Coordinates	51°30′09″N0°07′39.7″N
company name	BP p.l.c.
company logo
company type	Public limited company
traded as
company slogan	Beyond petroleum
foundation	1909 (as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company)1954 (as the British Petroleum Company)1998 (merger of British Petroleum and Amoco)
location	London, United Kingdom
area served	Worldwide
key people	Carl-Henric Svanberg (Chairman)Bob Dudley (CEO) Byron Grote (CFO)
industry	Oil and natural gas, alternative fuels
products	BP petroleum and derived productsBP service stationsAir BP Aviation Fuels Castrol motor oilARCO gas stationsam/pm convenience storesAral service stations solar panels
revenue	US$308.9 billion (2010)
operating income	US$-3.7 billion (2010)
net income	US$-3.3 billion (2010)
assets	US$272.2 billion (2010)
equity	US$94.98 billion (2010)
num employees	79,700 (2010)
homepage	www.BP.com }}

BP p.l.c. (, ) is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". It is vertically-integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading. It also has major renewable energy activities, including in biofuels, hydrogen, solar and wind power.

BP has operations in over 80 countries, produces around 3.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day and has 22,400 service stations worldwide. Its largest division is BP America, which is the biggest producer of oil and gas in the United States and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. As at 31 December 2010 BP had total proven commercial reserves of 18.07 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The name "BP" derives from the initials of one of the company's former legal names, British Petroleum.

BP's track record of corporate social responsibility has been mixed. The company has been involved in a number of major environmental and safety incidents and received criticism for its political influence. However, in 1997 it became the first major oil company to publicly acknowledge the need to take steps against climate change, and in that year established a company-wide target to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases. BP currently invests over $1 billion per year in the development of renewable energy sources, and has committed to spend $8 billion on renewables in the 2005 to 2015 period.

BP's primary listing is on the London Stock Exchange and it is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It has a secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

History

Activity in 1909–1979

In May 1901, William Knox D'Arcy was granted a concession by the Shah of Iran to search for oil, which he discovered in May 1908. This was the first commercially significant find in the Middle East. On 14 April 1909, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) was incorporated as a subsidiary of Burmah Oil Company to exploit this. In 1923, it employed future Prime Minister, Winston Churchill as a paid consultant, to lobby the British government to allow Burmah to have exclusive rights to Persian (Iraqi) oil resources, which were successfully granted. In 1935, it became the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC).

Following World War II, AIOC and the Iranian government initially resisted nationalist pressure to revise AIOC's concession terms still further in Iran's favour. But in March 1951, the pro-western Prime Minister Ali Razmara was assassinated. The Majlis of Iran (parliament) elected a nationalist, Mohammed Mossadeq, as prime minister. In April, the Majlis nationalised the oil industry by unanimous vote. The National Iranian Oil Company was formed as a result, displacing the AIOC. The AIOC withdrew its management from Iran, and organised an effective boycott of Iranian oil. The British government – which owned the AIOC – contested the nationalisation at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, but its complaint was dismissed.

By spring of 1953, incoming US President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorised the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to organise a coup against the Mossadeq government with support from the British government. On 19 August 1953, Mossadeq was forced from office by the CIA conspiracy, involving the Shah and the Iranian military, and known by its codename, Operation Ajax.

Mossadeq was replaced by pro-Western general Fazlollah Zahedi and the Shah, who returned to Iran after having left the country briefly to await the outcome of the coup. The Shah abolished the democratic Constitution and assumed autocratic powers.

After the coup, Mossadeq's National Iranian Oil Company became an international consortium, and AIOC resumed operations in Iran as a member of it. The consortium agreed to share profits on a 50–50 basis with Iran, "but not to open its books to Iranian auditors or to allow Iranians onto its board of directors." AIOC, as a part of the Anglo-American coup d'état deal, was not allowed to monopolise Iranian oil as before. It was limited to a 40% share in a new international consortium. For the rest, 40% went to the five major American companies and 20% went to Royal Dutch Shell and Compagnie Française des Pétroles, now Total S.A..

The AIOC became the British Petroleum Company in 1954. In 1959, the company expanded beyond the Middle East to Alaska and in 1965 it was the first company to strike oil in the North Sea. In 1978 the company acquired a controlling interest in Standard Oil of Ohio or Sohio, a breakoff of the former Standard Oil that had been broken up after anti-trust litigation.

It continued to operate in Iran until the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The new regime of Ayatollah Khomeini confiscated all of the company’s assets in Iran without compensation, bringing to an end its 70-year presence in Iran.

1980s and 1990s

Sir Peter Walters was the company chairman from 1981 to 1990. This was the era of the Thatcher government's privatisation strategy. The British government sold its entire holding in the company in several tranches between 1979 and 1987. The sale process was marked by an attempt by the Kuwait Investment Authority, the investment arm of the Kuwait government, to acquire control of the company. This was ultimately blocked by the strong opposition of the British government. In 1987, British Petroleum negotiated the acquisition of Britoil and the remaining publicly traded shares of Standard Oil of Ohio.

Walters was replaced by Robert Horton in 1989. Horton carried out a major corporate down-sizing exercise removing various tiers of management at the Head Office.

Standard Oil of California and Gulf Oil merged in 1984, the largest merger in history at that time. Under the anti-trust regulation, SoCal divested many of Gulf's operating subsidiaries, and sold some Gulf stations and a refinery in the eastern United States.

John Browne, who had been on the board as managing director since 1991, was appointed group chief executive in 1995. Browne was responsible for three major acquisitions; Amoco, ARCO and Burmah-Castrol (see below).

21st century

British Petroleum merged with Amoco (formerly Standard Oil of Indiana) in December 1998, becoming BP Amoco plc. In 2000, BP Amoco acquired Arco (Atlantic Richfield Co.) and Burmah Castrol plc. As part of the merger's brand awareness, the company helped the Tate Modern British Art launch ''RePresenting Britain 1500–2000'' In 2001, the company formally renamed itself as BP plc and adopted the tagline "Beyond Petroleum," which remains in use today. It states that BP was never meant to be an abbreviation of its tagline. Most Amoco stations in the United States were converted to BP's brand and corporate identity. In many states BP continued to sell Amoco branded petrol even in service stations with the BP identity as Amoco was rated the best petroleum brand by consumers for 16 consecutive years and also enjoyed one of the three highest brand loyalty reputations for petrol in the US, comparable only to Chevron and Shell. In May 2008, when the Amoco name was mostly phased out in favour of "BP Gasoline with Invigorate", promoting BP's new additive, the highest grade of BP petrol available in the United States was still called Amoco Ultimate.

In April 2004, BP decided to move most of its petrochemical businesses into a separate entity called Innovene within the BP Group. BP sought to sell the new company possibly via an initial public offering (IPO) in the US, and filed IPO plans for Innovene with the New York Stock Exchange on 12 September 2005. On 7 October 2005 BP announced that it had agreed to sell Innovene to INEOS, a privately held UK chemical company for $9 billion, thereby scrapping its plans for the IPO. In 2005, BP announced that it would be leaving the Colorado market. Many locations were re-branded as Conoco. In 2006, when Chevron Corporation gave exclusive rights to the Texaco brand name in the US Texaco sold most of the BP gas stations in the southeast. BP has recently looked to grow its oil exploration activities in frontier areas such as the former Soviet Union for its future reserves. In Russia, BP owns 50% of TNK-BP with the other half owned by three Russian billionaires. TNK-BP accounts for a fifth of BP's global reserves, a quarter of BP's production, and nearly a tenth of its global profits.

In 2007, BP sold its corporate-owned convenience stores, typically known as "BP Connect", to local franchisees and jobbers.

On 12 January 2007, it was announced that Lord Browne would retire as chief executive at the end of July 2007. The new Chief Executive, Tony Hayward, had been head of exploration and production. It had been expected that Lord Browne would retire in February 2008 when he reached the age of 60, the standard retirement age at BP. Browne resigned abruptly from BP on 1 May 2007, following the lifting of a legal injunction preventing Associated Newspapers from publishing details about his private life. Hayward succeeded Browne with immediate effect.

On 1 October 2010, Bob Dudley replaced Tony Hayward as the company's CEO.

On 15 January 2011, Rosneft and BP announced a deal to jointly develop East-Prinovozemelsky field on the Russian arctic shelf. As part of the deal, Rosneft will receive 5% of BP's shares (worth approximately $7.8 billion, as of January 2011) and BP will get approximately 9.5% of Rosneft's shares in exchange. According to the deal, the two companies will also create an Arctic technology centre in Russia to develop technologies and engineering practices for safe arctic hydrocarbons extraction.

In February 2011, BP formed a partnership with Reliance Industries, taking a 30 percent stake in a new Indian joint-venture for an initial payment of $7.2 billion.

Corporate affairs

Governance

The Board Members are:

Carl-Henric Svanberg – Chairman

Byron Grote – Chief Financial Officer

Andy Inglis – Chief executive, Exploration and Production

Antony Burgmans – Non-executive director, board of Mauritshuis, AEGON, Unilever

Cynthia Carroll – Non-executive director, CEO of Anglo American, also board of De Beers

Sir William Castell – Non-executive director chairman of The Prince’s Trust

Paul Anderson – Non-executive director

Robert Dudley – CEO (as of 1 October 2010)

Iain Conn

George David vice-chairman of the Peterson Institute for International Economics

Ian Davis – Non-executive director

Douglas Flint, CBE director HSBC

Dr DeAnne Julius, director of Chatham House

David Jackson, company secretary

Financial data

+ Financial data in millions of US$	! Year	! 2002	! 2003	! 2004	! 2005	! 2006	! 2007	! 2008	! 2009
Sales	180,186	236,045	294,849	249,465	265,906	284,365	361,341	239,272
EBITDA	22,941	28,200	37,825	41,453	44,835
Net results	6,845	10,267	15,961	22,341	22,000	20,845	21,157	16,578
Net debt	20,273	20,193	21,607	16,202	16,202

::::::''Source :OpesC

Company name

Until 31 December 1998 the company was formally registered as the British Petroleum Company plc. Following a merger with Amoco the company adopted the name BP Amoco plc in January 1999, which was retained until May 2001 when the company was renamed BP p.l.c. In the first quarter of 2001 the company adopted the marketing name of BP, replaced its “Green Shield” logo with the Helios symbol, a green and yellow sunflower pattern, and introduced a new corporate slogan – “Beyond Petroleum”. The transition to the name and logo was managed by the advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather and the PR consultants, Ogilvy PR. The Helios logo (Helios is the name of the Greek sun god), is designed to represent energy in its many forms. BP's tagline, "Beyond Petroleum", according to the company represents their focus on meeting the growing demand for fossil fuels, manufacturing and delivering more advanced products, and enabling the material transition to a lower carbon future.

In July 2006, critics pointed to the relative lack of press coverage about a spill of 270,000 gallons of crude oil that spread into the Alaskan tundra, noting this as evidence that BP had successfully greenwashed its image, while maintaining environmentally unsound practices. BP also put plans on hold to market a fuel that is 85% Ethanol and 15% Butanol (E85B), so existing internal combustion engines could run on a 100% renewable fuel. The lack of follow-through was cited as another example of BP's greenwashing. (Butanol can be used in internal combustion engines, but BP has no infrastructure to produce Butanol from biomass sources).

In 2008, BP was awarded a satirical prize, the "Emerald Paintbrush" award, from Greenpeace UK. The "Emerald Paintbrush" award was given to BP in order to highlight its alleged greenwashing campaign. Critics point out that while BP advertises its activities in alternative energy sources, the majority of its capital investments continue to go into fossil fuels. BP was also one nominee for the 2009 Greenwash Awards.

By the end of July 2010, independent BP station owners reported sales down 10 to 40 percent in the quarter after the Gulf oil spill and, while some hoped BP would return to the Amoco brand once used by many of the stations, others considered that would be a gamble because BP put so much effort into the brand.

Operations

Exploration and Production

BP's Exploration and Production division is responsible for the discovery, production and transportation of oil and gas to market. It operates in around 30 countries and employs more than 20,000 people.

Refining and Marketing

BP's Refining and Marketing division is responsible for the supply and trading, refining, marketing and transportation of oil, gas and petroleum products.

Air BP

Air BP is the aviation division of BP, providing aviation fuel, lubricants & services. It has operations in over 50 countries worldwide.

BP Shipping

BP Shipping provides the logistics to move BP's oil and gas cargoes to market, as well as marine structural assurance on everything that floats in the BP group. It manages a large fleet of vessels most of which are held on long-term operating leases. BP Shipping's chartering teams based in London, Singapore, and Chicago also charter third party vessels on both time charter and voyage charter basis.

The BP-managed fleet consists of Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), one North Sea shuttle tanker, medium size crude and product carriers, liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers, and coasters. All of these ships are double-hulled.

Castrol

Castrol is a brand of industrial and automotive lubricants which is applied to a large range of BP oils, greases and similar products for most lubrication applications.

Service stations

ampm

ampm is a convenience store chain with branches located in several US states including Arizona, California, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Washington, recently in Illinois, Indiana, Georgia and Florida, and in several countries worldwide such as Japan. In the western US, the stores are usually attached to an ARCO gas station; elsewhere, the stores are attached to BP gas stations. BP Connect stations in the US are transitioning to the ampm brand.

Aral

In Germany and Luxembourg, BP operates its petrol retail chain under the name Aral after acquiring the majority of Veba Öl AG in 2001 and rebranding almost all of its BP filling stations to Aral.

ARCO

ARCO is BP's retail brand on the US West Coast in the seven Western states of California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, and Utah. BP acquired ARCO (formerly the Atlantic Richfield Company) in 2000. ARCO is a popular "cash only" retailer, selling products refined from Alaska North Slope crude at the Cherry Point Refinery in Washington, a plant in Los Angeles, and at other contract locations on the West Coast.

BP Connect

BP Connect is BP's flagship retail brand name with BP Connect Service stations being operated around the UK, Europe, USA, Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the world. BP Connect sites feature the Wild Bean Cafe, which offers cafe-style coffee made by the staff and a selection of hot food as well as freshly baked muffins and sandwiches. The food offered in Wild Bean Cafe varies from each site. BP Connect sites usually offer table and chair seating and often an Internet kiosk. In the US, the BP Connect concept is gradually being transitioned to the ampm brand and concept. Some BP Connect sites around the UK ran in partnership with Marks & Spencer with the on-site shop being an M&S; Simply Food instead of a BP Shop.

BP Express

In the Netherlands, BP is opening unmanned stations with no shops or employees. These stations are called BP Express. Some of these stations used to be 'ordinary' BP stations and others are new to the BP network. Apart from these stations, BP Express shopping does also exist in the Netherlands.

BP 2go

BP 2go is a franchise brand used for independently operated sites in New Zealand and is currently being rolled out throughout Australia (although not all BP 2go stores are franchises in Australia). BP 2go sites mainly operate in towns and outer suburbs in New Zealand. BP 2go offers similar bakery food to BP Connect but in a pre-packaged form. Some BP Express sites around New Zealand and Australia that were considered too small to be upgraded to BP Connect were given the option to change to BP 2go; others were downgraded to BP Shop. Staff at some BP 2go sites wear a different style of uniform to the rest of the BP branded sites; however in company-owned and operated 2go sites in Australia the same uniform is worn across all sites.

BP Travel Centre

BP Travel Centres are large-scale destination sites located in Australia which, on top of offering the same features of a BP Connect site with fuel and a Wild Bean Cafe, also feature major food-retail tenants such as McDonald's, KFC, Nando's and recently Krispy Kreme, with a large seating capacity food court. There are also facilities for long-haul truck drivers, including a lounge, showers and washing machines all in the same building. There are 4 travel centres located in South East Queensland: two on the Pacific Highway (Coomera and Stapylton) and two on the Bruce Highway (Caboolture). A fifth travel centre was opened in 2007 at Chinderah in northern New South Wales.

Corporate social responsibility

Environmental record

BP was named by Mother Jones Magazine, an investigative journal that "exposes the evils of the corporate world, the government, and the mainstream media", as one of the ten worst corporations in both 2001 and 2005 based on its environmental and human rights records. In 1991 BP was cited as the most polluting company in the US based on EPA toxic release data. BP has been charged with burning polluted gases at its Ohio refinery (for which it was fined $1.7 million), and in July 2000 BP paid a $10 million fine to the EPA for its management of its US refineries. According to PIRG research, between January 1997 and March 1998, BP was responsible for 104 oil spills. BP patented the Dracone Barge to aid in oil spill clean-ups across the world.

As of 11 February 2007, BP announced that it would spend $8 billion over ten years to research alternative methods of fuel, including natural gas, hydrogen, solar, and wind. A $500 million grant to the University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, to create an Energy Biosciences Institute has recently come under attack, over concerns about the global impacts of the research and privatisation of public universities.

BP's investment in green technologies peaked at 4% of its exploratory budget, but they have since closed their alternative energy headquarters in London. As such they invest more than other oil companies, but it has been called greenwashing due to the small proportion of the overall budget. BP was a nominee for the 2009 Greenwash Awards for deliberately exaggerating its environmental credentials. According to Greenpeace BP invested in 2008 $20 mrd. in fossil energy and $1.5 mrd. in renewable energy.

In 2004, BP began marketing low-sulphur diesel fuel for industrial use.

Renewable energy

BP Solar is a leading producer of solar panels since its purchase of Lucas Energy Systems in 1980 and Solarex (as part of its acquisition of Amoco) in 2000. BP Solar had a 20% world market share in photovoltaic panels in 2004 when it had a capacity to produce 90 MW/year of panels. It has over 30 years' experience operating in over 160 countries with manufacturing facilities in the US, Spain, India and Australia, and has more than 2000 employees worldwide. BP has closed its US plants in Frederick, Maryland as part of a transition to manufacturing in China. This is due in part to China's upswing in solar use and the protectionist laws that require 85% of the materials to be produced in China. Through a series of acquisitions in the solar power industry BP Solar became the third largest producer of solar panels in the world. It was recently announced that BP has obtained a contract for a pilot project to provide on-site solar power to Wal-Mart stores.

Between 2005 and 2010, BP invested about $5 billion in its renewable energy business, mainly in biofuel and wind power projects. In 2011, BP plans to invest $1 billion in renewables, roughly the same amount it invested last year.

As of 2011, BP is planning to construct a biofuel refinery in the Southeastern US and has also acquired Verenium’s cellulosic biofuels business for $98 million. In Brazil, BP holds a 50 percent stake in Tropical BioEnergia and plans to operate two ethanol refineries. In the US BP has more than 1,200 megawatts (MW) of wind-powered electricity capacity and in July 2010 it began construction of the 250 MW Cedar Creek II Wind Farm in Colorado.

Climate change

BP was a founding sponsor of the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit in 1971, the research unit that was at the center of the Climategate scandal in November 2009.

BP Amoco was a member of the Global Climate Coalition an industry organisation established to promote global warming scepticism but withdrew in 1997, saying "the time to consider the policy dimensions of climate change is not when the link between greenhouse gases and climate change is conclusively proven, but when the possibility cannot be discounted and is taken seriously by the society of which we are part. We in BP have reached that point.".

In March 2002, Lord Browne of Madingley declared in a speech that global warming was real and that urgent action was needed, saying that "Companies composed of highly skilled and trained people can't live in denial of mounting evidence gathered by hundreds of the most reputable scientists in the world."

BP is a sponsor of the Scripps Institution CO₂ program to measure carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

1993–1995: Hazardous substance dumping

In September 1999, one of BP’s US subsidiaries, BP Exploration Alaska (BPXA), agreed to resolve charges related to the illegal dumping of hazardous wastes on the Alaska North Slope, for $22 million. The settlement included the maximum $500,000 criminal fine, $6.5 million in civil penalties, and BP’s establishment of a $15 million environmental management system at all of BP facilities in the US and Gulf of Mexico that are engaged in oil exploration, drilling or production. The charges stemmed from the 1993 to 1995 dumping of hazardous wastes on Endicott Island, Alaska by BP’s contractor Doyon Drilling. The firm illegally discharged waste oil, paint thinner and other toxic and hazardous substances by injecting them down the outer rim, or annuli, of the oil wells. BPXA failed to report the illegal injections when it learned of the conduct, in violation of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act.

2006–2007: Prudhoe Bay

In August 2006, BP shut down oil operations in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, due to corrosion in pipelines leading up to the Alaska Pipeline. The wells were leaking insulating agent called Arctic pack, consisting of crude oil and diesel fuel, between the wells and ice. BP had spilled over one million litres of oil in Alaska's North Slope. This corrosion is caused by sediment collecting in the bottom of the pipe, protecting corrosive bacteria from chemicals sent through the pipeline to fight these bacteria. There are estimates that about of oil were released from the pipeline. To date of liquids, about of soiled snow and of soiled gravel have been recovered. After approval from the DOT, only the eastern portion of the field was shut down, resulting in a reduction of until work began to bring the eastern field to full production on 2 October 2006.

In May 2007, the company announced another partial field shutdown owing to leaks of water at a separation plant. Their action was interpreted as another example of fallout from a decision to cut maintenance of the pipeline and associated facilities.

On 16 October 2007, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation officials reported a toxic spill of methanol (methyl alcohol) at the Prudhoe Bay oil field managed by BP PLC. Nearly 2,000 gallons of mostly methanol, mixed with some crude oil and water, spilled onto a frozen tundra pond as well as a gravel pad from a pipeline. Methanol, which is poisonous to plants and animals, is used to clear ice from the insides of the Arctic-based pipelines.

2010: Texas City chemical leak

Two weeks prior to the Deepwater Horizon explosion, BP admitted that malfunctioning equipment lead to the release of over 530,000 lbs of chemicals into the air of Texas City and surrounding areas from 6 April to 16 May. The leak included 17,000 pounds of benzene (a known carcinogen), 37,000 pounds of nitrogen oxides (which contribute to respiratory problems), and 186,000 pounds of carbon monoxide.

2010: Deepwater Horizon oil spill

On 20 April 2010, the semi-submersible exploratory offshore drilling rig ''Deepwater Horizon'' exploded after a blowout; it sank two days later, killing 11 people. This blowout in the Macondo Prospect field in the Gulf of Mexico resulted in a partially capped oil well one mile below the surface of the water. Experts estimate the gusher to be flowing at of oil. The exact flow rate is uncertain due to the difficulty of installing measurement devices at that depth and is a matter of ongoing debate. The resulting oil slick covers at least , fluctuating from day to day depending on weather conditions. It threatens the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, and Florida.

The drilling rig was owned and operated by Transocean Ltd on behalf of BP, which is the majority owner of the Macondo oil field. At the time of the explosion, there were 126 crew on board; seven were employees of BP and 79 of Transocean. There were also employees of various other companies involved in the drilling operation, including Anadarko, Halliburton and M-I Swaco.

The US Government has named BP the responsible party, and officials have committed to hold the company accountable for all clean-up costs and other damage. BP has stated that it would harness all of its resources to battle the oil spill, spending $7 million a day with its partners to try to contain the disaster. In comparison, BP's 1st quarter profits for 2010 were approximately $61 million per day. BP has agreed to create a $20 billion spill response fund administered by Kenneth Feinberg. The amount of this fund is not a cap or a floor on BP's liabilities. BP will pay $3 billion in third quarter of 2010 and $2 billion in fourth quarter into the fund followed by a payment of $1.25 billion per quarter until it reaches $20 billion. In the interim, BP posts its US assets worth $20 billion as bond. For the fund's payments, BP will cut its capital spending budget, sell $10 billion in assets, and drop its dividend. BP has also been targeted in litigation over the claims process it put in place for victims. A class action lawsuit was filed against BP and its initial claims administrator, the ACE, Ltd. Insurance Group company ESIS.

BP began testing the tighter-fitted cap designed to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico from a broken well for the first time in almost three months. The test began Wednesday, 14 July with BP shutting off pipes that were funnelling some of the oil to ships on the surface, so the full force of the gusher went up into the cap. Then deep-sea robots began slowly closing – one at a time – three openings in the cap that let oil pass through. Ultimately, the flow of crude was stopped. All along, engineers were and still are watching pressure readings to learn whether the well is intact. Former coast guard admiral Thad Allen, the Obama administration's point man on the disaster, said the government gave the testing go-ahead after carefully reviewing the risks. "What we didn't want to do is compound that problem by making an irreversible mistake," he said.

Stock decline and takeover speculations

Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, BP's stock fell by 52% in 50 days on the New York Stock Exchange, going from $60.57 on 20 April 2010, to $29.20 on 9 June, its lowest level since August 1996. There were speculations in the press, guided by the commentary of Fred Lucas, Energy Analyst at J.P. Morgan Cazenove, that there would be a takeover of the company, focusing on possible bids from Exxon or Shell at a presumed price of £88 billion. In addition, BP executives held talks with a number of sovereign wealth funds including funds from Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Qatar and Singapore, for creation of a strategic partnership to avoid takeover by other major oil companies. BP has either rejected or refused to react to these overtures.

On 27 July 2010, BP announced a net loss of $16.97 billion during the second quarter of 2010, with the oil spill costing $32.2 billion up to that point. Also on 27 July 2010, BP confirmed that CEO Hayward would resign and be replaced by Bob Dudley on 1 October 2010.

Mist mountain project

There have been some calls by environmental groups for BP to halt its "Mist Mountain" Coalbed Methane Project in the Southern Rocky Mountains of British Columbia and for the UN to investigate the mining activities. The proposed 500 km² project is directly adjacent to the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.

Canadian oil sands

BP is one of numerous firms who are extracting oil from Canadian oil sands, a process that produces four times as much CO₂ as conventional drilling. The Cree First Nation describe this as 'the biggest environmental crime on the planet'.

Safety record

1965: Sea Gem offshore oil rig disaster

In December 1965, while the BP oil rig Sea Gem was being moved, two of its legs collapsed and the rig capsised. Thirteen crew were killed. Sea Gem was the first British offshore oil rig.

2005: Texas City Refinery explosion

In March 2005, BP's Texas City, Texas refinery, one of its largest refineries, exploded causing 15 deaths, injuring 180 people and forcing thousands of nearby residents to remain sheltered in their homes. A large column filled with hydrocarbon overflowed to form a vapour cloud, which ignited. The explosion caused all the casualties and substantial damage to the rest of the plant. The incident came as the culmination of a series of less serious accidents at the refinery, and the engineering problems were not addressed by the management. Maintenance and safety at the plant had been cut as a cost-saving measure, the responsibility ultimately resting with executives in London.

The fallout from the accident continues to cloud BP's corporate image because of the mismanagement at the plant. There have been several investigations of the disaster, the most recent being that from the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board which "offered a scathing assessment of the company." OSHA found "organizational and safety deficiencies at all levels of the BP Corporation" and said management failures could be traced from Texas to London.

The company pleaded guilty to a felony violation of the Clean Air Act, was fined $50 million, and sentenced to three years probation.

On 30 October 2009, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined BP an additional $87 million—the largest fine in OSHA history—for failing to correct safety hazards revealed in the 2005 explosion. Inspectors found 270 safety violations that had been previously cited but not fixed and 439 new violations. BP is appealing that fine. (see #Environmental record).

2006–2010: Refinery fatalities and safety violations

From January 2006 to January 2008, three workers were killed at the company's Texas City, Texas refinery in three separate accidents. In July 2006 a worker was crushed between a pipe stack and mechanical lift, in June 2007, a worker was electrocuted, and in January 2008, a worker was killed by a 500-pound piece of metal that came loose under high pressure and hit him.

Facing scrutiny after the Texas City Refinery explosion, two BP-owned refineries in Texas City, and Toledo, were responsible for 97 percent (829 of 851) of wilful safety violations by oil refiners between June 2007 and February 2010, as determined by inspections by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Jordan Barab, deputy assistant secretary of labour at OSHA, said "The only thing you can conclude is that BP has a serious, systemic safety problem in their company."

Disclosed US diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks revealed that BP had covered up a gas leak and blowout incident in September 2008 at a gas field under production in the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshi area of the Azerbaijan Caspian Sea. According to the cables, BP was lucky to have been able to evacuate everyone safely given the explosive potential. BP did not only hold back information to the public about the incident but even upset its partner firms in limiting the information shared. In January 2009, BP blaimed a bad cement job as the cause for the incident. The Guardian noted a striking resemblance with the later oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

2009: North Sea helicopter accident

On 1 April 2009, a Bond Offshore Helicopters Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma ferrying workers from BP's platform in the Miller oilfield in the North Sea off Scotland crashed in good weather killing all 16 on board.

2010: Deepwater Horizon well explosion

The 20 April 2010 explosion on BP's offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico resulted in the deaths of eleven people and caused the biggest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.

Political record

2007: Propane price manipulation

Four BP energy traders in Houston were charged with manipulating prices of propane in October 2007. As part of the settlement of the case, BP paid the US government a $303 million fine, the largest commodity market settlement ever in the US. The settlement included a $125 million civil fine to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, $100 million to the Justice Department, $53.3 million to a restitution fund for purchasers of the propane BP sold, and $25 million to a US Postal Service consumer fraud education fund.

2008: Oil price manipulation

In May 2010, the Supreme Court of Arbitration of the Russian Federation agreed in support of the country’s antimonopoly service’s decision to a 1.1 billion Ruble fine ($35.2 million) against TNK/BP, a 50/50 joint venture, for abusing anti-trust legislation and setting artificially high oil products prices in 2008, TNK and BP declined comment.

Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline

BP has been criticised for its involvement with Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline due to human rights, environmental and safety concerns.

Colombian pipeline

In July 2006, a group of Colombian farmers won a multi-million pound settlement from BP after the company was accused of benefiting from a regime of terror carried out by Colombian government paramilitaries to protect the Ocensa pipeline.

Contributions to political campaigns

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, BP is the United States' hundredth largest donor to political campaigns, having contributed more than US$5 million since 1990, 72% and 28% of which went to Republican and Democratic recipients, respectively. BP has lobbied to gain exemptions from US corporate law reforms. Additionally, BP paid the Podesta Group, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm, $160,000 in the first half of 2007 to manage its congressional and government relations.

In February 2002, BP's chief executive, Lord Browne of Madingley, renounced the practice of corporate campaign contributions, noting: "That's why we've decided, as a global policy, that from now on we will make no political contributions from corporate funds anywhere in the world."

Despite this, in 2009 BP used nearly US$16 million to lobby US Congress, breaking the company's previous record (from 2008) of US$10.4 million.

See also

Oil fields operated by BP

Shell-Mex and BP

BP Solar

BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team

Deepwater Horizon oil spill

References

Further reading

External links

Official

BP's Corporate History

BP Solar

BP Whiting Refinery Information

Statistical Review of World Energy

BP's YouTube page

Other

Company details, list of subsidiaries, and major shareholders

Category:Automotive fuel brands Category:BP Category:British brands Category:Chemical companies of the United Kingdom Category:Companies based in DuPage County, Illinois Category:Companies based in Houston, Texas Category:Companies based in London Category:Companies established in 1909 Category:Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Category:Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Category:Economy of Alaska Category:Multinational companies headquartered in the United Kingdom Category:Oil and gas companies of the United Kingdom Category:Oil pipeline companies Category:Orphan initialisms Category:1909 establishments in the United Kingdom

ar:بي بي az:BP bg:Бритиш Петролиъм ca:BP cs:BP (firma) da:BP de:BP et:BP es:BP eo:BP (firmao) eu:British Petroleum fa:بی‌پی fr:BP (entreprise) ko:BP (기업) id:Bp is:BP it:BP (azienda) he:BP kk:Бритиш Петролеум lv:BP lt:BP hu:BP mr:बीपी nl:BP (oliemaatschappij) ja:BP (企業) no:BP nn:Oljeselskapet BP pl:BP (koncern) pt:BP ro:BP ru:BP sk:BP fi:BP (yritys) sv:BP ta:பீ.பி te:బిపి th:บีพี tr:BP uk:British Petroleum vi:BP yi:BP zh:BP

Coordinates	51°30′09″N0°07′39.7″N
Name	Velvet Sky
Names	Velvet SkyTalia MadisonMiss TaliaTalia DollTalia
Height
Weight
Birth date	June 02, 1981
Birth place	New Britain, Connecticut
Resides	Waterbury, Connecticut
Billed	The Big Apple
Trainer	Jason KnightKevin Landry
Debut	2003
Retired	}}

Jamie Szantyr (born June 2, 1981) is an American professional wrestler currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under the ring name Velvet Sky. She is a former TNA Knockout Tag Team Champion with her former Beautiful People partners Madison Rayne and Lacey Von Erich. She also works outside of TNA as Talia Madison.

Professional wrestling career

Early career

Prior to debuting, Szantyr was trained by Jason Knight and Kevin Landry at the ''House of Pain Pro Wrestling Dojo''. After completing her training, she began working as a valet and wrestler on the independent circuit using the ring names Miss Talia, Talia Doll, and Talia Madison. On the independent circuit, she formed a tag team known as T&A; with April Hunter. She was booked to her first wrestling championship during her time in World Xtreme Wrestling, getting the WXW Women's Championship after winning a battle royal on May 29, 2004.

Szantyr made a few appearances in World Wrestling Entertainment in 2005 and 2006. On the February 24, 2005 edition of ''WWE SmackDown!'', she appeared as an extra during the JBL "Celebration of Excellence" party. She was then defeated by Victoria on July 11 in a match taped for ''WWE Heat''. On January 2, 2006, she and Trinity were planted in the front row of the audience to be selected to dance with The Heart Throbs after their match in another ''Heat'' segment. She also auditioned for the 2007 Diva Search, but did not make the final eight.

As Talia Madison, she held Defiant Pro Wrestling Women's title, which she got on April 8, 2006 after defeating Alere Little Feather and Nikki Roxx in a three-way match. Later that year, she debuted in MXW Pro Wrestling and defeated Alere Little Feather at Brass City Battle. She also wrestled in Women's Extreme Wrestling both as Talia Doll and Talia Madison, where she mainly worked in tag team matches. She found championship success here as half of The Simple Girls/The Madison Sisters with her (kayfabe) sister Nikki Madison, and as the "T" half of the T&A; tag team with April Hunter, defeating Team Blondage's Amber O'Neal and Lollipop to get the title on WEW's April 6, 2006 pay-per-view. She also held the WEW World Women's title (as Talia Madison), defeating Angel Orsini on May 5, 2007.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2007–present)

When Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) announced the creation of their women's division in 2007, Szantyr, using her Talia Madison ring name, was announced as one of the ten wrestlers in a 10-woman Gauntlet match to crown the first TNA Women's World Champion at Bound for Glory pay-per-view. Before the show she made non-wrestling appearances on the October 5 episode of ''TNA Today'' and the October 11 ''Impact!'', standing at ringside for the debut match of Amazing Kong along with the other gauntlet match participants. In the weeks following the gauntlet match, her ring name was changed to Velvet Sky.

The Beautiful People (2007–2011)

At the December Turning Point pay-per-view, Sky and Angelina Love were paired together and dubbed "Velvet Love Entertainment", later renamed to "The Beautiful People". After defeating ODB and Roxxi Laveaux early in the show, Love and Sky assisted Gail Kim in her match against Awesome Kong. They assisted Kim again after another match against Kong on the December 6 edition of ''Impact!'' and at Final Resolution pay-per-view, helping to stop a brawl post match.

On the March 13 edition of ''Impact!'', Sky and Love attacked Roxxi Laveaux and later that night Gail Kim, thus becoming heels for the first time in TNA. At Lockdown, Sky and Love participated in the first ever "Queen of the Cage" match, which was won by Laveaux when Laveaux pinned Love inside the cage. Sky and Love participated in the Make Over Battle Royal-Ladder Match at Sacrifice, which was won by Gail Kim. A pre-match stipulation determined that the loser of the ladder match portion of the match would have their head shaved, unless this was Gail Kim, otherwise Love would have her head shave. Sky and Love later added another factor to their gimmicks, placing brown paper bags over opponents heads. Soon after, Moose joined The Beautiful People, but she was quickly removed from the stable and the TNA roster after suffering an injury on the independent circuit. On July 17 episode of ''Impact!'', Sky won a Knockouts Battle Royal for number one contendership to the Women's Knockout Championship, but lost the title match the next week as well as two more title matches immediately following to then champion Taylor Wilde.

The Beautiful People began associating with Cute Kip, who become known as their "fashionist". At Bound for Glory IV, The Beautiful People and Cute Kip were defeated by ODB, Rhaka Khan, and Rhino. In March 2009 the team gained a new member in Madison Rayne, while Kip was "fired" from the stable twice in the following month before finally becoming a road agent for the company. Sky was in Love's corner when she defeated Kong and Wilde to claim the TNA Women's Knockout Championship at Lockdown. Sky was also in Love's corner at Slammiversary where she helped her defeat Tara by spraying hairspray in her eyes. At Hard Justice Sky, along with Angelina Love, competed in a tag match against ODB and Cody Deaner in a losing effort when Deaner pinned Sky causing Love to lose the Championship to ODB.

After this loss, Madison Rayne was kicked out of The Beautiful People, with the pair vowing revenge in the upcoming tournament for the TNA Knockout Tag Team Championship. The last of the four quarter final matches pitted The Beautiful People against Madison Rayne and a mystery partner. This mystery partner was later revealed to be the returning Roxxi. Regardless, The Beautiful People won the match and advanced to the semi-finals.

Since that match was taped, Angelina Love had been released from her TNA Wrestling contract due to work visa issues. On the last episode of ''Impact!'' taped before her release Love and Sky advanced to the finals of the tag team tournament by defeating Tara and Christy Hemme after interference from Madison Rayne. Afterwards Rayne apologized to both Sky and Love, and was then welcomed back into the Beautiful People. At No Surrender Sky and Love's replacement Rayne were defeated in the finals of the tournament by Sarita and Taylor Wilde. On October 1 Love's replacement Lacey Von Erich made her debut and joined the Beautiful People. Love would return to the company on the January 14, 2010, edition of ''Impact!'', but instead of re-joining the Beautiful People, she attacked them, thus turning face. On the March 8 Monday night edition of ''Impact!'' Sky and Rayne defeated the teams of Love and Tara and Sarita and Taylor Wilde in a three-way match to win the vacant TNA Knockout Tag Team Championship, after interference from Daffney. The three members of the Beautiful People will defend the titles under the Freebird rule. On the April 5 edition of ''Impact!'', Sky was one of the four winners of the very first LockBox Showdown Elimination Tag Match. The box she opened contained a contract for Sky to challenge anyone of her choosing at any time, regardless of the stipulation. Sky then announced that she would be using her contract to face the new Knockout Champion Angelina Love in a Leather and Lace match the following week. With Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne scheduled to receive a shot at the Knockout Championship at Lockdown, the Beautiful People turned the Leather and Lace match into a three-on-one beatdown in order to soften Love up for the pay-per-view the following Sunday. At the pay-per-view Rayne and Sky defeated Love and Tara, with Rayne becoming the new Women's Knockout Champion. Sky faced Love once again on the June 24 edition of ''Impact'' and won via disqualification after being dropped with a DDT on a steel chair, just like Von Erich the previous week.

On June 27, 2010, Szantyr announced that she had signed a long–term contract extension with TNA. In the summer of 2010, Sky began showing signs of a face turn, when Rayne began talking down to her and Von Erich, declaring that she did not need either of them and then recruited a mystery woman hiding behind a motorcycle helmet to help her in her feud with Angelina Love. On the July 22 edition of ''Impact!'' Sky refused to go along with Rayne, the mystery woman and Sarita, when they all got done assaulting Love and Taylor Wilde, Von Erich on the other hand chose to leave with the trio. On July 27, at the tapings of the August 5 edition of ''Impact!'', Sky and Von Erich lost the TNA Knockout Tag Team Championship to Hamada and Taylor Wilde, when Rayne's and the mystery woman's interference backfired. The following week Sky turned face by attacking the mystery woman during Rayne's title match with Angelina Love and in doing so caused a distraction, which cost Rayne the Women's Knockout Championship. On the August 19 episode of ''Impact!'', Sky reunited with Angelina Love, accompanying her to the ring and helping her successfully defend the Women's Knockout Championship against Rayne, who was with the mysterious biker woman. After the match Sky and Love were beaten down by Rayne and the mystery woman. Rayne's mysterious ally was finally unmasked as Tara on the September 2 edition of ''Impact!'', when the two of them defeated Sky and Love in their first match together in a year. At No Surrender Sky defeated Rayne in a singles match. Lacey Von Erich would join Sky and Love in the Beautiful People, after being saved by them from Rayne and Tara on the September 16 edition of ''Impact!''. She, however, would leave the promotion two months later on November 11. In October Sky entered a feud with Sarita, who would score back–to–back pinfall victories over her on the October 28 and the November 4 editions of ''Impact!'', first in a six knockout tag team match and then in a singles match. On the December 9 edition of ''Impact!'' Sky and Love defeated Sarita and Daffney in the first round match of a tournament for the vacant Knockout Tag Team Championship, but Sky was still unable to pin Sarita. Two weeks later, Sarita attacked Sky prior to her and Love's tournament final match. As a result, Winter, who had been stalking Love for the past months, stepped up, took Sky's place in the match and teamed with Love to defeat Madison Rayne and Tara for the Knockout Tag Team Championship. The following week Sarita defeated Sky in a Strap match. On the January 27 edition of ''Impact!'', Sky brawled with Winter, claiming she was trying to break up the Beautiful People. Sarita pinned Sky once again on the February 17 edition of ''Impact!'', in a tag team match, where she teamed with Rosita and Sky with Love. After the match Sky challenged Sarita to a one–on–one match, where she agreed to put her career on the line. On the March 3 edition of ''Impact!'' Sky was finally able to defeat Sarita in a singles match, salvaging her career in the process. On March 13 at Victory Road, Sky inadvertently cost Love and Winter the Knockout Tag Team Championship in a match against Sarita and Rosita. On the March 24 edition of ''Impact!'', Winter, seemingly having control over Love's actions, prevented her from saving Sky from a beatdown at the hands of Sarita and Rosita. On the April 7 edition of ''Impact!'', Love, still under Winter's spell, turned on Sky during a Knockout Tag Team Championship match against Sarita and Rosita and left her to be pinned by the champions, effectively ending the Beautiful People.

Singles career (2011–present)

On the April 28 edition of ''Impact!'', Love defeated Sky via submission in a singles match, no-selling all of her opponent's offense during the match. On the May 5 edition of ''Impact!'', Sky pinned Winter in a two–on–three handicap match, where she teamed with Kurt Angle to face Winter, Love and Jeff Jarrett, announcing her intention of becoming the TNA Women's Knockout Champion in the process. On the May 19 edition of ''Impact Wrestling'', Sky defeated Love and Winter in a two–on–one handicap match, but was afterwards attacked by the returning ODB, who claimed that she had gotten fired from TNA the previous June because of her. Sky and ODB faced each other in a singles match on the June 9 edition of ''Impact Wrestling'', with Sky emerging victorious. The following week, Sky and Ms. Tessmacher failed in their attempt to win the Knockout Tag Team Championship from Rosita and Sarita due to outside interference from ODB. Afterwards, Sky was beaten down by ODB and her new tag team partner, Jacqueline. On the June 12 edition of ''Impact Wrestling'', Sky and Tessmacher were defeated by Jacqueline and ODB in a tag team match. The feud was seemingly ended on the July 7 edition of ''Impact Wrestling'', when Sky defeated ODB and Jacqueline in a two–on–one handicap match, forcing both of them out of TNA as per stipulation of the match. On the July 21 edition of ''Impact Wrestling'', TNA Women's Knockout Champion Mickie James awarded Sky a shot at her title, but before the match could take place, James was attacked by Angelina Love and Winter. When Sky tried to make the save, she was attacked by the returning ODB and Jacqueline, who were then in turn attacked by the also returning Traci Brooks.

Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (2011)

On June 18, 2011, Sky made her debut for Mexican promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración at TripleManía XIX, where she teamed with Angelina Love, Mickie James and Sexy Star to defeat Cynthia Moreno, Faby Apache, Lolita and Mari Apache in an eight woman tag team match.

Personal life

In high school, Szantyr competed in cheerleading, softball, cross-country, and track. Szantyr was previously in a relationship with former WWE superstar Gregory Helms, but the two have since broken up. Szantyr is currently dating fellow TNA performer Joshua Harter, better known as Chris Sabin.

Other media

She was featured on MTV's ''Made'' alongside A.J. Styles, Taylor Wilde, and Angelina Love. On January 24, 2009, she appeared as a soccerette on British television program ''Soccer AM'', along with Angelina Love. In November 2010 she was a contestant on an all TNA week of ''Family Feud'', teaming with Angelina Love, Christy Hemme, Lacey Von Erich and Tara against Jay Lethal, Matt Morgan, Mick Foley, Mr. Anderson and Rob Van Dam.

In wrestling

Finishing moves

*As Talia/Talia Madison

*''Blonde Ambition'' / ''Diva Drop'' (Diving neckbreaker)

*''Re-Talia-tion'' (Straight jacket sitout rear mat slam)

*As Velvet Sky

*''Beauty Mark'' (Double knee backbreaker) – 2009

*''Skyliner'' (Straight jacket sitout rear mat slam)

*Snap DDT

Signature moves

Grabs a hold of the wrists of an opponent on their back and then performs multiple stomps on the opponent's chest, driving their back of the head into the mat

Northern Lights suplex

Octopus stretch, while biting the trapped arm, sometimes into a sunset flip

Reverse bulldog

Snapmare followed by a shoot kick to the back of the opponent's head

Tilt-a-whirl headscissors takedown

Triangle choke

With Angelina Love

*Finishing moves

*''Makeover'' (Russian legsweep (Sky) / Running bicycle kick (Love) combination)

*Simultaneous roundhouse kicks to the abdomen (Sky) and the back of the leg (Love)

*Signature moves

*''Hollering Elbow'' (Double elbow drop, with theatrics)

With Madison Rayne

Double Russian legsweep

Double straight jacket sleeper slam

With Lacey Von Erich

Double DDT

Wrestlers managed

The Brain Surgeons

Simon Diamond

Romeo Roselli

Matt Striker

John Walters

Alere Little Feather

*Jason Knight

Angelina Love

Cute Kip

Madison Rayne

Entrance themes

*"Goodies" by Ciara (WXW)

*"Just a Lil Bit" by 50 Cent (Independent circuit)

"I'm About to Freak" by Dale Oliver (TNA)

"Angel On My Shoulder" by Dale Oliver (TNA)

Championships and accomplishments

Defiant Pro Wrestling

DPW Women's Championship (1 time)

Georgia Wrestling Alliance

GWA Ladies Championship (1 time)

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

PWI ranked her #21 of the best 50 female singles wrestlers in the PWI Female 50 in 2010

TNT Pro Wrestling

TNT Women's Championship (1 time)

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

TNA Knockout Tag Team Championship (1 time)¹ – with Lacey Von Erich and Madison Rayne

Universal Wrestling Association

UWA Women's Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ariel

Women's Extreme Wrestling

WEW World Championship (1 time)

WEW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with April Hunter (1) and Tiffany Madison (1)

World Xtreme Wrestling

WXW Women's Championship (1 time)

¹Sky defended the title with either Von Erich or Rayne under the Freebird Rule.

References

External links

TNA Official Website - Velvet Sky Profile

Glory Wrestling profile

Lethal Women of Wrestling profile

Online World of Wrestling profile

Slammin Ladies profile

Slam! Sports profile

Official Website

Spanish Fansite

Category:1981 births Category:American female professional wrestlers Category:American professional wrestlers of Italian descent Category:American people of Polish descent Category:People from New Britain, Connecticut Category:People from Waterbury, Connecticut Category:American people of Italian descent Category:Living people Category:American cheerleaders Category:Professional wrestling managers and valets Category:WWE Diva Search contestants

ca:Jamie Szantyr de:Velvet Sky es:Jamie Szantyr fr:Velvet Sky it:Velvet Sky nl:Velvet Sky pl:Velvet Sky pt:Velvet Sky simple:Velvet Sky tr:Velvet Sky

Coordinates	51°30′09″N0°07′39.7″N
Name	Gail Kim
Names	Gail KimLa Felina
Alt	An Asian female with dark hair wearing a dark blue top posing for a picture.
Height
Weight
Birth date	February 20, 1977
Birth place	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Resides	Tampa, Florida
Billed	Tampa, FloridaToronto, Ontario, CanadaKorea
Trainer	Ron HutchinsonRob EtcheverriaFit Finlay
Debut	December 2000
Website	http://www.thegailkim.com/ }}

Gail Kim (born February 20, 1977) is a Canadian professional wrestler of Korean descent. She is best known for working with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).

She began her career wrestling as La Felina on the Canadian independent circuit, before joining WWE in 2002 as Gail Kim. In her WWE debut match, she won the WWE Women's Championship. After being released by WWE in 2004, Kim joined TNA in September 2005. There, she joined the tag team America's Most Wanted as their valet. After the dissolution of the group, Kim performed as a singles wrestler, eventually going on to become the inaugural TNA Women's Knockout Champion in October 2007. She later left TNA in August 2008, to return to WWE in March 2009. She announced on August 5, 2011 that she had quit WWE via her Twitter account.

Personal life

Gail Kim was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on February 20, 1977. Kim majored in kinesiology at the University of Toronto before transferring to Ryerson University and changing her major to nutrition. Prior to signing with WWE, Kim undertook breast augmentation surgery. After signing, she had her implants enlarged. While performing for WWE, one of her implants ruptured, which resulted in her being sidelined for two weeks. Kim posed topless for a cell phone ad campaign in South Korea. In 2007, Kim was listed on ''Forbes''' top 40 list of "America's Most Eligible Bachelorettes". In 2009, Kim was a part of the cast of the independent psychological thriller entitled ''Royal Kill''.

Professional wrestling career

Early career and training

After obtaining her degree from Ryerson University, Kim decided to become a professional wrestler and joined Ron Hutchinson's "School of Pro Wrestling" in Toronto. She received supplementary training from Rob Etchevarria at the "Squared Circle Pro Wrestling Gym". She debuted in December 2000, wearing a mask and wrestling as "The Queen of the Cats" La Felina in the Southern Ontario-based Apocalypse Wrestling Federation. She, however, was eventually unmasked by Tracy Brooks in a "Mask versus Hair" match. Kim worked on the Canadian independent circuit for two years, wrestling for promotions such as Border City Wrestling.

World Wrestling Entertainment (2002–2004)

Kim was introduced to World Wrestling Federation (WWF) employee Nora Greenwald (known on-screen as Molly Holly) by Jason Sensation in 2001; Greenwald encouraged Kim to send her videos and tapes to WWF officials, which eventually led to her contract. In October 2002, she was hired by the WWF, now renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). She spent eight months training in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) and appearing in house shows and dark matches before being called up to the main roster. After several weeks of vignettes showcasing ''Matrix''-like effects aired on ''Raw'', Kim debuted on June 30 as a fan favorite, with a ''Matrix''-inspired outfit.

Her first televised WWE match was a seven-woman battle royal in Buffalo, New York on the June 30, 2003 episode of ''Raw'' with the WWE Women's Championship, then held by an injured Jazz, on the line. Kim won the match by lastly eliminating Victoria. Kim held the title for four weeks, before losing it to Molly Holly on the July 28, 2003 episode of ''Raw''. Subsequently, Kim formed an alliance with Holly to take on Trish Stratus, who was later assisted by Lita. At WWE's Unforgiven PPV event on September 21, 2003, Stratus and Lita defeated Kim and Holly in a tag match. The four women continued to feud until November, when Kim was sidelined with a broken right collarbone. Kim returned to ''Raw'' in April 2004 and immediately reforged her alliance with Holly. At WWE's Bad Blood PPV event on June 13, 2004, she faced Lita, Stratus, and Victoria in a Fatal Four-Way for the WWE Women's Championship, which was won by Stratus.

Kim participated in a battle royal on October 19, 2004 at WWE's Taboo Tuesday PPV event, which was won by Stratus. She, however, was released by WWE on November 3, 2004 as a result of cost cutting. Kim was caught off guard by her release and was told that management wanted to take the women's division in a new direction.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2005–2008)

America's Most Wanted (2005–2007)

Following her release and the expiration of her 90-day no-compete clause, Kim made sporadic appearances on the independent circuit, including at Michigan's All World Wrestling League and in Japan. She also competed in Korea and Mexico before being signed by the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion on September 6, 2005. She made her TNA debut on the October 8, 2005 episode of TNA's television program ''TNA Impact!'', aligning herself with Jeff Jarrett and America's Most Wanted (AMW) (Chris Harris and James Storm) and taking on the role of AMW's and Jarrett's manager. Kim made her in-ring debut on July 16, 2006 at TNA's Victory Road PPV event in a Six Man Mixed Tag Team match with AMW against A.J. Styles, Christopher Daniels, and Sirelda. However, her team ended up on the losing end of the contest. At TNA's Hard Justice PPV event on August 13, 2006, Kim defeated Sirelda in a standard wrestling match.

In early 2007 after the dissolution of AMW, Kim began a more active role as an in-ring competitor in TNA. This began with an on-screen feud with her former alliance, Storm, and his new manager Jacqueline. The first encounter between the group was on February 11, 2007 at TNA's Against All Odds PPV event in a Mixed Tag Team match, which Kim and her partner, Petey Williams, lost. On March 11, 2007 at TNA's Destination X PPV event, Storm and Jacqueline won a rematch against Williams and Kim in a Double Bullrope match. Kim went on to defeat Jacqueline in a Six Sides of Steel cage match on April 15, 2007 at TNA's Lockdown PPV event. Their feud came to an end on the May 3, 2007 episode of ''TNA Impact!'', when Kim defeated Moore under street fight rules.

Singles competition (2007–2008)

After the conclusion to her feud with Moore, Kim made two minor TNA PPV appearances before outlasting nine other competitors in a ten-woman gauntlet match to crown the first TNA Women's World Champion on October 14, 2007 at TNA's Bound for Glory PPV event. She made her first title defense on November 11, 2007 at TNA's Genesis PPV event; there she successfully retained the now renamed TNA Women's Knockout Championship by defeating Roxxi Laveaux, ODB, and Angel Williams. Kim then began a feud with Awesome Kong over the championship. Their first encounter occurred on December 2, 2007 at TNA's Turning Point PPV event, which resulted in Kim retaining due to a disqualification by Kong. On January 6, 2008 at TNA's Final Resolution PPV event, Kim defeated Kong in their second encounter to retain the championship under no disqualification rules. In their third and final encounter on the January 10, 2008 episode of ''TNA Impact!'', Kong defeated Kim to win the TNA Women's Knockout Championship.

During the January 24, 2008 episode of ''TNA Impact!'', Kim was awarded the 2007 TNA Knockout of the Year award. Kim competed in a three way match on March 9, 2008 at TNA's Destination X PPV event against Kong and ODB, which Kong won. On April 13, 2008 at TNA's Lockdown PPV event, she teamed with ODB to defeat the team of Raisha Saeed and Kong in a tag team match. On May 11, 2008 at TNA's Sacrifice PPV event, Kim won a TNA Knockouts Makeover Battle Royal, which involved a battle royal and then a ladder match, to become new one contender TNA Women's Knockout Championship. Kim competed for the championship on the May 15, 2008 episode of ''TNA Impact!'', however failed to win the title.

At TNA's Slammiversary PPV event on June 8, 2008, Kim teamed with ODB and Roxxi to defeat The Beautiful People (Angelina Love and Velvet Sky) and Moose in a Six Woman Tag Team match. Kim defeated Love on July 13, 2008 at TNA's Victory Road PPV event. Kim then teamed with ODB and Taylor Wilde to defeat the team of Kong and The Beautiful People on August 10, 2008 at TNA's Hard Justice PPV event in her last TNA PPV match. Kim's final TNA match aired on the August 21, 2008 episode of ''TNA Impact!'' in a losing effort to Kong under street fight rules. Kim left TNA in mid-August 2008 after the terms of her contract expired.

Return to World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE (2009–2011)

After her contract expired with TNA, Kim re-signed with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) promotion in late-2008. She made her return on the March 27th edition of ''SmackDown'', when she interrupted a WWE Divas Championship match between Michelle McCool and Maryse by attacking both competitors. Kim made her in-ring return on the March 30 edition of ''Raw'' on the winning team of an 18-Diva tag team match. Kim participated in a 25-Diva Miss WrestleMania battle royal on April 5, 2009 at WWE's WrestleMania XXV PPV event. On the April 17 edition of ''SmackDown'', Kim defeated then-Divas Champion Maryse. This earned her a championship match the following week, which she failed to win.

On the June 29 edition of ''Raw'', Kim was traded to the Raw brand as part of a 15 wrestler tri-brand trade between Raw, SmackDown, and ECW. A few weeks later on the August 10 edition of ''Raw'', she gained another title shot by winning a Fatal 4-Way match, that also involved Beth Phoenix, Kelly Kelly, and Alicia Fox, to become number one contender. She was unsuccessful in winning the championship on the August 17 edition of ''Raw'', when she faced then-champion Mickie James. At the Bragging Rights pay per-view on October 25, Kim, with Melina and Kelly Kelly, represented Raw in a losing effort to McCool, Phoenix, and Natalya, representing SmackDown. Kim was on the winning side of a five-on-five Survivor Series Elimination match on November 22 at the Survivor Series pay per-view.

In early 2010, a tournament was held for the newly vacated Divas Championship. Kim defeated Jillian Hall and Fox to make it to the finals, where she faced Maryse for the vacant title. The finals were held on the February 22 edition of ''Raw'', which Maryse won to become the new champion. The finals were originally to be held on February 21 at the Elimination Chamber pay per-view, but the match was changed to the team of Maryse and Kim versus Team Lay-Cool (McCool and Layla), which was won by the latter. Kim was apart of the losing side of a 10-Diva tag team match at WWE's WrestleMania XXVI PPV event on March 28. At the Fatal 4-Way pay per-view on June 20 Kim challenged for the Divas Championship in a Fatal 4-Way match that also involved then-champion Eve, Maryse, and Fox; however, Fox won the contest.

In early 2011, Gail Kim became the on-screen girlfriend of Daniel Bryan and began accompanying him to the ring. At that time Bryan was menaged by The Bella Twins and after they discovered Daniel Bryan kissing his new girlfriend, Gail Kim backstage, they assaulted Gail Kim. On January 30 at the Royal Rumble, the Bella Twins once again assaulted Kim. On the following night on ''Raw'', Gail was at ring side during Daniel Bryan's match against Tyson Kidd. After the match, the Bellas entered the ring, Nikki slaped Bryan and Gail attacked her.

On the August 1 edition of Raw, Gail Kim participated in a Battle Royal to determine the number one contender for the Divas Championship, however, shortly after the match began, she eliminated herself. She later explained that WWE had instructed her to get herself eliminated from the match within the first minute, so she decided to take the easy way out and just eliminate herself. On August 5, Gail Kim announced on her Twitter page that she had quit the WWE following the incident. Kim later indicated that WWE did not grant her release, but will instead force her to stay with the promotion for the remainder of her contract.

In wrestling

Finishing moves

''Christo'' / ''Flying Dragon'' (Tilt-a-whirl headscissors armbar)

''Eat Defeat'' (Inverted stomp facebreaker) – WWE; 2009–2011

''Happy Ending'' (Straight jacket neckbreaker slam) – TNA; used as a regular move in WWE

Hurricanrana pin – WWE; 2002–2004

Over the shoulder back to belly piledriver – TNA

Signature moves

Corner crossbody

Diving leg drop

Diving hurricanrana

Diving senton splash

Diving somersault neckbreaker

Diving Tornado DDT

Dragon sleeper

Flying forearm smash

Front dropkick, sometimes from the top rope

Hurricanrana

Jumping butt drop to an opponent leaning through the ring ropes

Over the shoulder single leg boston crab

Springboard arm drag

Springboard or diving crossbody

Swinging neckbreaker

''Toronto Slam'' (Double leg slam)

Wrestlers managed

America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm)

*Molly Holly

Jeff Jarrett

Eve Torres

*Daniel Bryan

Entrance themes

"International Woman" by Dara Shindler (WWE; 2002–2004)

"Unstoppable" by Dale Oliver (TNA; 2005–2008)

"Strong and Sexy" by Jim Johnston (WWE; 2009–2011)

Championships and accomplishments

Apocalypse Wrestling Federation

Diva of the Year (2001)

Funking Conservatory

FC Women's Championship (1 time)

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

PWI ranked her #3 of the best 50 female singles wrestlers in the PWI Female 50 in 2008

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

TNA Women's Knockout Championship (1 time)

Knockout of the Year (2007)

World Wrestling Entertainment

WWE Women's Championship (1 time)

Lucha de Apuesta record

{|class="wikitable sortable" width=100% |- !style="background: #e3e3e3;" width=5%|Wager !style="background: #e3e3e3;" width=20%|Winner !style="background: #e3e3e3;" width=20%|Loser !style="background: #e3e3e3;" width=20%|Location !style="background: #e3e3e3;" width=15%|Date !style="background: #e3e3e3;" width=20%|Notes |----- align="center" |Hair || Gail Kim || Roxxi Laveaux || Orlando, Florida, United States || ||Hair vs. Hair ladder match, held at TNA Sacrifice |}

References

External links

Online World of Wrestling profile

WWE profile

Twitter page

Category:1977 births Category:Living people Category:Canadian expatriates in the United States Category:Canadian film actors Category:Canadian female professional wrestlers Category:Canadian people of Korean descent Category:Sportspeople from Ontario Category:People from Tampa, Florida Category:People from Toronto Category:Professional wrestling managers and valets Category:Ryerson University alumni Category:University of Toronto alumni

ca:Gail Kim de:Gail Kim es:Gail Kim fr:Gail Kim it:Gail Kim nl:Gail Kim ja:ゲイル・キム pl:Gail Kim pt:Gail Kim ru:Ким, Гейл simple:Gail Kim th:เกล คิม tr:Gail Kim vi:Gail Kim

Coordinates	51°30′09″N0°07′39.7″N
Name	Jesse Ventura
Order	38th
Office	Governor of Minnesota
Term start	January 8, 1999
Term end	January 6, 2003
Lieutenant	Mae Schunk
Predecessor	Arne Carlson
Successor	Tim Pawlenty
Office2	Mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota
Term start2	1991
Term end2	1995
Birthname	James George Janos
Birth date	July 15, 1951
Birth place	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Spouse	Terry Ventura
Children	Tyrel VenturaJade Ventura
Profession	US Navy UDTProfessional WrestlerColor commentatorActorTalk Show hostPoliticianAuthor
Party	Reform Party (1999–2000)Independence Party of Minnesota (2000–present)
Religion	Atheist
Branch	United States Navy
Serviceyears	1969–1975
Rank	Petty Officer Third Class
Unit	UDT 12SEAL Team 1 (Reserve)
Awards	National Defense Service MedalVietnam Service Medal }}

James George Janos (born July 15, 1951), better known as Jesse Ventura, is an American politician, the 38th Governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003, Navy UDT veteran, former SEAL reservist, actor, and former radio and television talk show host. As a professional wrestler, he is best known for his nickname, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, and tenure in the World Wrestling Federation as a combatant and color commentator. In 2004, he was inducted into the company's Hall of Fame.

In the Minnesota gubernatorial election of 1998, running as a member of the Reform Party, he was elected the 38th Governor of Minnesota and served from January 4, 1999, to January 6, 2003, without seeking a second term.

Early life

Ventura was born James George Janos in Minneapolis, the son of Bernice Martha (née Lenz) and George William Janos, both of whom were World War II veterans. His father's parents were from what is today Slovakia, and his mother was of German descent. Ventura has described himself as Slovak. Ventura was raised a Lutheran. Ventura (then still using his legal name of Janos) attended the now-closed Cooper Elementary School and graduated from Minneapolis' Roosevelt High School in 1969.

Navy career

From September 11, 1969, to September 10, 1975, during the Vietnam War era, Ventura served in the United States Navy. Ventura graduated with BUD/S class 58 in December 1970 and was part of Underwater Demolition Team 12 (UDT). The UDTs were merged with the US Navy SEALs in 1983, 8 years after Ventura had left the Navy.

Bill Salisbury, an attorney in San Diego and a former Navy SEAL officer, accused Ventura of "pretending" to be a SEAL and wrote that Ventura would be blurring an important distinction by claiming to be a SEAL when he was actually a frogman with the UDT. Compared to SEAL Teams, UDTs saw less combat and took fewer casualties. Following that, Governor Ventura's office confirmed that Ventura was a member of the UDTs. His spokesman stated that Ventura has never tried to convince people otherwise. Ventura stated: "Today we refer to all of us as SEALs; that's all it is."

Ventura has frequently referred to his military career in public statements and debates. He was criticized by hunters and conservationists for stating in an interview with the Minneapolis StarTribune in April 2001, "Until you have hunted men, you haven't hunted yet."

In January 2002, Ventura, who had never specifically claimed to have ''fought'' in Vietnam, disclosed for the first time that he did not see combat. He did not receive the Combat Action Ribbon, which was awarded to those involved in a firefight or who went on clandestine or special operations where the risk of enemy fire was great or expected.

Post Navy

In 1973, Ventura was released from active duty and enrolled with the Naval Reserves, at which point he was assigned to SEAL Team 1.

In the fall of 1974, Ventura left the bike club to return to Minnesota. Shortly after his leaving, the Mongols entered into open warfare with their rivals the Hells Angels.

In Minnesota Ventura attended North Hennepin Community College in the mid-1970s. At the same time, he began weightlifting and wrestling. He was a bodyguard for The Rolling Stones for a short time before he ventured into professional wrestling and changed his name.

Professional wrestling career

Name	Jesse Ventura
Names	Jesse "The Body" Ventura
Height	-
Weight
Birth date	July 15, 1951
Birth place	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Billed	Brooklyn Park, MinnesotaSan Diego, California
Trainer	Eddie Sharkey
Debut	October 1975
Retired	1986
Website	}}

Early career

He created the stage name Jesse "The Body" Ventura to go with the persona of a bully-ish beach bodybuilder, picking the name "Ventura" from a map as part of his "bleach blond from California" character. As a wrestler, Ventura performed as a villain and often used the motto "Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat!" Much of his flamboyant persona was adapted from "Superstar" Billy Graham, a charismatic and popular performer during the 1970s and '80s. Years later, as a broadcaster, Ventura made a running joke out of it claiming that Graham stole all of his ring attire ideas from him.

Singles and tag team success

In 1975, Ventura made his debut in the Central States territory, before moving to the Pacific Northwest, where he wrestled for promoter Don Owen as Jesse "The Great" Ventura. Sometime later, he adopted the more permanent nickname, "The Body". During his stay in Portland, Oregon, he had notable feuds with Dutch Savage and Jimmy Snuka and won the Pacific Northwest Wrestling title twice (once from each wrestler), and the tag team title five times (twice each with Bull Ramos and "Playboy" Buddy Rose, and once with Jerry Oates). He later moved to his hometown promotion, the American Wrestling Association in Minnesota, and began teaming with Adrian Adonis as the "East-West Connection" in 1979. The duo won the promotion's World Tag Team Championship on July 20, 1980 on a forfeit when Verne Gagne, one-half of the tag team champions along with Mad Dog Vachon, failed to show up for a title defense in Denver, Colorado. The duo held the belts for nearly a year, losing to "The High Flyers" (Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell).

Retirement and commentary

Shortly after losing the belts, the duo moved on to the World Wrestling Federation, where they were managed by "Classy" Freddie Blassie. Although the duo was unable to capture the World Tag Team Championship, both Adonis and Ventura became singles title contenders, each earning several title shots at World Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund.

Ventura continued to wrestle until September 1984, when blood clots in his lungs ended his in-ring career. Ventura claimed the blood clots were a result of his exposure to Agent Orange during his time in Vietnam. Ventura did return to the ring in 1985 forming a tag-team with "Macho Man" Randy Savage & Savage's manager Miss Elizabeth. Often after their televised matches Ventura would taunt and challenge fellow commentator Bruno Sammartino but nothing ever came of this. He also participated in a six-man tag team match in December 1985 as he, Roddy Piper, and "Cowboy" Bob Orton defeated Hillbilly Jim, Uncle Elmer, and Cousin Luke in a match which was broadcast on ''Saturday Night's Main Event''. After a failed comeback bid, he began to do color commentary on television for ''All-Star Wrestling'' (replacing Angelo Mosca) and later ''Superstars of Wrestling'' (initially alongside Vince McMahon and Sammartino, and with McMahon after Sammartino's departure from the WWF in 1988), hosted his own talk segment on the WWF's ''Superstars of Wrestling'' called "The Body Shop", and did color commentary on radio for a few National Football League teams (among them, the Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers). Ventura most notably co-hosted ''Saturday Night's Main Event'' with Vince McMahon and the first six WrestleManias (1985–1990) and most of the WWF's pay-per-views at the time with Gorilla Monsoon (the lone exception for Ventura being the first SummerSlam, in which Ventura served as the guest referee during the main event). Following a dispute with Vince McMahon over the use of his image for promoting a Sega product, McMahon—who had a contract with rival company Nintendo at the time—released Ventura from the company in August 1990.

In February 1992 at SuperBrawl II, Ventura joined World Championship Wrestling as a commentator. His professional wrestling commentary style was an extension of his wrestling persona, as he was partial to the villains, which was something new and different at the time, but would still occasionally give credit where it was due, praising the athleticism of Dynamite Kid and Randy Savage (who was championed by Ventura for years, even when he was a fan favorite). The lone exception to this rule was the WrestleMania VI match between Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior. Since they were both crowd favorites, Ventura took a neutral position in his commentary; even praising Hogan's display of sportsmanship at the end of the match when he handed over the WWF Championship to the Warrior after he lost the title. The praise of Hogan's action was unusual for Ventura because he regularly rooted against Hogan during his matches. Hogan and Ventura were, at one point, close friends. Ventura, however, abruptly ended the friendship after he discovered, during his lawsuit against Vince McMahon, that Hogan was the one who had told Vince about Ventura's attempt to form a labor union in 1984. Ventura was released by WCW President Eric Bishoff for allegedly falling asleep during a ''WCW Worldwide'' TV taping at Disney MGM Studios in July 1994, though its been speculated the move may have had more to do with Hulk Hogan's arrival shortly before.

Litigation

In 1987, while negotiating his contract as a WWF commentator, Ventura waived his rights to royalties on videotape sales when he was falsely told that only feature performers received such royalties. In 1991, having discovered that other non-feature performers received royalties, Ventura brought an action for fraud, misappropriation of publicity rights, and quantum meruit in Minnesota state court against Titan Sports. Titan removed the case to federal court, and Ventura won an $801,333 jury verdict on the last claim. The judgment was affirmed on appeal, and the case,'' '' 65 F.3d 725 (8th Cir.1995), is an important result in the law of restitution.

Return to the World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment

In mid-1999, Ventura reappeared on WWF television during his term as Governor of Minnesota, acting as the special guest referee for main event of SummerSlam held in Minneapolis. Ventura would continue his relationship with the WWF by performing commentary for Vince McMahon's short-lived XFL. On the March 20, 2003 episode of ''SmackDown!'', Ventura appeared in a taped interview to talk about the match between McMahon and Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania XIX. Less than a year later, he would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 13, 2004 and the following night at WrestleMania XX, he approached the ring to interview Donald Trump, who had a front row seat at the event. Trump affirmed that Ventura would receive his moral and financial support were he to ever reenter the world of politics. Alluding to the 2008 election, Ventura boldly announced that "In 2008, maybe we oughta put a wrestler in the White House". On the June 11, 2007 episode of ''Raw'', Ventura appeared to give comments about Vince McMahon.

Ventura was guest host on the November 23, 2009 episode of ''Raw'' during which he retained his villainous persona by siding with the number one contender, Sheamus over WWE Champion John Cena. This happened while he confronted Cena about how it was unfair that Cena always got a title shot in the WWE while Ventura didn't during his WWE career. After that Sheamus attacked Cena and put him through a table. Ventura then made the match a Table match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs. During the show, for the first time in nearly 20 years, Vince McMahon joined Ventura at ringside to provide match commentary together.

In wrestling

Finishing moves: ''Body Breaker'' (WWF) / Inverted bearhug (AWA) Nicknames:"The Great", "The Body", "The Mouth", "The Actor", "The Governor" World Wrestling Entertainment: WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2004)

Title History

American Wrestling Association: AWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Adrian Adonis

Cauliflower Alley Club: Iron Mike Mazurki Award (1999)

Central States Wrestling: NWA World Tag Team Championship ''(Central States version)'' (1 time) – with Tank Patton Continental Wrestling Association: AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

International Wrestling Institute and Museum: Frank Gotch Award (2003)

NWA Mid-Pacific Promotions: NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Steve Strong Pacific Northwest Wrestling: NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship (2 times),NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Bull Ramos (2), Buddy Rose (2) and Jerry Oates (1)

Pro Wrestling Illustrated: PWI ranked him #239 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003, PWI ranked him #67 of the 100 best tag teams of the "PWI Years" with Adrian Adonis

Political career

Mayor of Brooklyn Park

Following his departure from the WWF, Ventura took advice from a former high school teacher and ran for mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota in 1990. Ventura defeated the city's 25-year incumbent mayor and served from 1991 to 1995.

Governor of Minnesota

Ventura ran for Governor of Minnesota in 1998 as the nominee for the Reform Party of Minnesota (he later joined the Independence Party of Minnesota when the Reform Party broke from its association with the Reform Party of the United States of America). His campaign consisted of a combination of aggressive grassroots events and original television spots, designed by quirky adman Bill Hillsman, using the phrase "Don't vote for politics as usual." He spent considerably less than his opponents (about $300,000) and was a pioneer in his using the Internet as a medium of reaching out to voters in a political campaign.

He won the election in November 1998, narrowly (and unexpectedly) defeating the major-party candidates, St. Paul mayor Norm Coleman (Republican) and Minnesota Attorney General Hubert H. "Skip" Humphrey III (Democratic-Farmer-Labor). After his victory, bumper stickers and T-shirts bearing the slogan "My governor can beat up your governor" appeared in Minnesota. The nickname "Jesse 'The Mind (from a last-minute Hillsman ad featuring Ventura posing as Rodin's ''Thinker'') began to resurface sarcastically in reference to his frequently controversial remarks. Ventura's old stage name "Jesse 'The Body (sometimes adapted to "Jesse 'The Governing Body) also continued to appear with some regularity.

After a trade mission to China in 2002, he announced that he would not run for a second term. He accused the media of hounding him and his family for personal behavior and belief while neglecting coverage of important policy issues. Ventura later told a reporter for ''The Boston Globe'' that he would have run for a second term if he had been single, citing the media's effect on his family life.

Governor Ventura sparked media criticism when, nearing the end of his term, he suggested that he might resign from office early to allow his lieutenant governor, Mae Schunk, an opportunity to serve as governor. He further stated that he wanted her to be the state's first female governor and have her portrait painted and hung in the Capitol along with the other governors. Ventura quickly retreated from the comments, saying he was just floating an idea.

Political positions

As Minnesota Governor, Ventura succeeded in several initiatives. One of the most notable was the rebate on Sales tax. In each year of his administration, Minnesotans received a tax-free check in the late summer. The state was running a budget surplus at the time, and Ventura believed that the money should be given back to the public. In political debates, he often admitted that he had not formed an opinion on certain policy questions. Ventura frequently described himself as "fiscally conservative and socially liberal." He selected teacher Mae Schunk as his running mate.

Later, he came to support a unicameral (one-house) legislature, property tax reform, gay rights, and abortion rights. In an interview on ''The Howard Stern Show'', he affirmed his support of gay rights, including gay marriage and gays in the military, humorously stating he would've gladly served alongside homosexuals when he was in the Navy as they would've provided less competition for women. While funding public school education generously, he opposed the teachers' union, and did not have a high regard for the public funding of higher education institutions. Additionally, Ventura supported the use of medicinal marijuana, advocated a higher role for third parties in national politics, and favored the concept of instant-runoff voting.

Ventura was elected on a Reform party ticket, but he never received support from Ross Perot's Texas faction. When the Reform party was taken over by Pat Buchanan supporters before the presidential elections of 2000, Ventura left the party in February 2000, referring to it as "hopelessly dysfunctional". However, he maintained close ties to the Independence Party of Minnesota, which also broke from the Reform party around the same time.

Despite being a supporter of third parties in the past, in 2010 Ventura advocated that all political parties, including third parties, be abolished. Feeling that the two-party system has corrupted the government, Ventura has expressed concern that if a third party became as successful as the Republicans and Democrats, it "will likewise have to corrupt itself. If you already have a two-headed monster, why would you need three?"

Lacking a party base in the Minnesota House and Senate, Ventura's policy ambitions had little chance of being introduced as bills. Initially, the residents of Minnesota feared Ventura's vetoes would be overturned. He vetoed 45 bills in his first year, and only three of those vetoes were overridden. The reputation for having his vetoes overridden comes from his fourth and final year, where six of his nine vetoes were overturned. He vetoed a bill to require recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools.

During the first part of his administration, Ventura strongly advocated for land-use reform and substantial mass transit improvements, such as light rail. He made the light rail project a priority, obtaining additional funding from the Minnesota state legislature to keep the project moving. The Hiawatha Line was completed in 2004.

During another trade mission to Cuba in the summer of 2002, he denounced the economic sanctions of the US against that country.

====Wellstone memorial==== Ventura greatly disapproved of some of the actions that took place at the 2002 memorial for Senator Paul Wellstone, his family, and others who died in a plane crash on October 25, 2002. Ventura said, "I feel used. I feel violated and duped over the fact that [the memorial ceremony] turned into a political rally". He left halfway through the controversial speech made by Wellstone's best friend, Rick Kahn. Ventura had initially planned to appoint a Democrat to Wellstone's seat, but he instead appointed Dean Barkley to represent Minnesota in the Senate until Wellstone's term expired in January 2003.

Political criticisms

After the legislature refused to increase spending for security, Ventura attracted criticism when he decided not to live in the governor's mansion during his tenure, choosing instead to shut it down and stay at his home in Maple Grove. Critics pointed to the loss of jobs for several working-class people at the mansion and the extra cost of reopening the mansion later.

In 1999, a group of disgruntled citizens petitioned to recall Governor Ventura, alleging, among other things, that "the use of state security personnel to protect the governor on a book promotion tour constituted illegal use of state property for personal gain." The petition was denied.

During his tenure as Governor, Ventura drew frequent fire from the press in the Twin Cities. He referred to reporters as "media jackals," a term that even appeared on the press passes required to enter the governor's press area. Shortly after Ventura's election as governor, author and humorist Garrison Keillor wrote a satirical book about the event, spoofing Ventura as "Jimmy (Big Boy) Valente," a self-aggrandizing former "Navy W.A.L.R.U.S. (Water Air Land Rising Up Suddenly)" turned professional wrestler turned politician. Initially, Ventura responded angrily to the satire, but later, in a conciliatory vein, said that Keillor "makes Minnesota proud". During his term, Ventura appeared on ''The Late Show with David Letterman'', in which he responded controversially to the following question: "So which is the better city of the Twin Cities, Minneapolis or St. Paul?". Ventura responded, "Minneapolis. Those streets in St. Paul must have been designed by drunken Irishmen". He later apologized for the remark, adding that it was not intended to be taken seriously.

Acting career

Ventura acted in the 1987 movie ''Predator'', whose cast included future California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and future Kentucky Gubernatorial candidate Sonny Landham. He appeared in two episodes of ''Zorro'' filmed in Madrid, Spain, in 1991. He had a starring role in the 1990 sci-fi movie ''Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe'', and supporting roles in ''The Running Man'', ''Thunderground'', ''Demolition Man'', ''Repossessed'', ''Ricochet'', ''The Master of Disguise'' (in which he steals the Liberty Bell), and ''Batman & Robin'' – the first two and last of these also starring Schwarzenegger. Ventura also made a cameo appearance in ''Major League II'', as "White Lightning". He also appeared as a self help guru (voice only) in ''The Ringer'' trying to turn Johnny Knoxville into a more confident worker. Ventura also had a cameo in ''The X-Files'' episode "Jose Chung's ''From Outer Space''" as a Man in Black alongside fellow 'MiB' Alex Trebek. In 2008, Ventura filmed the independent comedy ''Woodshop'', starring as a high school shop teacher named Mr. Madson. The film was released September 7, 2010.

Other media

In 1989 Ventura co-hosted the four episodes of the DiC Entertainment children's program ''Record Breakers'' along with Gary Apple. In 1991, the pilot episode for "Tag Team", a television program about two ex-professional wrestlers turned police officers, starred Ventura and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.

Between 1995 and his run for governor in 1998, Ventura had radio call-in shows on (KFAN 1130) and (KSTP 1500) in Minneapolis – Saint Paul. Jesse had a brief role on the television soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'' in 1999.

Ventura has been criticized for privately profiting from his heightened popularity. He was hired as a television analyst for the failed XFL football enterprise, served as a referee at a World Wrestling Federation match, and published several books during his tenure as governor. On his weekly radio show, he often criticized the media for focusing on these deals rather than on his policy proposals.

Media parodies

Ventura has been portrayed frequently by comedian James Adomian since 2009 on the popular Earwolf podcasts Comedy Bang Bang and Sklarbro Country, with the "Ventura" character uncovering a wide range of absurd conspiracies. Adomian also played Ventura in a YouTube parody of Conspiracy Theory, investigating the secret truth behind professional wrestling.

Ventura has been parodied on the KXXR (93X) "Half assed morning show" by hosts Nick Born and Josh in segments called the "Fish Police" and "Pics with Bits" in both he is described with his famous deep voice saying non-sense phrases like, "I'm busy carrying these two sacks".

Post-gubernatorial life

Show name	Jesse Ventura's America
Starring	Jesse Ventura
Location	Saint Paul, Minnesota,
Network	MSNBC
First aired	October 4, 2003
Last aired	December 26, 2003
italic title	no }}

Ventura was succeeded in his office by Republican Tim Pawlenty. He began a cable television show in October 2003, on MSNBC called ''Jesse Ventura's America''. The show was broadcast once a week, on Saturdays, unlike many MSNBC shows which are on five nights a week (this show was originally planned for five nights a week as well, but MSNBC executives changed their minds). At the time of its airing, ''Jesse Ventura's America'' was the only national television show filmed in Minnesota. Among his guests were Charles Barkley, Gray Davis, Arianna Huffington, Rob Kampia, and Kathy McKee.

In 2004, Harvard graduate student and fellow Navy veteran Christopher Mora promoted the idea that the academic establishment had failed to reach out to citizens experienced in public service, but who did not fit the traditional idea of a politician. He successfully lobbied for the selection of Ventura, who started teaching a study group at Harvard University for the Spring 2004 semester as a visiting fellow at the Kennedy School of Government's Institute of Politics (IOP). His 90-minute study group focused on third party politics, campaign finance, the war on drugs, and other relevant political issues. Ventura scheduled multiple famous friends to appear for his seminars including Dean Barkley and Richard Marcinko.

On October 22, 2004, with Ventura by his side, former Maine Governor Angus King endorsed John Kerry for President at the Minnesota state capitol building. Ventura did not speak at the press conference. When prodded for a statement, Governor King responded, "He plans to vote for John Kerry, but he doesn't want to make a statement and subject himself to the tender mercies of the Minnesota press".

In November 2004, an advertisement began airing in California featuring Ventura. In it, Ventura voices his opposition to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's policies regarding Native American casinos. Ventura is serving as an advisory board member for a new group called Operation Truth, a non-profit organization set up "to give voice to troops who served in Iraq." “The current use of the National Guard is wrong....These are men who did not sign up to go occupy foreign nations”.

In August 2005, Ventura became the spokesperson for BetUS, an online Sportsbook. In 2005, Ventura repeatedly discussed leaving the United States. In September 2005, Ventura announced on ''The Mike Malloy Show'' that he was leaving the U.S. and planned to "have an adventure". In late October 2005, he went on ''The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch'' and reiterated that he was leaving the U.S. due to, among other things, censorship. He has since moved to Baja California, Mexico.

In September 2006, Ventura endorsed and campaigned with independent Texas gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman, and Independence Party of Minnesota's gubernatorial candidate Peter Hutchinson and Team Minnesota. He revealed he now spends much of his time surfing near his home in Mexico.

In April 2008, a book authored by Ventura, titled ''Don't Start the Revolution Without Me'', was released. In it, Ventura describes a hypothetical campaign in which he is a candidate for President of the United States in 2008, running as an independent. In an interview with the Associated Press at the time of the book's release, however, Ventura denied any plans for a presidential bid, stating that the scenario is only imaginary and not indicative of a "secret plan to run". On MinnPost.com, Ventura's agent, Steve Schwartz, describes the book thus: "[Ventura is revealing] why he left politics and discussing the disastrous war in Iraq, why he sees our two-party system as corrupt, and what Fidel Castro told him about who was really behind the assassination of President Kennedy."

However, in an interview on CNN's ''The Situation Room'' on April 7, Ventura hinted that he was considering entering the race for the United States Senate seat then held by Norm Coleman, his Republican opponent in the 1998 Gubernatorial race. A poll commissioned by Twin Cities station Fox 9 put him at 24 percent, behind Al Franken at 32 percent and Norm Coleman at 39 percent in a hypothetical three-way race. However, Ventura announced on ''Larry King Live'' on July 14, 2008 that he would not run.

He spoke at former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul's "Rally for the Republic", organized by the Campaign for Liberty, on September 2, 2008. At the event, Ventura implied a possible future run at the U.S. Presidency. Ventura stated before a live audience that "If America proves itself worthy, in 2012 we'll give them a race they'll never forget!"

Bush/Cheney administration and torture

In a May 11, 2009 interview with Larry King, Ventura twice stated that George W. Bush was the worst president of his lifetime, adding "President Obama inherited something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. You know? Two wars, an economy that's borderline depression." On the issue of waterboarding, Ventura added:

I'll put it to you this way, you give me a water board, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders. ... If it's done wrong, you certainly could drown. You could swallow your tongue. [It] could do a whole bunch of stuff to you. If it's done wrong orit's torture, Larry. It's torture.''}}

Ventura then stated that he had no respect for Dick Cheney because he is "a guy who got five deferments from the Vietnam War. Clearly, he's a coward. He wouldn't go when it was his time to go. And now he is a chickenhawk. Now he is this big tough guy who wants this hardcore policy. And he's the guy that sanctioned all this torture by calling it 'enhanced interrogation'." Ventura also expressed interest in being appointed ambassador to Cuba should U.S. relations with Cuba continue to improve. On a May 18, 2009 appearance on ''The View'', Ventura asked Elisabeth Hasselbeck if waterboarding is acceptable, why were the Oklahoma City bombers, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, not waterboarded. "We only seem to waterboard Muslims." Comparing the waterboarding of detainees to the North Vietnamese torture of American P.O.W.s, Ventura asserted, "We created our own Hanoi Hilton in Guantánamo. That's our Hanoi Hilton." "'Enhanced interrogation' is Dick Cheney changing a word. Dick Cheney comes up with a new word to cover his ass." On May 20, 2009, Ventura appeared on ''Fox & Friends''. When Brian Kilmeade told Ventura that he would stop supporting waterboarding when "they're dead", Ventura responded, "Really? Have you enlisted? Have you enlisted or are you just talking?... Go walk the walk, don't talk the talk."

Questions regarding 9/11

In April and May 2008, Jesse Ventura, in several radio interviews for his new book, ''Don't Start the Revolution Without Me'', expressed concerns about what he described as some of the unanswered questions of the September 11 attacks. His remarks about the possibility that the World Trade Center was demolished with explosives were also repeated in newspaper and television stories following some of the interviews.

Ventura was interviewed on the Alex Jones radio show on April 2, 2008 where he said that he felt that many unanswered questions remain, and he believes that World Trade Center Building 7, which was not struck by a plane, collapsed on the afternoon of 9/11 in a manner which resembled a controlled demolition Ventura stated:

''}}''

He also states the Twin Towers appeared to be pulverized to dust, that they fell at virtually free-fall speed, and that no other massive steel-framed buildings had ever collapsed in this manner due to fire before.

On May 18, 2009, when asked by Sean Hannity of Fox News, how George W. Bush could have avoided the attacks of September 11, 2001, Ventura answered, "Well, you pay attention to memos on August 6'th that tell you exactly what bin Laden's gonna do."

''Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura''

In August 2009, it was announced that Ventura would host TruTV's new show ''Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura''. "Ventura will hunt down answers, plunging viewers into a world of secret meetings, midnight surveillance, shifty characters and dark forces," truTV said in a statement. On the program, which debuted on December 2, 2009, Ventura travels the country, investigating cases and getting input from believers and skeptics before passing judgment on a theory's validity. According to TruTV, the first episode drew 1.6 million viewers, a record for a new series on the network.

The second season of the series debuted in October 2010 and aired 8 episodes through December 2010.

''American Conspiracies''

''American Conspiracies'' is a book Ventura wrote with Dick Russell, published by Skyhorse Publishing in 2010 which discusses conspiracy theories related to several notable events in United States history.

''Lawsuit Against the TSA''

In January 2011, Jesse Venutra filed a lawsuit against the Transportation Security Administration for being subject to controversial pat-downs. Ventura has claimed that these pat-downs violate his Fourth Amendment rights. Ventura's attorney has claimed that while he is not seeking any monetary compensation, Ventura wants an acknowledgment from the court that his rights were violated and that the TSA halt future pat-downs on him.

Personal life

Family

In 1975, Ventura married his wife Terry. The couple have two grown children: a son, Tyrel (b. 1980), who is a film and television director and producer, and a daughter, Jade (b. 1983).

Currently, Ventura and his wife live in Mexico, "There are no newspapers down where I live. Where I live, I'm an hour from pavement and an hour from electricity. I'm completely off-the-grid."

Steroid use

During his wrestling days, Ventura used anabolic steroids. He admitted this after retiring from competition, and went on to make public service announcements and appear in printed ads and on posters warning young people about the potential dangers and potential health risks of abusing steroids.

Health problems

In 2002, Ventura was hospitalized for a severe blood clot in his lungs, the same kind of injury that ended his wrestling career.

Religion

In a ''Playboy'' interview, he said, "Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business." In his 1999 best-selling memoir ''I Ain't Got Time to Bleed'', Ventura responded to the controversy sparked by these remarks by elaborating on his views concerning religion: "I’d like to clarify [my comments published in ''Playboy''] about religious people being weak-minded. I didn’t mean all religious people. I don’t have any problem with the vast majority of religious folks. I count myself among them, more or less. But I believe because it makes sense to me, not because I think it can be proven. There are lots of people out there who think they know the truth about God and religion, but does anybody really know for sure? That’s why the Founding Fathers built freedom of religious belief into the structure of this nation, so that everybody could make up their minds for themselves. But I do have a problem with the people who think they have some right to try to impose their beliefs on others. I hate what the fundamentalist fanatics are doing to our country. It seems as though, if everybody doesn’t accept their version of reality, that somehow invalidates it for them. Everybody must believe the same things they do. That’s what I find weak and destructive."

Ventura endorsed equal rights for religious minorities, as well as people who don't believe in God, by declaring July 4, 2002, "Indivisible Day". Ventura proclaimed October 13–19, 2002 as "Christian Heritage Week" in Minnesota.

Ventura identified himself as an atheist on April 5, 2011, on ''The Howard Stern Show'' and stated that he had been convinced to become an atheist by watching George Carlin. Ventura stated he had been a Lutheran before.

Electoral history

1998 election for Governor

*Jesse Ventura (Ref.), 37%

*Norm Coleman (R), 34%

*Hubert H. Humphrey III (DFL), 28%

Books

''I Ain't Got Time to Bleed: Reworking the Body Politic from the Bottom Up'' (May 1999) ISBN 978-0-375-50332-0

''Do I Stand Alone? Going to the Mat Against Political Pawns and Media Jackals'' (September 2000) ISBN 978-0-7434-0586-7

''Jesse Ventura Tells it Like it Is: America's Most Outspoken Governor Speaks Out About Government'' (September 2002, co-authored with Heron Marquez) ISBN 978-0-8225-0385-9

''Don't Start the Revolution Without Me!'' (March 2008, co-authored with Dick Russell) ISBN 978-1-60239-273-1

''American Conspiracies'' (March 2010, co-authored with Dick Russell) ISBN 978-1-60239-802-3

''63 Documents the Government Doesn't Want You to Read'' (April 2011, co-authored with Dick Russell) ISBN 978-1-61608-226-0

Notes

References

deFiebre, Conrad. "Record-high job approval for Ventura; Many Minnesotans like his style, don't mind moonlighting." ''Star Tribune'' 22 July 1999: 1A+.

deFiebre, Conrad. "Using body language, Ventura backs Kerry." ''Star Tribune'' 23 October 2004: 1A+.

Kahn, Joseph P. "The Body Politic." ''The Boston Globe'' 25 February 2004. Accessed April 28, 2004.

Olson, Rochelle and Bob von Sternberg. "GOP demands equal time; Wellstone aide apologizes; Ventura upset." ''Minneapolis Star-Tribune'' 31 October 2002: 1A+.

External links

Jesse Ventura Official Website

WWE Hall of Fame Profile

Ventura "on the issues"

Analysis of Jesse Ventura's ''Playboy'' interview by Aubrey Immelman

Jesse Ventura – Media Man Australia profile

Election Of Bonapartist Figure Ventura In Minnesota Is Danger To Working People – article in ''The Militant'' 1998.

Radiotapes.com Recordings of Jesse Ventura for Governor commercials from 1998 (scroll down to Misc Recordings).

Larry King Live: Jesse Ventura CNN April 1, 2008

"Jesse's back! New Ventura book 'Revolution' will cover political waterfront" from Minnpost.com

The Jesse Ventura Forums

Jesse Ventura on Wrestling-Radio.com

Jesse Ventura interview, Diaday.com

Jesse Ventura on The Young Turks Show.

http://images.radcity.net/5163/2969012.mp3

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bg:Джеси Вентура cs:Jesse Ventura de:Jesse Ventura es:Jesse Ventura fa:جسی ونچورا fr:Jesse Ventura it:Jesse Ventura he:ג'סי ונטורה nl:Jesse Ventura ja:ジェシー・ベンチュラ pl:Jesse Ventura pt:Jesse Ventura ru:Джесси Вентура fi:Jesse Ventura sv:Jesse Ventura vi:Jesse Ventura zh:傑西·溫圖拉

Coordinates	51°30′09″N0°07′39.7″N
name	Eddie Vedder
background	solo_singer
birth name	Edward Louis Severson III
alias	Ed VedderEdward MuellerJerome TurnerWes C. AddleJerome230E-Dogg
born	December 23, 1964Evanston, Illinois, U.S.
genre	Alternative rock, folk rock, grunge, hard rock
occupation	Musician, songwriter
years active	1986–present
instrument	Vocals, guitar, harmonica, ukulele, accordion, drums, bass, mandolin
label	MonkeywrenchA&M; RecordsEpic RecordsJ Records
associated acts	Pearl Jam, Bad Radio, Temple of the Dog, Hovercraft
notable instruments	Fender TelecasterSchecter PT ModelGibson SGGibson SG Jr.Martin 0-18Earnest Instruments Tululele, Custom Ukulele }}

Eddie Vedder (born Edward Louis Severson III; December 23, 1964) is an American musician and singer-songwriter who currently serves as the lead vocalist and one of four guitarists for the American alternative rock band Pearl Jam. Vedder left the Southern California music scene and moved to Seattle, Washington in 1990 to join Pearl Jam where he rose to fame amid the grunge movement of the early 1990s. He is notable for his baritone vocal style, and widely considered a cultural icon of alternative rock.

He is also involved in soundtrack work and contributes to albums by other artists. In 2007, Vedder released his first solo album as a soundtrack for the film ''Into the Wild'' (2007). His second album, ''Ukulele Songs'', along with a live DVD titled ''Water on the Road'', was released on 31 May 2011.

Early life

Vedder was born Edward Louis Severson III in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, son of Karen Lee Vedder and Edward Louis Severson, Jr. His father was a lounge musician. His parents divorced in 1965, when Vedder was one year old. His mother soon remarried a man named Peter Mueller, an attorney, and Vedder was raised believing that Mueller was his biological father. His adopted name became Edward Mueller. While living in Evanston, Vedder's family fostered seven younger children in a group home.

In the mid-1970s, the family, including Vedder's three younger half-brothers, moved to San Diego County, California. It was at this point that Vedder, who had received a guitar from his mother on his twelfth birthday, began turning to music (as well as basketball) as a source of comfort. He particularly found solace in The Who's 1973 album, ''Quadrophenia''. He said, "When I was around 15 or 16... I felt all alone... I was all alone—except for music." His mother and Mueller divorced when Vedder was in his late teens. His mother and brothers moved back to the Chicago area, but Vedder remained with his stepfather in California so he would not have to change high schools.

It was not until after the divorce that Vedder learned the truth about his parentage, that Mueller was really his stepfather. Vedder had met his biological father briefly as a child, but had believed that Severson was merely an old friend of his parents. By the time Vedder learned the truth, Severson had died of multiple sclerosis. By his senior year at San Dieguito High School, Vedder was on his own, living in an apartment and supporting himself with a nightly job at a drug store in Encinitas. He eventually dropped out of high school in his senior year due to the pressures of balancing school with working. He joined the rest of his family in Chicago, and it was at this time that he changed his name to Eddie Vedder, Vedder being his mother's maiden name.

In the early 1980s, Vedder worked as a waiter, earned his high school GED, and briefly attended a community college near Chicago. In 1984, Vedder returned to San Diego, California, with his girlfriend, Beth Liebling. He kept busy recording demo tapes at his home and working various jobs, including a position as a contracted security guard at the La Valencia Hotel in La Jolla. Vedder had several stints in San Diego area bands, including Surf and Destroy and The Butts. included future Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave drummer Brad Wilk. In 1988, Vedder became the vocalist for the San Diego progressive funk rock band Bad Radio. The music of the original incarnation of the band was influenced by Duran Duran; however, after Vedder joined Bad Radio, the band moved on to a more alternative rock sound influenced by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Temple of the Dog

After leaving Bad Radio, Vedder was without a band, and throughout the rest of 1990 he worked part-time as a night attendant at a local gas station. Through the Southern California music scene, Vedder met former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons, who became a friend of Vedder and who would play basketball with him. Later in 1990, Irons gave him a demo tape from a band in Seattle, Washington that was looking for a singer. He listened to the tape shortly before going surfing, where lyrics came to him. Vedder wrote lyrics for three of the songs in what he later described as a "mini-opera" entitled ''Mamasan''. The songs tell the story of a young man who, like Vedder, learns that he had been lied to about his paternity and that his real father is dead, grows up to become a serial killer, and is eventually imprisoned and sentenced to death. Vedder recorded vocals for the three songs, and mailed the demo tape back to Seattle. The three songs would later become Pearl Jam's "Alive", "Once", and "Footsteps", respectively.

After hearing Vedder's tape, former Mother Love Bone members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament invited Vedder to come to Seattle to audition for their new band. They were instantly impressed with his unique sound. At the time, Gossard and Ament were working on the Temple of the Dog project founded by Soundgarden's Chris Cornell as a musical tribute to Mother Love Bone's frontman Andrew Wood, who died of a heroin overdose at age 24. Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron and newcomer Mike McCready were also a part of the project. The song "Hunger Strike" became a duet between Cornell and Vedder. Cornell was having trouble with the vocals at practice, when Vedder stepped in. Cornell later said of Vedder that "he sang half of that song not even knowing that I'd wanted the part to be there and he sang it exactly the way I was thinking about doing it, just instinctively." Vedder would provide background vocals on several other songs as well. In April 1991, ''Temple of the Dog'' was released through A&M; Records.

Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam was formed in 1990 by Ament, Gossard, and McCready, who then recruited Vedder and drummer Dave Krusen. The band originally took the name Mookie Blaylock, but was forced to change it when the band signed to Epic Records in 1991. After the recording sessions for ''Ten'' were completed, Krusen left Pearl Jam in May 1991. As his replacement, Chamberlain suggested Dave Abbruzzese, who joined the group and played the rest of Pearl Jam's live shows supporting the ''Ten'' album.

''Ten'' broke the band into the mainstream, and became one of the best selling alternative albums of the 1990s. The band found itself amidst the sudden popularity and attention given to the Seattle music scene and the genre known as grunge. The single "Jeremy" received Grammy Award nominations for Best Rock Song and Best Hard Rock Performance in 1993. Pearl Jam received four awards at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards for its music video for "Jeremy", including Video of the Year and Best Group Video. ''Ten'' ranks number 207 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and "Jeremy" was ranked number 11 on VH1's list of the 100 greatest songs of the '90s.

left|thumb|Eddie Vedder appeared on the cover of the October 25, 1993 issue of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time'', as part of the feature article discussing the rising popularity of the grunge movement. Vedder had declined to participate, and was upset with the magazine about the cover.]]Following an intense touring schedule, the band went into the studio to record what would become its second studio album, ''Vs.'', released in 1993. Upon its release, ''Vs.'' set the record at the time for most copies of an album sold in a week, and spent five weeks at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200. ''Vs.'' was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album in 1995. From ''Vs.'', the song "Daughter" received a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and the song "Go" received a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance.

Feeling the pressures of success, with much of the burden of Pearl Jam's popularity falling on Vedder, the band decided to decrease the level of promotion for its albums, including refusing to release music videos. Vedder's issue with fame came from what he stated as "what happens when a lot of these people start thinking you can change their lives or save their lives or whatever and create these impossible fuckin' expectations that in the end just start tearing you apart." In 1994, the band began a much-publicized boycott of Ticketmaster, which lasted for three years and limited the band's ability to tour in the United States. During the mid-1990s, Vedder faced what he called a "pretty intense stalker problem." Vedder would refer to the issue in the song "Lukin" from ''No Code''.

Later that same year the band released its third studio album, ''Vitalogy'', which became the band's third straight album to reach multi-platinum status. It was at this time that Vedder began to be featured more on rhythm guitar. Many of the songs on ''Vitalogy'' appear to be based by Vedder around the pressures of fame. The album received Grammy nominations for Album of the Year and Best Rock Album in 1996. ''Vitalogy'' was ranked number 492 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The lead single "Spin the Black Circle" won a Grammy Award in 1996 for Best Hard Rock Performance. Although Abbruzzese performed on the album ''Vitalogy'', he was fired in August 1994, four months before the album was released. The band cited political differences between Abbruzzese and the other members; for example, he disagreed with the Ticketmaster boycott. He was replaced by Jack Irons, a close friend of Vedder and the former and original drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The band subsequently released ''No Code'' in 1996 and ''Yield'' in 1998. In 1998, prior to Pearl Jam's U.S. Yield Tour, Irons left the band due to dissatisfaction with touring. Pearl Jam enlisted former Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron as Irons' replacement on an initially temporary basis, but he soon became a permanent replacement for Irons. "Do the Evolution" (from ''Yield'') received a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance. In 1998, Pearl Jam recorded "Last Kiss", a cover of a 1960s ballad made famous by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers. It was released on the band's 1998 fan club Christmas single; however, by popular demand, the cover was released to the public as a single in 1999. "Last Kiss" peaked at number two on the ''Billboard'' charts and became the band's highest-charting single.

In 2000, the band released its sixth studio album, ''Binaural'', and initiated a successful and ongoing series of official bootlegs. The band released seventy-two such live albums in 2000 and 2001, and set a record for most albums to debut in the ''Billboard'' 200 at the same time. "Grievance" (from ''Binaural'') received a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance. The band released its seventh studio album, ''Riot Act'', in 2002. Pearl Jam's contribution to the 2003 film, ''Big Fish'', "Man of the Hour", was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 2004. The band's eighth studio album, the eponymous ''Pearl Jam'', was released in 2006. The band released its ninth studio album, ''Backspacer'', in 2009.

On Pearl Jam records, Vedder uses the pseudonym "Jerome Turner" for his non-musical (usually design and artwork) contributions. He has also at times used the pseudonym of "Wes C. Addle" ("West Seattle").

Other musical projects

Soundtrack contributions

Vedder has contributed solo material to several soundtracks and compilations, including the soundtracks for the films ''Dead Man Walking'' (1995), ''I Am Sam'' (2001), ''A Brokedown Melody'' (2004), ''Body of War'' (2007), and ''Reign Over Me'' (2007). Vedder collaborated with Pakistani musician Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan for his contributions to the ''Dead Man Walking'' soundtrack. He covered The Beatles' "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" for the ''I Am Sam'' soundtrack. Vedder wrote two songs for the 2007 feature documentary, ''Body of War'', produced by Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue: "No More" (a song referring to the Iraq War) and "Long Nights". Vedder and the supergroup The Million Dollar Bashers, which includes members from Sonic Youth, Wilco, and Bob Dylan's band, covered Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" for the biopic film, ''I'm Not There'' (2007). Pearl Jam recorded a cover version of The Who's song "Love, Reign o'er Me" for the film ''Reign Over Me'', which takes its title from the song. In 2010, Vedder recorded a new song, "Better Days", which appeared on the soundtrack to the 2010 film ''Eat Pray Love''.

''Into the Wild''

Vedder contributed an album's worth of songs to the soundtrack for the 2007 film, ''Into the Wild''. The soundtrack was released on September 18, 2007 through J Records. It includes covers of the Indio song "Hard Sun" and the Jerry Hannan song "Society". Vedder said that having to write songs based on a narrative "simplified things." He said, "There were fewer choices. The story was there and the scenes were there." Vedder's songs written for the film feature a folk sound. Thom Jurek of Allmusic called the soundtrack a "collection of folksy, rootsy tunes where rock & roll makes fleeting appearances." Vedder won a 2008 Golden Globe Award for the song "Guaranteed" from ''Into the Wild''. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his contributions to the film's original score. At the 2008 Grammy Awards, "Guaranteed" received a nomination for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. "Guaranteed" was also nominated a 2008 World Soundtrack Award in the category of Best Original Song Written Directly for a Film. At the 2009 Grammy Awards, "Rise" received a nomination for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo.

Vedder promoted the ''Into the Wild'' soundtrack with his first solo tour, which began in April 2008. The April leg of the tour, dubbed the "April Fools Tour", began in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at The Centre on April 2, 2008 and was composed of ten dates focusing on the West Coast of the United States. Vedder continued the tour with a second leg in August 2008 composed of fourteen dates focusing on the East Coast and Canada. The second leg of the tour began in Boston, Massachusetts at the Boston Opera House and ended in Chicago, Illinois at the Auditorium Theatre. In June 2009, Vedder followed his 2008 solo tour with another solo tour composed of fourteen dates focusing on the Eastern United States and Hawaii, which began in Albany, New York at the Palace Theatre and continued through to Honolulu at the Hawaii Theatre.

''Ukulele Songs''

Vedder released his second solo album titled ''Ukulele Songs'', a collection of original songs and covers performed on the ukulele, on May 31, 2011. The first single from the album, "Longing to Belong," was released through digital retailers on March 21. A live DVD titled ''Water on the Road'', featuring live performances from two shows in Washington, D.C. during Vedder's 2008 solo tour, was released the same day as ''Ukulele Songs''.

Collaborations

In addition to playing with Pearl Jam and Temple of the Dog, Vedder did perform or record with numerous well-known artists. He has appeared on albums by The Who, Ramones, Neil Young, R.E.M., Neil Finn, Bad Religion, Mark Seymour, Cat Power, Mike Watt, Fastbacks, Wellwater Conspiracy, Jack Irons, and John Doe, and has also recorded with The Strokes, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Supersuckers, Susan Sarandon, and Zeke. In the months of June and July 2006, Vedder made live performances jamming with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, singing on many tracks, including lead vocals on "The Waiting" and backing vocals on "American Girl". Vedder performed the songs "Break on Through (To the Other Side)", "Light My Fire" and "Roadhouse Blues" with the remaining members of The Doors at the 1993 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. He also performed with R.E.M. at the 2007 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. He also performed with The Stooges at the 2010 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Vedder made a guest appearance at the Ramones' last show on August 6, 1996 at the Palace in Hollywood. Vedder has also performed live on stage with some of the biggest names in music and film including Pete Townshend, Paul McCartney, Rolling Stones, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Robert Plant, Flea, Bryan Adams, Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Roger Daltrey, Kings of Leon, Dave Grohl, Perry Farrell, Beck, Sheryl Crow, Jerry Cantrell, Andrew Stockdale, Josh Homme, Mike Ness, Neil Young, Guided By Voices, Ace Frehley, Dave Matthews, Natalie Maines, Tim Robbins, Johnny Depp, and many others.

Other work

Vedder had a brief acting cameo in the 1992 movie, ''Singles'', along with Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam. He appeared as himself, playing drums in lead actor Matt Dillon's backing band, Citizen Dick. He was also interviewed for the 1996 grunge documentary, ''Hype!''. He appears in the 2003 Ramones documentary, ''End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones''. In 2007, he made a cameo as himself in the comedy film, ''Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story''. He appears in the 2007 Tom Petty documentary, ''Runnin' Down a Dream'', the 2008 political documentary, ''Slacker Uprising'', and the 2009 Howard Zinn documentary, ''The People Speak''.

Vedder is known for his outspoken left-wing/liberal social and political views. Discussing his views on current issues in the United States, Vedder said, "People on death row, the treatment of animals, women's right to choose. So much in America is based on religious fundamentalist Christianity. Grow up! This is the modern world!"

In 1992, ''Spin'' printed an article by Vedder, entitled "Reclamation", which detailed his views on abortion. Vedder was outspoken in support of Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader in 2000, and Pearl Jam played a series of concerts on the 2004 Vote for Change tour, supporting the candidacy of John Kerry for U.S. President. Vedder told ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, "I supported Ralph Nader in 2000, but it's a time of crisis. We have to get a new administration in." Vedder supported the candidacy of Barack Obama in 2008.

In his spare time, Vedder is a surfer and active in surf-related conservation efforts, most notably The Surfrider Foundation. Vedder shows his support for environmental activism by sporting an Earth First! tattoo on his right calf. The logo is of a monkey wrench crossed with a stone hammer. Vedder is vegetarian.

Vedder is a longtime and outspoken supporter for the Free the West Memphis 3 movement, a cause that advocates the release of three teenagers (now in their 30's) who were convicted in 1994 of the gruesome murders of three little boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. In an interview with Larry King on December 19, 2007, Damien Echols, who is on death row for the murders, said that Vedder has been the "greatest friend a person could have" and that the two of them have collaborated on songs while he is in prison. The song "Army Reserve" on Pearl Jam's 2006 self-titled album features a lyrical collaboration between Vedder and Echols.

In 2009, Vedder performed in The People Speak a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States”.

Musical style and influences

Critic Jim DeRogatis describes Vedder's vocals as a "Jim Morrison-like vocal growl." Greg Prato of ''Allmusic'' said, "With his hard-hitting and often confessional lyrical style and Jim Morrison-esque baritone, Vedder also became one of the most copied lead singers in all of rock." Vedder has inducted The Doors, Neil Young, the Ramones, and R.E.M. into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in his induction speeches he has cited them all as influences. Other influences that Vedder has cited include Bruce Springsteen, U2, The Who, The Jackson 5, The Beatles, Frank Zappa, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Sonic Youth, Fugazi, Tom Waits, Huey Lewis, Bob Dylan and the Pixies.

Vedder's lyrical topics range from personal ("Alive", "Better Man" (from ''Vitalogy'')) to social and political concerns ("Even Flow" (from ''Ten'')), "World Wide Suicide" (from ''Pearl Jam''). His lyrics have often invoked the use of storytelling and have included themes of freedom, individualism, and sympathy for troubled individuals. Other recurring themes include the use of water metaphors, as well as the idea of leaving everything behind to start again (featured in such songs as "Rearviewmirror" (from ''Vs.''), "MFC" (from ''Yield''), "Evacuation" (from ''Binaural''), and "Gone" (from ''Pearl Jam'')).

Although best known as a vocalist, Vedder also plays guitar on many Pearl Jam songs, beginning with the ''Vs.'' songs "Rearviewmirror" and "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town". When the band started, Gossard and McCready were clearly designated as rhythm and lead guitarists, respectively. The dynamic began to change when Vedder started to play more rhythm guitar during the ''Vitalogy'' era. McCready said in 2006, "Even though there are three guitars, I think there's maybe more room now. Stone will pull back and play a two-note line and Ed will do a power chord thing, and I fit into all that." Vedder's guitar playing helped the band's sound progress toward a more stripped-down style; the songs "Rearviewmirror" and "Corduroy" (from ''Vitalogy'') feature Vedder's raw, punk-influenced guitar playing. As he had more influence on the band's sound, Vedder sought to make the band's musical output less catchy. He said, "I felt that with more popularity, we were going to be crushed, our heads were going to pop like grapes." He has also contributed performances on the ukulele, harmonica, accordion, and electric sitar to various Pearl Jam recordings.

'Weird Al' Yankovic wrote the song "My Baby's in Love with Eddie Vedder" for his album ''Running with Scissors''.

Live performances

Throughout Pearl Jam's career, Vedder has engaged in interactivity with the crowd during the band's concerts. Early in Pearl Jam's existence, Vedder and the band became known for their intense live performances. Vedder participated in stage diving as well as crowd surfing. During the early part of Pearl Jam's career, Vedder was known to climb the stage lighting rig and hang from the stage roof. Looking back at this time, Vedder said, "It's hard for us to watch early performances, even though that's when people think we were on fire and young. Playing music for as long as I had been playing music and then getting a shot at making a record and at having an audience and stuff, it's just like an untamed force...a different kind of energy. And I find it kind of hard to watch those early performances because it's so just fucking, semi-testosterone-fueled or whatever. But it didn't come from jock mentality. It came from just being let out of the gates."

Vedder's perspective on performing changed during the ''Vs.'' era, explaining that "a year later the meaning of a concert to me became, like, 'Wow, what if there was silence between the songs?' Then if I did say anything, then maybe the crowd could ''hear'' it." He also commented in regard to getting a crowd reaction that "you should be able to do it just with chord changes and the way you deliver a song." Even though he has ceased participating in more extreme concert activities, Vedder's connection with the audience has continued to play an important part in the band's concerts. He stated, "I look around the audience, and there's so many faces, and I've looked into the eyes of at least the ones I could see—there's at least 1,000 faces—and I've communicated directly to them and seen where they're coming from...One thing I don't feel is separation from the crowd. I don't feel like we're speaking from a platform, I feel like we are communicating on the same level."

Vedder began incorporating social commentary and political criticism into his lyrics and performances early in his career with Pearl Jam. He usually comments on politics between songs, often to criticize U.S. foreign policy. During Pearl Jam's 1992 appearance on ''MTV Unplugged'', Vedder stood atop his stool, took out a marker pen, and wrote "PRO-CHOICE" down his arm in large letters when the band performed the song "Porch". During Pearl Jam's 2007 Lollapalooza headlining show, Vedder and the band played a song telling the crowd in Chicago to boycott the oil company B.P. Amoco because they had been polluting Lake Michigan.

Personal life

Vedder's first marriage was to longtime girlfriend Beth Liebling. The couple were married in Rome on June 3, 1994. Vedder briefly served as the drummer for Liebling's instrumental experimental rock band Hovercraft in the mid-1990s, going by the stage name Jerome230. Describing his relationship with Liebling, Vedder said, "Relationships can be tough. There are times—I end up putting a lot of time into this music thing. I don't sleep at night. I think I'm probably a very difficult person to deal with. Things never seem to settle down and be normal, and I think that Beth has to deal with a lot. I don't want to get into our personal relations. But at times there is a tension... We are all selfish at heart, I guess. But I just know that without her, I'd be a kite without a string, a nothing man." Vedder and Liebling divorced in September 2000 after a 6-year marriage.

Vedder married model Jill McCormick on September 18, 2010. They have two daughters, Olivia, born June 11, 2004, and Harper Moon, born September 23, 2008. Vedder and McCormick became engaged in December 2009 at the Kennedy Center Honors gala in Washington, D.C. .

Vedder attended San Dieguito High School, now called San Dieguito Academy. Vedder donated proceeds from a 2006 Pearl Jam concert in San Diego toward the construction of a theater for the school in the name of his former drama teacher, Clayton E. Liggett. Liggett was Vedder's mentor in high school. Vedder wrote the song "Long Road" (from ''Merkin Ball'') upon hearing of Liggett's death in 1995.

In a 1998 interview with Janeane Garofalo, Vedder stated a disbelief in God or Christianity, calling them "not good."

Vedder is a friend of The Who guitarist Pete Townshend and former Audioslave and current Soundgarden frontman, Chris Cornell. Townshend discouraged Vedder from retiring in 1993. In late 2007, Vedder wrote the foreword to a new Pete Townshend biography, ''Who Are You: The Life of Pete Townshend''. The book was published in the UK in March 2008 and in the U.S. in October 2008. Vedder was a close friend of the late Ramones guitarist Johnny Ramone, with Vedder being at his side when he died. Since Ramone's death, Vedder and Pearl Jam have played the Ramones' "I Believe in Miracles" regularly at live shows. While driving home from Ramone's funeral, Vedder wrote the lyrics for the Pearl Jam song "Life Wasted" (from ''Pearl Jam''). He is also a friend of famed surfers Kelly Slater, Laird Hamilton, and fellow musicians Jack Johnson and Ben Harper. He was featured with Laird Hamilton in an episode of the documentary series ''Iconoclasts'' in 2006. While surfing with Tim Finn in New Zealand on March 25, 1995, Vedder was carried off the coast and had to be rescued by lifeguards. He also has paddled outrigger canoes on occasion and in 2005 was nearly lost at sea trying to paddle from Moloka'i to Oahu.

Vedder is a Chicago Bulls and Chicago Bears fan and a long-time, die-hard fan of the Chicago Cubs. He is friends with several Chicago sports figures, including former White Sox pitcher Jack McDowell, former Bulls player Dennis Rodman, former Blackhawks player Chris Chelios and Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood. Vedder occasionally wears a Walter Payton jersey while performing onstage. Vedder was wearing a White Sox hat given to him by McDowell during Pearl Jam's 1992 ''Saturday Night Live'' and ''MTV Unplugged'' appearances. In November 1993, Vedder and McDowell were involved in a bar room brawl in New Orleans, Louisiana that resulted in Vedder being arrested for public drunkenness and disturbing the peace. The Pearl Jam song "Black, Red, Yellow" (from the "Hail, Hail" single) is about the Rodman/Michael Jordan/Phil Jackson-era Chicago Bulls teams. The middle of the song features a voice-mail message Rodman left for Vedder asking Vedder to return his call. Vedder sang the national anthem before the third game of the 1998 NBA Finals in Chicago, and has sung "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at five Cubs games since 1998. In 2007, a few days before performing with Pearl Jam in Chicago for Lollapalooza, he threw out the first pitch at Wrigley Field, the home of the Cubs. Vedder wrote a song at the request of former Cubs shortstop and first baseman Ernie Banks paying tribute to the Cubs called "All the Way". On September 18, 2008, the song was made available for digital download via Pearl Jam's official website for US$0.99.

Discography

Solo discography

Year

Album details

Peak chart positions

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*Released: September 18, 2007

J Records>J

*Format: Compact Disc

''[[Ukulele Songs''

*Released: May 31, 2011

*Label: Monkey Wrench

*Format: CD, LP

Temple of the Dog discography

! Year	! Title	! Label	! Track(s)
1991

Pearl Jam discography

''Ten'' (1991)

''Vs.'' (1993)

''Vitalogy'' (1994)

''No Code'' (1996)

''Yield'' (1998)

''Binaural'' (2000)

''Riot Act'' (2002)

''Pearl Jam'' (2006)

''Backspacer'' (2009)

Singles

Year

Single

Peak chart positions

Album

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"You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"

"Hard Sun"

''Into the Wild'' soundtrack

"Better Days"

"Longing to Belong"

"Can't Keep"

"Without You"

Contributions and collaborations

! Year	! Group	! Title	! Label	! Track(s)
	Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready with G. E. Smith	''The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration''		"Masters of War" (live)
Bad Religion	''Recipe for Hate''	Epitaph Records	"[[American Jesus" and Watch It Die
	Mike Watt	''Ball-Hog or Tugboat?''		"Big Train" and "Against the 70's"
Neil Young			"Peace and Love"
	Eddie Vedder with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan		Sony	"Face of Love" and "Long Road"
Eddie Vedder with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan		Sony	"Face of Love" and "Long Road"
Fastbacks	''New Mansions in Sound ''	Sub Pop	"Girl's Eyes"
Gary Heffern	''Painful Days''	Y-records	"Passin' Thru'"
Crowded House			"Everything Is Good for You"
		''Kerouac - kicks joy darkness''	Rykodisc	"Hymn"
Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready	''Tibetan Freedom Concert''	Capitol	"Yellow Ledbetter" (live)
Ramones	''We're Outta Here!''		"Any Way You Want It"
	Pete Townshend		Intersound
Eddie Vedder and Susan Sarandon			"Croon Spoon"
2000	Supersuckers with Eddie Vedder	''Free the West Memphis 3''		"Poor Girl"
	Wellwater Conspiracy	''The Scroll and Its Combinations''		"Felicity's Surprise"
Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready with Neil Young	''America: A Tribute to Heroes''		"Long Road" (live)
	Eddie Vedder		V2 Ada	"You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"
Neil Finn	''7 Worlds Collide''	Nettwerk
		''We're a Happy Family - A Tribute to Ramones''	Columbia	"I Believe in Miracles" and "Daytime Dilemma (Dangers of Love)"
Cat Power	''You Are Free''		"Good Woman" and "Evolution"
The Who	''The Who Live at the Royal Albert Hall''	Steamhammer US
	Pete Townshend	''Magic Bus - Live from Chicago''	Compendia	"Magic Bus" (live) and "Heart to Hang Onto" (live)
Jack Irons	''Attention Dimension''	Breaching Whale	"Shine On You Crazy Diamond"
Red Whyte with Eddie Vedder	''The 5th Symphony Document: Soundtrack''	Folklore	"Lucky Country"
Eddie Vedder and the Walmer High School Choir	''The Molo Sessions''	Ten Club	"Long Road", "Love Boat Captain" and "Better Man"
	Eddie Vedder		Sony	"Face of Love" (with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan), "Long Road" (with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan), and "Dead Man"
Eddie Vedder	''A Brokedown Melody: Music from and Inspired By the Film''		"Goodbye"
Eddie Vedder with The Strokes & Josh Homme			"Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)"
	Eddie Vedder & The Million Dollar Bashers		Columbia	"All Along the Watchtower"
Crowded House	''Seattle, WA 09/01/2007''	Kufala	"World Where You Live" and "Something So Strong"
	Eddie Vedder with Ben Harper	''Body of War: Songs that Inspired an Iraq War Veteran''		"No More" (live)
	''The Golden State''	Independent	"The Golden State Remix" (with Corin Tucker)
Crowded House	''Surf Aid - The Music''	Loop	"World Where You Live"
2010	Eddie Vedder		Monkeywrench Records	"The Long Road" (with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan) and "Better Days"
2011	R.E.M.	''Collapse Into Now''		"It Happened Today"

Awards and nominations

"Guaranteed (Eddie Vedder song) align="center" rowspan="2" align="center" align="center" "Rise" align="center" align="center" align="center" align="center"

Award !! width="30"	Year !! Nominated work !! Category !! Result
Broadcast Film Critics Association	Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	align="center"	Guaranteed" from ''Into the Wild'' ||	Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Song>Best Song
SIMA Waterman's Honorees	2007 ||	Eddie Vedder	Environmentalist of the Year
rowspan="2"	Golden Globe Awards	2008 ||	"Guaranteed" from ''Into the Wild''	Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song>Best Original Song
''Into the Wild'' (with Michael Brook and Kaki King)	Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score>Best Original Score
rowspan="2"	Grammy Awards	2008 ||	"Guaranteed" from ''Into the Wild''	Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media>Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media
align="center"	2009	|	Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo>Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo
mtvU#Woodie Awards	mtvU Woodie Awards	2008 ||	Eddie Vedder	The Good Woodie
Satellite Awards	2007 ||	"Rise" from ''Into the Wild''	Satellite Award for Best Original Song>Best Original Song
Online Film Critics Society	Online Film Critics Society Awards	2008 ||	''Into the Wild'' (with Michael Brook and Kaki King)	Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Original Score>Best Original Score
World Soundtrack Academy	World Soundtrack Awards	2008 ||	"Guaranteed" from ''Into the Wild''	World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Song Written Directly for a Film>Best Original Song Written Directly for a Film

References

External links

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/dec/12/entertainment/la-et-people-speak12-2009dec12

Category:1964 births Category:American atheists Category:American baritones Category:American male singers Category:American rock singers Category:American vegetarians Category:Grunge musicians Category:J Records artists Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Illinois Category:Pearl Jam members Category:People from Evanston, Illinois Category:Rhythm guitarists Category:Temple of the Dog members Category:Ukulele players

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