or "conservative" and the Democratic Party is considered center-left or "liberal". The states of the Northeast and West Coast and some of the Great Lakes states, known as "blue states", are relatively liberal. The "red states" of the South and parts of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains are relatively conservative.

The winner of the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama, is the 44th U.S. president. The 2010 midterm elections saw the Republican Party take control of the House and make gains in the Senate, where the Democrats retain the majority. In the 112th United States Congress, the Senate comprises 51 Democrats, two independents who caucus with the Democrats, and 47 Republicans; the House comprises 240 Republicans and 192 Democrats—three seats are vacant. There are 29 Republican and 20 Democratic state governors, as well as one independent.

Foreign relations and military

The United States exercises global economic, political, and military influence. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and New York City hosts the United Nations Headquarters. It is a member of the G8, G20, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and many have consulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. However, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Bhutan, Libya, and the Republic of China (Taiwan) do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States.

The United States has a "special relationship" with the United Kingdom and strong ties with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Israel, and several European countries. It works closely with fellow NATO members on military and security issues and with its neighbors through the Organization of American States and free trade agreements such as the trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. In 2008, the United States spent a net $25.4 billion on official development assistance, the most in the world. As a share of America's large gross national income (GNI), however, the U.S. contribution of 0.18% ranked last among twenty-two donor states. By contrast, private overseas giving by Americans is relatively generous.

The president holds the title of commander-in-chief of the nation's armed forces and appoints its leaders, the secretary of defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The United States Department of Defense administers the armed forces, including the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. The Coast Guard is run by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and the Department of the Navy in time of war. In 2008, the armed forces had 1.4 million personnel on active duty. The Reserves and National Guard brought the total number of troops to 2.3 million. The Department of Defense also employed about 700,000 civilians, not including contractors.

Military service is voluntary, though conscription may occur in wartime through the Selective Service System. American forces can be rapidly deployed by the Air Force's large fleet of transport aircraft, the Navy's eleven active aircraft carriers, and Marine Expeditionary Units at sea with the Navy's Atlantic and Pacific fleets. The military operates 865 bases and facilities abroad, and maintains deployments greater than 100 active duty personnel in 25 foreign countries. The extent of this global military presence has prompted some scholars to describe the United States as maintaining an "empire of bases".

Total U.S. military spending in 2008, more than $600 billion, was over 41% of global military spending and greater than the next fourteen largest national military expenditures combined. The per capita spending of $1,967 was about nine times the world average; at 4% of GDP, the rate was the second-highest among the top fifteen military spenders, after Saudi Arabia. The proposed base Department of Defense budget for 2012, $553 billion, is a 4.2% increase over 2011; an additional $118 billion is proposed for the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. As of September 2010, the United States is scheduled to have 96,000 troops deployed to Afghanistan, and 50,000 to Iraq. As of July 25, 2011, the United States had suffered 4,474 military fatalities during the Iraq War, and 1,680 during the War in Afghanistan.

Economy

The United States has a capitalist mixed economy, which is fueled by abundant natural resources, a well-developed infrastructure, and high productivity. According to the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. GDP of $15 trillion constitutes 23% of the gross world product at market exchange rates and over 20% of the gross world product at purchasing power parity (PPP). Though larger than any other nation's, its national GDP is about 5% smaller than the GDP of the European Union at PPP in 2008. The country ranks ninth in the world in nominal GDP per capita and sixth in GDP per capita at PPP. The U.S. dollar is the world's primary reserve currency.

The United States is the largest importer of goods and third largest exporter, though exports per capita are relatively low. In 2008, the total U.S. trade deficit was $696 billion. Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, and Germany are its top trading partners. In 2007, vehicles constituted both the leading import and leading export commodity. China is the largest foreign holder of U.S. public debt.

In 2009, the private sector was estimated to constitute 55.3% of the economy, with federal government activity accounting for 24.1% and state and local government activity (including federal transfers) the remaining 20.6%. While its economy has reached a postindustrial level of development and its service sector constitutes 67.8% of GDP, the United States remains an industrial power. The leading business field by gross business receipts is wholesale and retail trade; by net income it is manufacturing. Chemical products are the leading manufacturing field. The United States is the third largest producer of oil in the world, as well as its largest importer. It is the world's number one producer of electrical and nuclear energy, as well as liquid natural gas, sulfur, phosphates, and salt. While agriculture accounts for just under 1% of GDP, the United States is the world's top producer of corn and soybeans. Coca-Cola and McDonald's are the two most recognized brands in the world.

In August 2010, the American labor force comprised 154.1 million people. With 21.2 million people, government is the leading field of employment. The largest private employment sector is health care and social assistance, with 16.4 million people. About 12% of workers are unionized, compared to 30% in Western Europe. The World Bank ranks the United States first in the ease of hiring and firing workers. In 2009, the United States had the third highest labor productivity per person in the world, behind Luxembourg and Norway. It was fourth in productivity per hour, behind those two countries and the Netherlands. Compared to Europe, U.S. property and corporate income tax rates are generally higher, while labor and, particularly, consumption tax rates are lower.

Income and human development

According to the United States Census Bureau, the pretax median household income in 2007 was $49,777. The median ranged from $65,469 among Asian American households to $32,584 among African American households. Using purchasing power parity exchange rates, the overall median is similar to the most affluent cluster of developed nations. After declining sharply during the middle of the 20th century, poverty rates have plateaued since the early 1970s, with 11–15% of Americans below the poverty line every year, and 58.5% spending at least one year in poverty between the ages of 25 and 75. In 2009, 43.6 million Americans lived in poverty.

The U.S. welfare state is one of the least extensive in the developed world, reducing both relative poverty and absolute poverty by considerably less than the mean for rich nations, though combined private and public social expenditures per capita are relatively high. While the American welfare state effectively reduces poverty among the elderly, it provides relatively little assistance to the young. A 2007 UNICEF study of children's well-being in twenty-one industrialized nations ranked the United States next to last.

Between 1947 and 1979, real median income rose by over 80% for all classes, with the incomes of poor Americans rising faster than those of the rich. Since 1980, the United States has witnessed strong increases in productivity, low unemployment, and low inflation. However, income gains since 1980 have been slower than in previous decades, less widely shared, and accompanied by increased economic insecurity. Median household income has increased for all classes since 1980, largely owing to more dual-earner households, the closing of the gender gap, and longer work hours, but growth has been slower and strongly tilted toward the very top (see graph). Consequently, the share of income of the top 1%—21.8% of total reported income in 2005—has more than doubled since 1980, leaving the United States with the greatest income inequality among developed nations. The top 1% pays 27.6% of all federal taxes, while the top 10% pays 54.7%. Wealth, like income, is highly concentrated: The richest 10% of the adult population possesses 69.8% of the country's household wealth, the second-highest share among developed nations. The top 1% possesses 33.4% of net wealth. In 2010 the United Nations Development Programme ranked the United States 12th among 139 countries on its inequality-adjusted human development index (IHDI), eight places lower than in the standard HDI.

Infrastructure

Science and technology

The United States has been a leader in scientific research and technological innovation since the late 19th century. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone. Thomas Edison's laboratory developed the phonograph, the first long-lasting light bulb, and the first viable movie camera. Nikola Tesla pioneered alternating current, the AC motor, and radio. In the early 20th century, the automobile companies of Ransom E. Olds and Henry Ford popularized the assembly line. The Wright brothers, in 1903, made the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight.

The rise of Nazism in the 1930s led many European scientists, including Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi, to immigrate to the United States. During World War II, the Manhattan Project developed nuclear weapons, ushering in the Atomic Age. The Space Race produced rapid advances in rocketry, materials science, and computers. IBM, Apple Computer, and Microsoft refined and popularized the personal computer. The United States largely developed the ARPANET and its successor, the Internet. Today, 64% of research and development funding comes from the private sector. The United States leads the world in scientific research papers and impact factor. Americans possess high levels of technological consumer goods, and almost half of U.S. households have broadband Internet access. The country is the primary developer and grower of genetically modified food, representing half of the world's biotech crops.

Transportation

Personal transportation is dominated by automobiles, which operate on a network of 13 million roads, including the world's longest highway system. The world's second largest automobile market, the United States has the highest rate of per-capita vehicle ownership in the world, with 765 vehicles per 1,000 Americans. About 40% of personal vehicles are vans, SUVs, or light trucks. The average American adult (accounting for all drivers and nondrivers) spends 55 minutes driving every day, traveling .

Mass transit accounts for 9% of total U.S. work trips, ranking last in a survey of 17 countries. While transport of goods by rail is extensive, relatively few people use rail to travel. Light rail development has increased in recent years but, like high speed rail, is below European levels. Bicycle usage for work commutes is minimal.

The civil airline industry is entirely privately owned and has been largely deregulated since 1978, while most major airports are publicly owned. The four largest airlines in the world by passengers carried are American; Southwest Airlines is number one. Of the world's thirty busiest passenger airports, sixteen are in the United States, including the busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Energy

The United States energy market is 29,000 terawatt hours per year. Energy consumption per capita is 7.8 tons of oil equivalent per year, the 10th highest rate in the world. In 2005, 40% of this energy came from petroleum, 23% from coal, and 22% from natural gas. The remainder was supplied by nuclear power and renewable energy sources. The United States is the world's largest consumer of petroleum. For decades, nuclear power has played a limited role relative to many other developed countries, in part due to public perception in the wake of a 1979 accident. In 2007, several applications for new nuclear plants were filed. The United States has 27% of global coal reserves.

Education

American public education is operated by state and local governments, regulated by the United States Department of Education through restrictions on federal grants. Children are required in most states to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first grade) until they turn eighteen (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the end of high school); some states allow students to leave school at sixteen or seventeen. About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. Just over 2% of children are homeschooled.

The United States has many competitive private and public institutions of higher education. According to prominent international rankings, 13 or 15 American colleges and universities are ranked among the top 20 in the world. There are also local community colleges with generally more open admission policies, shorter academic programs, and lower tuition. Of Americans twenty-five and older, 84.6% graduated from high school, 52.6% attended some college, 27.2% earned a bachelor's degree, and 9.6% earned graduate degrees. The basic literacy rate is approximately 99%. The United Nations assigns the United States an Education Index of 0.97, tying it for 12th in the world.

Health

The United States life expectancy of 78.3 years at birth is ranked 36th among 194 United Nations member states; while above the world average, it falls short of the overall figure in Western Europe. Increasing obesity in the United States and health improvements elsewhere have contributed to lowering the country's rank in life expectancy from 1987 to 2007, from 11th to 42nd in the world. The infant mortality rate of 6.37 per thousand places the United States 42nd out of 221 countries, above average but behind all of Western Europe. Approximately one-third of the adult population is obese and an additional third is overweight; the obesity rate, the highest in the industrialized world, has more than doubled in the last quarter-century. Obesity-related type 2 diabetes is considered epidemic by health care professionals.

The U.S. health care system far outspends any other nation's, measured in both per capita spending and percentage of GDP. The World Health Organization ranked the U.S. health care system in 2000 as first in responsiveness, but 37th in overall performance.

Health care coverage in the United States is a combination of public and private efforts, and is not universal as in all other developed countries. In 2004, private insurance paid for 36% of personal health expenditures, private out-of-pocket payments covered 15%, and federal, state, and local governments paid for 44%. In 2005, 46.6 million Americans, 15.9% of the population, were uninsured, 5.4 million more than in 2001. The main cause of this rise is the drop in the number of Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance. The subject of uninsured and underinsured Americans is a major political issue. A 2009 study estimated that lack of insurance is associated with nearly 45,000 deaths a year. In 2006, Massachusetts became the first state to mandate universal health insurance. Federal legislation passed in early 2010 will create a near-universal health insurance system around the country by 2014.

Crime and law enforcement

Law enforcement in the United States is primarily the responsibility of local police and sheriff's departments, with state police providing broader services. Federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Marshals Service have specialized duties. At the federal level and in almost every state, jurisprudence operates on a common law system. State courts conduct most criminal trials; federal courts handle certain designated crimes as well as certain appeals from the state systems. Federal law prohibits a variety of drugs, although states sometimes pass laws in conflict with federal regulations. The smoking age is generally 18 and the drinking age is generally 21.

Among developed nations, the United States has above-average levels of violent crime and particularly high levels of gun violence and homicide. There were 5.0 murders per 100,000 persons in 2009, 10.4% fewer than in 2000. Gun ownership rights are the subject of contentious political debate.

The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate and total prison population in the world. At the start of 2008, more than 2.3 million people were incarcerated, more than one in every 100 adults. The current rate is about seven times the 1980 figure, and over three times the figure in Poland, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country with the next highest rate. African American males are jailed at about six times the rate of white males and three times the rate of Hispanic males. The country's high rate of incarceration is largely due to sentencing and drug policies.

Though it has been abolished in most Western nations, capital punishment is sanctioned in the United States for certain federal and military crimes, and in thirty-four states. Since 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty after a four-year moratorium, there have been more than 1,000 executions. In 2010, the country had the fifth highest number of executions in the world, following China, Iran, North Korea, and Yemen. In 2007, New Jersey became the first state to legislatively abolish the death penalty since the 1976 Supreme Court decision, followed by New Mexico in 2009 and Illinois in 2011.

Demographics

{|class="infobox" style="font-size: 90%; border: 1px solid #999; float: right; margin-left: 1em; width: 240px;" |- style="background:#f5f5f5;" ! colspan="2" | Race/Ethnicity (2010) |- | White || style="text-align: center;" |72.4% |- | Black/African American || style="text-align: center;" |12.6% |- | Asian || style="text-align: center;" |4.8% |- | American Indian and Alaska Native || style="text-align: center;" |0.9% |- | Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander || style="text-align: center;" |0.2% |- | Other || style="text-align: center;" |6.2% |- | Two or more races || style="text-align: center;" | 2.9% |- | Hispanic/Latino (''of any race'') || style="text-align: center;" |16.3% |}

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the country's population now to be }}, including an estimated 11.2 million illegal immigrants. The U.S. population almost quadrupled during the 20th century, from about 76 million in 1900. The third most populous nation in the world, after China and India, the United States is the only industrialized nation in which large population increases are projected. Even with a birth rate of 13.82 per 1,000, 30% below the world average, its population growth rate is positive at 1%, significantly higher than those of many developed nations. In fiscal year 2010, over 1 million immigrants (most of whom entered through family reunification) were granted legal residence. Mexico has been the leading source of new residents for over two decades; since 1998, China, India, and the Philippines have been in the top four sending countries every year.

The United States has a very diverse population—thirty-one ancestry groups have more than one million members. White Americans are the largest racial group; German Americans, Irish Americans, and English Americans constitute three of the country's four largest ancestry groups. African Americans are the nation's largest racial minority and third largest ancestry group. Asian Americans are the country's second largest racial minority; the two largest Asian American ethnic groups are Chinese Americans and Filipino Americans. In 2010, the U.S. population included an estimated 5.2 million people with some American Indian or Alaska Native ancestry (2.9 million exclusively of such ancestry) and 1.2 million with some native Hawaiian or Pacific island ancestry (0.5 million exclusively). The census counted more than 19 million people of "Some Other Race" who were "unable to identify with any" of its five official race categories in 2010.

The population growth of Hispanic and Latino Americans (the terms are officially interchangeable) is a major demographic trend. The 50.5 million Americans of Hispanic descent are identified as sharing a distinct "ethnicity" by the Census Bureau; 64% of Hispanic Americans are of Mexican descent. Between 2000 and 2010, the country's Hispanic population increased 43% while the non-Hispanic population rose just 4.9%. Much of this growth is from immigration; as of 2007, 12.6% of the U.S. population was foreign-born, with 54% of that figure born in Latin America. Fertility is also a factor; the average Hispanic woman gives birth to 3.0 children in her lifetime, compared to 2.2 for non-Hispanic black women and 1.8 for non-Hispanic white women (below the replacement rate of 2.1). Minorities (as defined by the Census Bureau, all those beside non-Hispanic, non-multiracial whites) constitute 34% of the population, and are projected to constitute the majority by 2042.

About 82% of Americans live in urban areas (including suburbs); about half of those reside in cities with populations over 50,000. In 2008, 273 incorporated places had populations over 100,000, nine cities had more than 1 million residents, and four global cities had over 2 million (New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston). There are fifty-two metropolitan areas with populations greater than 1 million. Of the fifty fastest-growing metro areas, forty-seven are in the West or South. The metro areas of Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and Phoenix all grew by more than a million people between 2000 and 2008.

Language

{|class="infobox" style="font-size: 90%; border: 1px solid #999; float: right; margin-left: 1em; width: 200px;" |- style="background:#f5f5f5;" !colspan="2"|Languages (2007) |- |English (''only'')||style="text-align: center;"|225.5 million |- |Spanish, incl. Creole||style="text-align: center;"|34.5 million |- |Chinese||style="text-align: center;"|2.5 million |- |French, incl. Creole||style="text-align: center;"|2.0 million |- |Tagalog||style="text-align: center;"|1.5 million |- |Vietnamese||style="text-align: center;"|1.2 million |- |German||style="text-align: center;"|1.1 million |- |Korean||style="text-align: center;"|1.1 million |}

English is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2007, about 226 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language. Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states. Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law.

While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French. Other states, such as California, mandate the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms. Many jurisdictions with large numbers of non-English speakers produce government materials, especially voting information, in the most commonly spoken languages in those jurisdictions. Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico.

Religion

The United States is officially a secular nation; the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion and forbids the establishment of any religious governance. In a 2002 study, 59% of Americans said that religion played a "very important role in their lives", a far higher figure than that of any other wealthy nation. According to a 2007 survey, 78.4% of adults identified themselves as Christian, down from 86.4% in 1990. Protestant denominations accounted for 51.3%, while Roman Catholicism, at 23.9%, was the largest individual denomination. The study categorizes white evangelicals, 26.3% of the population, as the country's largest religious cohort; another study estimates evangelicals of all races at 30–35%. The total reporting non-Christian religions in 2007 was 4.7%, up from 3.3% in 1990. The leading non-Christian faiths were Judaism (1.7%), Buddhism (0.7%), Islam (0.6%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%). The survey also reported that 16.1% of Americans described themselves as agnostic, atheist, or simply having no religion, up from 8.2% in 1990.

Family structure

In 2007, 58% of Americans age 18 and over were married, 6% were widowed, 10% were divorced, and 25% had never been married. Women now mostly work outside the home and receive a majority of bachelor's degrees.

Same-sex marriage is a contentious issue. Some states permit civil unions or domestic partnerships in lieu of marriage. Since 2003, several states have legalized gay marriage as the result of judicial or legislative action. Meanwhile, the federal government and a majority of states define marriage as between a man and a woman and/or explicitly prohibit same-sex marriage. Public opinion on the issue has shifted from general opposition in the 1990s to a statistical deadlock as of 2011.

The U.S. teenage pregnancy rate, 79.8 per 1,000 women, is the highest among OECD nations. Abortion policy was left to the states until the Supreme Court legalized the practice in 1972. The issue remains highly controversial, with public opinion closely divided for many years. Many states ban public funding of the procedure and restrict late-term abortions, require parental notification for minors, and mandate a waiting period. While the abortion rate is falling, the abortion ratio of 241 per 1,000 live births and abortion rate of 15 per 1,000 women aged 15–44 remain higher than those of most Western nations.

Culture

The United States is a multicultural nation, home to a wide variety of ethnic groups, traditions, and values. Aside from the now small Native American and Native Hawaiian populations, nearly all Americans or their ancestors immigrated within the past five centuries. The culture held in common by most Americans—mainstream American culture—is a Western culture largely derived from the traditions of European immigrants with influences from many other sources, such as traditions brought by slaves from Africa. More recent immigration from Asia and especially Latin America has added to a cultural mix that has been described as both a homogenizing melting pot, and a heterogeneous salad bowl in which immigrants and their descendants retain distinctive cultural characteristics.

American culture is considered the most individualistic in the world. Though the American Dream, or the perception that Americans enjoy high social mobility, plays a key role in attracting immigrants, other developed nations offer greater social mobility. While the mainstream culture holds that the United States is a classless society, scholars identify significant differences between the country's social classes, affecting socialization, language, and values. The American middle and professional class has initiated many contemporary social trends such as modern feminism, environmentalism, and multiculturalism. Americans' self-images, social viewpoints, and cultural expectations are associated with their occupations to an unusually close degree. While Americans tend greatly to value socioeconomic achievement, being ordinary or average is generally seen as a positive attribute.

Popular media

The world's first commercial motion picture exhibition was given in New York City in 1894, using Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope. The next year saw the first commercial screening of a projected film, also in New York, and the United States was in the forefront of sound film's development in the following decades. Since the early 20th century, the U.S. film industry has largely been based in and around Hollywood, California. Director D. W. Griffith was central to the development of film grammar and Orson Welles's ''Citizen Kane'' (1941) is frequently cited as the greatest film of all time. American screen actors like John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe have become iconic figures, while producer/entrepreneur Walt Disney was a leader in both animated film and movie merchandising. The major film studios of Hollywood have produced the most commercially successful movies in history, such as ''Star Wars'' (1977) and ''Titanic'' (1997), and the products of Hollywood today dominate the global film industry.

Americans are the heaviest television viewers in the world, and the average viewing time continues to rise, reaching five hours a day in 2006. The four major broadcast networks are all commercial entities. Americans listen to radio programming, also largely commercialized, on average just over two-and-a-half hours a day. Aside from web portals and search engines, the most popular websites are Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia, Blogger, eBay, and Craigslist.

The rhythmic and lyrical styles of African-American music have deeply influenced American music at large, distinguishing it from European traditions. Elements from folk idioms such as the blues and what is now known as old-time music were adopted and transformed into popular genres with global audiences. Jazz was developed by innovators such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington early in the 20th century. Country music developed in the 1920s, and rhythm and blues in the 1940s. Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry were among the mid-1950s pioneers of rock and roll. In the 1960s, Bob Dylan emerged from the folk revival to become one of America's most celebrated songwriters and James Brown led the development of funk. More recent American creations include hip hop and house music. American pop stars such as Presley, Michael Jackson, and Madonna have become global celebrities.

Literature, philosophy, and the arts

In the 18th and early 19th centuries, American art and literature took most of its cues from Europe. Writers such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, and Henry David Thoreau established a distinctive American literary voice by the middle of the 19th century. Mark Twain and poet Walt Whitman were major figures in the century's second half; Emily Dickinson, virtually unknown during her lifetime, is now recognized as an essential American poet. A work seen as capturing fundamental aspects of the national experience and character—such as Herman Melville's ''Moby-Dick'' (1851), Twain's ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1885), and F. Scott Fitzgerald's ''The Great Gatsby'' (1925)—may be dubbed the "Great American Novel".

Eleven U.S. citizens have won the Nobel Prize in Literature, most recently Toni Morrison in 1993. William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway are often named among the most influential writers of the 20th century. Popular literary genres such as the Western and hardboiled crime fiction developed in the United States. The Beat Generation writers opened up new literary approaches, as have postmodernist authors such as John Barth, Thomas Pynchon, and Don DeLillo.

The transcendentalists, led by Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, established the first major American philosophical movement. After the Civil War, Charles Sanders Peirce and then William James and John Dewey were leaders in the development of pragmatism. In the 20th century, the work of W. V. Quine and Richard Rorty, built upon by Noam Chomsky, brought analytic philosophy to the fore of U.S. academics. John Rawls and Robert Nozick led a revival of political philosophy.

In the visual arts, the Hudson River School was a mid-19th-century movement in the tradition of European naturalism. The realist paintings of Thomas Eakins are now widely celebrated. The 1913 Armory Show in New York City, an exhibition of European modernist art, shocked the public and transformed the U.S. art scene. Georgia O'Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, and others experimented with new styles, displaying a highly individualistic sensibility. Major artistic movements such as the abstract expressionism of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning and the pop art of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein developed largely in the United States. The tide of modernism and then postmodernism has brought fame to American architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Philip Johnson, and Frank Gehry. One of the first major promoters of American theater was impresario P. T. Barnum, who began operating a lower Manhattan entertainment complex in 1841. The team of Harrigan and Hart produced a series of popular musical comedies in New York starting in the late 1870s. In the 20th century, the modern musical form emerged on Broadway; the songs of musical theater composers such as Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and Stephen Sondheim have become pop standards. Playwright Eugene O'Neill won the Nobel literature prize in 1936; other acclaimed U.S. dramatists include multiple Pulitzer Prize winners Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, and August Wilson.

Though little known at the time, Charles Ives's work of the 1910s established him as the first major U.S. composer in the classical tradition, while experimentalists such as Henry Cowell and John Cage created a distinctive American approach to classical composition. Aaron Copland and George Gershwin developed a new synthesis of popular and classical music. Choreographers Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham helped create modern dance, while George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins were leaders in 20th century ballet. Americans have long been important in the modern artistic medium of photography, with major photographers including Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, and Ansel Adams. The newspaper comic strip and the comic book are both U.S. innovations. Superman, the quintessential comic book superhero, has become an American icon.

Food

Mainstream American cuisine is similar to that in other Western countries. Wheat is the primary cereal grain. Traditional American cuisine uses indigenous ingredients, such as turkey, venison, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, squash, and maple syrup, which were consumed by Native Americans and early European settlers. Slow-cooked pork and beef barbecue, crab cakes, potato chips, and chocolate chip cookies are distinctively American foods. Soul food, developed by African slaves, is popular around the South and among many African Americans elsewhere. Syncretic cuisines such as Louisiana creole, Cajun, and Tex-Mex are regionally important.

Characteristic dishes such as apple pie, fried chicken, pizza, hamburgers, and hot dogs derive from the recipes of various immigrants. French fries, Mexican dishes such as burritos and tacos, and pasta dishes freely adapted from Italian sources are widely consumed. Americans generally prefer coffee to tea. Marketing by U.S. industries is largely responsible for making orange juice and milk ubiquitous breakfast beverages.

The American fast food industry, the world's largest, pioneered the drive-through format in the 1930s. Fast food consumption has sparked health concerns. During the 1980s and 1990s, Americans' caloric intake rose 24%; frequent dining at fast food outlets is associated with what public health officials call the American "obesity epidemic". Highly sweetened soft drinks are widely popular, and sugared beverages account for 9% of American caloric intake.

Sports

Baseball has been regarded as the national sport since the late 19th century, while American football is now by several measures the most popular spectator sport. Basketball and ice hockey are the country's next two leading professional team sports. College football and basketball attract large audiences. Boxing and horse racing were once the most watched individual sports, but they have been eclipsed by golf and auto racing, particularly NASCAR. Soccer is played widely at the youth and amateur levels. Tennis and many outdoor sports are popular as well.

While most major U.S. sports have evolved out of European practices, basketball, volleyball, skateboarding, snowboarding, and cheerleading are American inventions. Lacrosse and surfing arose from Native American and Native Hawaiian activities that predate Western contact. Eight Olympic Games have taken place in the United States. The United States has won 2,301 medals at the Summer Olympic Games, more than any other country, and 253 in the Winter Olympic Games, the second most.

Measurement systems

The country retains United States customary units, constituted largely by British imperial units such as miles, yards, and degrees Fahrenheit. Distinct units include the U.S. gallon and U.S. pint volume measurements. The United States is one of only three countries that have not adopted the International System of Units. However, metric units are increasingly used in science, medicine, and many industrial fields.

See also

International rankings of the United States

List of Americans

List of places in the United States

List of U.S. state portals

References

External links

;Government

Official U.S. Government Web Portal Gateway to government sites

House Official site of the United States House of Representatives

Senate Official site of the United States Senate

White House Official site of the President of the United States

[ Supreme Court] Official site of the Supreme Court of the United States ;Overviews and Data

InfoUSA Portal to U.S. Information Agency resources

Library of Congress Official site of the U.S. Library of Congress

Demographic Highlights Statistics from the Population Reference Bureau

The 50 States of the U.S.A. Collected informational links for each state

United States travel guide from Wikitravel

United States ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' entry

U.S. Census Housing and Economic Statistics Wide-ranging data from the U.S. Census Bureau

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Official government site

State Fact Sheets Population, employment, income, and farm data from the U.S. Economic Research Service

State Energy Profiles Economic, environmental, and energy data for each state from the U.S. Energy Information Administration

;History

Historical Documents Collected by the National Center for Public Policy Research

U.S. National Mottos: History and Constitutionality Analysis by the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance

USA Collected links to historical data

;Maps

National Atlas of the United States Official maps from the U.S. Department of the Interior

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Coordinates	19°25′14″N99°10′54″N
name	Regina Spektor
background	solo_singer
born	February 18, 1980
origin	New York, U.S.
birth place	Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
instrument	Piano, Vocals, Guitar, Bass Guitar
genre	Anti-folk, indie rock, baroque pop, blues, pop
voice type	Mezzo-Soprano
occupation	Singer, songwriter, record producer
years active	1999–present
label	Sire/Warner Bros. Records
associated acts	Sondre Lerche, Ben Folds, Kill Kenada, the Strokes, Dufus
website	http://www.reginaspektor.com
notable instruments	Steinway & Sons piano Epiphone Wildkat guitar}}

Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (, , ; born February 18, 1980) is a Russian American singer-songwriter and pianist. Her music is associated with the anti-folk scene centered in New York City's East Village.

Early life

Spektor was born in Moscow, USSR in 1980 to a musical Russian Jewish family. Her father, Ilya Spektor, is a photographer and amateur violinist. Her mother, Bella Spektor, was a music professor in a Russian college of music and now teaches at a public elementary school in Mount Vernon, New York. She has a brother Barry (Bear), who was featured in track 7, "* * *", or "Whisper", of her 2004 album, ''Soviet Kitsch''.

She learned how to play piano by practicing on a Petrof upright that was given to her mother by her grandfather. She was also exposed to the music of rock and roll bands such as The Beatles, Queen, and The Moody Blues by her father, who obtained such recordings in Eastern Europe and traded cassettes with friends in the Soviet Union. The family left the Soviet Union in 1989, when Regina was nine and a half, during the period of Perestroika, when Soviet citizens were permitted to emigrate. Regina had to leave her piano behind. The seriousness of her piano studies led her parents to consider not leaving the USSR, but they finally decided to emigrate, due to the ethnic and political discrimination that Jews faced. Spektor is fluent in Russian and reads Hebrew, and has since paid tribute to her Russian heritage, quoting the poem ''February'' by the famous Russian poet Boris Pasternak in her song ''Après Moi'', and stating “I’m very connected to the language and the culture.”

Traveling first to Austria and then Italy, the family was admitted to the United States as refugees with the assistance of HIAS (the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) and settled in The Bronx, where Spektor graduated from the SAR Academy, a Jewish day middle school in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. She then attended high school for two years at the Frisch School, a yeshiva in Paramus, New Jersey, but transferred to a public school, Fair Lawn High School, in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, where she finished the last two years of her high school education.

Beginnings as a songwriter

In New York, Spektor studied classical piano with Sonia Vargas, a professor at the Manhattan School of Music, until she was 17; Spektor's father had met Vargas through her husband, violinist Samuel Marder. Although the family had been unable to bring their piano from Russia, Spektor found a piano on which to play in the basement of her synagogue, and also practiced on tabletops and other hard surfaces.

Spektor was originally interested only in classical music, but later became interested in hip hop, rock and punk as well. Although she had always made up songs around the house, Spektor first became interested in more formal songwriting during a visit to Israel with the Nesiya Institute in her teenage years when she attracted attention from the other children on the trip for the songs she made up while hiking and realized she had an aptitude for songwriting.

Following this trip, she was exposed to the work of Joni Mitchell, Ani DiFranco, and other singer-songwriters, which encouraged her belief that she could create her own songs. She wrote her first a cappella songs around the age of 16 and her first songs for voice and piano when she was nearly 18.

Spektor completed the four-year studio composition program of the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College within three years, graduating with honors in 2001. Around this time, she also worked briefly at a butterfly farm in Luck, Wisconsin, and studied in Tottenham, ( a suburb of London) for one semester.

She gradually achieved recognition through performances in the anti-folk scene in downtown New York City, often as a duo with drummer Anders Griffen, and most importantly at the East Village's Sidewalk Cafe, but also at the Living Room, Tonic, Fez, the Knitting Factory, and CB's Gallery. She also performed at local colleges (such as Sarah Lawrence College) with other musicians, including the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players. She sold self-published CDs at her performances during this period: ''11:11'' (2001) and ''Songs'' (2002). In 2004, she signed a contract with Warner Brothers' record label Sire Records to publish and distribute her third album ''Soviet Kitsch'', originally self-released in 2003.

Style

Spektor has said that she has created a great number of songs, but that she rarely writes any of them down. She has also stated that she never aspired to write songs herself, but songs seem to just flow to her. Spektor's songs are not usually autobiographical, but rather are based on scenarios and characters drawn from her imagination. Her songs show influences from folk, punk, rock, Jewish, Russian, hip hop, jazz, and classical music. Spektor has said that she works hard to ensure that each of her songs has its own musical style, rather than trying to develop a distinctive style for her music as a whole.

Spektor has a broad vocal range and uses the full extent of it. She also explores a variety of different and somewhat unorthodox vocal techniques, such as verses composed entirely of buzzing noises made with the lips and beatbox-style flourishes in the middle of ballads, and also makes use of such unusual musical techniques as using a drum stick to tap rhythms on the body of the piano or chair. Part of her style also results from the exaggeration of certain aspects of vocalization, most notably the glottal stop, which is prominent in the single "Fidelity". She also uses a strong New York accent on some words, which she has said is due to her love of New York and its culture.

Her lyrics are equally eclectic, often taking the form of abstract narratives or first-person character studies, similar to short stories or vignettes put to song. Spektor usually sings in English, though she sometimes includes a few words or verses of Latin, Russian, French, and other languages in her songs. She also plays with pronunciations, which she said on a NPR interview to be a remnant of her early years when she listened to pop in English without understanding the lyrics. Some of Spektor's lyrics include literary allusions, such as to F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway in "Poor Little Rich Boy", ''The Little Prince'' in "Baobabs", Virginia Woolf and Margaret Atwood in "Paris", Ezra Pound and William Shakespeare in "Pound of Flesh", Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'' in "The Virgin Queen", Boris Pasternak in "Après Moi", Samson and Delilah in "Samson", and ''Oedipus the King'' in "Oedipus", Billie Holiday in "Lady" and Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome in "2.99 cent blues". She alludes to The Beatles and Paul McCartney in the song "Edit". She also used a line from Joni Mitchell's California in her song "The Devil Came to Bethlehem". Recurring themes and topics in Spektor's lyrics include love, death, religion (particularly Biblical and Jewish references), city life (particularly New York references), and certain key phrases have been known to recur in different songs by Spektor, such as references to gravediggers, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the name "Mary Ann". Spektor's use of satire is evident in "Wasteside," which refers to ''The Twelve Chairs'', the classic satirical novel by the Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov, and describes the town in which people are born, get their hair cut, and then are sent to the cemetery.

In Spektor's early albums, many of her tracks had a very dry vocal production, with very little reverb or delay added. However, Spektor's more recent albums, particularly ''Begin to Hope'', have put more emphasis into song production and have relied more on traditional pop and rock instruments. Spektor says the records that most impact her are those of "bands whose music is really involved", specifically naming The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, Radiohead, Tom Waits, and Frédéric Chopin as primary influences.

In her songs, "Eet", "Us" and "Après Moi" the titular sounds are used as the focal point throughout. (In "Dance Anthem of the 80's", the sound "eet" is also used often, on words such as "meat", "street", and "eat").

Performances

Spektor's first nationwide tour was accompanying The Strokes as the opening act on their 2003–2004 ''Room on Fire'' tour, during which she and the band performed and recorded "Modern Girls & Old Fashion Men". Kings of Leon were the second opening act on that tour, and they invited Regina to open for them on their own European tour right after The Strokes tour. In June 2005, Spektor was the opening act for the English piano rock band Keane on their North American tour, during which she performed at Radio City Music Hall on June 7, 2005. During her 2006 headlining tour in support of the ''Begin to Hope'' album, Spektor sold out a performance at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania, and two shows at Town Hall Theater in New York City on September 27 and September 28, 2006.

Spektor has appeared on ''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'' (once), ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' (three times), ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' (twice), ''Jimmy Kimmel Live'' (twice), ''Last Call with Carson Daly'' (five times), ''Late Show with David Letterman'' (twice), ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' (twice), ''CBS News Sunday Morning, Good Morning America'' (twice), ''Australia's Rove Live, and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' (twice). On October 10, 2009 she performed on ''Saturday Night Live''.

Since January 2005, Spektor has performed on a bright red Baldwin baby grand piano. At the present time she uses exclusively Steinway & Sons pianos. She plays a seafoam Epiphone Wildkat archtop hollow-body electric guitar.

Although she generally only performs original material, Spektor occasionally performs covers. Most famous of these covers were her performances of songs by Leonard Cohen and Madonna, for the 2nd Annual Jewish Music & Heritage Festival at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. In 2006 and 2007, Spektor embarked on a headlining tour of the U.S. and Europe, selling out numerous clubs and theaters. She covered John Lennon's "Real Love" at the performance arts center of her alma mater, State University of New York at Purchase, on March 28, 2007, at a benefit concert for the Conservatory of Music. In 2007, Spektor recorded "Real Love" for the ''Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur'' CD, which was released in June of that year. She recorded a version of the song for Triple J's Like a Version radio segment which was shown on jTV.

On March 8, 2007, Spektor appeared on the British ITV network's ''Loose Women'', promoting and performing "Fidelity" live, and on April 20, 2007, she performed on the ''Late Show with David Letterman''. On Saturday, April 28, 2007, she appeared at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. On Friday, May 18, 2007, she appeared on BBC1's ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross''. On June 16, 2007, she performed at the Bonnaroo Music Festival and later performed at the 2007 Lollapalooza on August 4, 2007 and Virgin Festival on August 5, 2007 in Baltimore, Maryland. On September 16, 2007, she performed at the Austin City Limits Music Festival and recorded a set for the Austin City Limits TV show the following day. She performed acoustic at the Bridge School Benefit at Shoreline Amphitheatre on October 27 and October 28, 2007.

On November 14, 2007, at her concert at Ryman Auditorium, in Nashville, it was announced that Spektor collapsed during the sound check and was taken to a local emergency room. According to the statement given to the audience, Spektor was fine, but doctors said that she could not perform that night. It was later reported that the cause of the collapse was an inner ear infection which caused intense vertigo. The show was initially rescheduled for December 6, 2007, but the date was once again rescheduled, and the concert finally occurred on February 29, 2008. After her initial collapse in Nashville, she was able to perform in concerts at Mountain Stage on November 18, 2007, and at Duke University on November 19, 2007.

In conjunction with the release of her 2009 album ''Far'', Spektor was headlining at Serpentine Sessions, a series of concerts London's Hyde Park on June 29, 2009. Other European performances in 2009 include Glastonbury Festival, Hultsfred Festival, Oxegen 2009, T in the Park, Paradiso (Amsterdam), Latitude Festival, and Rock Werchter. Spektor has invited Brooklyn-based rock band Jupiter One to open concerts on her 2009 North American tour. As a part of that tour, on October 14, 2009 Spektor headlined a concert at the Radio City Music Hall in NYC.

On July 7, 2010, Regina performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland. Her cellist, Dan Cho, drowned the day before while swimming in Lake Geneva near the Chillon Castle. She was described as distraught, shaken, and in tears and took several breaks to regain her composure.

Media coverage

Since 2005, Spektor's music has been used in various television programs and commercials. In late 2005 "Us" (from ''Soviet Kitsch'') was used in a commercial as part of the ''What Do You Want To Watch?'' series for the United Kingdom's British Sky Broadcasting. The advert features a clip from a documentary on skateboarder Danny Way. In the summer of 2006, a clip from "Us" was used for the teaser website for Microsoft's Zune project at ComingZune.com, as well as for a promotional campaign for MtvU. The same track is used by Dutch telecom company KPN in a commercial. "Somedays" was used in a 2005 episode of ''CSI: NY'' and "Samson" was used in a 2006 episode of the same series. "On the Radio" was used in an episode of ABC's ''Grey's Anatomy''. "Field Below" was used in a 2006 episode titled "The Last Word" of CBS's ''Criminal Minds''. "Fidelity" has also been used in an episode of ''Grey's Anatomy'' titled "Six Days, Part 2", ''Veronica Mars'' titled "Wichita Linebacker", ''Brothers & Sisters'' titled "Sexual Politics", during the end credits of ''Love and Other Drugs'', and in the Brazilian telenovela ''A Favorita''. "Better" is currently being used in a commercial for XM Satellite Radio, an episode of "How I Met Your Mother", and the popular film ''My Sister's Keeper''. Her song "Music Box" is currently being used in a commercial for JC Penney. Spektor also sang the title song "Little Boxes" of Showtime's television series ''Weeds'' in the episode "Mile Deep and a Foot Wide" (2006) and her "Ghost of Corporate Future" was used both at the beginning and end of the episode. On January 21, 2007, she was featured on ''CBS News Sunday Morning''.

Spektor received increased attention in 2006 when her video for "Fidelity" was viewed over 200,000 times in two days on YouTube. On Sirius Radio's Left of Center channel, her single "Fidelity" was voted by listeners as the #1 song of 2006. Towards the end of 2006, VH1 showcased her as part of their "You Oughta Know: Artists on the Rise" featurettes: they played clips from the "Fidelity" music video and showed parts of an interview with Spektor during commercial breaks on the channel. Spektor was recently named #3 on VH1's Top Artists Charts.

Peter Gabriel recorded a version of "Après Moi" on his 2010 release ''Scratch My Back''.

In Australia, Spektor's music has rapidly gained popularity in mainstream culture primarily due to ''Begin to Hope'' being played on the nation-wide radio station Triple J, where it eventually became a feature album. Prior to ''Begin to Hope'', Spektor had only a small following in Australia in comparison to the US and Europe.

Spektor reached #33 on ''Blender'' magazine's top 100 of 2006 and was also listed as one of the "Hottest Women of...Rock!". "Fidelity" was also used in a 2007 television commercial in New Zealand advertising Yahoo!Xtra, a new partnership between Yahoo! and Telecom's Xtra ISP. Also in 2007, the mobile phone company Vodafone used her lyric, "Come into my world..." from the track, "Hotel Song" on ''Begin to Hope'', in an extensive TV advertising campaign in the UK and Ireland.

On October 1, 2007, Spektor's new video for "Better" was released on VH1 and YouTube, where it was viewed more than 100,000 times within the first 24 hours. "Fidelity" was used in the trailer for the film ''27 Dresses'', released on October 3, 2007.

Her song "The Call" appeared prominently in ''The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian'', as part of the film's finale sequence. Spektor's song "Better" was used in the movie ''My Sister's Keeper'', loosely based on the novel of the same name by Jodi Picoult. A section of "That Time" was featured in the film ''In Bruges''. Additionally, "Us" and "Hero" are both featured on the soundtrack for the film ''(500) Days of Summer''. ''Spin'' magazine profiled Spektor in their July 2009 issue, where she discussed her just-released album ''Far''. The story was released in their digital edition that month, as well. In August 2009, the song "Two Birds" was used in the 2009 Fall Campaign of the Polish TV station TVN. Also Regina's song "Eet" debuted on the show ''90210'' in April 2010.

On September 16, 2009, it was announced that Spektor would write the music for the musical ''Beauty'', a modern adaptation of the Grimms' fairy tale ''Sleeping Beauty'', which is set to open during the 2011–12 Broadway season.

In May 2010, Spektor performed for President Obama and his wife Michelle along with hundreds of other guests at the White House reception in honor of Jewish Heritage Month. She sang "Us" and "The Sword & the Pen," receiving a standing ovation begun by Michelle Obama.

The song "Human of the Year" featured prominently in the trailer and first episode of the 2011 HBO series ''Enlightened''.

Philanthropy

In 2007, she covered John Lennon's "Real Love" for ''Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur''. The following year, she participated in ''Songs for Tibet'', an initiative to support the human rights situation in Tibet and the 14th Dalai Lama. The album was issued on August 5, 2008, via iTunes and on August 19 in music stores around the world. On January 22, 2009, Spektor performed at the third annual Roe On The Rocks gig at the Bowery Ballroom to raise money for Planned Parenthood New York City. Also, continuing with her support for Tibet, Regina Spektor played for Tibet House's annual concert at Carnegie Hall on February 26, 2010. Less than one month later, on March 23, 2010, Spektor gave a concert at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza in New York City to raise funds for the work of Doctors Without Borders in Haiti. Also, on April 27, she released a cover of Radiohead's song "No Surprises" with all proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders to help the earthquake victims in Haiti and Chile.

Discography

2001: ''11:11''

2002: ''Songs''

2004: ''Soviet Kitsch ''

2006: ''Begin to Hope''

2009: ''Far''

2012: ''What We Saw From The Cheap Seats''

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions	Album
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"Your Honour / The Flowers"
	"Laughing With"								align="left" rowspan="2"
"Eet"
									charity download

Awards

''Begin to Hope'' – Shortlist Music Prize (nominated)

Studio8's Female Voice of August 2009 (won)

References

External links

Official site

"Regina Spektor" interview by Noel Murray (from ''The A.V. Club'', 21 June 2006)

Interview from ''Soundcheck'', WNYC, 13 September 2005

Interview from ''All Things Considered'', National Public Radio, 28 June 2006

Strangers Almanac Column on Regina Spektor from Glide Magazine

NPR - All Songs Considered 7/22/2009 - Regina Spektor: When Every Sound Sings

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Coordinates	19°25′14″N99°10′54″N
Name	Emmylou Harris
Background	solo_singer
Born	April 02, 1947Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.
Instrument	Voice, guitar
Genre	Folk, country rock, country, bluegrass, rock, pop, alt-country
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician
Years active	1970–present
Label	Jubilee, Reprise, Warner Bros., Elektra, Asylum, Rhino, Nonesuch
Associated acts	Ryan AdamsThe BandBright EyesJames BurtonBeth Neilsen ChapmanEarl Thomas ConleyElvis CostelloRodney CrowellIris DementJohn DenverDixie ChicksBob DylanSteve EarleVern GosdinPatty GriffinArlo GuthrieMark KnopflerAlbert LeeLittle FeatDave MatthewsKate and Anna McGarrigleWillie NelsonJuice NewtonRoy OrbisonGram ParsonsDolly PartonJohn PrineLinda RonstadtRicky SkaggsBruce SpringsteenDon WilliamsLucinda WilliamsNeil YoungWarren Zevon|website www.emmylouharris.com
Past members	}}

Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947 in Birmingham, Alabama) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She has released many chart-topping albums and singles over the course of her career, and has has won 12 Grammys and numerous other awards.

In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including Gram Parsons, The Band, Linda Ronstadt, Roy Orbison, Dolly Parton, Mark Knopfler, Guy Clark, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Rodney Crowell, and Neil Young.

Biography

Early years

Emmylou Harris is the daughter of a career military family, her father, Walter Harris, was a military officer and her mother, Eugenia was a wartime military wife. Her father, a member of the Marine Corps, was reported missing in action in Korea in 1952 and spent ten months as a prisoner of war. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Emmylou Harris spent her childhood in North Carolina and Woodbridge, Virginia, where she graduated from Gar-Field Senior High School as class valedictorian. In high school she also won a drama scholarship to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she began to study music seriously, learning to play the songs of Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez on guitar. Leaving college to pursue her musical aspirations, she moved to New York, working as a waitress to support herself while performing folk songs in Greenwich Village coffeehouses. She married fellow songwriter Tom Slocum in 1969 and in the following year recorded her first album, ''Gliding Bird''. Harris and Slocum soon divorced, and Harris and her newborn daughter Hallie moved in with her parents in the Maryland suburbs on the edge of Washington, D.C.

With Gram Parsons

Harris soon returned to performing as part of a trio with Gerry Mule and Tom Guidera. One night in 1971, members of the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers happened to be in the audience. Former Byrds member Chris Hillman, who had taken over the band after the departure of its founder Gram Parsons, was so impressed by Harris that he briefly considered asking her to join the band. Instead, Hillman ended up recommending her to Parsons, who was looking for a female vocalist to work with on his first solo album, ''GP''. Harris toured as a member of Parsons' band, The Fallen Angels, in 1973, and the couple shone during vocal harmonies and duets. Harris was quite pleased, and invested a lot emotionally in their relationship. Later that year, Parsons and Harris worked on a studio album, ''Grievous Angel''. Parsons died in his motel room near what is now Joshua Tree National Park on September 19, 1973, from an accidental overdose of drugs and alcohol. Parsons's ''Grievous Angel'' was released posthumously in 1974, and three more tracks from his last sessions with Harris were included on another posthumous Parsons album, ''Sleepless Nights'', in 1976. There was one more album of recorded material from that period of time that was packaged with the name, ''Live 1973'', but was not released until 1982.

The working relationship between Harris and Parsons is of great importance in country and country-rock music history. Parsons offered Harris a study in true country music, introducing her to artists like The Louvin Brothers, and provided her with a musical identity; Harris's harmony and duet vocals, on the other hand, were lauded by those who heard them, and helped inspire Parsons' performances. His death left her devastated at an emotional and musical crossroads. She eventually carried on with her own version of Parsons' musical vision, and was instrumental in bringing attention to his achievements. Harris's earliest signature song, and arguably her most personal one, "Boulder to Birmingham", written shortly after Gram's death, showed the depth of her shock and pain at losing Parsons. It was, according to her best friend Linda Ronstadt, the beginning of a "lifetime effort to process what had happened", and was just the first of many songs written and/or performed by Harris about her life with (and without) Parsons.

:I would rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham :I would hold my life in his saving grace. :I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham :If I thought I could see, I could see your face. : :   —"Boulder to Birmingham" :   lyrics by Emmylou Harris

The Hot Band

Warner Brothers A&R; representative Mary Martin introduced Harris to Canadian producer Brian Ahern, who produced her major label debut album, ''Pieces of the Sky'', released in 1975 on Reprise Records. The album was surprisingly eclectic, especially by Nashville standards, including cover versions of The Beatles' "For No One", Merle Haggard's "Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down" and The Louvin Brothers' "If I Could Only Win Your Love". It also featured "Bluebird Wine", a composition by young Texas songwriter Rodney Crowell, who was the first in a long line of songwriters whose talents Harris has championed. The record was one of the most expensive country records produced at the time, featuring the talents of James Burton, Glen Hardin, Ron Tutt, Ray Pohlman, and Bill Payne, as well as two tracks ("Before Believing" and "Queen of the Silver Dollar") that were cut with the Angel Band. Two singles were released: "Too Far Gone", which initially charted at #73 (a 1979 reissue hit #13), and Harris's first big hit, "If I Could Only Win Your Love", a duet with Herb Pedersen (later a founding member of The Desert Rose Band), which peaked at #4.

Executives of Warner Bros. Records (Reprise Records's parent company) told Harris they would agree to record her if she would "get a hot band". Harris did so, enlisting guitarist James Burton and pianist Glen Hardin, both of whom had played with Elvis Presley as well as Parsons. Burton was a renowned guitarist, starting in Ricky Nelson's band in the 1950s, and Hardin had been a member of The Crickets. Other Hot Band members were drummer John Ware, pedal steel guitarist Hank DeVito, and bassist Emory Gordy, Jr., with whom Harris had worked while performing with Parsons. Singer-songwriter Crowell was enlisted as a rhythm guitarist and duet partner. Harris's first tour schedule originally dovetailed around Presley's, owing to Burton and Hardin's continuing commitments to Presley's band. The Hot Band lived up to its name, with most of the members moving on with fresh talent replacing them as they continued on to solo careers of their own.

''Elite Hotel'', released in December 1975, established that the buzz created by ''Pieces of the Sky'' was well-founded. Unusual for country albums at the time, which largely revolved around a hit single, Harris's albums borrowed their approach from the album-oriented rock market. In terms of quality and artistic merit, tracks like "Sin City", "Wheels", and "Till I Gain Control Again", which weren't singles, easily stood against tracks like "Together Again", "Sweet Dreams", and "One of These Days", which were. While ''Elite Hotel'' was a #1 country album, the album did sufficiently well as a crossover success with the rock audience. Harris appealed to those who normally disapproved of the country market's pull toward crossover pop singles ("Together Again" and "Sweet Dreams" both topped the country charts). ''Elite Hotel'' won a Grammy in 1976 for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female.

Harris' reputation for guest work continued. Aside from contributing to albums by Linda Ronstadt, Guy Clark and Neil Young, Harris was tapped by Bob Dylan to perform on his ''Desire'' album, but entirely uncredited. Harris also filmed one of the studio sequences, owing to her touring schedule, in The Band's ''The Last Waltz'', singing "Evangeline".

Burton left the Hot Band in 1976, choosing to remain with Elvis Presley's band, and was replaced by English guitarist Albert Lee. Harris's commercial apex was ''Luxury Liner'', released in 1977, which remains one of her definitive records. On ''Luxury Liner'', Harris's mix of songs from Chuck Berry ("(You Never Can Tell) C'est La Vie"), Gram Parsons (the title track and "She"), The Carter Family ("Hello Stranger") and Kitty Wells ("Making Believe") illustrate a continuity and artistic merit to country music often overlooked at the time. Despite Top Ten singles with "C'est La Vie" and "Making Believe", the album's best known track is the first recorded cover of Townes Van Zandt's classic "Pancho & Lefty", which would be a #1 hit for Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard in 1983. At the end of 1977, Crowell left the Hot Band to pursue a solo career; his replacement was bluegrass multi-instrumentalist and singer Ricky Skaggs.

''Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town'' signaled a slight change of direction from Harris's previous three albums. Rather than mixing classic and contemporary, the album is made up largely of recently written songs, though from a wide variety of writers. "Two More Bottles of Wine", written by Delbert McClinton, became Harris's third #1 single, "To Daddy", written by Dolly Parton, went to #3, and a third single, "Easy From Now On", went Top Twenty. The album included two songs apiece from Crowell ("I Ain't Living Long Like This" and "Leaving Louisiana In The Broad Daylight") and songwriter Jesse Winchester ("Defying Gravity" and "My Songbird"), and Utah Phillips' "Green Rolling Hills".

The Roots Records

In 1977 (January), Harris married Brian Ahern. Their (Harris' second) daughter, Meghann, was born in 1979. During this time, Harris cut three studio albums that reflected a shift toward traditional country (the industry, on the other hand, was about to embrace ''Urban Cowboy''). The first key to the change in direction was her Grammy Award-winning 1979 album ''Blue Kentucky Girl''. Apart from a cover of The Drifters' "Save The Last Dance For Me", the album was largely made up of classic-styled country material in the vein of Loretta Lynn and Kitty Wells. One of her best-loved albums, the record includes songs ranging from The Louvin Brothers' "Everytime You Leave" to Willie Nelson's "Sister's Coming Home" to Gram Parson's signature "Hickory Wind". Wesley Rose took special interest in Harris' recording of "Beneath Still Waters", which became a #1 smash.

A Christmas album, ''Light of the Stable'', was released in 1979; its title track featured backing vocals by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Neil Young, all three of whom Harris had been working with sporadically since the mid-1970s, and would continue to collaborate with through the 2000s. (Harris, Parton and Ronstadt began working on a planned trio album during this time, though it would remain unfinished for nearly a decade; a few of the tracks recorded for the project surfaced on the women's respective solo albums in the interim.) The album is largely acoustic, featuring readings of traditional fare such as "Silent Night", "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and "The First Noel".

In the 1980s, Harris pursued country music's history even further with the bluegrass-oriented recording of ''Roses in the Snow'', featuring Ricky Skaggs, Tony Rice, Albert Lee, Emory Gordy Jr. and Jerry Douglas. Harris's versions of the traditional "Wayfaring Stranger" and Paul Simon's "The Boxer" were strong singles.

In 1980, Harris recorded "That Lovin' You Feelin' Again" with Roy Orbison. The duet was a Top 10 hit on both the Country and Adult Contemporary charts. They would win the Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. She would also be featured on Paul Kennerley's concept album ''The Legend of Jesse James'', which also featured Levon Helm of The Band and Johnny Cash.

Pop-chart success, songwriting

In 1981, Harris reached the Top 40 on the Billboard pop chart with a cover of "Mister Sandman"—again Top 10 Country as well as Adult Contemporary—from her ''Evangeline'' album. (The album version of the song was a track from the ill-fated ''Trio'' sessions with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, but neither Parton's nor Ronstadt's record companies would allow their artists' vocals to be used on the single, so Harris re-recorded the song, singing all three parts.)

Harris moved to Nashville in 1982. ''White Shoes'' in 1983 included an eclectic pairing of the rockish reading of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" with a remake of the Donna Summer hit "On the Radio", as well as tracks from a diverse group of songwriters such as Hot Band member Crowell, Sandy Denny and T-Bone Burnett and was her last album produced by Brian Ahern until ''All I Intended to Be'' in 2008.

Harris's major-label releases thus far had included few self-penned songs, but in 1985 her songwriting skills were much in evidence with the release of a concept album ''The Ballad of Sally Rose'', for which she co-wrote all of the songs. The album was semi-autobiographical in theme, based loosely on her relationship with Parsons. Harris described it as a "country opera", and a "huge commercial disaster". Her co-writer and producer on the album was English songwriter and musician Paul Kennerley, writer of the hit singles "Born to Run" (on Harris's 1981 ''Cimarron'' album) and "In My Dreams" (on ''White Shoes''). Kennerley also produced her next album, ''Thirteen''. They were married in 1985 and divorced in 1993.

In 1987, nearly a full decade after they'd first attempted to do so, Harris teamed up with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt for their long-promised and much-anticipated ''Trio'' disc. The album was the biggest commercial success of Harris's career, spending five weeks at #1 on Billboard's Country Albums chart (also quickly reaching the Top 10 on the Pop Albums chart), sold several million copies and produced four Top 10 Country hits, including "To Know Him Is To Love Him", which hit #1. The disc was nominated for the coveted Album Of The Year Grammy award (given to U2 that year for ''The Joshua Tree'') and the three women won the statuette for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal; the album's Linda Thompson-penned track "Telling Me Lies" reached #3 Country, #25 Adult Contemporary, and was also nominated for a Grammy as 1987's Best Country Song.

Harris also found time in 1987 to release a solo album, ''Angel Band'', featuring traditional gospel songs, on which she worked with, among others, rising country star Vince Gill.

In 1989, she recorded two songs with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on their album, ''Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume II''. In a snippet of studio chatter included on one of the tracks, she talked during the recording session about her beginnings and how music had changed:

Around 1991, she dissolved The Hot Band and formed a new band of acoustic musicians—Sam Bush on fiddle, mandolin and vocals, Roy Huskey, Jr. on bass and vocals, Larry Atamanuik on drums, Al Perkins on banjo, guitar, Dobro guitar and vocals, and Jon Randall on guitar, mandolin and vocals—which she named The Nash Ramblers. They recorded a Grammy Award-winning live album in 1992 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, which led to the $8 million restoration of the facility into a premium concert and event venue. It was her last album with Reprise Records.

New directions

By the 1990s, Harris started receiving less airplay as mainstream country stations began shifting their focus to the youth-oriented "new country" format. Harris's albums ''Bluebird'' and ''Brand New Dance'' (1989 and 1990, respectively) received ample critical acclaim and sold reasonably well, yet her chart success was on the wane. 1993's ''Cowgirl's Prayer''—the first album since her switch to Elektra Records—was critically praised but received very little airplay, and its lead single, "High Powered Love" charted very low, peaking at #63, prompting her to shift her career in a new direction.

In 1995, Harris released one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the decade, ''Wrecking Ball'', produced by Daniel Lanois, best known for his work with U2, Peter Gabriel and Bob Dylan. An experimental album for Harris, the record included Harris's rendition of the Neil Young-penned title track (Young himself provided guest vocals on two of the album's songs), Steve Earle's "Goodbye", Julie Miller's "All My Tears", Jimi Hendrix's "May This Be Love", Kate and Anna McGarrigle's "Goin' Back to Harlan" and Gillian Welch's "Orphan Girl". U2's Larry Mullen, Jr. showed up to play drums for the project. The album received virtually no country airplay whatsoever, but did bring Harris to the attention of alternative rock listeners, many of whom had never listened to her music before.

Harris then took her ''Wrecking Ball'' material on the road, releasing the live ''Spyboy'' in 1998, backed with a power trio comprising Nashville producer, songwriter and guitarist Buddy Miller and New Orleans musicians, drummer Brady Blade and bassist-vocalist-percussionist Daryl Johnson. In addition to performing songs from ''Wrecking Ball'', the album updated many of Harris's career hits, including "Boulder to Birmingham".

Also in 1998, she appeared prominently on Willie Nelson's moody, instrumentally sparse ''Teatro'' album, produced by ''Wrecking Ball'' producer Lanois.

During the summer of 1997 and 1998, Harris joined Sarah McLachlan's all-woman musical touring festival, the Lilith Fair, where new artists like Patty Griffin could share new experiences and ideas with seasoned musicians like Harris and Bonnie Raitt.

In January 1999, Harris released ''Trio 2'' with Parton and Ronstadt. Much of the album had actually been recorded in 1994, but remained unreleased for nearly five years because of record label and personnel disputes, conflicting schedules, and career priorities of the three artists. ''Trio 2'' was much more contemporary-sounding than its predecessor and was certified Gold. It included their version of Neil Young's classic "After The Gold Rush", which became a popular music video and won another Grammy—this one for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. Harris and Ronstadt then released a duet album, ''Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions'', later the same year. The two superstars toured together during the fall months in support of the disc. Both albums made the Top 10 of Billboard's Country Albums chart and did well on the pop side as well.

Also in 1999, Harris paid tribute to her former singing partner Gram Parsons by co-executive producing ''Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons'', an album that gathered together more than a dozen artists. Harris performed duets with Beck, Sheryl Crow and The Pretenders on this album's tracks.

In 2000, Harris released her solo follow-up to ''Wrecking Ball'', ''Red Dirt Girl'', produced by Lanois protégé Malcolm Burn. For the first time since ''The Ballad of Sally Rose'', the album contained a number of Harris's own compositions. Like ''Wrecking Ball'', the album's sound leaned more toward alternative rock than country. Nevertheless it reached #5 on Billboard's Country Albums chart as well as a healthy #54 on the pop side. It also won Harris another of her 12 Grammy awards, in the category of Best Contemporary Folk Album.

Harris also accompanied on alternative country singer Ryan Adams' solo debut ''Heartbreaker'' and on Tracy Chapman's fifth album ''Telling Stories''.

Also in 2000, Harris joined an all-star group of traditional country, folk and blues artists for the T-Bone Burnett-produced soundtrack to the Coen Brothers film, ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' The soundtrack won multiple CMA, ACM and Grammy awards. A documentary/concert film, ''Down from the Mountain'', featured the artists performing music from the film and other songs at the Ryman Auditorium. Harris and many of the same artists took their show on the road for the Down from the Mountain Tour in 2002. In 2003, Harris supplied the finishing touches in harmonizing with the Dixie Chicks on a song they were recording in the studio, "Godspeed".

Recent work

Harris released ''Stumble into Grace'', her follow-up to ''Red Dirt Girl'', in 2003. Like its predecessor, it contained mostly self-penned material. In 2004, Harris led the Sweet Harmony Traveling Revue tour with Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Buddy Miller and Patty Griffin. They performed singly and together and swapped instruments.

On September 9, 2005, Harris participated in "Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast", a series of concerts simulcast by most American television stations to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. She performed with Beth Neilsen Chapman and the Dixie Chicks, harmonizing on Patty Griffin's song, "Mary".

In 2005, Harris worked with Conor Oberst on Bright Eyes' release, ''I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning'', performing backup vocals on three tracks. In July, she joined Elvis Costello on several dates of his US tour, performing alongside Costello and his band on several numbers each night. Harris and Costello recorded a version of Costello's song, "The Scarlet Tide", from the soundtrack of the movie ''Cold Mountain''. July also saw the release of ''The Very Best of Emmylou Harris: Heartaches & Highways'', a single-disc retrospective of Harris's career, on the Rhino Entertainment label. This same year, Harris appeared as a guest vocalist on Neil Young's widely acclaimed ''Prairie Wind''. She also appeared in the Jonathan Demme documentary-concert film ''Neil Young: Heart of Gold'', released in 2006. ''All the Roadrunning'', an album of collaborations with former Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler, was released in April 2006 and supported by a tour of Europe and the US. The album was a commercial success, reaching #8 in the UK and #17 in the US. Selections recorded during the ''All the Roadrunning'' tour performance at the Gibson Amphitheatre were released as a CD/DVD package titled ''Real Live Roadrunning'' in November 2006. In addition to several of the compositions that Harris and Knopfler recorded together in the studio, ''Real Live Roadrunning'' features solo hits from both members of the duo, as well as a few classic tracks from Knopfler's days with Dire Straits.

Harris is featured on ''A Tribute To Joni Mitchell'', released on April 24, 2007. Harris covered the song "The Magdalene Laundries" (originally on Mitchell's 1994 album, ''Turbulent Indigo''). She sang "Another Pot O' Tea" with Anne Murray on Murray's album ''Anne Murray Duets: Friends and Legends'', released November 13, 2007, in Canada and January 15, 2008, in the U.S.

Harris wrote a song called "In Rodanthe" for the 2008 film ''Nights In Rodanthe''.

A solo album, ''All I Intended to Be'', was released on June 10, 2008, to critical acclaim. Contributors include Buddy Miller, the McGarrigle sisters, Vince Gill, Phil Madeira, and Dolly Parton. She toured with an ensemble she dubbed the Red Dirt Boys, featuring Phil Madeira on accordion, guitar, and keyboards, Colin Linden on guitar and banjo, Rickie Simpkins on mandolin and fiddle, Chris Donohue on bass, and Bryan Owings on drums. It did not include Miller, who was touring with Robert Plant, Alison Krauss and T Bone Burnett at the time. In 2009, Harris toured with Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin, and Miller as "Three Girls and Their Buddy". Madeira, Simpkins, and Donohue performed with her in late 2008, and in 2009, appearing on "A Prairie Home Companion" and at MerleFest and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. In September 2009, Owings rejoined the Red Dirt Boys with Miller for the remainder of 2009.

In April 2009 Harris became a grandmother. Her daughter gave birth to a daughter, Prudence.

In 2010, Harris regrouped with the latest version of the Red Dirt Boys—Madeira, Owings, Donohue, and Simpkins—for Lilith Fair summer dates and a scheduled US autumn tour.

According to an interview with Bonnie Tyler by Digital Spy, Emmylou Harris will be teaming up with her on Tyler's upcoming album. Harris will do backing vocals on a song, written and produced by Wayne Warner. A new solo album, ''Hard Bargain'', was released on the Nonesuch label on April 26, 2011.

PBS host Tavis Smiley interviewed Harris in a program that aired on April 20, 2011. In the interview Harris spoke of being a straight-A student in high school, which led her to being selected as valedictorian, and recounted learning to play guitar by memorizing three chords on a Taylor 310CE.

Activism

In 1997 and 1998, Harris performed in Sarah McLachlan's Lilith Fair, promoting feminism in music. Since 1999, Harris has been organizing an annual benefit tour called Concerts for a Landmine Free World. All proceeds from the tours support the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation's (VVAF) efforts to assist innocent victims of conflicts around the world. The tour also benefits the VVAF's work to raise America's awareness of the global landmine problem. Artists that have joined Harris on the road for these dates include Mary Chapin Carpenter, Bruce Cockburn, Sheryl Crow, Steve Earle, Joan Baez, Patty Griffin, Nanci Griffith, Willie Nelson, and Lucinda Williams. Harris is a supporter of animal rights and an active member of PETA. She founded, and in her spare time assists at, an animal shelter in Nashville.

She became a member of the newly formed Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011.

Awards and other honors

Grammy Awards

2005 Best Female Country Vocal Performance ("The Connection")

2001 Album of the Year (''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'')

2000 Best Contemporary Folk Album (''Red Dirt Girl'')

1999 Best Country Collaboration with Vocals ("After The Gold Rush", with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt)

1998 Best Country Collaboration with Vocals ("Same Old Train", with Alison Krauss, Clint Black, Dwight Yoakam, Earl Scruggs, Joe Diffie, Marty Stuart, Merle Haggard, Pam Tillis, Patty Loveless, Randy Travis, Ricky Skaggs & Travis Tritt)

1995 Best Contemporary Folk Album (''Wrecking Ball'')

1992 Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (''Emmylou Harris & The Nash Ramblers At the Ryman'', as Emmylou Harris & The Nash Ramblers)

1987 Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (''Trio'', with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt)

1984 Best Country Vocal Performance, Female ("In My Dreams")

1980 Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group ("That Lovin' You Feelin' Again", with Roy Orbison)

1979 Best Country Vocal Performance, Female (''Blue Kentucky Girl'')

1976 Best Country Vocal Performance, Female (''Elite Hotel'')

Country Music Association Awards

2001 Album of the Year (''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'')

1980 Female Vocalist Of The Year

1988 Vocal Event of the Year (''Trio'', with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt)

Other honors

VH1's 100 Most Influential Women in Rock and Roll (1998) - Number 22 out of 100

Billboard's Century Award recipient (1999) - inducted by Sarah McLachlan

''CMT's 40 Greatest Women of Country Music'' - #5 ranking (2002)

Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on February 12, 2008

Inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009.

Awarded an honorary doctorate of music from Berklee College of Music in 2009.

Discography

Collaborations and other appearances

References

Sources

''In the Country of Country: A Journey to the Roots of American Music,'' Nicholas Dawidoff, Vintage Books, 1998. ISBN 0-679-41567-X

''Emmylou Harris: Angel in Disguise,'' Jim Brown, Fox Music Books, 2004. ISBN 1-894997-03-4

Fong-Torres, Ben. (1998). "Emmylou Harris". In ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music''. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 230.

External links

Official Site (requires Flash player)

Emmylou Harris Comprehensive former official site

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

Emmylou Harris Questionnaire (June 2008)

Pitchfork article

Gibson interview

Interview

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Coordinates	19°25′14″N99°10′54″N
name	Mark Knopfler
background	solo_singer
birth name	Mark Freuder Knopfler
born	August 12, 1949Glasgow, Scotland
origin	Newcastle upon Tyne, England
instrument	Vocals, guitar
genre	RockRoots rockCeltic rockCountry rockBlues-rock
occupation	Musician, Songwriter, Record producer, Film score composer
years active	1965–present
label	Vertigo, Mercury, Warner
associated acts	Dire StraitsThe Notting HillbilliesChet AtkinsEmmylou HarrisBob DylanEric ClaptonSonny Landreth
website	MarkKnopfler.com
notable instruments	Mark Knopfler StratocasterFender TelecasterGibson Les PaulPensa Custom MKIISteinberger GL-2 }}

Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE (born 12 August 1949) is a British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977. After Dire Straits disbanded in 1995, Knopfler went on to record and produce six solo albums, including ''Golden Heart'' (1996), ''Sailing to Philadelphia'' (2000), and ''Get Lucky'' (2009). He has composed and produced film scores for eight films, including ''Local Hero'' (1983), ''Cal'' (1984), and ''The Princess Bride'' (1987). In addition to his work with Dire Straits and as a solo artist and composer, Knopfler has recorded and performed with many prominant musical artists, including Chet Atkins, The Chieftains, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Jools Holland, Sonny Landreth, and Van Morrison. He has produced albums for such artists as Tina Turner, Bob Dylan, and Randy Newman.

Knopfler is one of the most respected fingerstyle guitarists of the modern rock era, and was ranked 27th on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Knopfler and Dire Straits have sold in excess of 120 million albums to date. A four-time Grammy Award winner, Knopfler is the recipient of the Edison Award and the Steiger Award, and holds three honorary doctorate degrees in music from universities in the United Kingdom.

Early life (1949–1976)

Mark Freuder Knopfler was born on 12 August 1949 in Glasgow, Scotland, to an English mother and Hungarian Jewish father—an architect whose anti-fascist sympathies forced him to flee from his native Hungary. The family settled in Knopfler's mother's home town of Blyth, Northumberland in North East England when he was 7 years old. He and his younger brother David attended Gosforth Grammar School. Inspired by his uncle Kingsley's harmonica and boogie-woogie piano playing, he wanted to buy an expensive Fiesta Red Fender Stratocaster just like Hank Marvin's, but had to settle for a £50 twin-pick-up Höfner Super Solid. During the 1960s, he formed and joined schoolboy bands and listened to singers like Elvis Presley and guitarists Chet Atkins, Scotty Moore, B.B King, Django Reinhardt, Hank Marvin, and James Burton. At 16, he made a local TV appearance as part of a harmony duo, with his classmate Sue Hercombe.

In 1968, after studying journalism for a year at Harlow Technical College, Knopfler was hired as a junior reporter in Leeds for the ''Yorkshire Evening Post''. Two years later, he decided to further his studies, and went on to graduate with a degree in English at the University of Leeds. In April 1970, while living in Leeds, Knopfler recorded a demo disk of an original song he'd written, "Summer's Coming My Way". The recording included Mark Knopfler (guitar and vocals), Steve Phillips (second guitar), Dave Johnson (bass), and Paul Granger (percussion). Johnson, Granger, and vocalist Mick Dewhirst played with Mark in the band Silverheels.

Upon graduation in 1973, Knopfler moved to London and joined a High Wycombe-based band called Brewers Droop, appearing on the album ''The Booze Brothers''. One night while spending some time with friends, the only guitar available was an old acoustic with a badly warped neck that had been strung with extra-light strings to make it playable. Even so, he found it impossible to play unless he finger-picked it. He said in a later interview, "That was where I found my 'voice' on guitar." After a brief stint with Brewers Droop, Knopfler took a job as a lecturer at Loughton College in Essex—a position he held for three years. Throughout this time, he continued performing with local pub bands, including the Café Racers. He also formed a duo with long-time associate bluesman Steve Phillips called The Duolian String Pickers.

By the mid-1970s, Knopfler devoted much of his musical energies to his group, the Café Racers. His brother David moved to London, where he shared a flat with John Illsley—a guitarist who changed over to bass guitar. In April 1977, Mark gave up his flat in Buckhurst Hill and moved in with David and John. The three began playing music together, and soon Mark invited John to join the Café Racers.

Dire Straits (1977–1995)

Dire Straits' first demos were done in three sessions during 1977, with Pick Withers as drummer, David Knopfler as rhythm guitarist and John Illsley on bass guitar. On 27 July 1977 they recorded the now famous demo tapes of five songs: "Wild West End", "Sultans of Swing", "Down To The Waterline", "Sacred Loving" (a David Knopfler song) and "Water of Love". In what was probably October they recorded "Southbound Again", "In The Gallery" and "Six Blade Knife" for BBC Radio London and, finally, on 9 November demo tapes were made of "Setting Me Up", "Eastbound Train" and "Real Girl". Many of these songs reflected Mark's experiences in Newcastle, Leeds and London, and were to be featured on their first album, the self-titled ''Dire Straits'' which was released in the following year: "Down To The Waterline" recalled images of life in Newcastle; "In The Gallery" is a tribute to a Leeds sculptor/artist named Harry Phillips, (father of Steve Phillips); and "Lions", "Wild West End" and "Eastbound Train" were all drawn from Mark's early days in the capital.

Initially on its release, ''Dire Straits'' received little fanfare in the UK, but when "Sultans of Swing" was released as a single it became a chart hit in The Netherlands and album sales took off across Europe and then in the United States and Canada, and finally the UK. The group's second album, ''Communiqué'', produced by Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett, followed in 1979, reaching number one in France while the first album was still at number three.

There were frequent personnel changes within Dire Straits after the release of their third album ''Making Movies'', with Mark Knopfler increasingly becoming the driving force behind the group. Released in 1980, ''Making Movies'' marked a move towards more complex arrangements and production which continued for the remainder of the group's career. The album included many of Mark Knopfler's most personal compositions, most notably "Romeo and Juliet" and "Tunnel of Love". ''Love over Gold'' followed in 1982 and included the UK #2 hit "Private Investigations", "Telegraph Road", "Industrial Disease" and "It Never Rains" as well as the title track to that album.

With ''Love Over Gold'' still in the albums charts, the band released a four-song EP titled ''ExtendedancEPlay'' in early 1983. Featuring the hit single "Twisting By the Pool", this was the first output by the band that featured new drummer Terry Williams, (formerly of Rockpile), who had replaced Pick Withers in November 1982. A world tour followed later in 1983, and in March 1984 the double album ''Alchemy Live'' was released. ''Alchemy Live'' documented the recordings of two live shows in Hammersmith Odeon in London in July 1983, and reached number three in the UK Albums Chart.

During 1983 and 1984 Knopfler was involved with other projects as well, including writing and producing the music score to the film ''Local Hero'' which was a large success, and it was followed in 1984 by his scores for the films ''Cal'' and ''Comfort and Joy''. Also during this time Knopfler produced Bob Dylan's ''Infidels'' album, as well as Aztec Camera and Willy DeVille; he also wrote ''Private Dancer'' for Tina Turner's comeback album of the same name. Dire Straits' biggest studio album by far was their fifth, ''Brothers in Arms,'' recorded at Air Studios Montserrat and released in May 1985. It became an international blockbuster which has now sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, and is the fourth best selling album in UK chart history. ''Brothers In Arms'' spawned several chart singles including the US # 1 hit "Money for Nothing", which was the first video ever to be played on MTV in Britain. It was also the first compact disc to sell a million copies and is largely credited for launching the CD format as it was also one of the first DDD CDs ever released. Other successful singles were "So Far Away", "Walk of Life", and the album's title track. The band's 1985–86 world tour of over 230 shows was immensely successful.

After the ''Brothers in Arms'' tour Dire Straits ceased to work together for some time, Knopfler concentrating mainly on film soundtracks. Knopfler joined the charity ensemble Ferry Aid on "Let It Be" in the wake of the Zeebrugge ferry disaster. The song reached #1 on the UK singles chart in March 1987. Knopfler wrote the music score for the film ''The Princess Bride'' which was released at the end of 1987.

Mark Knopfler also took part in a comedy skit (featured on the French and Saunders Show) titled "The Easy Guitar Book Sketch" with comedian Rowland Rivron and fellow British musicians David Gilmour, Lemmy from Motorhead, Mark King from Level 42, and Gary Moore. Phil Taylor explained in an interview that Knopfler used Gilmour's guitar rig and managed to sound like himself when performing in the skit.

Dire Straits regrouped for the 11 June 1988 Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert at Wembley Stadium, in which they were the headline act, and were accompanied by Elton John and Eric Clapton, who by this time had developed a strong friendship with Knopfler. Shortly after this, drummer Terry Williams left the band. In September 1988 Mark Knopfler announced the official dissolution of Dire Straits, saying that he "needed a rest", and in October 1988, a "best of" album, ''Money for Nothing'', was released and reached number one in the United Kingdom.

In 1989 Knopfler formed The Notting Hillbillies, a band at the other end of the commercial spectrum. It leaned heavily towards American roots music - folk, blues and country music. The band members included keyboardist Guy Fletcher, with Brendan Croker and Steve Phillips. For both the album and the tour Paul Franklin was added to the line-up on pedal steel. The Notting Hillbillies sole studio album, ''Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time'' was released in 1990, and Knopfler then toured with the Notting Hillbillies for the remainder of that year. He further emphasized his country music influences with his 1990s collaboration with Chet Atkins, ''Neck and Neck''. The Hillbillies toured the UK in early 1990 with a limited number of shows, it was strictly low key, packing out smaller venues, such as Newcastle University.

In 1990 Knopfler, John Illsley, and Alan Clark performed as Dire Straits at the Knebworth gig, joined by Eric Clapton, Ray Cooper, and guitarist Phil Palmer (who was at that time part of Eric Clapton's touring band), and in January the following year, Knopfler, John Illsley and manager Ed Bicknell decided to reform Dire Straits. Knopfler, Illsley, Alan Clark, and Guy Fletcher set about recording what turned out to be their final studio album accompanied by several part-time sidemen, including Phil Palmer, Paul Franklin, percussionist Danny Cummings and Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro.

The follow-up to ''Brothers In Arms'' was finally released in September 1991. ''On Every Street'' was nowhere near as popular as its predecessor, and met with a mixed critical reaction, with some reviewers regarding the album as an underwhelming comeback after a six year break. Nonetheless, the album sold well and reached #1 in the UK. A gruelling world tour to accompany the album followed, which lasted until the end of 1992. This was to be Dire Straits' final world tour; it was not as well received as the previous ''Brothers In Arms'' tour, and by this time Mark Knopfler had had enough of such massive operations. This drove the band into the ground, and ultimately led to the group's final dissolution in 1995.

Following the tour, Knopfler took some time off from the music business. In 1993, he received an honorary music doctorate from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Two more Dire Straits albums were released, both live albums. ''On the Night'', released in May 1993, documented Dire Straits' final world tour. In 1995, following the release of ''Live at the BBC'', Mark Knopfler quietly dissolved Dire Straits and launched his career as a solo artist.

Since the break-up of Dire Straits, Knopfler has shown no interest in reforming the group. However, keyboardist Guy Fletcher has been associated with almost every piece of Knopfler's solo material to date, while Danny Cummings has also contributed frequently, including Knopfler's last three solo album releases ''All the Roadrunning'' (with Emmylou Harris), ''Kill to Get Crimson'' and ''Get Lucky''. In October 2008 Knopfler declined a suggestion by John Illsley that the band should reform. Illsley said that a reunion would be "entirely up to Mark", however he also suggested that Knopfler was enjoying his continued success as a solo artist, saying that "He's doing incredibly well as a solo artist, so hats off to him. He's having a perfectly good time doing what he's doing". Knopfler meanwhile is quoted as saying "Oh, I don't know whether to start getting all that stuff back together again", and that the global fame that came his way in the 1980s "just got too big".

Solo career (1996–present)

Mark Knopfler's first solo album, ''Golden Heart'', featuring the UK single "Darling Pretty", was released in March 1996. During the recording sessions for the album the main line-up of Knopfler's backing band, also known as "The 96ers," was formed, featuring Knopfler's old bandmate Guy Fletcher on keyboards, and has lasted much longer than any Dire Straits line-up.

Also in 1996, Mark Knopfler recorded guitar for Ted Christopher's Dunblane massacre tribute cover of Knocking on Heaven's Door

In 1997 Knopfler recorded the soundtrack for the movie ''Wag the Dog''. During that same year ''Rolling Stone'' magazine listed "Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll", which included "Sultans of Swing", Dire Straits' first hit. 2000 saw the release of Knopfler's next solo album, ''Sailing to Philadelphia.'' This has been his most successful to date, possibly helped by the number of collaborators to the album like Van Morrison.

In 2002 Mark Knopfler gave four charity concerts with former Dire Straits members John Illsley, Chris White, Danny Cummings and Guy Fletcher, playing old material from the Dire Straits years. The concerts also featured The Notting Hillbillies with Brendan Croker and Steve Phillips. At these four concerts (three of the four were at the Shepherd's Bush, the fourth at Beaulieu on the south coast) they were joined by Jimmy Nail, who provided backing vocals for Knopfler's 2002 composition "Why Aye Man".

Also in 2002 Knopfler released his third solo album, ''The Ragpicker's Dream''. However, in March 2003 he was involved in a motorbike crash in Grosvenor Road, Belgravia and suffered a broken collarbone, broken shoulder blade and seven broken ribs. The planned ''Ragpicker's Dream'' tour was subsequently cancelled, but Knopfler recovered and was able to return to the stage in 2004 for his fourth album, ''Shangri-La.''

''Shangri-La'' was recorded at the Shangri-La Studio in Malibu, California in 2004, where The Band made recordings years before for their documentary/movie, ''The Last Waltz.'' In the promo for "Shangri-La" on his official website he said that his current line-up of Glenn Worf (bass), Guy Fletcher (keyboards), Chad Cromwell (drums), Richard Bennett (guitar) and Matt Rollings (piano) "play Dire Straits songs better than Dire Straits did." The "Shangri-La" tour took Knopfler to countries such as India and the United Arab Emirates for the first time. In India, his concerts at Mumbai and Bangalore were very well received, with over 20,000 fans gathering at each concert to listen to a legend many thought would never visit their country.

In November 2005 a compilation, ''The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations'' was released, consisting of material from most of Dire Straits' studio albums and Knopfler's solo and soundtrack material. The album was made available in two editions, as a single CD (with a grey cover) and as a double CD (with the cover in blue), and was well-received. The only previously unreleased track on the album is "All the Roadrunning", a duet with country music singer Emmylou Harris, which was followed in 2006 by an album of duets of the same name.

Released in April 2006, ''All the Roadrunning'' reached #1 in Denmark and Switzerland, #2 in Norway and Sweden, #3 in Germany, Holland and Italy, #8 in Austria and UK, #9 in Spain, #17 in the United States (''Billboard'' Top 200 Chart), #25 in Ireland and #41 in Australia. ''All the Roadrunning'' was nominated for "Best Folk Rock/Americana Album" at the 49th Grammy Awards (11 February 2007) but lost out to Bob Dylan's nomination for ''Modern Times''.

Joined by Emmylou Harris, Knopfler supported ''All the Roadrunning'' with a limited – 15 gigs in Europe, 1 in Canada and 8 in the USA – but highly successful tour of Europe and N America. Selections from the duo's 28 June performance at the Gibson Amphitheatre, Universal City, California, were released as a DVD entitled ''Real Live Roadrunning'' on 14 November 2006. In addition to several of the compositions that Harris and Knopfler recorded together in the studio, ''Real Live Roadrunning'' features solo hits from both members of the duo, as well as three tracks from Knopfler's days with Dire Straits.

A charity event in 2007 went wrong. A Fender Stratocaster guitar signed by Knopfler, Clapton, Brian May, and Jimmy Page was to be auctioned for £20,000 to raise the money for a children's hospice, was lost when being shipped. It "vanished after being posted from London to Leicestershire, England". Parcelforce, the company responsible, agreed to pay US$30,000 for its loss.

Knopfler released his fifth solo studio-album ''Kill to Get Crimson'' on 14 September 2007 in Germany, 17 September in the UK and 18 September in the United States. During the autumn of 2007 he played a series of intimate 'showcases' in various European cities to promote the album. A tour of Europe and North America followed in 2008. Many older songs from the early solo days, such as Cannibals (from Golden Heart), were brought back to life. Cannibals opened up shows throughout Europe. Cannibals was received extremely well particularly in Ireland as it was released by an Irish Country Artist David Maguire in 2007. The new version of Cannibals that David Maguire and his Band released was the 7th most requested song on Irish radio that year.

Continuing a pattern of high productivity through his solo career, Knopfler began work on his next studio album, entitled ''Get Lucky'', in September 2008 with long-time band mate Guy Fletcher, who again compiled a pictorial diary of the making of the album on his website. The album was released on September 14 the following year and Knopfler subsequently undertook an extensive tour across Europe and America. The album met with moderate success on the charts (much of it in Europe) reaching #1 only in Norway but peaking in the Top 5 in most major European countries (Germany, Italy, Holland). The album peaked at #2 on the Billboard European Album chart and at #5 on the Billboard Rock Album chart.

Knopfler's solo live performances can be characterized as relaxed—almost workmanlike. He uses very little stage production, other than some lighting effects to enhance the music's dynamics. He has been known to sip tea on stage during live performances. Richard Bennett, who has been playing with him on tour since 1996, has also joined in drinking tea with him on stage. On 31 July 2005, at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver, BC, the tea was replaced with whisky as a "last show of tour" sort of joke.

In February 2009, Knopfler gave an intimate solo concert at the Garrick Club in London. Knopfler had recently become a member of the exclusive gentlemen's club for men of letters.

In 2010, Knopfler appeared on the newest Thomas Dolby release, the EP ''Amerikana''. Knopfler performed on the track "17 Hills".

In February 2011, Knopfler began work on his next solo album, once again working with Guy Fletcher. A release date is yet to be announced. In July 2011, it was announced that Knopfler would take time out from recording this album in order to take part in a European tour with Bob Dylan during October and November.

Country music

In addition to his work in Dire Straits and solo, Mark Knopfler has made several contributions to country music. In 1988 he formed country-focused band The Notting Hillbillies, with Guy Fletcher, Brendan Croker and Steve Phillips. The Notting Hillbillies sole studio album, ''Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time'' was released in 1990 and featured the minor hit single "Your Own Sweet Way". Knopfler further emphasised his country music influences with his collaboration with Chet Atkins, ''Neck and Neck'', which was also released in 1990. "Poor Boy Blues", taken from that collaboration, peaked at #92.

Knopfler's other contributions include writing and playing guitar on John Anderson's 1992 single "When It Comes to You" (from his album ''Seminole Wind''). In 1993 Mary Chapin Carpenter also released a cover of the Dire Straits song "The Bug". Randy Travis released another of Knopfler's songs, "Are We In Trouble Now", in 1996. In that same year, Knopfler's solo single "Darling Pretty" reached a peak of #87.

Knopfler collaborated with George Jones on the 1994 "The Bradley Barn Sessions" album performing guitar duties on the classic J.P. Richardson composition White Lightnin'.

Knopfler is featured on Kris Kristofferson's album "The Austin Sessions", (on the track "Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends") released in 1999 by Atlantic Records.

In 2006 Knopfler and Emmylou Harris made a country album together titled ''All the Roadrunning''. Knopfler also charted two singles on the Canadian country music singles chart.

Again in 2006, Knopfler contributed the song "Whoop De Doo" to Jimmy Buffett's "Gulf and Western" style album "Take the Weather with You".

Personal life

Mark Knopfler has been married three times. His first marriage was to Kathy White, his long-time girlfriend from school days. They separated before Knopfler moved to London to join Brewers Droop in 1973. In November 1983, Knopfler married his second wife, Lourdes Salomone. Their marriage produced twin sons, Benji and Joseph (born 1987), both of whom are musically talented and aspiring musicians, according to Knopfler. His marriage to Salomone ended in 1993. On Valentine's Day 1997, Knopfler married his third and current wife, British actress and writer Kitty Aldridge on the Caribbean island of Barbados. They had been dating for three years. Their marriage so far has produced two daughters, Isabella (born 1998) and Katya Ruby Rose (born 2003). The family currently lives in Chelsea.

Musical style and equipment

Musical style

Mark Knopfler is left-handed, but plays right-handed, and fingerpicks (using a personal variant of the clawhammer style) instead of using a plectrum (i.e., "pick"). Fingerpicking is usually associated with the acoustic guitar, but Knopfler usually (though not always) plays an electric guitar. He revealed during a French interview that he uses a pick for his rhythm work during recording sessions. He surprised the interviewer by pulling a pick out of his pocket and saying that he usually carries one. He has long favoured Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster style guitars. Fender carries a Mark Knopfler Artist Series Stratocaster. During the 1980s he came to appreciate the tone of the Gibson Les Paul and his original 1958 has been used regularly in the studio and on stage.

Guitars

Knopfler has estimated that he now owns "around 70 guitars". They include:

National Triplate, 1930s National Style O 14 fret

Pensa Custom MKII, a custom Pensa guitar given to Knopfler by his friend Rudy Pensa in 2005 Pensa custom-built solid body guitars, models MK-1, MK-2, and MK-80 are named in Knopfler's honour Red-painted (Stratocaster style) Melancon Pro Artist

Hofner V-2 (Mark's first guitar)

Fender Stratocasters, including a 1962 Fiesta Red and a 1954 Sunburst (one of the first ever produced), which Knopfler named "Jurassic Strat"

Gibson Les Paul Special (used in the 1970s)

National Tricone 1928 model

National Style O Resonator guitar 1937 model ("Romeo and Juliet"), a replica of which is available from National Resophonic Guitars

Fender Telecaster 1952

Burns Baldwin 12-string ("Angel of Mercy" and the ''Get Lucky'' album)

Ovation Acoustic

Schecter Telecaster and Stratocaster models (from 1980 on)

Rickenbacker 425 (Used on Portobello Belle, later on The Ragpicker's Dream session)

Fernandes Stratocaster

Ovation Adamas (''Love Over Gold'' album, ''Brothers in Arms'' tour)

Gibson Chet Atkins (''Love Over Gold'' album)

Erlewine Automatic ("Industrial Disease")

Martin Acoustics, HD-40MK, 000-40S Mark Knopfler, and 00028 ("Brothers in Arms")

Gibson SG (Two Young Lovers, Alchemy tour)

Gibson Les Paul 1958, 1959, and 1984 models

Pensa-Suhr R Custom (Knopfler's first Pensa) (''Brothers in Arms'' album, "Ride Across the River" and "So far Away")

Gretsch Super Chet, 6120 (''Golden Heart'' album)

Steinberger GL2 (''Brothers in Arms'' tour)

Beltona Electro Resonator

Flamed Pensa, 3 models (late 1980s)

Gibson J45 (''On Every Street'' album)

Gibson Super 400 (''On Every Street'' album and tour)

Godin L.R. Baggs (''On Every Street'' tour)

Red Pensa (''On Every Street'' tour)

Ramírez Spanish Guitar (from 1992 on)

Pensa-Suhr, black (''Golden Heart'' album and tour)

Gibson ES-335

Danelectro Silvertone

Gibson Southerner

Fender Jazzmaster

Eko 700

Teisco Spectrum, 2 models

Danelectro 59 DC

Fender Duo Sonic 11 (''Kill to Get Crimson'' album)

Gibson Advanced Jumbo

Gibson ES-330

NS 14, Steve Phillips (''Get Lucky'' album)

Monteleone Isabella

Don Grosh Electrajet

Gibson Dove

Effects

Throughout his career Knopfler has used a wide selection of effect pedals in the studio and during live performances. Here is a list of some of them:

Alesis Quadraverb

Boss BF-2 Flanger

Boss CE-2 Chorus

Boss CE-300 Chorus

Boss CS-2 Compressor

Boss DM-2 Delay

MXR Micro Amp

Boss OC-2 Octaver

Boss PH-2 Phaser

DeltaLab Digital Delay

Ibanez UE 303 Multi Effect

Lexicon 300 Reverb

Mantec Preamp

Master Room Reverb

Morley Volume Pedal

Mic-Mix Dyna-Flanger

MXR Analog Delay

Roland Graphic Equalizer

Roland SRE 555 Chorus/Echo

Yamaha REV 5

Zoom Multieffect 9010

Amplifiers

Knopfler has often used many different combinations of amplifiers and cabinets to create his desired sounds.

Crate VC5212 amplifier

Crate 2x12 cabinet

Fender Concert

Fender Vibrolux

Fender Twin Reverb

Gallien & Krueger amplifier

Jim Kelley combo

Jim Kelley heads

Komet amplifiers

Marshall JTM heads

Marshall 4x12 cabinet

Mesa Boogie heads

Music Man HD 130

Soldano SLO 100

Roland Jazz Chorus

Tone King Imperial

Vox AC30

On the "Get Lucky" tour in 2010, Knopfler used a pair of custom built Reinhardt guitar amp heads with matching cabinets, and a Tone King combo in between that is used on some songs.

Honours and awards

1983 BRIT Award for Best British Group (with Dire Straits)

1986 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal with Dire Straits (for "Money for Nothing")

1986 Grammy Award nomination for Song of the Year (for "Money for Nothing")

1986 Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance with Chet Atkins (for "Cosmic Square Dance")

1986 Juno Award for International Album of the Year (for ''Brothers in Arms'' with Dire Straits)

1986 BRIT Award for Best British Group (with Dire Straits)

1987 BRIT Award for Best British Album (for ''Brothers in Arms'' with Dire Straits)

1991 Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Collaboration with Chet Atkins (for "Poor Boy Blues")

1991 Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance with Chet Atkins (for "So Soft, Your Goodbye")

1992 Grammy Award nomination for Best Country Instrumental Performance with Chet Atkins (for "Neck and Neck")

1993 Honorary Doctor of Music from Newcastle University

1995 Honorary Doctor of Music from the University of Leeds

1999 OBE 2001 Masiakasaurus knopfleri (a species of dinosaur) was named after him by scientists who had listened to his music while digging the fossils. 2003 Edison Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Music Industry, the highest award for musicians in the Netherlands

2006 Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album (for ''Brothers in Arms'' 20th Anniversary Edition with Dire Straits)

2007 Honorary Doctor of Music from the University of Sunderland

2007 Grammy Award nomination for Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album with Emmylou Harris (for "All the Roadrunning").

2009 Music Producers Guild Award for Best Studio (for Knopfler's British Grove Studios

2009 PRS for Music Heritage Award (with Dire Straits)

2011 Steiger Award

Knopfler's influence

Played together with Dire Straits' drummer Pick Withers on Bob Dylan's studio album ''Slow Train Coming'', which was recorded in May 1979 and released 20 August; providing Dylan with what Dylan considered his best guitar backing since the days of Mike Bloomfield and Robbie Robertson. Knopfler also played in and co-produced Dylan's 1983 album ''Infidels''.

British author and humorist Douglas Adams said about Knopfler, in his book ''So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish'': "Mark Knopfler has an extraordinary ability to make a Schecter Custom Stratocaster hoot and sing like angels on a Saturday night, exhausted from being good all week and needing a stiff drink." The dinosaur species ''Masiakasaurus knopfleri'' was named after Knopfler. The palaeontologists were listening to Dire Straits recordings when they discovered the species.

On "Weird Al" Yankovic's parody of "Money for Nothing", "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*", which merges the instrumentals of "Money For Nothing" with the lyrics to the theme song for the American television series ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' ("The Ballad of Jed Clampett"), Knopfler played guitar in the song, recreating the guitar riff from the original song. He would only allow Yankovic to parody the song if he was allowed to play on the recording.

Knopfler's song "Going Home" from the soundtrack to ''Local Hero'' is played before kick-off at Newcastle United's home matches at St James' Park.

"Going Home" is also the theme music for John Stanley on Sydney radio station 2UE.

According to director Rob Reiner, Knopfler agreed to write the music for Reiner's ''The Princess Bride'' on one condition: Reiner had to put the hat that he wore in ''This Is Spinal Tap'' in ''Princess Bride'', "somewhere in evidence", as homage to the rock mockumentary. The hat makes its appearance in ''Princess Bride'' in the Grandson's (Fred Savage) bedroom. Indian cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar is a fan of Mark Knopfler. They once had a joint interview on cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle's show ''Harsha Online''.

The 2008 stage production Celtic Thunder has covers of multiple Mark Knopfler songs. "Brothers in Arms", written by Mark Knopfler and performed originally by Dire Straits, is performed by Ryan Kelly. As well, the song "Irish Boy" (from ''Cal'') and "Going Home" (from ''Local Hero'') are performed together as an instrumental, entitled "Cal/Local Hero".

Discography

Dire Straits albums

''Dire Straits'' (1978)

''Communiqué'' (1979)

''Making Movies'' (1980)

''Love over Gold'' (1982)

''Alchemy'' (1984, live)

''Brothers in Arms'' (1985)

''Money for Nothing'' (1988, compilation)

''On Every Street'' (1991)

''On the Night'' (1993, live)

''Live at the BBC'' (1995, live)

''Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits'' (1998, compilation)

''The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations'' (2005, compilation)

Solo albums

''Golden Heart'' (1996)

''Sailing to Philadelphia'' (2000)

''The Ragpicker's Dream'' (2002)

''Shangri-La'' (2004)

''The Trawlerman's Song EP'' (2005, EP)

''One Take Radio Sessions'' (2005, EP live)

''The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations'' (2005, compilation)

''Kill to Get Crimson'' (2007)

''Get Lucky'' (2009)

Soundtrack albums

''Local Hero'' (1983)

''Cal'' (1984)

''Comfort and Joy'' (1984)

''The Princess Bride'' (1987)

''Last Exit to Brooklyn'' (1989)

''Screenplaying'' (1993 compilation)

''Wag the Dog'' (1998)

''Metroland'' (1999)

''A Shot at Glory'' (2002)

Collaborative albums

''Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time'' (with The Notting Hillbillies, 1990)

''Neck and Neck'' (with Chet Atkins, 1990)

''All the Roadrunning'' (with Emmylou Harris, 2006)

''Real Live Roadrunning'' (with Emmylou Harris, 2006)

Produced albums

''Infidels'' (1983) by Bob Dylan. Although Mark disowned the reworked version of the album as released, his production is still noticeable. Left off the album, but later released on The Bootleg Series, is the critically acclaimed "Blind Willie McTell", featuring only Dylan, singing and playing piano, accompanied by Mark Knopfler on acoustic guitar.

''Knife'' (1984) by Aztec Camera. This Scottish indie/new wave band was mostly a vehicle for the work of Roddy Frame, much as Dire Straits only ever recorded Mark Knopfler compositions.

''Miracle'' (1987) by Willy DeVille. The album was dedicated to Mark and his wife "for their support which was nothing short of a Miracle in a time of Dire Straits." The album ends with the ballad "Storybook Love", the theme from The Princess Bride movie.

''Land of Dreams'' (1988) by Randy Newman. The album includes the single "It's Money that Matters", which unabashedly revisits the Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing".

''The Sailor's Revenge'' (2011) by Bap Kennedy. As of October 2011, the album is still unreleased.

Additional albums

The following additional albums contain guitar performances or guest appearances by Mark Knopfler.

''The Booze Brothers'' by Brewers Droop (1973)

''Slow Train Coming'' by Bob Dylan (1979)

''Sandy McLelland & the Backline'' by Sandy McLelland (1979)

''Gaucho'' by Steely Dan (1980)

''Solo in Soho'' by Phil Lynott (1980)

''The Philip Lynott Album'' by Phil Lynott (1982)

''Beautiful Vision'' by Van Morrison (1982)

''Release'' by David Knopfler (1983)

''Phil Everly'' by Phil Everly (1983)

''Love Over and Over'' by Kate and Anna McGarrigle (1983)

''Climate of Hunter'' by Scott Walker (1984)

''Never Told a Soul'' by John Illsley (1984)

''The Rock Connection'' by Cliff Richard (1984)

''Boys and Girls'' by Bryan Ferry (1985)

''Stay Tuned'' BY Chet Atkins (1985)

''Break Every Rule'' by Tina Turner (1986)

''...Nothing Like the Sun'' by Sting (1987)

''Primitive Dance'' by Paul Brady (1987)

''Sails'' by Chet Atkins (1987)

''Soldier of Fortune'' by Thin Lizzy (1987)

''C.G.P.'' by Chet Atkins (1988)

''Down in the Groove'' by Bob Dylan (1988)

''Glass'' by John Illsley (1988)

''Shouting Stage'' by Joan Armatrading (1988)

''Foreign Affair'' by Tina Turner (1989)

''River of Time'' by The Judds (1989)

''Brendan Croker & the Five O'Clock Shadows'' by Brendan Croker (1989)

''Hell to Pay'' by Jeff Healey (1990)

''Knebworth: The Album'' by Various Artists (1990)

''Damn Right, I've Got the Blues'' by Buddy Guy (1991)

''The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991'' by Bob Dylan (1991)

''Honky Tonk Demos'' by Various Artists (1991)

''Country Rockers'' by Various Artists (1992)

''Dulcimer Sessions'' by David Schnaufer (1992)

''Ain't I a Woman'' by Rory Block (1992)

''Cookin' with the Blues'' by Various Artists (1992)

''Citizen Steely Dan'' by Steely Dan (1993)

''Heartbeat'' by Hank Marvin (1993)

''Southwestern Cookin'' by Various Artists (1994)

''Flyer'' by Nanci Griffith (1994)

''Bradley Barn Sessions'' by George Jones (1994)

''Read My Licks'' by Chet Atkins (1994)

''Greatest Hits, Vol. 2'' by Weird Al Yankovic (1994)

''Adios Amigo: A Tribute to Arthur Alexander'' by Various Artists (1994)

''Long Black Veil'' by The Chieftains (1995)

''Confessin' the Blues'' by Various Artists (1995)

''The Way I Should'' by Iris DeMent (1996)

''Paradise'' by John Anderson (1996)

''Twang!: A Tribute to Hank Marvin & the Shadows'' by Various Artists (1996)

''Not Fade Away (Remembering Buddy Holly)'' by Various Artists (1996)

''Pickin' the Hits'' by Chet Atkins (1997)

''Nothin' but the Taillights'' by Clint Black (1997)

''Blues Legends'' by Various Artists (1997)

''Closing In on the Fire'' by Waylon Jennings (1998)

''Guilty: 30 Years of Randy Newman'' by Randy Newman (1998)

''Man to Woman: Men of Note Sing for a Cause'' by Various Artists (1998)

''Celtic Christmas, Vol. 4'' by Various Artists (1998)

''Tribute to Tradition'' by Various Artists (1998)

''Austin Sessions'' by Kris Kristofferson (1999)

''Another World'' by Gerry Rafferty (2000)

''Showbiz Kids: The Steely Dan Story 1972-1980'' by Steely Dan (2000)

''Prince's Trust 10th Anniversary Birthday Party'' by Various Artists (2000)

''Guitar Heroes'' by Various Artists (2001)

''Singles Collection'' by Hank Marvin (2001)

''Timeless: Hank Williams Tribute'' by Various Artists (2001)

''Good Rockin' Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records'' by Various Artists (2001)

''Buried Treasures, Vol. 3'' by Lindisfarne (2001)

''Human'' by Rod Stewart (2001)

''Small World Big Band'' by Jools Holland (2001)

''Seminole Wind'' by John Anderson (1992)

''Chet Picks on the Grammys'' by Chet Atkins (2002)

''Jools Holland's Big Band Rhythm & Blues'' by Jools Holland (2002)

''RCA Country Legends'' by John Anderson (2002)

''Vagabonds, Kings, Warriors, Angels'' by Thin Lizzy (2002)

''Parallel Tracks'' by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (2003)

''Double Shot Rocks'' by Alan Merrill (2003)

''Deja Vu (All Over Again)'' by John Fogerty (2004)

''Is It Rolling Bob? A Reggae Tribute to Bob Dylan'' (2004)

''Very Best of Celtic Christmas'' by Various Artists (2004)

''Guitar Ballads: Over 2 Hours of Relaxing Classics'' by Hank Marvin (2004)

''B. B. King & Friends: 80'' by B.B. King (2005, guest appearance)

''Is It Rolling Bob? Dub Versions'' by Various Artists (2005)

''Just for a Thrill'' by Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings (2005)

''36 Classic Guitar Favourites'' by Hank Marvin (2005)

''Sea Fever'' by William Topley (2005)

''Prairie Home Companion Duets'' by Various Artists (2006)

''East to West'' by Paul Burch (2006)

''Take the Weather with You'' by Jimmy Buffett (2006)

''Uncovered'' by Tony Joe White (2006)

''Timeless'' by Various Artists (2007)

''After Midnight Live'' by Eric Clapton (2007)

''Songbird: Rare Tracks and Forgotten Gems'' by Emmylou Harris (2007)

''...Earth to the Dandy Warhols...'' by The Dandy Warhols (2008, dobro)

''Burning Your Playhouse Down: The Unreleased Duets'' by George Jones (2008)

''From the Reach'' by Sonny Landreth (2008, guest appearance)

''Legacy, Vol. 1'' by Jeff Healey (2009, guest appearance)

''Life Goes On'' by Gerry Rafferty (2009)

''Greatest and Latest: Just a Thrill and Live'' by Bill Wyman (2009)

''The Secret Policeman's Balls'' by Various Artists (2009)

''Live At Knebworth'' by Various Artists (2010)

''Streets of Heaven'' by John Illsley (2010)

''Just Across the River'' by Jimmy Webb (2010, guest appearance)

''Mercury'' by Pieta Brown (2011)

''Gathering'' by Diane Schuur (2011)

''Freak Flag'' by Greg Brown (2011)

''Back Pages'' by America (2011)

''A Map Of The Floating City'' by Thomas Dolby (2011, guest appearance)

References

External links

Official website

Webradio PrivateInvestigations dedicated to Dire Straits&Mark; Knopfler

Mark Knopfler Boom Like That

the long road – Mark Knopfler Sessions

Mark Knopfler News

Mark Knopfler "Old News"

Category:1949 births Category:Alumni of the University of Leeds Category:British guitarists Category:English rock guitarists Category:English Jews Category:British Jews Category:British male singers Category:English rock singers Category:British singer-songwriters Category:Dire Straits members Category:Fingerstyle guitarists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Lead guitarists Category:Living people Category:People from Newcastle upon Tyne Category:Resonator guitarists Category:Brit Award winners Category:People educated at Gosforth Academy

bn:মার্ক নফ্‌লার bg:Марк Нопфлър ca:Mark Knopfler cs:Mark Knopfler da:Mark Knopfler de:Mark Knopfler es:Mark Knopfler eu:Mark Knopfler fa:مارک نافلر fr:Mark Knopfler gl:Mark Knopfler hr:Mark Knopfler io:Mark Knopfler it:Mark Knopfler he:מארק נופלר ka:მარკ ნოპფლერი hu:Mark Knopfler mk:Марк Нопфлер nl:Mark Knopfler ja:マーク・ノップラー no:Mark Knopfler nn:Mark Knopfler oc:Mark Knopfler pl:Mark Knopfler pt:Mark Knopfler ro:Mark Knopfler ru:Нопфлер, Марк simple:Mark Knopfler sk:Mark Knopfler sl:Mark Knopfler fi:Mark Knopfler sv:Mark Knopfler th:มาร์ก นอฟเลอร์ tr:Mark Knopfler uk:Марк Нопфлер zh:马克·诺弗勒

Coordinates	19°25′14″N99°10′54″N
alt	A mid-twenties African American man wearing a sequined military jacket and dark sunglasses. He is walking while waving his right hand, which is adorned with a white glove. His left hand is bare.
background	solo_singer
birth name	Michael Joseph Jackson
alias	Michael Joe Jackson, MJ, King of Pop
birth date	August 29, 1958
birth place	Gary, Indiana, U.S.
death date	June 25, 2009
death place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
instrument	vocals, guitar, drums, percussion, keyboards
genre	R&B;, pop, rock, soul, dance, funk, disco, new jack swing
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, composer, dancer, choreographer, record producer, actor, businessman, philanthropist
years active	1964–2009
label	Motown, Epic, Legacy
associated acts	The Jackson 5
relatives	Janet Jackson (sister)
website	130pxMichael Jackson's signature }}

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Often referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5, then the Jacksons in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.

In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style have influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, contemporary R&B;, pop and rock artists.

Jackson's 1982 album ''Thriller'' is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including ''Off the Wall'' (1979), ''Bad'' (1987), ''Dangerous'' (1991), and ''HIStory'' (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. Some of his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music Awards (more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century"); 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era); and the estimated sale of over 750 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which have made him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of popular music.

Life and career

Early life and The Jackson 5 (1958–1975)

Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, the eighth of ten children in an African American working-class family who lived in a small 3-room house in Gary, Indiana, an industrial city near Chicago. His mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, was a devout Jehovah's Witness, and his father, Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson, was a steel mill worker who performed with an R&B; band called The Falcons. Jackson had three sisters: Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet, and five brothers: Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Randy. A sixth brother, Brandon, died shortly after birth.

Jackson had a troubled relationship with his father, Joe. In 1980, Jackson won three awards at the American Music Awards for his solo efforts: Favorite Soul/R&B; Album, Favorite Soul/R&B; Male Artist, and Favorite Soul/R&B; Single for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". That year, he also won Billboard Year-End for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B; Vocal Performance, also for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". Jackson again won at the American Music Awards in 1981 for Favorite Soul/R&B; Album and Favorite Soul/R&B; Male Artist. Despite its commercial success, Jackson felt ''Off the Wall'' should have made a much bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his next release. In 1980, he secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit.

''Thriller'' and ''Motown 25'' (1982–83)

In 1982, Jackson contributed the song "Someone In the Dark" to the storybook for the film ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial''; the record won a Grammy for Best Recording for Children in 1984. In the same year he won another seven Grammys and eight American Music Awards (including the Award of Merit, the youngest artist to win it), making him the most awarded in one night for both award shows. The album topped the ''Billboard'' 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to have seven ''Billboard'' Hot 100 top 10 singles, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It," and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." ''Thriller'' was certified for 29 million shipments by the RIAA, giving it Double Diamond status in the United States. The album won also another Grammy for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical in 1984, awarding Bruce Swedien for his work. Thanks to the ''Bad'' album, Bruce Swedien and Humberto Gatica won one Grammy in 1988 for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical and Michael Jackson won one Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form for "Leave Me Alone" in 1989. ''HIStory'' received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. However, the sales for ''Invincible'' were lower than those of his previous releases, due in part to a lack of promotion, no supporting world tour and the label dispute. The album also came out at a bad time for the music industry in general. Jackson rehearsed in Los Angeles in the weeks leading up to the tour under the direction of choreographer Kenny Ortega. Most of these rehearsals took place at the Staples Center, which was owned by AEG. With ''Thriller'', Christopher Connelly of ''Rolling Stone'' commented that Jackson developed his long association with the subliminal theme of paranoia and darker imagery. Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted this is evident on the songs "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". In "Billie Jean", Jackson sings about an obsessive fan who alleges he has fathered a child of hers. In "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" he argues against gossip and the media. "Beat It" decried gang violence in an homage to ''West Side Story'', and was Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece, according to Huey. He also observed that the title track "Thriller" began Jackson's interest with the theme of the supernatural, a topic he revisited in subsequent years. In 1985, Jackson co-wrote the charity anthem "We Are the World"; humanitarian themes later became a recurring theme in his lyrics and public persona.

In ''Bad'', Jackson's concept of the predatory lover can be seen on the rock song "Dirty Diana". The lead single "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" is a traditional love ballad, while "Man in the Mirror" is an anthemic ballad of confession and resolution. "Smooth Criminal" was an evocation of bloody assault, rape and likely murder. Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine states that ''Dangerous'' presents Jackson as a very paradoxical individual. He comments the album is more diverse than his previous ''Bad'', as it appeals to an urban audience while also attracting the middle class with anthems like "Heal the World". The first half of the record is dedicated to new jack swing, including songs like "Jam" and "Remember the Time". The album is Jackson's first where social ills become a primary theme; "Why You Wanna Trip on Me", for example, protests against world hunger, AIDS, homelessness and drugs. ''Dangerous'' contains sexually charged efforts such as the multifaceted love song, "In the Closet". The title track continues the theme of the predatory lover and compulsive desire. The second half includes introspective, pop-gospel anthems such as "Will You Be There", "Heal the World" and "Keep the Faith"; these songs show Jackson opening up about various personal struggles and worries. In the ballad "Gone Too Soon", Jackson gives tribute to his friend Ryan White and the plight of those with AIDS.

''HIStory'' creates an atmosphere of paranoia. Its content focuses on the hardships and public struggles Jackson went through just prior to its production. In the new jack swing-funk-rock efforts "Scream" and "Tabloid Junkie", along with the R&B; ballad "You Are Not Alone", Jackson retaliates against the injustice and isolation he feels, and directs much of his anger at the media. In the introspective ballad "Stranger in Moscow", Jackson laments over his "fall from grace", while songs like "Earth Song", "Childhood", "Little Susie" and "Smile" are all operatic pop pieces. In the track "D.S.", Jackson launched a verbal attack against Tom Sneddon. He describes Sneddon as an antisocial, white supremacist who wanted to "get my ass, dead or alive". Of the song, Sneddon said, "I have not—shall we say—done him the honor of listening to it, but I've been told that it ends with the sound of a gunshot". ''Invincible'' found Jackson working heavily with producer Rodney Jerkins. It is a record made up of urban soul like "Cry" and "The Lost Children", ballads such as "Speechless", "Break of Dawn" and "Butterflies" and mixes hip-hop, pop and R&B; in "2000 Watts", "Heartbreaker" and "Invincible".

Vocal style

Jackson sang from childhood, and over time his voice and vocal style changed noticeably. Between 1971 and 1975, Jackson's voice descended from boy soprano to high tenor. Jackson first used a technique called the "vocal hiccup" in 1973, starting with the song "It's Too Late to Change the Time" from The Jackson 5's ''G.I.T.: Get It Together'' album. Jackson did not use the hiccup technique— somewhat like a gulping for air or gasping— fully until the recording of ''Off the Wall'': it can be seen in full force in the "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" promotional video. With the arrival of ''Off the Wall'' in the late 1970s, Jackson's abilities as a vocalist were well regarded. At the time, ''Rolling Stone'' compared his vocals to the "breathless, dreamy stutter" of Stevie Wonder. Their analysis was also that "Jackson's feathery-timbred tenor is extraordinarily beautiful. It slides smoothly into a startling falsetto that's used very daringly". 1982 saw the release of ''Thriller'', and ''Rolling Stone'' was of the opinion that Jackson was then singing in a "fully adult voice" that was "tinged by sadness".

A distinctive deliberate mispronunciation of "come on", used frequently by Jackson, occasionally spelled "cha'mone" or "shamone", is also a staple in impressions and caricatures of him. The turn of the 1990s saw the release of the introspective album ''Dangerous''. ''The New York Times'' noted that on some tracks, "he gulps for breath, his voice quivers with anxiety or drops to a desperate whisper, hissing through clenched teeth" and he had a "wretched tone". When singing of brotherhood or self-esteem the musician would return to "smooth" vocals. When commenting on ''Invincible'', ''Rolling Stone'' were of the opinion that—at the age of 43—Jackson still performed "exquisitely voiced rhythm tracks and vibrating vocal harmonies". Nelson George summed up Jackson's vocals by stating "The grace, the aggression, the growling, the natural boyishness, the falsetto, the smoothness—that combination of elements mark him as a major vocalist".

Music videos and choreography

Referred to as the King of Music Videos, Steve Huey of Allmusic observed how Jackson transformed the music video into an art form and a promotional tool through complex story lines, dance routines, special effects and famous cameo appearances; simultaneously breaking down racial barriers. Before ''Thriller'', Jackson struggled to receive coverage on MTV, allegedly because he was African American. Pressure from CBS Records persuaded MTV to start showing "Billie Jean" and later "Beat It", leading to a lengthy partnership with Jackson, also helping other black music artists gain recognition. MTV employees deny any racism in their coverage, or pressure to change their stance. MTV maintains that they played rock music, regardless of race. The popularity of his videos on MTV helped to put the relatively young channel "on the map"; MTV's focus shifted in favor of pop and R&B.; His performance on ''Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever'' changed the scope of live stage show; "That Jackson lip-synced 'Billie Jean' is, in itself, not extraordinary, but the fact that it did not change the impact of the performance is extraordinary; whether the performance was live or lip-synced made no difference to the audience" thus creating an era in which artists re-create the spectacle of music video imagery on stage. Short films like ''Thriller'' largely remained unique to Jackson, while the group dance sequence in "Beat It" has frequently been imitated. The choreography in ''Thriller'' has become a part of global pop culture, replicated everywhere from Indian films to prisons in the Philippines. The ''Thriller'' short film marked an increase in scale for music videos, and has been named the most successful music video ever by the ''Guinness World Records''.

In the 19-minute music video for "Bad"—directed by Martin Scorsese—Jackson began using sexual imagery and choreography not previously seen in his work. He occasionally grabbed or touched his chest, torso and crotch. When asked by Oprah in the 1993 interview about why he grabbed his crotch, he replied, "I think it happens subliminally" and he described it as something that was not planned, but rather, as something that was compelled by the music. "Bad" garnered a mixed reception from both fans and critics; ''Time'' magazine described it as "infamous". The video also featured Wesley Snipes; in the future Jackson's videos would often feature famous cameo roles.

}} ;Bibliography

George, Nelson (2004). ''Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection'' booklet. Sony BMG.

Further reading

External links

Michael Jackson Live: Best Pics – slideshow by ''Life magazine''

Michael Jackson at MTV

FBI file on Michael Jackson

Category:1958 births Category:2009 deaths Category:African American dancers Category:African American male singers Category:African American record producers Category:African American singer-songwriters Category:American beatboxers Category:American businesspeople Category:American child singers Category:American choreographers Category:American dance musicians Category:American dancers Category:American disco musicians Category:American male singers Category:American boogie musicians Category:American pop singers Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American rock singers Category:American soul singers Category:American tenors Category:American vegetarians Category:Boy sopranos Category:Brit Award winners Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Category:Drug-related deaths in California Category:English-language singers Category:Epic Records artists Category:Expatriates in Bahrain Category:Former Jehovah's Witnesses Category:Grammy Award winners Michael Jackson Category:Manslaughter victims Category:Motown artists Category:Musicians from Indiana Category:People acquitted of sex crimes Category:People from Gary, Indiana Category:People from Santa Barbara County, California Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Songwriters from Indiana Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Michael Jackson Category:World Music Awards winners Category:People charged with child sexual abuse Category:Grammy Legend Award

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