The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, the conclusion of the postseason. Since the Series takes place in October, sportswriters many years ago dubbed the event the Fall Classic; it is also sometimes known as the October Classic or simply The Series. It is played between the League Championship Series winning clubs from MLB's two circuits, the American and National Leagues. The World Series has been played every year since 1903 with the exception of 1904 (boycott) and 1994 (player strike). Though professional baseball has employed various championship formulas since the 1860s, the term "World Series" is usually understood to refer exclusively to the modern World Series.

In spite of its name, the World Series is contested solely between Major League Baseball's American and National Leagues. The post-season series between the AL and NL was originally called the "Championship of the World" or "World's Championship Series" (from 1884). The 1890 Spalding Guide expressed an intent to expand the championship to the entire world, following the 1888–89 world tour organized by Albert Spalding, owner of the Chicago White Stockings. Over time, the event's name was shortened to "World's Series" and then "World Series." Contrary to popular legend, the name of the series is not related to the ''New York World'' newspaper.

The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff except for 1903, 1919, 1920, and 1921, when the winner was determined through a best-of-nine playoff. The winning team is awarded the Commissioner's Trophy and the team presents its players and executives individual World Series championship rings. The Series-winning club also receives a larger proportion of the gate receipts from the series.

The New York Yankees of the American League have played in 40 of the 106 World Series and have won 27 World Series championships, more than any other Major League franchise. From the National League, the San Francisco Giants (formerly New York Giants) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (formerly Brooklyn Dodgers) have appeared in 18 World Series championships. The Giants were invited to the World Series 19 times, but boycotted the event in 1904. The St. Louis Cardinals have represented the National League 17 times and have won 10 championships, which is the second most of any Major League Team. Presently, the Chicago Cubs have played the most seasons without winning the World Series, with their last championship coming in 1908. The 2010 World Series Champions are the San Francisco Giants.

Precursors to the modern World Series (1857–1902)

The original World Series

Until the formation of the American Association in 1882 as a second major league, the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (1871–75) and then the National League (founded 1876) represented the top level of organized baseball in the United States. All championships went to whoever had the best record at the end of the season, without a postseason series being played. Starting in 1884 and going through 1890, the National League and the American Association faced each other in a series of games at the end of the season to determine an overall champion. These matchups were disorganized in comparison to the modern Series: games played ranged from as few as three in 1884 to a high of 15 in 1887 (Detroit beat St. Louis 10 games to 5), and both the 1885 and 1890 Series ended in ties, each team having won three games with one tie game.

The series were promoted and referred to as "The Championship of the United States", "World's Championship Series", or "World's Series" for short.

The 19th-century competitions are, however, not officially recognized as part of World Series history by Major League Baseball, as the organization considers 19th-century baseball to be a prologue to the modern baseball era. Until about 1960, some sources treated the 19th-century Series on an equal basis with the post-19th-century series. After about 1930, however, many authorities list the start of the World Series in 1903 and discuss the earlier contests separately. (For example, the 1929 ''World Almanac and Book of Facts'' lists "Baseball's World Championships 1884–1928" in a single table, but the 1943 edition lists "Baseball World Championships–1903-1942".)

1892–1900: "The Monopoly Years"

Following the collapse of the American Association after the 1891 season, four of its clubs were admitted to the National League, which was again the only major league. The league championship was awarded in 1892 by a playoff between half-season champions. This scheme was abandoned after one season. Beginning in 1893 — and continuing until divisional play was introduced in 1969 — the pennant was awarded to the first-place club in the standings at the end of the season. For four seasons, 1894–97, the league champions played the runners-up in the post season championship series called the Temple Cup. A second attempt at this format was the Chronicle-Telegraph Cup series, which was played only once, in 1900.

In 1901, the American League was formed as a second major league. No championship series were played in 1901 or 1902 as the National and American Leagues fought each other for business supremacy.

Modern World Series (1903–present)

First attempt

After two years of bitter competition and player raiding (in 1902, the AL and NL champions even went so far as to challenge each other to a tournament in ''football'' after the end of the baseball season), the National and American Leagues made peace and, as part of the accord, several pairs of teams squared off for interleague exhibition games after the 1903 season. These series were arranged by the participating clubs, as the 1880s World's Series matches had been. One of them matched the two pennant winners, Pittsburgh Pirates of the NL and the Boston Americans (later known as the Red Sox) of the AL; that one is known as the 1903 World Series. It had been arranged well in advance by the two owners, as both teams were league leaders by large margins. Boston upset Pittsburgh by 5 games to 3, winning with pitching depth behind Cy Young and Bill Dinneen and with the support of the band of Royal Rooters. The Series brought much civic pride to Boston and proved the new American League could beat the Nationals.

Boycott of 1904

The 1904 Series, if it had been held, would have been between the AL's Boston Americans (Boston Red Sox) and the NL's New York Giants (now the San Francisco Giants). At that point there was no governing body for the World Series nor any requirement that a Series be played. Thus the Giants' owner, John T. Brush, refused to allow his team to participate in such an event, citing the "inferiority" of the upstart American League. John McGraw, the Giants' manager, even went so far as to say that his Giants were already "world champions" since they were the champions of the "only real major league". At the time of the announcement, their new cross-town rivals, the New York Highlanders (now the NY Yankees), were leading the AL, and the prospect of facing the Highlanders did not please Giants management. Boston won on the last day of the season, and the leagues had previously agreed to hold a World's Championship Series in 1904, but it was not binding, and Brush stuck to his original decision. In addition to political reasons, Brush also factually cited the lack of rules under which money would be split, where games would be played, and how they would be operated and staffed.

During the winter of 1904–05, however, feeling the sting of press criticism, Brush had a change of heart and proposed what came to be known as the "Brush Rules," under which the series were played subsequently. One rule was that player shares would come from a portion of the gate receipts for the first four games only. This was to discourage teams from "fixing" early games in order to prolong the series and make more money. Receipts for later games would be split among the two clubs and the National Commission, the governing body for the sport, which was able to cover much of its annual operating expense from World Series revenue. Most importantly, the now-official and compulsory World's Series matches were operated strictly by the National Commission itself, not by the participating clubs.

With the new rules in place and the National Commission in control, McGraw's Giants decided to show up for the 1905 Series, and beat the Philadelphia A's four games to one. The Series was held in every subsequent season for 89 years.

The list of post-season rules evolved over time. In 1925, Brooklyn owner Charles Ebbets convinced others to adopt as a permanent rule the 2–3–2 pattern used in 1924. Prior to 1924, the pattern had been to alternate by game or to make another arrangement convenient to both clubs.

1919: The fix

Gambling and game-fixing had been a problem in professional baseball from the beginning; star pitcher Jim Devlin was banned for life in 1877, when the National League was just two years old. Baseball's gambling problems came to a head in 1919, when 8 players of the Chicago White Sox conspired to throw the 1919 World Series.

The Sox had won the Series in 1917 and were heavy favorites to beat the Cincinnati Reds in 1919, but first baseman Chick Gandil had other plans. Gandil, in collaboration with gambler Joseph "Sport" Sullivan, approached his teammates and got six of them to agree to throw the Series: starting pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Lefty Williams, shortstop Swede Risberg, left fielder Shoeless Joe Jackson, center fielder Happy Felsch, and utility infielder Fred McMullin. Third baseman Buck Weaver knew of the fix but declined to participate. The Sox, who were promised $100,000 for cooperating, proceeded to lose the Series in eight games, pitching poorly, hitting poorly and making many errors. Though he took the money, Jackson insisted to his death that he played to the best of his ability in the series (he was the best hitter in the series, but had markedly worse numbers in the games the White Sox lost).

During the Series, writer and humorist Ring Lardner had facetiously called the event the "World's Serious". The Series turned out to indeed have serious consequences for the sport. After rumors circulated for nearly a year, the players were suspended in September 1920.

The "Black Sox" were acquitted in a criminal conspiracy trial. However, baseball in the meantime had established the office of Commissioner in an effort to protect the game's integrity, and the first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, banned all of the players involved, including Weaver, for life. The White Sox would not win a World Series again until 2005.

The events of the 1919 Series, seguéing into the "live ball" era, marked a point in time of change of the fortunes of a number of teams. The two most prolific World Series winners to date, the Yankees and the Cardinals, did not win their first championship until the 1920s; and three of the teams that were highly successful prior to 1920 (the Red Sox, White Sox and Cubs) went the rest of the 20th century without another World Series win. The Red Sox and White Sox finally won again in 2004 and 2005, respectively. The Cubs are still waiting for their next trophy, and have not appeared in the Fall Classic since 1945, the longest drought of any MLB club.

New York Yankees dynasty (1920–1964)

The New York Yankees traded for Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox after the 1919 season, appeared in their first World Series two years later in 1921, and became frequent participants thereafter. Over a period of 45 years from 1920 to 1964, the Yankees played in 29 World Series championships, winning 20. The team's dynasty reached its apex between 1947 and 1964, when the Yankees reached the World Series 15 times in eighteen years (missing only 1948, 1954, and 1959), winning ten. From 1949 to 1953, the Yankees won the World Series five years in a row; from 1936–1939 the Yankees won four World Series Championships in a row. There are only two other occasions when a team has won at least three consecutive World Series: 1972 to 1974 by the Oakland Athletics, and 1998 to 2000 by the New York Yankees.

During this period, the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers took their long-time rivalry to the west coast, moving in 1958 to San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively, and thus bringing Major League Baseball west of St. Louis. The Dodgers were the first of the two clubs to contest a World Series on the west coast, defeating the Chicago White Sox in 1959. The Giants followed suit in 1962, losing to the Yankees.

1969: League Championship Series

Prior to 1969, the National League and the American League each crowned its champion (the "pennant winner") based on the best win-loss record at the end of the regular season.

A structured playoff series began in 1969, when both the National and American Leagues were reorganized into two divisions each, East and West. The two division winners within each league played each other in a best-of-five League Championship Series to determine who would advance to the World Series. In 1985, the format changed to best-of-seven.

The National League Championship Series (NLCS) and American League Championship Series (ALCS), since the expansion to best-of-seven, are always played in a 2–3–2 format: Games 1, 2, 6 and 7 are played in the stadium of the team that has home-field advantage, and Games 3, 4 and 5 are played in the stadium of the team that does not.

1971: World Series at night

MLB night games started being held in 1935 by the Cincinnati Reds, but the World Series remained a strictly daytime event for years thereafter. In the final game of the 1949 World Series, a Series game was finished under lights for the first time. The first scheduled night World Series game was Game 4 of the 1971 World Series. Afterwards more and more Series games were scheduled at night, when television audiences were larger. Game 6 of the 1987 World Series was the last World Series game played in the daytime.

1972–1978: Three of a kind

During this seven year period, only three teams won the World Series: the Oakland Athletics from 1972–1974, Cincinnati Reds in 1975 and 1976, and New York Yankees in 1977 and 1978. This is the only time in World Series history in which three different teams have won consecutive series in succession.

1976: The Designated Hitter comes to the World Series

The National and American Leagues operated under essentially identical rules until 1973, when the American League adopted the designated hitter rule, allowing its teams to use another hitter to bat in place of the (usually) weak-hitting pitcher. The National League did not adopt the DH rule. This presented a problem for the World Series, whose two contestants would now be playing their regular-season games under different rules. From 1973 to 1975, the World Series did not include a DH. Starting in 1976, the World Series allowed for the use of a DH in even-numbered years only. Finally, in 1986, baseball adopted the current rule in which the DH is used for World Series games played in the AL champion's park but not the NL champion's. Thus, the DH rule's use or non-use can help the team that has home-field advantage.

1989: Earthquake

When the 1989 World Series began, it was notable chiefly for being the first ever World Series matchup between the two San Francisco Bay Area teams, the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics. Oakland won the first two games at home, and the two teams crossed the bridge to San Francisco to play Game 3 on Tuesday, October 17. ABC's broadcast of Game 3 began at 5 p.m. local time, approximately 30 minutes before the first pitch was scheduled. At 5:04, while broadcasters Al Michaels and Tim McCarver were narrating highlights and the teams were warming up, the Loma Prieta earthquake occurred (magnitude 6.9 with an epicenter ten miles (16 km) northeast of Santa Cruz, CA). The earthquake caused substantial property and economic damage in the Bay Area and killed 62 people. Television viewers saw the video signal deteriorate and heard Michaels say "I'll tell you what, we're having an earth--" before the feed from Candlestick Park was lost. Fans filing into the stadium saw Candlestick sway visibly during the quake. Television coverage later resumed, using backup generators, with Michaels becoming a news reporter on the unfolding disaster. Approximately 30 minutes after the earthquake, Commissioner Fay Vincent ordered the game to be postponed. Fans, workers, and the teams evacuated a blacked out (although still sunlit) Candlestick. Game 3 was finally played on October 27, and Oakland won that day and the next to complete a four-game sweep.

1992–1993 The World Series goes North

World Series games were contested outside of the United States for the first time in 1992, with the Toronto Blue Jays defeating the Atlanta Braves in six games. The World Series returned to Canada in 1993, with the Blue Jays victorious again, this time against the Philadelphia Phillies in six games. No other Series has featured a team from outside of the United States. Toronto is the only expansion team to win successive World Series titles. The 1993 World Series was also notable for being only the second championship concluded by a home run and the first concluded by a come-from-behind homer, after Joe Carter's three-run shot in the bottom of the ninth inning sealed an 8–6 Toronto win in Game 6. The first Series to end with a homer was the 1960 World Series, when Bill Mazeroski hit a ninth-inning solo shot in Game 7 to win the championship for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

1994: League Division Series

In 1994, each league was restructured into three divisions, with the three division winners and the newly introduced wild card winner advancing to a best-of-five playoff round (the "division series"), the National League Division Series (NLDS) and American League Division Series (ALDS), which was played in 1981 due to a strike. The team with the best league record is matched against the wild card team, unless they are in the same division, in which case, the team with the second-best record plays against the wild card winner. The remaining two division winners are pitted against each other. The winners of the series in the first round advance to the best-of-seven NLCS and ALCS. Due to a players' strike, however, the NLDS and ALDS were not played until 1995. Beginning in 1998, home field advantage was given to the team with the better regular season record, with the exception that the Wild Card team cannot get home-field advantage.

1994–95 strike

After the boycott of 1904, the World Series was played every year until 1994 despite World War I, the global influenza pandemic of 1918–19, the Great Depression of the 1930s, America's involvement in World War II, and even an earthquake in the host cities of the 1989 World Series. A breakdown in collective bargaining led to a strike in August 1994 and the eventual cancellation of the rest of the season, including the playoffs.

As the labor talks began, baseball franchise owners demanded a salary cap in order to limit payrolls, the elimination of salary arbitration, and the right to retain free agent players by matching a competitor's best offer. The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) refused to agree to limit payrolls, noting that the responsibility for high payrolls lay with those owners who were voluntarily offering contracts. One difficulty in reaching a settlement was the absence of a commissioner. When Fay Vincent was forced to resign in 1992, owners did not replace him, electing instead to make Milwaukee Brewers owner Bud Selig acting commissioner. Thus the commissioner, responsible for ensuring the integrity and protecting the welfare of the game, was an interested party rather than a neutral arbiter, and baseball headed into the 1994 work stoppage without an independent commissioner for the first time since the office was founded in 1920.

The previous collective bargaining agreement expired on December 31, 1993, and baseball began the 1994 season without a new agreement. Owners and players negotiated as the season progressed, but owners refused to give up the idea of a salary cap and players refused to accept one. On August 12, 1994, the players went on strike. After a month passed with no progress in the labor talks, Selig canceled the rest of the 1994 season and the postseason on September 14. The World Series was not played for the first time in 90 years. The Montreal Expos were the best team in baseball at the time of the stoppage, with a record of 74–40. (Since their founding in 1969, the Expos, now the Washington Nationals, have never played in a World Series.)

The labor dispute lasted into the spring of 1995, with owners beginning spring training with replacement players. However, the MLBPA returned to work on April 2, 1995 after a federal judge, future U.S. Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor, ruled that the owners had engaged in unfair labor practices. The season started on April 25 and the 1995 World Series was played as scheduled, with Atlanta beating Cleveland four games to two.

2003: All-Star Game used to determine home-field advantage

Prior to 2003, home-field advantage in the World Series alternated from year to year between the NL and AL. After the 2002 Major League Baseball All-Star Game ended in a tie, MLB decided to award home-field advantage in the World Series to the winner of the All-Star Game. (It is unclear who would receive home-field advantage if the All-Star Game ends in a tie or if the All-Star Game is rained out.) Originally implemented as a two-year trial from 2003 to 2004, the practice has been extended indefinitely. The American League won every All-Star Game since this change until 2010 and thus has enjoyed home-field advantage from 2002, when it also had home-field advantage based on the alternating schedule, through 2009.

As of the conclusion of the 2010 World Series, the AL and NL have each won the World Series four times since the All-Star Game was used to determine home-field advantage.

Modern World Series appearances by franchise

World Series record by team or franchise, 1903–2010

! Teams †	! SeriesWins	! SeriesPlayed	! LatestWin	! LatestPlayed
	27	40	2009	2009
	10	17	2006	2006
	9	14	1989	1990
	7	11	2007	2007
	6	18	2010	2010
	6	18	1988	1988
	5	9	1990	1990
	5	7	1979	1979
	4	10	1984	2006
	3	9	1995	1999
	3	7	1983	1983
	3	6	1991	1991
	3	5	2005	2005
	2	10	1908	1945
	2	7	2008	2009
	2	5	1948	1997
	2	4	1986	2000
	2	2	2003	2003
	2	2	1993	1993
	1	2	1985	1985
	1	1	2002	2002
	1	1	2001	2001
	0	2		1998
bgcolor="ffbbdd"	0	1		2010
	0	1		2008
	0	1		2007
	0	1		2005
	0	1		1982
	0	0
	0	0

AL = American League NL = National League

* Joined the AL or NL after 1960

''See also:'' List of World Series championsSource: MLB.com

Notes

American League (AL) teams have won 62 of 106 World Series completed so far (62–44 or 58.5%–41.5%). The New York Yankees have won 27, accounting for about 25% of all the series played and about 44% of the 62 wins by American League teams. The St. Louis Cardinals have won 10 World Series, or about 9% of all victories and about 23% of the 44 National League victories.

When the first modern World Series was played in 1903, eight teams constituted the American League (founded 1901) and another eight constituted the National League (founded 1876). All sixteen of the 1903 teams have won at least two Series.

No new team joined either league until 1961; fourteen "expansion teams" have joined since then. Twelve of the fourteen have played in a World Series and 19 of the 48 Series contested during 1961–2010 have featured an expansion team, always paired with one of the sixteen 1903 teams. The expansion teams have won 9 of the 19 Series (47%) in which they have played.

Team patterns in the World Series

This information is up to date through the 2010 World Series:

Streaks and droughts

#Since their first championship in 1923, the New York Yankees have won two or more World Series titles in every decade except the 1980s, when they won none. Additionally, they have won at least one American League pennant in every decade since the 1920s. The Yankees are the only team in either League to win more than three series in a row, winning in four consecutive seasons from 1936 to 1939, and five consecutive seasons from 1949 to 1953. #The New York Giants' four World Series appearances from 1921 to 1924 are the most consecutive appearances for any National League franchise. #The 1907–1908 Cubs, 1921–1922 Giants and 1975–1976 Reds are the only National League teams to win back-to-back World Series. #The 1907–1909 Detroit Tigers and the 1911–1913 New York Giants are the only teams to lose three consecutive World Series. #The Chicago Cubs hold the record for the longest World Series drought (still active through 2010), with their last title coming in 1908 (102 years). In fact, they also hold the longest drought without a World Series appearance, not having won the NL pennant since 1945. Even had they won the 1945 World Series, they would still hold the longest active World Series championship drought, the second longest being since 1948 by the Cleveland Indians. #Twenty-two of the 28 teams to play in the World Series have won it at least once. The only exceptions are: Houston Astros (formerly Colt .45s, enfranchised in 1962), Milwaukee Brewers (formerly Seattle Pilots, 1969), San Diego Padres (1969), Colorado Rockies (1993), Tampa Bay Rays (formerly Devil Rays, 1998), and Texas Rangers (formerly Washington Senators, 1961). The Padres are the only one of these six to have appeared twice (1984, 1998). #As of 2010, only two teams (both of them expansion) have not won a pennant: the Washington Nationals (formerly Montreal Expos, est. 1969), and Seattle Mariners (est. 1977). However, both teams have participated in post-season play and competed in the League Championship Series.

Game-by-game

#Game 7 has been won by the home team in the last 8 world series that have gone to seven games (the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals, 1985 Kansas City Royals, 1986 New York Mets, 1987 and 1991 Minnesota Twins, 1997 Florida Marlins, 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks, and 2002 Anaheim Angels). The 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates are the last team to win a World Series Game 7 on the road. The recent trend suggests the ''theoretical'' advantage to gaining Game 7 at home by winning the All-Star Game. This trend contradicts the previous historical trend in which Game 7 had been most often won by the road team: Not just 1979, but also 1975, 1972, 1971, 1968, 1967, 1965 and 1962. During the 1960s and 1970s, the home team had won Game 7 only in 1960, 1964, and 1973. However, no Series has extended to Game 7 since the All-Star Game rule took effect in 2003. The greatest comeback in World Series history was in 1968, when the Detroit Tigers came back from a 3–1 game disadvantage to win game 5 after being behind by 3 runs, then winning games 6 and 7 on the road at St. Louis. #The 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers are the last team to win a World Series after losing the first two games on the road (against New York). The recent tendency of a team winning the first two games at home and then winning the Series suggests the ''theoretical'' advantage to gaining home-field advantage (and the first two games at home) by winning the All-Star Game. #The Pittsburgh Pirates have won all five of their World Series championships in seven games. #There have been 18 World Series four-game (4–0) sweeps. Nine different teams have swept a World Series at least once, the Yankees having done so most often (8 times). Both the Red Sox and Reds have done it twice. The Braves, Orioles, White Sox, Dodgers, Athletics and Giants have each swept one Series. Six of these teams (all but the Orioles, Red Sox and White Sox) have also been swept 0–4 in at least one World Series. The Red Sox' two World Series sweeps are the most of any team that has never been swept in one. #The Athletics, Cardinals, Cubs, and Yankees are the only teams to be swept in two World Series. The Athletics and Yankees are the only two of these with at least one World Series sweep to their credit, the other two being among eight teams overall that have never swept a World Series, but have been swept in one (the Astros, Indians, Padres, Phillies, Pirates, and Rockies being the others). #The Cubs in 1907 and the Giants in 1922 won 4 games to 0, but each of those Series' included a tied game and are not considered to be true sweeps. In 1907, the first game was the tie and the Cubs won four straight after that. In 1922, Game 2 was the tie. #The Cincinnati Reds are the only National League team which has swept a World Series since 1963, sweeping the series in 1976 and 1990. #Nine World Series have ended with "walkoff" hits, i.e., that game and the Series ended when the home team won with a base hit in the bottom of the ninth or in extra innings. (Also, the 1912 World Series ended in a walkoff sacrifice fly.) The first walkoff Series winner came in the 1924 World Series, when Earl McNeely doubled home Muddy Ruel in the bottom of the 12th inning of Game 7 to win a championship for the Washington Senators. The most recent walkoff Series winner was the 2001 World Series, which ended with Luis Gonzalez blooping a single over the head of Derek Jeter to score Jay Bell. Two men have ended a World Series with a walk-off home run: Bill Mazeroski in 1960 and Joe Carter in 1993. Mazeroski's was a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 to win a championship for the Pittsburgh Pirates, while Carter's was a three-run shot in Game 6 that won a championship for the Toronto Blue Jays. #The Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays are the first teams to have an elimination game (or ''any'' game) be suspended because of weather, and not have it cancelled. Game 5 (in Philadelphia) was suspended Monday, October 27, 2008 with a 2–2 score, and resumed in the bottom of the sixth on October 29.

Local rivalries

When two teams share the same state or metropolitan area, fans often develop strong loyalties to one and antipathies towards the other, sometimes building on already-existing rivalries between cities or neighborhoods. Before the introduction of interleague play in 1997, the only opportunity for two teams in different leagues to face each other in official competition would have been in a World Series.

Cross-town Series

The first city to host an entire World Series is Chicago in 1906, when the Chicago White Sox beat the Chicago Cubs in six games.

Fourteen "Subway Series" have been played entirely within New York City. Thirteen matched the American League's New York Yankees with either the New York Giants or the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League. The initial instances occurred in 1921 and 1922, when the Giants beat the Yankees in consecutive World Series that were not technically "subway series" since the teams shared the Polo Grounds as their home ballpark. The last Subway Series involving the original New York ballclubs came in 1956, when the Yankees beat the Dodgers. The trio was separated in 1958 when the Dodgers and Giants moved to California, and an all-NY Series did not recur until 2000, when the Yankees defeated the New York Mets in five games.

The last World Series played entirely in one ballpark was the 1944 "Streetcar Series" between the St. Louis Cardinals and the St. Louis Browns. The Cardinals won in six games, all held in their shared home, Sportsman's Park.

The 1989 World Series, sometimes called the "Bay Bridge Series" or the "BART Series" (after the connecting transit line), featured the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants, teams that play just across San Francisco Bay from each other. The series is most remembered for the major earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay area just before game 3 was scheduled to begin. The quake caused significant damage to both communities and severed the Bay Bridge that connects them, forcing the postponement of the series. Play resumed ten days later, and the A's swept the Giants in four games.

Other neighborhood rivalries

For the other two cities where a cross-town competition, connected by local transit, was once possible — Boston (until 1953 when the Braves moved to Milwaukee) and Philadelphia (until 1955 when the Athletics moved to Kansas City) — an October meeting came closest to occurring in 1948, when the Boston Braves won the National League pennant, and their nearby rivals, the Boston Red Sox, tied for the American League pennant on the last day of the season. However, the Cleveland Indians defeated the Red Sox in a one-game playoff, and then defeated the Braves in the Series.

Before the modern World Series era, an opportunity for an all-Boston contest between league champions was missed. In 1891, the Braves, then the Boston Beaneaters, of the National League declined to play the Boston Reds of the soon-to-dissolve American Association. The only meeting of neighbouring teams in the pre-modern World Series era occurred in 1889, when the National League's champion, the New York Giants, defeated the American Association's champion, the Brooklyn Bridegrooms.

Other cross-state rivalries

The historic rivalry between Northern and Southern California added to the interest in the Oakland Athletics-Los Angeles Dodgers series in 1974 and 1988 and in the San Francisco Giants' series against the then-Anaheim Angels in 2002. (The two Los Angeles area teams have never competed in a Series, nor has the only team in San Diego, the Padres, ever played a Series against another California team.)

Other than the St. Louis World Series of 1944, the only postseason tournament entirely within Missouri was the I-70 Series in 1985 (named for the interstate highway connecting the two cities) between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals, who won at home in the seventh game.

While the Philadelphia Athletics never played in World Series against either the Philadelphia Phillies or the Pittsburgh Pirates, they did engage in a popular semi-annual tradition of preseason City Series exhibition games against the Phillies.

In the only other states that also have or once had teams in both major leagues since 1903, there has never been a World Series between teams in Florida (Florida Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays), Texas (Houston Astros and Texas Rangers) or Ohio (Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians). The last pair came closest to facing each other when the Indians won the 1995 American League pennant in the same year that the Reds lost the NL Championship Series.

The original sixteen teams

At the time the first modern World Series began in 1903, each league had eight clubs, all of which survive today (although sometimes in a different city or with a new nickname), comprising the "original sixteen".

#Every original team has won at least two World Series titles. The Philadelphia Phillies (National League) were the last of the original teams to win their first Series, in . They were also the last to win at least two, with their second Series victory in . #The last original American League team to win its first World Series was the Baltimore Orioles (former St. Louis Browns), winning in . #The Orioles were also the last original team in the majors to make their first World Series appearance, as the St. Louis Browns in . Although they never won another American League pennant while in St. Louis, they have won three World Series in six appearances since moving to Baltimore. The last original National League team to make their modern World Series début were the St. Louis Cardinals in , which they also won. Ironically, as noted above, they have gone on to win more World Series than any other National League club, holding the lead at 10 victories through 2009. #The New York Yankees have defeated all eight original NL teams in a World Series. Conversely, they have lost at least one World Series to every original NL team except the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies. The Boston Red Sox have played at least one Series against every original National League team ''except'' the (Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta) Braves, with whom they shared a home city through 1953. #The St. Louis Cardinals are currently the only club of the National League's original eight that holds an overall Series lead over the Yankees, 3 to 2, taking that lead in 1964. The Giants won their first two Series over the Yankees (1921 and 1922), but the Yankees have faced the Giants five times since then and have won all five, taking the overall lead over the Giants in 1937. The Pittsburgh Pirates and Yankees have faced each other twice (1927 and 1960), with the Yankees winning in 1927 and the Pirates winning in 1960, making the two teams .500 against each other. #Since the two leagues expanded beyond eight teams apiece in 1961, only two of the original sixteen teams have not won a World Series against the larger field of competitors: the American League Cleveland Indians, who have not won a Series since 1948 (defeating the Boston Braves), and the National League Chicago Cubs, who last won a Series in 1908 (defeating the Detroit Tigers).

Expansion teams (after 1960)

#The 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks was the fastest expansion franchise ever to win a pennant (4th season) and a World Series (4th season), after being founded in 1998. Second fastest were the 1997 Florida Marlins, after being founded in 1993 (5th season). The fastest AL expansion franchise to win a pennant was the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008 (11th season) and the fastest AL expansion franchise to win a World Series was the Toronto Blue Jays in 1992 (16th season). #While the New York Mets (NL) were the first expansion team to win or appear in the World Series (1969), the American League would have to wait until 1980 for its first expansion-team World Series appearance, and until 1985 for its first expansion-team win. Both were by the Kansas City Royals. The AL also had two expansion teams appear in the World Series (the Milwaukee Brewers being the second, in 1982) before the National League's second expansion team to appear—the San Diego Padres in 1984. #No two out of the fourteen post-1960 expansion teams have yet met each other in a World Series, although twelve expansion teams have now contested at least one Series (each time against one of the sixteen teams established by 1903). Expansion teams are 9–10 in the World Series, with three teams (the New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays and Florida Marlins) each winning two. Six expansion teams have appeared in the World Series without ever winning a championship: Texas Rangers (formerly Washington Senators), Houston Astros (formerly Colt .45s), Milwaukee Brewers (formerly Seattle Pilots), San Diego Padres, Colorado Rockies, and Tampa Bay Rays (formerly Devil Rays). Two expansion teams have not yet won a league pennant (and therefore also have not appeared in a World Series): the Seattle Mariners and Washington Nationals (formerly Montreal Expos). #The Toronto Blue Jays (1992 and 1993), Florida Marlins (1997 and 2003) Arizona Diamondbacks (2001) and Los Angeles Angels (2002) have never lost a World Series appearance.

Other notes

#The team with the better regular season winning percentage has won the World Series 53 times, or 50% (53 of 106) of the time. #The Toronto Blue Jays are the only non-U.S. team ever to win a pennant or a World Series, doing both twice, in 1992 and 1993. #The Chicago Cubs are the only team with a title to have never clinched one at home.

International participation

Despite its name, the World Series remains solely the championship of the major-league baseball teams in the United States and Canada, although MLB, its players, and the media sometimes informally refer to World Series winners as "world champions of baseball."

The United States, Canada and Mexico (''Liga Méxicana de Béisbol'', established 1925) were the only professional baseball countries until a few decades into the 20th century. The first Japanese professional baseball efforts began in 1920. The current Japanese leagues date from the late 1940s (after World War II). Various Latin American leagues also formed around that time.

By the 1990s, baseball was played at a highly-skilled level in many countries. Reaching North America's high-salary major leagues is the goal of many of the best players around the world, which gives a strong international flavor to the Series. Many of the best players from Latin America, the Caribbean, the Pacific Rim, and elsewhere now play in the majors. One notable exception is Cuban citizens, because of the political tensions between the USA and Cuba since 1959 (yet a number of Cuba's finest ballplayers have still managed to defect to the United States over the past half-century to play in the American professional leagues). Japanese professional players also have a difficult time coming to the major leagues. They become free agents only after nine years playing service in NPB, although their Japanese teams may at any time "post" them for bids from MLB teams, which commonly happens at the player's request.

Image gallery

See also

AL pennant winners (1901–1968)

NL pennant winners (1876–1968)

MLB division winners

AL Wild Card winners (since 1994)

NL Wild Card winners (since 1994)

MLB postseason

MLB postseason teams

MLB franchise postseason droughts

MLB rivalries

List of most experienced baseball players never to play in a World Series

World Series champions

World Series starting pitchers

World Series broadcasters

World Series television ratings

Home advantage

Chronicle-Telegraph Cup

Temple Cup

Negro League World Series

College World Series

Japan Series

Korean Series

Asia Series

Asian Baseball Championship

Baseball at the Asian Games

Americas Baseball Cup

Caribbean World Series

Baseball at the Central American and Caribbean Games

Baseball at the Pan American Games

European Baseball Championship

European Cup (baseball)

European Champion Cup Final Four

Baseball World Cup

World Baseball Classic

Women's Baseball World Cup

Intercontinental Cup (International Baseball Federation (IBAF))

Baseball at the Summer Olympics

References

Source books

Ernest Lanigan, ''Baseball Cyclopedia'', 1922, originally published by ''Baseball Magazine'', available as a reprint from McFarland.

Jordan A. Deutsch, Richard M. Cohen, David Neft, Roland T. Johnson, ''The Scrapbook History of Baseball'', 1975, Bobbs-Merrill Company.

''Sporting News'', ''Baseball Record Book'' and ''Baseball Guide'', published annually since ca. 1941.

Other sources

External links

Baseball Reference "postseason" page, listing every World Series, with links to play-by-play summaries of every game

WorldSeries.com – Official Website

Sporting News: History of the World Series

Baseball Almanac: World Series

Coolest World Series teams ever

ESPN Classic – Who's #1?: Best World Series

* Category:Recurring sporting events established in 1903 Category:Annual sporting events in the United States

ca:Sèries Mundials de beisbol cs:Světová série de:World Series el:Αμερικανικό πρωτάθλημα Μπέιζμπολ es:Serie Mundial fr:Série mondiale ko:월드 시리즈 hr:World Series id:World Series it:World Series he:וורלד סיריס la:Series Mundana lv:Pasaules sērija hu:World Series nl:World Series ja:ワールドシリーズ pl:World Series pt:World Series ru:Мировая серия simple:World Series sk:Svetová séria sh:World Series fi:World Series sv:World Series uk:Світова серія zh:世界大賽

name	Demi Lovato
background	solo_singer
birth name	Demetria Devonne Lovato
birth date	August 20, 1992
birth place	Dallas, Texas, United States
instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano
genre	Pop rock
occupation	Singer, songwriter, actress, musician, dancer, model, activist
years active	2002–present
label	Hollywood
website	}}

Demetria Devonne "Demi" Lovato (born August 20, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actress. Her earliest roles included Angela on ''Barney & Friends'', before she became better known for her starring roles in the ''Camp Rock'' movies, as Sonny Munroe in ''Sonny with a Chance'', and as the star of the 2009 movie ''Princess Protection Program''. She is also involved in philanthropic activities through charity work and various social and environmental causes.

As a solo musical artist, Lovato released her debut album ''Don't Forget'' on September 23, 2008. The album debuted at #2 on the ''Billboard'' 200 selling 89,000 copies in the first week. It has since shipped over 500,000 copies earning a Gold certification in the United States. Lovato released her second album, ''Here We Go Again'', on July 21, 2009. The album debuted at #1 on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 108,000 copies in the first week.

Life and career

Childhood and youth

Lovato was born in Dallas, Texas on August 20, 1992 to Patrick Lovato and Dianna Hart de la Garza. She is of Mexican, Irish, and Italian descent. She has an older sister, Dallas Lovato, and a younger half sister, Madison de la Garza. Her mother was a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader and country music recording artist. Lovato began playing piano at the age of seven. Lovato also began her acting career at the age of seven on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' as Angela, appearing in seasons seven and eight alongside long time friend Selena Gomez. In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Lovato revealed going through painful experiences with bullying in the seventh grade. According to Lovato, the bullying was so bad that one day, in a fit of frustration and distress, she requested her mom give her a home-schooled education. Lovato earned a high school diploma through homeschooling in April 2009. Lovato also stated in an interview with ''20/20'' in 2011 that she had had a "really unhealthy relationship with food" since age 8 due to bullying experienced as a child, and self-mutilated her wrists to cope with her emotions and depression since age 11. Lovato later became a spokesperson for anti-bullying organization PACER and appeared on ''America's Next Top Model'' and CNN to speak out against bullying.

In 2006 Lovato guest starred on ''Prison Break'' as Danielle Curtin in the episode "First Down." She also appeared in the second season of the television sitcom ''Just Jordan'' as Nicole, in the episode "Slippery When Wet." In January 2007, she landed the role of Charlotte Adams on the Disney Channel Original Short Series, ''As the Bell Rings'', which premiered on August 26, 2007. A few of her original songs, including "Shadow," were featured on the show.

2007–09: ''Camp Rock'', ''Don't Forget'' and ''Sonny with a Chance''

In the summer of 2007, Lovato auditioned for the Disney Channel television film ''Camp Rock'' and the television series ''Sonny with a Chance'' in the same day and got both parts. For ''Camp Rock'', she submitted an audition tape and Gary Marsh, Disney's president of entertainment, asked her to sing. She sang Christina Aguilera's "Ain't No Other Man", and Hollywood Records senior vice president Bob Cavallo said that their "jaws just dropped". Lovato received the lead role in ''Camp Rock'', and a record deal with Hollywood Records in early 2008. In ''Camp Rock'' she played Mitchie Torres, a fourteen-year-old girl with hopes of becoming a singer. The movie premiered on June 20, 2008 in the United States on the Disney Channel with 8.9 million viewers, making Lovato a household name among young viewers. She provided vocals on four of the songs featured on the ''Camp Rock'' soundtrack, including "This Is Me" featuring Joe Jonas. The song peaked at #9 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In June and July 2008, Lovato performed at various House of Blues and parks for her Demi Live! Warm Up Tour in preparation for the release of her debut album and the Burnin' Up Tour with the Jonas Brothers. Lovato served as the support act on the Jonas Brothers' Burnin' Up Tour from July through September 2008.

Lovato's debut album, ''Don't Forget'' was released in the fall of 2008. The bulk of the album was co-written with the Jonas Brothers, who also produced the album with John Fields. They co-wrote ten songs in a week during the band's headlining Look Me in the Eyes Tour. The album is of the pop-rock genre and is lyrically similar to other teen-pop albums. It peaked at number two on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 89,000 units in its first week of release. It has since sold over 500,000 records in the US. Critics noticed the distinct sound of the Jonas Brothers in the production of the album. ''Don't Forget'' spawned three singles, "Get Back", "La La Land" and "Don't Forget", all of which were moderately successful, peaking around the top 40 and 50 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The most successful of which was the title track which was one position shy of entering the top 40 songs. ''Sonny With a Chance'' premiered on February 8, 2009, Lovato starred as Sonny Munroe, the new cast member of a live sketch comedy show titled ''So Random!''. In June 2009 Lovato co-starred in ''Princess Protection Program'' as Princess Rosalinda alongside Selena Gomez on the Disney Channel. The made-for-television movie is the third highest rated Disney Channel Original Movie, premiering on the Disney Channel with 9.8 million viewers.

Lovato joined Disney's Friends for Change, an organization which promotes "environmently-friendly behavior," and appears in its public service announcements to raise awareness for the cause on the Disney Channel. Lovato, Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, and the Jonas Brothers recorded "Send It On," a charity single that served as the theme song for the organization in 2009. The song debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at #20. Disney's Friends for Change directed all of its proceeds from "Send It On" to environmental charities to the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund. Lovato and Joe Jonas "Make a Wave" in 2010, the second charity single that currently serves as the theme song for Disney's Friends for Change.

2009–10: ''Here We Go Again'', ''Camp Rock 2'' and personal struggles

Lovato embarked on the Summer Tour 2009 to promote her second album, ''Here We Go Again'', released in the summer of 2009. The album debuted at #1 on the ''Billboard'' 200 with 108,000 records sold in its first week. The album was more inspired by acoustic music, such as John Mayer's songs, than her debut's pop rock-influenced sound. The album received favorable reviews from critics, ''Billboard'' called Lovato "a natural talent who could really take flight after outgrowing Disney." Allmusic ranked ''Here We Go Again'' as one of the best pop albums of 2009. The album was preceded by the lead single, "Here We Go Again," which was released on June 23, 2009. It reached #15 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The album's second single, "Remember December," was released on November 17, 2009 but only managed to reach #6 on ''Billboard'''s Bubbling Under Hot 100 (number 106 on the Hot 100).

In September 2009, production began for ''Camp Rock'''s sequel, ''Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam''. The Disney Channel Original Movie premiered on September 3, 2010, upon which it gained 8 million viewers. In March 2010, Lovato was one of the many stars featured in a public service announcement for Voto Latino in order to promote the organization's "Be Counted" campaign for the 2010 United States Census. Lovato returned for a second season of ''Sonny with a Chance'' and appeared as a guest star in an episode of the medical drama series ''Grey's Anatomy'' as a teenage patient named Haley, whose parents brought her in for schizophrenia. In a review of the episode, EW.com praised her performance, stating, "I still believe that even an unbiased observer would conclude that the Disney princess did a fine job acting it up as a suicidal 16-year-old who was admitted after trying to claw her own eyes out." Lovato began dating Joe Jonas, whom she first met while filming the first ''Camp Rock'' film. They split up in May. Lovato's South American Tour was her first international headlining tour. The tour commenced on May 23, 2010 in Santiago, Chile and concluded on May 28, 2010 in São Paulo, Brazil.

She later joined the Jonas Brothers Live in Concert tour as a special guest. Lovato dropped out of the tour on October 30, 2010 in order to enter a treatment facility to treat physical and emotional issues. In particular, many media sources immediately reported that Lovato had decided to enter treatment right after punching a Jonas Brothers back-up dancer, Alex Welch, on a flight out of Bogotá, Colombia, allegedly because Lovato believed that Welch had informed tour managers of inappropriate behaviour on Lovato's part the previous night, causing Lovato to be confronted by her managers and her stepfather, Eddie de la Garza. Lovato's camp reached a financial settlement with Welch in late December 2010, with Welch stating that the agreement stipulated for a portion of the settlement to be donated to charity. On January 28, 2011, it was reported that Lovato had completed her inpatient treatment.

Lovato granted her first post-rehab interview to ABC newscaster Robin Roberts, which aired on ''Good Morning America'' and ''20/20'' on April 22, 2011. During the interview, Lovato confirmed reports that her treatment was for bulimia and self-injury, and had taken place at the Timberline Knolls facility in Illinois after the aforementioned confrontation between her and Welch led to an intervention by her family and management team. Her condition came to a head during the tour because Lovato "was performing concerts on an empty stomach...I was losing my voice from purging. I was self-medicating. I was not taking medication for depression, and I literally was so emotionally whacked out that I took it out on someone that meant a lot to me." Lovato expressed regret at her actions towards Welch, stating "I take 100 percent, full responsibility..." In another interview, Lovato added that she had "basically had a nervous breakdown", and was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder during her treatment.

2011–present: ''Unbroken''

Lovato will not return to ''Sonny with a Chance'' and will instead focus on her music career, stating that "it's kind of sad for me that a chapter of my life has ended but there couldn't be a better time for me to move on...I don't think going back to ''Sonny'' would be healthy for my recovery...Being in front of a camera would make me nervous." To raise awareness about personal issues similar to her own, Lovato became a Contributing Editor to ''Seventeen'' magazine. She will discuss her personal issues as a part of a larger campaign called "Love is Louder than the Pressure to Be Perfect", directed towards teen girls.

Lovato's third studio album, ''Unbroken'', will be released on September 20, 2011. Lovato began working on the album in July 2010, prior to receiving treatment. She had described it as having a more soulful and R&B; inspired sound, citing Keri Hilson and Rihanna as inspirations for the sound. After Lovato's stint in the treatment facility, producer Timbaland expressed interest in working with her. Lovato confirmed in July 2011 that she was working on a duet with the producer. The first single off the album, "Skyscraper", premiered on July 12, 2011. Lovato scored her first top 10 debut on the ''Billboard'' 100, as "Skyscraper" debuts at number 10.

Influences

She is a fan of heavy metal music, such as Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, Abigail Williams, The Devil Wears Prada, and Job for a Cowboy.

Filmography

colspan="4" style="background: LightSteelBlue;"	Films
Year	Film	Role	! Notes
2008	''Camp Rock''	Mitchie Torres
	''Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience''	Herself	Concert film
''Princess Protection Program''	Princess Rosalinda	Disney Channel Original Movie
2010	''Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam''	Mitchie Torres	Disney Channel Original Movie
Television
! Year	! Title	! Role	! Notes
2002–2003	''Barney & Friends''	Angela	Recurring role
	''Prison Break''	Danielle Curtin
	Herself	1 episode
2007–2008
	''Just Jordan''	Nicole
''Studio DC: Almost Live''	Herself	Second show
2009–2011	''Sonny with a Chance''	Allison "Sonny" Munroe	Lead role
	2010	''Grey's Anatomy''	Hayley	(1 episode) "Shiny Happy People"	WON People's Choice Awards Favorite TV Guest Star

Discography

2008: ''Don't Forget''

2009: ''Here We Go Again''

2011: ''Unbroken''

See also

Demi Lovato tours

List of songs by Demi Lovato

Awards and Nominations

Year !! Award !! Category !! Work !! Result
rowspan="6"	2009		Young Artist Awards	"Best Performance in a TV Movie – Leading Young Actress"	''Camp Rock''
	"Choice TV – Breakout Star Female"	''Sonny With a Chance''
"Choice Music – Tour (shared with David Archuleta)"
"Choice Other Stuff – Red Carpet Icon: Female"	Herself
"Choice Summer – TV Star-Female"	''Princess Protection Program''
Alma Awards	Special Achievement In Music	Herself
	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Breakout Music Artist	Herself
	Young Artist Award	"Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries, or Special – Leading Young Actress"	''Princess Protection Program''
	"Choice TV Comedy Actress"	''Sonny With A Chance''
"Choice Breakout Artist: Female"	Herself
"Choice Pop Album"
"Choice Love Song"	''Catch Me''
"Choice Hook Up" (shared with We The Kings)	''We'll Be a Dream''
		"Favorite TV Guest Star"	''Greys Anatomy''
	"Choice TV Actress: Comedy"	''Sonny with a Chance''
"Choice Twit"	Herself
"Choice Summer: Music Star – Female"	Herself
"Choice Summer: Song"
"Acuvue Inspire Award"	Herself
	"TV Star"	''Sonny With A Chance''
"Charity Song (Shared with Joe Jonas)"	Make A Wave
Alma Awards	"Favorite TV Actress – Leading Role in a Comedy"	''Sonny With A Chance''

References

External links

Category:1992 births Category:Actors from Texas Category:American bloggers Category:American child actors Category:American child singers Category:American Christians Category:21st-century actors Category:American female singers Category:American Internet personalities Category:American musicians of Irish descent Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:American musicians of Mexican descent Category:American pop singer-songwriters Category:American rock singers Category:American television actors Category:Fascination Records artists Category:Hollywood Records artists Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Texas Category:People from Dallas, Texas

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name	Daniel Clive Wheldon
nationality	British |
birth date	June 22, 1978
birth place	Emberton, Olney, England, United Kingdom
current series	IRL IndyCar Series
first year	2002
current team	Bryan Herta Autosport
car number	98
former teams	Chip Ganassi RacingAndretti Green RacingPanther Racing
starts	128
wins	16
poles	5
best finish	1st
year	2005
prev series	Indy LightsToyota Atlantic ChampionshipU.S. F2000 Championship Series
prev series years	200120001999
titles	IRL IndyCar Series Champion
title years	2005
awards	IRL IndyCar Series Rookie of the YearIndianapolis 500 WinnerIndianapolis 500 Winner
award years	200320052011 }}

Daniel Clive Wheldon (born 22 June 1978) is an English auto racing driver. He was the 2005 Indy Racing League IndyCar Series champion, and winner of the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 and 2011. He currently resides in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Beginnings

Wheldon, who was born in Emberton, near Olney, Buckinghamshire, England, took up karting at the age of four with funding from his father, he progressed through the junior ranks of motor racing during his school years. Attending Bedford School until he completed his GCSEs at age 16, he frequently took time off to race. During his early career in open wheel racing, he developed a rivalry with Jenson Button before ultimately leaving the United Kingdom to race in America. The reasoning behind the move was that the level of investment needed to fund his racing career in the UK wasn't able to be provided by his family. Moving to the United States in 1999, he spent several years in lower open-wheeled circuits like the U.S. F2000 Championship Series, the Toyota Atlantic series and the Indy Lights series.

IRL IndyCar Series

In 2002, Wheldon moved up to the IRL IndyCar Series for two events, with Panther Racing as teammate to Sam Hornish, Jr.. The following year Wheldon joined Andretti Green Racing, taking the spot of Michael Andretti following his retirement, and collected league Rookie of the Year honours. In 2004, he won his first IRL race at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan, ultimately finishing as runner-up to teammate Tony Kanaan in the championship with three wins.

He won the 2005 Indianapolis 500 as well as that season's IndyCar Series championship. His six victories in 2005 also broke the record for most victories in one season (under IRL sanction), previously held by Sam Hornish, Jr. with 5. His win at Indy was the first for an Englishman since Graham Hill's triumph in 1966. In November 2005, it was announced that he would be driving for Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar Series in 2006. Shortly after his first test with Ganassi, he won the 24 Hours of Daytona endurance sports car race with Ganassi teammates Scott Dixon and Ganassi NASCAR driver Casey Mears.

He began the IndyCar season by beating Hélio Castroneves by 0.0147 seconds at Homestead-Miami, a somber race due to the earlier death of Paul Dana in a practice session. Wheldon retired at St. Petersburg thanks to contact with Sam Hornish, Jr. during a caution period. At the end of the 2006 IndyCar season, Wheldon and Hornish were tied for the lead with each driver having 475 points. In the event of a tie, the driver with the most wins for that particular season is declared the champion. Hornish had four wins for the 2006 season, to Wheldon's two; therefore Hornish was declared the 2006 IndyCar champion.

During the close season he was offered a place in the BMW Sauber Formula One team, but declined on discovering he would not be assured a regular drive. "I do want to race in F1. When my contract expires with Chip, I’ll take a serious look at Formula One".

Commenting in 2007 on the perception of him as 'difficult', Wheldon said "I put everything into my racing, and I expect the same back. If I see people who aren't giving it I'm not afraid to say so, but that sometimes comes out a little brash. That could be improved a little bit."

On 22 June 2008, his 30th birthday, he took his 15th career victory in the IndyCar Series after winning the 2008 Iowa Corn Indy 250 over Hideki Mutoh and Marco Andretti. He donated his winnings to help the victims of the recent tornadoes and flooding which had occurred in Iowa.

Wheldon was released from his drive at Ganassi on 2 September 2008. He was replaced by Dario Franchitti; "I have enjoyed these last three seasons with Target Chip Ganassi Racing, but will be moving on to pursue a very exciting opportunity for 2009," Wheldon said. It would later turn out to be a return to former team Panther Racing. Wheldon drove the Panther car to a second place finish in the 2009 Indianapolis 500, the second Indy 500 runner-up finish in a row for the team. However, his strong start to the season faded and Wheldon failed to crack the Top 10 in 7 of the last 8 races of the year. The following year Wheldon again showed strong at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, finishing second at the 2010 Indianapolis 500. This gave Panther its third straight runner-up finish at Indy. This time, Wheldon remained competitive all year, challenging for wins on the oval tracks.

Despite strong showings in the Panther Racing #4 car, Wheldon still failed to win a race during his time with the team. This led to his being replaced at Panther Racing by the young American driver (and 2009 Indy Lights champion) J.R. Hildebrand. Wheldon attempted and won the 2011 Indianapolis 500 with Bryan Herta Autosport in stunning and ironic fashion after inheriting the lead with metres to go after Hildebrand wrecked going into the final turn trying to get around the decelerating Charlie Kimball with too much velocity, being the first driver in Indy history to win the race by leading a single lap. Wheldon was very emotional after the win, due to not having a ride for the rest of the season and concerning his mother who had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease, to whom he partially dedicated his victory. It was Wheldon's first series win in three seasons.

Other appearences

Dan Wheldon was a guest star in the voice cast for the TV series ''Hot Wheels Battle Force 5''.

Personal life

Wheldon married his long-time personal assistant, Susie Behm, in 2008. They have 2 sons: Sebastian , who was born on 1 February 2009, and Oliver, born 19 March 2011. The family lives in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Motorsports career results

American open–wheel racing results

(key)

IndyCar Series

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MIS

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!

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! Bryan Herta Autosport

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: ''* Season still in progress.'' : ''^a Wheldon lost the title on the tiebreaker - he won only two races compared to Sam Hornish, Jr.'s four after the two tied on 475 points'' : ''¹ Run on same day'' : ''² Non-points race''

! Years	! Teams	! Races	! Poles	! Wins	! Podiums(Non-win)**	! Top 10s(Non-podium)***	! Indianapolis 500Wins	! Championships
9	4	129	5	16	25	48	2 (
! Year	! Chassis	! Engine	! Start	! Finish	! Team	! Summary
	[[Dallara">2005 Indianapolis 500

: ** Podium (Non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd place finishes. : *** Top 10s (Non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes.

Indianapolis 500

! Year	! Chassis	! Engine	! Start	! Finish	! Team	! Summary
	[[Dallara	Honda			Andretti Green	Wrecked in turn 4, flipped
	Dallara	Honda			Andretti Green	Running
	Dallara	Honda			Andretti Green	Running; 157.603 mph
	Dallara	Honda			Chip Ganassi Racing	Running
	Dallara	Honda			Chip Ganassi Racing	Crashed on backstretch
	Dallara	Honda			Chip Ganassi Racing	Running
	Dallara	Honda			Panther Racing	Running
	Dallara	Honda			Panther Racing	Running
	Dallara	Honda			Bryan Herta Autosport	Running; 170.265 mph

References

External links

Official Site

IndyCar Driver Page

Audio Interview with Dan Wheldon Dan Wheldon talks about his karting days

Recent Audio Interview with Dan Wheldon Dan Wheldon looks forward to a new challenge

ESPN Profile

Category:1978 births Category:24 Hours of Daytona drivers Category:Atlantic Championship drivers Category:BRDC Gold Star winners Category:English racecar drivers Category:Formula Ford drivers Category:Indianapolis 500 drivers Category:Indy 500 winners Category:Indy Lights drivers Category:Indy Racing League drivers Category:Living people Category:McLaren Autosport BRDC Award nominees Category:Old Bedfordians Category:People from Olney, Buckinghamshire

de:Dan Wheldon es:Dan Wheldon fr:Dan Wheldon it:Dan Wheldon nl:Dan Wheldon ja:ダン・ウェルドン pl:Dan Wheldon pt:Dan Wheldon sv:Dan Wheldon

name	Brian Wilson
alt	Brian Wilson performing in January 2007
landscape	yes
background	solo_singer
birth name	Brian Douglas Wilson
birth date	June 20, 1942
birth place	Inglewood, California, U.S.
death date
genre	Rock, pop, psychedelic rock, surf rock, experimental rock, baroque pop, art rock
occupation	Songwriter, bassist, pianist, vocalist, producer, composer, organist, arranger
instrument	Vocals, bass, piano, organ, synthesizers
years active	1961–present
label	Capitol/EMI RecordsSire/Reprise/Warner Bros. RecordsBrother/Reprise/Warner Bros. RecordsGiant/Warner Bros. RecordsCaribou/CBS RecordsNonesuch/Elektra RecordsWalt Disney Records
associated acts	The Beach Boys The Four Freshmen Jan and Dean Van Dyke Parks
url
notable instruments	Fender Precision BassBaldwin HT2R Theater Organ }}

Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group. Besides being the primary composer in The Beach Boys, he also functioned as the band's main producer and arranger. Wilson was responsible for writing and soon produced most of the Beach Boys earliest and most successful music including more than two dozen Top 40 hits and a large portion of the songs on most of the bands 60's albums — many of which were co-written in part with cousin Mike Love.

In the mid-60's Wilson started to use his increasingly creative ambitions to compose music such as ''Pet Sounds'' which is considered one of the greatest albums of all time and the hit single "Good Vibrations". During this point in time his music was considered to rival that of "Lennon/McCartney". The intended follow up to Pet Sounds, ''Smile'' was cancelled due to various reasons including his deteriorating mental health and Wilson's life was derailed following years of drug abuse and mental illness. Wilson's contributions to The Beach Boys eventually became less and less as the years went by and his erratic behaviour led to tensions with the band. After years of treatment and recuperation he began a solo career in 1988 with ''Brian Wilson'', the same year that he and The Beach Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Since then he has managed to fight his personal demons and tour for the first time in decades with a new band and release acclaimed albums such as a reworked version of ''Smile'', ''That Lucky Old Sun'', and ''Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin''.

Wilson has received a lot of well deserved recognition in the last 20 years for his music in the Beach Boys particularly the album Pet Sounds and many of his songs which are often considered some of the best music ever written. In 2008, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine published a list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time", and ranked Wilson number 52. Wilson also won a Grammy Award in 2005 for "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow (Fire)" as Best Rock Instrumental. He is also an occasional actor and voice actor, having appeared in television shows, films, and other artists' music videos. Though no longer a part of The Beach Boys touring band, Brian Wilson remains a member of the Beach Boys corporation, Brother Records Incorporated.

Life and career

Early years

Wilson was born on June 20, 1942 at Centinela Hospital in Inglewood, California. He was the eldest of three boys; his younger brothers were Dennis and Carl. When Brian was two, the Wilson family moved from Inglewood to 3701 West 119th Street in nearby Hawthorne, California, a town in the greater Los Angeles urban area about five miles inland from the Pacific Ocean. He spent his entire subsequent childhood years in this middle-class family home.

Brian Wilson's father Murry Wilson told of Brian's unusual musical abilities prior to his first birthday, observing that the baby could repeat the melody from "When the Caissons Go Rolling Along" after only a few verses had been sung by the father. Murry stated, "He was very clever and quick. I just fell in love with him."

At about age two, Brian heard George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue", which had an enormous emotional impact on him. A few years later Brian was discovered to have extremely diminished hearing in his right ear. The exact cause of this hearing loss is unclear, though theories range from Brian's simply being born partially deaf, to a blow to the head from Brian's father, or a neighborhood bully, being to blame.

While father Murry was ostensibly a reasonable provider, he was often abusive. But Murry, a minor musician and songwriter, also encouraged his children in this field in numerous ways. At an early age, Brian was given six weeks of lessons on a "toy accordion", and at seven and eight sang solos in church with a choir behind him. By most accounts a natural leader by the time he began attending Hawthorne High School, Brian was on the football team as a quarterback, played baseball and was a cross-country runner in his senior year. However, most of his energy was directed toward music. He sang with various students at school functions and with his family and friends at home. Brian taught his two brothers harmony parts that all three would then practice when they were supposed to be asleep. He also played piano obsessively after school, deconstructing the harmonies of The Four Freshmen by listening to short segments of their songs on a phonograph, then working to recreate the blended sounds note by note on the keyboard. Brian received a Wollensak tape recorder on his sixteenth birthday, allowing him to experiment with recording songs and early group vocals.

First steps: Carl and the Passions

Wilson's surviving home tapes document his initial efforts singing with various buddies and family, including a song that would later be recorded in the studio by The Beach Boys, "Sloop John B", as well as "Bermuda Shorts" and a hymn titled "Good News". In his senior year at Hawthorne High, in addition to his classroom music studies, he would gather at lunchtime to sing with friends like Keith Lent and Bruce Griffin. Brian and Lent worked on a revised version of the tune "Hully Gully" to support the campaign of a classmate named Carol Hess who was running for senior class president. When performed for a full high school gathering, Brian's revised arrangement received a warm round of applause from the student audience.

Enlisting his cousin and often-time singing partner Mike Love, and Wilson's reluctant youngest brother Carl Wilson, Brian's next public performance featured more ambitious arrangements at a fall arts program at his high school. To entice Carl into the group, Wilson named the newly-formed membership "Carl and the Passions". The performance featured tunes by Dion and the Belmonts and The Four Freshmen ("It's a Blue World"), the latter of which proved difficult for the ensemble to carry off. However, the event was notable for the impression it made on another musician and classmate of Brian's who was in the audience that night, Al Jardine, later to join the three Wilson brothers and Mike Love in The Beach Boys.

Initial compositions and the Pendletones

Brian enrolled at El Camino Community College in Los Angeles, majoring in psychology, in September 1960. However, he continued his music studies at the college as well. At some point in the year 1961 Brian wrote his first all-original melody, loosely based on a Dion and the Belmonts version of "When You Wish Upon a Star". Brian's tune would eventually be known as "Surfer Girl". Brian has commented that he wrote the melody in his car, then later at home finished the bridge and harmonies. Although an early demo of the song was recorded in Feb. 1962 at World-Pacific Studios, it was not re-recorded and released until 1963, when it became a top ten hit.

Brian and his brothers Carl and Dennis Wilson along with Mike Love and Al Jardine first gelled as a music group in the summer of 1961, initially named the Pendletones. After being prodded by Dennis to write a song about the local water sports craze, Brian and Mike Love together created what would become the first single for the band, "Surfin'". Over Labor Day weekend 1961, Brian took advantage of the fact that his parents were in Mexico City for a couple days and intended to use the emergency money they had left for the boys to rent an amp, a microphone, and a stand-up bass. As it turned out, the money they had left was not enough to cover musical expenses, so Al Jardine appealed to his mother, Virginia for assistance. When she heard the group perform, she was suitably impressed and handed over $300 to help out. Al promptly took Brian to the music store where he was able to rent a stand-up bass. After two days of rehearsing in the Wilson's music room, Brian's parents returned home from their trip. Murry was irate, until Brian convinced him to listen to what they'd been up to. His father was convinced that the boys did indeed have something worth pursuing. He quickly proclaimed himself the group's manager and the band embarked on serious rehearsals for a proper studio session. Recorded by Hite and Dorinda Morgan and released on the small Candix label, "Surfin'" became a top local hit in Los Angeles and reached number seventy-five on the national ''Billboard'' sales charts.

Dennis later described the first time Brian heard their song on the radio as the three Wilson brothers (and soon-to-be-band member David Marks) drove in Brian's 1957 Ford in the rain: "Nothing will ever top the expression on Brian's face, ever ... THAT was the all-time moment."

However, the Pendletones were no more. Without the band's knowledge or permission, Candix Records had changed their name to The Beach Boys.

First performances and the quest for a major label

Brian Wilson and his bandmates, following a set by Ike and Tina Turner, performed their first major live show at The Ritchie Valens Memorial Dance on New Year's Eve, 1961. Three days previously, Brian's father had bought him an electric bass and amplifier; Brian had learned to play the instrument in that short period of time, with Al Jardine moving to rhythm guitar.

Looking for a followup single for their radio hit, Brian and Mike wrote "Surfin' Safari", and attempts were made to record a usable take at World Pacific, including overdubs, on February 8, 1962, along with several other tunes including an early version of "Surfer Girl". Only a few days later, discouraged about the band's financial prospects, and objecting to adding some Chubby Checker songs to The Beach Boys live setlist, Al Jardine abruptly left the group.

Murry Wilson had become The Beach Boys manager, and when Candix Records ran into money problems and sold the group's master recordings to another label, Murry terminated the contract. Brian, worried about The Beach Boys' future, asked his father to help his group make more recordings. But Murry and Hite Morgan (who at this point was their music publisher) were turned down by a number of Los Angeles record companies.

As "Surfin'" faded from the charts, Brian, who had forged a songwriting partnership with Gary Usher, created several new tunes, including a car song, "409", that Usher had helped write. Recruiting Carl and Dennis' friend, thirteen-year-old neighbor David Marks, who had been playing electric guitar (and practicing with Carl) for years, Brian and the revamped Beach Boys cut new tracks on April 19 at Western Recorders including an updated "Surfin' Safari" and "409". These tunes convinced Capitol Records to release the demos as a single; they became a double-sided national hit.

The Beach Boys and first success with Capitol Records

After signing with Capitol Records in mid-1962, Brian Wilson wrote or co-wrote a series of hit singles including the aforementioned "Surfin' Safari", "Surfin' USA", "Shut Down", "Little Deuce Coupe", "Be True to Your School", "In My Room", "Fun, Fun, Fun", "I Get Around", "Dance, Dance, Dance", "Help Me Rhonda", "California Girls" and "Good Vibrations". These songs and their accompanying albums were internationally popular, making The Beach Boys one of the biggest acts of their time.

Recording sessions for the band's first album took place in Capitol's basement studios (in the famous tower building) in August 1962, but early on Brian lobbied for a different place to cut Beach Boy tracks. The large rooms were built to record the big orchestras and ensembles of the 50s, not small rock groups. At Brian's insistence, Capitol agreed to let The Beach Boys pay for their own outside recording sessions, which Capitol would own all the rights to, and in return the band would receive a higher royalty rate on their record sales. Additionally, although it was very rare at the time for rock and roll band members to have a say in the process of making their records, during the taping of their first LP Brian fought for, and won, the right to be totally in charge of the production- though his first acknowledged liner notes production credit did not come until the band's third album ''Surfer Girl'', in 1963.

January 1963 saw the recording of the first top-ten (cresting at #3 in the United States) Beach Boys single, "Surfin' USA", which began their long run of highly successful recording efforts at Hollywood's Western Recorders on Sunset Boulevard. It was during the sessions for this single that Brian made the production decision from that point on to use doubletracking on the group's vocals, resulting in a deeper and more resonant sound.

The tune, adapted from (and eventually entirely credited to) Chuck Berry, is widely seen as emblematic of the early 60s American rock cultural experience. The ''Surfin' USA'' album was also a big hit in the United States, reaching number two on the national sales charts by early July, 1963. Brian and his group had become a top-rank recording and touring music band.

Early era as writer/producer

Brian was first credited as The Beach Boys' producer on the ''Surfer Girl'' album, recorded in June and July 1963 and released in September 1963. This LP reached #7 on the national charts on the strength of songs like the ballad "In My Room", later released as a single; "Catch a Wave"; and "Little Deuce Coupe", which was released as a double-sided single with the album's title track, both top-15 hits.

He also began working with other artists in this period. On July 20, 1963, "Surf City", which he had co-written with Jan and Dean, was the first surfing song to reach the pinnacle of the sales charts. While Brian was excited and happy, his father (and still-manager) Murry and Capitol Records were less than thrilled. Indeed, openly enraged by Brian's chart-topping effort for what he saw as a rival band, Murry went so far as to order his oldest son to sever any further efforts with Jan and Dean.

Brian's other non-Beach Boy work in this period included tracks by The Honeys, Sharon Marie, The Timers, and The Survivors. Feeling that surfing songs had become limiting, Brian decided to produce a set of largely car-oriented tunes for The Beach Boys' fourth album ''Little Deuce Coupe'', which was released in October 1963, only three weeks after the ''Surfer Girl'' LP. The departure of guitarist David Marks from the band that month meant that Brian was forced to resume touring with The Beach Boys, for a time reducing his availability in the recording studio.

Artistic growth

Brian became known for his unique use of vocal harmonies, his trademark style of lyrics and incessant studio perfectionism. Early influences on his music included not only the previously mentioned Four Freshmen and Chuck Berry, but also the work of record producer Phil Spector, the latter of whom obsessed Wilson for years. He later considered The Beatles to be his chief rivals, and they in turn would cite his work as a major influence. Wilson also produced records for other artists, but to much lesser success, with the exception of Jan and Dean, for whom Wilson co-wrote several hit songs. Following a nervous breakdown onboard a flight from L.A. to Houston in 1964, Wilson stopped performing live with the Beach Boys in an effort to concentrate solely on songwriting and studio production. Glen Campbell was called in as his temporary stand-in for live performances,|}} As he began work on the new project, ''Pet Sounds'', Wilson formed a temporary songwriting partnership with lyricist Tony Asher. Wilson, who had recorded the album's instrumentation with The Wrecking Crew, then gathered with The Beach Boys to record vocal overdubs, following their return from a tour of Japan. Upon hearing what Wilson had created for the first time in 1965, the group, particularly Mike Love, was somewhat critical of their leader's music,

During the ''Pet Sounds'' sessions, Wilson had been working on another song, which was held back from inclusion on the record as he felt that it was not sufficiently complete. The song, "Good Vibrations", set a new standard for musicians, and what could be achieved in the recording studio. Recorded in multiple sessions and in numerous studios, the song eventually cost $50,000 to record within a six month period. In October 1966, the song was released as a single, giving The Beach Boys their third U.S. number-one hit—alongside "I Get Around" and "Help Me, Rhonda"—and it sold over a million copies.

''Smile'', group tension and Brother Records

With the surprising success of "Good Vibrations", Capitol Records had no choice but to back Wilson up for his next project, originally called ''Dumb Angel'' Soon after, ''Smile'' was abandoned, and Wilson would not return to complete it until 2004, when it was released as a Brian Wilson album of the same name. Van Dyke Parks later noted, "...Brian had a nervous collapse. What broke his heart was ''Sgt. Pepper''." Writing for ''The Guardian'' in December 1999, Will Hodgkinson summarized the main reasons for the eventual demise of Wilson's ambitious project;

:[A] combination of factors, including litigations against the record company and increasing animosity between Wilson and the rest of the band, meant that in May 1967 Wilson pulled the plug on the record... [Mike] Love had already dismissed "Good Vibrations "as "avant-garde shit" and objected to the way Wilson, Parks and a group of highly skilled session musicians were creating music way beyond his understanding... By March 1967, the bad feeling got too much for Parks and, having no desire to break up The Beach Boys, he walked out.

Following the cancellation of ''Smile'', The Beach Boys relocated to a recording studio within the confines of Brian Wilson's mansion, where the hastily compiled ''Smiley Smile'' album was assembled, along with a number of future Beach Boys records. This marked the end of Wilson's leadership within the band, and has been seen to be "the moment when the Beach Boys first started slipping from the vanguard to nostalgia."

Mental illness

Psychologically overwhelmed by the cancellation of ''Smile'', and the birth of his first child Carnie Wilson in 1968, Wilson began having a diminished creative role with The Beach Boys. Until about 1970 he remained the group's principal songwriter, but increasingly production reins were handed to younger brother Carl. Carl Wilson mostly oversaw the albums ''Smiley Smile'', ''Wild Honey'', and ''Friends'' (a personal favorite of Brian's), which only performed modestly on the charts. After that, Brian Wilson all but stopped writing songs and was frequently seen partying in the company of songwriter Tandyn Almer and Three Dog Night singer Danny Hutton. It was during this period that he was introduced to cocaine. The 1969 album ''20/20'' was made mostly without Wilson's participation, although the Wilson/Love-authored "Do It Again" was a major hit, topping the charts in the UK.

Wilson spent the majority of the following three years in his bedroom sleeping, taking drugs, and overeating. During this time, his voice deteriorated significantly as a result of chain smoking, drug ingestion and neglect. Many of his "new" contributions to Beach Boys albums were remnants of ''Smile'' (e.g., "Cabinessence", "Surf's Up"), and those that were genuinely new reflected his depression and growing detachment from the world ("'Til I Die", the EP "Mount Vernon and Fairway"). Reportedly, Warner Bros. Records was so desperate for material from Wilson that the single "We Got Love" (co-written by Ricky Fataar, Blondie Chaplin, and Love) was scrapped from the ''Holland'' album in favor of "Sail On, Sailor", a song mostly written by committee (including Chaplin, Almer and Parks) that happened to draw its initial germ from a Wilson chord sequence.

In 1975, Wilson's wife and family enlisted the services of controversial therapist Eugene Landy in a bid to help Wilson, and hopefully help revive the group's ailing profile. Wilson did not stay under Landy's care for long, but during this short period, the doctor managed to help him into a more productive, social frame of mind. The new album ''15 Big Ones'', consisting of oldies and some new songs was released in 1976 and Wilson began to regularly appear live on stage with the band. A Love-orchestrated publicity campaign announced that "Brian is Back". He was also deemed to be well enough to do a solo performance on ''Saturday Night Live'' in November 1976. In 1977, the cult favorite ''Love You'' was released, consisting almost entirely of new material written and performed by Wilson. He continues to say it is his favorite Beach Boys album.

By 1982, Eugene Landy was once more called into action, and a more radical program was undertaken to try to restore Wilson to health. This involved firing him from The Beach Boys, isolating him from his family on Hawaii, and putting him onto a rigorous diet and health regimen. This, coupled with long, extreme counseling sessions, continued to bring Wilson back to reality. He lost a tremendous amount of weight, was certainly healthier and more conversant than previously, but he was also under a strict level of control by Landy. Wilson's recovery continued as he joined the band on stage in Live Aid in 1985, and recorded the album ''The Beach Boys'' with the group.

Dr. Landy provided a Svengali-like environment for Wilson, controlling his every movement in his life, including his musical direction. Landy's misconduct would eventually lead to the loss of his psychologist license, as well as a court-ordered removal and restraining order from Wilson.

Some years later, during his second marriage, Wilson was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type which supposedly caused him to hear voices in his head. By 1989 the rumor was that Brian either had a stroke or had abused too many drugs and was permanently "fried". a neurological condition marked by involuntary, repetitive movements, that develops in about 20% of patients treated with antipsychotic drugs for a long period of time. Wilson's drug regimen has now been reduced to a mild combination of antidepressants, and he has resumed recording and performing.

The effects of Brian Wilson's mental illness on his parenting skills were discussed by Wilson's daughter Wendy during her appearance in an episode of the British reality television program ''Supernanny''. Wilson's daughter Carnie and granddaughter Lola also made an appearance on the episode.

Solo career

Wilson launched a career as a solo artist in 1988 with limited success. It is possible that his efforts in this regard were both encouraged and hampered by Landy's influence. Partly due to the control that Landy exercised on his life, Wilson stopped working with The Beach Boys on a regular basis after the release of ''The Beach Boys'' in 1985. He had been signed to a solo record deal with Sire Records by label boss Seymour Stein.

Wilson's first solo album, ''Brian Wilson'', released in 1988, was favorably reviewed in the music press, but sold poorly. A memoir, ''Wouldn't It Be Nice - My Own Story'', was released in 1990, in which he spoke about his troubled relationship with his abusive father Murry, his internal disputes with the Beach Boys, and his "lost years" of mental illness. Although it was written following interviews with Brian and others and released with Brian's name as co-author, Landy was largely responsible for the direction of the book, in conjunction with ''People'' magazine writer Todd Gold. The book describes Landy in terms that could be called messianic. In a later lawsuit over the book, instigated by several family members including his brother Carl and mother Audree, Wilson testified in court that he hadn't even read the final manuscript. As a result, the book was taken out of press some years later. A second solo album made for Sire under the aegis of Landy, entitled ''Sweet Insanity'', was never released after being rejected by the record label. Landy's illegal use of psychotropic drugs on Wilson and his influence over Wilson's financial affairs was legally ended by Carl Wilson and other members of the Wilson family. A court appointed conservator was appointed to oversee Wilson's financial and legal affairs.

In 1995, Wilson married Melinda Ledbetter, a car saleswoman and former model he met several years earlier while still under the care of Eugene Landy. The couple adopted five children: two girls, Daria Rose and Delanie Rae, in 1998; a boy, Dylan, in 2004; a boy, Dash Tristan; and a girl, Dakota Rose, in 2010 in 2009. Wilson has two daughters from his first marriage to Marilyn Rovell: Carnie Wilson and Wendy Wilson, who would go on to musical success of their own in the early 1990s as two-thirds of Wilson Phillips.

Also in 1995, he released two albums, albeit neither containing any new original Wilson material, almost simultaneously. The first, the soundtrack to Don Was's documentary ''I Just Wasn't Made for These Times'', consists of re-recorded versions of songs from his Beach Boys and solo catalogue produced by Was, along with a 1976-vintage demo recording. The second, ''Orange Crate Art'', saw Wilson as lead vocalist, multitracked many times over, on an album of songs produced, arranged and (mostly) written by Van Dyke Parks, and was released as a duo album under both men's names.

His final release as part of the group was on the 1996 album ''Stars and Stripes Vol. 1'', a group collaboration with select country music artists singing the lead vocals. After considerable mental recovery, he mended his relationship with his daughters Carnie and Wendy and the three of them released an album in 1997 titled ''The Wilsons''.

In 1996 Wilson sang backup on Belinda Carlisle's "California."

Wilson released a second solo album of mostly new material, ''Imagination'', in 1998. Following this, he received extensive vocal coaching to improve his voice, and learned to cope with his stage fright and started to play live for the first time in decades, going on to play the whole ''Pet Sounds'' album live on his tours of the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe.

A new studio album, ''Gettin' in Over My Head'', was released on June 22, 2004. It featured collaborations with Elton John, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, and Wilson's deceased brother Carl. Clapton played on the track "City Blues." The album was almost entirely composed of re-recordings of unreleased material, and received mixed reviews.

Brian Wilson has recently contributed a cover of Buddy Holly's "Listen To Me" for the upcoming tribute album, Listen to Me: Buddy Holly to be released on September 6th, 2011.

''Smile'' resurrected

With the improvements in his mental health, Wilson found himself able to contemplate returning to the ''Smile'' project. Aided by musician and long time fan Darian Sahanaja of The Wondermints, and lyricist Van Dyke Parks, Brian painstakingly worked throughout 2003 to release the album. In February 2004, 37 years after it was conceived, Wilson debuted the newly completed ''Smile'' at the Royal Festival Hall in London and throughout a subsequent UK tour.

The debut performance at the RFH was a defining moment for Brian. The documentary DVD of the event shows Brian preparing for the big day and, right up to show time, expressing doubts over the concept of putting this legendary work before the public. After an opening set of Beach Boys classics, he climbed back on stage for a rousing performance of the album. A 10-minute standing ovation followed the concert; the DVD shows a sprinkling of rock luminaries in the crowd, such as Roger Daltrey, Paul Weller, Sir George Martin and Sir Paul McCartney (although neither Martin nor McCartney attended the opening night, contrary to what the DVD implies).

''Smile'' was then recorded through April to June and released in September, to wide critical acclaim. The release hit #13 on the Billboard chart. The 2004 recording featured his backup/touring band, including Beach Boys guitarist Jeff Foskett, members of the Wondermints and backup singer Taylor Mills. In this version, "Good Vibrations" features Tony Asher's original lyrics in the verses, instead of Mike Love's lyrics from the released 1966 version.

Wilson won his only Grammy Award in 2005 for the track "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow (Fire)" as Best Rock Instrumental. In 2004 ''Smile'' was taken on the road for a thorough tour of Australia, New Zealand and Europe. In December 2005, he also released ''What I Really Want for Christmas'' for Arista Records. The release hit #200 on the Billboard chart, though sales were modest. Wilson's remake of the classic "Deck The Halls" became a surprise Top 10 Adult Contemporary hit.

Though no longer a part of The Beach Boys touring band, Brian Wilson remains a member of the Beach Boys corporation, Brother Records Incorporated.

Post-''Smile'' to ''That Lucky Old Sun''

thumb|Brian Wilson and his group performing In Europe in 2005.In February 2005, Wilson had a cameo in the TV series ''Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century'' as Daffy Duck's spiritual surfing advisor. He also appeared in the 2005 holiday episode of ''Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'', performing "Deck the Halls" for a group of children with xeroderma pigmentosum (hypersensitivity to sunlight) at Walt Disney World Resort. On July 2, 2005, Wilson performed for the Live 8 concert in Berlin, Germany.

In September 2005, Wilson arranged a charity drive to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina, wherein people who donated $100 or more would receive a personal phone call from Wilson. According to the website, over $250K was raised. In November 2005, former bandmate Mike Love sued Wilson over "shamelessly misappropriating... Love's songs, likeness, and the Beach Boys trademark, as well as the 'Smile' album itself" in the promotion of ''Smile''. The lawsuit was ultimately thrown out of court on grounds that it was meritless.

On November 1, 2006, Wilson kicked off a small but highly anticipated tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of ''Pet Sounds''. He was joined by Al Jardine.

Wilson released a new album ''That Lucky Old Sun'' on September 2, 2008. The piece originally debuted in a series of September 2007 concerts at London's Royal Festival Hall, and in January 2008 at Sydney's State Theatre while headlining the Sydney Festival. Wilson describes the piece as "consisting of five 'rounds', with interspersed spoken word". A series of US and UK concerts led up to its release.

On September 30, 2008, Seattle's Light in the Attic Records released ''A World of Peace Must Come'', a collaboration between Wilson and Stephen Kalinich, originally recorded in 1969, but later lost in Kalinich's closet.

''Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin'' (2009–present)

In summer 2009, Wilson was approached by the Gershwin estate to record an album of covers of classic Gershwin songs, and to complete two piano pieces left unfinished by Gershwin at his death. The album, ''Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin'', was released on August 17, 2010 on Disney's Pearl label. ''Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin'' hit #1 on the Billboard Jazz Chart. Wilson signed a two-record deal with Disney; the second album will be a collection of classic Disney movie songs.

Biographical Movie

''The Tree of Life'' producer Bill Pohlad and veteran television writer/producer John Wells (''E.R.'', ''The West Wing'') have teamed to develop a drama based on Wilson's personal and professional story. They've acquired life rights from Wilson and his wife, Melinda, and hired Oren Moverman, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter behind the offbeat Bob Dylan film ''I'm Not There'', to write a script.

Awards and recognitions

Wilson and the Beach Boys were inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in January 1988, alongside The Beatles and Bob Dylan.

In 2000, Wilson was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Paul McCartney introduced Brian, referring to him as "one of the great American geniuses."

In March 2001, TNT and Radio City Music Hall hosted "An All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson." This event featured performances and appearances by Elton John, Billy Joel, Chazz Palminteri host, David Crosby, Dennis Hopper, Paul Simon, Carly Simon, The Go-Go's, Cameron Crowe, Sir George Martin, Vince Gill, Brian's daughters Carnie & Wendy Wilson along with Chynna Phillips (Wilson Phillips), Jimmy Webb, Darius Rucker, Matthew Sweet, Ann and Nancy Wilson of (Heart), The Boys Choir of Harlem, and others.

''Pet Sounds'' has been ranked as one of the most influential records in popular music, and has been ranked #1 on several music magazines' lists of the greatest albums of all time. It is ranked #2 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

On May 10, 2004, Wilson was honored as a BMI Icon at the 52nd annual BMI Pop Awards. He was saluted for his "unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers."

A 2005 concert, "Musicares: A Tribute to Brian Wilson," was held in Wilson's honor, during which he was named MusiCares Person of the Year. Performers included Jeff Beck, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Earth Wind & Fire, Barenaked Ladies, and The Backstreet Boys, among others.

On May 20, 2005, Wilson and the five other original-era Beach Boys were honored with the unveiling of the Beach Boys Historic Landmark on the former site of the Wilson family home in Hawthorne, California.

In 2005, Wilson won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for Mrs. O'Leary's Cow.

In November 2006, Wilson was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame by Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. Wilson performed "God Only Knows" and "Good Vibrations" at the ceremony.

On December 2, 2007, the Kennedy Center Honors committee recognized Wilson for a lifetime of contributions to American culture through the performing arts in music.

May 20, 2011, Wilson received the UCLA George and Ira Gershwin Award at UCLA Spring Sing.

Discography

''Brian Wilson'' (July 12, 1988)

''I Just Wasn't Made for These Times'' (August 15, 1995)

''Orange Crate Art'' (with Van Dyke Parks) (October 24, 1995)

''Imagination'' (June 16, 1998)

''Live at the Roxy Theatre'' (June, 2000)

''Pet Sounds Live'' (June 11, 2002)

''Gettin' in Over My Head'' (June 22, 2004)

''Smile'' (September 28, 2004)

''What I Really Want for Christmas'' (October 18, 2005)

''That Lucky Old Sun'' (September 2, 2008)

''Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin'' (August 17, 2010)

''In The Key Of Disney'' (October 25, 2011)

Additional Appearances:

''The Wilsons'' (1997)

See also

List of songs by Brian Wilson

Beach Boys Historic Landmark

A Tribute To Brian Wilson - Radio City Music Hall (March 29, 2001)

Notes

References

Badman, Keith. ''The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band on Stage and in the Studio'' (Backstreet Books, 2004). ISBN 0-87930-818-4.

Carlin, Peter Ames. ''Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson'' (Rodale Inc., 2006). ISBN 13 978-1-59486-749-1.

Leaf, David. ''The Beach Boys and the California Myth'' (Kingsport Press, 1978). ISBN 0-89471-412-0.

Lambert, Philip. ''Inside the Music of Brian Wilson: the songs, sounds and influences of the Beach Boys' founding genius'' (Continuum International Publishing Group Inc., 2007). ISBN 13 978 0 8264 1877 7.

Stebbins, Jon. ''The Lost Beach Boy'' (Virgin Books Ltd, 2007). ISBN 978-1-8522-7391-0.

External links

Official site

2004 Larry King Transcript where they speak about Wilson's mental illness

"After the wipe out" by Ginny Dougary in ''The Guardian'' (June 1, 2002)

"Four Decades Later, Wilson's 'Smile' Hits London" Audio review at NPR (February 25, 2004)

SMiLE Timeline

Brian Wilson Pictures from 2007 Consumer Electronics Show performance

January 2009 Interview with L.A. Record

This list of "outside productions" by members of the Beach Boys includes records Brian produced and-or wrote for other artists throughout his career

Cabin Essence, Web Page for Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson's Wave by Peter Ames Carlin, ''American Heritage'', August/September 2004.

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