Coordinates	46°07′58″N64°46′17″N
clubname	Bradford City A.F.C.
fullname	Bradford City Association Football Club
nickname	The BantamsThe ParadersThe Citizens
founded	1903
ground	Valley ParadeBradford
capacity	25,136
chairman	Mark LawnJulian Rhodes
manager	Phil Parkinson
league	League Two
season	2010–11
position	League Two, 18th
current	2011–12 Bradford City A.F.C. season
topscorer	Bobby Campbell (121)
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pattern la2	_blackflair|pattern_b2|pattern_ra2_blackflair
leftarm2	FF1493|body2FF1493|rightarm2FF1493|shorts2FF1493|socks2000000|
pattern la3	|pattern_b3|pattern_ra3
leftarm3	000000|body3000000|rightarm3000000|shorts3800000|socks3000000
website	http://www.bradfordcityfc.co.uk }}

Bradford City Association Football Club (also known as ''The Bantams'', and previously ''The Paraders'') is an English association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, playing in League Two.

The club was founded in 1903. It was instantly elected into Division Two of the Football League despite not having played a previous game. Promotion to the top tier followed in 1908 and the club won the FA Cup in 1911, its only major honour. After relegation in 1922 from Division One, the club spent 77 years outside the top flight until promotion to the Premier League in 1999. City stayed up, with a then record low of 36 points, in the first season in the Premier League. Relegation followed the following season. Since then a series of financial crises have pushed the club to the brink of closure. The financial pressures have resulted in two more relegations to its current position in League Two. They are the lowest-ranked of all former Premier League clubs (discounting the reformed AFC Wimbledon) and the only former club in the fourth tier of the English football pyramid.

The club's colours are claret and amber and they play their home games at Valley Parade. The ground was the site of a fire on 11 May 1985, which took the lives of 56 supporters. Bradford City have had more than 40 managers, all of whom have been from Great Britain or Ireland; the current manager is Phil Parkinson, who was appointed on 28 August 2011.

History

Bradford City were formed in 1903 as a result of a series of meetings called by James Whyte, a sub-editor of the ''Bradford Observer'', with Football Association representatives and officials at Manningham F.C., a rugby league side. The Football League saw the invitation as a chance to promote association football in the rugby league-dominated county of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It duly elected the new club into Division Two of the league, in place of Doncaster Rovers. Four days later, at the 23rd annual meeting of Manningham FC, the committee decided to change code from rugby league to association football. Bradford City Association Football Club were formed without having played a game, taking over Manningham's colours of claret and amber, and their Valley Parade ground.

Robert Campbell was appointed the club's first manager and with the help of the new committee, he assembled a playing squad at the cost of £917 10s 0d. City's first game was a 2–0 defeat at Grimsby Town on 1 September 1903, six days before their first home game attracted 11,000 fans. The club finished 10th in their first season. Peter O'Rourke took over as manager in November 1905, and he led City to the Division Two title in 1907–08 and with it promotion to the Division One. Having narrowly avoided relegation in their first season in the top flight, City recorded their highest finish of 5th in 1910–11. The same season they won the FA Cup, when a goal from captain Jimmy Speirs won the final replay against Newcastle United. City's defence of the cup, which included the first Bradford derby against Bradford Park Avenue, was stopped by Barnsley after a run of 12 consecutive clean sheets.

City remained in the top flight in the period up to the First World War and for three seasons afterwards, but were relegated in 1921–22 along with Manchester United. Back in Division Two, attendances dropped and City struggled for form, with five consecutive finishes in the bottom half of the table. They suffered a second relegation to Division Three (North) in 1926–27. Two seasons later, O'Rourke, who had initially retired in 1921 following the death of his son, returned and guided City to promotion with a record haul of 128 goals. O'Rourke left for a second time after one more season, and although City spent a total of eight seasons back in Division Two, they rarely looked like earning promotion back to the top flight. Instead in 1936–37, the club were relegated back to Division Three (North). City won their third piece of silverware two seasons later, when they lifted the Third Division North Challenge Cup but they were unable to defend the trophy because competitive football was suspended for the Second World War.

After the war, City went through two managers in the first two seasons, and were consistently in the bottom half of the Division Three (North) table until 1955–56. After three successive top half finishes, City were placed in the new Division Three in 1958–59. Bradford spent just three seasons in Division Three, but during their relegation season in 1960–61, they upset Division One side Manchester United in the inaugural season of the League Cup. With 34 goals from David Layne, City nearly earned an instant promotion the following season, but it did also include a record 9–1 defeat to Colchester United. Layne left for Sheffield Wednesday, and without him City finished second from bottom of the league and had to apply for re-election. They suffered the same fate three seasons later, but after another three difficult seasons during which time manager Grenville Hair died following a heart attack in training, City returned to Division Three. City's stay in Division Three lasted just three years, when they finished bottom in 1971–72. Promotion via fourth spot was won again in 1976–77 but it was instantly followed by a relegation season.

City failed to win promotion for three successive seasons, until the board appointed former England centre back Roy McFarland as manager in May 1981. McFarland won promotion in his first season, but was poached by his former club Derby County just six months later. City won compensation from Derby and installed another England international Trevor Cherry as McFarland's replacement. Cherry, with former teammate Terry Yorath as his assistant manager, failed to win for two months, but eventually the pair guided City to safety from relegation. During the summer, however, the club chairman Bob Martin had to call in the official receivers. The club was saved by former chairman Stafford Heginbotham and former board member Jack Tordoff, but to ensure the club could start the new season, prize asset, striker Bobby Campbell was sold to Derby. City struggled but so did Campbell, and when he returned, the club went on a record run of ten successive victories. Although they missed out on promotion, City won the league the following season to return to the second tier of The Football League. However, City's triumph was overshadowed by the fire disaster, which killed 56 people when Valley Parade caught fire in the final game of the season.

City played games away from Valley Parade for 19 months. But just ten days after the new £2.6 million ground was opened, Cherry was sacked. His replacement, Terry Dolan steered City away from possible relegation, before he mounted a promotion challenge the following season. City went top of the table in September 1987, but fell away during Christmas and missed out on promotion on the final day of the season. Instead they entered the play-offs, but were defeated in the semi-finals by Middlesbrough. Two years later City were relegated back to Division Three. For three seasons, City finished mid-table in the third tier, which was now renamed Division Two, following the advent of the Premier League.

In January 1994, Geoffrey Richmond came from Scarborough to take over as chairman, and promised to guide City to the Premier League within five years. He cleared the debts and after four months sacked manager Frank Stapleton to appoint his own manager, Lennie Lawrence. Lawrence left after little more than a year to join Luton Town but his successor, Chris Kamara took City to the play-offs and their first game at Wembley Stadium. They defeated Notts County 2–0 in the final to earn promotion to Division One. City avoided relegation back on the final day of the following season, but Kamara was sacked in January 1998. Paul Jewell took over, initially on a temporary basis, before he was given a permanent contract. He bought the club's first £1 million signings and guided the club to the Premier League—the first time they had been in the top flight for 77 years—with a second place finish. The following season, Jewell continued to defy the critics, who labelled his team ''Dad's Army'', by avoiding relegation again on the last day with a 1–0 victory over Liverpool, with a goal from David Wetherall.

However, Jewell left shortly afterwards. His assistant Chris Hutchings was promoted to the manager's position, and despite a series of new expensive signings, he was sacked by November 2000, with City second from bottom of the league. Jim Jefferies took over but could not save the club from relegation. At the end of the first season back in Division One, City were placed in administration with debts of nearly £13 million. Two years later, the club suffered a second spell in administration and a second relegation. Two top-half finishes followed, but the club were relegated for a third time in seven seasons in 2006–07 meaning the following season would be their first in the bottom tier for 26 seasons. Former player Stuart McCall was appointed the new manager, and although he said anything less than promotion would be a failure, he later changed his mind after a poor start and finally led the team to a 10th place finish. McCall eventually left Bradford City on 8 February 2010 following a board meeting after a run of poor results.

Colours and club crest

Bradford City is the only professional football club in England to wear claret and amber. The club colours were inherited from Manningham FC, when the club converted to football upon Bradford City's foundation in 1903. However, whereas Manningham played in hoops, the new football club adopted claret and amber stripes. Manningham RFC adopted the colours in 1884 before the move to Valley Parade in 1886. Having originally worn black shirts with white shorts, the club’s first game in claret and amber was against Hull on 20 September 1884, at Carlisle Road.

The reason Manningham chose claret and amber is not documented but it was the same colours of the West Yorkshire Regiment, which was based at Belle Vue Barracks on nearby Manningham Lane. Both Manningham, from 1886, and Bradford City, from 1903–08, used the barracks as changing and club rooms.

Bradford City has worn claret and amber, with either white or black, since it was founded. The traditional style has been for stripes. Since the fire in 1985, the club has used black on the kit as a memory to the 56 supporters who died. The club's away shirt has traditionally been white and to a lesser extent also blue, but there has been a profusion of other colours and designs particularly in more recent years. The away kit for the 2008–2009 season was all white. For the new 2009/10 season, the away kit will be all black with a thin claret and amber stripe down the centre-left.

City scarves have also sold in large numbers in recent years to fans of ''Harry Potter'', because the colours are the same as Harry’s house scarf at Hogwarts School.

A number of other clubs across the world wear claret and amber. They include Scottish club Motherwell, who originally wore blue until they wore claret and amber for the first time on 23 August 1913, against Celtic. Motherwell chose the colours because they were the racing colours of Lord Hamilton.

Contrary to any suggestion the City colours were certainly not derived from the civic identity of Bradford given that the primary colours of the Bradford coat of arms were red and blue with gold. Manningham was a township within Bradford and its identity was defined more by sporting rivalry with the township of Horton where the Park Avenue ground was situated. The fact that red, amber and black (with white) has been worn by three of the city's senior football clubs (namely Bradford AFC, Bradford RFC / Bradford & Bingley RUFC and Bradford Northern RLFC / Bradford Bulls who were all descended from the original Bradford FC which was based at Park Avenue) has made many people assume that these were the de facto sporting colours of Bradford. Indeed the colours have also been used by other sports organisations in Bradford such as cycling, hockey and athletics principally in the style of a red, amber and black band on a white shirt (as typically worn by Bradford Northern and as an away kit by Bradford). Red, amber and black are also the historic colours of Bradford Cricket Club formed in 1836. Bradford FC had been formed in 1863 by former pupils of Bramham College and in 1880 joined Bradford CC at Park Avenue. However it is not known whether one club took the colours of the other at this time. Bradford did not achieve city status until 1897 and to that extent red, amber and black could well have been associated with Bradford prior to the granting of the arms and certainly well before Bradford's city status.

The club’s crest combines a series of logos from over the years. In 1974, City adopted a contemporary style crest incorporating the club’s initials, with a B-C logo. At the time, the new logo maintained the previous nickname of the Paraders. By December 1981, the club relaunched the Bantams as the official identity with a bantam on the new crest. The crest maintains the club colours and also includes the words The Bantams.

Nickname

Bradford City have had a number of nicknames during the history. In their early years, they were referred to as the Robins or Wasps, taking over the nickname of Manningham FC, as a result of Manningham's claret and amber hoops. Other nicknames have been the Citizens or Paraders, but the club is better known as the Bantams.

Stadium

Valley Parade was the site of a quarry on the hillside below Manningham, Bradford, owned by Midland Railway Company, in 1886, when Manningham RFC bought one-third of the land and leased the remainder, because they had been forced to find a new home. The spent £1,400 erecting a ground with a capacity of 20,000, club facilities and levelling the land. When Bradford City were formed in 1903, they took over the ground, playing their first home game on 5 September 1903 against Gainsborough Trinity, drawing a crowd of 11,000. Five years later, the club won promotion to Division One, and so commissioned football architect Archibald Leitch to redevelop the ground. The capacity was increased to 40,000 by December 1908 with a 5,300-seater main stand, a terraced paddock in front, a Spion Kop, and an 8,000-capacity Midland Road stand. Its first game against Bristol City on Christmas Day attracted a crowd of 36,000. On 11 March 1911, Valley Parade attracted its highest attendance, for an FA Cup game between Bradford City and Burnley during Bradford's FA Cup winning run.

Until 1952, by which time Bradford City had bought the remaining two-thirds of the ground to own it outright, the ground remained virtually unchanged. However, twice during the next decade, the club's Midland Road stand had to be demolished. Club officials first closed part of the stand in 1952, as a result of the Burnden Park disaster six years earlier. Its frame was sold to Berwick Rangers and a replacement stand built in 1954. Six years later, the new stand was itself demolished, and Valley Parade remained a three-sided ground until 1966, when the pitch was moved, and a new stand built.

On 11 May 1985, Valley Parade was the scene of a fatal fire, during which 56 supporters were killed and at least 265 were injured. The game was the final match of the 1984–85 season, before which City were presented with the Division Three championship trophy. The fire destroyed the main stand in just nine minutes. The club played its home games at Odsal Stadium, a rugby league ground in Bradford, Elland Road, Leeds, and Leeds Road, the former home of Huddersfield Town, until December 1986, while Valley Parade was redeveloped. The club spent £2.6 million building a new main stand and improving the Kop, and reopened the new ground on 14 December 1986 for an exhibition match against an England international XI.

In 1991, the Bradford end of the ground was the next to be redeveloped, and was converted into a two-tier stand with a scoreboard. In 1996, following City's promotion to Division One, club chairman Geoffrey Richmond announced the construction of a 4,500 seater stand on the Midland Road side. Ahead of promotion to the Premiership in 1999, Richmond spent another £6.5 million to convert the Kop into a two-tier 7,500-seat capacity stand. A corner stand between the Kop and main stand was opened in December 2000, taking the capacity to 20,000 for the first time since 1970. The following summer, the main stand was also converted into a two-tier stand, taking the capacity to 25,136. Further projects were planned until the club went into administration in May 2002 so none have taken place. The following year, Valley Parade was sold to Gibb's pension fund for £5 million, with the club's offices, shop and car park sold to London-based Development Securities for an additional £2.5 million. The club's annual rent and maintenance costs to Gibb's pension fund is £1.2m, and so as of February 2009, the club is considering a return to Odsal. The club and Bradford Bulls would share the new £50m complex, which would also feature cricket, cycling and athletics facilities. Valley Parade has had several other names under sponsorship naming deals and is now called the Coral Windows Stadium. The club's bantamspast museum is also based above the ground's shop.

Supporters

The club spearheaded an initiative in 2007 to slash the price of watching professional football for the 2007–08 season. As a result season tickets to watch Bradford City were the cheapest in England at £138, the equivalent of £6 per match. When the offer finished at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, 31 July 2007, the club confirmed the amount of season tickets sold was 12,019. The scheme enabled the club to top the average league attendances for Football League Two during the 2007–08 season, attracting more than three times more than any other club. The club won the Perform Best Fan Marketing campaign category in The Football League Awards for the scheme and earned them an invitation to the Houses of Parliament. The club aimed to attract 20,000 fans for the 2008–09 by offering a free season ticket to anyone buying a season ticket as long as 9,000 adults sign up, but they fell 704 short of the target. Joint-chairman Mark Lawn announced in November 2008 that season tickets in the Bradford End for the 2009–10 season would be available for just £99 and £138 for the rest of the ground if bought in December 2008.

Bradford City has two official mascots—City Gent and Billy Bantam.

Rivalry

Although their original neighbours and fierce rivals Bradford (Park Avenue) are now a non-league club, they still engage in a very fierce competition with local rivals Leeds United: they are considered to be the club's most hated rivals in modern times, although it could be said that this is a one-way rivalry: Leeds fans are unlikely to raise the same level of emotion talking about Bradford City that a City fan would in talking of Leeds. This rivalry is mainly due to the two cities' proximity to one another, which has exacerbated in later years because there has been a large following within Bradford choosing to travel the short distance to support Leeds rather than the home town's City. There may be other reasons, including the setting alight of a chip van by Leeds fans during a game between the two sides at Odsal perceived by some as a mockery of the Bradford City stadium fire. Leeds United's relegation to League One in 2007 may have reignited this rivalry, although Bradford's relegation to League Two removed the possibility that the three major West Yorkshire football teams (Leeds, Bradford and Huddersfield) might be in the same division for the first time since the 1980s in the 2007–08 season.

Also, Huddersfield Town have had roughly the same league status as City for the last couple of decades and so it could be argued that they are City's closest rivals.

Matches against these sides have produced both amazing spectacles and some terrible moments—the 1996–97 season providing examples of both. On 1 February 1997, Huddersfield Town defender Kevin Gray broke the leg of Bradford City striker Gordon Watson in two places with a horrific sliding tackle. Watson was, at that time, the most expensive player in Bradford City's history having cost them £575,000, and was playing in only his third match for the club. He required a six-inch plate and seven screws in his leg. It took Gordon almost two years of recovery and five further operations before he was able to return to football, after which he made just a handful of appearances for City before leaving the club. At Leeds High Court in October 1998 he succeeded in becoming only the second player in the history of football to prove negligence by another player and was later awarded in excess of £900,000 in damages, making it "the most expensive tackle in British football and legal history".

The return fixture that season was a happier affair. It provided a spectacular display of goals in which City took a 3–0 lead, including one famous goal scored directly from a corner by ex-England star Chris Waddle, before the game swung in Huddersfield's favour as they fought back to the final score of 3–3.

The most recent derby with Huddersfield Town at Galpharm Stadium ended in a 4–0 victory to Town on 12 August 2008.

There are also lesser rivalries with Barnsley, Burnley, Hull City, Oldham Athletic, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday.

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Player of the Year

{| |- |valign="top"|

Captains

The following is a list of the officially-appointed captains of the Bradford City first-team. The current captain is Guy Branston.

1934–1936

Name!! Nation!! Years!! Notes!! Ref
Charlie Bicknell		|||
Bruce Stowell	|	1967–1972
Peter Jackson (footballer born 1961)	Peter Jackson	|	1982–1986	City's youngest-ever captain
Stuart McCall	|	1998–2002
David Wetherall	|	2002–2008
Graeme Lee (footballer)	Graeme Lee	|	2008–2009
Peter Thorne (footballer)	Peter Thorne	|	2009–2010
Simon Ramsden	|	2010–2011
Guy Branston	|	2011–

Former players

In 2007 former ''Telegraph & Argus'' sports journalist David Markham released the book ''The Legends of Bradford City'', initially written to mark the club's centenary in 2003. It featured biographies of 100 players and staff members from the history of the club. The players were:

Greg Abbott Bruce Bannister Sam Barkas Bobby Bauld Peter Beagrie Charlie Bicknell Robbie Blake Dicky Bond Irvine Boocock Tommy Cairns Bobby Campbell Robert Campbell Eddie Carr Trevor Cherry Joe Cooke Ian Cooper Terry Dolan Peter Downsborough Donald Duckett Lee Duxbury Roy Ellam Mark Ellis Dave Evans Jock Ewart Tommy Flockett Oscar Fox David Fretwell Allan Gilliver David Gray John Hall Tom Hallett John Hallows Bobby Ham Joe Hargreaves Derek Hawksworth John Hendrie George Hinsley Don Hutchins Gerry Ingram David Jackson Peter Jackson (born 1937) Peter Jackson (born 1961) Wayne Jacobs Paul Jewell Rod Johnson Chris Kamara Jimmy Lawlor Jamie Lawrence David Layne Ken Leek Peter Logan Stuart McCall Sean McCarthy John McCole Jimmy McDonald Roy McFarland Andy McGill Jimmy McLaren David McNiven John Middleton Brian Mitchell Charlie Moore George Mulholland George Murphy Graham Oates Andy O'Brien Gavin Oliver Ian Ormondroyd Frank O'Rourke Peter O'Rourke Harold Peel Ces Podd Ivor Powell John Reid Dean Richards Arthur Rigby George Robinson Abe Rosenthal Lee Sinnott Geoff Smith Jimmy Speirs Derek Stokes Charlie Storer Bruce Stowell Paul Tomlinson Bob Torrance Whelan Ward Dickie Watmough Billy Watson Garry Watson Bobby Webb David Wetherall Jock Whyte George Williamson Dean Windass

Staff

Current staff

:

! Position	! Name	! Nationality
Chairman	Julian Rhodes
Chairman	Mark Lawn
Manager	Phil Parkinson
Assistant manager	Colin Cooper
Youth team manager	Steve Thornber
Chief scout	Archie Christie
Development squad coach	Wayne Allison
Goalkeeping coach	Kevin Pressman
Youth coach	Ian Ormondroyd
Youth coach	Peter Horne
Fitness coach	Nick Allamby
Physiotherapist	Chris Royston

Former managers

Robert Campbell (1903–1905) Peter O'Rourke (1905–1921) David Menzies (1921–1926) Colin Veitch (1926–1928) Jack Foster (Caretaker manager) (Jan–May 1928) Peter O'Rourke (1928–1930) Jack Peart (1930–1935) Dick Ray (1935–1937) Fred Westgarth (1938–1943) Bob Sharp (1943–1946) Jack Barker (1946–1947) Jack Milburn (1947–1948) David Steele (1948–1952) Albert Harris (Feb–May 1952) Ivor Powell (1952–1955) Peter Jackson (1955–1961) Bob Brocklebank (1961–1964) Bill Harris (1965–1966) Willie Watson (1966–1967) Grenville Hair (1967–1968) Jim McAnearney & Tom Hallett (Joint caretaker managers) (Mar–May 1968) Jimmy Wheeler (1968–1971) Ray Wilson (Player/caretaker manager) (Sep–Nov 1971) Bryan Edwards (1971–1975) Bobby Kennedy (1975–1978) John Napier (Feb–Oct 1978) George Mulhall (1978–1981) Roy McFarland (1981–1982) Trevor Cherry (1982–1987) Terry Dolan (1987–1989) Terry Yorath (1989–1990) John Docherty (1990–1991) Frank Stapleton (1991–1994) Lennie Lawrence (1994–1995) Chris Kamara (1995–1998) Paul Jewell (1998–2000) Chris Hutchings (May–Nov 2000) Stuart McCall (Player/caretaker manager) (Nov 2000) Jim Jefferies (2000–2001) Steve Smith (Caretaker manager) (Dec 2001) Nicky Law (2002–2003) ''Senior players'' (Nov 2003) Bryan Robson (2003–2004) Colin Todd (2004–2007) David Wetherall (Player/caretaker manager) (Feb–May 2007) Stuart McCall (2007–2010) Wayne Jacobs (Caretaker manager) (February 2010) Peter Taylor (2010–2011) Peter Jackson (March 2011–August 2011) Colin Cooper (Caretaker manager) (August 2011) Phil Parkinson (August 2011–present)

Statistics

Honours

League

Division One

:''Runners-up (1):'' 1998–99

Division Two

:''Winners (1):'' 1907–08 :''Play-off winners (1):'' 1995–96

Division Three

:''Winners (1):'' 1984–85

Division Three (North)

:''Winners (1):'' 1928–29

Division Four

:''Runners-up (1):'' 1981–82

Cup

FA Cup

:''Winners (1):'' 1911

Third Division North Challenge Cup

:''Winners (1): ''1939 :''Runners-up (1): ''1938

Records

Record league victory: 11–1 v Rotherham United, Division Three (North), 25 August 1928

Record FA Cup victory: 11–3 v Walker Celtic, First Round Replay, 1 December 1937

Record League Cup victory: 7–2 v Darlington, Second Round Second Leg, 25 September 2000

Record league defeat: 0–8 v Manchester City, Division Two, 7 May 1927 / 1–9 v Colchester United, Division Four, 30 December 1961

Record FA Cup defeat: 1–6 v Newcastle United, Third Round, 7 March 1963 / 0–5 v Burnley, Fifth Round Replay, 3 February 1960 / 0–5 v Tottenham Hotspur, Third Round, 7 January 1970

Record home attendance: 39,146 v Burnley, FA Cup Fourth Round, 11 March 1911

Record gate receipts: £181,990 v Manchester United, Premiership, 13 January 2001

Longest unbeaten run : 21 1968 to 1969

Longest run of wins: 10 1983 to 1984

Most appearances : 574 Ces Podd

Most league appearances: 502 – Ces Podd

Most goals scored : 143 – Bobby Campbell

Most league goals: 121 – Bobby Campbell

Most goals in a season: 36 – David Layne, 1961–62

Most goals scored in a match: 7 – Albert Whitehurst v Tranmere Rovers, Division Three (North), 6 March 1929

Highest transfer fee paid: £2.5 million – David Hopkin, from Leeds United, July 2000

Highest transfer fee received: £2 million – Des Hamilton, to Newcastle United, March 1997 / Andy O'Brien, to Newcastle United, March 2001

Most team league goals in a season: 128 – Division Three (North), 1928–29

Most points (three points for a win): 94 – Division Three, 1984–85

Most points (two points for a win): 63 – Division Three (North), 1928–29

''All records from Bradford City F.C. official website''.

Sponsors

Team

1982–1983 National Breakdown

1983–1984 Toy City

1985–1987 Bradford Mythbreakers (Bradford City Council)

1987–1988 Bradford 'Great' City (Bradford City Council)

1988–1991 Grattan

1992–1995 Freemans

1994–1996 Diamond Seal

1997–2005 JCT600

2006–2009 Bradford & Bingley

2009–2012 Map Group (UK)

Kit

1982–1985 Patrick

1985–1988 Admiral

1988–1991 Bukta

1991–1994 Front Runner

1994–1999 Beaver

1999–2001 Asics

2001–2003 BCFC Leisure

2003–2004 Diadora

2004–2011 Surridge Sport

2011–2015 Nike

Stadium

1995–1999 The Pulse

2005–2007 Bradford & Bingley

2007 Intersonic

2007–pres Coral Windows

See also

Football in Yorkshire

References

External links

Official site

Site of Bradford City's bantamspast museum

Category:Association football clubs established in 1903 Category:English football clubs Category:Premier League clubs Category:Football League clubs Category:West Yorkshire football clubs Category:FA Cup winners Category:1903 establishments in England

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Coordinates	46°07′58″N64°46′17″N
name	Brad Paisley| image Paisley, Brad (2007) 2.jpg
landscape	yes
background	solo_singer
birth name	Brad Douglas Paisley
birth date	October 28, 1972
origin	Glen Dale, West Virginia,United States
instrument	Vocals, guitar, mandolin
genre	Country
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician
years active	1997–present
spouse	Kimberly Williams-Paisley
label	Arista Nashville
associated acts	Alison Krauss, Dolly Parton, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Martina McBride, Chely Wright
website	BradPaisley.com
notable instruments	Bill Crook TelecastersFender Telecasters }}

Brad Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references.

Paisley was the 2008 CMA and ACM Male Vocalist of the Year winner. Starting with the release of his 1999 album ''Who Needs Pictures'', Paisley has recorded seven studio albums and a Christmas compilation on the Arista Nashville label, with all of his albums certified gold or higher by the RIAA. In addition, he has charted 25 singles on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart, 16 of which have reached #1 with a record 10 consecutive singles reaching the top spot on the chart. On November 10, 2010, Paisley won the Entertainer of the Year award at the 44th annual CMA Awards.

Biography

Paisley was born on October 28, 1972 in Wheeling, West Virginia to Douglas Edward "Doug" Paisley, who worked for the West Virginia Department of Transportation, and Sandra Jean "Sandy" (née Jarvis) Paisley, a teacher. He was raised in Glen Dale, West Virginia. He has stated that his love of country music stems from his maternal grandfather, Warren Jarvis, who gave Paisley his first guitar, a Sears Danelectro Silvertone at 8-years-old and taught him how to play. At age 10, he performed for the first time in public by singing in his church. He later recalled that, "Pretty soon, I was performing at every Christmas party and Mother's Day event. The neat thing about a small town is that when you want to be an artist, by golly, they'll make you one".

Paisley graduated from John Marshall High School in Glen Dale, West Virginia in 1991, studied for 2 years at West Liberty University (WV) and later was awarded a full-paid ASCAP scholarship to Belmont University, in Nashville, Tennessee (from 1993 to 1995). He interned at ASCAP, Atlantic Records, and the Fitzgerald-Hartley management firm. While in college, he met Frank Rogers, a fellow student who went on to serve as his producer. Paisley also met Kelley Lovelace, who became his songwriting partner. He also met Chris DuBois in college, and he too would write songs for him.

1999–2001: ''Who Needs Pictures''

His debut as a singer was with the label Arista Nashville, with the song "Who Needs Pictures" (released February 22, 1999). In May of that same year, he made his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry. Seven months later he had his first #1 hit with "He Didn't Have to Be," which detailed the story of Paisley's frequent co-writer Kelley Lovelace and Lovelace's stepson, McCain Merren. ''We Danced'' also was a hit for Paisley off the debut album, reaching #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. By February 2001, the album was certified platinum.

In 2000, Paisley's mainstream notoriety received a huge boost when he was exposed to his first national non-country music oriented audience on the TLC special, "Route 66: Main Street America." Producer, Todd Baker, tapped the young musician to appear on this show when he was a relative unknown outside the world of country music. It featured Paisley and band doing rare live and acoustic versions of Route 66. The international and home video versions of this program end with a full, un-cut acoustic rendition of the piece, which was performed live on Rainbow Bridge in Riverton, KS. The show accurately predicted that Paisley would become a legendary musician, and also featured blues artist, Buddy Guy.

Later in 2000, Paisley won the Country Music Association's (CMA) Horizon Award and the Academy of Country Music's best new male vocalist trophy. He received his first Grammy Award nomination a year later for Best New Artist. On February 17, 2001, Paisley was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry He was 28 when he accepted the invitation, and was the youngest member ever to join. PBS did a 75th anniversary concert special, which saw Paisley pair up with Chely Wright and sing a song called ''Hard to Be a Husband, Hard to Be a Wife'', and would be included on the album ''Backstage at the Opry'', It would get a CMA nomination for Vocal Event of the Year.

2001–2003: ''Part II''

In 2002, he won the CMA Music Video of the Year for "I'm Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin' Song)." Several celebrities made notable guest appearances in the video, including Little Jimmy Dickens, Kimberly Williams, Dan Patrick, and Jerry Springer. His three other singles off the ''Part II'' album, "I Wish You'd Stay", "Wrapped Around", and "Two People Fell in Love", all charted in the top 10. The album stayed in the charts for more than 70 weeks and was certified platinum in August 2002. To support his album, he toured the country as the opening act for Lonestar.

2003–2005: ''Mud on the Tires''

Paisley released his third album, ''Mud on the Tires'' (2003), following ''Who Needs Pictures'' and ''Part II.'' The album features the hit song "Celebrity", the video of which parodies reality shows such as ''Fear Factor'', ''American Idol'', ''The Bachelorette'' and ''According to Jim'', and included such celebrities as Jason Alexander, James Belushi, Little Jimmy Dickens, Trista Rehn and William Shatner. (Paisley later contributed to Shatner's album ''Has Been''.) The album's title track, "Mud on the Tires", reached Billboard #1 in 2004.

In addition, the ninth track from ''Mud on the Tires'', "Whiskey Lullaby", a duet with Alison Krauss reached #3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts, and #41 on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video for ''Whiskey Lullaby'' also won several awards and was rated #2 on the 100 Greatest Music Videos by CMT in 2008. The album would be certified double platinum. "Online" featured the Brentwood High School marching band playing toward the end of the song, a cameo by Jason Alexander, and again featured a cameo by William Shatner. ''Throttleneck'' would also reach number one, which would get Paisley his first Grammy.

The fifth single from ''5th Gear'' actually came from a reissued version of the album – a new recording of "Waitin' on a Woman", a track cut from ''Time Well Wasted.'' The reissued version received unsolicited airplay in late 2006, and features less prominent string guitar and violin parts and a more "muted" musical tone. For the chart week of September 20, 2008, the song became Paisley's twelfth number-one single and his eighth straight number-one hit, making him the artist with the most consecutive Number One country hits since the inception of Nielsen SoundScan in 1990.

In July 2006, producer Todd Baker tapped Brad for a television appearance as an animated character in The Wonder Pets, Daddy Armadillo. The yet-to-be-broadcast episode features Brad's wife, Kimberly Williams, as Mama Armadillo.

Paisley toured April 26, 2007 through February 24, 2008 in support of ''5th Gear'' on the Bonfires & Amplifiers Tour. The tour visited 94 cities over a 10 month period and played for over 1,000,000 fans. The tour was so successful that it was extended past its original end date to February 2008. Some of the opening acts who appeared during the tour were Taylor Swift, Kellie Pickler, Jack Ingram, Rodney Atkins and Chuck Wicks.

Paisley was nominated for three 2008 Grammy Awards related to ''5th Gear'': Best Country Album (for ''5th Gear''), Best Country Collaboration (for "Oh Love" with Carrie Underwood), and Best Country Instrumental (for "Throttleneck"). On February 10, 2008, he won his first Grammy award for Best Country Instrumental for "Throttleneck".

In March 2008, Brad Paisley announced his next tour, "The Paisley Party," a 42-date tour sponsored by Hershey's. The tour kicked off on June 11, 2008, in Albuquerque, New Mexico with Chuck Wicks, Julianne Hough and Jewel as the opening acts. Brad Paisley and Keith Urban released to country radio their first duet together on September 8, 2008, "Start a Band." It was the first and only single from ''Play,'' and it went on to become Paisley's thirteenth number one hit and his ninth in a row. The album also features collaborations with James Burton, Little Jimmy Dickens, Vince Gill, John Jorgenson, B.B. King, Albert Lee, Brent Mason, Buck Owens, Redd Volkaert and Steve Wariner. Paisley and Urban both received Entertainer of the Year nominations from the CMA on September 10, 2008. On November 12, 2008 Brad Paisley won Male Vocalist of the Year and Music Video of the Year for "Waitin' on a Woman" during the CMA's.

2009–2010: ''American Saturday Night''

Brad Paisley announced on January 26, 2009 his new tour named "American Saturday Night." Dierks Bentley and Jimmy Wayne will be opening in the majority of the shows. Brad Paisley's newest album, ''American Saturday Night'' was released on June 30, 2009. The album's lead off single, "Then" was released in March 2009 and performed for the first time on ''American Idol'' on March 18. It went on to become Paisley's 14th number one single and his tenth in a row.

On May 6, 2009, Paisley gave an exclusive performance to a small group of members from his fan club in Studio A of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN as he and his band taped an episode of CMT Invitation Only. The show gives fans a chance to see their favorite artists in a more intimate setting up close and personal. There was a Q & A session and interaction between Paisley and his fans. The show aired on Monday, August 3 at 9:00 p.m. on CMT.

On July 21, 2009, Paisley performed at the White House in celebration of country music. "Country Music at the White House " was streamed live on the White House web-site as well as a special on Great American Country.

On November 11, 2009, Paisley co-hosted the CMA Awards for the second straight year. He also performed "Welcome to the Future", and won both Male Vocalist of the Year and Musical Event of the Year for Start a Band with Keith Urban.

On March 1, 2010, Paisley was the first musical performance with "American Saturday Night" for the second tenure of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

On Friday March 5, 2010, Paisley slipped and fell performing his last song of the set, "Alcohol," at a concert at the North Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, South Carolina, on the final date of the American Saturday Night Tour. Fearing a broken rib, he was held overnight at an area hospital, but was released when a CT scan was negative.

On July 31, 2010 Brad performed alongside Carrie Underwood at the inaugural Greenbrier Classic PGA Tour Event in Lewisburg, W.Va. An estimated 60,000 people attended the out door event to watch Carrie and Brad perform in the pouring rain.

On August 4, 2010, it was announced on his official website that Paisley would release his first official greatest hits package, entitled ''Hits Alive''. Released on November 2, 2010, ''Hits Alive'' is a double-disc collection, with one disc containing studio versions of Paisley's hit singles, while the companion disc features previously unreleased live versions of his songs.

Brad Paisley cohosted the 44th Annual CMA Awards on November 10, 2010, where he was also awarded the CMA's top award, Entertainer of the Year. During his acceptance speech, Paisley emotionally honored his grandfather, who inspired him to play the guitar.

2011-Present: ''This Is Country Music''

In December 2010, Paisley released "This Is Country Music" as the title track to his eighth studio album, released May 23, 2011. The album's second single, "Old Alabama" (with Alabama), released to country radio on March 14, 2011 and became Paisley's nineteenth number one hit. "Remind Me," with Carrie Underwood, was released May 23, 2011 to radio.

On March 22, 2011, Paisley's website announced a new beta game titled "Brad Paisley World." The game is modeled after other Facebook games such as Farmville or Mafia Wars and features original animation. The game provides a new way for fans to interact with each other and view exclusive material that would otherwise be unavailable.

On May 12, 2011, Paisley's website announced that he would release two songs on the soundtrack for the film ''Cars 2''. One of them would be a collaboration with British pop singer Robbie Williams.

Tours

''Brooks & Dunn's Neon Circus & Wild West Show 2003

''Mud & Suds Tour 2004'' (w/ Sara Evans, Andy Griggs)

''Two Hats & A Redhead Tour 2005'' (w/ Reba McEntire, Terri Clark)

''Time Well Wasted Tour 2006'' (w/ Sara Evans, Sugarland, Carrie Underwood, Jake Owen, Josh Turner, Billy Currington)

''Bonfires & Amplifiers Tour 2007–2008'' (w/ Taylor Swift, Jack Ingram, Kellie Pickler, Rodney Atkins, Chuck Wicks)

''The Paisley Party Tour 2008'' (w/ Chuck Wicks, Julianne Hough, Jewel)

''The Paisley Party Tour 2009'' (w/ Dierks Bentley, Darius Rucker, Crystal Shawanda)

''American Saturday Night Tour 2009'' (w/ Dierks Bentley, Jimmy Wayne)

''American Saturday Night Tour 2010'' (w/ Miranda Lambert, Justin Moore)

''The H2O Tour 2010'' (w/ Darius Rucker, Justin Moore, Easton Corbin, Steel Magnolia, Josh Thompson)

''The H2O Frozen Over Tour 2011'' (w/ Darius Rucker, Jerrod Niemann)

''H2O II: Wetter and Wilder World Tour'' (w/ Darius Rucker, Blake Shelton, Jerrod Niemann, Sunny Sweeney, The JaneDear Girls, Brent Anderson, Edens Edge)

Band

Paisley records his studio albums, in most part, with the backing of his live band, The Drama Kings. Their first gig together was May 7, 1999. The only changes have been Randel Currie's addition on the steel guitar in 2000 and Jimmy Heffernan's departure in 2001. Also, Jody Harris worked as Paisley's guitar tech until officially becoming a bandmember for the American Saturday Night Tour. As of 2010, the lineup is:

Brad Paisley – lead vocals, lead guitar

Gary Hooker – rhythm guitar

Randle Currie – steel guitar

Kendal Marcy – keyboards, banjo, mandolin

Justin Williamson – fiddle, mandolin

Kenny Lewis – bass guitar

Ben Sesar – drums

Personal life

Paisley had seen ''Father of the Bride'' with a former girlfriend. They broke up, but when ''Father of the Bride Part II'' was released, he went to see the sequel alone. He said that he watched Kimberly Williams' performance and "thought, She seems like a great girl — smart and funny and all those things that are so hard to find." Paisley wrote several songs on ''Part II'' about his former girlfriend, including one about going to see ''Father of the Bride'', and when it was time to cast the video, Paisley thought of the girl in the movie.

In 2001, Paisley began dating Kimberly Williams. Williams appeared in a video for the song, "I'm Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin' Song)," in 2002, the last release from his ''Part II'' album. The two married on March 15, 2003, at Stauffer Chapel on the campus of Pepperdine University after a nine month engagement.

They live in Franklin, Tennessee, and have another home in Malibu.

Their first son, William Huckleberry, or "Huck", was born on February 22, 2007, in Nashville, Tennessee. Their second son, Jasper Warren (named after his grandfather who bought Brad his first guitar), was born on April 17, 2009.

Paisley is a member of the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, and a Noble of the AAONMS, also known as Shriners. He was accompanied by his father, Doug Paisley (32º), for the ceremony on October 28, 2006.

He is also a lifelong fan of the Cleveland Browns. Paisley sang the national anthem before a game during the 1999 season, and stated in an interview, with ESPN his dream job would be to play football for them. He also invited former Browns Quarterback Brady Quinn to a concert at the Blossom Music Center, in 2008.

Paisley is also a fan of West Virginia University athletics and the Boston Red Sox.

In fall of 2009, it was announced in ''Variety'' that Paisley would enter the world of scripted television as an executive producer of a new hour-long drama series for The CW network called, appropriately, ''Nashville''. The plot was written and created by Neal Dodson and Matt Bomer (an actor on the USA Network series, ''White Collar''). The creator of the series ''One Tree Hill'', Mark Schwahn will direct the pilot and oversee the series. ''Star Trek'' and ''Heroes'' actor Zachary Quinto is also an executive producer on the series, along with Dodson, Bomer, and Corey Moosa.

As of July 2010, the series is not on the CW's fall schedule or mid-season schedule for 2010–2011 and the status of the project is unknown.

In 2010, Paisley was named a "Citizen of the Next Century" by Future-ish for his song "Welcome to the Future".

Gear

Paisley's first guitar was a Sears Danelectro Silvertone, and has since then been replaced with multiple Fender Telecasters. He uses amps by Tony Bruno and Dr. Z, along with Bill Crook model Telecaster style guitars. For pedals, he uses the Wampler Paisley signature overdrive and pedals by BOSS and Hermida Audio.

Discography

Albums

;Studio Albums

1999: ''Who Needs Pictures''

2001: ''Part II''

2003: ''Mud on the Tires''

2005: ''Time Well Wasted''

2006: ''Brad Paisley Christmas''

2007: ''5th Gear''

2008: ''Play''

2009: ''American Saturday Night''

2011: ''This Is Country Music''

;Compilations

2010: ''Hits Alive''

Awards

Brad Paisley has won the following awards:

Academy of Country Music

* 1999 – Top New Male Vocalist of the Year

* 2004 – Vocal Event of the Year ("Whiskey Lullaby")

* 2004 – Video of the Year ("Whiskey Lullaby")

* 2005 – Album of the Year ("Time Well Wasted")

* 2005 – Vocal Event of the Year ("When I Get Where I'm Going")

* 2005 – Video of the Year ("When I Get Where I'm Going")

* 2007 – Top Male Vocalist of the Year

* 2008 – Top Male Vocalist of the Year

* 2008 – Video of the Year ("Online")

* 2009 – Video of the Year ("Waitin' on a Woman")

* 2009 – Vocal Event of the Year ("Start a Band")

* 2009 – Top Male Vocalist of the Year

* 2010 – Top Male Vocalist of the Year

* 2011 – Top Male Vocalist of the Year

Country Music Association Awards

* 2000 – Horizon Award

* 2001 – Vocal Event of the Year ("Too Country")

* 2002 – Music Video of the Year ("I'm Gonna Miss Her")

* 2004 – Musical Event of the Year ("Whiskey Lullaby")

* 2004 – Music Video of the Year ("Whiskey Lullaby")

* 2006 – Album of the Year (''Time Well Wasted'')

* 2006 – Musical Event of the Year ("When I Get Where I'm Going")

* 2007 – Music Video of the Year ("Online" – director Jason Alexander)

* 2007 – Male Vocalist of the Year

* 2008 – Music Video of the Year ("Waitin' on a Woman")

* 2008 – Male Vocalist of the Year

* 2009 – Male Vocalist of the Year

* 2009 – Musical Event of the Year ("Start A Band" with Keith Urban)

* 2010 – Entertainer of the Year

Grammy Awards

* 2008 – Best Country Instrumental Performance ("Throttleneck")

* 2009 – Best Country Instrumental Performance ("Cluster Pluck")

* 2009 – Best Male Country Vocal Performance ("Letter to Me")

Country Weekly Presents the TNN Music Awards

* 2000 – The Discovery Award

* 2000 – Song of the Year ("He Didn't Have to Be")

* 2000 – CMT Music Video of the Year ("He Didn't Have to Be")

Flameworthy Awards/CMT Music Awards

* 2002 – Concept Video of the Year ("I'm Gonna Miss Her")

* 2005 – Collaborative Video of the Year ("Whiskey Lullaby")

* 2006 – Most Inspiring Video of the Year ("When I Get Where I'm Going")

* 2008 – Comedy Video of the Year ("Online")

* 2009 – CMT Performance of the Year ("Country Boy")

* 2009 – Collaborative Video of the Year ("Start a Band")

* 2009 – Male Video of the Year ("Waitin' On a Woman")

American Music Awards

* 2008 – Favorite Country Male Artist

* 2010 – Favorite Country Male Artist

American Country Awards

* 2010 – Artist of the Year - Male

''Orville H. Gibson Guitar Award''

* 2002 – Best Country Guitarist (Male)

''Nashville Songwriters Association International Award''

* 2002 – Songwriter/Artist of the Year

* 2005 – Songwriter/Artist of the Year

''ASCAP Country Music Award''

* 2004 – Songwriter/Artist of the Year

References

External links

Official Website

Category:1972 births Category:American guitarists Category:American songwriters Category:American country guitarists Category:American country singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American country songwriters Category:American male singer-songwriters Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American male singers Category:American people of Scottish descent Category:Arista Records artists Category:Belmont University alumni Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:Living people Category:Lead guitarists Category:People from Marshall County, West Virginia Category:Musicians from West Virginia

de:Brad Paisley fr:Brad Paisley it:Brad Paisley nl:Brad Paisley ja:ブラッド・ペイズリー pl:Brad Paisley pt:Brad Paisley ru:Пейсли, Брэд simple:Brad Paisley sv:Brad Paisley tr:Brad Paisley vi:Brad Paisley

Coordinates	46°07′58″N64°46′17″N
Name	Alison Krauss
Landscape	Yes
Background	solo_singer
Born	July 23, 1971Decatur, IllinoisUnited States
Occupation	Musician, Songwriter, Producer, Bandleader
Instrument	Vocals, Fiddle, Viola
Genre(s)	Bluegrass, Country, Adult Contemporary, R&B;
Years active	1984–present
Associated acts	Dan Tyminski, Robert Plant, John Waite, Rhonda Vincent, Dolly Parton, Brad Paisley, Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill, Jerry Douglas
Label	Rounder
Website	AlisonKrauss.com}}

Alison Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in 1987. She was invited to join the band with which she still performs, Alison Krauss and Union Station (AKUS), and later released her first album with them as a group in 1989.

She has released twelve albums, appeared on numerous soundtracks, and helped renew interest in bluegrass music in the United States. Her soundtrack performances have led to further popularity, including the ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' soundtrack, an album also credited with raising American interest in bluegrass, and the ''Cold Mountain'' soundtrack, which led to her performance at the 2004 Academy Awards. As of the 2011 Grammy Awards, she has won 26 Grammy Awards, making her the most awarded singer, the most awarded female artist, and tied for the third most awarded artist overall in Grammy history. At the time of her first award, at the 1991 Grammy Awards, she was the second youngest winner ever (currently tied as third youngest).

Biography

Alison Maria Krauss was born in Decatur, Illinois. Her parents are originally from Columbus, Mississippi. Krauss was raised in Champaign, Illinois. She began studying classical violin at age five but soon switched to bluegrass. Krauss said she first became involved with music because "[my] mother tried to find interesting things for me to do" and "wanted to get me involved in music, in addition to art and sports." At the age eight she started entering local talent contests, and at ten she had her own band. At 13 she won the Walnut Valley Festival Fiddle Championship, and the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass in America named her the Most Promising Fiddler in the Midwest. Krauss first met Dan Tyminski around 1984 at a festival held by the Society. Every current member of her band, Union Station, first met her at these festivals.

1985–1991: Early career

Krauss made her recording debut in 1985 on the independent album, ''Different Strokes'', featuring her brother Viktor, Swamp Weiss and Jim Hoiles. From the age of 12 she performed with bassist and songwriter John Pennell in a band called "Silver Rail". Pennell later formed Union Station, and Krauss joined at his invitation, replacing their previous fiddler Andrea Zonn. Pennell remains one of her favorite songwriters and wrote some of her early work including the popular "Every Time You Say Goodbye."

Later that year she signed to Rounder Records, and in 1987, at 16, she released her debut album ''Too Late to Cry'' with Union Station as her backup band.

Krauss' debut solo album was followed shortly by her first group album with Union Station in 1989 ''Two Highways''. The album includes the traditional tunes, Wild Bill Jones and Beaumont Rag, along with a bluegrass interpretation of The Allman Brothers' "Midnight Rider." Alison Krauss and Union Station would later perform at the 1989 Newport Folk Festival.

Krauss' contract with Rounder required her to alternate between releasing a solo album and an album with Union Station, and she released the solo album ''I've Got That Old Feeling'' in 1990. It was her first album to rise onto the Billboard charts, peaking in the top seventy-five on the country chart. The album also was a notable point in her career as she earned her first Grammy Award, the single "Steel Rails" was her first single tracked by Billboard, and the title single "I've Got That Old Feeling" was the first song for which she recorded a music video.

1992–1999: Rising success

{| Class=wikitable style="float:right;margin:0 0 0 1em;" |- !colspan=2|Alison Krauss & Union Station |- !align="center" valign="bottom"|Name !align="center" valign="bottom"|Role |- |Alison Krauss |Lead vocals, fiddle, viola |- |Larry Atamanuik |drums, Percussion |- |Barry Bales |Bass |- |Ron Block |Guitar, Banjo |- |Jerry Douglas |Dobro |- |Dan Tyminski |Guitar, Mandolin |- |} Krauss' second Union Station album ''Everytime You Say Goodbye'' was released in 1992, and she went on to win her second Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album of the year. She then joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1993 at the age of 21. She was the youngest cast member at the time, and the first bluegrass artist to join the Opry in twenty-nine years. She also collaborated on a project with the Cox Family in 1994, a bluegrass album called ''I Know Who Holds Tomorrow''. Mandolin and guitar player Dan Tyminski replaced Tim Stafford in Union Station in 1994. Late in the year, Krauss recorded with the band Shenandoah on its single "Somewhere in the Vicinity of the Heart," which brought her to the country music Top Ten for the first time. Also in 1994, Krauss collaborated with Suzy Bogguss, Kathy Mattea, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash to contribute "Teach Your Children" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization. In 1997, she recorded vocals and violin for "Half a Mind," on Tommy Shaw's 7 Deadly Zens album.

''Now That I've Found You: A Collection'', a compilation of older releases and some covers of her favorite works by other artists, was released in 1995. Some of these covers include Bad Company's "Oh Atlanta," The Foundations' "Baby, Now That I've Found You," which was used in the Australian hit comedy movie ''The Castle'', and The Beatles' "I Will." A cover of Keith Whitley's "When You Say Nothing at All" reached the top five on the Billboard country chart; the album peaked in the top fifteen on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart, and sold two million copies to become Krauss' first double-platinum album. Krauss also was nominated for four Country Music Association Awards and won all of them.

''So Long So Wrong'', another Union Station album, was released in 1997 and won the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album. One critic said its sound was "rather untraditional" and "likely [to] change quite a few . . . minds about bluegrass." Included on the album is the track "It Doesn't Matter," which was featured in the second season premiere episode of ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and was included on the ''Buffy'' soundtrack in 1999.

Her next solo release in 1999, ''Forget About It'', included one of her two tracks to appear on the Billboard adult contemporary chart, "Stay." The album was certified gold, and charted within the top seventy-five of the Billboard 200 and in the top five of the country chart. In addition, the track "That Kind of Love" was included in another episode of ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer.''

2000–present: Current career

Adam Steffey left Union Station in 1998, and was replaced with renowned Dobro player Jerry Douglas. Douglas had provided studio back-up to Krauss's records since 1987's ''Too Late To Cry''. Their next album, ''New Favorite'', was released on August 14, 2001. The album went on to win the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album, with the single "The Lucky One" winning a Grammy as well. ''New Favorite'' was followed up by the double platinum double album ''Live'' in 2002 and a release of a DVD of the same live performance in 2003. Both the album and the DVD were recorded during a performance at The Louisville Palace and both the album and DVD have been certified double Platinum. Also in 2002 she played a singing voice for one of the characters in "Eight Crazy Nights"

''Lonely Runs Both Ways'' was released in 2004, and eventually became another Alison Krauss & Union Station gold certified album. Ron Block described ''Lonely Runs Both Ways'' as "pretty much... what we've always done" in terms of song selection and the style in which those songs were recorded. Krauss believes the group "was probably the most unprepared we've ever been" for the album and that songs were chosen as needed rather than planned beforehand. She also performed a duet with Brad Paisley on his album ''Mud on the Tires'' in the single "Whiskey Lullaby." The single was quickly ranked in the top fifty of the Billboard Hot 100 and the top five of the Hot Country Songs, and won the Country Music Association Awards for "Best Musical Event" and "Best Music Video" of the year.

Krauss recorded a collaborative album, ''Raising Sand'' with Robert Plant in 2007 which would ultimately be RIAA certified platinum. ''Raising Sand'' was nominated for and won 5 Grammys at the 51st Grammy Awards including Album of the Year, Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album, and Record of the Year ("Please Read the Letter"). Krauss and Plant recorded a Crossroads special in October 2007 for the Country Music Television network which first aired on February 12, 2008. The pair are currently working on a new album. Alison Krauss has announced a new album release called ''Paper Airplane'' with Union Station on April 12, 2011, the follow-up album to "Lonely Runs Both Ways" (2004)

Other work

Krauss has made multiple guest appearances on other records with lead vocals, harmony vocals, or fiddle playing. In 1993 she recorded vocals for the Phish song "If I Could" in Los Angeles. In 1997 she contributed harmony vocals in both English and Irish to Irish traditional band Altan's ''Runaway Sunday'' album. She has contributed to numerous motion picture soundtracks, most notably the soundtrack ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' in 2000. She and co-vocalist Dan Tyminski contributed multiple tracks to the soundtrack, including "I'll Fly Away" (with Gillian Welch), "Down to the River to Pray", and "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow." She also makes a guest appearance on Heart's March 2010 concert DVD Night At Sky Church, providing the lead vocals for the song These Dreams.

In the film, Tyminski's vocals on "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" were used for George Clooney's character. The soundtrack sold over seven million copies and won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2002. The unexpected success of the album has been partially credited, as was Krauss herself, with bringing a new interest in bluegrass to the United States. She has said, however, that she believes Americans already liked bluegrass and other less-heard musical genres, and that the film merely provided easy exposure to the music. She did not appear in the movie, at her own request, as she was nine months pregnant during its filming.

In 2007, Krauss released the anthology ''A Hundred Miles Or More: A Collection'' which was a collection of soundtrack work, duets with artists such as John Waite, James Taylor, Brad Paisley and esteemed fiddle player Natalie MacMaster, and newer tracks. The album was very commercially successful, but was received with a lukewarm reception from critics. One of the tracks, "Missing You", a duet with Waite (and a cover of his hit single from 1984), was similarly received as a single. On August 11, television network Great American Country aired a one-hour special, "Alison Krauss: A Hundred Miles or More" based on the album and featured many of the album's duets and solo performances.

Other soundtracks for which Krauss has performed include ''Twister'', ''The Prince of Egypt'', ''Eight Crazy Nights'', ''Mona Lisa Smile'', ''Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood'', ''Alias'', ''Bambi II'' and ''Cold Mountain''. She also contributed the song "Jubilee" to the 2004 documentary ''Paper Clips''. The ''Cold Mountain'' songs "The Scarlet Tide" by T-Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello, and "You Will Be My Ain True Love", by herself and Sting were nominated for an Academy Award, and she performed both songs at the 76th Academy Awards, the first with Costello and Burnett and the other with Sting. She also worked as a producer for Nickel Creek on their debut self-titled album in 2000 and the follow-up ''This Side'' in 2002, which won Krauss her first Grammy as a music producer.

Reception and influences

Krauss's earliest musical experience was as an instrumentalist, though her style has grown to focus more on her vocals with a band providing most of the instrumentation. Musicians she enjoys include Lou Gramm of Foreigner and Paul Rodgers of Bad Company. Krauss' family listened to "folk records" while she was growing up, but she had friends who exposed her to groups such as AC/DC, Carly Simon, The Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and ELO. She cites Dolly Parton, with whom she has since collaborated a number of times, as a major influence. Some credit Krauss and Union Station, at least partially, with a recent revival of interest in bluegrass music in the United States. Despite being together for nearly two decades and winning numerous awards, she said the group was "just beginning right now" (in 2002) because "in spite of all the great things that have happened for the band, [she] feel[s] musically it's just really beginning." Although she alternates between solo releases and works with the band, she has said there is no difference in her involvement between the two. and "the tightest band around." While they have been successful as a group, many reviews note Krauss still "remains the undisputed star and rock-solid foundation" and have described her as the "band's focus" with an "angelic" voice that "flows like honey". Her work has been compared to that of The Cox Family, Bill Monroe, and Del McCoury, and has in turn been credited with influencing various "Newgrass" artists including Nickel Creek, for which she acted as record producer on two of their albums. In addition to her work with Nickel Creek, she has acted as producer to the Cox Family, Reba McEntire and Alan Jackson. Adam Sweeting of ''The Guardian'' has said Krauss and Union Station are "superb when they stick to hoedowns and hillbilly music, but much less convincing when they lurch towards the middle of the road," and ''Blender magazine'' has said the "flavorless repertoire [Krauss] sings... steers her toward Lite FM". In addition, ''Q'' magazine and ''The Onion'' AV Club have said their newer releases are "pretty much the usual," and that although Krauss is generally "adventurous," these recent releases contain nothing to "alienate the masses".

Voice, themes, and musical style

Krauss's vocal range could generally be described as mezzo soprano with little to no vibrato: her clear vocals have been described as "angelic". She has said her musical influences include J. D. Crowe, Ricky Skaggs, and Tony Rice. Many of her songs are described as sad, and are often about love, especially lost love. Krauss herself has said of her song selection that she looks for "tunes that [she] can relate to". Though she has a close involvement with her group and a long career in music, she rarely performs music she has written herself. She has also described her general approach to constructing an album as starting with a single song and selecting other tracks based on the first, to give the final album a somewhat consistent theme and mood. She most commonly performs in the bluegrass and country genres, though she has had two songs on the adult contemporary charts, has worked with rock artists such as Phish and Sting, and is sometimes said to stray into pop music.

Music videos

Krauss did not think she would make music videos at the beginning of her career, and after recording her first she was convinced it was so bad that she would never do another. Nonetheless, she has gone on to make further videos. Many of the first videos she saw were by bluegrass artists, although Dan Tyminski has noted that the video for ''Thriller'' was very popular at the time she was first exposed to music videos. She has made suggestions on the style or theme to some videos, though she tends to leave such decisions up to the director of the particular video. The group chooses directors by seeking out people who have previously directed videos bandmembers have enjoyed. The director for a video to "If I Didn't Know Any Better" from ''Lonely Runs Both Ways'', for example, was selected because Krauss enjoyed work he had done with Def Leppard, and she wondered what he could do with their music. While style decisions are generally left to the various directors of the videos, many —including for "The Lucky One", "Restless", "Goodbye is All We Have", "New Favorite", and "If I Didn't Know Any Better"—follow a pattern. In all of these videos Krauss walks, sometimes interacting with other people, while the rest of the band follows her.

Performances

Krauss has said she used to dislike working in the studio where she had to play the same song repeatedly, but has come to like studio work roughly the same as live stage performances. Her own favorite concert experiences include watching three Foreigner concerts during a single tour, a Dolly Parton concert, and a Larry Sparks concert. She appeared on ''Austin City Limits'' in 1992 and opened the show in 1995 with Union Station. The ''New Favorite'' tour, after AKUS' album of the same name, was planned to start September 12, 2001 in Cincinnati, Ohio, but was delayed until September 28 in Savannah, Georgia following the September 11 terrorist attacks Krauss also took part in the ''Down from the Mountain'' tour in 2002, which featured many artists from the ''O Brother, Where Art Thou''. ''Down from the Mountain'' was followed by the ''Great High Mountain Tour'', which was composed of musicians from both ''O Brother'' and ''Cold Mountain'', including Krauss. She has also given several notable smaller performances including at Carnegie Hall (with the Grand Ole Opry), on Lifetime Television in a concert of female performers, on the radio show ''A Prairie Home Companion'' where she sang two songs not previously recorded on any of her albums, and a performance at the White House attended by then-President Bill Clinton and then-Vice President Al Gore.

Awards

Alison Krauss has won a record twenty-six Grammy Awards over the course of her career as a solo artist, as a group with Union Station, as a duet with Robert Plant, and as a record producer. This is more than any other female artist and is the third most won by any artist overall. She overtook Aretha Franklin for the most female wins at the 46th Grammy Awards where Krauss won three, bringing her total at the time to seventeen (Franklin won her sixteenth that night). The Recording Academy (which presents the Grammy Awards) presented her with a special musical achievement honor in 2005. She has also won 14 International Bluegrass Music Association Awards, 8 Country Music Association Awards, 2 Gospel Music Association Awards, 2 CMT Music Awards, 2 Academy of Country Music Awards, and 1 Canadian Country Music Award. Country Music Television ranked Krauss 12th on their "40 Greatest Women of Country Music" list in 2002.

At the 76th Academy Awards in February 2004, where she performed two nominated songs from the ''Cold Mountain'' soundtrack, Alison Krauss was chosen by Hollywood shoe designer Stuart Weitzman to wear a pair of $2 million 'Cinderella' sandals with 4½ inch clear glass stiletto heels and two straps adorned with 565 Kwiat diamonds set in platinum. Feeling like a rather unglamorous choice, Krauss said, "When I first heard, I was like, 'What were they thinking?' I have the worst feet of anybody who will be there that night!" In addition to the fairy-tale-inspired shoes, Weitzman outfitted Krauss with a Palm Trēo 600 smartphone, bejeweled with 3,000 clear-and-topaz-colored Swarovski crystals. The shoes were returned, but Krauss kept the crystal-covered phone. Weitzman chose Krauss to show off his fashions at the urging of his daughters, who are fans of Krauss' music.

Discography

1985: ''Different Strokes''

1987: ''Too Late to Cry''

1989: ''Two Highways''

1990: ''I've Got That Old Feeling''

1992: ''Every Time You Say Goodbye''

1994: ''I Know Who Holds Tomorrow''

1997: ''So Long So Wrong''

1999: ''Forget About It''

2001: ''New Favorite''

2002 "Live"

2004: ''Lonely Runs Both Ways''

2007: ''Raising Sand''

2011: ''Paper Airplane''

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1997	''Annabelle's Wish''	Additional Voices	UncreditedVoice only
2002	''Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights''	Jennifer	Voice only
Television
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1991	''Hee Haw''	Herself	1 episodeEpisode: #22.21
1996	''Austin City Limits''	Herself	5 episodes, 1996–2005
1997	''Miracle on Highway 31''	Herself	TV movie
2005	''Sesame Street''	Herself	1 episodeEpisode: "American Fruit Stand"
2006	''CMT Cross Country''	Performer	with Vince Gill
2008	''CMT Crossroads''	Performer	with Robert Plant

References

External links

Official site

Rounder Records site for Alison Krauss

[ Alison Krauss] on Allmusic database

Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:Alison Krauss & Union Station members Category:American bluegrass fiddlers Category:American country singers Category:American female singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:American Christians Category:People from Decatur, Illinois Category:People from Champaign, Illinois Category:Musicians from Illinois Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:American people of Native American descent Category:American musicians of French descent Category:American people of English descent Category:American performers of Christian music Category:Rounder Records artists

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Coordinates	46°07′58″N64°46′17″N
Name	Carrie Underwood
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Carrie Marie Underwood
Birth date	March 10, 1983
Birth place	Muskogee, Oklahoma
Origin	Checotah, Oklahoma, United States
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, actress
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano
Genre	Country, country pop
Years active	2005–present
Label	19 / Arista Nashville (2005–current)Arista (2005–2009)
Associated acts	Brad Paisley, Randy Travis
Website	}}

Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of ''American Idol'', in 2005. Underwood has since become a multi-platinum selling recording artist, a winner of several Grammy Awards, Billboard Music Awards and American Music Awards, a Golden Globe Award nominee, a three-time Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association Female Vocalist winner, and a two-time ACM Entertainer of the Year. She is the first-ever female artist to win back-to-back Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards for Entertainer of the Year (2009/10). Underwood was inducted into and became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 2008. She was also inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 2009.

Her debut album, ''Some Hearts'', was certified seven times platinum and, since February 2006, is the fastest selling debut country album in Nielsen SoundScan history. It is also the best-selling solo female debut album in country music history, since February 2008. ''Some Hearts'' yielded three number one hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs and a number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 Songs. Her second album, ''Carnival Ride'', was released on October 23, 2007. It has sold over 3 million copies as of January 2010, being certified 3 times Platinum, and produced four consecutive number one hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs. Underwood released her third album, ''Play On'', on November 3, 2009. It has been certified 2 times Platinum by the RIAA As of May 16, 2011, Carrie became the "American Idol" US Top Earner, selling so far 12.3 million album copies and 18.5 million digital tracks, along with amassing $66 million in tour revenues, since winning Season 4.

Having eleven number one hits on Billboard Hot Country Songs, Underwood is tied with Reba McEntire as the Female Country Artist with Most number one Hits on such chart from 1990 to present. She is the only artist in history to have all singles on the top 2 of the Hot Country Songs. Underwood is also the only solo Country Artist to have a number one hit on Billboard Hot 100 Songs in the 2000 decade, as "Inside Your Heaven" reached the top of the chart on July 2005. Some Hearts, Underwood's debut album, was named the ''Best Country Album of the 2000 Decade'' by Billboard, and she's the only Female Artist to appear on the Top 10 of Billboard's Best Country Artists of the 2000 Decade list, ranked at #10. She was also ranked number 50 on the Artists of the Decade list by Billboard. In June 2011, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Carrie as the #11 Queen of Pop, based on a lot of criteria from 2009 until 2011. In July 2011, Forbes reported that Underwood earned over $20 million between May 2010 and May 2011.

Early life

Underwood was born to Stephen and Carole Underwood on March 10, 1983, in Muskogee, Oklahoma. She was raised on her parents' farm in the rural town of Checotah, Oklahoma. Her father worked in a sawmill, while her mother taught elementary school. She has two older sisters, Shanna and Stephanie. During her childhood, Underwood performed at Robbins Memorial Talent Show, and sang at her local church, First Free Will Baptist Church. She later sang for local events in Checotah, including Old Settler's Day and the Lion's Club.

A local admirer arranged for her to go to Nashville when she was 14 to audition for Capitol Records. While at Checotah High School, she was an Honor Society member and also played basketball, softball, and cheerleading. Underwood graduated from Checotah High School in 2001 as salutatorian. She chose not to pursue singing after graduation. She said, "After high school, I pretty much gave up on the dream of singing. I had reached a point in my life where I had to be practical and prepare for my future in the 'real world'". She spent part of one of her summers as a page for Oklahoma State Representative Bobby Frame. She also waited tables at a pizzeria, worked at a zoo, and at a veterinary clinic. For two years during the summer, she performed in Northeastern State University's Downtown Country show in Tahlequah. She also competed in numerous beauty pageants at the university and was selected as Miss NSU runner-up in 2004.

''American Idol''

In the summer of 2004, Carrie was part of Downtown Country at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The show was under the direction of Kelli Doolen Farmer. Underwood auditioned for ''American Idol'' in St. Louis, Missouri. After she sang "Could've Been" by Tiffany on the top 12 girls night, judge Simon Cowell commented that she would be one of the favorites to win the competition. During the top 11 finalists' performance on the March 22, 2005, ''Idol'' episode, Underwood sang a rendition of the number one 1980s rock hit "Alone", made famous by Heart, and Cowell predicted that Underwood would not only win the competition, but she would also outsell all previous ''Idol'' winners. One of the show's producers later said she dominated the voting, winning each week handily. She gained a fan base known as "Carrie's Care Bears" during the course of the show. During the final, she sang with Rascal Flatts their song "Bless the Broken Road". Underwood became the fourth season winner on May 25, 2005. Her winnings included a recording contract worth at least a million dollars, use of a private jet for a year, and a Ford Mustang convertible.

Performances and results

!Week	!Theme	!Song	!Original artist	!Result
Auditions	Contestant's Choice	"I Can't Make You Love Me"	Bonnie Raitt	Advanced
Hollywood Round 1	Contestant's Choice	"Young Hearts Run Free"	Candi Staton	Advanced
Top 75	Contestant's Choice		Martina McBride	Advanced
Semi-Finals 1	Contestant's Choice	"Could've Been"		Safe
Semi-Finals 2	Contestant's Choice	"Piece of My Heart"	Erma Franklin	Safe
Semi-Finals 3	Contestant's Choice	"Because You Love Me"	Jo Dee Messina	Safe
Top 12	Song of the 1960s		The Everly Brothers	Safe
Top 11	Billboard Number Ones		i-TEN	Safe
Top 10	1990s	"Independence Day"	Martina McBride	Safe
Top 9	Classic Broadway		from ''The King and I''	Safe
Top 8	Year They Were Born	"Love Is a Battlefield"	Pat Benatar	Safe
Top 7	1970s Dance Music		Richard Harris	Safe
Top 6	21st Century	"When God-Fearin' Women Get the Blues"	Martina McBride	Safe
Top 5	Lieber & StollerCurrent Billboard Chart		Elvis PresleyNitty Gritty Dirt Band	Safe
Top 4	CountryGamble & Huff	"Sin Wagon""If You Don't Know Me by Now"	Dixie ChicksHarold Melvin & the Blue Notes	Safe
Top 3	Clive Davis' ChoiceContestant's ChoiceJudge's Choice: Randy Jackson		Roy OrbisonAir SupplyShania Twain	Safe
Top 2	Idol SingleContestant's ChoiceProducer's Choice	"Inside Your Heaven""Independence Day""Angels Brought Me Here"	Carrie Underwood/Bo BiceMartina McBrideGuy Sebastian	Winner

Career

2005–2007: ''Some Hearts''

Underwood's debut album, ''Some Hearts'', was released in November 2005, entering the ''Billboard'' charts with 315,000 copies sold, debuting at number one on the Hot Country Albums and at number two on the Hot 200 Albums. The large first week sales of ''Some Hearts'' made it the biggest debut of any country artist since the advent of the SoundScan system in 1991. The album was the Best-Selling Album overall of 2006 in the United States and the Best-Selling country album of both 2006 and 2007 in the U.S.. ''Some Hearts'' has since been certified seven-times Platinum by the RIAA, and is the fastest-selling debut country album in the history of the SoundScan era and also the best-selling solo female debut album in country music history, as of February 2008. "Inside Your Heaven", Underwood's first single, was released in June, debuting at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian Singles Chart. It was the longest running single of 2005 in Canada. "Inside Your Heaven" is the only single by a solo country artist in the 2000 decade to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It sold nearly one million copies and was certified gold by the RIAA and two times platinum by the CRIA. The album's second single, "Jesus, Take the Wheel" was released to radio in October and later peaked at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs, topping it for six consecutive weeks, and at twenty on the Hot 100. Underwood's third single, "Some Hearts", was also released in October, but just to the pop radios. "Don't Forget to Remember Me", her fourth single also proved successful, reaching number two on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. Later that autumn, Underwood's third country single, "Before He Cheats", hit number one on Billboard's Hot Country Songs, staying there for 5 consecutive weeks. The song peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, achieving the slowest climb ever to the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, breaking the record that was previously held by Creed from July 2000. On April 11, 2007, Underwood continued her streak of top Country singles with the release of "Wasted". The song peaked at number one on the Hot Country Songs Chart. On August 2008, "Jesus, Take the Wheel" was reported to have been certified Platinum, making Underwood the first country artist ever to have two songs hit Platinum Mastertone status together with "Before He Cheats", which has been certified earlier in 2007. Underwood started her first headlined tour, Carrie Underwood: Live 2006, with dates across North America.

At the 2005 Billboard Music Awards, her hit song "Inside Your Heaven" won the coveted Top-Selling Hot 100 Song of the Year award and also Top-Selling Country Single of the Year award. At the 2006 Academy of Country Music Awards, she won Top New Female Vocalist and Single of the Year, for "Jesus, Take the Wheel". At the 40th Annual Country Music Association Awards she won both the Horizon Award (now Best New Artist) and Female Vocalist of the Year. At the 2006 CMT Awards, Underwood won both the Breakthrough Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year for "Jesus, Take The Wheel". She later won the Breakthrough Artist of the Year Award at the American Music Awards, and was also nominated for Favorite Female Country Artist. She won 5 awards at the 2006 Billboard Music Awards, including the coveted Album of the Year, Top 200 Female Artist of the Year, Female Country Artist, New Country Artist, and Country Album of the Year. Also that year, Underwood won a Gospel Music Association (GMA) Dove Award for Country Recorded Song of the Year, for "Jesus, Take The Wheel". At the Academy of Country Music Awards in 2007, Underwood won Album of the Year, Video of the Year, and Female Vocalist of the Year. She was nominated for "World's Best Selling New Artist" at the 2006 World Music Awards. At the 2007 CMT Awards in Nashville, Tennessee, on April 16, Underwood's "Before He Cheats" won three awards, including Video of the Year, Female Video of the Year, and Video Director of the Year. Underwood won two awards at the 2007 CMA Awards: Female Vocalist of the Year, for the second consecutive time, and Single Record of the Year, for "Before He Cheats". In 2007, at the 49th Grammy Awards, ''Some Hearts'' received four Grammy nominations and Underwood won her first two Grammy Awards: Best New Artist and Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "Jesus, Take the Wheel. She sang the Eagles song "Life in the Fast Lane" alongside Grammy nominees Rascal Flatts. She also sang the Eagles' "Desperado" to honour Don Henley of The Eagles. She also paid tribute to Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys by performing "New San Antonio Rose". At the 50th Grammy Awards, in 2008, Underwood was nominated for two more Grammys: Best Female Country Vocal Performance, for "Before He Cheats" and Best Country Collaboration with Vocals, for "Oh, Love" a duet with Brad Paisley. She won one Grammy Award that night, for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, and performed the song at the ceremony.

In December 2005, Underwood was named Oklahoman of the Year by ''Oklahoma Today''. In December 2006, Underwood joined Tony Bennett, Michael Bublé and Josh Groban to sing "For Once In My Life" on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Also that month, she paid tribute to Dolly Parton, by singing "Islands in the Stream" with Kenny Rogers (originally by Parton and Rogers) at the Kennedy Center Honors, which honored Parton that year. Underwood performed with the USO Christmas Tour in Iraq during the 2006 Holiday season. Underwood also performed at the 2007 Idol Gives Back concert singing "I'll Stand By You", a cover of The Pretenders hit. Her version of the song debuted at #6 on Billboard's Hot 100 Songs. Also in 2007, Victoria's Secret named Underwood the Sexiest Female Musician.

2007–2009: ''Carnival Ride''

Underwood's second album, ''Carnival Ride'', was released in October 2007. On ''Carnival Ride'', Underwood was more involved in the songwriting process; she set up a writers' retreat at Nashville's famed Ryman Auditorium to collaborate with such Music Row tunesmiths as Hillary Lindsey, Craig Wiseman, Rivers Rutherford, and Gordie Sampson. ''Carnival Ride'' moved over 527,000 copies in its first week, debuting at number one on both the Billboard Hot 200 Albums and Hot Country Albums, as well as number one on the Canadian Albums Chart and United World Chart. ''Carnival Ride'' was certified double platinum in just two months after its release, in December. The album is certified 3-time Platinum by the RIAA, for sales of over three million. "So Small", the first single from the album, was released in July 2007 and reached number one on ''Billboard'''s Hot Country Songs. "All-American Girl", the second single, also reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs. The next single "Last Name" reached number one on the Hot Country Song chart as well. This made Underwood the first female artist to have two consecutive albums each release three number-ones on this chart since Shania Twain in 1998. Her single, "Just a Dream" was released on July 2008 and later peaked at number one on the Hot Country Songs chart, staying there for 2 consecutive weeks. With that, Underwood became the third female artist in country music history to have released four consecutive Number Ones from the same album with Rosanne Cash's "King's Record Shop" and Shania Twain's "The Woman in Me" being the other two that have done so. The album's fifth single, "I Told You So", a duet with the original singer of the song, Randy Travis, was released in February 2009. It peaked at number two on the Billboard Country charts and #9 on the Hot 100. As of February 2011, ''Carnival Ride'' produced 2 platinum selling singles, "All American Girl" and "Last Name". In January 2008, Underwood embarked on a joint tour with Keith Urban named the ''Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride Tour'', with dates fixed nationwide that continued through April. She then started her headlined tour, the Carnival Ride Tour, in February 2008, with dates across all North America, and ended it on December 14, 2008.

By the end of 2007, Underwood won 5 awards at the Billboard Awards, including the coveted Billboard 200 Artist of the Year and also Country Artist of the Year. Also in late 2007, she won three American Music Awards: Artist of the Year, Favorite Female Country Artist and Favorite Country Album, for her debut album, Some Hearts. At the 2008 Academy of Country Music Awards, she won Female Vocalist of the Year, for the 2nd consecutive time. She received two nominations for the 2008 Country Music Association Awards. Underwood and Brad Paisley co-hosted the awards show and she walked away with the Female Vocalist of the Year award for the third consecutive time, but lost the Album of the Year award to George Strait. At the 2008 American Music Awards, Carnival Ride won the Favorite Country Album award, thus making that her 2nd consecutive win in such category. In 2008, Underwood also won her first international award, which was "Female Vocalist of the Year" at the European Country Music Association Awards. For the 44th Academy of Country Music Awards, in 2009, Underwood was nominated for four major awards. Underwood won for Female Vocalist of the Year and ''Entertainer of The Year'', thus making her the first woman to win the award in ten years and the 7th female to take it in the award show's four decade run. Underwood was nominated for Video of the Year at the 2009 CMT Awards for "Just A Dream". In 2009, at the 51st Grammy Awards, she won, for the third year in a row, the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, for "Last Name", and performed the song at the ceremony. At the 52nd Grammy Awards, in 2010, Underwood won her fifth Grammy Award: She won the Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for "I Told You So" with Randy Travis and was also nominated again for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, for "Just A Dream". At the ceremony, she performed with Celine Dion, Usher, Smokey Robinson and Jennifer Hudson during the 3-D Michael Jackson tribute. Grammy Awards producer Ken Ehrlich stated that Michael Jackson greatly admired Underwood, which is why she was hand-picked to perform during his tribute.

On May 13, 2008, Underwood was invited by Randy Travis to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry, later that month she was officially inducted by Garth Brooks into the Grand Ole Opry. A few months earlier, she sang Julie Andrews' classic, the title song from The Sound of Music, at the 2007 ''Movies Rock: A Celebration Of Music In Film''. On October 22, 2008, Underwood unveiled her wax figure at Madame Tussauds New York. In 2009, ''Forbes'' reported that Underwood was the top earning ''American Idol'' alumni from June 2008 – May 17, 2009. She earned more than twice as much as the second place finisher, with estimated earnings of $14 million during this time period. She appeared on the holiday CD ''Hear Something Country Christmas 2007'' with a rendition of "Do You Hear What I Hear?". The song reached number two on the AC Chart, and remained there for 3 consecutive weeks. She recorded the song "Ever Ever After" for the soundtrack of the 2007 Walt Disney film ''Enchanted''. Underwood co-wrote a song for ''Idol'' alum Kristy Lee Cook's major-label debut album ''Why Wait''. At the 2008 Idol Gives Back, she sang George Michael's classic "Praying For Time" and later recorded it. In November 2008, Underwood recorded a virtual and posthumous duet with Elvis Presley, on his classic "I'll Be Home For Christmas", for his 2008 album ''Christmas Duets''. Elvis' ex-wife, Priscilla Presley, herself asked Underwood to do the duet: "Priscilla wanted me to do 'I'll Be Home For Christmas,'" she says. "I couldn't say 'no'." In March 2009, she tracked a cover of Mötley Crüe's ballad "Home Sweet Home" for the American Idol season 8 farewell theme. Her version debuted at #21 on the Hot 100 Songs.

2009–present: ''Play On''

Underwood released her third studio album in November 2009. The album debuted atop both the Billboard Hot 200 Albums and Hot Country Albums, selling nearly 318,000 copies, giving Underwood the second-highest female artist first week sales for 2009. Underwood wrote a song with pop/R&B; singer-songwriter Ne-Yo for the album. The first single from the album, "Cowboy Casanova", co-written by Underwood, Brett James and hip hop producer Mike Elizondo, was released in September, peaked at number one on ''Billboard'''s Hot Country Songs and at eleven on the Hot 100 Songs, sold 1.6 million and was certified Platinum by the RIAA. Second single, "Temporary Home" hit number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs and the RIAA certified it Gold. "Undo It", Underwood's third single from "Play On", was released to radio in May. It was later certified Platinum by the RIAA and hit number one on the Hot Country Songs chart, giving Underwood her 10th #1 single on the Hot Country Songs. The 4th single from Play On, Mama's Song, was released to country radio in September and peaked at two on the Hot Country Songs. The album is certified Double Platinum by the RIAA. The second leg of the tour started on September 25, 2010 in Portland, Oregon, and ended January 1, 2011 in Detroit, Michigan. Underwood sold out the prestigious Hollywood Bowl on October 2, 2010. In December 2010, Pollstar.com ranked the Play On Tour one of the Top 50 tours of 2010, at #18 on the North American raking, and #31 worldwide. ''Billboard'' also ranked Underwood's tour at #24 for all worldwide tours of 2010. On January 4, 2011, official statistics revealed that Underwood played to over 1 million fans throughout the tour.

At the 2009 CMA Awards she received two nominations and co-hosted the ceremony with Brad Paisley. Underwood was nominated for 6 Academy of Country Music Awards. At the show, Underwood was named Entertainer of the Year, making her the only country female artist in history to win this award twice. Host Reba McEntire presented Underwood with the "ACM Triple Crown Award" signifying her winning Top New Artist, Top Female Vocalist and Entertainer of the Year during her career. She was only the second Female to win the coveted "Triple Crown Award", the first being Barbara Mandrell. At the CMT Music Awards Underwood walked away with Video of the Year for "Cowboy Casanova". She also won CMT Performance of the Year for "Temporary Home" from CMT: Invitation Only presents Carrie Underwood. Underwood won two international awards at the 8th French Country Music Awards, wich were Best Female Vocalist and Video of the Year, for "Cowboy Casanova". At the 2010 American Music Awards, she won "Favorite Country Album", for "Play On", making her the only artist in the American Music Award history to have all albums awarded in such a category. She co-hosted the 2010 CMA Awards with Brad Paisley for the third year in a row. Underwood was the 2010 American Country Awards' top winner with six wins, Artist of the Year, Female Artist of the Year, Album of the Year for (''Play On''), Female Artist Single of the Year for ("Cowboy Casanova"), Female Artist Video of the Year for ("Cowboy Casanova") and Touring Artist of the Year. At the 2011 Grammy Awards, Underwood was nominated for 'Best Female Country Vocal Performance' for "Temporary Home." Underwood was honored by the CMT Artists of the Year special as one of the 5 top Artists of the year in 2010 in country music. The event aired on CMT on December 3, 2010. At the 2011 Academy of Country Music Awards, Underwood sang with Steven Tyler both her song "Undo It" and Aerosmith's "Walk This Way". In May 2011, Underwood was one of the seven women to be honered by the Academy of Country Music at the ''Girls' Night Out: Superstar Women of Country'' special. She was recognized for being the first and only female artist in the Academy's history to ever win Entertainer of the Year twice. At the ceremony, Vince Gill introduced Underwood and presented her with the special award. He sang one of her hits, "Jesus, Take The Wheel", and joined Underwood on a rendition performance of "How Great Thou Art". The video of the performance turned into a viral sensation, reaching 3 million views on YouTube within two days.

In late 2009, Underwood had her very own CMT Invitation Only and also hosted a Christmas special, ''Carrie Underwood: An All-Star Holiday Special'', a two-hour variety show on Fox that featured Dolly Parton, with whom she sang a rendition duet of "I Will Always Love You", seventh-season ''American Idol'' champion David Cook, Kristin Chenoweth, Brad Paisley and others. In May 2010, Underwood was selected on People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People List for 2010. This was the 4th year in a row that she was selected for this prestigious list. Also in May, Victoria's Secret named her legs the Sexiest Legs in Hollywood. Underwood appeared on the CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother". Her character, Tiffany, is a pharmaceutical sales representative who becomes the love interest for another main character on the show. A few months earlier, she performed a voice-over as 'Carrie Underworm', a parodied "worm" character, in an episode of the PBS children's television series, ''Sesame Street'', Underwood co-wrote and recorded a song entitled "There's a Place for Us," the lead single from ''The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader''. Underwood and songwriters, David Hodges and Hillary Lindsey, received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. In March 2011, Underwood sang John Lennon's "Instant Karma!" at the NBC's special ''All Together Now – A Celebration of Service'', which honored ex-President George H. W. Bush. She made her big screen debut in ''Soul Surfer'', in April 2011. At the season ten finale of ''American Idol'' Underwood selected a song for contestant Lauren Alaina to sing.

Carrie is featured on "Remind Me", a duet with Brad Paisley that reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs, giving Underwood her 11th #1 single on such chart and 14th overall. She has also a duet with Tony Bennett on his 2011 album ''Duets II'' and another duet with Randy Travis on his 2011 ''Anniversary Celebration'' album. Underwood will be one of the headliners of the iHeartRadio Music Festival. The event will take place on September 23 and 24, 2011.

Voice and Recognition

Carrie Underwood's voice spans up to a four octave vocal range. Since winning American Idol in 2005, Underwood's Voice has been hugely praised by the critics and celebrities some like Simon Cowell who said, "when she came into the room it was like everything went from black and white to color, Anything she sings sounds amazing." Randy Jackson commented on Jimmy Kimmel Live; "She's the best American Idol of all time." Another celebrity was Brad Paisley who said, "I think she's the best singer we have, maybe ever had, in any format"; while country music legend Vince Gill praised Underwood by saying, "The possibility of Carrie's longevity is through the roof. There are fine singers, and there are gifted, great singers, and she's one of those. Her vocal skills are unbelievable!". Loretta Lynn's stated: "Carrie's right on the beat. She's done it. She's great, she's a great singer." Dolly Parton's also praised Underwood: "She's the real thing", she says, "Another country gal like me who sings from the heart. I loved working with her and I love listening to her." Michael Jackson was also reported to have had "greatly admired Underwood", as stated by Grammy Award producer Ken Ehrlich.

Personal interests

Underwood is an animal lover and a vegetarian. She stopped eating meat at the age of thirteen because she could not stand the thought of eating one of her own animals. She was voted "World's Sexiest Vegetarian" by PETA in 2007 for the second time, the first being in 2005 alongside Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. In a 2007 interview with PETA, Underwood stated, "Ever since I was little I loved animals [...] If you told me I could never sing again, I'd say that was horrible, but it's not my life. If you told me I could never be around animals again, I would just die." Underwood is a supporter of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and has done several public service announcements for the organization. Underwood has also done a "Protect Your Pets" public service announcement for Do Something.

To benefit cancer research, in August 2008 Underwood joined Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige and other female artists to record the song "Just Stand Up!". The proceeds benefited Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C). As a result of their fund raising efforts, the SU2C scientific advisory committee, overseen by the American Association for Cancer Research was able to award $73.6 million towards novel, groundbreaking research. The song peaked at #11 on Billboard's Hot 100 Songs. In August 2009, she formed the Checotah Animal Town and School (C.A.T.S.) Foundation to benefit her hometown of Checotah, Oklahoma. On August 28, 2009, Underwood visited Checotah High School with ABC news anchor Robin Roberts, where she gave a presentation on stage, sang with a young girl in front of students and school faculty, and donated over $117,000 worth of musical instruments to three music programs at three of Checotah's schools. Underwood has participated in the annual City of Hope Celebrity Softball tournament for charity for many years. The event takes place in Nashville, Tennessee, and benefits research for life-threatening diseases.

Underwood has also stated she has a great interest in sports. In 2005, she performed the "Star-Spangled Banner" at Game 4 of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons, and in 2006 at the NBA All-Star Game. She also performed the "Star-Spangled Banner" at the NFC Championship Game between the Seattle Seahawks and Carolina Panthers in 2006, as well as at the 2006 edition of NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600, the MLB All Star Game in Pittsburgh, P.A., and at Game 3 of the 2007 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies. On February 7, 2010, Underwood performed the National Anthem for Super Bowl XLIV.

Personal life

Underwood performed at halftime of the 2006 Thanksgiving Day football game at Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas, and was friends with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo. She attended his birthday party in April 2007, and on May 15, 2007, he escorted her to the Academy of Country Music Awards. They were rumored to be dating on and off throughout 2007. Although she denied the rumor when asked, Romo confirmed it by saying "[...] I'm dating Carrie Underwood" on his website. He also told an Illinois newspaper that they were dating. In August 2007, Underwood began dating Chace Crawford of the American television series ''Gossip Girl''. On October 4, 2007, ''People'' magazine reported that the two were seen holding hands in New York City, though according to further reports, they ended their relationship in the spring of 2008.

She became engaged in December 2009 to then Ottawa Senators (now Nashville Predators) hockey player Mike Fisher, whom she began dating after they met at one of her concerts in 2008. Underwood and Fisher appeared together publicly for the first time in January 2010, at the Bell Sens Soiree, an annual fundraiser in Gatineau for the Ottawa Senators' official charity. After appearing together at the CMT Awards in June 2010, Underwood told reporters that Fisher was planning a surprise honeymoon for the two of them after their summer wedding.

On July 10, 2010, Underwood and Fisher wed at the Ritz Carlton Resort at Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Georgia, with more than 250 people in attendance. The couple gave ''People'' the following statement, which they signed "Mike & Carrie Fisher": "We could not feel more blessed to have found each other and to have shared this day with our friends and family that mean so much to us!" According to ''People'', Monique Lhuillier created a dress of Chantilly lace for Underwood and also designed the bridesmaids' dresses. The ceremony featured classical music and readings of the couple's favorite Bible verses. National Hockey League players, as well as Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Garth Brooks, ''American Idol'' contestants, and judges Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson were in attendance. She surprised her husband by having one of their favorite artists, Brandon Heath, sing his song "Love Never Fails" for their first dance.

On February 11, 2011, 105.3 CISS-FM, an Ottawa radio station, banned Underwood's music to be played because her husband, Mike Fisher, was traded to the Nashville Predators the day before. Due to Underwood's fans' threats to never tune into the radio station on Facebook, the station later modified their statements. They apologized for their actions, saying that their statements were meant to be taken as a joke as they do not play Underwood's country songs anyway and was their tongue-in-cheek way of wishing Mike Fisher the best of luck in Nashville. Mike Fisher later criticized the station saying "obviously Carrie had nothing to do with the move or the trade or anything so to imply something like that was just wrong", and both he and Underwood were disappointed in the negativity that was created by the radio station.

Discography

2005: ''Some Hearts''

2007: ''Carnival Ride''

2009: ''Play On''

Filmography

!Year	!Appearance	!Role
2005	''American Idol''	Herself – Winner
2009	''Carrie Underwood: An All-Star Holiday Special''	Herself
	''How I Met Your Mother''	Tiffany
''Sesame Street''	"Carrie Underworm"
''The Buried Life''	Herself
''Extreme Makeover: Home Edition''	Herself
		Sarah Hill
''Blue Bloods''	Herself

Tours

2005: American Idols LIVE! Tour 2005

2006: Carrie Underwood: Live 2006

2008: Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride Tour (w/ Keith Urban)

2008: Carnival Ride Tour

2010: Play On Tour

Awards

List of awards received by Carrie Underwood

See also

List of artists who reached number one in the United States

List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. country chart

List of best-selling music artists in the United States

List of best-charting music artists in the U.S.

References

Bibliography

Tracey, Kathleen. ''Carrie Underwood: American Idol IV''. September 2005. Blue Banner Biography series (Juvenile) ISBN 1-58415-425-X

Footnotes

External links

Official site of Carrie Underwood from Arista Records

Carrie Underwood at Billboard.com

Category:1983 births Category:Living people Category:People from Muskogee, Oklahoma Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American female singers Category:American pianists Category:American female guitarists Category:American country guitarists Category:American Idol winners Category:American singers of Native American descent Category:American vegans Category:Arista Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:Northeastern State University alumni Category:Musicians from Oklahoma Category:American Christians Category:Baptists from the United States Category:Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame inductees

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Coordinates	46°07′58″N64°46′17″N
Name	Brad Pitt
Alt	A Caucasian with light brown hair, blue eyes, and a mustache and short brown beard, in front of a turquoise background. He is wearing a white shirt and white hat.
Birth name	William Bradley Pitt
Birth date	December 18, 1963
Birth place	Shawnee, Oklahoma, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Missouri
Occupation	Actor, producer
Spouse	(divorced)
Partner	Angelina Jolie (2005–present)
Children	6 }}

William Bradley "Brad" Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received three Academy Award nominations and five Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one Golden Globe. He has been described as one of the world's most attractive men, a label for which he has received substantial media attention.

Pitt began his acting career with television guest appearances, including a role on the CBS prime-time soap opera ''Dallas'' in 1987. He later gained recognition as the cowboy hitchhiker who seduces Geena Davis's character in the 1991 road movie ''Thelma & Louise''. Pitt's first leading roles in big-budget productions came with ''A River Runs Through It'' (1992) and ''Interview with the Vampire'' (1994). He was cast opposite Anthony Hopkins in the 1994 drama ''Legends of the Fall'', which earned him his first Golden Globe nomination. In 1995 he gave critically acclaimed performances in the crime thriller ''Seven'' and the science fiction film ''12 Monkeys'', the latter securing him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and an Academy Award nomination. Four years later, in 1999, Pitt starred in the cult hit ''Fight Club''. He then starred as Rusty Ryan in the major international hit ''Ocean's Eleven'' (2001) and its sequels, ''Ocean's Twelve'' (2004) and ''Ocean's Thirteen'' (2007). His greatest commercial successes have been ''Troy'' (2004) and ''Mr. & Mrs. Smith'' (2005). Pitt received his second Academy Award nomination for his title role performance in the 2008 film ''The Curious Case of Benjamin Button''.

Following a high-profile relationship with actress Gwyneth Paltrow, Pitt was married to actress Jennifer Aniston for five years. Pitt lives with actress Angelina Jolie in a relationship that has attracted wide publicity. He and Jolie have six children—Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne. Since beginning his relationship with Jolie, he has become increasingly involved in social issues both in the United States and internationally. Pitt owns a production company named Plan B Entertainment, whose productions include ''The Departed'' (2006), which won an Academy Award for Best Picture.

Early life

William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is the son of Jane Etta (née Hillhouse), a high school counselor, and William Alvin Pitt, a truck company owner, and was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma. The family soon moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he lived together with his younger siblings, Doug (born 1966) and Julie Neal (born 1969). He was raised as Southern Baptist in a conservative household.

Pitt attended Kickapoo High School, where he was a member of the basketball, golf, tennis, wrestling and swimming teams. He participated in the school's Key and Forensics clubs, in school debates, and in musicals. Following his graduation from high school, Pitt enrolled in the University of Missouri in 1982, majoring in journalism, with a focus on advertising. As a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, he acted in several fraternity shows. As graduation approached, Pitt did not feel ready to settle down. He loved films—"a portal into different worlds for me"—and, since films were not made in Missouri, he decided to go to where they were made. Two weeks before earning his degree, Pitt left the university and moved to Los Angeles, where he took acting lessons and worked odd jobs.

Career

Early work

While struggling to establish himself in Los Angeles, Pitt took lessons from acting coach Roy London.

Pitt's onscreen career began in 1987, with uncredited parts in the films ''No Way Out'', ''No Man's Land'' and ''Less Than Zero''. His television debut came in May 1987 with a two-episode role on the NBC soap opera ''Another World''. In November of the same year Pitt had a guest appearance on the ABC sitcom ''Growing Pains''. He appeared in four episodes of the CBS primetime series ''Dallas'' between December 1987 and February 1988 as Randy, the boyfriend of Charlie Wade (played by Shalane McCall). Pitt described his character as "an idiot boyfriend who gets caught in the hay." Speaking of his scenes with McCall, Pitt later said, "It was kind of wild, because I'd never even met her before." Later in 1988, Pitt made a guest appearance on the Fox police drama ''21 Jump Street''.

In the same year, the Yugoslavian–U.S. co-production ''The Dark Side of the Sun'' (1988) gave Pitt his first leading film role, as a young American taken by his family to the Adriatic to find a remedy for a skin condition. The film was shelved at the outbreak of the Croatian War of Independence, and was not released until 1997. Pitt made two motion picture appearances in 1989: the first in a supporting role in the comedy ''Happy Together''; the second a featured role in the horror film ''Cutting Class'', the first of Pitt's films to reach theaters. He made guest appearances on television series ''Head of the Class'', ''Freddy's Nightmares'', ''Thirtysomething'', and (for a second time) ''Growing Pains''.

Pitt was cast as Billy Canton, a drug addict who takes advantage of a young runaway (played by Juliette Lewis) in the 1990 NBC television movie ''Too Young to Die?'', the story of an abused teenager sentenced to death for a murder. Ken Tucker, television reviewer for ''Entertainment Weekly'' wrote: "Pitt is a magnificent slimeball as her hoody boyfriend; looking and sounding like a malevolent John Cougar Mellencamp, he's really scary." The same year, Pitt co-starred in six episodes of the short-lived Fox drama ''Glory Days'', and took a supporting role in the HBO television movie ''The Image''. His next appearance came in the 1991 film ''Across the Tracks''; Pitt portrayed Joe Maloney, a high school runner with a criminal brother, played by Ricky Schroder.

After years of supporting roles in movies and frequent television guest appearances, Pitt attracted wider recognition in his supporting role in the 1991 road film ''Thelma & Louise''. He played J.D., a small-time criminal who befriends Thelma (Geena Davis). His love scene with Davis has been cited as the event that defined Pitt as a sex symbol.

After ''Thelma & Louise'', Pitt starred in the 1991 film ''Johnny Suede'', a low-budget picture about an aspiring rock star, and the 1992 film ''Cool World'', although neither furthered his career, having poor reviews and box office performance.

Pitt took the role of Paul Maclean in the 1992 biographical film ''A River Runs Through It'', directed by Robert Redford. His portrayal of the character has been described as a career-making performance, proving that Pitt could be more than a "cowboy-hatted hunk." He has admitted to feeling under pressure when making the film and thought it one of his "weakest performances ... It's so weird that it ended up being the one that I got the most attention for." Pitt believed that he benefited from working with such a talented cast and crew. He compared working with Redford to playing tennis with a superior player, saying "when you play with somebody better than you, your game gets better."

In 1993, Pitt reunited with Juliette Lewis for the road film ''Kalifornia''. He played Early Grayce, a serial killer and the boyfriend of Lewis's character in a performance described by Peter Travers of ''Rolling Stone'' as "outstanding, all boyish charm and then a snort that exudes pure menace." Pitt also garnered attention for a brief appearance in the cult hit ''True Romance'' as a stoner named Floyd, providing much needed comic relief to the action film. He capped the year by winning a ShoWest Award for Male Star of Tomorrow.

Critical success

1994 marked a significant turning point in Pitt's career. Starring as the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac in the feature film ''Interview with the Vampire'', based on Anne Rice's 1976 novel of the same name, he was part of an ensemble cast that included Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst, Christian Slater, and Antonio Banderas. Despite his winning two MTV Movie Awards at the 1995 ceremony, his performance was poorly received. According to the ''Dallas Observer'', "Brad Pitt ... is a large part of the problem [in the film]. When directors play up his cocky, hunkish, folksy side ... he's a joy to watch. But there's nothing about him that suggests inner torment or even self-awareness, which makes him a boring Louis."

Following the release of ''Interview with the Vampire'', Pitt starred in ''Legends of the Fall'' (1994), based on a novel by the same name by Jim Harrison, set in the American West during the first four decades of the twentieth century. Portraying Tristan Ludlow, son of Colonel William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins) a Cornish immigrant, Pitt received his first Golden Globe Award nomination, in the Best Actor category. Aidan Quinn and Henry Thomas co-starred as Pitt's brothers. Although the film's reception was mixed, many film critics praised Pitt's performance. Janet Maslin of ''The New York Times'' said, "Pitt's diffident mix of acting and attitude works to such heartthrob perfection it's a shame the film's superficiality gets in his way." The ''Deseret News'' predicted that ''Legends of the Fall'' would solidify Pitt's reputation as a lead actor.

In 1995, Pitt starred alongside Morgan Freeman and Gwyneth Paltrow in the crime thriller ''Seven,'' playing a detective on the trail of a serial killer (played by Kevin Spacey). Pitt called it a great movie and declared the part would expand his acting horizons. He expressed his intent to move on from "this 'pretty boy' thing [...] and play someone with flaws." His performance was critically well received, with ''Variety'' saying that it was screen acting at its best, further remarking on Pitt's ability to turn in a "determined, energetic, creditable job" as the detective. ''Seven'' earned $327 million at the international box office.

Following the success of ''Seven'', Pitt took a supporting role as Jeffrey Goines in Terry Gilliam's 1995 science-fiction film ''12 Monkeys''. The movie received predominantly positive reviews, with Pitt praised in particular. Janet Maslin of the ''New York Times'' called ''Twelve Monkeys'' "fierce and disturbing" and remarked on Pitt's "startlingly frenzied performance", concluding that he "electrifies Jeffrey with a weird magnetism that becomes important later in the film." He won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film and received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

The following year he had a role in the legal drama ''Sleepers'' (1996), based on Lorenzo Carcaterra's novel of the same name. The film received mixed reviews. In the 1997 movie ''The Devil's Own'' Pitt starred, opposite Harrison Ford, as the Irish Republican Army terrorist Rory Devany, a role for which he was required to learn an Irish accent. Critical opinion was divided on his accent; "Pitt finds the right tone of moral ambiguity, but at times his Irish brogue is too convincing – it's hard to understand what he's saying", wrote the ''San Francisco Chronicle.'' ''The Charleston Gazette'' opined that it had favored Pitt's accent over the movie. ''The Devil's Own'' grossed $140 million worldwide, but was a critical failure. Later that year he led as Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer in the Jean-Jacques Annaud film ''Seven Years in Tibet''. Pitt trained for months for the role, which demanded significant mountain climbing and trekking practice, including rock climbing in California and the European Alps with his co-star David Thewlis. The film received mostly negative reviews, and was generally considered a disappointment.

Pitt had the lead role in 1998's ''Meet Joe Black''. He portrayed a personification of death inhabiting the body of a young man to learn what it is like to be human. The film received mixed reviews, and many were critical of Pitt's performance. According to Mick LaSalle of the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', Pitt was unable to "to make an audience believe that he knows all the mysteries of death and eternity." Roger Ebert stated "Pitt is a fine actor, but this performance is a miscalculation."

From 1999 to 2003

In 1999, Pitt portrayed Tyler Durden, an uncompromising and charismatic individual, in ''Fight Club'', a film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel of the same name, directed by David Fincher. Pitt prepared for the part with lessons in boxing, taekwondo, and grappling. To look the part, Pitt consented to the removal of pieces of his front teeth which were restored when filming ended. While promoting ''Fight Club'', Pitt said that the film explored not taking one's aggressions out on someone else but to "have an experience, take a punch more and see how you come out on the other end." ''Fight Club'' premiered at the 1999 Venice International Film Festival. Despite divided critical opinion on the film as a whole, Pitt's performance was widely praised. Paul Clinton of CNN noted the risky yet successful nature of the film, while ''Variety'' remarked upon Pitt's ability to be "cool, charismatic and more dynamically physical, perhaps than [...] his breakthrough role in ''Thelma and Louise''". In spite of a worse-than-expected box office performance, ''Fight Club'' became a cult classic after its DVD release in 2000.

Following ''Fight Club'', Pitt was cast as an Irish Gypsy boxer with a barely intelligible accent in Guy Ritchie's 2000 gangster film ''Snatch''. Several reviewers were critical of ''Snatch''; however, most praised Pitt. Mick LaSalle of the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' said Pitt was "ideally cast as an Irishman whose accent is so thick even Brits can't understand him", going on to say that, before ''Snatch'', Pitt had been "shackled by roles that called for brooding introspection, but recently he has found his calling in black comic outrageousness and flashy extroversion;" while Amy Taubin of ''The Village Voice'' claimed that "Pitt gets maximum comic mileage out of a one-joke role".

The following year Pitt starred opposite Julia Roberts in the romantic comedy ''The Mexican'', a film that garnered a range of reviews but enjoyed box office success. Pitt's next role, in 2001's $143 million-grossing Cold War thriller ''Spy Game'', was as Tom Bishop, an operative of the CIA's Special Activities Division, mentored by Robert Redford's character. Mark Holcomb of Salon.com enjoyed the film, although he noted that neither Pitt nor Redford provided "much of an emotional connection for the audience". On November 22, 2001, Pitt made a guest appearance in the eighth season of the television series ''Friends'', playing a man with a grudge against Rachel Green, played by Jennifer Aniston, to whom Pitt was married at the time. For this performance he was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. In December 2001, Pitt had the role of Rusty Ryan in the heist film ''Ocean's Eleven'', a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack original. He joined an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy García, and Julia Roberts. Well-received by critics, ''Ocean's Eleven'' was successful at the box office, earning $450 million worldwide.

Pitt appeared in two episodes of MTV's reality series ''Jackass'' in February 2002, first running through the streets of Los Angeles with several cast members in gorilla suits, and participating in his own staged abduction in another episode. In the same year, Pitt had a cameo role in George Clooney's directorial debut ''Confessions of a Dangerous Mind''. He took on his first voice-acting roles in 2003, speaking as the titular character of the DreamWorks animated film ''Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas'' and playing Boomhauer's brother, Patch, in an episode of the animated television series ''King of the Hill''.

After 2003

Pitt had two major film roles in 2004, starring as Achilles in ''Troy'', and making a second appearance as Rusty Ryan, in the sequel ''Ocean's Twelve''. He spent six months sword training before the filming of ''Troy'', based on the ''Iliad''. An on-set injury to his Achilles tendon delayed production on the picture for several weeks. With a total worldwide gross of $497 million, ''Troy'' remains Pitt's most commercially successful picture to date. The film earned $364 million outside the U.S. and $133 million domestically. Stephen Hunter of ''The Washington Times'' stated that Pitt excelled at such a demanding role. ''Ocean's Twelve'' earned $362 million worldwide, and Pitt and Clooney's dynamic was described (by CNN's Paul Clinton) as "the best male chemistry since Paul Newman and Robert Redford."

In 2005, Pitt starred in the Doug Liman-directed action comedy ''Mr. & Mrs. Smith'', in which a bored married couple discover that each is an assassin sent to kill the other. The feature received reasonable reviews but was generally lauded for the chemistry between Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who played his character's wife Jane Smith. The ''Star Tribune'' noted that "while the story feels haphazard, the movie gets by on gregarious charm, galloping energy and the stars' thermonuclear screen chemistry." ''Mr. & Mrs. Smith'' earned $478 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest hits of 2005.

For his next feature film, Pitt starred opposite Cate Blanchett in Alejandro González Iñárritu's multi-narrative drama ''Babel'' (2006). Pitt's performance was critically well-received, and the ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' said that he was credible and gave the film visibility. Pitt later said he regarded taking the part as one of the best decisions of his career. The film was screened at a special presentation at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and was later featured at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. ''Babel'' received seven Academy and Golden Globe award nominations, winning the Best Drama Golden Globe, and earned Pitt a nomination for the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe.

Reprising his role as Rusty Ryan in a third picture, Pitt starred in 2007's ''Ocean's Thirteen''. While less lucrative than the first two films, this sequel earned $311 million at the international box office. Pitt's next film role was as American outlaw Jesse James in the 2007 Western drama ''The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'', adapted from Ron Hansen's 1983 novel of the same name. Directed by Andrew Dominik and produced by Pitt's company Plan B, the film premiered at the 2007 Venice Film Festival, with Pitt playing a "scary and charismatic" role, according to Lewis Beale of ''Film Journal International'', and earning Pitt the Volpi Cup award for Best Actor at the 64th Venice International Film Festival. Although Pitt attended the festival to promote the film, he left early after being attacked by a fan who pushed through his bodyguards. He eventually collected the award one year later at the 2008 festival.

Pitt's next appearance was in the 2008 black comedy ''Burn After Reading'', his first collaboration with the Coen brothers. The film received a positive reception from critics, with ''The Guardian'' calling it "a tightly wound, slickly plotted spy comedy", noting that Pitt's performance was one of the funniest. He was later cast as Benjamin Button, the lead in David Fincher's 2008 film ''The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'', a loosely adapted version of a 1921 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story follows a man who is born an octogenarian and ages in reverse, with Pitt's "sensitive" performance making ''Benjamin Button'' a "timeless masterpiece," according to Michael Sragow of ''The Baltimore Sun''. The performance earned Pitt his first Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, as well as a fourth Golden Globe and second Academy Award nomination, all in the category for Best Actor. The film received thirteen Academy Award nominations in total, and grossed $329 million at the box office worldwide.

Since 2008, Pitt's work has included a leading role in Quentin Tarantino's ''Inglourious Basterds'', released in August 2009 at a special presentation at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Pitt played Lieutenant Aldo Raine, an American resistance fighter battling Nazis in German-occupied France. The film was a box office hit, taking $311 million worldwide, and garnered generally favorable reviews. The film received multiple awards and nominations, including eight Academy Award nominations and seven MTV Movie Award nominations, including Best Male Performance for Pitt. He voiced the superhero character Metro Man in the 2010 animated feature ''Megamind''. Pitt appeared in Terrence Malick's drama ''The Tree of Life'', co-starring Sean Penn, which won the Palme d'Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. He has signed on to appear as a British explorer searching for a mysterious Amazonian civilization in ''The Lost City of Z'', based on David Grann's 2009 book of the same name. In a performance that attracted strong praise, he portrayed the Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane in the drama ''Moneyball'', which is based on the 2003 book of the same name written by Michael Lewis. ''Moneyball'' received six Academy Award nominations including Best Actor for Pitt.

Other projects

Film and television work

Along with Jennifer Aniston and Brad Grey, CEO of Paramount Pictures, Pitt founded the film production company Plan B Entertainment in 2002, although Aniston and Grey withdrew in 2005. The company has produced several films, including ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' starring Johnny Depp in 2005, as well as 2007's ''The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'' and ''A Mighty Heart'', starring Angelina Jolie. Plan B was also involved in producing ''The Departed'', the winner of the 2007 Academy Award for Best Picture. Pitt was credited onscreen as a producer; however, only Graham King was ruled eligible for the Oscar win. Pitt has been reluctant to discuss the production company in interviews.

Pitt has appeared in several television commercials: one for the U.S. market, a Heineken commercial aired during the 2005 Super Bowl; it was directed by David Fincher, who had directed Pitt in ''Seven'', ''Fight Club'' and ''The Curious Case of Benjamin Button''. Other commercial appearances came in television spots designed for Asian markets, advertising such products as the Acura Integra, in which he was featured opposite Russian model Tatiana Sorokko, as well as SoftBank and Edwin Jeans.

Humanitarian causes

Pitt supports the ONE Campaign, an organization aimed at combating AIDS and poverty in the developing world. He narrated the 2005 PBS public television series ''Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge'', which discusses current global health issues and traveled to Pakistan in November 2005 with Angelina Jolie to see the impact of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. The following year Pitt and Jolie flew to Haiti, where they visited a school supported by Yéle Haïti, a charity founded by Haitian-born hip hop musician Wyclef Jean. In May 2007, Pitt and Jolie donated $1 million to three organizations in Chad and Sudan dedicated to those affected by the crisis in the Darfur region. Along with Clooney, Damon, Don Cheadle, and Jerry Weintraub, Pitt is one of the founders of "Not On Our Watch", an organization that tries to focus global attention and resources to stop and prevent genocides such as that in Darfur.

Pitt has a sustained interest in architecture and has narrated ''Design e2'', a PBS television series focused on worldwide efforts to build environmentally friendly structures through sustainable architecture and design. He founded the Make It Right Foundation in 2006, organizing housing professionals in New Orleans to finance and construct 150 sustainable, affordable new houses in New Orleans's Ninth Ward following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. The project involves 13 architectural firms and the environmental organization Global Green USA, with several of the firms donating their services. Pitt and philanthropist Steve Bing have each committed $5 million in donations. The first six homes were completed in October 2008, and in September 2009 Pitt received an award in recognition of the project from the U.S. Green Building Council, a non-profit trade organization that promotes sustainability in how buildings are designed, built and operated. Pitt met with U.S. President Barack Obama and Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi in March 2009 to promote his concept of ''green housing'' as a national model and to discuss federal funding possibilities.

In September 2006, Pitt and Jolie established a charitable organization, the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, to aid humanitarian causes around the world. The foundation made initial donations of $1 million each to Global Action for Children and Doctors Without Borders, followed by an October 2006 donation of $100,000 to the Daniel Pearl Foundation, an organization created in memory of the late American journalist Daniel Pearl. According to federal filings, Pitt and Jolie invested $8.5 million into the foundation in 2006; it gave away $2.4 million in 2006 and $3.4 million in 2007. In June 2009 the Jolie-Pitt Foundation donated $1 million to a U.N. refugee agency to help Pakistanis displaced by fighting between troops and Taliban militants. In January 2010 the foundation donated $1 million to Doctors Without Borders for emergency medical assistance to help victims of the Haiti earthquake.

In the media

Pitt's sex appeal has been picked up by many sources including ''Empire'', who named him one of the 25 sexiest stars in film history in 1995. The same year, Pitt won ''People'''s Sexiest Man Alive, an accolade he won again in 2000. Pitt appeared on ''Forbes'''s annual Celebrity 100 list of the 100 most powerful celebrities in 2006, 2007, and 2008, at No. 20, No. 5, and No. 10 respectively. In 2007 he was listed among the Time 100, a compilation of the 100 most influential people in the world, as selected annually by ''TIME''. The magazine credited Pitt with using "his star power to get people to look [to where] cameras don't usually catch". Pitt was again included in the Time 100 in 2009, this time in the Builders and Titans list.

Pitt visited the University of Missouri campus in October 2004 to encourage students to vote in the 2004 U.S. presidential election, in which he supported John Kerry. Later in October he publicly supported the principle of public funding for embryonic stem-cell research. "We have to make sure that we open up these avenues so that our best and our brightest can go find these cures that they believe they will find," he said. In support of this he endorsed Proposition 71, a California ballot initiative intended to provide federal government funding for stem-cell research.

Starting in 2005, Pitt's relationship with Angelina Jolie became one of the most reported celebrity stories worldwide. After confirming that Jolie was pregnant in early 2006, the unprecedented media hype surrounding the couple reached what Reuters, in a story titled "The Brangelina fever," called "the point of insanity". To avoid media attention the couple flew to Namibia for the birth of their daughter Shiloh, "the most anticipated baby since Jesus Christ." Similarly intense media interest greeted the announcement two years later of Jolie's second pregnancy; for the two weeks Jolie spent in a seaside hospital in Nice, reporters and photographers camped outside on the promenade to report on the birth.

In September 2008 Pitt donated $100,000 to the campaign against California's 2008 ballot proposition Proposition 8, an initiative to overturn the state Supreme Court decision that had legalized same-sex marriage. Pitt stated his reasons for the stance: "Because no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn't harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8."

Personal life

Relationships

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Pitt was involved in successive relationships with several of his co-stars, including Robin Givens (''Head of the Class''), Jill Schoelen (''Cutting Class''), and Juliette Lewis (''Too Young to Die?'' and ''Kalifornia''), who, at the age of 16, was ten years his junior when they started dating. In addition, Pitt had a much-publicized romance and engagement to his ''Seven'' co-star Gwyneth Paltrow, whom he dated from 1994 to 1997.

Pitt met ''Friends'' actress Jennifer Aniston in 1998 and married her in a private wedding ceremony in Malibu on July 29, 2000. For years their marriage was considered a rare Hollywood success; however, in January 2005, Pitt and Aniston announced that they had decided formally to separate after seven years together. Two months later Aniston filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. Pitt and Aniston's divorce was finalized by the Los Angeles Superior Court on October 2, 2005, legally ending their marriage. Despite media reports that Pitt and Aniston have an acrimonious relationship, Pitt said in a February 2009 interview that he and Aniston "check in with each other", adding that they were both big parts of each others' lives.

During Pitt's divorce from Aniston, his involvement with his ''Mr. & Mrs. Smith'' co-star Angelina Jolie attracted vigorous media attention. While Pitt denied claims of adultery, he admitted that he "fell in love" with Jolie on the set. In April 2005, one month after Aniston filed for divorce, a set of paparazzi photographs emerged showing Pitt, Jolie and her son Maddox at a beach in Kenya; the pictures were construed in the press as evidence of a relationship between Pitt and Jolie. During the summer of 2005, the two were seen together with increasing frequency, and the entertainment media dubbed the couple "Brangelina". On January 11, 2006, Jolie confirmed to ''People'' that she was pregnant with Pitt's child, thereby publicly acknowledging their relationship for the first time.

In an October 2006 interview with ''Esquire'', Pitt said that he and Jolie would marry when everyone in America is legally able to marry. He reaffirmed his stance to ''Parade'' in August 2009, and again to ''People'' in July 2011. In February 2010, Pitt and Jolie successfully sued British tabloid ''News of the World'' for falsely reporting that they were separating, a story that had been widely picked up by credible media outlets.

Children

In July 2005, Pitt accompanied Jolie to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where she adopted her second child, six-month-old Zahara Marley, a decision which Jolie later stated she and Pitt had made together. Pitt's publicist announced in December 2005 that Pitt was seeking to legally adopt Jolie's two children, Zahara and Cambodia-born Maddox Chivan. On January 19, 2006, a California judge granted Jolie's request to change the children's surnames from "Jolie" to "Jolie-Pitt". The adoptions were finalized soon after.

Jolie gave birth to daughter Shiloh Nouvel in Swakopmund, Namibia, on May 27, 2006. Pitt confirmed that their newborn daughter would have a Namibian passport. The couple sold the first pictures of Shiloh through the distributor Getty Images; the North American rights were purchased by ''People'' for over $4.1 million, while ''Hello!'' obtained the British rights for approximately $3.5 million. The proceeds from the sale were donated to charities serving African children. Madame Tussauds in New York unveiled a wax figure of two-month-old Shiloh; it marked the first time an infant was recreated in wax by Madame Tussauds.

On March 15, 2007, Jolie adopted three-year-old Pax Thien from an orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Since Vietnam does not allow unmarried couples to adopt, Jolie adopted Pax as a single parent. In April 2007, Jolie filed a request to legally change her son's surname from "Jolie" to "Jolie-Pitt", which was approved on May 31, 2007. The rights for the first post-adoption images of Pax were sold to ''People'' for a reported $2 million, as well as to ''Hello!'' for an undisclosed amount. Pitt adopted Pax in the United States on February 21, 2008.

At the Cannes Film Festival in May 2008, Jolie confirmed that she was expecting twins. She gave birth to son Knox Léon and daughter Vivienne Marcheline on July 12, 2008 in Nice, France. The rights for the first images of Knox and Vivienne were jointly sold to ''People'' and ''Hello!'' for $14 million—the most expensive celebrity pictures ever taken. The couple donated the proceeds to the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.

Religion

In an October 2007 interview, Pitt revealed that he is no longer a Christian and does not believe in an afterlife. "There's peace in understanding that I have only one life, here and now, and I'm responsible." In a July 2009 interview he said that he did not believe in God, and that he was "probably 20 percent atheist and 80 percent agnostic."

Filmography

Actor

! Year	! Film	! Role	Notes
1987		Officer at party
1987		Waiter
1987		Partygoer
1987		Chris	Appeared on the May 14 and 15, 1987 episodes
1987	''Growing Pains''	Jeff	Episodes: "List of Growing Pains episodes#Season 3: 1987-1988
1987–88		Randy	4 episodes
1988	''[[21 Jump Street''	Peter	Episode: "Best Years of Your Life"
1987		Brian
1987	''Cutting Class''	Dwight Ingalls
1987	''Head of the Class''	Chuck	Episode: "Partners"
1987	''Freddy's Nightmares''	Rick Austin	Episode: "Black Tickets"
1990	''''	Cameraman	TV movie
1990	''Too Young to Die?''	Billy Canton	TV movie
1990	''Glory Days''	Walker Lovejoy	6 episodes
1991	''Across the Tracks''	Joe Maloney
1991	''Thelma & Louise''	J.D.
1991	''Johnny Suede''	Johnny Suede
1992	''Contact''	Cox
1992	''Cool World''	Detective Frank Harris
1992	''''	Paul Maclean
1993	''Kalifornia''	Early Grayce
1993	''True Romance''	Floyd
1994	''''	Elliott Fowler
1994		Louis de Pointe du Lac	MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - MaleMTV Movie Award for Most Desirable MaleNominated–MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo shared with Tom CruiseNominated–Saturn Award for Best Actor
1994	''Legends of the Fall''	Tristan Ludlow	Nominated–Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1995		David Mills	MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable MaleNominated–MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo shared with Morgan FreemanNominated–MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - Male
1995	''12 Monkeys''	Jeffrey Goines
1996		Michael Sullivan
1997	''''	Francis "Frankie" Austin McQuire/Rory Devaney
1997		Heinrich Harrer
1997	''''	Rick
1998	''Meet Joe Black''	Joe Black/Man in the Coffee Shop
1999	''Fight Club''
1999	''Being John Malkovich''	Himself	Cameo
2000		Mickey O'Neil	Nominated–Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
2001	''''	Jerry Welbach
2001	''Spy Game''	Tom Bishop
2001	''''	Rusty Ryan
2001	''Friends''	Will Colbert
2002		Himself
2002	''Confessions of a Dangerous Mind''	Brad, Bachelor No.1
2003	''Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas''		Voice
2003		Himself	Cameo
2004		Achilles
2004	''''	Rusty Ryan	Nominated–Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
2005		John Smith
2006		Richard
2007	''''	Rusty Ryan
2007	''''	Jesse James
2008	''Burn After Reading''	Chad Feldheimer
2008	''''	Benjamin Button
2009	''Inglourious Basterds''	Lt. Aldo Raine
2010	''Megamind''	Metro Man	Voice
2011	''''	Mr. O'Brien
2011		Billy Beane
2011	''Happy Feet Two''	Will the Krill	Nominated – Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Actor of the Year
2012	''Cogan's Trade''	Jack Cogan	Post-production
2012		Gerry Lane	Post-production

Producer

! Year	! Film	Notes
2006	''God Grew Tired of Us''	Executive producer
2006	''''	Nominated–BAFTA Award for Best Film
2006
2007	''''	Executive producer
2007		Executive producer
2007	''''	Nominated–Independent Spirit Award for Best Film
2007	''''
2008	''Pretty/Handsome''	Executive producer (TV)
2009	''''	Executive producer
2009	''''	Executive producer
2010
2010	''Eat Pray Love''
2011	''''	Palme d'Or
2011		Nominated – Academy Award for Best Picture
2012	''Cogan's Trade''
2012

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Not On Our Watch – Founded by: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Jerry Weintraub

Category:1963 births Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors from Oklahoma Category:American agnostics Category:American film actors Category:American film producers Category:American television actors Category:American vegans Category:American voice actors Category:Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Former Baptists Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:Living people Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:People from Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma Category:University of Missouri alumni Category:Volpi Cup winners

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