Name	Eric Schaeffer
Birth date	January 22, 1962
Birth place	New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Director, writer, actor }}

Eric Schaeffer (born January 22, 1962) is an American actor, writer and director.

Career

Schaeffer graduated with a degree in drama and dance from Bard College, in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. After graduating, he drove a NYC cab for 9 years, during which time he wrote two stageplays, a novel, 20 screenplays and various other works.

He rose to fame with fellow actor/writer/director Donal Lardner Ward on the 1993 independent film, ''My Life's in Turnaround'', which was made in 15 days for only $200,000. Schaeffer and Ward parlayed ''Turnaround's'' success into ''Too Something'', a short-lived television series that was briefly renamed "New York Daze."

He signed on as a client of Creative Artists Agency and made a deal to direct, ''If Lucy Fell'', for $3.5 million at Columbia TriStar.

In 1997, he starred opposite model Amanda de Cadenet in ''Fall'', about a cab driver who picks up a model and takes her back to his apartment, where they begin a passionate affair. In 2000, he released ''Wirey Spindell'', a semi-autobiographical tale. ''Never Again'', starring Jill Clayburgh and Jeffrey Tambor, came next and was followed most recently by 2004’s ''Mind the Gap''.

In recent years he has been writing an autobiographical blog about his relationships and ongoing search for love in a blog entitled, "I Can't Believe I'm Still Single." Schaeffer has turned the blog into a book of the same name. In 2008, Schaeffer debuted a reality television show on Showtime, also called, ''"I Can't Believe I'm Still Single."''

In 2009, Schaeffer and Jill Franklyn created the half-hour dramedy series ''Gravity'' for Starz. The series about people who have failed at suicide—originally titled ''Failure to Fly''—stars Schaeffer along with Krysten Ritter, Ivan Sergei, Ving Rhames and Rachel Hunter. It began airing in April 2010. On June 30, 2010, the show was cancelled.

Schaeffer is a native of New York City, with a second home in Vermont.

Credits

Writer, director and actor

''My Life's in Turnaround'' (1993 film) as Splick

''Too Something'' (1995 series) as Eric McDougal

''If Lucy Fell'' (1996 film) as Joe MacGonaughgill

''Fall (1997 film) as Michael Shiver

''Wirey Spindell'' (2000 film) as Wirey Spindell

''Never Again'' (2001 film)

''Mind The Gap'' (2004 film) as Sam Blue

''Starved'' (2005 series) as Sam

''Gravity'' (2010 series) as Detective Miller

''They're Out of the Business'' (2011 film) as Splick

''Winter'' (2011 film) as Michael Shiver

Actor (only)

''The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes'' (1995 film) as Rich Prentiss

''Gunshy'' (1998 film) as Gwynne

''Everything's Relative'' (1999 series) as Marty Gorelick

''First Years'' (2001 series) as Sam O'Donnell

''One Night at McCool's'' (2001 film) as Greg Spradling

''The Dead Zone'': “Valley of the Shadow” (2003-01-05 episode) as Francis Ritter

''Century City'' (2004 series) as Darwin McNeil

''Marmalade'' (2004 film) as Dan

''Spanglish'' (2004 film) as Rabid Sports Fan

References

External links

Bankrate.com interview

UGO interview

Eric Schaeffer wants to marry you - Salon.com

Whipping Boy - interview from Nerve.com

Category:1962 births Category:Actors from New York Category:American bloggers Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:Bard College alumni Category:Living people Category:People from New York City

de:Eric Schaeffer

name	Celine Dion
background	solo_singer
birth name	Céline Marie Claudette Dion
birth date	March 30, 1968
origin	Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada
instrument	Vocals
genre	Pop, dance-pop, pop rock, soft rock, adult contemporary
occupation	Singer, songwriter-composer, actress
years active	1980–present
label	Sony Music Canada, Epic, 550, Columbia
networth	over US$250 million (Jan. 2007)
website
associated acts	Andrea Bocelli, R. Kelly, Peabo Bryson, Barbra Streisand, the Bee Gees, Luciano Pavarotti }}

Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , (; born March 30, 1968), is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record. In 1990, she released the English-language album ''Unison'', establishing herself as a viable pop artist in North America and other English-speaking areas of the world.

Dion had first gained international recognition in the 1980s by winning both the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest. Following a series of French albums in the early 1980s, she signed on to CBS Records Canada in 1986. During the 1990s, with the help of Angélil, she achieved worldwide fame after signing with Epic Records and releasing several English albums along with additional French albums, becoming one of the most successful artists in pop music history. However, in 1999 at the height of her success, Dion announced a hiatus from entertainment in order to start a family and spend time with her husband, who had been diagnosed with cancer. She returned to the top of pop music in 2002 and signed a three-year (later extended to almost five years) contract to perform nightly in a five-star theatrical show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas.

Dion's music has been influenced by genres ranging from rock and R&B; to gospel and classical. While her releases have often received mixed critical reception, she is renowned for her technically skilled and powerful vocals. Dion is the best-selling Canadian artist of all time, is the second best-selling female artist in the US during the Nielsen SoundScan era, and is the only female artist to have two singles sell more than a million copies in the UK. In addition, her 1995 album ''D'eux'', is the best-selling French-language album of all time. In 2004, after surpassing 175 million in album sales worldwide, she was presented with the Chopard Diamond Award at the World Music Awards for becoming the best-selling female artist of all time. According to Sony Music Entertainment, Dion has sold over 200 million albums worldwide.

Life and career

Childhood and early beginnings

The youngest of 14 children born to Adhémar Dion and Thérèse Tanguay, both of French-Canadian descent, Celine Dion was raised a Roman Catholic in a poverty-stricken, but, by her own account, happy home in Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada. Music had always been a part of the family (Dion was named after the song ''Céline'', recorded by French singer Hugues Aufray two years before her birth), as she grew up singing with her siblings in her parents' small piano bar called ''Le Vieux Baril''. From an early age Dion had dreamed of being a performer. In a 1994 interview with ''People'' magazine, she recalled, "I missed my family and my home, but I don't regret having lost my adolescence. I had one dream: I wanted to be a singer."

At age 12, Dion collaborated with her mother and her brother Jacques to compose her first song, "Ce n'était qu'un rêve" ("It Was Only a Dream"). Her brother Michel Dondalinger Dion sent the recording to music manager René Angélil, whose name he discovered on the back of a Ginette Reno album. Angélil was moved to tears by Dion's voice, and decided to make her a star. In 1981, he mortgaged his home to fund her first record, ''La voix du bon Dieu'' ("The Voice of the Good God"), which later became a local number-one hit and made Dion an instant star in Quebec. Her popularity spread to other parts of the world when she competed in the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo, Japan, and won the musician's award for "Top Performer" as well as the gold medal for "Best Song" with "Tellement j'ai d'amour pour toi" ("I Have So Much Love for You").

By 1983, in addition to becoming the first Canadian artist to receive a gold record in France for the single "D'amour ou d'amitié" ("Of Love or of Friendship"), Dion had also won several Félix Awards, including "Best Female performer" and "Discovery of the Year". Further success in Europe, Asia, and Australia came when Dion represented Switzerland in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest with the song ''Ne partez pas sans moi'' (''Don't Go Without Me'') and won the contest by a close margin in Dublin, Ireland. However, American success was yet to come, partly because she was exclusively a Francophone artist. At eighteen, after seeing a Michael Jackson performance, Dion told Angélil that she wanted to be a star like Jackson. Though confident in her talent, Angélil realized that her image needed to be changed in order for her to be marketed worldwide. Dion receded from the spotlight for a number of months, during which she underwent dental surgery to improve her appearance, and was sent to the École Berlitz in 1989 to polish her English.

In 1989, during a concert on ''Incognito Tour'', Dion injured her voice. She consulted the otorhinolaryngologist William Gould. He gave her an ultimatum: have surgery on her vocal cords, or not utilize them at all for three weeks. The album was largely influenced by 1980s soft rock music that quickly found a niche within the adult contemporary radio format. ''Unison'' also hit the right notes with critics: Jim Faber of ''Entertainment Weekly'' wrote that Dion's vocals were "tastefully unadorned", and that she never attempted to "bring off styles that are beyond her". Stephen Erlewine of ''Allmusic'' declared it as, "a fine, sophisticated American debut." Singles from the album included "(If There Was) Any Other Way", "The Last to Know", "Unison", and "Where Does My Heart Beat Now", a mid-tempo soft-rock ballad which made prominent use of the electric guitar. The latter became her first single to reach the top-ten on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at number-four. The album established Dion as a rising singer in the United States, and across Continental Europe and Asia.

In 1991, Dion was also a soloist in ''Voices That Care'', a tribute to American troops fighting in Operation Desert Storm. Dion's real international breakthrough came when she duetted with Peabo Bryson on the title track to Disney's animated film ''Beauty and the Beast'' (1991). The song captured a musical style that Dion would utilize in the future: sweeping, classically influenced ballads with soft instrumentation. Both a critical and commercial hit, the song became her second U.S. top-ten single, and won the Academy Award for Best Song, and the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. "Beauty and the Beast" was featured on Dion's 1992 self-titled album, which, like her debut, had a strong rock influence combined with elements of soul and classical music. Owing to the success of the lead-off single and her collaboration with Foster and Diane Warren, the album was as well received as ''Unison''. Other singles that achieved moderate success included "If You Asked Me To" (a cover of Patti LaBelle's song from the 1989 movie ''Licence to Kill'') which peaked at number-four on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100, the gospel-tinged "Love Can Move Mountains", and "Nothing Broken But My Heart".

As with Dion's earlier releases, the album had an overtone of love. Also during this time, Dion released the Francophone album ''Dion chante Plamondon'' in 1991. The album consisted mostly of covers, but included 4 new songs, which included "Des mots qui sonnent", "Je danse dans ma tête", "Quelqu'un que j'aime, quelqu'un qui m'aime" and "L'amour existe encore". It was originally released in Canada and France during the 1991–1992 period, but then got an international release in 1994, the first French Celine Dion album to do so. "Un garçon pas comme les autres (Ziggy)" became a smash hit in France, reaching number-two and being certified gold. In Quebec, the album was certified Gold the day it was released.

By 1992 ''Unison'', ''Céline Dion'', and media appearances had propelled Dion to superstardom in North America. She had achieved one of her main objectives: wedging her way into the Anglophone market and achieving fame. However, while she was experiencing rising success in the U.S., her French fans in Canada criticized her for neglecting them. She would later regain her fan base at the Félix Award show, where, after winning "English Artist of the Year", she openly refused to accept the award. She asserted that she was—and would always be—a French, not an English, artist. Apart from her commercial success, there were also changes in Dion's personal life, as Angélil, who was twenty-six years her senior, transitioned from manager to lover. However, the relationship was kept a secret as they both feared that the public would find their relations inappropriate.

Popularity established: 1993–1995

In 1993, Dion announced her feelings for her manager by declaring him "the colour of [her] love" in the dedication section of her third English-language album ''The Colour of My Love''. However, instead of criticizing their relationship as Dion had feared, fans embraced the couple. Eventually, Angélil and Dion married in an extravagant wedding ceremony in December 1994, which was broadcast live on Canadian television.

As it was dedicated to her manager, the album's motif focused on love and romance. It became her most successful record up to that point, selling more than six million copies in the U.S., two million in Canada, and peaking at number-one in many countries. The album also spawned Dion's first U.S., Canadian, and Australian number-one single "The Power of Love" (a remake of Jennifer Rush's 1985 hit), which would become her signature hit until she reached new career heights in the late 1990s. The single "When I Fall in Love", a duet with Clive Griffin, achieved moderate success on the U.S. and Canadian charts, and was nominated for two Grammy Awards, winning one. ''The Colour of My Love'' also became Dion's first major hit in Europe, and in particular the United Kingdom. Both the album and the single "Think Twice" simultaneously occupied the top of the British charts for five consecutive weeks. "Think Twice", which remained at number-one for seven weeks, eventually became the fourth single by a female artist to sell in excess of one million copies in the UK, while the album was eventually certified five-times platinum for two-million copies sold.

Dion kept to her French roots and continued to release many Francophone recordings between each English record. Generally, they achieved more credibility than her English-language works. She released ''À l'Olympia'', a live album that was recorded during one of Dion's concerts at the Paris Olympia in 1994. It had one promotional single, a live version of "Calling You", which peaked at seventy-five on the French Singles Chart. She also recorded a bilingual version of Petit Papa Noël with Alvin and the Chipmunks for the 1994 holiday album ''A Very Merry Chipmunk''. ''D'eux'' (also known as ''The French Album'' in the United States), was released in 1995, and it would go on to become the best-selling French-language album of all time. The album was mostly written and produced by Jean-Jacques Goldman, and amassed huge success with the singles "Pour que tu m'aimes encore" and "Je sais pas". "Pour que tu m'aimes encore" reached number 1 in France and stayed at the top position for twelve weeks. It was later certified Platinum in France. The single also reached the top ten in the UK and Ireland, a rare accomplishment for a French song. The second single off the album, "Je sais pas", reached number-one on the French Singles Chart as well and was certified Silver in France. These songs would later become "If That's What It Takes" and "I Don't Know" on Dion's next English album, ''Falling into You''.

During the mid-1990s, Dion's albums continued to be constructed on the basis of melodramatic ballads, but also with up-tempo pop and adult contemporary themed music. She collaborated with talented craftsman such as Jim Steinman and David Foster who helped her devise more adult contemporary songs. While critical reviews fluctuated, Dion's releases performed increasingly well on the international charts, and in 1996 she won the World Music Award for "World’s Best-selling Canadian Female Recording Artist of the Year" for the third time. By the mid-1990s, she had established herself as one of the best-selling artists in the world.

Worldwide commercial success: 1996–1999

''Falling into You'' (1996), Dion's fourth English-language album, presented the singer at the height of her popularity, and showed a further progression of her music. In an attempt to reach a wider audience, the album combined many elements, such as complex orchestral sounds, African chanting and elaborate musical effects. Additionally, instruments like the violin, Spanish guitar, trombone, the cavaquinho and saxophone created a new sound. The singles encompassed a variety of musical styles. The title track "Falling into You" and "River Deep, Mountain High" (a Tina Turner cover) made prominent use of percussion instruments; "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" (a remake of Jim Steinman's song) and a remake of Eric Carmen's "All by Myself" kept their soft-rock atmosphere, but were combined with the classical sound of the piano; and the number-one single "Because You Loved Me", which was written by Diane Warren, was a ballad that served as the theme to the 1996 film ''Up Close & Personal''.

''Falling into You'' garnered career-best reviews for Dion. While Dan Leroy wrote that it was not very different from her previous work, and Stephen Holden of ''The New York Times'' and Natalie Nichols of the ''Los Angeles Times'' wrote that the album was formulaic, other critics, such as Chuck Eddy of ''Entertainment Weekly'', Stephen Thomas Erlewine of ''AMG'' and Daniel Durchholz, lavished the album as "compelling", "passionate", "stylish", "elegant" and "remarkably well-crafted". ''Falling Into You'' became Dion's most critically and commercially successful album: it topped the charts in many countries and became one of the best-selling albums of all time. In the United States, the album reached number-one, and was later certified 11x Platinum for over 11 million copies shipped. In Canada, the album was certified diamond for over one million copies shipped. The IFPI certified ''Falling into You'' 9x Platinum, an accolade that has been given to only two other albums in history, with one of the two being Dion's own album, ''Let's Talk About Love''. The album also won Grammy Awards for Best Pop Album, and the academy's highest honor Album of the Year. Dion's status on the world stage was further solidified when she was asked to perform "The Power of the Dream" at the opening ceremonies of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. In March 1996, Dion launched the Falling into You Tour in support of her new album, giving concerts around the world for over a year.

Dion followed ''Falling into You'' with ''Let's Talk About Love'' (1997), which was publicized as its sequel. The recording process took place in London, New York City, and Los Angeles, and featured a host of special guests, such as Barbra Streisand on "Tell Him"; the Bee Gees on "Immortality"; and world-renowned tenor Luciano Pavarotti on "I Hate You Then I Love You". Other musicians included Carole King, Sir George Martin, Bryan Adams and Jamaican singer Diana King, who added a reggae tinge to "Treat Her Like a Lady". As with ''Falling into You'', ''Let's Talk About Love'' was a major success for Dion, reaching number-one all over the world, attaining platinum status in twenty-four sales territories, and becoming Dion's fastest selling album of her career. In the United States, the album topped the chart in its seventh week of release, and was later certified 10x Platinum in the U.S. for over 10 million copies shipped. In Canada, the album sold 230,212 copies in its first week of release, which became, and still is, a record. It was eventually certified diamond in Canada for over 1 million copies shipped. The most successful single from the album became the classically influenced ballad "My Heart Will Go On", which was written and composed by James Horner and Will Jennings, and produced by Horner and Walter Afanasieff. Serving as the love theme for the 1997 blockbuster film ''Titanic'', the song topped the charts across the world, and became Dion's signature song; as well as winning the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Song. The song also gave Dion two Grammy Awards for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance" and the most coveted "Record of the Year", (the song itself won four awards, but two were presented to the songwriters). "My Heart Will Go On" and "Think Twice" made her the only female artist in the UK to have two singles to sell more than a million copies. In support of her album, Dion embarked on the Let's Talk About Love Tour between 1998 and 1999.

Dion ended the 1990s with three more extremely successful albums—the Christmas album ''These Are Special Times'' (1998), the French-language album, ''S'il suffisait d'aimer'', and the compilation album ''All the Way... A Decade of Song'' (1999). On ''These Are Special Times'', Dion became more involved in the writing process. She co-wrote the song, ''Don't Save It All For Christmas Day'' along with Ric Wake and Peter Zizzo. The album was her most classically influenced yet, with orchestral arrangements found on virtually every track. "I'm Your Angel", a duet with R. Kelly, became Dion's fourth U.S. number one single, and another hit single across the world. ''All the Way... A Decade of Song'' drew together her most successful hits coupled with seven new songs, including the lead off single "That's the Way It Is", a cover of Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", and "All the Way", a duet with Frank Sinatra. The album itself was also extremely successful worldwide, reaching number-one in the United States for three weeks. The album was later certified 7x Platinum in the U.S. for 7 million copies shipped. ''All the Way... A Decade of Song'' also topped the charts in the UK, Canada, and Australia. Her last French-language studio album of the 1990s, ''S'il suffisait d'aimer'', was very successful as well, topping the charts in every major French-speaking country, including France, Switzerland, Belgium Wallonia, and Canada. By the end of the 1990s, Celine Dion had sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, and had won a slew of industry awards. Her status as one of the music industry's biggest pop divas was further solidified when she was asked to perform on VH1's ''Divas Live'' special in 1998, with superstars Aretha Franklin, Gloria Estefan, Shania Twain and Mariah Carey. That year she also received two of the highest honours from her home country: "Officer of the Order of Canada for Outstanding Contribution to the World of Contemporary Music" and "Officer of the National Order of Quebec". A year later she was inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame, and was honoured with a star on Canada's Walk of Fame.

During this time, the pop-rock genre that was more noticeable in her earlier releases, was replaced by a more adult contemporary feel. However, the theme of "love" remained in most of her releases, which led to some critics dismissing her music as banal. Other critics, like Elysa Gardner and Jose F. Promis, praised her vocals during this period, describing it as a "technical marvel". However, others, like Steve Dollar, who reviewed ''These Are Special Times'', stated that Dion is a "vocal Olympian for whom there ain't no mountain—or scale—high enough."

Career break: 2000–2002

After releasing and promoting thirteen albums during the 1990s, Dion stated that she needed to settle down, and announced on her latest album ''All the Way... A Decade of Song'', that she needed to take a step back from the spotlight and enjoy life. Angélil's diagnosis with throat cancer also prompted her to hiatus. While on break, Dion was unable to escape the spotlight. In 2000, the ''National Enquirer'' published a false story about the singer. Brandishing a picture of Dion and her husband, the magazine misquoted Dion, printing the headline, "Celine — 'I'm Pregnant With Twins!'" Dion later sued the magazine for more than twenty million dollars. The editors of the ''Enquirer'' printed an apology and a full retraction to Dion in the next issue, and donated money to the American Cancer Society in honor of Dion and her husband. A year after the incident, after undergoing fertility treatments, Dion gave birth to a son, René-Charles Dion Angélil, on January 25, 2001, in Florida. Following the September 11, 2001, attacks, Dion returned to the music scene, and in a televised performance sang "God Bless America" at the benefit concert America: A Tribute to Heroes. Chuck Taylor of ''Billboard'' wrote, "the performance... brings to mind what has made her one of the celebrated vocalists of our time: the ability to render emotion that shakes the soul. Affecting, meaningful, and filled with grace, this is a musical reflection to share with all of us still searching for ways to cope." In December 2001, Dion published her autobiography, ''My Story, My Dream'' which chronicled her rags to riches story.

Return to music: 2002–2003

Dion's aptly titled ''A New Day Has Come'', released in March 2002, ended her three-year break from the music industry. The album was Dion's most personal yet, and established a more mature side of Dion with the songs "A New Day Has Come", "I'm Alive", and "Goodbye's (The Saddest Word)", a change that resulted from her new-found maternal responsibilities, because, in her own words, "becoming a mother makes you a grown-up." She stated, "''A New Day Has Come'', for Rene, for me, is the baby. It has everything to do with the baby...That song "A New Day Has Come" represents very well the mood I'm feeling right now. It represents the whole album." ''A New Day Has Come'' debuted at number one in over 17 countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada. In the United States, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, with first week sales of 527,000 copies; marking her first number one debut on the chart. It was eventually certified 3x Platinum in the United States, and 6x Platinum in Canada.

While the album was commercially successful, critical reviews suggested that it was "forgettable" and the lyrics were "lifeless". Both Rob Sheffield of ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, and Ken Tucker of ''Entertainment Weekly'', stated that Dion's music had not matured during her break, and classed her music as trite and mediocre. Sal Cinquemani of ''Slant'' magazine called the album "a lengthy collection of drippy, gooey pop fluffer-nutter." The first single off the album, ''A New Day Has Come'' peaked at No.22 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, being an airplay-only release. On the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks, however the song spent 21 consecutive weeks at number 1, breaking the record for the longest span at the top. The previous record holders were Phil Collins' ''You'll Be in My Heart'' and Dion's own ''Because You Loved Me,'' both of which lasted nineteen weeks at number 1. During 2002, she performed for many benefit concerts, the famous VH1 Divas Live, a concert to benefit the VH1 Save The Music Foundation, alongside Cher, Anastacia, Dixie Chicks, Mary J. Blige, Whitney Houston, Cyndi Lauper, Shakira and Stevie Nicks.

Drawing inspiration from personal experiences, Dion released ''One Heart'' (2003), an album that represented her appreciation for life. The album largely consisted of dance music—a deviation from the soaring, melodramatic ballads, for which she had once been given mixed reception. Although the album achieved moderate success, ''One Heart'' was met with mixed criticism, and words such as "predictable" and "banal" appeared even in the most lenient reviews. A cover of the 1989 Cyndi Lauper hit "I Drove All Night", released to launch her new advertising campaign with Chrysler, incorporated dance-pop and rock and roll. The advertising deal itself, however was met with mixed criticism, with some stating that Dion was trying to please her sponsors. However, people like Bonita Stewart, who was the director of Chrysler Group Marketing Communications stated that "Chrysler was taken by how her appeal crossed ethnic lines." She also added, "She brings sophistication, refinement, romance and passion to the brand."

After ''One Heart'', Dion released her next English Language studio album, ''Miracle'' (2004). ''Miracle'' was a multimedia project conceived by Dion and photographer Anne Geddes, and had a theme centering on babies and motherhood. The album was filled with lullabies and other songs of maternal love and inspiration, the two most popular being covers of Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" and John Lennon's "Beautiful Boy". The reviews for ''Miracle'' were mixed. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic.com gave the album three of out five stars, stating, "The worst you can say about the record is that there are no surprises, but the audience for this record doesn't want surprises; they want comfort, whether it arrives in polished music or artsy photos of newborns, and Miracle provides both, which makes it appealing for those expectant or new mothers in Dion's audience. Chuck Taylor of ''Billboard'' magazine wrote that the single "Beautiful Boy" was "an unexpected gem" and called Dion "a timeless, enormously versatile artist", Chuck Arnold of ''People'' Magazine, however, labeled the album as excessively sentimental, while Nancy Miller of ''Entertainment Weekly'' opined that "the whole earth-mama act is just opportunism, reborn". ''Miracle'' debuted at number four on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart and number one in Canada , and was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA.

The Francophone album ''1 fille & 4 types'' (''1 Girl & 4 Guys''), released in October 2003, fared better than her first two releases, and showed Dion trying to distance herself from the "diva" image. She recruited Jean-Jacques Goldman, Gildas Arzel, Eric Benzi, and Jacques Veneruso, with whom she had previously worked on two of her best-selling French albums ''S'il suffisait d'aimer'' and ''D'eux''. Labeled "the album of pleasure" by Dion herself, the album cover showed Dion in a simple and relaxed manner, contrary to the choreographed poses usually found on her album covers. The album achieved widespread commercial success in France, Canada, and Belgium where it reached number one. In France, the album debuted at number one and was later certified 2x platinum after selling over 700,000 copies. Critic, Stephen Erlewine of ''AllMusic'' wrote that Dion's vocals "are back at top of their game" and that she was "getting back to pop basics and performing at a level unheard in a while."

Though her albums were commercially successful, they did not achieve the sales or the reception of her previous works. Albums like ''The Collector's Series, Volume One'' (2000), and ''One Heart'' (2003) did not perform as well critically. Her songs received less airplay as radio became less embracing of balladeers like Dion, Carey, and Houston, and was focused on more up-tempo, Urban/Hip-hop songs. However, by 2004, Dion had accumulated sales of more than 175 million albums worldwide, and received the Chopard Diamond Award from the World Music Awards for her achievements. According to the official World Music Awards website, the award is rare; it's not even "presented every year" and an artist can only be presented with the award for selling "over 100 million albums during their career."

''A New Day... Live in Las Vegas'': 2003–2007

In early 2002 Dion had announced a three-year, 600-show contract to appear five nights a week in an entertainment extravaganza, ''A New Day...'', at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. This move was seen as "one of the smartest business decisions in years by any major recording artist". She conceived the idea for the show after seeing ''O'' by Franco Dragone early in her break from recording, and began on March 25, 2003, in a 4,000-seat arena designed for her show. Many stars attended opening night including Dick Clark, Alan Thicke, Kathy Griffin, and Justin Timberlake, who hosted the television special. The show, put together by Dragone, was a combination of dance, music, and visual effects. It included Dion performing her biggest hits against an array of dancers and special effects. Reviewer Mike Weatherford felt that, at first, Dion was not as relaxed as she should be, and at times, it was hard to find the singer among the excessive stage ornamentations and dancers. However, he noted that the show had become more enjoyable, due to Dion's improved stage-presence and simpler costumes.

The show was also well-received by audiences, despite the complaints of expensive tickets; the show routinely sold out until its end in late 2007. Ticket prices averaged $135.33. The show was choreographed by Mia Michaels, who is a world renowned choreographer. According to ''Pollstar'', Dion sold 322,000 tickets and grossed US$43.9 million in the first half of 2005, and by July 2005, she had sold out 315 out of 384 shows. By the end of 2005, Dion grossed more than US$76 million, placing sixth on ''Billboard's Money Makers list for 2005''. ''A New Day...'' was the 6th biggest selling tour in America in 2006. Because of the show's success, Dion's contract was extended into 2007 for an undisclosed sum. On January 5, 2007 it was announced that the show would end on December 15, 2007, with tickets for the period after October 2007 having gone on sale from March 1. During its entire run, the show accumulated a total gross of $400 million, while being seen by nearly 3 million fans. The ''Live in Las Vegas - A New Day...'' DVD was released on December 10, 2007 in Europe and the following day in North America.

Back to studio and world tour: 2007–2009

Dion's latest French language album, ''D'elles'' ''(About Them)'', released on May 21, 2007, debuted at the top of the Canadian album charts, selling 72,200 copies in its first week. It marked her tenth number-one album in the SoundScan era, and her eighth to debut at the top position. In Canada, the album has been certified 2× platinum, and within the first week had already shipped half a million units worldwide. ''D'Elles'' also reached No. 1 in France and Belgium. The first single "Et s'il n'en restait qu'une (je serais celle-là)" (meaning "And If There Was Only One Woman Left (I Would Be That One)") debuted at the top of the French singles chart a month earlier. She released her latest English album ''Taking Chances'' on November 12 in Europe, and on the November 13 in North America. Her first English studio album since 2003's ''One Heart'', it features pop, R&B;, and rock inspired music. Dion has collaborated with John Shanks and ex-Evanescence guitarist Ben Moody, as well as Kristian Lundin, Peer Astrom, Linda Perry, Japanese singer Yuna Ito, and R&B; singer-songwriter Ne-Yo. Dion stated, "I think this album represents a positive evolution in my career ... I'm feeling strong, maybe a little gutsier than in the past, and just as passionate about music and life as I ever was." She launched her year-long worldwide Taking Chances Tour on February 14, 2008 in South Africa, performing 132 dates in stadiums and arenas across five continents.

The Taking Chances Tour was a great success in the United States, reaching the Number 1 spot on the ''Billboard'' Boxscore and it sold out every concert in the U.S. and Canada. In addition, she appeared on Idol Gives Back for a second year in a row. Céline Dion was nominated for six Juno Awards in 2008, leading the group of Canadians to receive this honour,and adding to her 53 previous nominations. Her nominations included Artist of the Year, Pop Album of the Year (for ''Taking Chances''), Francophone Album of the Year (for ''D'elles'') and Album of the Year (for both ''Taking Chances'' and ''D'elles''). The following year, Dion was nominated for 3 Juno Awards including the Fan Choice Award, Song of the Year (for ''Taking Chances''), and Music DVD of the Year (for ''Live in Las Vegas — A New Day...'')

On August 22, 2008, Celine Dion presented a free show, exclusively francophone, outside on the Plains of Abraham, in Quebec City, Canada, for the 400th anniversary of Quebec City. The celebration gathered approximately 490,000 people (total with TV broadcast). The concert, called ''Céline sur les Plaines'', was released on DVD on November 11, 2008 in Quebec and was released on May 20, 2009 in France. The end of October saw the worldwide release of her first ever comprehensive English greatest hits album called ''My Love: Essential Collection'', available in two different album formats.

In May 2009, Celine Dion was named the 20th best-selling artist of the decade in the United States and the second-best-selling female artist of the decade in the United States, selling an estimated 17.57 million albums. In June 2009, ''Forbes'' reported that Dion earned $100 million during 2008. In December 2009, Pollstar announced that Dion was the best-selling solo touring act of the decade and the second-best-selling touring act of the decade, only to the Dave Matthews Band. Dion grossed $522.2 million during the decade, a large sum of that coming from her five-year residence at Caesars Palace.

Concert film and video release: late 2009–2010

On February 17, 2010 Dion released into theatres a documentary film about her ''Taking Chances Tour'', titled, ''Celine: Through the Eyes of the World''. The documentary shows behind-the-scenes footage of Dion both onstage and offstage, along with footage of Dion with her family as they traveled with her. The distributor is the Sony Pictures subsidiary, Hot Ticket. The film was later released on Blu-ray and DVD on May 4, 2010, along with the CD/DVD, ''Taking Chances World Tour: The Concert'', which chronicled her world tour of the same name. At the 52nd Grammy Awards in February 2010, Dion joined Carrie Underwood, Usher, Jennifer Hudson and Smokey Robinson to perform the song "Earth Song" during the 3-D Michael Jackson tribute.

In January 2010, ''The Los Angeles Times'' presented its annual list of the top ten largest earners of the year, revealing that Dion took the top spot for the entire decade, with $US747.9 million in total revenue from 2000–2009. The largest haul came from ticket sales, totaling $522.2 million. Additionally, Dion was named "Artist of the Decade" in her native Canadian province of Quebec, announced by the Montreal-based newspaper, ''Le Journal de Quebec'' in 2009 December. A public online survey asked responders to vote for who they believe deserved the above-mentioned accolade.

Furthermore, in a May 2010 Harris Poll, Dion was named the most popular musician in the United States, ahead of U2, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles, while factoring in gender, political affiliations, geographic region of residence, and income. Specifically, Dion was the most popular musician in the female demographic, as well as among all Democrats, those who live in the eastern United States and southern United States, and those who have incomes between US$35k and US$74.9k.

In September 2010, she released the single "Voler", a duet with French singer Michel Sardou. The song was later included on Sardou's album. In addition, it was announced in October 2010 that Dion wrote and composed a new song for Canadian singer, Marc Dupré entitled "Entre deux mondes".

New Las Vegas show: 2011–present

In an interview with ''People Magazine'' published in February 2010, Dion announced that she will be returning to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for ''Celine'', a three-year residency for seventy shows a year, beginning March 15, 2011. She stated that the show will feature, "all the songs from my repertoire that people want to hear" and will contain a selection of music from classic Hollywood films. Dion has also announced that she is working on two new studio albums, in French and English.

In preparation for her return to Las Vegas, Dion, on February 21 made an appearance on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" during the show's final season, and spoke about her upcoming Caesars Palace shows, as well as her family. Additionally, for a record sixth time, Dion performed at the 83rd Academy Awards, where she sang the song "Smile," as part of the ceremony's "In Memoriam" segment.

Personal life

Dion first met her husband and manager, Rene Angelil in 1980, when she was 12 and he was 38, after she and her mother sent him a demo tape of a song they had written. They began a relationship in 1987, and became engaged in 1991. They married on December 17, 1994, at the Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal, Quebec. On January 5, 2000, Dion and Angelil renewed their wedding vows in Las Vegas.

In May 2000, Dion had two small operations at a fertility clinic in New York to improve her chances of conceiving, after deciding to use in-vitro fertilisation after years of failed attempts to conceive. Their first child, Rene-Charles Angelil, was born on January 25, 2001. In May 2010, Angelil announced that Dion was 14 weeks pregnant with twins after a sixth treatment of in-vitro fertilisation. On Saturday, October 23, 2010, at 11:11 and 11:12 am respectively, at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, Dion, by Caesarean section, gave birth to two healthy fraternal twins weighing 5 pounds 10 ounces and 5 pounds 4 ounces. The twins were named Eddy, after Dion's favorite Algerian songwriter Eddy Marnay, and Nelson, after former South African President Nelson Mandela. Dion appeared with her newborn sons on the cover of the December 9, 2010 issue of the Canadian edition of ''Hello!'' magazine.

On October 15, 2010, Céline Dion was nominated Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Artistry and image

Dion grew up listening to the music of Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Carole King, Anne Murray, Barbra Streisand, and the Bee Gees, all of whom she would eventually collaborate with. Dion has also stated she grew up listening to artists such as Janis Joplin, the Doobie Brothers, and Creedence Clearwater Revival, but never got the chance to sing their genre of music. She also was inspired by fellow vocalist Whitney Houston, whom Dion has often been compared to. Her music has been influenced by numerous genres, including pop, rock, gospel, R&B; and soul, and her lyrics focus on themes of poverty, world hunger, and spirituality, with an emphasis on love and romance. After the birth of her child, her work also began to emphasize maternal bond and brotherly love.

Dion has faced considerable criticism from critics, who state that her music often retreats behind pop and soul conventions, and is marked by excessive sentimentality. According to Keith Harris of ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, "[Dion's] sentimentality is bombastic and defiant rather than demure and retiring....[she] stands at the end of the chain of drastic devolution that goes Aretha-Whitney-Mariah. Far from being an aberration, Dion actually stands as a symbol of a certain kind of pop sensibility—bigger is better, too much is never enough, and the riper the emotion the more true." Dion's francophone releases, by contrast, tend to be deeper and more varied than her English releases, and consequently have achieved more credibility.

Critics have stated that Dion's involvement in the production aspect of her music is fundamentally lacking, which results in her work being overproduced and impersonal. However, coming from a family in which all of her siblings were musicians, she learned to play instruments like piano and guitar, and practiced with a Fender Stratocaster during the recording sessions of her album, ''Falling into You''. Also, she helped to compose many of her earlier French songs, and had always tried to involve herself with the production and recording of her albums. On her first English album, which she recorded before she had a firm command of the English language, she expressed disapproval of the record, which could have been avoided if she had assumed more creative input. By the time she released her second English album ''Celine Dion'', she had assumed more control of the production and recording process, hoping to dispel earlier criticisms. She stated, "On the second album I said, 'Well, I have the choice to be afraid one more time and not be 100% happy, or not be afraid and be part of this album.' This is my album." She would continue to involve herself in the production of subsequent releases, helping to write a few of her songs on ''Let's Talk About Love'' (1997) and ''These Are Special Times'' (1998).

Dion is often the subject of media ridicule and parody, and is frequently impersonated on shows like ''MADtv'', ''Saturday Night Live'', ''South Park'', ''Royal Canadian Air Farce'' and ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes'' for her strong accent and on-stage movements. However, Dion has stated that she is unaffected by the comments, and is flattered that people take the time to impersonate her. She even invited Ana Gasteyer, who parodied her on SNL, to appear on stage during one of her performances. While she is rarely politically outspoken, in 2005 following the Hurricane Katrina disaster, Dion appeared on ''Larry King Live'' and tearfully criticized the U.S. government's slow response in aiding the victims of the hurricane: "There's people still there waiting to be rescued. To me that is not acceptable...How can it be so easy to send planes in another country to kill everybody in a second and destroy lives. We need to serve our country." After her interview, she stated, "When I do interviews with Larry King or the big TV shows like that, they put you on the spot, which is very difficult. I do have an opinion, but I'm a singer. I'm not a politician."

Voice

Dion is often regarded as one of pop music's most influential voices. She has been described as a reigning "Queen of Pop" for her influence over the record industry during the 1990s, alongside other female entertainers, including Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. In a countdown of the "22 Greatest Voices in Music" by ''Blender Magazine'' and MTV, she placed ninth (sixth for a female), and she was also placed fourth in ''Cove'' magazine's list of "The 100 Outstanding Pop Vocalists." Dion is often compared to Mariah Carey for her vocal style and to her idol, Barbra Streisand, for her voice.

According to various sources, Dion possesses a five-octave vocal range. Regarding the power of Dion's voice, Regine Crespin states, "The volume as such is thin, but thanks to her perfect mastery of the nasal backing, her voice acquires an incisive and penetrating timbre, with a great harmonic richness." Dion states she is a mezzo-soprano, while Regine Crespin and André Tubeuf state she is probably a lyric soprano. However, attempts to adopt classical voice types to other forms of singing has been met with controversy. Without making a classification, maestro Kent Nagano remarked, "All you just sang was soprano," after Dion auditioned with two solos of ''Carmen,'' wanting to know if she could sing opera. Her timbre has been described as "fresh," as well as "thin, slightly nasal, nearly vibratoless," with a "raspy" lower register and "bell glass-like high notes." According to French soprano, Regine Crespin, Dion's voice is "comparable to oboe, because of its nasal and fruity timbre and it is mordant in high notes." Crespin is also circumspect about Dion's highest notes, stating, "She doesn't have a head voice," further remarking, "she uses falsetto," which is "disconnected to the normal voice body."

Dion is often praised for her technical virtuosity. Stephen Holden of ''The New York Times,'' writes, "Ms. Dion [...] is a belter with a high, thin, slightly nasal, nearly vibratoless soprano and a good-sized arsenal of technical skills. She can deliver tricky melismas, produce expressive vocal catches and sustain long notes without the tiniest wavering of pitch. And as her duets [...] have shown, she is a reliable harmony voice." In an interview with ''Libération'', Jean-Jacques Goldman states that she has "no problem of accuracy or tempo." According to Kent Nagano, maestro of the Munich Symphony Orchestra, Dion is "a musician who has a good ear, a refinement, and a degree of perfection that is envious." Mezzo-soprano, Cecilia Bartoli and soprano, Joan Sutherland have expressed that Dion has a very good legato, while Charles Alexander of ''TIME'' states, "[Her] voice glides effortlessly from deep whispers to dead-on high notes, a sweet siren that combines force with grace."

In her French repertoire, Dion adorns her vocals with more nuances and modulations, with the emotional intensity being "more tender and intimate." Additionally, Luc Plamondon, a French singer-songwriter who has written several works for Dion states that there are three chanteuse that Dion uses: the Québécois, the French, and the American. Her latest fragrance, ''Pure Brilliance'' is scheduled to be released in September 2010. Since its inception, ''Celine Dion Parfums'' has grossed over $850 million in retail sales. In October 2004, Air Canada hired Dion as part of their promotional campaign to unveil new service products and an updated livery. "You and I", the theme song sung by Dion, was written by advertising executives working for Air Canada.

Dion has actively supported many charity organizations, worldwide. She has promoted the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CCFF) since 1982, and became the foundation's National Celebrity Patron in 1993. She has an emotional attachment to the foundation; her niece Karine succumbed to the disease at the age of sixteen. In 2003, Dion joined a number of other celebrities, athletes, and politicians, including Josh Groban and Yolanda Adams to support "World Children's Day", a global fundraising effort sponsored by McDonald's. The effort raised money from more than 100 nations and benefited orphanages and children's health organizations. In addition, Dion has been a major supporter of the T.J. Martell Foundation, the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, and many health and educational campaigns. During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Dion donated $1 million to the victims of the storm, and held a fund-raising event for the victims of the 2004 Asian Tsunami, which subsequently raised more than $1 million. After the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Dion donated $100,000 to China Children & Teenagers' Fund and sent a letter showing her consolation and support.

In 1999, Dion received a star on Canada's Walk of Fame and also a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in January 2004. She dedicated her star to her father, who died the month prior. In 2007, Celine Dion was ranked by ''Forbes'' as the 5th richest woman in entertainment with an estimated net worth of US$250 million. She also received France's highest award, the Légion d'honneur, in May 2008. In August 2008, she received an honorary doctorate in music from the Université Laval in Quebec City. In October 2010, Dion was named a Goodwill Ambassador, a program created by the UN in 1999. She shared this accolade with Oscar-winner, Susan Sarandon.

Discography

1981: ''La voix du bon Dieu''

1981: ''Céline Dion chante Noël''

1982: ''Tellement j'ai d'amour...''

1983: ''Les chemins de ma maison''

1983: ''Chants et contes de Noël''

1984: ''Mélanie''

1985: ''C'est pour toi''

1987: ''Incognito''

1990: ''Unison''

1991: ''Dion chante Plamondon''

1992: ''Celine Dion''

1993: ''The Colour of My Love''

1995: ''D'eux''

1996: ''Falling into You''

1997: ''Let's Talk About Love''

1998: ''S'il suffisait d'aimer''

1998: ''These Are Special Times''

2002: ''A New Day Has Come''

2003: ''One Heart''

2003: ''1 fille & 4 types''

2004: ''Miracle''

2007: ''D'elles''

2007: ''Taking Chances''

Tours

!Year	!Title	!Releases
1983–1984	Les chemins de ma maison tournée	None
1985	C'est pour toi tournée	Vinyl ''Céline Dion en concert''
1988	Incognito tournée	None
1990–1991	Unison Tour
1992–1993	Celine Dion in Concert	None
1994–1995	The Colour of My Love Tour	VHS/DVD ''The Colour of My Love Concert''; CD ''À l'Olympia''
1995	D'eux Tour
1996–1997	Falling into You Tour	VHS ''Live in Memphis''
1998–1999	Let's Talk About Love World Tour
2003–2007	''A New Day...''	DVD/BD ''Live in Las Vegas - A New Day...''; CD ''A New Day... Live in Las Vegas''
2008–2009	Taking Chances Tour	DVD ''Céline sur les Plaines''; DVD/BD ''Celine: Through the Eyes of the World''; DVD/CD ''Taking Chances World Tour: The Concert''
2011–2014

Filmography

''Touched by an Angel''

''The Nanny''

''All My Children''

''La fureur de Céline''

''Des fleurs sur la neige''

''Céline sur les Plaines''

''Celine: Through the Eyes of the World''

See also

List of awards received by Celine Dion

Celine Dion videography

List of best-selling music artists

Notes

References

}}

''Céline Dion''. Artist direct. Retrieved on December 18, 2005.

"Celine Dion." ''Contemporary Musicians, Volume 25''. Gale Group, 1999.

"Celine Dion." ''Newsmakers 1995'', Issue 4. Gale Research, 1995.

''Céline Dion'' Rock on the Net. Retrieved November 20, 2005.

Céline Dion ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. Retrieved July 2, 2006

''Céline Dion'' provided by VH1.com Retrieved August 16, 2005.

''Dion extends long Las Vegas stint'' bbc news. com. Retrieved November 5, 2005.

Durchholz, Daniel. ''Review: One Heart''. ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch''. St. Louis, Mo.: April 24, 2003. p. F.3

''The 100 Outstanding Pop Vocalist'' covemagazine.com Retrieved November 1, 2005.

''Joel Whitburn Presents the Billboard Hot 100 Charts: The Nineties'' (ISBN 0-89820-137-3)

''The Journey so far'' celinedion.com. Retrieved August 16, 2005.

World Music Awards ''Diamond Award'' Retrieved November 1, 2005, (Search by year required)

Céline Dion's biography ''Biography'' Retrieved April 7, 2006.

Céline DTV Series ''TV Series'' Retrieved April 15, 2006.

Further reading

}}

External links

CelineDion.com – Official website operated by Sony Music Canada (English, French).

Celine Dion YouTube Channel

Celine Dion at WN

[ Celine Dion] at Allmusic

Celine Dion at Billboard.com

FAO Goodwill Ambassador website

Johnny Loganwith "Hold Me Now"}} Rivawith "Rock Me"}}

Category:Articles with inconsistent citation formats Category:1968 births Category:Ballad musicians Category:Canadian expatriate musicians in the United States Category:Canadian female singers Category:Canadian child singers Category:Canadian dance musicians Category:Canadian philanthropists Category:Canadian pop singers Category:Canadian people of French descent Category:Canadian Roman Catholics Category:Canadian sopranos Category:Canadian voice actors Category:Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Category:Companions of the Order of Canada Category:English-language singers Category:Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1988 Category:Eurovision Song Contest winners Category:French-language singers Category:French Quebecers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:Juno Award winners Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Montreal Category:Officers of the National Order of Quebec Category:Swiss Eurovision Song Contest entrants Category:World Music Awards winners Category:People from Martin County, Florida Category:People from Henderson, Nevada Category:People from Las Vegas, Nevada Category:People from Toronto Category:Miscarriage victims

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color	#B0C4DE
name	Avram Noam Chomsky
birth date	December 07, 1928
birth place	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
residence	U.S.
nationality	American
field	Linguistics
alma mater	University of Pennsylvania (BA 1949, MA 1951, Ph.D 1955)
Work institutions	MIT
known for	Generative grammaruniversal grammartransformational grammargovernment and binding theoryX-bar theoryChomsky hierarchycontext-free grammarprinciples and parametersMinimalist programlanguage acquisition devicepoverty of the stimulusChomsky–Schützenberger theoremChomsky normal formpropaganda model
Signature	Noam Chomsky signature.svg }}

Avram Noam Chomsky (; born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor (Emeritus) of in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and a major figure of analytic philosophy. His work has influenced fields such as computer science, mathematics, and psychology.

Chomsky is credited as the creator or co-creator of the Chomsky hierarchy theorem, the universal grammar theory, and the Chomsky–Schützenberger theorem.

Chomsky is known for his critiques of U.S. foreign policy, and he has been described as a prominent cultural figure. His social criticism has included ''Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media'' (1988), co-written with Edward S. Herman, an analysis articulating the propaganda model theory for examining the media.

According to the Arts and Humanities Citation Index in 1992, Chomsky was cited as a source more often than any other living scholar from 1980 to 1992. He is also the eighth most cited source of all time, and is considered the "most cited living author". Chomsky is the author of over 100 books.

Life and career

Chomsky was born on the morning of December 7, 1928, to Jewish parents in the affluent East Oak Lane neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of noted professor of Hebrew at Gratz College and IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) member William Chomsky (1896–1977), a native of Ukraine. His mother, Elsie Chomsky (née Simonofsky)—a native of what is present-day Belarus—grew up in the United States and, unlike her husband, spoke "ordinary New York English". Chomsky's parents' first language was Yiddish, but Chomsky said it was "taboo" in his family to speak it. Although Chomsky's mother was part of the radical activism in the 1930s, he was influenced largely by his uncle who, having never passed 4th grade, owned a newsstand that acted as an "intellectual center [where] professors of this and that argu[ed] all night". Chomsky was influenced also by being a part of a Hebrew-based, Zionist organization, as well as by hanging around anarchist bookstores.

He describes his family as living in a sort of "Jewish ghetto", split into a "Yiddish side" and "Hebrew side", with his family aligning with the latter and bringing him up "immersed in Hebrew culture and literature", though he means more a "cultural ghetto than a physical one". Chomsky also describes tensions he experienced with Irish Catholics and German Catholics and anti-semitism in the mid-1930s. He recalls "beer parties" celebrating the fall of Paris to the Nazis. In a discussion of the irony of his staying in the 1980s in a Jesuit House in Central America, Chomsky explained that during his childhood, "We were the only Jewish family around. I grew up with a visceral fear of Catholics. They're the people who beat you up on your way to school. So I knew when they came out of that building down the street, which was the Jesuit school, they were raving anti-Semites. So childhood memories took a long time to overcome."

Chomsky remembers the first article he wrote was at age 10 while a student at Oak Lane Country Day School about the threat of the spread of fascism, following the fall of Barcelona in the Spanish Civil War. From the age of 12 or 13, he identified more fully with anarchist politics.

A graduate of Central High School of Philadelphia, Chomsky began studying philosophy and linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1945, taking classes with philosophers such as C. West Churchman and Nelson Goodman and linguist Zellig Harris. Harris's teaching included his discovery of transformations as a mathematical analysis of language structure (mappings from one subset to another in the set of sentences). Chomsky referred to the morphophonemic rules in his 1951 master's thesis—''The Morphophonemics of Modern Hebrew''—as transformations in the sense of Carnap's 1938 notion of rules of transformation (vs. rules of formation), and subsequently reinterpreted the notion of grammatical transformations in a very different way from Harris, as operations on the productions of a context-free grammar (derived from Post production systems). Harris's political views were instrumental in shaping those of Chomsky. Chomsky earned a BA in 1949 and an MA in 1951.

In 1949, he married linguist Carol Schatz. They remained married for 59 years until her death from cancer in December 2008. The couple had two daughters, Aviva (b. 1957) and Diane (b. 1960), and a son, Harry (b. 1967). With his wife Carol, Chomsky spent time in 1953 living in HaZore'a, a kibbutz in Israel. Asked in an interview whether the stay was "a disappointment" Chomsky replied, "No, I loved it"; however, he "couldn't stand the ideological atmosphere" and "fervent nationalism" in the early 1950s at the kibbutz, with Stalin being defended by many of the left-leaning kibbutz members who chose to paint a rosy image of future possibilities and contemporary realities in the USSR. Chomsky notes seeing many positive elements in the commune-like living of the kibbutz, in which parents and children lived together in separate houses, and when asked whether there were "lessons that we have learned from the history of the kibbutz", responded, that in "some respects, the kibbutzim came closer to the anarchist ideal than any other attempt that lasted for more than a very brief moment before destruction, or that was on anything like a similar scale. In these respects, I think they were extremely attractive and successful; apart from personal accident, I probably would have lived there myself – for how long, it's hard to guess."

Chomsky received his PhD in linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1955. He conducted part of his doctoral research during four years at Harvard University as a Harvard Junior Fellow. In his doctoral thesis, he began to develop some of his linguistic ideas, elaborating on them in his 1957 book ''Syntactic Structures'', one of his best-known works in linguistics.

Chomsky joined the staff of MIT in 1955 and in 1961 was appointed full professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics (now the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy). From 1966 to 1976 he held the Ferrari P. Ward Professorship of Modern Languages and Linguistics, and in 1976 he was appointed Institute Professor. As of 2010, Chomsky has taught at MIT continuously for 55 years.

In February 1967, Chomsky became one of the leading opponents of the Vietnam War with the publication of his essay, "The Responsibility of Intellectuals", in ''The New York Review of Books''. This was followed by his 1969 book, ''American Power and the New Mandarins,'' a collection of essays that established him at the forefront of American dissent. His far-reaching criticisms of U.S. foreign policy and the legitimacy of U.S. power have raised controversy he is frequently sought out for his views by publications and news outlets internationally. In 1977 he delivered the Huizinga Lecture in Leiden, the Netherlands, under the title: ''Intellectuals and the State''.

Chomsky has received death threats because of his criticisms of U.S. foreign policy. He was also on a list of planned targets created by Theodore Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber; during the period that Kaczynski was at large, Chomsky had all of his mail checked for explosives. He states that he often receives undercover police protection, in particular while on the MIT campus, although he does not agree with the police protection.

Chomsky resides in Lexington, Massachusetts, and travels often, giving lectures on politics.

Contributions to linguistics

Chomskyan linguistics, beginning with his ''Syntactic Structures'', a distillation of his '' Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory'' (1955, 75), challenges structural linguistics and introduces transformational grammar. This approach takes utterances (sequences of words) to have a syntax characterized by a formal grammar; in particular, a context-free grammar extended with transformational rules.

Perhaps his most influential and time-tested contribution to the field, is the claim that modeling knowledge of language using a formal grammar accounts for the "productivity" or "creativity" of language. In other words, a formal grammar of a language can explain the ability of a hearer-speaker to produce and interpret an infinite number of utterances, including novel ones, with a limited set of grammatical rules and a finite set of terms. He has always acknowledged his debt to Pāṇini for his modern notion of an explicit generative grammar although it is also related to Rationalist ideas of a priori knowledge.

It is a popular misconception that Chomsky ''proved'' that language is entirely innate and ''discovered'' a "universal grammar" (UG). In fact, Chomsky simply observed that while a human baby and a kitten are both capable of inductive reasoning, if they are exposed to exactly the same linguistic data, the human child will always acquire the ability to understand and produce language, while the kitten will never acquire either ability. Chomsky labeled whatever the relevant capacity the human has which the cat lacks the "language acquisition device" (LAD) and suggested that one of the tasks for linguistics should be to figure out what the LAD is and what constraints it puts on the range of possible human languages. The universal features that would result from these constraints are often termed "universal grammar" or UG.

The Principles and Parameters approach (P&P;)—developed in his Pisa 1979 Lectures, later published as ''Lectures on Government and Binding'' (LGB)—makes strong claims regarding universal grammar: that the grammatical principles underlying languages are innate and fixed, and the differences among the world's languages can be characterized in terms of parameter settings in the brain (such as the pro-drop parameter, which indicates whether an explicit subject is always required, as in English, or can be optionally dropped, as in Spanish), which are often likened to switches. (Hence the term principles and parameters, often given to this approach.) In this view, a child learning a language need only acquire the necessary lexical items (words, grammatical morphemes, and idioms), and determine the appropriate parameter settings, which can be done based on a few key examples.

Proponents of this view argue that the pace at which children learn languages is inexplicably rapid, unless children have an innate ability to learn languages. The similar steps followed by children all across the world when learning languages, and the fact that children make certain characteristic errors as they learn their first language, whereas other seemingly logical kinds of errors never occur (and, according to Chomsky, should be attested if a purely general, rather than language-specific, learning mechanism were being employed), are also pointed to as motivation for innateness.

More recently, in his Minimalist Program (1995), while retaining the core concept of "principles and parameters," Chomsky attempts a major overhaul of the linguistic machinery involved in the LGB model, stripping from it all but the barest necessary elements, while advocating a general approach to the architecture of the human language faculty that emphasizes principles of economy and optimal design, reverting to a derivational approach to generation, in contrast with the largely representational approach of classic P&P.;

Chomsky's ideas have had a strong influence on researchers of the language acquisition in children, though many researchers in this area such as Elizabeth Bates and Michael Tomasello argue very strongly against Chomsky's theories, and instead advocate emergentist or connectionist theories, explaining language with a number of general processing mechanisms in the brain that interact with the extensive and complex social environment in which language is used and learned.

His best-known work in phonology is ''The Sound Pattern of English'' (1968), written with Morris Halle (and often known as simply ''SPE''). This work has had a great significance for the development in the field. While phonological theory has since moved beyond "SPE phonology" in many important respects, the SPE system is considered the precursor of some of the most influential phonological theories today, including autosegmental phonology, lexical phonology and optimality theory. Chomsky no longer publishes on phonology.

Generative grammar

The Chomskyan approach towards syntax, often termed generative grammar, studies grammar as a body of knowledge possessed by language users. Since the 1960s, Chomsky has maintained that much of this knowledge is innate, implying that children need only learn certain parochial features of their native languages. The innate body of linguistic knowledge is often termed Universal Grammar. From Chomsky's perspective, the strongest evidence for the existence of Universal Grammar is simply the fact that children successfully acquire their native languages in so little time. Furthermore, he argues that there is an enormous gap between the linguistic stimuli to which children are exposed and the rich linguistic knowledge they attain (the "poverty of the stimulus" argument). The knowledge of Universal Grammar would serve to bridge that gap.

Chomsky's theories have been immensely influential within linguistics, but they have also received criticism. One recurring criticism of the Chomskyan variety of generative grammar is that it is Anglocentric and Eurocentric, and that often linguists working in this tradition have a tendency to base claims about Universal Grammar on a very small sample of languages, sometimes just one. Initially, the Eurocentrism was exhibited in an overemphasis on the study of English. However, hundreds of different languages have now received at least some attention within Chomskyan linguistic analyses. In spite of the diversity of languages that have been characterized by UG derivations, critics continue to argue that the formalisms within Chomskyan linguistics are Anglocentric and misrepresent the properties of languages that are different from English. Thus, Chomsky's approach has been criticized as a form of linguistic imperialism. In addition, Chomskyan linguists rely heavily on the intuitions of native speakers regarding which sentences of their languages are well-formed. This practice has been criticized on general methodological grounds. Some psychologists and psycholinguists, though sympathetic to Chomsky's overall program, have argued that Chomskyan linguists pay insufficient attention to experimental data from language processing, with the consequence that their theories are not psychologically plausible. Other critics (see language learning) have questioned whether it is necessary to posit Universal Grammar to explain child language acquisition, arguing that domain-general learning mechanisms are sufficient.

Today there are many different branches of generative grammar; one can view grammatical frameworks such as head-driven phrase structure grammar, lexical functional grammar and combinatory categorial grammar as broadly Chomskyan and generative in orientation, but with significant differences in execution.

Chomsky hierarchy

Chomsky is famous for investigating various kinds of formal languages and whether or not they might be capable of capturing key properties of human language. His Chomsky hierarchy partitions formal grammars into classes, or groups, with increasing expressive power, i.e., each successive class can generate a broader set of formal languages than the one before. Interestingly, Chomsky argues that modeling some aspects of human language requires a more complex formal grammar (as measured by the Chomsky hierarchy) than modeling others. For example, while a regular language is powerful enough to model English morphology, it is not powerful enough to model English syntax. In addition to being relevant in linguistics, the Chomsky hierarchy has also become important in computer science (especially in compiler construction and automata theory). Indeed, there is an equivalence between the Chomsky language hierarchy and the different kinds of automata. Thus theorems about languages are often dealt with as either languages (grammars) or automata.

An alternate method of dealing with languages is based upon Formal Power series. Formal Power series as well as the relationship between languages and semi-groups continued to occupy M. P. Schützenberger at the Sorbonne. Formal Power Series are similar to the Taylor Series one encounters in a course on Calculus, and is especially useful for languages where words (terminal symbols) are commutative.

Contributions to psychology

Chomsky's work in linguistics has had profound implications for modern psychology. For Chomsky, linguistics is a branch of cognitive psychology; genuine insights in linguistics imply concomitant understandings of aspects of mental processing and human nature. His theory of a universal grammar was seen by many as a direct challenge to the established behaviorist theories of the time and had major consequences for understanding how children learn language and what, exactly, the ability to use language is.

In 1959, Chomsky published an influential critique of B.F. Skinner's ''Verbal Behavior'', a book in which Skinner offered a theoretical account of language in functional, behavioral terms. He defined "Verbal Behavior" as learned behavior that has characteristic consequences delivered through the learned behavior of others. This makes for a view of communicative behaviors much larger than that usually addressed by linguists. Skinner's approach focused on the circumstances in which language was used; for example, asking for water was functionally a different response than labeling something as water, responding to someone asking for water, etc. These functionally different kinds of responses, which required in turn separate explanations, sharply contrasted both with traditional notions of language and Chomsky's psycholinguistic approach. Chomsky thought that a functionalist explanation restricting itself to questions of communicative performance ignored important questions. (Chomsky—Language and Mind, 1968). He focused on questions concerning the operation and development of innate structures for syntax capable of creatively organizing, cohering, adapting and combining words and phrases into intelligible utterances.

In the review Chomsky emphasized that the scientific application of behavioral principles from animal research is severely lacking in explanatory adequacy and is furthermore particularly superficial as an account of human verbal behavior because a theory restricting itself to external conditions, to "what is learned," cannot adequately account for generative grammar. Chomsky raised the examples of rapid language acquisition of children, including their quickly developing ability to form grammatical sentences, and the universally creative language use of competent native speakers to highlight the ways in which Skinner's view exemplified under-determination of theory by evidence. He argued that to understand human verbal behavior such as the creative aspects of language use and language development, one must first postulate a genetic linguistic endowment. The assumption that important aspects of language are the product of universal innate ability runs counter to Skinner's radical behaviorism.

Chomsky's 1959 review has drawn fire from a number of critics, the most famous criticism being that of Kenneth MacCorquodale's 1970 paper ''On Chomsky’s Review of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior'' (''Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,'' volume 13, pages 83–99). MacCorquodale's argument was updated and expanded in important respects by Nathan Stemmer in a 1990 paper, ''Skinner's Verbal Behavior, Chomsky's review, and mentalism'' (''Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,'' volume 54, pages 307–319). These and similar critiques have raised certain points not generally acknowledged outside of behavioral psychology, such as the claim that Chomsky did not possess an adequate understanding of either behavioral psychology in general, or the differences between Skinner's behaviorism and other varieties. Consequently, it is argued that he made several serious errors. On account of these perceived problems, the critics maintain that the review failed to demonstrate what it has often been cited as doing. As such, it is averred that those most influenced by Chomsky's paper probably either already substantially agreed with Chomsky or never actually read it. The review has been further critiqued for misrepresenting the work of Skinner and others, including by quoting out of context. Chomsky has maintained that the review was directed at the way Skinner's variant of behavioral psychology "was being used in Quinean empiricism and naturalization of philosophy."

It has been claimed that Chomsky's critique of Skinner's methodology and basic assumptions paved the way for the "cognitive revolution", the shift in American psychology between the 1950s through the 1970s from being primarily behavioral to being primarily cognitive. In his 1966 ''Cartesian Linguistics'' and subsequent works, Chomsky laid out an explanation of human language faculties that has become the model for investigation in some areas of psychology. Much of the present conception of how the mind works draws directly from ideas that found their first persuasive author of modern times in Chomsky.

There are three key ideas. First is that the mind is "cognitive", or that the mind actually contains mental states, beliefs, doubts, and so on. Second, he argued that most of the important properties of language and mind are innate. The acquisition and development of a language is a result of the unfolding of innate propensities triggered by the experiential input of the external environment. The link between human innate aptitude to language and heredity has been at the core of the debate opposing Noam Chomsky to Jean Piaget at the Abbaye de Royaumont in 1975 (''Language and Learning. The Debate between Jean Piaget and Noam Chomsky,'' Harvard University Press, 1980). Although links between the genetic setup of humans and aptitude to language have been suggested at that time and in later discussions, we are still far from understanding the genetic bases of human language. Work derived from the model of selective stabilization of synapses set up by Jean-Pierre Changeux, Philippe Courrège and Antoine Danchin, and more recently developed experimentally and theoretically by Jacques Mehler and Stanislas Dehaene in particular in the domain of numerical cognition lend support to the Chomskyan "nativism". It does not, however, provide clues about the type of rules that would organize neuronal connections to permit language competence. Subsequent psychologists have extended this general "nativist" thesis beyond language. Lastly, Chomsky made the concept of "modularity" a critical feature of the mind's cognitive architecture. The mind is composed of an array of interacting, specialized subsystems with limited flows of inter-communication. This model contrasts sharply with the old idea that any piece of information in the mind could be accessed by any other cognitive process (optical illusions, for example, cannot be "turned off" even when they are known to be illusions).

Approach to science

Chomsky sees science as a straightforward search for explanation, and rejects the views of it as a catalog of facts or mechanical explanations. In this light, the majority of his contributions to science have been frameworks and hypotheses, rather than "discoveries."

As such, he considers certain so-called post-structuralist or postmodern critiques of logic and reason to be nonsensical:

I have spent a lot of my life working on questions such as these, using the only methods I know of; those condemned here as "science", "rationality," "logic," and so on. I therefore read the papers with some hope that they would help me "transcend" these limitations, or perhaps suggest an entirely different course. I'm afraid I was disappointed. Admittedly, that may be my own limitation. Quite regularly, "my eyes glaze over" when I read polysyllabic discourse on the themes of poststructuralism and postmodernism; what I understand is largely truism or error, but that is only a fraction of the total word count. True, there are lots of other things I don't understand: the articles in the current issues of math and physics journals, for example. But there is a difference. In the latter case, I know how to get to understand them, and have done so, in cases of particular interest to me; and I also know that people in these fields can explain the contents to me at my level, so that I can gain what (partial) understanding I may want. In contrast, no one seems to be able to explain to me why the latest post-this-and-that is (for the most part) other than truism, error, or gibberish, and I do not know how to proceed.

Although Chomsky believes that a scientific background is important to teach proper reasoning, he holds that science in general is "inadequate" to understand complicated problems like human affairs:

Science talks about very simple things, and asks hard questions about them. As soon as things become too complex, science can’t deal with them... But it’s a complicated matter: Science studies what’s at the edge of understanding, and what’s at the edge of understanding is usually fairly simple. And it rarely reaches human affairs. Human affairs are way too complicated.

Debates

Chomsky has been known to vigorously defend and debate his views and opinions, in philosophy, linguistics, and politics. He has had notable debates with such varied intellectuals as Jean Piaget, Michel Foucault, William F. Buckley, Jr., Christopher Hitchens, George Lakoff, Richard Perle, Hilary Putnam, Willard Quine, and Alan Dershowitz, to name a few. In response to his speaking style being criticized as boring, Chomsky said that "I'm a boring speaker and I like it that way.... I doubt that people are attracted to whatever the persona is.... People are interested in the issues, and they're interested in the issues because they are important." "We don't want to be swayed by superficial eloquence, by emotion and so on."

Political views

Chomsky has stated that his "personal visions are fairly traditional anarchist ones, with origins in The Enlightenment and classical liberalism" and he has praised libertarian socialism. Chomsky tries to avoid the ambiguity of labels, although he has described himself as an anarcho-syndicalist. He is a member of the Campaign for Peace and Democracy and the Industrial Workers of the World international union. He published a book on anarchism titled ''Chomsky on Anarchism'', published by the anarchist book collective AK Press in 2006.

Chomsky has engaged in political activism all of his adult life and expressed opinions on politics and world events, which are widely cited, publicized and discussed. Chomsky has in turn argued that his views are those the powerful do not want to hear and for this reason he is considered an American political dissident.

Chomsky asserts that authority, unless justified, is inherently illegitimate and that the burden of proof is on those in authority. If this burden can't be met, the authority in question should be dismantled. Authority for its own sake is inherently unjustified. An example given by Chomsky of a legitimate authority is that exerted by an adult to prevent a young child from wandering into traffic. He contends that there is little moral difference between chattel slavery and renting one's self to an owner or "wage slavery". He feels that it is an attack on personal integrity that undermines individual freedom. He holds that workers should own and control their workplace, a view held (as he notes) by the Lowell Mill Girls.

Chomsky has strongly criticized the foreign policy of the United States. He claims double standards in a foreign policy preaching democracy and freedom for all while allying itself with non-democratic and repressive organizations and states such as Chile under Augusto Pinochet and argues that this results in massive human rights violations. He often argues that America's intervention in foreign nations, including the secret aid given to the Contras in Nicaragua, an event of which he has been very critical, fits any standard description of terrorism, including "official definitions in the US Code and Army Manuals in the early 1980s." Before its collapse, Chomsky also condemned Soviet imperialism; for example in 1986 during a question/answer following a lecture he gave at Universidad Centroamericana in Nicaragua, when challenged about how he could "talk about North American imperialism and Russian imperialism in the same breath," Chomsky responded: "One of the truths about the world is that there are two superpowers, one a huge power which happens to have its boot on your neck; another, a smaller power which happens to have its boot on other people's necks. I think that anyone in the Third World would be making a grave error if they succumbed to illusions about these matters."

Regarding the killing of Osama Bin Laden, Chomsky believes that the United States acted improperly, saying "We might ask ourselves how we would be reacting if Iraqi commandos landed at George W. Bush's compound, assassinated him, and dumped his body in the Atlantic. Uncontroversially, his crimes vastly exceed bin Laden’s, and he is not a 'suspect' but uncontroversially the 'decider' who gave the orders to commit the 'supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole' (quoting the Nuremberg Tribunal) for which Nazi criminals were hanged: the hundreds of thousands of deaths, millions of refugees, destruction of much of the country, the bitter sectarian conflict that has now spread to the rest of the region."

He has argued that the mass media in the United States largely serve as a propaganda arm and "bought priesthood" of the U.S. government and U.S. corporations, with the three parties intertwined through common interests. In a famous reference to Walter Lippmann, Chomsky along with his coauthor Edward S. Herman has written that the American media manufactures consent among the public. Chomsky has condemned the 2010 supreme court ruling revoking the limits on campaign finance, calling it "corporate takeover of democracy."

Chomsky opposes the U.S. global "war on drugs", claiming its language is misleading, and refers to it as "the war on certain drugs." He favors drug policy reform, in education and prevention rather than military or police action as a means of reducing drug use. In an interview in 1999, Chomsky argued that, whereas crops such as tobacco receive no mention in governmental exposition, other non-profitable crops, such as marijuana are attacked because of the effect achieved by persecuting the poor: He has stated:

U.S. domestic drug policy does not carry out its stated goals, and policymakers are well aware of that. If it isn't about reducing substance abuse, what is it about? It is reasonably clear, both from current actions and the historical record, that substances tend to be criminalized when they are associated with the so-called dangerous classes, that the criminalization of certain substances is a technique of social control.

Chomsky is critical of the American "state capitalist" system and big business, he describes himself as a socialist, specifically an anarcho-syndicalist and is therefore strongly critical of "authoritarian" Marxist and/or Leninist and/or Maoist branches of socialism. He also believes that socialist values exemplify the rational and morally consistent extension of original unreconstructed classical liberal and radical humanist ideas to an industrial context. He believes that society should be highly organized and based on democratic control of communities and work places. He believes that the radical humanist ideas of his two major influences, Bertrand Russell and John Dewey, were "rooted in the Enlightenment and classical liberalism, and retain their revolutionary character."

Chomsky has stated that he believes the United States remains the "greatest country in the world", a comment that he later clarified by saying, "Evaluating countries is senseless and I would never put things in those terms, but that some of America's advances, particularly in the area of free speech, that have been achieved by centuries of popular struggle, are to be admired." He has also said "In many respects, the United States is the freest country in the world. I don't just mean in terms of limits on state coercion, though that's true too, but also in terms of individual relations. The United States comes closer to classlessness in terms of interpersonal relations than virtually any society."

Chomsky objects to the criticism that anarchism is inconsistent with support for government welfare, stating in part:

One can, of course, take the position that we don't care about the problems people face today, and want to think about a possible tomorrow. OK, but then don't pretend to have any interest in human beings and their fate, and stay in the seminar room and intellectual coffee house with other privileged people. Or one can take a much more humane position: I want to work, today, to build a better society for tomorrow – the classical anarchist position, quite different from the slogans in the question. That's exactly right, and it leads directly to support for the people facing problems today: for enforcement of health and safety regulation, provision of national health insurance, support systems for people who need them, etc. That is not a sufficient condition for organizing for a different and better future, but it is a necessary condition. Anything else will receive the well-merited contempt of people who do not have the luxury to disregard the circumstances in which they live, and try to survive.

Chomsky holds views that can be summarized as anti-war but not strictly pacifist. He prominently opposed the Vietnam War and most other wars in his lifetime. He expressed these views with tax resistance and peace walks. In 1968, he signed the “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War. He published a number of articles about the war in Vietnam, including "The Responsibility of Intellectuals". He maintains that U.S. involvement in World War II to defeat the Axis powers was probably justified, with the caveat that a preferable outcome would have been to end or prevent the war through earlier diplomacy. He believes that the dropping of nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were "among the most unspeakable crimes in history".

Chomsky has made many criticisms of the Israeli government, its supporters, the United States' support of the government and its treatment of the Palestinian people, arguing that " 'supporters of Israel' are in reality supporters of its moral degeneration and probable ultimate destruction" and that "Israel's very clear choice of expansion over security may well lead to that consequence." Chomsky disagreed with the founding of Israel as a Jewish state, saying, "I don't think a Jewish or Christian or Islamic state is a proper concept. I would object to the United States as a Christian state." Chomsky hesitated before publishing work critical of Israeli policies while his parents were alive, because he "knew it would hurt them" he says, "mostly because of their friends, who reacted hysterically to views like those expressed in my work." On May 16, 2010, Israeli authorities detained Chomsky and ultimately refused his entry to the West Bank via Jordan. A spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister indicated that the refusal of entry was simply due to a border guard who "overstepped his authority" and a second attempt to enter would likely be allowed. Chomsky disagreed, saying that the Interior Ministry official who interviewed him was taking instructions from his superiors. Chomsky maintained that based on the several hours of interviewing, he was denied entry because of the things he says and because he was visiting a university in the West Bank but no Israeli universities.

Chomsky has a broad view of free-speech rights, especially in the mass media, and opposes censorship. He has stated that "with regard to freedom of speech there are basically two positions: you defend it vigorously for views you hate, or you reject it and prefer Stalinist/fascist standards". With reference to the United States diplomatic cables leak, Chomsky suggested that "perhaps the most dramatic revelation ... is the bitter hatred of democracy that is revealed both by the U.S. Government -- Hillary Clinton, others -- and also by the diplomatic service." Chomsky refuses to take legal action against those who may have libeled him and prefers to counter libels through open letters in newspapers. One notable example of this approach is his response to an article by Emma Brockes in ''The Guardian'' which alleged he denied the existence of the Srebrenica massacre. Chomsky's complaint prompted The Guardian to publish an apologetic correction and to withdraw the article from the paper's website.

Chomsky has frequently stated that there is no connection between his work in linguistics and his political views and is generally critical of the idea that competent discussion of political topics requires expert knowledge in academic fields. In a 1969 interview, he said regarding the connection between his politics and his work in linguistics:

I still feel myself that there is a kind of tenuous connection. I would not want to overstate it but I think it means something to me at least. I think that anyone's political ideas or their ideas of social organization must be rooted ultimately in some concept of human nature and human needs.

Some critics have accused Chomsky of hypocrisy when, in spite of his political criticism of American and European military imperialism, early research at the institution (MIT) where he did his linguistic research had been substantially funded by the American military. Chomsky makes the argument that because he has received funding from the U.S. Military, he has an even greater responsibility to criticize and resist its immoral actions.

Influence in other fields

''Chomskyan'' models have been used as a theoretical basis in several other fields. The Chomsky hierarchy is often taught in fundamental computer science courses as it confers insight into the various types of formal languages. This hierarchy can also be discussed in mathematical terms and has generated interest among mathematicians, particularly combinatorialists. Some arguments in evolutionary psychology are derived from his research results.

The 1984 Nobel Prize laureate in Medicine and Physiology, Niels K. Jerne, used Chomsky's generative model to explain the human immune system, equating "components of a generative grammar ... with various features of protein structures". The title of Jerne's Stockholm Nobel lecture was "The Generative Grammar of the Immune System".

Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee who was the subject of a study in animal language acquisition at Columbia University, was named after Chomsky in reference to his view of language acquisition as a uniquely human ability.

Famous computer scientist Donald Knuth admits to reading Syntactic Structures during his honeymoon and being greatly influenced by it. "...I must admit to taking a copy of Noam Chomsky's Syntactic Structures along with me on my honeymoon in 1961 ... Here was a marvelous thing: a mathematical theory of language in which I could use a computer programmer's intuition!".

Another focus of Chomsky's political work has been an analysis of mainstream mass media (especially in the United States), its structures and constraints, and its perceived role in supporting big business and government interests.

Edward S. Herman and Chomsky's book ''Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media'' (1988) explores this topic in depth, presenting their "propaganda model" of the news media with numerous detailed case studies demonstrating it. According to this propaganda model, more democratic societies like the U.S. use subtle, non-violent means of control, unlike totalitarian systems, where physical force can readily be used to coerce the general population. In an often-quoted remark, Chomsky states that "propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state." (Media Control)

The model attempts to explain this perceived systemic bias of the mass media in terms of structural economic causes rather than a conspiracy of people. It argues the bias derives from five "filters" that all published news must "pass through," which combine to systematically distort news coverage.

In explaining the first filter, ownership, he notes that most major media outlets are owned by large corporations. The second, funding, notes that the outlets derive the majority of their funding from advertising, not readers. Thus, since they are profit-oriented businesses selling a product—readers and audiences—to other businesses (advertisers), the model expects them to publish news that reflects the desires and values of those businesses. In addition, the news media are dependent on government institutions and major businesses with strong biases as sources (the third filter) for much of their information. Flak, the fourth filter, refers to the various pressure groups that attack the media for supposed bias. Norms, the fifth filter, refer to the common conceptions shared by those in the profession of journalism. (Note: in the original text, published in 1988, the fifth filter was "anticommunism". However, with the fall of the Soviet Union, it has been broadened to allow for shifts in public opinion.) The model describes how the media form a decentralized and non-conspiratorial but nonetheless very powerful propaganda system, that is able to mobilize an élite consensus, frame public debate within élite perspectives and at the same time give the appearance of democratic consent.

Chomsky and Herman test their model empirically by picking "paired examples"—pairs of events that were objectively similar except for the alignment of domestic élite interests. They use a number of such examples to attempt to show that in cases where an "official enemy" does something (like murder of a religious official), the press investigates thoroughly and devotes a great amount of coverage to the matter, thus victims of "enemy" states are considered "worthy". But when the domestic government or an ally does the same thing (or worse), the press downplays the story, thus victims of US or US client states are considered "unworthy."

They also test their model against the case that is often held up as the best example of a free and aggressively independent press, the media coverage of the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War. Even in this case, they argue that the press was behaving subserviently to élite interests.

Academic achievements, awards and honors

In early 1969, he delivered the John Locke Lectures at Oxford University; in January 1970, the Bertrand Russell Memorial Lecture at University of Cambridge; in 1972, the Nehru Memorial Lecture in New Delhi; in 1977, the Huizinga Lecture in Leiden; in 1988 the Massey Lectures at the University of Toronto, titled "Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies"; in 1997, The Davie Memorial Lecture on Academic Freedom in Cape Town, and many others.

Chomsky has received many honorary degrees from universities around the world, including from the following:

University of London

University of Chicago

Loyola University of Chicago

Swarthmore College

University of Delhi

Bard College

University of Massachusetts

University of Pennsylvania

Georgetown University

Amherst College

University of Cambridge

University of Colorado

University of Buenos Aires

McGill University

Rovira i Virgili University

Columbia University

Villanova University

University of Connecticut

University of Maine

Scuola Normale Superiore

University of Western Ontario

University of Toronto

Harvard University

Universidad de Chile

University of Bologna

Universidad de La Frontera

University of Calcutta

Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Santo Domingo Institute of Technology

Uppsala University

University of Athens

University of Cyprus

Central Connecticut State University

National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)

Peking University National Tsing Hua University He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. In addition, he is a member of other professional and learned societies in the United States and abroad, and is a recipient of the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association, the Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences, the Helmholtz Medal, the Dorothy Eldridge Peacemaker Award, the 1999 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science, and others. He is twice winner of The Orwell Award, granted by The National Council of Teachers of English for "Distinguished Contributions to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language" (in 1987 and 1989).

He is a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Department of Social Sciences.

Chomsky is a member of the Faculty Advisory Board of the MIT Harvard Research Journal.

In 2005, Chomsky received an honorary fellowship from the Literary and Historical Society. In 2007, Chomsky received The Uppsala University (Sweden) Honorary Doctor's degree in commemoration of Carolus Linnaeus. In February 2008, he received the President's Medal from the Literary and Debating Society of the National University of Ireland, Galway. Since 2009 he is honorary member of IAPTI.

In 2010, Chomsky received the Erich Fromm Prize in Stuttgart, Germany. In April 2010, Chomsky became the third scholar to receive the University of Wisconsin's A.E. Havens Center's Award for Lifetime Contribution to Critical Scholarship.

Chomsky has an Erdős number of four.

Chomsky was voted the leading living public intellectual in The 2005 Global Intellectuals Poll conducted by the British magazine ''Prospect''. He reacted, saying "I don't pay a lot of attention to polls". In a list compiled by the magazine ''New Statesman'' in 2006, he was voted seventh in the list of "Heroes of our time".

Actor Viggo Mortensen with avant-garde guitarist Buckethead dedicated their 2006 album, called ''Pandemoniumfromamerica'' to Chomsky.

On January 22, 2010, a special honorary concert for Chomsky was given at Kresge Auditorium at MIT. The concert, attended by Chomsky and dozens of his family and friends, featured music composed by Edward Manukyan and speeches by Chomsky's colleagues, including David Pesetsky of MIT and Gennaro Chierchia, head of the linguistics department at Harvard University.

In June 2011, Chomsky was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize, which cited his "unfailing courage, critical analysis of power and promotion of human rights".

Bibliography

Filmography

''Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media'', Director: Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick (1992)

''Last Party 2000'', Director: Rebecca Chaiklin and Donovan Leitch (2001)

''Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times'', Director: John Junkerman (2002)

''Distorted Morality—America's War On Terror?'', Director: John Junkerman (2003)

''Noam Chomsky: Rebel Without a Pause'' (TV), Director: Will Pascoe (2003)

''The Corporation'', Directors: Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott; Writer: Joel Bakan (2003)

''Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land'', Directors: Sut Jhally and Bathsheba Ratzkoff (2004)

''On Power, Dissent and Racism: A discussion with Noam Chomsky'', Journalist: Nicolas Rossier; Producers: Eli Choukri, Baraka Productions (2004)

''Lake of Fire'', Director: Tony Kaye (2006)

American Feud: A History of Conservatives and Liberals, Director: Richard Hall (2008)

In the Time We've Got, Director: Christopher Ives (2008)

''Chomsky & Cie'' Director: Olivier Azam (out in 2008)

''An Inconvenient Tax'', Director: Christopher P. Marshall (out in 2009)

''The Money Fix,'' Director: Alan Rosenblith (2009)

''Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space'', Director: Denis Delestrac (2010)

''Article 12: Waking up in a surveillance society'', Director: Juan Manuel Biaiñ (2010)

See also

American philosophy

Axiom of categoricity

Chomskybot

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously

English studies

Important publications in computability

Knowledge worker

List of American philosophers

References

External links

chomsky.info official website

Noam Chomsky at MIT

Noam Chomsky articles on libcom.org

Noam Chomsky at ''Democracy Now!''

Column archive at ''The Guardian''

Articles and videos featuring Noam Chomsky at AnarchismToday.org

;Interviews and articles

Talks by Noam Chomsky at A-Infos Radio Project

Interview about Human Rights by scholars (English with French subtitles) – 2009

Chomsky media files at the Internet Archive

Noam Chomsky interviewed by Alyssa McDonald on New Statesman, September 2010.

The Real News (TRNN) ">Noam Chomsky Interviews on The Real News (TRNN)

Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance -discussion on the "Bush doctrine" and its implications, C-SPAN, Feb 2004

Philosophies of Language & Politics -talk at The Commonwealth Club, October 2009

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Kathleen Neal Cleaver (May 13, 1945 - ) is an American professor of law, known for her involvement with the Black Panther Party.

Early life

Kathleen Neal was born in Dallas, Texas. Both of her parents had higher education; her father was a sociology professor at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas and her mother had a master’s degree in mathematics. Soon after Kathleen was born, her father, Ernest Neal, accepted a job as the director of the Rural Life Council of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Six years later, Ernest joined the Foreign Service. The family moved abroad and lived in such countries as India, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and the Philippines. Kathleen returned to the United States to attend a Quaker boarding school near Philadelphia, George School. She graduated with honors in 1963. She continued her education at Oberlin College, and later transferred to Barnard College. In 1966, she left college for a secretary job with the New York office of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

The Black Panther Party

She was in charge of organizing a student conference at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. At the conference, Kathleen met the minister of information for the Black Panther Party, Eldridge Cleaver. She moved to San Francisco in November, 1967, to join the Black Panther Party. Kathleen Neal and Eldridge Cleaver were married on December 27, 1967. Cleaver became the communications secretary and the first female member of the Party’s decision-making body. She also served as the spokesperson and press secretary. Notably, she organized the national campaign to free the Party’s minister of defense, Huey Newton, who was jailed. In 1968 (the same year her husband ran for president on the Peace and Freedom ticket) she ran for California's 18th state assembly district, also as a candidate of the Peace and Freedom party. Cleaver received 2,778 votes for 4.7% of the total vote, finishing third in a four candidate race. As a result of their involvement with the Black Panther Party, the Cleavers were often the target of police investigations. The Cleavers’ apartment was raided in 1968 before a Panther rally by the San Francisco Tactical Squad on the suspicion of hiding guns and ammunition. Later that year, Eldridge Cleaver staged a deliberate ambush of Oakland police officers during which two police officers were injured. Cleaver was wounded and fellow Black Panther member Bobby Hutton was killed in a shootout following the initial exchange of gunfire. Charged with attempted murder, he jumped bail to flee to Cuba and later went to Algeria.

Living in Exile

Eldridge spent seven months in Cuba and was reunited with Kathleen in Algeria in 1969. Kathleen gave birth to their first son, Maceo, soon after arriving in Algeria. A year later in 1970 she gave birth to their daughter Joju Younghi Cleaver, while the family was in North Korea. In 1971, Huey Newton, a fellow party member, and Eldridge had a disagreement; this led to the expulsion of the International Branch of the Black Panther Party. The Cleavers formed a new organization called the Revolutionary People’s Communication Network. Kathleen returned to promoting and speaking about the new organization. To accomplish this, she and the children moved back to New York. The Algerian government became disgruntled with Eldridge and the new organization. Eldridge was forced to leave the country secretly and meet up with Kathleen in Paris in 1973. Kathleen left for the United States later that year to arrange Eldridge’s return and raise a defense fund. In 1974, the French government granted legal residency to the Cleavers and the family was finally reunited. After only a year, the Cleavers moved back to the United States, and Eldridge was sent to prison. He was tried for the shoot-out in 1968 and was found guilty of assault. He was sentenced to five years probation and 2,000 hours of community service. Kathleen went to work on the Eldridge Cleaver Defense Fund and Eldridge was freed on bail in 1976. Eldridge’s legal situation was not finally resolved until 1980.

Later life

Kathleen went back to school in 1981, receiving a full scholarship from Yale University. She graduated in 1983, summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. In 1987, Kathleen divorced Eldridge Cleaver. She then continued her education by getting her law degree from Yale Law School. After graduating, Cleaver worked for the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, and followed this with numerous jobs including: law clerk in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia, the faculty of Emory University in Atlanta, visiting faculty member at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City, the Graduate School of Yale University and Sarah Lawrence College. In 2005, she was selected an inaugural Fletcher Foundation Fellow. She then worked as a Senior Research Associate at the Yale Law School, and a Senior Lecturer in the African American Studies department at Yale University. She is currently serving as faculty at Emory University School of Law.

References

Other references

Spartacus Educational bio

African American Registry: Kathleen Cleaver remains very active!

Category:1945 births Category:Living people Category:People from Dallas, Texas Category:Black Panther Party members Category:Oberlin College alumni Category:Emory University faculty Category:African American female activists

es:Kathleen Neal Cleaver