Unity may also refer to:
de:Unity fr:Unité it:Unity nl:Unity pl:Unity pt:Unity (desambiguação) ru:Unity (значения) sk:Unity sv:Unity tr:Unity vo:Unity
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Name | Queen Latifah |
---|---|
Background | solo_singer |
Birth name | Dana Elaine Owens |
Birth date | March 18, 1970 |
Death | March 25, 2011 |
Origin | Newark, New Jersey, U.S. |
Instrument | Piano, vocals |
Genre | R&B;, soul, jazz, hip hop |
Occupation | Singer-songwriter, record producer, rapper, actress, comedian, spokesperson, author |
Years active | 1988–present |
Label | Verve, Interscope, Motown, Tommy Boy, Warner Bros., PolyGram |
Website | QueenLatifah.com |
Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper and actress. Queen Latifah's work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy Award nomination and an Academy Award nomination.
In 2009, Latifah, along with the Jubilation Choir, recorded the title track on the album Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration, covering the song the Edwin Hawkins Singers made popular in 1969.
In 2003, she starred with Steve Martin in the film ''Bringing Down the House'', which was a major success at the box office. She also recorded a song "Do Your Thing" for the soundtrack. Since then, she has had both leading and supporting roles in a multitude of films that received varied critical and box office receptions, including films such as ''Scary Movie 3'', ''Barbershop 2: Back in Business'', ''Taxi'', ''Kung Faux'', ''Beauty Shop'', and ''Hairspray''. In early 2006, Latifah appeared in a romantic comedy/drama entitled ''Last Holiday''. Film critic Richard Roeper stated that "this is the Queen Latifah performance I've been waiting for ever since she broke into movies". Also in 2006, Latifah voiced Ellie, a friendly mammoth, in the animated film, ''Ice Age: The Meltdown'' (her first voice appearance in an animated film), and also appeared in the drama ''Stranger Than Fiction''.
The summer of 2007 brought Latifah triple success in the big-screen version of the Broadway smash hit ''Hairspray'', in which she acted, sang, and danced. The film rated highly with critics. It starred, among others, John Travolta (''Grease''), Michelle Pfeiffer (Stardust), Allison Janney (''Juno''), James Marsden (''Enchanted''), Christopher Walken (''Catch Me If You Can'') and Zac Efron (''High School Musical''). Also in 2007, she portrayed an HIV-positive woman in the film ''Life Support'', a role for which she garnered her first Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and an Emmy nomination. For her work, Queen Latifah received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, on January 4, 2006, located at 6915 Hollywood Blvd.
Latifah produced the 2007 film ''The Perfect Holiday''. In addition to producing the film, Latifah starred alongside Terrence Howard, Morris Chestnut, Gabrielle Union, Charles Q. Murphy, Jill Marie Jones, and Faizon Love. In 2008, Latifah appeared in the crime comedy ''Mad Money'' opposite Academy Award-winner Diane Keaton as well as Katie Holmes and Ted Danson. She appeared on ''Saturday Night Live'' on October 4, 2008, as moderator Gwen Ifill impersonator in a comedic sketch depicting the recent vice-presidential debate. In 2009, Latifah was a presenter at the 81st Academy Awards, presenting the segment honoring film professionals who had died during 2008 and singing "I'll Be Seeing You" during the montage. Latifah spoke at Michael Jackson's memorial service in Los Angeles. She also hosted the 2010 People's Choice Awards. Latifah sang ''America the Beautiful'' at Super Bowl XLIV hosted in Miami, Florida on February 7, 2010 with Carrie Underwood. Latifah hosted the 2010 BET Awards on June 27, 2010. She is scheduled to appear in the forthcoming ''Joyful Noise'' with Dolly Parton.
Latifah was asked by Maya Angelou, who was unable to attend, to recite a poem written by Angelou at the memorial service for Michael Jackson in July 2009.
Film | ||||
Year | Film | Role | ! Notes | |
''Jungle Fever'' | Lashawn | |||
''House Party 2'' | Zora | |||
1992 | Ruffhouse M.C. | |||
1993 | ''Who's the Man?'' | cameo role | ||
1993 | Theresa | |||
1996 | ''Set It Off'' | Cleopatra 'Cleo' Sims | ||
1997 | Sulie | |||
''Living Out Loud'' | Liz Bailey | Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture | ||
Alice "Teeny" Fletcher | ||||
''The Bone Collector'' | Thelma | |||
''Bringing Out the Dead'' | Dispatcher Love | |||
Matron "Mama" Morton | ||||
Dove (English voice) | ||||
Francine | Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture | |||
''The Country Bears'' | Cha-Cha | |||
''Scary Movie 3'' | Aunt Shaneequa | |||
Charlene Morton | ''Producer'' | NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion PictureNominated — BET Awards>BET Comedy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Box Office MovieNominated — Black Reel Awards | ||
Belle | ||||
''[[The Cookout'' | Security Guard | (also producer) | ||
''Barbershop 2: Back in Business'' | Gina | |||
2005 | ''Beauty Shop'' | Gina Norris | ''Producer'' | Nominated — BET Awards |
Penny Escher | ||||
''[[Ice Age: The Meltdown'' | Ellie | Voice | Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards>Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie | |
Georgia Byrd | Nominated — Black Movie Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading RoleNominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture | |||
Motormouth Maybelle | ||||
''The Perfect Holiday'' | Mrs. Christmas | Producer | ||
Nina Brewster | ||||
Dr. Twitchell | ||||
August Boatwright | Black Reel Award for Best ActressHollywood Film Festival Award for Best Ensemble CastNominated — Black Reel Award for Best EnsembleNominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture | |||
2009 | ''Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs'' | Ellie | Voice | |
Paula Thomas | ||||
''Just Wright'' | Leslie Wright | Producer | Nominated- Teen Choice Award | |
2011 | Susan Warner | |||
''[[Ice Age: Continental Drift'' | Ellie | Voice | ||
Vi Rose Hill | ||||
Television Films | ||||
! Year | ! Title | ! Role | ! Notes | |
1998 | ''Mama Flora's Family'' | Diana | ||
2002 | Midge Harmon | |||
2005 | ''The Muppets' Wizard of Oz'' | Aunt Em | ||
2007 | Ana | Producer | Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television FilmTelevision | |
! Year | ! Title | ! Role | ! Notes | |
1993–1998 | ''[[Living Single">Gracie Allen | |||
Television | ||||
! Year | ! Title | ! Role | ! Notes | |
1993–1998 | ''[[Living Single'' | Khadijah James | Main Role | |
Television guest appearances | ||||
! Year | ! Title | ! Role | ! Notes | |
''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' | Dee Dee / Marissa Redman | |||
''Whitest Kids You Know'' | Cameo in skit "Sex Robot" | |||
2001 | ''Spin City'' | Robin Jones | ||
Simone | ||||
''The Fairly Oddparents'' | Pam Dromeda | |||
''Sweet Blackberry Presents'' | ? | |||
Herself | ||||
2010 | ''30 Rock'' | Regina Bookman |
Category:1970 births Category:American dance musicians Category:African American rappers Category:American television talk show hosts Category:American voice actors Category:Baptists from the United States Category:Best Miniseries or Television Movie Actress Golden Globe winners Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:Female rappers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Hip hop singers Category:Living people Category:Tommy Boy Records artists Category:Verve Records artists Category:A&M; Records artists Category:Motown artists Category:Native Tongues Posse Category:Actors from New Jersey Category:Rappers from New Jersey Category:People from Newark, New Jersey Category:People from Colts Neck Township, New Jersey Category:People from Rumson, New Jersey Category:People from East Orange, New Jersey Category:African American television actors Category:African American female singers
ar:كوين لطيفة bg:Куин Латифа cs:Queen Latifah cy:Queen Latifah da:Queen Latifah de:Queen Latifah es:Queen Latifah fa:کویین لطیفه fr:Queen Latifah hr:Queen Latifah id:Queen Latifah it:Queen Latifah he:קווין לטיפה jv:Queen Latifah sw:Queen Latifah nl:Queen Latifah ja:クィーン・ラティファ no:Queen Latifah pl:Queen Latifah pt:Queen Latifah ru:Куин Латифа sq:Queen Latifah simple:Queen Latifah fi:Queen Latifah sv:Queen Latifah tl:Queen Latifah th:ควีน ลาติฟาห์ tr:Queen Latifah zh:拉蒂法女皇This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
Name | Rick James |
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Background | solo_singer |
Birth name | James Ambrose Johnson, Jr. |
Alias | Big Jimmy; Ricky James Matthews (early career; Josh Budd (Rick James of Heroics); Jimmy "The Whale" |
Born | February 01, 1948Buffalo, New York, U.S. |
Died | August 06, 2004Burbank, California, U.S. |
Genre | R&B;, soul, funk, new wave rock, post disco |
Occupation | Singer, songwriter, dancer, bandleader, record producer |
Instrument | |instrument Vocal, bass, guitar, keyboards, drums and other percussion instruments |
Years active | 1964–2004 |
Label | Gordy RecordsMotown RecordsReprise RecordsMercury Records |
Associated acts | The Mynah BirdsStone City BandHeaven and EarthMary Jane GirlsProcess and the Doo RagsVal YoungEddie MurphyTeena Marie |
Notable instruments | Rickenbacker 4001Gibson Les Paul |
Website | }} |
James Ambrose Johnson, Jr. (February 1, 1948August 6, 2004), better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. James was a popular performer in the late 1970s and 1980s, scoring four number-one hits on the U.S. R&B; charts performing in the genres of funk, rock and R&B;. Among his well known songs are "Super Freak", "Mary Jane" and "You and I".
In addition to his music, James gained notoriety for his wild lifestyle, which led to widely publicized legal problems, and which was famously spoofed by ''Chappelle's Show'' in 2004.
James and Palmer soon formed a new Mynah Birds lineup with guitarists Tom Morgan and Xavier Taylor, and drummer Rick Mason. In early 1966, the Mynah Birds auditioned for the Motown label in Detroit. Morgan was unhappy with the label's attitude towards the musicians and left, with Neil Young taking his place. With Young on board, the Mynah Birds returned to Motown to record an album, but their manager pocketed the advance money the label had given the band. The band fired their manager, who in turn told the label that James was actually a seaman who had gone AWOL. Motown told him to give himself up to the FBI, and the Mynah Birds' album was shelved.
James spent a year in a naval prison, after which he briefly returned to Toronto. During the summer of 1967, Rick James formed a new version of The Mynah Birds (sometimes spelled "Myna Byrds") with Neil Merryweather. The band returned to Detroit and recorded a new version of James and Neil Young's ''It's My Time'', but the band broke up soon afterwards. During early 1968, James returned to Motown and became a songwriter and producer, writing under an assumed name and working with Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Canadian band Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers and The Spinners.
In late 1968, James and Greg Reeves moved to Los Angeles, California and formed a rock band called Salt and Pepper (under the name Rick Matthews) with drummer Steve Rumph from T.I.M.E and Michael Rummans from the Yellow Payges. A later version consisted of Coffi Hall from Mama Lion and Merryweather and guitarist Dave Burt and Keyboardist Ed Roth from Merryweather.
Former Buffalo Springfield roadie Chris Sarns played bass for a while, before Ron Johnson from Kaleidoscope stepped in the following year. The group recorded a demo for Atlantic Records, and played at The Fillmore West with Jethro Tull. In 1971, James and Roth both appeared on Buffalo Springfield bassist Bruce Palmer's solo album, ''The Cycle is Complete''. Then they returned to Toronto, where they recorded two singles - ''Big Showdown'' and ''Don't You Worry'' - as part of Heaven and Earth, a band that also featured guitarist Stan Endersby, bass player Denny Gerrard, and drummer Pat Little. Heaven and Earth, minus Little, then merged with another local group, Milestone, to form Great White Cane with horn players Bob Doughty and Ian Kojima, drummer Norman Wellbanks, guitarist Paul C Saenz, and keyboard player John Cleveland Hughes. The group recorded an album for Lion Records in Los Angeles in March 1972, but by that summer, they had disbanded.
In 1973 A&M; Records released the first Rick James single, "My Mama", which is likely to have been recorded in Los Angeles. In 1976, James and South African guitarist Aidan Mason co-wrote "Get Up and Dance!," which was released as a single but failed to chart. In 1977, he returned to Motown as a songwriter/producer. He soon began recording for Motown's Gordy label, first with the Hot Lips and then with a new version of the Stone City Band.
After a relative flop with his fourth album, ''Garden of Love'', in 1980, in which he traded most of his disco/funk origins for a more pop-R&B; flavored project, he returned to the top with the grittier ''Street Songs'', which was also the first to include rock and new wave elements, particularly in the album's leading single, "Super Freak", which became James' biggest pop hit reaching number-sixteen on the Billboard Hot 100 and later winning him a Grammy Award nomination. Due to this single, the follow-up top 40 smash, "Give It to Me Baby", the Teena Marie duet "Fire and Desire", and "Ghetto Life", ''Street Songs'' peaked at number-one on the R&B; album chart and number-three on the pop chart, going on to sell more than three million copies becoming James' biggest-selling album and making James famous. In 1982, just as the hype from ''Street Songs'' dropped, he released the gold-selling ''Throwin' Down'' album, and followed that up with another hit album, ''Cold Blooded'' (1983), which included the hit title track. James continued to score hits with Motown into 1985 but by the end of that year had begun to have struggle with the label.
Following the release of ''The Flag'' in 1986, James left Motown and signed a lucrative deal with Warner Bros, releasing the album, ''Wonderful'', in 1988, which yielded the R&B; hit, "Loosey's Rap". The video for the song was banned on MTV and BET for sexual content, which James labeled hypocritical. After the release of the UK-only 1989 album, ''Kickin''', James' recording career slowed as he struggled with personal and legal problems. In 1997, a year following his release from prison for assault charges, James released his first new album in eight years, ''Urban Rapsody''. Though James returned to live performances to promote the album, he stopped performing for a while after suffering a stroke following a show in Denver in 1998. Prior to the concert, James was interviewed on VH-1's ''Behind the Music'', where he openly talked about his life and career and also mentioned his drug use, which he said was behind him.
During James' Motown heyday in the late seventies and early eighties, James found himself in demand and was asked to produce Teena Marie's long-awaited debut album. James originally had planned to produce a full album for Diana Ross but when Motown told him they only wanted four songs from James, he gave the songs up to Marie, including the duet, "I'm a Sucker for Your Love", for her debut album, ''Wild and Peaceful''. The album launched not only Marie's career but a personal and professional relationship between James and Marie, continuing until James' death. In 1982, he was asked to produce a song for The Temptations' upcoming album, ''Reunion'', after former members Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin returned to the group for their ill-fated reunion. The song, "Standing on the Top", became a top ten R&B; hit and James was credited in the song not only as a writer but as a duet singer.
In 1983, he collaborated with longtime idol Smokey Robinson on their hit song, "Ebony Eyes", which became a top 30 hit on the R&B; charts. That same year, he produced his longtime background vocal group The Mary Jane Girls, with their self-titled debut album, featuring the hits "All Night Long" and "Candy Man". The "Mary Jane Girls" were actually Joanne "JoJo" McDuffie and longtime session singers Julia Waters and Maxine Waters. The trio had long sung with James. James included Kimberly "Maxi" Wuletich, Candice "Candi" Ghant and Cheri Wells to join the group though they didn't sing on the original record. After Wells left, she was replaced by Yvette "Corvette" Marine. In 1985, the group's second album, ''Only For You'' included their biggest hit, "In My House". This time around, the other members sang on the song and other songs from ''Only For You'' as each member were offered lead vocal parts. James also produced a couple albums for his Stone City Band, releasing material by the group in 1980 and 1982 respectively. Also in 1985, James produced and wrote the Eddie Murphy hit, "Party All the Time" and also sung on the track. Following James' descent into drug abuse and his exit from Motown, the Stone City Band and the Mary Jane Girls both dissolved in 1987. Both groups reunited following James' release from prison in 1996.
James began a close friendship with Eddie Murphy after the two met in 1981. Following his exit from the United States Navy in 1984, Murphy's older brother Charlie Murphy, whose first post-Navy job was working as security for his famous brother, began hanging out with James, bonding with the singer. Murphy would later recall the two's sometimes-strained relationship on ''Chappelle's Show'', which helped to revive James' name in the public eye after years of seclusion following his mild-stroke in 1998. James also appeared in the episode. James and the Murphy brothers' friendship also lasted until James' death.
James was friends with fellow Motown acts Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye, though his friendship with the latter artist was tested after James began dating Gaye's former wife, Janis Gaye. James became godfather of Gaye's daughter Nona. In his biography, James called Gaye "a crazy motherfucker" but said he loved him to death. Gaye was one of the singers James idolized as a teenager. James' relationship with Robinson began shortly after James signed with Motown and in 1983, the duo recorded the hit "Ebony Eyes". James also idolized former Temptations lead singer David Ruffin and his uncle, bass vocalist Melvin Franklin and grabbed at the chance to produce the hit "Standing on the Top" for them in 1982. Prior to that, the then-current lineup of the group recorded background vocals on two James-associated projects - James' ''Street Songs'' and Teena Marie's ''It Must Be Magic'', singing on "Ghetto Life" and "Super Freak" on the former, and the title track on the latter. In "Super Freak", "It Must Be Magic" and "Standing on the Top", James famously shouted out ''Temptations sing!''
In 1989, James met 17-year-old party goer Tanya Hijazi. The two began a romance in 1990. In 1993, the couple welcomed the arrival of their only child and James' youngest, Tazman. Following their releases from prison for their involvement in assaulting Mary Sauger and Frances Alley, the couple married in 1997. The couple's marriage dissolved in 2002. James' longtime association with drugs began in his teens. A longtime marijuana user, he began using cocaine in the late 1960s. Cocaine use became an addiction for James by the late 1980s and he began freebasing by the end of the decade. James recalled smoking crack cocaine in his Beverly Hills mansion and often had aluminum foil on the windows to escape onlookers. James claimed he quit cocaine when he entered prison. Though cocaine would later be found in James' bloodstream following his autopsy, it was reported that the drug wasn't at a life-threatening level at the time of his death. After his 1998 stroke, James needed a pacemaker to help him breathe and by his death was dealing with overweight problems, which also affected his health.
In 1993, while out on bail for that earlier incident, he and Hijazi were accused of holding 24-year old Frances Alley hostage for up to six days (accounts vary on how long she was actually held), tying her up, forcing her to perform sexual acts, and burning her legs and abdomen with the hot end of a crack cocaine pipe during a week long cocaine binge. He was found guilty of both offenses, but was cleared of a torture charge in the crack-pipe incident that could have put him in prison for the rest of his life. He served two years in Folsom Prison, and lost US $2 million in a civil suit to one of the women. He was released in 1996. In 1998 he recorded the song "Love Gravy" on the ''South Park'' soundtrack along with Ike Turner. In 1999 he appeared on ''Judge Joe Brown'' as a plaintiff suing Jerome Turner (J.T.) for a guitar and amp.
At the time of his death, he was working on an autobiography, ''The Confessions of Rick James: Memoirs of a Super freak'', as well as a new album. The book was finally published toward the end of 2007 by Colossus Books. It features a picture of his tombstone. He was also supporting Teena Marie's tour of her album ''La Doña''.
Category:1948 births Category:2004 deaths Category:African American musicians Category:African American male singers Category:African American singer-songwriters Category:American bass guitarists Category:American composers Category:American expatriates in Canada Category:American kidnappers Category:American funk musicians Category:American keyboardists Category:American record producers Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American soul singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Motown artists Category:People from Buffalo, New York Category:American people convicted of assault Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Cemetery Category:Stroke survivors Category:United States Navy sailors
da:Rick James de:Rick James es:Rick James fr:Rick James io:Rick James it:Rick James nl:Rick James ja:リック・ジェームス oc:Rick James pl:Rick James pt:Rick James simple:Rick James fi:Rick James sv:Rick JamesThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
name | Devin Townsend |
---|---|
background | solo_singer |
birth name | Devin Garret Townsend |
birth date | May 05, 1972 |
birth place | New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada |
instrument | Vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, drum machine, sampler, banjo |
genre | Extreme metal, thrash metal, industrial metal, death metal, progressive metal, progressive rock, ambient, new age |
occupation | Singer-songwriter, musician, producer |
years active | 1993–present |
associated acts | The Devin Townsend Band, The Devin Townsend Project, Strapping Young Lad, Steve Vai, Punky Brüster, IR8, Front Line Assembly, Grey Skies, Caustic Thought, Noisescapes, Ayreon, The Wildhearts |
website | |
notable instruments | Peavey, ESP, Fender, and Gibson }} |
After performing in a number of metal bands in high school, Townsend was discovered by a record label in 1993 and was asked to perform lead vocals on Steve Vai's album ''Sex & Religion''. After recording and touring with Vai, Townsend was discouraged by what he found in the music industry, and vented his anger on a solo album released under the pseudonym Strapping Young Lad. He soon assembled a band under the name, and released the critically acclaimed ''City'' in 1997. Since then, he has released three more studio albums with Strapping Young Lad, along with solo material released under his own independent record label, HevyDevy Records. Townsend's solo albums, a diverse mix of hard rock and progressive metal, have featured a varying lineup of supporting musicians. In 2002 he formed The Devin Townsend Band, a dedicated lineup which recorded and toured for two of his solo releases.
In 2007, Townsend disbanded both Strapping Young Lad and The Devin Townsend Band, taking a break from touring to spend more time with his family. After a two-year hiatus, he began work on a four-album series called The Devin Townsend Project, with each album written in a different style. The first two entries in the series, ''Ki'' and ''Addicted'', were released in 2009. Townsend scheduled tours throughout Australia and North America in 2010 in support of the albums, and released the next two, ''Deconstruction'' and ''Ghost'', in 2011.
Townsend's trademark production style, featuring a heavily multitracked wall of sound, has been compared to the styles of Phil Spector and Frank Zappa. His versatile vocal delivery ranges from screaming to an opera-esque singing, and his songwriting is similarly diverse. Townsend's musical style is rooted in metal, and his albums are written to express different aspects of his personality.
Townsend recorded a Noisescapes demo and sent copies to various record labels. Relativity Records responded to Townsend with a record deal and Townsend began work on what was to be the first Noisescapes album, ''Promise''. Shortly afterward, the label introduced him to musician Steve Vai. Impressed with Townsend's vocal work, Vai offered him the role of the lead vocalist on his new album ''Sex and Religion''. Townsend took the offer, unfamiliar with Vai's work and unaware of his acclaim in the music world. After recording ''Sex and Religion'', Townsend accompanied Vai on a world tour in support of the album. Townsend soon landed a second touring gig, this time with the opening band of Vai's tour, The Wildhearts. He played live with the band throughout half of 1994 in Europe, and appeared as a guest musician on their single Urge. Ginger, the band's frontman, remained close friends with Townsend, later co-writing several songs on ''Infinity'' and the ''Christeen + 4 Demos'' EP.
While on tour with The Wildhearts, Townsend formed a short-lived thrash metal project with Metallica's then-bassist Jason Newsted. The band, known as IR8, featured Newsted on vocals and bass, Townsend on guitar, and Tom Hunting of Exodus on drums. The group recorded a few songs together, although Townsend says that they never intended to go further than that. "People heard about it and thought we wanted to put out a CD, which is absolutely not true," he explains. "People took this project way too seriously." A demo tape was put together, but the material was not released until 2002, when Newsted published the IR8 vs. Sexoturica compilation.
Though Townsend was proud of what he had accomplished so early in his career, he was discouraged by his experience with the music industry. "I was becoming a product of somebody else's imagination, and it was mixing with my own personality," he later reflected. "This combination was appalling." He pushed to get his own projects off the ground. Despite getting notable touring gigs with other musicians, however, Townsend continued to face rejection of his own music. Relativity Records dropped Noisescapes from their label shortly after Townsend accepted Vai's offer, seeing no commercial appeal in Townsend's music. "I have a hunch they only offered me a deal to get me to sing with Steve," he mused. While touring with The Wildhearts, Townsend received a phone call from an A&R; representative for Roadrunner Records, expressing an interest in his demos and an intention to sign him. The offer was ultimately rescinded by the head of Roadrunner, who regarded Townsend's recordings as "just noise".
In 1994, Century Media Records offered Townsend a contract to make "some extreme albums". and began to record material under the pseudonym Strapping Young Lad. Townsend avoided using his real name at this point in career, looking for a fresh start after his high-profile Vai gig. "At the beginning, I wanted to avoid at all cost to use my name because I was known as the singer for Steve Vai and it wasn't the best publicity to have," he later explained. "I was playing somebody else's music and I was judged in respect to that music." Townsend produced and performed nearly all the instruments on the debut studio album, ''Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing'', which was released in April 1995. Following the release of the record, Townsend and several other musician friends he knew in Vancouver recorded an album in 1996 entitled ''Cooked on Phonics'' for another one-off side project, Punky Brüster. Written and recorded in under a month, the album was produced as a parody of punk rock bands and documents the act of selling out for mainstream success.
Devin also provided much of the guitar work on the 1994 album Millennium and the 1995 album Hard Wired by Vancouver industrial band Front Line Assembly.
After the completion of ''City'' and ''Biomech'', Townsend began to approach a mental breakdown. "I started to see human beings as little lonesome, water based, pink meat," he explained, "life forms pushing air through themselves and making noises that the other little pieces of meat seemed to understand." In 1997, he checked himself into a mental-health hospital, where he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The diagnosis helped him understand where the two sides of his music were coming from; he felt his disorder "gave birth to the two extremes that are Strapping's ''City'' record and Ocean Machine's ''Biomech''." After being discharged from the hospital, Townsend found that "everything just clicked" and he was able to write his second solo album, ''Infinity'', which he described as "the parent project" of ''City'' and ''Biomech'', with music influenced by Broadway. Townsend returned to the studio, accompanied by Hoglan, to work on the album, on which Townsend played most of the instruments. ''Infinity'' was released in October 1998. Later in his career, Townsend has cited ''Infinity'' as his favorite solo record.
With ''Infinity'', Townsend began to label all albums outside of Strapping Young Lad under his own name, dropping the Ocean Machine moniker, to reduce confusion. He wanted to show that despite the highly varied nature of his projects, they are all simply aspects of his identity. The album ''Biomech'' was relabeled and redistributed as ''Ocean Machine: Biomech'', under Townsend's name, to reflect the new arrangement. Townsend's bandmates began to play two sets at their shows, one as Strapping Young Lad, and one as The Devin Townsend Band, playing songs from Townsend's solo albums.
Feeling he had "ostracized a bunch of fans" with ''Physicist'', Townsend felt he had the chance to make a more personal and honest record. Townsend was inspired one morning while driving across Canada with his band, and looked to write an "introspective" album dedicated to his homeland. He produced and recorded ''Terria'', a "highly illustrated stream-of-consciousness" album, with Gene Hoglan on drums, Craig McFarland on bass and Jamie Meyer on keyboards. Townsend cited Ween's ''White Pepper'' as an inspiration for the album. ''Terria'' was released in November 2001.
While Strapping Young Lad was being reunited, Townsend formed a new, permanent band "on par with Strapping" to record and tour for his solo releases. The Devin Townsend Band consisted of Brian Waddell on guitar, Mike Young on bass, Ryan Van Poederooyen on drums, and Dave Young on keyboards. Townsend performed guitar, vocals, and production, as he did in Strapping Young Lad. Townsend worked on the band's first album, ''Accelerated Evolution'', at the same time he was working on ''Strapping Young Lad'', spending half the week on one and half on the other. ''Accelerated Evolution'', named for the pace of putting a new band together in under a year, was released a month after ''Strapping Young Lad''. Mike G. of ''Metal Maniacs'' called it "the album of the year", praising it for "the hard-to-accomplish trick of being extreme yet accessible, simultaneously heavy 'n' rockin' yet majestic and beautiful." Prior to the formation of The Devin Townsend Band, Townsend had represented his solo releases live with the Strapping Young Lad lineup; the band would play one set of Strapping Young Lad songs and one set of Devin Townsend songs. After the release of ''Accelerated Evolution'', Townsend's two bands toured separately for their separate albums.
Strapping Young Lad began working on their next album, ''Alien'', in March 2004. Feeling that the band's previous album did not live up to expectations, Townsend decided to take his music to a new extreme. To prepare for the new album, Townsend stopped taking the medication prescribed to treat his bipolar disorder. "I think that as an artist, in order for me to get to the next plateau, I kind of feel the need to explore things and sometimes that exploration leads you to places that are a little crazy," he explains. "And ''Alien'' was no exception with that." Although Townsend considered the album an "impenetrable mass of technicality", it was well received on its release, selling 3,697 copies in its first week and appearing on several Billboard charts.
Shortly thereafter Townsend began putting together the next Devin Townsend Band record, with the working title ''Human''. Townsend intended the album as the more "pleasant" counterpart to ''Alien''. "It's basically a record about coming back down to earth after being in space with ''Alien'' for a while." The album ended up being renamed ''Synchestra'' and was released in January 2006. Townsend showcased a wide variety of musical styles in ''Synchestra'', blending his trademark "pop metal" with influences from folk, polka, and Middle Eastern music.
In May 2007, Townsend released ''Ziltoid the Omniscient'', a tongue-in-cheek rock opera about the eponymous fictional alien. This was truly a solo album; he programmed the drums using Drumkit from Hell, a software drum machine that uses MIDI samples recorded by Tomas Haake of Meshuggah Shortly after the album's release, Townsend announced that he no longer planned to tour or make albums with Strapping Young Lad or The Devin Townsend Band. He explained that he was "burnt out on travelling, touring, and self promotion" and wished to do production work, write albums, and spend time with his family without the stress of interviews or touring.
In 2008, Townsend lent his voice to characters in several episodes of the Adult Swim cartoon ''Metalocalypse'' (see Musician cameos in ''Metalocalypse'' for more). The original character design for Pickles the Drummer, one of the series' main characters, bore a striking resemblance to Townsend. The series' co-creator Brendan Small acknowledged the similarity, and altered the design before the series began. "We made sure he didn't look like Devin Townsend. We gave him the goatee and the dreadover so he wouldn't look like that."
Over two years, Townsend wrote over 60 songs, and found that they fit into "four distinct styles". In March 2009, Townsend announced his plans for a four-album series called The Devin Townsend Project, with the goal of clarifying his musical identity and being "accountable" for the persona he projects to the public. The project's concept includes a different "theme" and a different group of musicians on each album.
''Ki'', the first album of The Devin Townsend Project, was written to "set the stage" for the subsequent albums. Townsend channeled his newfound control and sobriety into ''Ki'', a "tense, quiet" album that contrasts with much of the music he had been known for. ''Ki'' was released in May 2009. The second entry, a "commercial, yet heavy" album called ''Addicted'', was released in November 2009.
Townsend returned to the stage in January 2010, touring North America with headliner Between the Buried and Me as well as Cynic and Scale the Summit. This was followed by a headlining tour in Australia and a series of high-profile shows in Europe (for example co-headlining the Brutal Assault festival in Czech Republic). He headlined a North American tour with UK label mates TesseracT supporting, which began in October 2010, and toured in Europe with support from Aeon Zen and Anneke van Giersbergen.
The final albums in The Devin Townsend Project series, Deconstruction and Ghost were released on June 21, 2011.
Townsend is to perform all four of The Devin Townsend Project albums in the UK and record them for release in a special DVD to coincide with the release of The Devin Townsend Project boxset. The first two shows have been confirmed to be held at Union Chapel in Islington on November 10 and November 13 where he will be playing the albums Ki and Ghost respectively. These four shows will each be entitled "An Evening With The Devin Townsend Project".
Since 2009, Townsend has discussed plans to expand the ''Ziltoid the Omniscient'' franchise. His ideas included a sequel album, a "full blown musical" with the title ''Z2'', but the album appeared to have been scrapped, as Townsend stated in mid-June 2011, "I’m very rapidly realizing that humor and metal… it doesn’t really work." However, as of July 2011, he has stated on his Twitter account that the album was still in the works, but was "vying for pole-position" as he works on other projects. He has expressed possible plans to begin a series of online videos, a series titled ''ZTV'', instead, in which a Ziltoid hand puppet conducts interviews with various bands. A graphic novel based on the Ziltoid character, and possibly performing the ''Ziltoid'' album as a staged musical, at least as a one-off, have also been considered.
Townsend has stated on his Twitter that he is working on a new album, entitled "Epicloud". He described the album as "Big, heavy, romantic kind of melodic stuff. Pretty, ethereal and simple."
;Strapping Young Lad {|class="wikitable" ! Title ! Release date ! Label |- | ''Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing'' | April 4, 1995 | rowspan="5"| Century Media |- | ''City'' | February 11, 1997 |- | ''Strapping Young Lad'' | February 11, 2003 |- | ''Alien'' | March 22, 2005 |- | ''The New Black'' | July 11, 2006 |- |}
Category:1972 births Category:Living people Category:People from New Westminster Category:People with bipolar disorder Category:Musicians from Vancouver Category:Canadian rock guitarists Category:Canadian rock singers Category:Canadian record producers Category:Canadian singer-songwriters Category:Canadian people of English descent Category:Canadian multi-instrumentalists Category:Progressive metal guitarists Category:Ableton Live users
br:Devin Townsend ca:Devin Townsend cs:Devin Townsend de:Devin Townsend es:Devin Townsend fr:Devin Townsend it:Devin Townsend hu:Devin Townsend nl:Devin Townsend ja:デヴィン・タウンゼンド no:Devin Townsend pl:Devin Townsend pt:Devin Townsend ru:Таунсенд, Девин fi:Devin Townsend sv:Devin Townsend uk:Девін Таунсенд zh:迪文·唐森德This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
name | Afrika Bambaataa |
---|---|
background | solo_singer |
birth name | Unknown, purported to be Kevin Donovan by some sources |
born | Officially unknown, some sources say October 4th, 1957 (unconfirmed) |
origin | The Bronx, New York, U.S. |
instrument | Vocals, turntables |
genre | Hip hop, electro, disco |
occupation | DJ, producer, activist |
years active | 1972–present |
label | Tommy Boy RecordsEMIWinley RecordsCapitol RecordsDMC RecordsPlanet Rock Music |
associated acts | Soulsonic Force, Leftfield, Time Zone, Shango, Hydraulic Funk, Nebula Funk, Afrika Bambaataa and Family, Cosmic Force, Jazzy Five, Arthur Baker, John Lydon, Lee Evans (producer) Rae Serrano (producer), James Brown, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Sly and the Family Stone, Bill Laswell, Jungle Brothers, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Busy Bee Starski, Lovage, Nujabes }} |
In 1982, Bambaataa and his followers, a group of dancers, artists and DJs, went outside the United States on the first hip hop tour. His influence inspired many overseas artists like the French rapper MC Solaar. He was a popular DJ in South Bronx rap scene and became known not only as Afrika Bambaataa but also as the "Master of Records". He established two rap crews: the Jazzy 5 including MCs Master Ice, Mr. Freeze, Master Bee, Master D.E.E, and AJ Les, and the second crew referred to as Soulsonic Force including Mr. Biggs, Pow Wow and Emcee G.L.O.B.E.
In that same year Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force dropped the live band to go high-tech. Bambaataa credited the pioneering Japanese electropop group Yellow Magic Orchestra, whose work he sampled, as an inspiration. He also borrowed an eerie keyboard hook from German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk and was provided an electronic "beat-box" by producer Arthur Baker and synthesizer player John Robie. That resulted in a pop hit "Planet Rock", which went to gold status and generated an entire school of "electro-boogie" rap and dance music. Bambaataa formed his own label to release the Time Zone Compilation. He created "turntablism" as its own sub-genre and the ratification of "electronica" as an industry-certified trend in the late 1990s.
About a year later Bambaataa reformed the group, calling it the Zulu Nation (inspired by his wide studies on African history at the time). Five b-boys (break dancers) joined him, whom he called the Zulu Kings, and later formed the Zulu Queens, and the Shaka Zulu Kings and Queens. As he continued deejaying, more DJs, rappers, b-boys, b-girls, graffiti writers, and artists followed him, and he took them under his wing and made them all members of his Zulu Nation. He was also the founder of the Soulsonic Force, which originally consisted of approximately twenty Zulu Nation members: Mr. Biggs, Queen Kenya, DJ Cowboy Soulsonic Force (#2), Pow Wow, G.L.0.B.E. (creator of the "MC popping" rap style), DJ Jazzy Jay, Cosmic Force, Queen Lisa Lee, Prince Ikey C, Ice Ice (#1), Chubby Chub; Jazzy Five-DJ Jazzy Jay, Mr. Freeze, Master D.E.E., Kool DJ Red Alert, Sundance, Ice Ice (#2), Charlie Choo, Master Bee, Busy Bee Starski, Akbar (Lil Starski), and Raheim. The personnel for the Soulsonic Force were groups within groups with whom he would perform and make records.
In 1980, Bambaataa's groups made their first recording with Paul Winley Records titled, "Death Mix". According to Bambaata, this was an unauthorized release. Bambaataa's plan with the Universal Zulu Nation was to build a youth movement out of the creativity of a new generation of outcast youths with an authentic, liberating worldview. thus creating a new style of music altogether, electro funk.
Bambaataa organized the very first European hip hop tour. Along with himself were rapper and graffiti artist Rammellzee, Zulu Nation DJ Grand Mixer DXT (formerly Grand Mixer D.St), B-boy and B-girl crews the Rock Steady Crew, and the Double Dutch Girls, as well as legendary graffiti artists Fab 5 Freddy, PHASE 2, Futura 2000, and Dondi.
Bambaataa's second release around 1983 was "Looking for the Perfect Beat", then later, "Renegades of Funk," both with the same Soulsonic Force. He began working with producer Bill Laswell at Jean Karakos's Celluloid Records, where he developed and placed two groups on the label: "Time Zone" and "Shango". He recorded "Wildstyle" with Time Zone, and he recorded a collaboration with punk-rocker John Lydon and Time Zone in 1984, titled "World Destruction". Shango's album, "Shango Funk Theology", was released by the label in 1984. That same year, Bambaataa and other hip hop celebrities appeared in the movie Beat Street. He also made a landmark recording with James Brown, titled "Unity". It was billed in music industry circles as "the Godfather of Soul meets the Godfather of Hip Hop".
Around October 1985, Bambaataa and other music stars worked on the anti-apartheid album ''Sun City'' with Little Steven Van Zandt, Joey Ramone, Run-D.M.C., Lou Reed, U2, and others. During 1988, he recorded another landmark piece, "Afrika Bambaataa and Family", for Capitol Records, titled The Light, featuring Nona Hendryx, UB40, Boy George, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, and Yellowman. Bambaataa had recorded a few other works with Family three years earlier, one titled "Funk You" in 1985, and the other titled "Beware (The Funk Is Everywhere)" in 1986. In 1986 Bambaataa also discovered an artist in Atlanta Ga. (Through MC SHY D) by the name of Kenya Miler a.k.a MC Harmony (Known producer now as Kenya Fame Flames Miller), that was later signed to Criminal Records and Arthur Baker. The group was Harmony and LG. The first single "Dance To The Drums/No Joke was produced by Bambaataa and Baker with musicians Keith LeBlanc, and Doug Wimbush 1987. Bambaataa was involved in the Stop the Violence Movement, and with other hip hop artists recorded a 12" single titled "Self Destruction", which hit number one on the Hot Rap Singles Chart in March 1989. The single went gold and raised $400,000 for the National Urban League to be used for community anti-violence education programs.In 1990, Bambaataa made ''Life'' magazine's "Most Important Americans of the 20th Century" issue. He was also involved in the anti-apartheid work "Hip Hop Artists Against Apartheid" for Warlock Records. He teamed with the Jungle Brothers to record the album "''Return to Planet Rock (The Second Coming)''".
Gee Street Records, John Baker and Bambaataa organized a concert at Wembley Stadium in London in 1990 for the African National Congress (ANC), in honor of Nelson Mandela's release from prison. The concert brought together performances by British and American rappers, and also introduced both Nelson and Winnie Mandela and the ANC to hip hop audiences. In relation to the event, the recording Ndodemnyama (Free South Africa) helped raise approximately $30,000 for the ANC. Bambaataa also helped to raise funds for the organization in Italy.
From the mid-1990s, Bambaataa returned to his electro roots, collaborating with WestBam (who was named after him) which culminated in the 2004 album ''Dark Matter Moving at the Speed of Light'' which featured Gary Numan and many others. In 2000, Rage Against the Machine covered Afrika's song "Renegades of Funk" for their album, ''Renegades''. The same year, Bambaataa collaborated with Leftfield on the song "Afrika Shox", the first single from Leftfield's ''Rhythm and Stealth''. "Afrika Shox" is also popularly known from the soundtrack to ''Vanilla Sky''. In 2006, he was featured on the British singer Jamelia's album ''Walk With Me'' on a song called "Do Me Right", and on Mekon's album ''Some Thing Came Up'', on the track "D-Funktional". Bambaataa performed the lyrics on the track "Is There Anybody Out There" by The Bassheads (Desa Basshead). As an actor, he has played a variety of voice-over character roles on ''Kung Faux''.
Bambaataa was a judge for the 6th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers. On September 27, 2007, it was announced that Afrika Bambaataa was one of the nine nominees for the 2008 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductions. On December 22, 2007, he made a surprise appearance performing at the ''First Annual Tribute Fit For the King of King Records, Mr. Dynamite James Brown'' in Covington, Kentucky.
Year | Title | Label |
"Zulu Nation Throwdown" | Winley Records | |
"Jazzy Sensation" | Tommy Boy Records | |
Tommy Boy Records | ||
"Looking for the Perfect Beat" | Tommy Boy Records | |
"Renegades of Funk" | Tommy Boy Records | |
"Wildstyle" | Celluloid Records | |
Tommy Boy Records | ||
"World Destruction" | Atlantic Records | |
1986 | "Bambaataa's Theme" | Tommy Boy Records |
1988 | "Reckless" (with UB40) | EMI |
1990 | "Just Get Up And Dance" | EMI |
"Zulu War Chant" | Profile Records | |
"What's the Name of this Nation?...Zulu" | Profile Records | |
"Feeling Irie" | DFC | |
"Pupunanny" | DFC | |
"Feel the Vibe" (with Khayan) | ||
1998 | "Agharta - The City of Shamballa" (with WestBam) | Low Spirit Recordings |
Category:Living people Category:African hip hop DJs Category:American people of Barbadian descent Category:American people of Jamaican descent Category:African American rappers Category:Electro musicians Category:Musicians from New York City Category:People from the Bronx Category:1960 births Category:Hip hop activists
als:Afrika Bambaata bg:Африка Бамбаата ca:Afrika Bambaataa da:Afrika Bambaataa de:Afrika Bambaataa es:Afrika Bambaataa fa:افریکا بمباتا fr:Afrika Bambaataa io:Afrika Bambaataa it:Afrika Bambaataa nl:Afrika Bambaataa ja:アフリカ・バンバータ no:Afrika Bambaataa pl:Afrika Bambaataa pt:Afrika Bambaataa ru:Afrika Bambaataa sk:Afrika Bambaataa fi:Afrika Bambaataa sv:Afrika Bambaataa th:แอฟริกา แบมบาตา tr:Afrika BambaataaThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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