Holiday name	Thanksgiving Day
Observedby
Date	2nd Monday in October (Canada)1st Thursday in November (Liberia)Last Wednesday in November (Norfolk Island)4th Thursday in November (USA and Leiden, Netherlands)
Type	Cultural
Longtype	National, cultural
Date	October }}

, (Canada); November }}, (Liberia); November }}, (Norfolk Island); November }}, (USA and Leiden, Netherlands) |date = October }}, (Canada); November }}, (Liberia); November }}, (Norfolk Island); November }}, (USA and Leiden, Netherlands) }}

Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Traditionally, it has been a time to give thanks to God, friends, and family.

Currently, in Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October and in the United States, it is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. Thanksgiving in Canada falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the United States.

History

Thanksgiving in North America had originated from a mix of European and Native traditions. Typically in Europe, festivals were held before and after the harvest cycles to give thanks for a good harvest, to rejoice together after much hard work with the rest of the community. At the time, Native Americans had also celebrated the end of a harvest season. When Europeans first arrived to the Americas, they brought with them their own harvest festival traditions from Europe, celebrating their safe voyage, peace and good harvest. Though the origins of the holiday in both Canada and the United States are similar, Americans do not typically celebrate the contributions made in Newfoundland, while Canadians do not celebrate the contributions made in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

In Canada

The origins of the first Thanksgiving in Canada goes back to an explorer, Martin Frobisher, who had been trying to find a northern passage to the Pacific Ocean. Frobisher's Thanksgiving celebration was not for harvest, but for homecoming. He had safely returned from an unsuccessful search for the Northwest Passage, avoiding the later fate of Henry Hudson and Sir John Franklin. In the year 1578, Frobisher held a formal ceremony in Newfoundland to give thanks for surviving the long journey. Years later, the tradition of a feast would continue as more settlers began to arrive to the Canadian colonies.

The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving can also be traced to the French settlers who came to New France with explorer Samuel de Champlain in the early 17th century, who also took to celebrating their successful harvests. The French settlers in the area typically had feasts at the end of the harvest season and continued throughout the winter season, even sharing their food with the indigenous peoples of the area. Champlain had also proposed for the creation of the Order of Good Cheer in 1606.

As many more settlers arrived in Canada, more celebrations of good harvest became common. New immigrants into the country, such as the Irish, Scottish and Germans, would also add their own traditions to the harvest celebrations. Most of the U.S. aspects of Thanksgiving (such as the turkey) were incorporated when United Empire Loyalists began to flee from the United States during the American Revolution and settled in Canada.

In the United States

In the United States, the modern Thanksgiving holiday tradition traces its origins to a 1621 celebration at Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts. There is also evidence for an earlier harvest celebration on the continent by Spanish explorers in Florida during 1565, as well as thanksgiving feasts in the Virginia Colony. The initial thanksgiving observance at Virginia in 1619 was prompted by the colonists' leaders on the anniversary of the settlement. The 1621 Plymouth feast and thanksgiving was prompted by a good harvest. In later years, the tradition was continued by civil leaders such as Governor Bradford who planned a thanksgiving celebration and fast in 1623. While initially, the Plymouth colony did not have enough food to feed half of the 102 colonists, the Wampanoag Native Americans helped the Pilgrims by providing seeds and teaching them to fish. The practice of holding an annual harvest festival like this however, did not become a regular affair in New England until the late 1660s.

According to historian Jeremy Bangs, director of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum, the Pilgrims may have been influenced by watching the annual services of Thanksgiving for the relief of the siege of Leiden in 1574, while they were staying in Leiden.

Contending origins

The claim of where the first Thanksgiving was held in the United States, and even the Americas has often been a subject of debate. Author and teacher Robyn Gioia and Michael Gannon, of the University of Florida, have argued that the earliest attested "Thanksgiving" celebration in what is now the United States was celebrated by the Spanish on September 8, 1565 in what is now Saint Augustine, Florida.

Similarly, many historians point out that the first thanksgiving celebration in the United States was held in Virginia, and not in Plymouth. Thanksgiving services were routine in what was to become the state of Virginia as early as 1607. A day of Thanksgiving was codified in the founding charter of Berkeley Hundred in Charles City County, Virginia in 1619.

Fixing the date of the holiday

The reason for the earlier Thanksgiving celebrations in Canada has often been attributed to the earlier onset of winter in the north, thus ending the harvest season earlier. Thanksgiving in Canada did not have a fixed date until the late 19th century. Prior to Canadian confederation, many of the individual colonial governors of the Canadian provinces had declared their own days of Thanksgiving. The first official Canadian Thanksgiving occurred on April 15, 1872 when the nation was celebrating the Prince of Wales' recovery from a serious illness. By the end 19th Century, Thanksgiving Day was normally celebrated on November 6. However, when World War I ended, the Armistice Day holiday were usually held during the same week. To prevent the two holidays from clashing with one another, in 1957 the Canadian Parliament proclaimed Thanksgiving to be observed on its present date on the second Monday of October.

Thanksgiving in the United States was observed on various dates throughout history. The first Thanksgiving which was celebrated on a fixed day was in 1863, in an effort by President Abraham Lincoln to foster a sense of American unity between the Northern and Southern states. By the middle of the 20th century, the final Thursday in November had become the customary day of Thanksgiving in most U.S. states. It was not until December 26, 1941, however, that President Franklin D. Roosevelt, after pushing two years earlier to move the date earlier to give the country an economic boost, signed a bill into law with Congress, making Thanksgiving a national holiday and settling it to the fourth (but not final) Thursday in November.

Observance around the world

Canada

Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day (Canadian French: ''Jour de l'Action de grâce''), occurring on the second Monday in October, is an annual Canadian holiday to give thanks at the close of the harvest season. Although the original act of Parliament references God and the holiday is celebrated in churches, the holiday is mostly celebrated in a secular manner. Thanksgiving is a statutory holiday in all provinces in Canada, except for Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. While businesses may remain open in these provinces, the holiday is nonetheless, recognized and celebrated regardless of its status.

Germany

Erntedankfest (English: "harvest festival of thanks") is the German equivalent of Thanksgiving. It is primarily a religious holiday held during the first Sunday in October, but its celebration coincides with the closing day of Oktoberfest, the world-famous Bavarian beer festival. This crossover has been observed in Canada as well; see, for instance, Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest, which culminates with a Thanksgiving parade.

Liberia

In the West African country of Liberia, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the first Thursday of November.

The Netherlands

Many of the Pilgrims who migrated to the Plymouth Plantation had resided in the city of Leiden from 1609–1620, many of whom had recorded their birth, marriages and deaths at the Pieterskerk. To commemorate this, a non-denominational Thanksgiving Day service is held each year on the morning of the American Thanksgiving Day in the Pieterskerk, a Gothic church in Leiden, to commemorate the hospitality the Pilgrims received in Leiden on their way to the New World.

Norfolk Island

In the Australian external territory of Norfolk Island, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the last Wednesday of November, similar to the pre-World War II American observance on the last Thursday of the month. This means the Norfolk Island observance is the day before or six days after the United States' observance. The holiday was brought to the island by visiting American whaling ships.

United States

Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, currently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, has been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863. Historically, Thanksgiving began as a tradition of celebrating the harvest of the year.

References

Further reading

External links

Category:Agriculture in society Category:Autumn festivals Category:Autumn holidays Category:Christian holidays Category:Meals Thanksgiving

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name	Alanis Morissette
background	solo_singer
birth name	Alanis Nadine Morissette
birth date	June 01, 1974
origin	Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
children	Ever Imre Morissette-Treadway
instrument	Piano, guitar, flute, harmonica, bass, vocals
genre	Alternative rockPop rockElectronica
occupation	Singer, songwriter, actress, record producer
years active	1987–present
label	MCA Records Canada, Maverick, Warner Bros., Epiphany Music
website
spouse	Mario "MC Souleye" Treadway
children	Ever Imre Morissette-Treadway (born December 25, 2010) }}

Alanis Nadine Morissette (born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actress. She has won 16 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards, was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and also shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination. Morissette began her career in Canada, and as a teenager recorded two dance-pop albums, ''Alanis'' and ''Now Is the Time,'' under MCA Records Canada.

Her first international album was the rock-influenced ''Jagged Little Pill'', released in 1995. ''Jagged'' has sold more than 33 million units globally and became the best-selling debut album in music history. Her following album, ''Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie'', was released in 1998 and was a success as well. Morissette took up producing duties for her subsequent albums, which include ''Under Rug Swept'', ''So-Called Chaos'' and ''Flavors of Entanglement''. Morissette has sold more than 60 million albums worldwide.

Early life

Morissette was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of Georgia Mary Ann (née Feuerstein), a Hungarian-born teacher, and Alan Richard Morissette, a French-Canadian high school principal. She has a twin brother Wade Morissette (also a musician) who was born 12 minutes after her. Morissette's parents were devout Catholics. She attended Glebe Collegiate Institute (Ottawa, Canada) for high school.

Music career

1990–92: ''Alanis'' and ''Now Is the Time''

In 1991 MCA Records Canada released Morissette's debut album, ''Alanis'', in Canada only. Morissette co-wrote every track on the album with its producer, Leslie Howe. By the time it was released, she had dropped her stage name and was credited simply as Alanis. The dance-pop album went platinum, and its first single, "Too Hot", reached the top twenty on the ''RPM'' singles chart. Subsequent singles "Walk Away" and "Feel Your Love" reached the top forty. Morissette's popularity, style of music and appearance, particularly that of her hair, led her to become known as the Debbie Gibson of Canada; comparisons to Tiffany were also common. During the same period, she was a concert opening act for rapper Vanilla Ice. Morissette was nominated for three 1992 Juno Awards: Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year (which she won), Single of the Year and Best Dance Recording (both for "Too Hot").

In 1992, she released her second album, ''Now Is the Time'', a ballad-driven record that featured less glitzy production than ''Alanis'' and contained more thoughtful lyrics. Morissette wrote the songs with the album's producer, Leslie Howe, and Serge Côté. She said of the album, "people could go, 'Boo, hiss, hiss, this girl's like another Tiffany or whatever.' But the way I look at it ... people will like your next album if it's a suck-ass one." As with ''Alanis'', ''Now Is the Time'' was released only in Canada and produced three top forty singles—"An Emotion Away", the minor adult contemporary hit "No Apologies" and "(Change Is) Never a Waste of Time". It was a commercial failure, however, selling only a little more than half the copies of her first album. With her two-album deal with MCA Records Canada complete, Morissette was left without a major label contract.

1993–97: Move to Los Angeles and ''Jagged Little Pill''

In 1993 Morissette's publisher MCA Music Publishing introduced her to manager Scott Welch. Welch told HitQuarters he was impressed by her "spectacular voice", her character and her lyrics. At the time she was still living at home with her parents. Together they decided it would be best for her career to move to Toronto and start writing with other people. After graduating from high school, Morissette moved from Ottawa to Toronto. Her publisher funded part of her development and when she met producer and songwriter Glen Ballard, he believed in her talent enough to let her use his studio. The two wrote and recorded Morissette's first internationally released album, ''Jagged Little Pill'', and by the spring of 1995, she had signed a deal with Maverick Records. According to manager Welch every label they had approached had passed on Morissette apart from Maverick.

Maverick Records released ''Jagged Little Pill'' internationally in 1995. The album was expected only to sell enough for Morissette to make a follow-up, but the situation changed quickly when KROQ-FM, an influential Los Angeles modern rock radio station, began playing "You Oughta Know", the album's first single. The song instantly garnered attention for its scathing, explicit lyrics, and a subsequent music video went into heavy rotation on MTV and MuchMusic.

After the success of "You Oughta Know", the album's other hit singles helped send ''Jagged Little Pill'' to the top of the charts. "All I Really Want" and "Hand In My Pocket" followed, but the fourth U.S. single, "Ironic", became Morissette's biggest hit. "You Learn" and "Head over Feet", the fifth and sixth singles, respectively, kept ''Jagged Little Pill'' in the top twenty on the ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart for more than a year. According to the RIAA, ''Jagged Little Pill'' sold more than 16 million copies in the U.S.; it sold 33 million worldwide, making it the third biggest selling album by a female artist. Morissette's popularity grew significantly in Canada, where the album was certified twelve times platinum and produced four ''RPM'' chart-toppers: "Hand In My Pocket", "Ironic", "You Learn", and "Head over Feet". The album was also a bestseller in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Morissette's success with ''Jagged Little Pill'' was credited with leading to the introduction of female singers such as Shakira, Tracy Bonham, Meredith Brooks, Patti Rothberg and, in the early 2000s, Pink and fellow Canadian Avril Lavigne. She was criticized for collaborating with producer and supposed image-maker Ballard, and her previous albums also proved a hindrance for her respectability. Morissette and the album won six Juno Awards in 1996: Album of the Year, Single of the Year ("You Oughta Know"), Female Vocalist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year and Best Rock Album. At the 1996 Grammy Awards, she won Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, Best Rock Song (both for "You Oughta Know"), Best Rock Album and Album of the Year.

Later in 1996, Morissette embarked on an eighteen-month world tour in support of ''Jagged Little Pill,'' beginning in small clubs and ending in large venues. Taylor Hawkins, who later joined the Foo Fighters, was the tour's drummer. "Ironic" was nominated for two 1997 Grammy Awards—Record of the Year and Best Music Video, Short Form—and won Single of the Year at the 1997 Juno Awards, where Morissette also won Songwriter of the Year and the International Achievement Award. The video ''Jagged Little Pill, Live,'' which was co-directed by Morissette and chronicled the bulk of her tour, won a 1998 Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Long Form.

Following the stressful tour, Morissette started practicing Iyengar Yoga for balancing, and after the last December 1996 show, she headed to India for six weeks, accompanied by her mother, two aunts and two female friends.

1998–2000: ''Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie'' and ''Alanis Unplugged''

Morissette was featured as a guest vocalist on Ringo Starr's cover of "Drift Away" on his 1998 album, ''Vertical Man'', and on the songs "Don't Drink the Water" and "Spoon" on the Dave Matthews Band album ''Before These Crowded Streets''. She recorded the song "Uninvited" for the soundtrack to the 1998 film ''City of Angels''. Although the track was never commercially released as a single, it received widespread radio airplay in the U.S. At the 1999 Grammy Awards, it won in the categories of Best Rock Song and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, and was nominated for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. Later in 1998, Morissette released her fourth album, ''Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie'', which she wrote and produced with Glen Ballard.

Privately, the label hoped to sell a million copies of the album on initial release; instead, it debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart with first-week sales of 469,000 copies—a record, at the time, for the highest first-week sales of an album by a female artist. The wordy, personal lyrics on ''Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie'' alienated many fans, and after the album sold considerably less than ''Jagged Little Pill'', many labelled it an example of the sophomore jinx. However, it received positive reviews, including a four-star review from ''Rolling Stone''. In Canada, it won the Juno Award for Best Album and was certified four times platinum. "Thank U", the album's only major international hit single, was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance; the music video, which featured Morissette nude, generated mild controversy. Morissette herself directed the videos for "Unsent" and "So Pure", which won, respectively, the MuchMusic Video Award for Best Director and the Juno Award for Video of the Year. The "So Pure" video features actor Dash Mihok, with whom Morissette was in a relationship at the time.

Morissette contributed vocals to "Mercy", "Hope", "Innocence", and "Faith", four tracks on Jonathan Elias's project ''The Prayer Cycle'', which was released in 1999. The same year, she released the live acoustic album ''Alanis Unplugged'', which was recorded during her appearance on the television show ''MTV Unplugged''. It featured tracks from her previous two albums alongside four new songs, including "King of Pain" (a cover of The Police song) and "No Pressure over Cappuccino", which Morissette wrote with her main guitar player, Nick Lashley. The recording of the ''Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie'' track "That I Would Be Good", released as a single, became a minor hit on hot adult contemporary radio in America. Also in 1999, Morissette released a live version of her song "Are You Still Mad" on the charity album ''Live in the X Lounge II''. For her live rendition of "So Pure" at Woodstock '99, she was nominated for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance at the 2001 Grammy Awards. During summer 1999, Alanis toured with singer/songwriter Tori Amos on the 5 And A Half Weeks Tour in support of Amos' album ''To Venus And Back''.

2001–03: ''Under Rug Swept'' and ''Feast on Scraps''

In 2001, Morissette was featured with Stephanie McKay on the Tricky song "Excess", which is on his album ''Blowback.'' Morissette released her fifth studio album, ''Under Rug Swept,'' in February 2002. For the first time in her career, she took on the role of sole writer and producer of an album. Her band, comprising Joel Shearer, Nick Lashley, Chris Chaney, and Gary Novak, played the majority of the instruments; additional contributions came from Eric Avery, Dean DeLeo, Flea, and Meshell Ndegeocello.

''Under Rug Swept'' debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, eventually going platinum in Canada and selling one million copies in the U.S. It produced the hit single "Hands Clean", which topped the Canadian Singles Chart and received substantial radio play; for her work on "Hands Clean" and "So Unsexy", Morissette won a Juno Award for Producer of the Year. A second single, "Precious Illusions", was released, but it did not garner significant success outside Canada or U.S. hot AC radio.

Later in 2002, Morissette released the combination package ''Feast on Scraps,'' which includes a DVD of live concert and backstage documentary footage directed by her and a CD containing eight previously unreleased songs from the ''Under Rug Swept'' recording sessions. Preceded by the single "Simple Together", it sold roughly 70,000 copies in the U.S. and was nominated for a Juno Award for Music DVD of the Year.

2004–05: ''So-Called Chaos'', ''Jagged Little Pill Acoustic'' and ''The Collection''

Morissette hosted the Juno Awards of 2004 dressed in a bathrobe, which she took off to reveal a flesh-colored bodysuit, a response to the era of censorship in the U.S. caused by Janet Jackson's breast-reveal incident during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show. Morissette released her sixth studio album, ''So-Called Chaos'', in May 2004. She wrote the songs on her own again, and co-produced the album with Tim Thorney and pop music producer John Shanks. The album debuted at number five on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart to generally mixed critical reviews, and it became Morissette's lowest seller in the U.S. The lead single, "Everything", achieved major success on adult top 40 radio in America and was moderately popular elsewhere, particularly in Canada, although it failed to reach the top forty on the U.S. Hot 100. Because the first line of the song includes the word ''asshole'', American radio stations refused to play it, and the single version was changed to include the word ''nightmare'' instead. Two other singles, "Out Is Through" and "Eight Easy Steps", fared considerably worse commercially than "Everything", although a dance mix of "Eight Easy Steps" was a U.S. club hit.

Morissette embarked on a U.S. summer tour with long-time friends and fellow Canadians Barenaked Ladies, working with the non-profit environmental organization Reverb.

To commemorate the tenth anniversary of ''Jagged Little Pill'', Morissette released a studio acoustic version, ''Jagged Little Pill Acoustic,'' in June 2005. The album was released exclusively through Starbucks' Hear Music retail concept through their coffee shops for a six-week run. The limited availability led to a dispute between Maverick Records and HMV North America, who retaliated by removing Morissette's other albums from sale for the duration of Starbucks's exclusive six-week sale. As of November 2010, ''Jagged Little Pill Acoustic'' had sold 372,000 copies in the U.S., and a video for "Hand in My Pocket" received rotation on VH1 in America. The accompanying tour ran for two months in mid 2005, with Morissette playing small theatre venues. During the same period, Morissette was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.

Morissette opened for The Rolling Stones for a few dates of their A Bigger Bang Tour in the autumn of 2005.

Morissette released the greatest hits album ''Alanis Morissette: The Collection'' in late 2005. The lead single and only new track, a cover of Seal's "Crazy", was a U.S. adult top 40 and dance hit, but it achieved only minimal chart success elsewhere. A limited edition of ''The Collection'' features a DVD including a documentary with videos of two unreleased songs from Morissette's 1996 Can't Not Tour: "King of Intimidation" and "Can't Not". (A reworked version of "Can't Not" had also appeared on ''Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie''.) The DVD also includes a ninety-second clip of the unreleased video for the single "Joining You". As of November 2010, ''The Collection'' had sold 373,000 copies in the U.S., according to Soundscan.

Alanis performed two songs with Avril Lavigne: Morissette's "Ironic" and Lavigne's "Losing Grip".

2006–09: ''Flavors of Entanglement''/Leaving Maverick Records

2006 marked the first year in Morissette's musical career without a single concert appearance showcasing her own songs, with the exception of an appearance on ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' in January when she performed "Wunderkind".

On April 1, 2007, Morissette released a tongue-in-cheek cover of The Black Eyed Peas's selection "My Humps", which she recorded in a slow, mournful voice, accompanied only by a piano. The accompanying YouTube-hosted video, in which she dances provocatively with a group of men and hits the ones who attempt to touch her "lady lumps", had received 16,465,653 views on February 15, 2009. Morissette did not take any interviews for a time to explain the song, and it was theorized that she did it as an April Fools' Day joke. Black Eyed Peas vocalist Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson responded by sending Morissette a buttocks-shaped cake with an approving note. On the verge of the release of her latest album, she finally elaborated on how the video came to be, citing that she became very much emotionally loaded while recording her new songs one after the other and one day she wished she could do a simple song like "My Humps" in a conversation with Guy Sigsworth and the joke just took a life of its own when they started working on it.

Morissette performed at a gig for The Nightwatchman, a.k.a. Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave fame, at the Hotel Café in Los Angeles in April 2007. The following June, she performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "O Canada", the American and Canadian national anthems, in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Ottawa Senators and the Anaheim Ducks in Ottawa, Ontario. (The NHL requires arenas to perform both the American and Canadian national anthems at games involving teams from both countries.) In early 2008, Morissette participated in a tour with Matchbox Twenty and Mutemath as a special guest.

Morissette's seventh studio album, ''Flavors of Entanglement'', which was produced by Guy Sigsworth, was released in mid 2008. She has stated that in late 2008, she would embark on a North American headlining tour, but in the meantime she would be promoting the album internationally by performing at shows and festivals and making television and radio appearances. The album's first single was "Underneath", a video for which was submitted to the 2007 Elevate Film Festival, the purpose of which festival was to create documentaries, music videos, narratives and shorts regarding subjects to raise the level of human consciousness on the earth. On October 3, 2008, Morissette released the video for her latest single, "Not as We".

Morissette left Maverick Records after all promotion for ''Flavors'' was completed.

2010–present

Recently, Morissette has contributed to ''1 Giant Leap'', performing "Arrival" with Zap Mama and she has released an acoustic version of her song "Still" as part of a compilation from Music for Relief in support of the 2010 Haiti earthquake crisis. Morissette has also recorded a cover of the 1984 Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias hit, "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", re-written as "To All the Boys I've Loved Before". Nelson played rhythm guitar on the recording.

In April 2010, Morissette released the song "I Remain", which she wrote for the ''Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time'' soundtrack.

On May 26, 2010, the season finale of ''American Idol'', Morissette performed a duet of her song "You Oughta Know" with Runner Up Crystal Bowersox.

Acting career

In 1986, Morissette had her first stint as an actor: five episodes of the children's television show ''You Can't Do That on Television''. She appeared on stage with the Orpheus Musical Theatre Society in 1985 and 1988.

In 1993, she appeared in the film ''Just One of the Girls'' starring Corey Haim, which she described as "horrible".

In 1999, Morissette delved into acting again, for the first time since 1993, appearing as God in the Kevin Smith comedy ''Dogma'' and contributing the song "Still" to its soundtrack. She also appeared in the hit HBO comedies ''Sex and the City'' and ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', appeared in the play ''The Vagina Monologues'', and had a brief role in the Brazilian hit soap opera "Celebridade" (''Celebrity'').

In late 2003, Morissette appeared in the Off-Broadway play ''The Exonerated'' as Charlie Jacobs, a death row inmate freed after proof surfaced that she was innocent. In April 2006, MTV News reported that Morissette would reprise her role in ''The Exonerated'' in London from May 23 until May 28.

She expanded her acting credentials with the July 2004 release of the Cole Porter biographical film ''De-Lovely'', in which she performed the song "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)" and had a brief role as an anonymous stage performer. In February 2005, she made a guest appearance on the Canadian television show ''Degrassi: The Next Generation'' with ''Dogma'' co-star Jason Mewes and director Kevin Smith.

In 2006, she guest starred in an episode of Lifetime's ''Lovespring International'' as a homeless woman named Lucinda, three episodes of FX's ''Nip/Tuck'', playing a lesbian named Poppy, and the mockumentary/documentary ''Pittsburgh'' as herself.

Morissette has appeared in eight episodes of ''Weeds'', playing Dr. Audra Kitson, a "no-nonsense obstetrician" who treats pregnant main character Nancy Botwin. Her first episode aired in July 2009.

In early 2010 Morissette returned to the stage, performing a one night engagement in ''An Oak Tree'', an experimental play in Los Angeles. The performance was a sell out. In April 2010 Morissette was confirmed in the cast of ''Weeds'' season six, performing again her role as Dr. Audra Kitson.

It was announced on Morissette's website that she will be starring in a film adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel ''Radio Free Albemuth''. Morissette will play Sylvia, an ordinary woman in unexpected remission from lymphoma. Morissette stated that she is "...a big fan of Philip K. Dick's poetic and expansively imaginative books" and that she "feel[s] blessed to portray Sylvia, and to be part of this story being told in film".

Personal life

Morissette dated actor and comedian Dave Coulier, 15 years her senior, for a short time in the early 1990s. In a 2008 interview with the ''Calgary Herald'', Coulier claimed to be the ex-boyfriend who inspired Morissette's song "You Oughta Know". Morissette, however, has maintained her silence on the subject of the song.

Morissette met Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds at Drew Barrymore's birthday party in 2002, and the couple began dating soon after. They announced their engagement in June 2004. In February 2007, representatives for Morissette and Reynolds announced they had mutually decided to end their engagement. Morissette has stated that her album ''Flavors of Entanglement'' was created out of her grief after the break-up, saying that "it was cathartic".

On May 22, 2010, Morissette married rapper Mario “MC Souleye” Treadway in a private ceremony at their Los Angeles home. Their first child, Ever Imre Morissette-Treadway, was born on December 25, 2010.

Morissette is a vegan.

Discography

''Alanis'' (1991)

''Now Is the Time'' (1992)

''Jagged Little Pill'' (1995)

''Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie'' (1998)

''Under Rug Swept'' (2002)

''So-Called Chaos'' (2004)

''Flavors of Entanglement'' (2008)

Filmography

Film
! Year	! Film	! Role	! Notes
1999		God
2001	''Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back''	God	cameo
2004	''De-Lovely''	unnamed singer	sang "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love"
2005		herself	documentary
2010		Sylvie
2012		Herself
Television
! Year	! Title	! Role	! Notes
1986	''You Can't Do That on Television''	herself
2000	''Sex and the City''	Dawn
2002	''Curb Your Enthusiasm''	herself	episode "The Terrorist Attack"
2003	''Celebridade''	herself	Brazilian soap opera
2004	''American Dreams''	singer in the Lair	episode "What Dreams May Come"
2005	''Degrassi: The Next Generation''	principal	episode "Goin' down the Road: Part 1"
2006	''Lovespring International''	Lucinda
2006	''Nip/Tuck''	Poppy	three episodes
2009–2010		Dr. Audra Kitson
Stage
! Year	! Title	! Notes
1999	''The Vagina Monologues''
2004	''The Exonerated''	played Sunny Jacobs
2010	''An Oak Tree''

Tours

1991: Vanilla Ice tour (opening act)

1995: Jagged Little Pill/Intellectual Intercourse Tour

1996: Can't Not Tour

1998: Club Tour

1999: Junkie Tour

1999: Junkie Tour Australian Leg (with Garbage)

1999: 5 ½ Weeks Tour (with Tori Amos)

2000: One Tour

2001: Under Rug Swept Tour

2002: Toward Our Union Mended Tour

2003: All I Really Want/Feast on Scraps Tour

2004: So-Called Chaos/Au Naturale Tour (with Barenaked Ladies)

2005: Diamond Wink Tour

2008: Exile in America (with Matchbox Twenty and Mutemath)

2008: Flavors of Entanglement Tour

2009: Flavors of Entanglement South American Tour

Awards and nominations

See also

Canadian rock

Music of Canada

Best selling music artists

List of diamond-certified albums in Canada

List of best-selling albums worldwide

List of best-selling music artists

Further reading

Rock on the Net

Canadian chart positions courtesy of the ''RPM'' 100 Singles chart listings.

"Alanis Morissette – Artist Chart History". ''Billboard''. Retrieved August 23, 2006.

[ "Alanis Morissette – Billboard Singles"]. Allmusic. Retrieved August 23, 2006.

"Alanis Morissette". Mariah-charts.com. Retrieved August 23, 2006.

''Rock Chicks:The Hottest Female Rockers from the 1960s to Now'' by Stieven-Taylor, Alison (2007). Sydney. Rockpool Publishing. ISBN 978-1-921295-06-5

References

External links

Official website

Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill Review at Spectrum Fm

Category:1974 births Category:American child actors Category:American dance musicians Category:American female guitarists Category:American female singers Category:American feminists Category:American film actors Category:American harmonica players Category:American contraltos Category:American music video directors Category:American pop singers Category:American record producers Category:American rock singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:American vegans Category:Canadian child actors Category:Canadian dance musicians Category:Canadian female guitarists Category:Canadian female singers Category:Canadian feminists Category:Canadian film actors Category:Canadian harmonica players Category:Canadian emigrants to the United States Category:Canadian contraltos Category:Canadian music video directors Category:Canadian pop singers Category:Canadian record producers Category:Canadian rock singers Category:Canadian singer-songwriters Category:Canadian stage actors Category:Canadian television actors Category:Canadian vegans Category:English-language singers Category:Female rock singers Category:Female post-grunge singers Category:Feminist musicians Category:Franco-Ontarian people Category:Grammy Award winners Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Canadian people of Hungarian descent Category:Juno Award winners Category:Living people Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:Writers from Ontario Category:Musicians from Ottawa Category:Twin people from Canada Category:Warner Music Group artists Category:MCA Records artists Category:Maverick Records artists

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name	John Denver
background	solo_singer
birth name	Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr.
born	December 31, 1943Roswell, New Mexico, U.S.
died	October 12, 1997Pacific Grove, California, U.S.
instrument	Vocals, guitar, keyboards, fiddle
genre	Country, folk, pop
occupation	Singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, record producer, actor, writer, poet, activist
years active	1962–1997
first album	''Rhymes & Reasons''
latest album	''Essential''
notable songs	"Take Me Home, Country Roads", "Sunshine On My Shoulders", "Rocky Mountain High" (Colorado State Song since 2007), "Thank God I'm a Country Boy", "Annie's Song", "Perhaps Love", "Calypso"
label	Mercury, RCA, BMG, Windstar, Sony Wonder
associated acts	The John Denver Band, The Back Porch Majority, The New Christy Minstrels, Chad Mitchell Trio, The Muppets, Olivia Newton-John, Plácido Domingo, Emmylou Harris, Johnny Cash Tina TurnerGlen Campbell
website	http://www.johndenver.com/}}

Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success was as a solo singer. Throughout his life Denver recorded and released approximately 300 songs, about 200 of which he composed. He performed primarily with an acoustic guitar and sang about his joy in nature, his enthusiasm for music, and relationship trials. Denver's music appeared on a variety of charts including country & western, the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and adult contemporary, in all earning him 12 gold and 4 platinum albums with his signature songs "Take Me Home, Country Roads", "Leaving on a Jet Plane", "Rocky Mountain High", "Annie's Song" and "Calypso".

Denver further starred in films and several notable television specials in the 1970s and 1980s. In the following decades he continued to record, but also focused on calling attention to environmental issues, lent his vocal support to space exploration, and testified in front of Congress to protest censorship in music. His renown in the state of Colorado, which he sang about numerous times and where he lived in Aspen, influenced the governor to name him Poet Laureate of the state in 1974, and for the state legislature to adopt "Rocky Mountain High" as one of its state songs in 2007. He was an avid pilot, and died while flying his personal aircraft at the age of 53. Denver was one of the most popular acoustic artists of the 1970s.

Biography

Early years

Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr., was born in Roswell, New Mexico, to Erma Louise Swope and Lt. Col. Henry John Deutschendorf, Sr., an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel (who set three speed records in the B-58 Hustler bomber and earned a place in the Air Force Hall of Fame), was of German ancestry, and met and married his "Oklahoma Sweetheart". Denver's Irish Catholic and German mother's mother, his beloved Grandmother, was the one who imbued Denver with his love of music. In his autobiography, ''Take Me Home'', Denver described his life as the eldest son of a family shaped by a stern father who couldn't show his love for his children.

Because Denver's father was in the military, the family moved often, making it difficult for young John to make friends and fit in with people of his own age. Constantly being the new kid was agony for the introverted child, and he grew up always feeling as if he should be somewhere else, but never knowing where that "right" place was. While living in Tucson, Arizona, Denver was a member of the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus for two years. Denver was happy living in Tucson, but his father was transferred to Montgomery, Alabama, then in the midst of the Montgomery boycotts. The family later moved to Fort Worth, Texas, where Denver graduated from Arlington Heights High School. Attending high school in Fort Worth was a distressing experience for the disenfranchised Denver. In his third year of high school, he borrowed his father's car and ran away to California to visit family friends and begin his music career. His father flew to California to bring him back, and Denver unhappily returned to finish high school.

At the age of 11, Denver received an acoustic guitar from his grandmother. He learned to play well enough to perform at local clubs by the time he was in college. He adopted the surname "Denver" after the capital of his favorite state, Colorado, when Randy Sparks, founder of The New Christy Minstrels, suggested that "Deutschendorf" wouldn't fit comfortably on a marquee. Denver attended Texas Tech University in Lubbock and sang in a folk-music group called "The Alpine Trio" while pursuing architecture studies.. He was also a member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. Denver dropped out of the Texas Tech School of Engineering in 1963, and moved to Los Angeles, California, where he sang in the smoky underground folk clubs. In 1965, Denver joined the Chad Mitchell Trio, a folk group that had been renamed "The Mitchell Trio" prior to Chad Mitchell's departure and before Denver's arrival, and then "Denver, Boise, and Johnson" (John Denver, David Boise, and Michael Johnson).

Solo career

In 1969, John Denver abandoned the band life to pursue a solo career and John released his first album for RCA Records: ''Rhymes & Reasons''. Two years prior Denver had made a self-produced demo recording of some of the songs he played at his concerts. He included in the demo a song called "Babe I Hate to Go," later renamed "Leaving on A Jet Plane." Denver made several copies and gave them out as presents for Christmas. Mitchell Trio manager Milt Okun brought the unreleased "Jet Plane" song to the high-profile folk group Peter, Paul and Mary. Their version of the song hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

Although RCA did not actively promote ''Rhymes & Reasons'' with a tour, Denver himself embarked on an impromptu supporting tour throughout the Midwest, stopping at towns and cities as the fashion took him, offering to play free concerts at local venues. When he was successful in convincing a school, college, American Legion Hall, or local coffee-house to let him play, he would spend a day or so postering the town and could usually be counted upon to show up at the local radio station, guitar in hand, offering himself for an interview. With his foot-in-the-door of having authored "Leaving on a Jet Plane", he was often successful in gaining some valuable promotional airtime, usually featuring one or two songs performed live. Some venues would let him play for the "door"; others restricted him to selling copies of the album at intermission and after the show. After several months of this constant low-key touring schedule, however, he had sold enough albums to convince RCA to take a chance on extending his recording contract. He had also built a sizable and solid fan base, many of whom remained loyal throughout his career.

Denver recorded two more albums in 1970, ''Take Me to Tomorrow'' and ''Whose Garden Was This?'', featuring songs he had composed while driving the roads of the American Midwest. Although these albums were not as successful as those that followed, they would all be certified gold by the RIAA and would generally be considered some of his best work.

Career peak

His next album, ''Poems, Prayers, and Promises'' (released in 1971), was a breakthrough for him in the U.S., thanks in part to the single "Take Me Home, Country Roads", which went to No.2 on the ''Billboard'' charts despite the first pressings of the track being distorted. Its success was due in part to the efforts of his new manager, future Hollywood producer Jerry Weintraub, who signed Denver in 1970. Weintraub insisted on a re-issue of the track and began a radio-airplay campaign that started in Denver, Colorado. Denver's career flourished from then on, and he had a series of hits over the next four years. In 1972, Denver scored his first Top Ten album with ''Rocky Mountain High'', with its title track reaching the Top Ten in 1973. Between 1974 and 1975, Denver experienced an impressive chart dominance, with a string of four No.1 songs ("Sunshine on My Shoulders", "Annie's Song", "Thank God I'm a Country Boy", and "I'm Sorry") and three No.1 albums (''John Denver's Greatest Hits'', ''Back Home Again'', and ''Windsong'').

In the 1970s, Denver's onstage appearance included long blond hair, embroidered shirts emblazoned with images commonly associated with the American West (created by designer & appliqué artist Anna Zapp), and "granny" glasses. His manager, Jerry Weintraub, insisted on a significant number of television appearances, including a series of half-hour shows in England, despite Denver's protests at the time, "I've had no success in Britain...I mean ''none''." Weintraub explained to Maureen Orth of ''Newsweek'' in December 1976, "I knew the critics would never go for John. I had to get him to the people."

After appearing as a guest on many shows, Denver went on to host his own variety/music specials, including several concerts from Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver. His seasonal special, ''Rocky Mountain Christmas,'' was watched by more than 60 million people and was the highest-rated show for the ABC network at that time. His live concert special, ''An Evening with John Denver,'' won the 1974–1975 Emmy for Outstanding Special, Comedy-Variety or Music. When Denver ended his business relationship because of Weintraub's focus on other projects, Weintraub threw Denver out of his office and called him a Nazi. Denver would later tell Arthur Tobier, when the latter transcribed his autobiography, "...I'd bend my principles to support something he wanted of me. And of course every time you bend your principles – whether because you don't want to worry about it, or because you're afraid to stand up for fear of what you might lose – you sell your soul to the devil."

Denver was also a guest star on ''The Muppet Show,'' the beginning of the lifelong friendship between Denver and Jim Henson that spawned two television specials with The Muppets. He also tried his hand at acting, appearing in the ''The Colorado Cattle Caper'' episode of the ''McCloud'' television movie on February 24, 1974, and starring in the 1977 film ''Oh, God!'' opposite George Burns. Denver hosted the Grammy Awards five times in the 1970s and 1980s and guest-hosted ''The Tonight Show'' on multiple occasions. In 1975, Denver was awarded the Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year award. At the ceremony, the outgoing Entertainer of the Year Charlie Rich presented the award to his successor, but in protest of what he considered the inappropriateness of Denver's selection, Rich set fire to the envelope containing the official notification of the award. However, Denver's music was defended by country singer Kathy Mattea, who told Alanna Nash of ''Entertainment Weekly,'' "A lot of people write him off as lightweight, but he articulated a kind of optimism, and he brought acoustic music to the forefront, bridging folk, pop, and country in a fresh way.... People forget how huge he was worldwide."

In 1977, Denver cofounded The Hunger Project with Werner Erhard and Robert W. Fuller. He served for many years and supported the organization until his death. Denver was also appointed by President Jimmy Carter to serve on the President's Commission on World Hunger, writing the song "I Want to Live" as its theme song. In 1979, Denver performed "Rhymes & Reasons" at the Music for UNICEF Concert. Royalties from the concert performances were donated to UNICEF. His father taught him to fly in the mid-1970s, which led to a reconciliation between father and son. In 1980, Denver and his father, Lt. Col. “Dutch” Deutschendorf, co-hosted an award winning television special, "The Higher We Fly: the History of Flight." It won the Osborn Award from the Aviation/Space Writers’ Association, and was honored by the Houston Film Festival.

Political activism

Denver became outspoken in politics in the mid-1970s. In 1976, he campaigned for Jimmy Carter, who became a close friend and ally. Denver was a supporter of the Democratic Party and of a number of charitable causes for the environmental movement, the homeless, the poor, the hungry, and the African AIDS crisis. He founded the charitable Windstar Foundation in 1976, to promote sustainable living. His dismay at the Chernobyl disaster led to precedent-setting concerts in parts of communist Asia and Europe.

During the 1980s, Denver was critical of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Administration, but he remained active in his campaign against hunger, for which Reagan awarded Denver the Presidential World Without Hunger Award in 1985. Denver's criticism of the conservative politics of the 1980s was expressed in his autobiographical folk-rock ballad "Let Us Begin (What Are We Making Weapons For)." Denver was also critical of the Republican-dominated Congress and American Conservatism of the 1990s. He denounced the National Rifle Association (NRA) as a corrupt political machine that could buy off politicians, and in an open letter to the media, he wrote that he opposed oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Denver had battled to expand the refuge in the 1980s, and he praised President Bill Clinton for his opposition to the proposed drilling. The letter, which he wrote in the midst of the 1996 presidential election, was one of the last he ever wrote. Denver was also on the Board of Governors of the National Space Society for many years.

Later years and humanitarian work

He had a few more U.S. Top 30 hits as the 1970s ended, but nothing to match his earlier success. He began to focus more on humanitarian and sustainability causes, focusing extensively on conservation projects. He made public expression of his acquaintances and friendships with ecological-design researchers such as Richard Buckminster Fuller and Amory Lovins, from whom he said he learned much. He also founded two environmental groups; the Windstar Foundation and Plant-It 2020 (originally Plant-It 2000). Denver had a keen interest in solutions to world hunger. He visited Africa during the 1980s to witness first-hand the suffering caused by starvation and to work with African leaders toward solutions. In 1983 and 1984, Denver hosted the annual Grammy Awards. In the 1983 finale, Denver was joined on stage by folk-music legend Joan Baez with whom he led an all-star version of "Blowin' in the Wind" and Let The Sunshine In, joined by such diverse musical icons as Jennifer Warnes, Donna Summer, and Rick James. In 1984, Roone Arlidge, president of ABC Sports, asked Denver to compose and sing the theme song for the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarejevo. Denver worked as both a performer and a skiing commentator (skiing was another avocation of Denver's). He had written "The Gold and Beyond", and sang it for the Olympic Games athletes, as well as local venues including many schools. In 1985, Denver asked to participate in the singing of "We Are the World" but was turned down. According to Ken Kragen (who helped to produce the song), the reason that John Denver was turned down was that many people felt his image would hurt the credibility of the song as a pop-rock anthem. "I didn't agree" with this assessment, Kragen said, but reluctantly turned Denver down anyway. For Earth Day 1990, Denver was the on-camera narrator of a well-received environmental TV program, "In Partnership With Earth," with then–EPA Administrator William K. Reilly.

With Denver's innate love of flying he was naturally attracted to NASA and became dedicated to America’s work in outer space. He conscientiously worked to help bring into being the “Citizens in Space” program. Denver received the NASA Public Service Medal, in 1985 for “helping to increase awareness of space exploration by the peoples of the world,” an award usually restricted to spaceflight engineers and designers. Also in 1985, Denver passed NASA’s rigorous physical exam and was in line for a space flight, a finalist for the first citizen’s trip on the Space Shuttle in 1986. He was not chosen. After the Challenger disaster with teacher Christa McAuliffe aboard, John dedicated his song “Flying for Me”, to all astronauts, and he continued to support NASA.

Denver testified on the topic of censorship during a Parents Music Resource Center hearing in 1985. Denver also toured Russia in 1985. His 11 Soviet Union concerts were the first by any American artist in more than 10 years, and they marked a very important cultural exchange that culminated in an agreement to allow other western artists to perform there. He returned two years later to perform at a benefit concert for the victims of the Chernobyl disaster. In October 1992, John undertook a multiple-city tour of the People's Republic of China. He also released a greatest-hits CD, "Homegrown," to raise money for homeless charities. In 1994, he published his autobiography, ''Take Me Home''. In 1996, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In early 1997, Denver filmed an episode for the ''Nature'' series, centering on the natural wonders that inspired many of his best-loved songs. The episode contains his last song, "Yellowstone, Coming Home," which he composed while rafting along the Colorado River with his son and young daughter.

In the summer of 1997, Denver recorded a children's train album for Sony Wonder, entitled ''All Aboard!'', produced by long-time friend Roger Nichols. The album consisted of old-fashioned swing, big band, folk, bluegrass, and gospel styles of music woven into a theme of railroad songs. This album won a posthumous Best Musical Album For Children Grammy for Denver, which was his only Grammy.

Personal life

Denver's first marriage was to Annie Martell of St. Peter, Minnesota. Their wedding was held at the Christ Chapel at Gustavus Adolphus College. Annie was the subject of his hit ''Annie's Song'', which he composed in only ten minutes while on a ski lift in 1974. The couple lived in Edina, Minnesota from 1968 to 1971. Following the success of "Rocky Mountain High," Denver purchased a residence in Colorado and owned one home in Colorado continuously until his death. He and Annie adopted a son, Zachary, and daughter, Anna Kate, who John would say were “meant to be” theirs. John once said, "I'll tell you the best thing about me. I'm some guy's dad; I'm some little gal's dad. When I die, Zachary John and Anna Kate's father, boy, that's enough for me to be remembered by. That's more than enough." Zachary was the subject of "A Baby Just Like You," a song that included the line "Merry Christmas, little Zachary" and which he wrote for Frank Sinatra. Denver and Martell divorced in 1982. She continues to live in Aspen, Colorado.

John Denver married Australian actress Cassandra Delaney in 1988. They had a daughter, Jesse Belle. They separated in 1991 and divorced in 1993.

Denver's talent extended beyond music. He was a painter as well but because of his limiting schedule, he pursued photography. He once said that "photography is a way to communicate a feeling." Denver was an avid skier and golfer. His love of flying was secondary only to his love for music. He collected vintage biplanes and in 1974, he bought a Learjet, which he used to fly himself to concerts. He also bought a Christen Eagle aerobatic plane, two Cessna 210s, gliders and in 1997, the ill-fated Rutan Long-EZ.

Death

On October 12, 1997, Denver was killed at the age of 53 when his Experimental Rutan Long-EZ plane, aircraft registration number N555JD, crashed into the Pacific Ocean near Pacific Grove, California. The NTSB accident ID is LAX98FA008

A pilot with over 2,700 hours of experience, Denver had single-engine land and sea, multi-engine land, glider, and instrument ratings. He also held a type rating in his Learjet. He had recently purchased the Long-EZ aircraft, and had taken a half-hour checkout flight with the aircraft the day before the accident. The NTSB cited Denver's unfamiliarity with the aircraft and his failure to have the aircraft refueled as causal factors in the accident. Denver was the sole occupant of the aircraft. Before the accident, the FAA had learned of his failure to abstain entirely from alcohol subsequent to drunk driving arrests, and since his medical certification was conditional on this, a determination was made that due to his drinking problem, he was not qualified for any class of medical certification at the time. At least a third-class medical certification was required to exercise the privileges of his pilot certificate. However, there was no trace of alcohol or any other drug in Denver's body at autopsy.

Human-interface designer and pilot Bruce Tognazzini analyzed Denver's fatal crash on his webzine, AskTog, in June 1999.

This particular aircraft had an unusual reconfiguration of the fuel selector valve handle, which had been moved from the instrument panel to behind the left shoulder of the pilot. Apparently it also had a sticky O-ring and was hard to move. Both factors may have led to Denver pushing the right rudder pedal when he turned to switch fuel tanks by moving the handle. The aircraft then entered an uncontrolled turning descent: a spiral dive or a spin. Flying at an estimated altitude of , he did not have time to recover. As the wreck badly disfigured Denver's head and body, making identification by dental records impossible, records of his fingerprints taken from his arrests for intoxicated driving were used to confirm that the fallen pilot was indeed the singer.

Upon announcement of Denver's death, Colorado governor Roy Romer ordered all state flags to be lowered to half staff in his honor. Denver was cremated with the 1910 Gibson guitar given to him by his grandmother which had inspired much of his career. Funeral services were held at Faith Presbyterian Church in Aurora, Colorado, on October 17, 1997, being officiated by Pastor Les Felker, a retired Air Force chaplain. Later, Denver's ashes were scattered in the Rocky Mountains. Further tributes were made at the following Grammys and Country Music Association Awards. Nearly ten years after his death on September 23, 2007, his brother Ron witnessed the dedication of a plaque placed near the crash-site in Pacific Grove, California, commemorating the singer.

Posthumous recognition

In 2000, CBS presented the television movie ''Take Me Home: The John Denver Story'' loosely based on his memoirs, starring Chad Lowe. Denver's brother, Ron Deutschendorf, voiced the feelings of many of the singer's fans when he wrote a letter to the ''Los Angeles Times'' criticizing the film's many inaccuracies: multiple chronological errors, exaggerated difficulties in his relationship with his father, and a completely superficial treatment of Denver's commitment to his various causes. As the ''New York Post'' observed, "An overachiever like John Denver couldn't have been this boring."

Denver's music remains extremely popular around the world. Previously unreleased and unnoticed recordings are now sought-after collectibles in pop, folk and country genres. Also in demand are copies of Denver's many television appearances, especially his one-hour specials from the 1970s and his six-part series for Britain's BBC, ''The John Denver Show''. Despite strong interest in these programs, no sign of "official" release is evident for the vast majority of this material. An anthology musical featuring John Denver's music, ''Back Home Again: A John Denver Holiday'', premiered at the Rubicon Theatre Company in November 2006.

On March 12, 2007, Colorado's Senate passed a resolution to make Denver's trademark 1972 hit "Rocky Mountain High" one of the state's two official state songs, sharing duties with its predecessor, "Where the Columbines Grow." The resolution passed 50–11 in the House, defeating an objection by Rep. Debbie Stafford (R-Aurora) that the song reflected drug use, most specifically the line, "Friends around the campfire and everybody's high." Sen. Bob Hagedorn, the Aurora Democrat who sponsored the proposal, defended the song as nothing to do with drugs, but everything to do with sharing with friends the euphoria of experiencing the beauty of Colorado's mountain vistas. Nancy Todd (D-Aurora) said that "John Denver to me is an icon of what Colorado is." Similar proposals have also been made to the West Virginia House of Delegates to make "Take Me Home Country Roads" the official song of that particular state, so far without success. On September 24, 2007, the California Friends of John Denver and The Windstar Foundation unveiled a bronze plaque near the spot where his plane went down near Pacific Grove. The site had been marked by a driftwood log carved (by Jeffrey Pine of Colorado) with the singer's name, but fears that the memorial could be washed out to sea sparked the campaign for a more permanent memorial. Initially the Pacific Grove Council denied permission for the memorial, fearing the place would attract ghoulish curiosity from extreme fans. Permission was finally granted in 1999, but the project was put on hold at the request of the singer's family. Eventually, over 100 friends and family attended the dedication of the plaque, which features a bas-relief of the singer's face and lines from his song "Windsong": "So welcome the wind and the wisdom she offers. Follow her summons when she calls again."

To mark the 10th anniversary of Denver's death, his family released a set of previously unreleased recordings of Denver's 1985 concert performances in the Soviet Union. This two-CD set, ''John Denver – Live in the USSR'', was produced by Denver's friend Roger Nichols, and released by AAO Music. These digital recordings were made during 11 concerts, and then rediscovered in 2002. Included in this set is a previously unpublished rendition of "Annie's Song" in Russian. The collection was released November 6, 2007.

On October 13, 2009, a DVD box set of previously unreleased concerts recorded throughout Denver's career was released by Eagle Rock Entertainment. "Around the World Live" is a 5-disc DVD set featuring three complete live performances with full band from Australia in 1977, Japan in 1981, and England in 1986. These are complemented by a solo acoustic performance from Japan in 1984, and performances at Farm Aid from 1985, 1987 and 1990. The final disc has two hour-long documentaries made by Denver.

On April 21, 2011, John Denver became the first inductee into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame. A benefit concert was held at Broomfield's 1STBANK Center and hosted by Olivia Newton-John. Other performers participating in the event included Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Lee Ann Womack and John Oates. Both of his ex-wives were in attendance, and the award was presented to his three children.

Related artists

Denver began his recording career with a group that had started as the Chad Mitchell Trio; his distinctive voice can be heard where he sings solo on ''Violets of Dawn'', among other songs. He recorded three albums with the Mitchell Trio, replacing Chad Mitchell himself as high tenor. The group Denver, Boise and Johnson, which had evolved from the Mitchell Trio, released a single before he moved on to a solo career.

Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert, credited as co-writers of Denver's song "Take Me Home, Country Roads", were close friends of Denver and his family, appearing as singers and songwriters on many of Denver's albums until they formed the Starland Vocal Band in 1976. The band's albums were released on Denver's Windsong Records (later known as Windstar Records) label. Denver's solo recording contract resulted in part from the recording by Peter, Paul and Mary of his song "Leaving on a Jet Plane", which became the sole number 1 hit single for the group. Denver recorded songs by Tom Paxton, Eric Andersen, John Prine, David Mallett, and many others in the folk scene. His record company, Windstar, is still an active record label today. Country singer John Berry considers Denver the greatest influence on his own music and has recorded Denver's hit "Annie's Song" with the original arrangement.

Olivia Newton-John, an Australian singer whose across-the-board appeal to pop, MOR, and country audiences in the mid-1970s was similar to Denver's, lent her distinctive backup vocals to Denver's 1975 single "Fly Away"; she performed the song with Denver on his 1975 ''Rocky Mountain Christmas'' special. She also covered his "Take Me Home, Country Roads", and had a hit in the United Kingdom (#15 in 1973) and Japan (#6 in a belated 1976 release) with it. In 1976, John Denver appeared as a guest star, along with Olivia Newton-John, who made a cameo appearance, on The Carpenters Very First Special, a one-hour TV special broadcast on the ABC television network. A highlight of the program was John singing a duet with Karen Carpenter of a medley of "Through the Rye" and "Good Vibrations", although the medley was never released commercially as a single or on an album.

September 2008 saw the premiere of the musical ''Whisper the Wind'' in New Zealand, a tribute presentation covering highlights of Denver's life and career, with the younger Denver played by 21-year-old Dunedin musician Bevan Gardiner, whose vocal impersonation of the late singer was considered so accurate Denver's business manager Harold Thau could not tell them apart.

Awards and recognition

Academy of Country Music

1974 Album of the Year for "Back Home Again"

American Music Awards

1975 Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist

1976 Favorite Country Album for "Back Home Again"

1976 Favorite Country Male Artist

Country Music Association

1975 Entertainer of the Year

1975 Song of the Year for "Back Home Again"

Emmy Awards 1975 Emmy for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special for "An Evening With John Denver"

Grammy Awards

1997 Best Musical Album For Children for "All Aboard!"

1998 Grammy Hall of Fame Award for "Take Me Home, Country Roads"

Songwriters Hall of Fame

Inducted in 1996

Other recognition

Poet Laureate of Colorado, 1977 People's Choice Awards, 1977 Ten Outstanding Young Men of America, 1979

Carl Sandburg’s People’s Poet Award, 1982

NASA Public Service Medal, 1985

Albert Schweitzer Music Award, 1993

"Rocky Mountain High" declared state song of Colorado, 2007

Discography

Filmography

Selected writings

''Alfie the Christmas Tree'' (1990) ISBN 0-945051-25-5

''Take Me Home: An Autobiography'' (1994) ISBN 0-517-59537-0

''Poems, Prayers and Promises: The Art and Soul of John Denver'' (2004) ISBN 1-57560-617-8

References

Sources

Flippo, Chet (1998) "John Denver," ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music,'' Paul Kingsbury, Editor, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 143.

Martin, James M. (1977) "John Denver: Rocky Mountain Wonderboy," Pinnacle Books. (Out of print) Biography of Denver with insight into Denver's impact of the 1970s music industry.

Orth, Maureen, "Voice of America," ''Newsweek,'' December 1976. Includes information on the role of Weintraub in shaping Denver's career, which has since been edited out of later versions of his biography.

External links

Official website

Windstar Foundation, cofounded by Denver

Clips of his songs from the Songwriters Hall of Fame website

Category:American country singers Category:American folk singers Category:American male singers Category:Songwriters from New Mexico Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:American environmentalists Category:The Hunger Project Category:People from Roswell, New Mexico Category:Musicians from New Mexico Category:People from Denver, Colorado Category:Musicians from Colorado Category:Roaring Fork Valley Category:Texas Tech University alumni Category:Military brats Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Category:Grammy Award winners Category:People associated with the Human Potential Movement Category:Accidental deaths in California Category:1943 births Category:1997 deaths Category:American musicians of German descent Category:American musicians of Irish descent

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name	The Phantom Boyz
birth name	Melvin Watson (founder)
background	non_performing_personnel
alias	The Phantom Boyz
origin	Plainfield, New Jersey, United States
genre	All genres
years active	2006–present
occupation	Producer, songwriter, music executive
website	myspace.com/phantomboyz
current members	}}

Phantom Boyz Music LLC is an American-based music production company founded by executive producer Melvin "Official" Watson. Since its inception in 2006, The Phantom Boyz have produced records for both American and international artists, including Jim Jones, Christina Aguilera, B5, Alexandra Burke, BoA and Rainie Yang.

History

2006 - 2007

Originally from Plainfield, New Jersey, Watson founded the company under consultation with entertainment lawyer Karriem Hassan. Within one year, they received their first major placement, co-producing R&B; group B5’s single "Hydrolics", featuring Diddy and Bow Wow. They also produced the track "No Fuss" by Jim Jones featuring Stack Bundles, Rell and Mell Matrix. The song was featured on Jones' 2007 album ''Hustler's P.O.M.E. (Deluxe Edition)'', as well as his mixtape ''Harlem's American Gangster''.

2008 - 2010

After initially collaborating with several American recording artists, they went on to expand their sound amongst the international community, working with several international pop artists, including Alexandra Burke ("Bad Boys"), BoA ("I Did It For Love") and Rainie Yang ("It's Our World"). Burke's single "Bad Boys" debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart and spent 25 consecutive weeks in the top seventy-five. The track is now certified platinum in the United Kingdom. BoA’s "I Did It For Love" peaked at number 19 on Billboard (magazine)’s Hot Dance Club Play.

2010 - Present

In 2010, The Phantom Boyz worked with singer-songwriter Christina Aguilera, producing her song "The Beautiful People" which is featured on the ''Burlesque'' soundtrack. The Phantom Boyz have also signed several recording acts to their roster, including pop artists J Rice and Malaika Russell.

Discography

2007: "Hydrolics" (B5 feat. Diddy and Bow Wow)

2007: "No Fuss" (Jim Jones feat. Stack Bundles, Rell and Mell Matrix)

2008: "I Did It For Love" (BoA feat. Sean Garrett)

2009: "Bad Boys" (Alexandra Burke feat. Flo Rida)

2010: "It's Our World" (Rainie Yang)

2010: "The Beautiful People" (Christina Aguilera)

2010: "Fireproof" (Jeremy Greene)

2010: "How Fly Is He" (Jeremy Greene feat. Diddy)

2010: "Ain't No Way" (Jeremy Greene)

TBD: "Timber" (Tiffany Evans)

TBD: "Pulling Me Back" (Bridget Kelly)

TBD: "I Don't Need You" (Ayako Nakanomori)

References

External links

The Phantom Boyz on Myspace

The Phantom Boyz on Facebook

Category:American record producers

Name	Sinéad O'Connor
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor
Origin	Glenageary, County Dublin, Ireland
Birth date	December 08, 1966
Genre	Alternative rock, pop rock, folk rock
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, priest
Years active	1986–present
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, percussion, low whistle
First album	''The Lion and the Cobra'' (1987)
Notable songs	"Nothing Compares 2 U" (1990)
Label	Ensign, Vanguard, Chocolate and Vanilla
Website	Official website }}

Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor (; born 8 December 1966) is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album ''The Lion and the Cobra'' and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U".

Since then, she has occasionally encountered controversy, partly due to her forthright statements and gestures, ordination as a priest despite being female with a Roman Catholic background, and expressed strong views on organized religion, women's rights, war, and child abuse while still maintaining a singing career.

Her body of work includes a number of collaborations with other artists and appearances at charity fundraising concerts, in addition to her own solo albums.

Early life

Sinéad O'Connor was born in Glenageary in County Dublin and was named after Sinéad de Valera, wife of Irish President Éamon de Valera and mother of the doctor presiding over the delivery, and Saint Bernadette of Lourdes. She is the middle of five children, sister to Joseph, Eimear, John, and Eoin. Joseph O'Connor is a novelist.

Her parents are Sean O'Connor, a structural engineer later turned barrister, and Marie O'Connor. The couple married young and had a troubled relationship, separating when Sinéad was eight. The three eldest children went to live with their mother, where O'Connor claims they were subjected to frequent physical abuse. Her song "Fire on Babylon" is about the effects of her own child abuse, and she has consistently advocated on behalf of abused children. Sean O'Connor's efforts to secure custody of his children in a country which routinely gave custody to the mother and prohibited divorce motivated him to become chairman of the Divorce Action Group and a prominent public spokesman. At one point, he even debated his own wife on the subject on a radio show.

In 1979, O'Connor left her mother and went to live with her father and his new wife. However, her shoplifting and truancy led to her being placed in a Magdalene Asylum at age 15, the Grianán Training Centre run by the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity. In some ways, she thrived there, especially in writing and music, but she also chafed under the imposed conformity. Unruly students there were sometimes sent to sleep in the adjoining nursing home, an experience of which she later commented, "I have never — and probably will never — experience such panic and terror and agony over anything."

One of the volunteers at Grianán was the sister of Paul Byrne, drummer for the band In Tua Nua, who heard O'Connor singing "Evergreen" by Barbra Streisand. She recorded a song with them called "Take My Hand" but they felt that at 15, she was too young to join the band.

In 1983, her father sent her to Newtown School, an exclusive Quaker boarding school in Waterford, an institution with a much more permissive atmosphere than Grianan. With the help and encouragement of her Irish language teacher, Joseph Falvey, she recorded a four-song demo, with two covers and two of her own songs which later appeared on her first album.

Through an ad she placed in ''Hot Press'' in mid-1984, she met Columb Farrelly. Together they recruited a few other members and formed a band called Ton Ton Macoute, named for the Haitian zombies. The band moved to Waterford briefly while O'Connor attended Newtown, but she soon dropped out of school and followed them to Dublin, where their performances received positive reviews. Their sound was inspired by Farrelly's interest in witchcraft, mysticism, and world music, though most observers thought O'Connor's singing and stage presence was the band's driving force.

On 10 February 1985, O'Connor's mother was killed in a car accident, which despite their strained relationship devastated her. Soon afterward she left the band, which stayed together despite O'Connor's statements to the contrary in later interviews, and moved to London.

Musical career

1980s

O'Connor's time as singer for Ton Ton Macoute brought her to the attention of the music industry, and she was eventually signed by Ensign Records. She also acquired an experienced manager, Fachtna O'Ceallaigh, former head of U2's Mother Records. Soon after she was signed, she embarked on her first major project, providing the vocals for the song "Heroine", which she cowrote with U2's guitarist The Edge for the soundtrack to the film ''Captive''. O'Ceallaigh, who had been fired by U2 for complaining about them in an interview, was outspoken with his comments about music and politics, and O'Connor began to adopt the same habits; she defended the actions of the IRA and said U2's music was "bombastic".

Things were contentious in the studio as well. She was paired with veteran producer Mick Glossop, whom she later publicly derided. They had differing visions regarding her debut album and four months of recordings were scrapped. During this time she became pregnant by her session drummer John Reynolds (who went on to drum with the band Transvision Vamp). Thanks largely to O'Ceallaigh's persuasion, the record company allowed O'Connor, 20 years old and by then seven months pregnant, to produce her own album.

''The Lion and the Cobra'' was not embraced by the pop mainstream on a large-scale basis, but the album did eventually hit gold record status and earned a Best Female Rock Vocal Performance Grammy nomination. The single "Mandinka" was a big college radio hit in the United States, and "I Want Your (Hands on Me)" received both college and urban play in a remixed form that featured rapper MC Lyte. In her first US network television appearance, O'Connor sang "Mandinka" on ''Late Night with David Letterman'' in 1988. The single "Troy" was also released as a single in the UK and Ireland. A club mix of "Troy" would become a major US dance hit in 2002.

1990s

O'Connor's first two albums (1987's ''The Lion and the Cobra'' and 1990's ''I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got'') gained considerable attention and mostly positive reviews. She was praised for her voice and her original songs. She was also noted for her appearance: her trademark shaved head, often angry expression, and sometimes shapeless or unusual clothing.

In 1989 O'Connor joined The The frontman Matt Johnson as a guest vocalist on the band's album ''Mind Bomb'', which spawned the duet "Kingdom of Rain."

The album ''I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got'' featured Marco Pirroni and Kevin Mooney, of Adam and the Ants fame, and contained her international breakthrough hit "Nothing Compares 2 U", a song written by Prince and originally recorded and released by a side project of his, The Family. Aided by a memorable and well received video by John Maybury which consisted almost solely of O'Connor's face as she performed the song, it became a massive international hit, reaching #1 in several countries. In Ireland it hit the top spot in July 1990 and remained there for 11 weeks; it is the eighth most successful single of the decade there. It had similar success in the UK, charting at #1 for 4 weeks, and in Germany (#1 for 11 weeks). In Australia, it reached #1 on the Top 100. It also claimed the #1 spot on the Hot 100 chart in the USA. She also received Grammy nominations including Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. She eventually won the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance, but boycotted the award show.

Public Enemy's Hank Shocklee remixed the album's next single, "The Emperor's New Clothes," for a 12-inch that was coupled with the Celtic funk of "I Am Stretched On Your Grave." Pre-dating but included on ''I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got'' was also "Jump in the River," which originally appeared on the ''Married to the Mob'' soundtrack; the 12-inch version of the single had included a remix featuring performance artist Karen Finley. Also in 1990, O'Connor starred in a small independent Irish movie ''Hush-a-Bye Baby'' directed in Derry by Margo Harkin.

In 1990, she joined many other guests for former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters' massive performance of ''The Wall'' in Berlin. (In 1996, she would guest on ''Broken China'', a solo album by Richard Wright of Pink Floyd.) In 1991, her take on Elton John's "Sacrifice" was acclaimed as one of the best efforts on the tribute album ''Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin''.

In 1990, she contributed a cover of "You Do Something to Me" to the Cole Porter tribute/AIDS fundraising album ''Red Hot + Blue'' produced by the Red Hot Organization. In 1998, she worked again with the Red Hot Organization to co-produce and perform on ''Red Hot + Rhapsody''. ''Red Hot + Blue'' was followed by the release of ''Am I Not Your Girl?'', an album of standards and torch songs that she had listened to while growing up. Also in 1992, she contributed backing vocals on the track "Come Talk To Me", and shared vocals on the single "Blood of Eden" from the studio album ''Us'' by Peter Gabriel.

Also in 1990, she was criticized after she announced that she would not perform if the United States national anthem was played before one of her concerts. Frank Sinatra threatened to "kick her ass". After receiving 4 Grammy Award nominations she withdrew her name from consideration.

After spending nine years dividing her time between London and Los Angeles, O'Connor returned to her home town of Dublin in late 1992 to live near her sister and focus on raising her son Jake, then six years old. She spent the following months studying Bel Canto singing with teacher Frank Merriman at the Parnell School of Music. In an interview with ''The Guardian'' published 3 May 1993 she reported that her singing lessons with Merriman were the only therapy she was receiving, describing Merriman as "the most amazing teacher in the universe."

The 1993 soundtrack to the film ''In the Name of the Father'' featured "You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart," with significant contributions from U2 frontman Bono.

The more conventional ''Universal Mother'' (1994) did not succeed in restoring her mass appeal. She toured with Lollapalooza in 1995, but dropped out when she became pregnant. The ''Gospel Oak'' EP followed in 1997, and featured songs based in an acoustic setting. It too, did not recapture previous album successes.

In 1994, she appeared in ''A Celebration: The Music of Pete Townshend and The Who'', also known as ''Daltrey Sings Townshend''. This was a two-night concert at Carnegie Hall produced by Roger Daltrey of The Who in celebration of his 50th birthday. A CD and a VHS video of the concert were issued in 1994, followed by a DVD in 1998.

She appeared in Neil Jordan's ''The Butcher Boy'' in 1997, playing the Virgin Mary.

2000s

''Faith and Courage'' was released in 2000, including the single "No Man's Woman," and featured contributions from Wyclef Jean of the Fugees and Dave Stewart of Eurythmics. On the eve of its release, O'Connor came out as a lesbian, and then retracted the statement.

Her 2002 album, ''Sean-Nós Nua'', marked a departure in that O'Connor interpreted or, in her own words, "sexed up" traditional Irish folk songs, including several in the Irish language. In ''Sean-Nós Nua'', she covered a well-known Canadian folk song, Peggy Gordon, interpreted as a song of lesbian, rather than heterosexual, love. In her documentary, ''Song of Hearts Desire'', she stated that her inspiration for the song was her friend, a lesbian who sang the song to lament the loss of her partner.

In 2003, she contributed a track to the Dolly Parton tribute album ''Just Because I'm a Woman'', a cover of Parton's "Dagger Through the Heart". That same year, she released a double album, ''She Who Dwells in the Secret Place of the Most High Shall Abide Under the Shadow of the Almighty''. The album contained one disc of demos and previously unreleased tracks and one disc of a live concert recording. Directly after the album's release, O'Connor announced her retirement from music. ''Collaborations'', a compilation album of guest appearances, was released in 2005 - featuring tracks recorded with Peter Gabriel, Massive Attack, Jah Wobble, Terry Hall, Moby, Bomb The Bass, The Edge, U2, and The The.

Ultimately, after a brief period of inactivity and a bout with fibromyalgia, her retirement proved to be short-lived - O'Connor stated in an interview with ''Harp'' that she only intended to retire from making mainstream pop/rock music, and after dealing with her fibromyalgia, chose to move into other musical styles. The reggae album ''Throw Down Your Arms'' appeared in late 2005 and was greeted with positive reviews. It was based on the Rastafarian culture and lifestyle, O'Connor having spent time in Jamaica in 2004. She performed the single "Throw Down Your Arms" on ''The Late Late Show'' in November. She also made comments critical of the war in Iraq and the role played in it by Ireland's Shannon Airport.

On 8 November 2006, O'Connor performed seven songs from her upcoming album ''Theology'' at The Sugar Club in Dublin. Thirty fans were given the opportunity to win pairs of tickets to attend along with music industry critics. The performance was released in 2008 as Live in The Sugar Club CD/DVD sold exclusively on her website.

O'Connor released two songs from her album ''Theology'' to download for free from her official website: "If You Had a Vineyard" and "Jeremiah (Something Beautiful)". The album, a collection of covered and original Rastafari spiritual songs, was released in June 2007. The first single from the album, the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber classic "I Don't Know How to Love Him", was released on 30 April 2007. To promote the album, O'Connor toured extensively in Europe and North America. She also appeared on two tracks of the new Ian Brown album ''The World Is Yours'', including the anti-war single "Illegal Attacks".

She toured Europe during 2008 and 2009, performing mainly ''Theology'' material in an intimate, acoustic setting. She also performed "Troy" live for the first time since 1990, along with "Nothing Compares 2 U" and "Dark I Am Yet Lovely" as part of the Night of the Proms concert series in Antwerps, Belgium.

''I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got'' was reissued in 2009 with an accompanying bonus disc containing B-sides and previously unreleased material.

2010s

In January 2010, O'Connor performed a duet with R&B; singer Mary J. Blige produced by former A Tribe Called Quest member Ali Shaheed Muhammad entitled "This Is To Mother You". The proceeds of the song's sales were donated to the organization GEMS (Girls Educational and Mentoring Services).

O'Connor announced she was working with Marco Pirroni and John Reynolds on recording a new album, described as "a guitar based electric album (..) with songs about love". The forthcoming album, entitled ''Home'', will be released on 5 September.

Controversy

''Saturday Night Live'' performance

On 3 October 1992, O'Connor appeared on ''Saturday Night Live'' as a musical guest. She sang an a cappella version of Bob Marley's "War", which she intended as a protest over the sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church, by changing the lyric "racism" to "child abuse." She then presented a photo of Pope John Paul II to the camera while singing the word "evil", after which she tore the photo into pieces, said "Fight the real enemy", and threw the pieces towards the camera.

''Saturday Night Live'' had no foreknowledge of O'Connor's plan; during the dress rehearsal she held up a photo of a refugee child. NBC Vice President of Late Night Rick Ludwin recalled that when he saw O'Connor's action he "literally jumped out of [his] chair." ''SNL'' writer Paula Pell recalled personnel in the control booth discussing the cameras cutting away from the singer. The audience was completely silent, with no booing or applause; executive producer Lorne Michaels recalled that "the air went out the studio". Michaels, who ordered that the applause sign not be used, described the incident as "on a certain level, a betrayal", but also "a serious expression of belief."

A nationwide audience saw O'Connor's live performance, which the ''New York Daily News''s cover called a "HOLY TERROR". NBC received more than 500 calls on Sunday and 400 more on Monday, with all but seven criticizing O'Connor; the network received 4,400 calls in total. Contrary to rumor, NBC was not fined by the Federal Communications Commission for O'Connor's act; the FCC has no regulatory power over blasphemy. NBC did not edit the performance out of the West coast tape-delayed broadcast that night, but reruns of the episode use footage from the dress rehearsal. On 24 April 2010, MSNBC aired the live version during an interview with O'Connor on ''The Rachel Maddow Show''. In 1993 issue of The Irish Times O'Connor wrote a public letter where she asked people to "stop hurting" her.

As part of ''SNL'''s apology to the audience, during his opening monologue the following week, host Joe Pesci held up the photo, explaining that he had taped it back together. Pesci also said that if it had been his show, "I would have gave her such a smack."

In a 2002 interview with Salon, when asked if she would change anything about the ''SNL'' appearance, O'Connor replied, "Hell, no!" In 2010, TV Guide Network listed the incident at No. 24 on their list of ''25 Biggest TV Blunders''.

Madonna's reaction

On Madonna's next appearance on ''SNL'' (on an episode hosted by Harvey Keitel), after singing "Bad Girl", she held up a photo of Joey Buttafuoco and, saying "fight the real enemy," tore it up. Madonna also roundly attacked O'Connor in the press for the incident, telling the Irish Times: "I think there is a better way to present her ideas rather than ripping up an image that means a lot to other people." She added, "If she is against the Roman Catholic Church and she has a problem with them, I think she should talk about it." The New York Times called it "professional jealousy" and wrote that: "After Madonna had herself gowned, harnessed, strapped down and fully stripped to promote her album ''Erotica'' and her book ''Sex'', O'Connor stole the spotlight with one photograph of a fully clothed man. But the other vilification that descended on O'Connor showed she had struck a nerve." Bob Guccione, Jr. in a 1993 SPIN editorial was adamant in his defense of O'Connor, writing, "...Madonna savaged her in the press, obviously to fuel publicity for ''Sex'' and sales of her new album, ''Erotica'' .... But when the Sinead controversy threatened to siphon some of the attention from the impending release of ''Sex'', Madonna conveniently found religion again..." In November 1991, a year prior to the incident, O'Connor had told Spin Magazine: "Madonna is probably the hugest role model for women in America. There's a woman who people look up to as being a woman who campaigns for women's rights. A woman who in an abusive way towards me, said that I look like I had a run in with a lawnmower and that I was about as sexy as a Venetian blind. Now there's the woman that America looks up to as being a campaigner for women, slagging off another woman..."

Bob Dylan tribute performance

Two weeks after the ''Saturday Night Live'' appearance, she was set to perform "I Believe in You" at the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary tribute concert in Madison Square Garden. She was greeted by a thundering mixture of cheers and jeers. During the booing, Kris Kristofferson told her not to "let the bastards get you down," to which she replied, "I'm not down." The noise eventually became so loud that O'Connor saw no point in starting the scheduled song. She called for the keyboard player to stop and the microphone to be turned up, and then screamed over the audience with an improvised, shouted rendition of "War". This time, she sang the song, stopping just after the part in which the lyrics talk about child abuse, emphasizing the point of her previous action. She then looked straight to the audience for a second and left the stage. Kristofferson then comforted her, as she cried.

Garden State Arts Center performance

On 24 August 1990, O'Connor was scheduled to perform at the then-Garden State (now PNC Bank) Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey. The practice of the venue was to play a recording of the American national anthem before the show began. O'Connor, who said she was unaware of this practice until shortly before the show was to begin, refused to go on if the anthem was played. Venue officials acquiesced to her demand and omitted the anthem, and so O'Connor performed, but they later permanently banned her.

O'Connor said that she had a policy of not having the national anthem of any country played before her concerts, explaining that these were often written and composed during wars and amounted to nationalist tirades. She pointed out that she meant "no disrespect," but added that she "will not go on stage after the national anthem of a country which imposes censorship on artists. It's hypocritical and racist."

The incident made tabloid headlines, and O'Connor drew tabloid-derived criticism. Her songs were banned from some radio stations.

''After Dark'' appearance

In January 1995 O'Connor "was so interested in a (television) discussion about abuse and the Catholic church that she rang in to ask if she could appear. They sent a taxi to her home". The ''Evening Standard'' wrote that ''After Dark ''"made a brief reappearance last Saturday night when, true to its unpredictable form, Sinéad O'Connor walked on to the set 10 minutes before closedown". Host Helena Kennedy described the event:

::''On that occasion, former taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald, was sharing the sofas with a Dominican monk and a representative of the Catholic church. “While we were on the air, Sinéad O’Connor called in,”'' says Kennedy. ''“Then I got a message in my earpiece to say she had just turned up at the studio. Sinéad came on and argued that abuse in families was coded in by the church because it refused to accept the accounts of women and children,” says Kennedy.

Personal life

While she initially chose her bald look as a statement against the traditional view of women, years later, O'Connor said she had tried to grow her hair back; after being asked if she was Enya, O'Connor shaved it off again. "I don't feel like me unless I have my hair shaved. So even when I'm an old lady, I'm going to have it."

Romantic and family life

She has been married three times. Her first marriage was to music producer John Reynolds, who co-produced several of her albums, including ''Universal Mother''. They have one child together. They split up on good terms and Reynolds continues to work as her producer and drummer. Her second marriage was to journalist Nicholas Sommerlad in 2002. For a period during 2006 and early 2007, she had a relationship with Frank Bonadio, the father of her fourth child (see below) O'Connor acknowledged to Paul Martin in the ''Irish Daily Mirror'' that the two had separated as of the weekend of 17 February 2007, citing difficulties between Bonadio and his former wife, singer Mary Coughlan. O'Connor married long time friend and collaborator Steve Cooney on 22 July 2010.

She has four children: a son, Jake Reynolds, by her first husband; a daughter, Brigidine Róisíne Waters, born 6 March 1996, by ''The Irish Times'' columnist John Waters; another son, Shane, born 10 March 2004, whose father is Irish folk musician and record producer Dónal Lunny; and her fourth child, Yeshua Francis Neil, born on 19 December 2006 whose father is her former partner Frank Bonadio.

Sexuality

In a 2000 interview in ''Curve'', O'Connor outed herself as a lesbian, "I'm a dyke ... although I haven't been very open about that and throughout most of my life I've gone out with blokes because I haven't necessarily been terribly comfortable about being a big lesbian mule. But I actually am a dyke." However, soon after in an interview in ''The Independent'', she stated, "I believe it was overcompensating of me to declare myself a lesbian. It was not a publicity stunt. I was trying to make someone else feel better. And have subsequently caused pain for myself. I am not in a box of any description." In a magazine article and in a programme on RTÉ (''Ryan Confidential'', broadcast on RTÉ on 29 May 2003), she stated that while most of her sexual relationships had been with men, she has had three relationships with women. In a May 2005 issue of ''Entertainment Weekly'', she stated, "I'm three-quarters heterosexual, a quarter gay. I lean a bit more towards the hairy blokes".

Health

On an 4 October 2007 broadcast of ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', O'Connor disclosed that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder four years earlier, and had attempted suicide on her 33rd birthday on 8 December 1999.

Religion

In the late 1990s, Bishop Michael Cox of the Irish Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church (an Independent Catholic group not in communion with the Roman Catholic Church) ordained Sinéad as a priest. The Roman Catholic Church considers ordination of women to be either invalid, impossible, or both and asserts that a person attempting the sacrament of ordination upon a woman incurs excommunication. The bishop had contacted her to offer ordination following her appearance on the RTÉ's ''Late Late Show,'' during which she told the presenter, Gay Byrne, that had she not been a singer, she would have wished to have been a Catholic priest. After her ordination, she indicated that she wished to be called ''Mother Bernadette Mary.'' In an October 2002 interview with Salon.com, she credited her Christian faith in giving her the strength to live through and then overcome her child abuse.

On 26 March 2010, O'Connor appeared on ''Anderson Cooper 360°'' to speak out about the Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Ireland. On 28 March 2010, she had an opinion piece published in the Sunday Edition of the Washington Post where she wrote about the Catholic sex abuse scandal and her time in a Magdalene laundry as a teenager. She wrote an article for the ''Sunday Independent'' newspaper of 17 July 2011 in response to the sexual abuse scandal in Cloyne diocese in which she described the Vatican as "a nest of devils". She wrote that an alternate church might have to be established because "Christ is being murdered by liars" in the Vatican.

Political beliefs

O'Connor is a pacifist and, as such, she supports Ireland's tradition of neutrality in foreign wars.

Discography

1987: ''The Lion and the Cobra''

1990: ''I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got''

1992: ''Am I Not Your Girl?''

1994: ''Universal Mother''

2000: ''Faith and Courage''

2002: ''Sean-Nós Nua''

2005: ''Throw Down Your Arms''

2007: ''Theology''

2011: ''Home''

Quotation

''NME'' - March 1991

References

Further reading

Guterman, Jimmy. ''Sinéad : Her Life and Music''. Warner Books, 1991. ISBN 0-446-39254-5.

Hayes, Dermott. ''Sinéad O'Connor: So Different''. Omnibus, 1991. ISBN 0-7119-2482-1.

External links

Official site

Category:1966 births Category:Living people Category:Bisexual musicians Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Celtic fusion musicians Category:Dance musicians Category:Female guitarists Category:Feminist musicians Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Irish Catholics Category:Irish female singers Category:Irish pop singers Category:Irish singer-songwriters Category:Music from Dublin (city) Category:Chrysalis Records artists Category:LGBT clergy Category:LGBT people from Ireland Category:People from Dublin (city) Category:People with bipolar disorder Category:Irish Christian pacifists Category:English-language singers Category:Irish Christian Universalists Category:Christian Universalist clergy Category:20th-century Christian Universalists Category:21st-century Christian Universalists

ca:Sinéad O'Connor cs:Sinéad O'Connor cy:Sinéad O'Connor da:Sinéad O'Connor de:Sinéad O’Connor et:Sinéad O'Connor es:Sinéad O'Connor eo:Sinéad O'Connor eu:Sinéad O'Connor fa:شینید اوکانر fr:Sinéad O'Connor ga:Sinéad O'Connor gl:Sinéad O'Connor ko:시네이드 오코너 hr:Sinéad O'Connor id:Sinéad O'Connor it:Sinéad O'Connor he:שינייד אוקונור hu:Sinéad O'Connor nl:Sinéad O'Connor ja:シネイド・オコナー no:Sinéad O'Connor pl:Sinéad O'Connor pt:Sinéad O'Connor ro:Sinéad O'Connor ru:О’Коннор, Шинейд sk:Sinéad O'Connor sl:Sinéad O'Connor fi:Sinéad O'Connor sv:Sinéad O'Connor th:ชิเนด โอ'คอนเนอร์ tr:Sinead O'Connor uk:Шинейд О'Коннор zh:西尼德·奥康娜