Phase or phases may refer to:

In science

In physics

Phase (matter), a physically distinctive form of a substance, such as the solid, liquid, and gaseous states of ordinary matter

*Phase transition is the transformation of a thermodynamic system from one phase to another

Phase (separation science)

*Mobile phase and Stationary phase in chromatography

*Aqueous phase and organic phase in liquid-liquid extraction

Phase (waves), the initial angle of a sinusoidal function at its origin

Polyphase system, a means of distributing alternating current electric power in multiple conducting wires with definite phase offsets

*Single-phase electric power

*Three-phase electric power

**Three-phase, the mathematics of three-phase electric power

Phase problem, the loss of information (the phase) from a physical measurement

Phase factor, a complex scalar used in quantum mechanics

Continuous Fourier transform, the angle of a complex coefficient representing the phase of one sinusoidal component

Instantaneous phase, generalization for both cyclic and non-cyclic phenomena

In other sciences

Archaeological phase, a discrete period of occupation at an archaeological site

Lunar phase, the appearance of the Moon as viewed from the Earth

Planetary phase, the appearance of the illuminated section of a planet

In biology, a part of the cell cycle in which cells divide and reproduce

Color phase, in biology, a group of individuals within a species with a particular coloration

In entertainment

Phase (band), an alternative rock band

"Phases" (''Buffy'' episode), an episode of the TV series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''

Phases (.hack), fictional monsters in the .hack franchise

Phase IV, a 1974 science fiction movie directed by Saul Bass

Phase, an incarnation of the DC Comics character usually known as Phantom Girl

Other uses

Phase (syntax), a syntactic domain hypothesized by Noam Chomsky

Phase 10, a card game created by Fundex Games

Phase (video game), a music game for the iPod developed by Harmonix Music Systems

Phase (combat) usually a period of combat within a larger military operation

A musical composition using Steve Reich's phasing technique

See also

Phasing (disambiguation)

Faze (disambiguation)

Phaser (disambiguation)

Phasor (disambiguation)

FASOR (disambiguation)

bg:Фаза (пояснение) ca:Fase cs:Fáze da:Fase de:Phase es:Fase fa:فاز fr:Phase gl:Fase hr:Faza id:Fase it:Fase he:פאזה lv:Fāze ms:Fasa ro:Fază nl:Fase ja:フェーズ no:Fase nds:Phaas pl:Faza pt:Fase (desambiguação) ru:Фаза sk:Fáza sl:Faza sr:Фаза su:Fase sv:Fas th:เฟส uk:Фаза vi:Pha

Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich (; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimalist music. His innovations include using tape loops to create phasing patterns (examples are his early compositions, "It's Gonna Rain" and "Come Out"), and the use of simple, audible processes to explore musical concepts (for instance, "Pendulum Music" and "Four Organs"). These compositions, marked by their use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm and canons, have significantly influenced contemporary music, especially in the US. Reich's work took on a darker character in the 1980s with the introduction of historical themes as well as themes from his Jewish heritage, notably the Grammy Award-winning ''Different Trains''.

Reich's style of composition influenced many other composers and musical groups. Reich has been described, in The Guardian by music critic Andrew Clements, as one of "a handful of living composers who can legitimately claim to have altered the direction of musical history", and the critic Kyle Gann has said Reich "may...be considered, by general acclamation, America's greatest living composer." On January 25, 2007, Reich was named the 2007 recipient of the Polar Music Prize, together with jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins. On April 20, 2009, Reich was awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his ''Double Sextet''.

Career

Early life

Reich was born in New York City to the Broadway lyricist June Sillman. When he was one year old, his parents divorced, and Reich divided his time between New York and California. He was given piano lessons as a child and describes growing up with the "middle-class favorites", having no exposure to music written before 1750 or after 1900. At the age of 14 he began to study music in earnest, after hearing music from the Baroque period and earlier, as well as music of the 20th century. Reich studied drums with Roland Kohloff in order to play jazz. While attending Cornell University, he took some music courses, but he graduated in 1957 with a B.A. in Philosophy. Reich's B.A. thesis was on Ludwig Wittgenstein; later he would set texts by that philosopher to music in ''Proverb'' (1995) and ''You Are (variations)'' (2006).

For a year following graduation, Reich studied composition privately with Hall Overton before he enrolled at Juilliard to work with William Bergsma and Vincent Persichetti (1958–1961). Subsequently he attended Mills College in Oakland, California, where he studied with Luciano Berio and Darius Milhaud (1961–1963) and earned a master's degree in composition. At Mills, Reich composed ''Melodica'' for melodica and tape, which appeared in 1986 on the three-LP release ''Music from Mills''.

Reich worked with the California Tape Music Centre along with Pauline Oliveros, Ramon Sender, Morton Subotnick, and Terry Riley. He was involved with the premiere of Riley's ''In C'' and suggested the use of the eighth note pulse, which is now standard in performance of the piece.

1960s

Reich's early forays into composition involved experimentation with twelve-tone composition, but he found the rhythmic aspects of the twelve-tone series more interesting than the melodic aspects. Reich also composed film soundtracks for ''Plastic Haircut'', ''Oh Dem Watermelons'', and ''Thick Pucker'', three films by Robert Nelson. The soundtrack of ''Plastic Haircut'', composed in 1963, was a short tape collage, possibly Reich's first. The ''Watermelons'' soundtrack used two old Stephen Foster minstrel tunes as its basis, and used repeated phrasing together in a large five-part canon. The music for ''Thick Pucker'' arose from street recordings Reich made walking around San Francisco with Nelson, who filmed in black and white 16mm. This film no longer survives. A fourth film from 1965, about 25 minutes long and tentatively entitled "Thick Pucker II", was assembled by Nelson from outtakes of that shoot and more of the raw audio Reich had recorded. Nelson was not happy with the resulting film and never showed it.

Reich was influenced by fellow minimalist Terry Riley, whose work ''In C'' combines simple musical patterns, offset in time, to create a slowly shifting, cohesive whole. Reich adopted this approach to compose his first major work, ''It's Gonna Rain''. Composed in 1965, the piece used a fragment of a sermon about the end of the world given by a black Pentecostal street-preacher known as Brother Walter. Reich built on his early tape work, transferring the last three words of the fragment, "it's gonna rain!", to multiple tape loops which gradually move out of phase with one another.

The 13-minute "Come Out" (1966) uses similarly manipulated recordings of a single spoken line given by Daniel Hamm, one of the falsely accused Harlem Six, who was severely injured by police. The survivor, who had been beaten, punctured a bruise on his own body to convince police about his beating. The spoken line includes the phrase "to let the bruise’s blood come out to show them." Reich rerecorded the fragment "come out to show them" on two channels, which are initially played in unison. They quickly slip out of sync; gradually the discrepancy widens and becomes a reverberation. The two voices then split into four, looped continuously, then eight, and continues splitting until the actual words are unintelligible, leaving the listener with only the speech's rhythmic and tonal patterns.

A similar, lesser known example of process music is "Pendulum Music" (1968), which consists of the sound of several microphones swinging over the loudspeakers to which they are attached, producing feedback as they do so. "Pendulum Music" has never been recorded by Reich himself, but was introduced to rock audiences by Sonic Youth in the late 1990s.

Reich's first attempt at translating this phasing technique from recorded tape to live performance was the 1967 ''Piano Phase'', for two pianos. In ''Piano Phase'' the performers repeat a rapid twelve-note melodic figure, initially in unison. As one player keeps tempo with robotic precision, the other speeds up very slightly until the two parts line up again, but one sixteenth note apart. The second player then resumes the previous tempo. This cycle of speeding up and then locking in continues throughout the piece; the cycle comes full circle three times, the second and third cycles using shorter versions of the initial figure. ''Violin Phase'', also written in 1967, is built on these same lines. ''Piano Phase'' and ''Violin Phase'' both premiered in a series of concerts given in New York art galleries.

Reich also tried to create the phasing effect in a piece "that would need no instrument beyond the human body". He found that the idea of phasing was inappropriate for the simple ways he was experimenting to make sound. Instead, he composed ''Clapping Music'' (1972), in which the players do not phase in and out with each other, but instead one performer keeps one line of a 12-quaver-long (12-eighth-note-long) phrase and the other performer shifts by one quaver beat every 12 bars, until both performers are back in unison 144 bars later.

The 1967 prototype piece ''Slow Motion Sound'' was never performed, but the idea it introduced of slowing down a recorded sound until many times its original length without changing pitch or timbre was applied to ''Four Organs'' (1970), which deals specifically with augmentation. The piece has maracas playing a fast eighth note pulse, while the four organs stress certain eighth notes using an 11th chord. This work therefore dealt with repetition and subtle rhythmic change. It is unique in the context of Reich's other pieces in being linear as opposed to cyclic like his earlier works— the superficially similar ''Phase Patterns'', also for four organs but without maracas, is (as the name suggests) a phase piece similar to others composed during the period. ''Four Organs'' was performed as part of a Boston Symphony Orchestra program, and was Reich's first composition to be performed in a large traditional setting.

1970s

In 1971, Reich embarked on a five-week trip to study music in Ghana, during which he learned from the master drummer Gideon Alorwoyie. Reich also studied Balinese gamelan in Seattle. From his African experience, as well as A. M. Jones's ''Studies in African Music'' about the music of the Ewe people, Reich drew inspiration for his 90-minute piece ''Drumming'', which he composed shortly after his return. Composed for a nine-piece percussion ensemble with female voices and piccolo, ''Drumming'' marked the beginning of a new stage in his career, for around this time he formed his ensemble, Steve Reich and Musicians, and increasingly concentrated on composition and performance with them. Steve Reich and Musicians, which was to be the sole ensemble to interpret his works for many years, still remains active with many of its original members.

After ''Drumming'', Reich moved on from the "phase shifting" technique that he had pioneered, and began writing more elaborate pieces. He investigated other musical processes such as augmentation (the temporal lengthening of phrases and melodic fragments). It was during this period that he wrote works such as ''Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ'' (1973) and ''Six Pianos'' (1973).

In 1974, Reich began writing what many would call his seminal work, ''Music for 18 Musicians''. This piece involved many new ideas, although it also hearkened back to earlier pieces. It is based on a cycle of eleven chords introduced at the beginning (called "Pulses"), followed by a small section of music based on each chord ("Sections I-XI"), and finally a return to the original cycle ("Pulses"). This was Reich's first attempt at writing for larger ensembles. The increased number of performers resulted in more scope for psychoacoustic effects, which fascinated Reich, and he noted that he would like to "explore this idea further". Reich remarked that this one work contained more harmonic movement in the first five minutes than any other work he had written. Steve Reich and Musicians made the premier recording of this work on ECM Records.

Reich explored these ideas further in his frequently recorded pieces ''Music for a Large Ensemble'' (1978) and ''Octet'' (1979). In these two works, Reich experimented with "the human breath as the measure of musical duration … the chords played by the trumpets are written to take one comfortable breath to perform". Human voices are part of the musical palette in ''Music for a Large Ensemble'' but the wordless vocal parts simply form part of the texture (as they do in ''Drumming''). With ''Octet'' and his first orchestral piece ''Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards'' (also 1979), Reich's music showed the influence of Biblical cantillation, which he had studied in Israel since the summer of 1977. After this, the human voice singing a text would play an increasingly important role in Reich's music. In 1974 Reich published a book, ''Writings About Music'' (ISBN 0814773583), containing essays on his philosophy, aesthetics, and musical projects written between 1963 and 1974. An updated and much more extensive collection, ''Writings On Music (1965–2000)'' (ISBN 0195111710), was published in 2002.

1980s

Reich's work took on a darker character in the 1980s with the introduction of historical themes as well as themes from his Jewish heritage. ''Tehillim'' (1981), Hebrew for ''psalms'', is the first of Reich's works to draw explicitly on his Jewish background. The work is in four parts, and is scored for an ensemble of four women's voices (one high soprano, two lyric sopranos and one alto), piccolo, flute, oboe, English horn, two clarinets, six percussion (playing small tuned tambourines without jingles, clapping, maracas, marimba, vibraphone and crotales), two electronic organs, two violins, viola, cello and double bass, with amplified voices, strings, and winds. A setting of texts from psalms 19:2–5 (19:1–4 in Christian translations), 34:13–15 (34:12–14), 18:26–27 (18:25–26), and 150:4–6, ''Tehillim'' is a departure from Reich's other work in its formal structure; the setting of texts several lines long rather than the fragments used in previous works makes melody a substantive element. Use of formal counterpoint and functional harmony also contrasts with the loosely structured minimalist works written previously.

''Different Trains'' (1988), for string quartet and tape, uses recorded speech, as in his earlier works, but this time as a melodic rather than a rhythmic element. In ''Different Trains'' Reich compares and contrasts his childhood memories of his train journeys between New York and California in 1939–1941 with the very different trains being used to transport contemporaneous European children to their deaths under Nazi rule. The Kronos Quartet recording of ''Different Trains'' was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition in 1990. The composition was described by Richard Taruskin as "the only adequate musical response—one of the few adequate artistic responses in any medium—to the Holocaust", and he credited the piece with earning Reich a place among the great composers of the 20th century.

1990s to present

In 1993, Reich collaborated with his wife, the video artist Beryl Korot, on an opera, ''The Cave'', which explores the roots of Judaism, Christianity and Islam through the words of Israelis, Palestinians, and Americans, echoed musically by the ensemble. The work, for percussion, voices, and strings, is a musical documentary, named for the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron, where a mosque now stands and Abraham is said to have been buried. The two collaborated again on the opera ''Three Tales'', which concerns the Hindenburg disaster, the testing of nuclear weapons on Bikini Atoll, and other more modern concerns, specifically Dolly the sheep, cloning, and the technological singularity.

As well as pieces using sampling techniques, like ''Three Tales'' and ''City Life'' (1994), Reich also returned to composing purely instrumental works for the concert hall, starting with ''Triple Quartet'' (1998) written for the Kronos Quartet that can either be performed by string quartet and tape, three string quartets or 36-piece string orchestra. According to Reich, the piece is influenced by Bartók's and Alfred Schnittke's string quartets, and Michael Gordon's ''Yo Shakespeare''. This series continued with ''Dance Patterns'' (2002), ''Cello Counterpoint'' (2003), and sequence of works centered around Variations: ''You Are (Variations)'' (2004) (a work which looks back to the vocal writing of works like ''Tehillim'' or ''The Desert Music''), ''Variations for Vibes, Pianos, and Strings'' (2005, for the London Sinfonietta) and ''Daniel Variations'' (2006).

Invited by Walter Fink, he was the 12th composer featured in the annual Komponistenporträt of the Rheingau Musik Festival in 2002.

In an interview with ''The Guardian'', Reich stated that he continues to follow this direction with his piece ''Double Sextet'' (2007) commissioned by eighth blackbird, an American ensemble consisting of the instrumental quintet (flute, clarinet, violin or viola, cello and piano) of Schoenberg's piece ''Pierrot Lunaire'' (1912) plus percussion. Reich states that he was thinking about Stravinsky's ''Agon'' (1957) as a model for the instrumental writing.

Reich was awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Music, on April 20, 2009, for ''Double Sextet''.

December 2010 NoneSuch and Indaba Music held a community remix contest where over 250 submissions were received, and Steve Reich and Christian Carey judged the finals. Reich spoke in a related BBC interview that once he composed a piece he would not alter it again himself "when it's done, it's done". On the other hand he acknowledged that "remixes" have an old tradition e.g. famous religious music pieces where melodies were further developed into new songs.

In May 2011, Steve Reich received an honorary doctorate from the New England Conservatory of Music.

Influence

Reich's style of composition has influenced many other composers and musical groups, including John Adams, the progressive rock band King Crimson, the new-age guitarist Michael Hedges, the art-pop and electronic musician Brian Eno, the experimental art/music group The Residents, the composers associated with the Bang on a Can festival (including David Lang, Michael Gordon, and Julia Wolfe), and numerous indie rock musicians including songwriter Sufjan Stevens and instrumental ensembles Tortoise, The Mercury Program (themselves influenced by Tortoise), So Many Dynamos, Do Make Say Think and A Silver Mt. Zion. Godspeed You! Black Emperor composed a song, unreleased, entitled "Steve Reich".

John Adams commented, "He didn't reinvent the wheel so much as he showed us a new way to ride." He has also influenced visual artists such as Bruce Nauman, and many notable choreographers have made dances to his music, Eliot Feld, Jiří Kylián, Douglas Lee and Jerome Robbins among others; he has expressed particular admiration of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's work set to his pieces.

In featuring a sample of Reich's ''Electric Counterpoint'' (1987) the British ambient techno act the Orb exposed a new generation of listeners to the composer's music with its 1990 production “Little Fluffy Clouds.” Further acknowledgment of Reich's influence on various electronic dance music producers came with the release in 1999 of the ''Reich Remixed'' tribute album which featured reinterpretations by artists such as DJ Spooky, Kurtis Mantronik, Ken Ishii, and Coldcut, among others.

Reich often cites Pérotin, J.S. Bach, Debussy and Stravinsky as composers he admires, whose tradition he wished as a young composer to become part of. Jazz is a major part of the formation of Reich's musical style, and two of the earliest influences on his work were vocalists Ella Fitzgerald and Alfred Deller, whose emphasis on the artistic capabilities of the voice alone with little vibrato or other alteration was an inspiration to his earliest works. John Coltrane's style, which Reich has described as "playing a lot of notes to very few harmonies", also had an impact; of particular interest was the album ''Africa/Brass'', which "was basically a half-an-hour in F." Reich's influence from jazz includes its roots, also, from the West African music he studied in his readings and visit to Ghana. Other important influences are Kenny Clarke and Miles Davis, and visual artist friends such as Sol LeWitt and Richard Serra. Reich recently contributed the introduction to ''Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture'' (The MIT Press, 2008) edited by Paul D. Miller, a.k.a. DJ Spooky.

Upcoming projects

Reich has the world premiere of a piece, WTC 9/11, written for String Quartet and Tape, a similar instrumentation to that of Different Trains. It premiered in March 2011 by the Kronos Quartet, at Duke University, North Carolina, USA. Piano Counterpoint, a piece for solo piano and tape, is being written and recorded by Vincent Corver, pianist and founder of The London Steve Reich Ensemble for premiere in 2011–12. London Sinfonietta have also commissioned a piece with working title London Counterpoint, for ensemble and tape; an ensemble playing against a recording of themselves.

Quotations

Works

Soundtrack for ''The Plastic Haircut'', tape (1963)

''Music for two or more pianos'' (1964)

''Livelihood'' (1964)

''It's Gonna Rain'', tape (1965)

Soundtrack for ''Oh Dem Watermelons'', tape (1965)

''Come Out'', tape (1966)

''Melodica'', for melodica and tape (1966)

''Reed Phase'', for soprano saxophone and tape (1966)

''Piano Phase'' for two pianos, or two marimbas (1967)

''Slow Motion Sound'' ''concept piece'' (1967)

''Violin Phase'' for violin and tape or four violins (1967)

''My Name Is'' for three tape recorders and performers (1967)

''Pendulum Music'' for 3 or 4 microphones, amplifiers and loudspeakers (1968) (revised 1973)

''Four Organs'' for four electric organs and maracas (1970)

''Phase Patterns'' for four electric organs (1970)

''Drumming'' for 4 pairs of tuned bongo drums, 3 marimbas, 3 glockenspiels, 2 female voices, whistling and piccolo (1970/1971)

''Clapping Music'' for two musicians clapping (1972)

''Music for Pieces of Wood'' for five pairs of tuned claves (1973)

''Six Pianos'' (1973) – transcribed as ''Six Marimbas'' (1986)

''Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ'' (1973)

''Music for 18 Musicians'' (1974–76)

''Music for a Large Ensemble'' (1978)

''Octet'' (1979) – withdrawn in favor of the 1983 revision for slightly larger ensemble, ''Eight Lines''

''Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards'' for orchestra (1979)

''Tehillim'' for voices and ensemble (1981)

''Vermont Counterpoint'' for amplified flute and tape (1982)

''The Desert Music'' for chorus and orchestra or voices and ensemble (1983, text by William Carlos Williams)

''Sextet'' for percussion and keyboards (1984)

''New York Counterpoint'' for amplified clarinet and tape, or 11 clarinets and bass clarinet (1985)

''Three Movements'' for orchestra (1986)

''Electric Counterpoint'' for electric guitar or amplified acoustic guitar and tape (1987, for Pat Metheny)

''The Four Sections'' for orchestra (1987)

''Different Trains'' for string quartet and tape (1988)

''The Cave'' for four voices, ensemble and video (1993, with Beryl Korot)

''Duet'' for two violins and string ensemble (1993)

''Nagoya Marimbas'' for two marimbas (1994)

''City Life'' for amplified ensemble (1995)

''Proverb'' for voices and ensemble (1995, text by Ludwig Wittgenstein)

''Triple Quartet'' for amplified string quartet (with prerecorded tape), or three string quartets, or string orchestra (1998)

''Know What Is Above You'' for four women’s voices and 2 tamborims (1999)

''Three Tales'' for video projection, five voices and ensemble (1998–2002, with Beryl Korot)

''Dance Patterns'' for 2 xylophones, 2 vibraphones and 2 pianos (2002)

''Cello Counterpoint'' for amplified cello and multichannel tape (2003)

''You Are (Variations)'' for voices and ensemble (2004)

''For Strings (with Winds and Brass)'' for orchestra (1987/2004)

''Variations for Vibes, Pianos, and Strings'' dance piece for three string quartets, four vibraphones, and two pianos (2005)

''Daniel Variations'' for four voices and ensemble (2006)

''Double Sextet'' for 2 violins, 2 cellos, 2 pianos, 2 vibraphones, 2 clarinets, 2 flutes or ensemble and pre-recorded tape (2007)

''2x5'' for 2 drum sets, 2 pianos, 4 electric guitars and 2 bass guitars (2008)

''Mallet Quartet'' for 2 marimbas and 2 vibraphones or 4 marimbas (or solo percussion and tape) (2009)

''WTC 9/11'' for String Quartet and Tape (2010)

Selected discography

''Drumming''. Steve Reich and Musicians (Two recordings: Deutsche Grammophon and Nonesuch) So Percussion (Cantaloupe)

''Music for 18 Musicians''. Steve Reich and Musicians (Two recordings: ECM and Nonesuch), Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble (Innova), Ensemble Modern (RCA).

''Octet/Music for a Large Ensemble/Violin Phase''. Steve Reich and Musicians (ECM)

''Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards/Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ/ Six Pianos''. San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Edo de Waart, Steve Reich & Musicians (Deutsche Grammophon)

''Tehillim/The Desert Music''. Alarm Will Sound and OSSIA, Alan Pierson (Cantaloupe)

''Different Trains/Electric Counterpoint''. Kronos Quartet, Pat Metheny (Nonesuch)

''You Are (Variations)/Cello Counterpoint''. Los Angeles Master Chorale, Grant Gershon, Maya Beiser (Nonesuch)

''Steve Reich: Works 1965-1995''. Various performers (Nonesuch).

''Daniel Variations'', with ''Variations for Vibes, Pianos and Strings''. London Sinfonietta, Grant Gershon, Alan Pierson (Nonesuch)

''Double Sextet/2x5'', Eighth Blackbird and Bang on a Can (Nonesuch)

''Piano Phase'', transcribed for guitar, Alexandre Gérard (Catapult)

''Phase to Face'', a film documentary about Steve Reich by Eric Darmon & Franck Mallet (EuroArts) DVD

Further reading

D.J. Hoek. ''Steve Reich: A Bio-Bibliography.'' Greenwood Press, 2002.

Steve Reich. ''Writings about Music.'' Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 1974.

K. Robert Schwarz. ''Minimalists.'' Phaidon Press, 1996.

See also

Minimalist music

Steve Reich and Musicians

Notes

References

Potter, Keith (2000). ''Four Musical Minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass. Music in the Twentieth Century series. Cambridge, UK; New York, New York: Cambridge University Press.

External links

SteveReich.com – Official Website

Boosey & Hawkes, Official Publisher: biography, works list, resources

London Steve Reich Ensemble – Official website

Music and the Holocaust – Different Trains

;Interviews

A Steve Reich Interview with Christopher Abbot

Two interviews with Steve Reich by Bruce Duffie (October, 1985 & November, 1995)

Steve Reich Interview (7/98) with Richard Kessler

Time and Motion: an interview with Steve Reich, by Robert Davidson, 1999

A Steve Reich Interview with Marc Weidenbaum, 1999

"Drumming" – Interview & analysis, selected as one of the NPR 100 most important musical works of the 20th century. Realaudio format, timing: 12:46, July, 2000

Steve Reich Interview with Jakob Buhre, August 2000

In Conversation with Steve Reich, by Molly Sheridan, June 2002

Steve Reich and Beryl Korot interviewed by David Allenby, 2002

An interview in ''The Guardian'', January 2, 2004

The Next Phase: Steve Reich talks to Richard Kessler About Redefinition and Renewal, 2004

"How Small a Thought it Takes to Fill a Whole Life" – An Interview with Not-So-Minimalist Composer Steve Reich on AdventuresInMusic.biz, 2005

A Steve Reich Interview with Hermann Kretzschmar on ''You Are (Variations)'', 2005

The beaten track, an interview with Reich, by Andrew Clements, The Guardian, October 28, 2005

An interview with Steve Reich on RTE television, National Broadcaster in Ireland, May 29, 2006

An interview with Steve Reich on musicOMH.com, October 2006

Interview: Steve Reich, by Joshua Klein, November 22, 2006.

"Steve Reich at 70" from NPR ''Fresh Air'' broadcast October 6, 2006 includes interview about "It's Gonna Rain", "Drumming", and "Tehillim" that first aired in 1999 and another on "Different Trains" from 1989 (Realaudio format, timing: 39:25)

"Video Interview (Feb. 2006)", Cité de la musique, Paris, France

"Two Arts Beating As One" – Interviews with Steve Reich and his wife Beryl Korot with video and audio clips, May 2009

;Listening

Steve Reich at UC Berkeley University Museum (November 7, 1970) Streaming audio

Steve Reich at the Whitney "October 15, 2006" MP3

Reich speaks about Daniel Variations for the South Bank Show

;Others

Classical Music Pages: Steve Reich biography

''A Description/documentary of Steve Reich'' from Duke University, includes sound samples and quotes

EST: ''Steve Reich'' by Roger Sutherland

Music as a Gradual Process by Steve Reich

Steve Reich: You Are (Variations) premiere in LA (October 2004)

New York Fetes Composer Steve Reich at 70 from NPR

Fascinating rhythm. Celebrating Steve Reich. Article by Alex Ross from The New Yorker.

Steve Reich & Sonny Rollins winners of the Polar Music Prize for 2007 Press release of Polar Prize announcement

Category:20th-century classical composers Category:21st-century classical composers Category:Postmodern composers Category:Minimalist composers Category:Opera composers Category:Nonesuch Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:ECM artists Category:Pulitzer Prize winners Category:Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Category:Juilliard School alumni Category:Cornell University alumni Category:1936 births Category:Living people Category:Guggenheim Fellows

ca:Steve Reich cs:Steve Reich da:Steve Reich de:Steve Reich es:Steve Reich fr:Steve Reich it:Steve Reich he:סטיב רייך lb:Steve Reich lt:Steve Reich hu:Steve Reich nl:Steve Reich ja:スティーヴ・ライヒ no:Steve Reich pcd:Steve Reich pl:Steve Reich pt:Steve Reich ru:Райх, Стивен simple:Steve Reich sk:Steve Reich fi:Steve Reich sv:Steve Reich uk:Стівен Райх zh:斯蒂夫·莱奇

Coordinates	39°46′5.88″N86°9′29.52″N
Name	Danity Kane
Background	group_or_band
Alias	DK
Death	July 19, 2010
Origin	New York City, New York, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals
Genre	R&B;, hip hop, pop
Occupation(s)	singers and dancers
Years active	2005–2009
Label	Bad Boy, Atlantic, Warner Music (International)
Associated acts	Diddy, Donnie Klang, Day26, Cheri Dennis
Website	DanityKane.com
Past members	Aubrey O'DayD. WoodsShannon BexDawn RichardAundrea Fimbres}}

Danity Kane was an American female music group signed to Bad Boy Records, first established in 2005. Formed on the third installment of MTV's ''Making the Band'' reality television series, the quintet comprised members Aubrey O'Day, Wanita "D. Woods" Woodgett, Shannon Bex, Dawn Richard, and Aundrea Fimbres. On the October 2008 finale episode of ''Making the Band 4'', O'Day and Woodgett were confirmed as no longer a part of the group. On January 27, 2009, Richard confirmed to MTV.com in an interview that Danity Kane was no longer a group. The final line-up of the group, featured in the 2009 season of ''Making the Band'', consisted of Richard and Fimbres; all group members were ultimately released from their contracts with Bad Boy Records later within the year.

Danity Kane's self-titled debut studio album was released in 2006 and achieved success in the United States, shipping a million copies domestically, while spawning two singles with top 10 hit "Show Stopper" and the ballad "Ride for You". Their second studio album, ''Welcome to the Dollhouse'', was released on March 18, 2008, following the release of their second top 10 hit single "Damaged". The band became the first female group in Billboard history to debut their first two albums at the top of the charts.

History

2004–2005: ''Making the Band 3''

In 2004, producer Sean "Diddy" Combs returned with ''Making the Band 3'', this time searching for the next female super group. With the help of choreographer Laurie Ann Gibson, vocal trainer Doc Holiday and talent manager Johnny Wright, he set out on a multi-city search and chose twenty young singers out of almost 10,000 young women. While seven women remained, Combs became discontent with the level of talent remaining in the competition, and eventually decided not to form a band. He did, however, give a reprieve to three contestants he felt deserved another chance, including then-best friends Aubrey O'Day and Aundrea Fimbres, whose close bond originally formed early in the season. The three contestants became the first to appear in Season 2 of the show.

Afterwards, Combs once again pressed his team to audition new young women for the group. Finally, twenty young women were chosen and moved into a loft in New York City. Viewers had become invested in O'Day and Fimbres's friendship, naming them "the AUs" and "Aubrea" (portmanteux of their first names put together), as they watched the two compete all over again for positions in the group. As the competition's challenges increased, their friendship seemed to become the foundation upon which the group was being built. In addition, O'Day emerged as the show's breakout star.

After weeks of dance and singing lessons, promotional appearances, and a performance in front of 10,000 at a Backstreet Boys concert at Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, VA, eleven contestants remained, including O'Day and Fimbres. The finalists were sent home for three months, told to polish up, and return for the final stretch in November 2005.

On the second season's finale, on Monday, November 15, 2005, the show's ratings broke MTV records as millions of viewers watched to see the group officially formed. Five of the eleven remaining contestants were chosen: O'Day first, Wanita "D. Woods" Woodgett second, Shannon Bex third, Dawn Angeliqué Richard fourth, and Fimbres last. The final five members of the group in place, the third season of ''Making the Band 3'' tracked the development and struggles of the new band — from then on known as "Danity Kane" (a name taken from a female anime superhero created and drawn by Richard). The group would later be featured on the second and third seasons of ''Making the Band 4'' with new male R&B; group Day26, as well as new solo artist Donnie Klang.

2006–2007: ''Danity Kane''

After months of recording, the band's debut album ''Danity Kane'' was released to mixed reviews on August 22, 2006 in the United States. Produced by Timbaland, Scott Storch, Rodney Jerkins, Mario Winans and Ryan Leslie among others, the album sold over 90,000 copies in the first day of release, and over 234,000 in the first week of release. It eventually debuted at number one on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart, knocking veteran Christina Aguilera's ''Back to Basics'' from the top spot and out-selling hip-hop duo OutKast. The album received a platinum certification from the RIAA in November 2006. The album's lead single "Show Stopper", produced by Jim Jonsin, was serviced to radio on August 4, 2006, and subsequently debuted at number 17 on Billboard 's Hot 100; it however peaked at number 8 on that particular chart. Outside the United States, the song became a top 30 success in Germany and Lithuania. The selection for the album's second single, Bryan Michael Cox produced "Ride for You", was influenced by a fan poll that went around through e-mails, MySpace, and the group's official web site. The music video for the song premiered on MTV's ''Total Request Live'' on December 5, 2006, the same day the band released a holiday song called "Home for Christmas" which was written by group member Dawn Richard.

Between February 2007 to May 2007 Danity Kane performed as an opening act, along with the Pussycat Dolls, on Christina Aguilera's Back To Basics Tour. In the meantime the band intensified work on their second album, which was initially scheduled for a late 2007 release, but eventually pushed back to 2008.

Rumors of disbandment

Ever since the creation of the group in 2005, Danity Kane was plagued by rumors of the group's demise. Such speculation existed due to the group's origin of being built from a reality show, their management, record label, and mentor.

In summer 2007, during a hiatus between their first and second albums, speculation by fans and the media circled the Internet and entertainment news outlets concerning the possibility of Danity Kane splitting up. The rumors were fueled by quotes taken out of context (most notably when Aubrey O'Day was questioned by TMZ about her relationship to the successful pop girl group the Pussycat Dolls and their television show ''Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll'') and by work the group members had done outside of Danity Kane since the release of their debut album. D. Woods's association with another girl group, The Girl's Club, was specifically cited as adding credibility to breakup rumors. Additionally, reports of solo careers and of new groups forming from various combinations of members of the group were rampant.

Over the course of these rumors, the members of Danity Kane often published personal online responses to the breakup speculation. It was not until July 25, 2007 that Danity Kane released an official statement on their group MySpace page stating that they were still together and working on their second album

2007–2008: ''Welcome to the Dollhouse''

While making several solo appearances on other artists' albums during fall 2007, Danity Kane was featured on the second season of the fourth iteration of ''Making the Band'' which debuted January 28, 2008 on MTV, where solo singer Donnie Klang, Day26, and the girls, lived and recorded their albums together.

"Damaged", the band's poll-voted lead single off their second album ''Welcome to the Dollhouse'', was officially released as a digital single on January 29, 2008, and became the band's second top ten hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Its music video had been nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for "Best Pop Video" and "Best Dancing in a Video" but lost to Piece of Me by Britney Spears and When I Grow Up by the Pussycat Dolls respectively. ''Welcome to the Dollhouse'', was eventually released on March 18, 2008 in the United States, where it debuted at number-one on the ''Billboard'' 200, with first week sales of 236,000 copies (2,000 units more than their self-titled debut album). The album eventually received a gold certification from the RIAA in April 2008. On September 28, 2008, the album had sold a total of 546,790 copies. In a May 2008 interview with Kiwibox.com, Danity Kane revealed that the follow-up single to "Damaged" would be "Bad Girl".

On the second season finale of ''Making the Band 4'', it was announced that Danity Kane would be headlining a tour in 2008 and be featured on the next season of ''Making the Band'', as Diddy stated himself. The third season of ''Making the Band 4'' premiered on MTV August 19, 2008. Around a week later, the girls were featured in an interview with Z100 at the Beatstock Dance Festival. They said they were planning to release another single after "Bad Girl". This was before the departure of O'Day and Woods.

Departures of Aubrey O'Day and D. Woods

After Making the Band 4 - The Tour and the release of the first single Damaged, Danity Kane once again encountered rumors of a breakup. Largely spurred by scenes from the ''Making the Band'' series featuring their mentor Sean Combs sparring with O'Day over her dance performance and desire to create her own image separate from the group. On the August 28, 2008 episode of ''Making the Band'', due to being consistently frustrated with the "oversexed" image he felt O'Day now showcased, Combs called O'Day "one of the worst dancers" in Danity Kane, when she used to be "one of the best". He told O'Day that she no longer looked like the girl he signed. Combs bluntly accused O'Day of trying to expand her fame at the expense of the entire group, and that she liked flaunting her breasts and wearing big hair. O'Day had boasted about her cleavage to former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) guru and current SunSport broadband television producer/host Paul Heyman of ''The Heyman Hustle'' in order to validate her breasts as natural. In a controversial act, she rubbed her cleavage on Heyman's arm. Furious, Combs asked himself on television why he was keeping O'Day in the group. With O'Day forgoing promotional appearances with the group to appear as Amber Von Tussle on Broadway's Hairspray, speculation arose that O'Day's role in the group had been marginalized. On September 7, 2008, however, the group appeared together at the MTV Video Music Awards to help present the Best New Artist Award.

Separately, tension also seemed to be developing within the group due to rumors that Richard would perhaps be groomed to launch her own solo career with Bad Boy Records. Rumors had been circulating that Richard was flown from Baltimore to New York for private meetings with Combs to launch her own solo career, especially after recording three tracks for Combs, which were purported to be Danity Kane tracks but only featured Richard's vocals; these vocals were leaked on the Internet. Combs went as far as to introduce Richard in a solo performance in early September. An Atlantic Records spokesperson responded, "At no point was [Richard] flown anywhere to record solo or meet alone with [Combs]. The girls are still very much together. They're going out to the Video Music Awards together ... and they're promoting their album ‘Welcome to the Dollhouse' and working on their third."

On the October 7, 2008 episode of ''Making the Band'', Combs stated that he did have Richard on three demos for his new album. On the same episode of the show, after continued debate with O'Day about the well-being of Danity Kane, he stated that O'Day was no longer in the group, as had been foreshadowed in an earlier episode within the season after a TRL (Total Request Live) appearance. Combs was unaware of the specific problems within the group, but sensed that O'Day and Aundrea Fimbres, who were originally close friends, had drastically drifted apart. O'Day and Richard informed Combs that the entire group had trust issues with management and ultimately each other. The season finale, which took place Tuesday, October 14, 2008, confirmed the departure of O'Day and Woods. Combs removed Woods due to feeling that she was unhappy with the group and that she had gotten "caught up in the wrath" of close friend O'Day. In the live section of the episode, Combs explained that the reason he let O'Day go was that she was not the same person he signed, that the fame had changed her (as had been expressed on the August 28, 2008 episode). "I got love for Aubrey," he said. "I don't have any beef with her. I just want to work with the young lady that I signed, not the person that fame has made her." He later stated that he would be open to working with Woods again. When O'Day came on to reply, just moments after deciding not to leave the studio, she first addressed the perception some people, especially bloggers, have of her. "I would rather be hated every damn day of my life for being real than loved for being something I'm not," she stated. Combs, who spoke to the group and the audience via satellite, relayed to O'Day, "Check this out, baby girl... See, your attitude is gonna have you in a dark and lonely place. ... What you need to do, at the end of the day, is humble yourself." Woods did not appear on the live episode due to prior obligations.

In a backstage interview before the finale, O'Day said, "Tonight is a representation of the end of a chapter in my life; it's not the end of the book." She added, "I will do everything possible to make my mark on this industry, and Danity Kane and [Combs] provided me with this amazing opportunity to go out and really touch people's hearts. I think the way that we were able to inspire people was something that I will never be able to achieve in that way again in my life."

MTV News reached out to a rep for Danity Kane to see where the future of the band stood now that [O'Day and Woods] were no longer in the group. It was reported that Woods planned to work with another group, the Girls Club, and that O'Day was working on a solo album.

In an October 15, 2008 interview with ''Us Weekly'', Richard gave further insight into O'Day's dismissal from Danity Kane. "[Combs] did not like [O'Day's] image...where her image was going for the group," she said. "It wasn't a personal thing." Richard explained that O'Day's increasingly "sexy look" was alienating young fans. Referring specifically to O'Day's topless pictures for ''Complex'' magazine just a month before, Richard stated, "We had just did a signing with Dollhouse Teen, which is for 13, 14-year-old young girls... So we can't do that one day and then the next day do an obnoxious cover.... [Combs] wants the fans, and he says he can't do that if we can continue to go in the direction that we were going." Richard further relayed, "[Combs] told me specifically that [O'Day] is no longer in Danity Kane and Danity Kane will move forward without her." When asked if Combs would seek "replacements" for O'Day and Woods, Richard stated, "He has not said anything per that. But I think in my heart that he is gonna do another show."

MTV News gauged fan reactions to the dismissals of O'Day and Woods. Fans left impassioned, long and detailed comments on the MTV News site about their discontent regarding the decision to remove the two singers, and relayed that the remaining members were using the breakup to "score" publicity. Richard, in particular, received resentment from fans. Other fans were more upset about the breakup in general, with the sentiment that Danity Kane would lack the individuality (je ne sais quoi) and excitement that O'Day and Woods brought to the group. Despite, however, the dismissals of O'Day and Woods, other sections of the fandom were willing to give the "new Danity Kane" a chance and believed that the group would be as strong as they were before.

2008–2009: Disbandment

In mid 2008, before the departure of O'Day and Woods, Danity Kane planned to start pre-production for their third studio album, which would have begun January 2009. In the meantime, Danity Kane released a line of denim jeans through Dollhouse. Under Russell Simmons Plastic Cash International, the decision was made to feature Danity Kane's image on Visa debit cards. The group had also been a part of a new ad campaign for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Collectively, as a group, there were plans for a fragrance, clothing and makeup line. Richard had developed a comic book based on the superhero the group based its name on, which was intended for release sometime in 2009.

However, in a January 28, 2009 interview with MTV News, Richard announced that the group had split up. Richard explained that Combs had invited all the women to come back on the 2009 season of ''Making the Band'' and that only two of them showed up. "It changes [our situation] completely," she said. "We have fans out there who love Danity Kane. We love Danity Kane. It's hard. We're sitting here trying to make sense of it now. It's hard. We're put in this position that we didn't ask to be in and we're being told to fix it."

The two members willing to continue within the group were Richard and Fimbres. Shannon Bex did not show up. On the series and in an earlier interview, she had explicitly stated her discontent about Danity Kane being divided. "I don't know why [Bex left]," said Richard. "I think she's just happy. I don't want to even try to answer it 'cause that's not fair to her. I haven't [spoken to her] but I heard she's doing well with her husband and she got a house. I love her, but I don't know." Richard was surprised that only two members showed up for another season. "The thing about it ... I thought we were all going to come back and talk, or maybe if [O'Day] didn't come back, 'cause I don't know how [Combs] was feeling about that, if the four of us got together. I didn't know what to expect. I just know I got off the plane and found out I was the only one there and [Fimbres] came the next day."

Still in disbelief over the departures of O'Day and Woods, as well as the speculation about O'Day's sexuality and her forthcoming ''Playboy'' spread, Richard stated, "I'm still surprised at it all. I'm still trying to recover from the first fire. So I'm still confused. I still don't know. I'm just being so honest. I have no idea."

On February 25, 2009, O'Day told MTV News that she was not sure if Woods had been asked back for the new season of ''Making the Band'', as far as she knew, but that she herself was not asked to return. "Well, I was fired and we all saw that," she said. "I'm not sure about the other girls — who was invited back or what they were asked to do — but I obviously wouldn't be invited back if I was fired."

O'Day conveyed her hope that fans continue to honor the group that "made her a star". "Danity Kane was a wonderful group, and like all things, nothing is forever," she said. "We had a great run and we were very successful. We may not have that answer for our fans, which is disappointing, but we did try, and that's more than a lot of people." O'Day said that though she is pursuing her own career as a solo artist, she would never turn down the chance to get onstage with her former bandmates. "I have so much respect for that situation, if there was ever interest in me coming back ... and making music with the girls, I would never say no to something like that," she said. "In regards to the other negativity, I really just chose not to comment," said O'Day. "I wrote a blog on my MySpace page, and if anyone wants to know how I feel, they can go there." O'Day later seemed to have more of a positive feeling about the whole situation. She stated, "After being kicked out, I learned you have to fight to stay happy, and that takes forgiveness of yourself."

Viewers were able to see the band's continued demise on the third season of ''Making the Band 4'', which premiered on February 12, 2009. During the February 26, 2009 episode, as well as the continued season, viewers saw Richard and Fimbres eager to continue being a group together and hoping to work with Bex again. This eagerness eventually ended in the April 16, 2009 airing. Within the first five minutes of the episode, Combs told Richard and Fimbres during a meeting that he released O'Day and Woods, along with Bex, from their contracts, and would be releasing Fimbres as well. He told Richard that she will remain on the label and that if there are any future plans for a new Danity Kane, she would be the only returning member.

On April 23, 2009, viewers were expecting to see all five members of Danity Kane for the second part of the finale to find out if Danity Kane would without a doubt be removed from the Bad Boy label or if they would have a "fresh start" as Combs stated in the first part of the finale. During the finale, Fimbres did not show up. Bex explained that Fimbres did not show up because Fimbres "had been through enough" emotional turmoil with the group and wanted to stay home with family. As for herself not showing up for the 2009 season of ''Making the Band'', Bex said that it was a "personal choice" and was nothing against the fans. Woods said that part of the reason for the group's demise was due to not having a "sound foundation" when it began (five strangers being put together and expected to be emotionally close) and that eventually led to professional and personal problems with the group. O'Day said she has forgiven being released from the group, and people who blamed her for the group's breakup. When asked if Danity Kane could be a group again, O'Day said yes. Woods and Bex said not at this time. Combs said that they need a "time out" for now, particularly to work on their solo or alternative careers, and that he will not reunite Danity Kane unless the group consists of all five original members.

On April 30, 2009, a special titled "The Rise and Fall of Danity Kane" aired on MTV. The special was an in-depth story showcasing how the group came together and broke apart. It reasoned that the breakup of friendships and new friendships built in place of old friendships (O'Day and Fimbres becoming distant; O'Day bonding more with Woods and Fimbres bonding more with Bex), as well as insecurity issues of each member, were contributing factors for the group's demise. In addition, everyone except for Bex was speculated as having been a part of the blame.

Tours

According to Aubrey O'Day's résumé.

Headlining

2006: Jingle Ball Tour

2008: Making the Band 4 - The Tour

Supporting act

2005: The Never Gone Tour

2006: Monkey Business Tour

2006-2007: Back to Basics Tour

Discography

Albums

2006: ''Danity Kane''

2008: ''Welcome to the Dollhouse''

Awards and nominations

Year !! Award
2006	Urban Music Awards>Urban Music Award Won for "Best Group - Female"
2007	Poptastic Award ''Nominated'' for "Best Ringtone (for "Showstopper")"
2007	Soul Train Music Awards>Soul Train Music Award ''Nominated'' for "Best R&B;/ Album Group, Band or Duo"
2008	BET Awards>BET Award ''Nominated'' for "Best Group"
2008	Teen Choice Awards>Teen Choice Award ''Nominated'' "Best R&B; Track for "Damaged"
2008	MTV Video Music Awards
2008	MTV Video Music Award ''Nominated'' Best Dancing in a Video for "Damaged"
2008	Damaged (Danity Kane song)>Damaged"
2008	Damaged (Danity Kane song)>Damaged"
2008	Starshine Magazine Nomination for "Favorite Group / Band"
2008	Online Hip Hop Awards Won for "Breakout Girl Group Of The Year(R&B;)"
2008	Online Hip Hop Awards Won for "Album of the Year (R&B;)"
2008	Won for "Off the Hook Award (R&B;)" for "Damaged (Danity Kane song)>Damaged"
2009	Guinness World Records 2009 "First female group in Billboard history to debut their first two albums at the top of the charts."

References

External links

Official Danity Kane website

Aubrey O'Day website

{{s-ttl|title=''Making the Band'' winners |years=2005}}

Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:Reality show winners Category:Bad Boy Records artists Category:Musical quintets Category:American pop music groups Category:American rhythm and blues musical groups Category:American girl groups Category:Musical groups established in 2005 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2009

ar:دانتي كين de:Danity Kane es:Danity Kane fr:Danity Kane ko:대니티 케인 it:Danity Kane nl:Danity Kane pl:Danity Kane pt:Danity Kane ro:Danity Kane sah:Danity Kane fi:Danity Kane sv:Danity Kane th:แดนิตี้ เคน

Coordinates	39°46′5.88″N86°9′29.52″N
name	Cee Lo Green
background	solo_singer
birth name	Thomas DeCarlo Callaway
alias	Cee Lo Green, Cee Lo
born	May 30, 1974Atlanta, Georgia, US
instrument	Vocals, piano
genre	Soul, hip hop, neo soul, R&B;, funk, alternative hip hop, hip hop soul
occupation	Singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, actor
years active	1992–present (group)2002–present (solo)
label	Arista, Elektra
associated acts	Gnarls Barkley, Goodie Mob, Kid Cudi, OutKast, Jazze Pha, Bruno Mars
website	}}

Thomas DeCarlo Callaway (born May 30, 1974), better known by his stage name Cee Lo Green, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer and actor. He originally came to prominence as a member of the southern hip hop group Goodie Mob, later launching a critically acclaimed solo career and forming Gnarls Barkley with DJ/producer Danger Mouse.

Internationally, Cee Lo is best known for his hip hop work and Gnarls Barkley's 2006 worldwide hit "Crazy", which reached number one in various singles charts worldwide, including the UK. In the United States, "Crazy" reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Parent album ''St. Elsewhere'' was also a hit, reaching number one on the UK Albums Chart and number four on the US ''Billboard'' 200 album charts. Gnarls Barkley's second album, internationally less successful, ''The Odd Couple'' (2008) missed the top ten in both the UK and US, where it charted at number 12 in the US, and 18 in the UK.

Cee Lo, taking a break from recording with Gnarls Barkley, released the single "Forget You!" on August 19, 2010 as a solo recording artist. The song was an instant hit, reaching the top spot in the UK and the Netherlands and charted at number two on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The parent album, ''The Lady Killer'' (2010) saw similar success, peaking within the top five of the UK Album Charts and debuting within the top ten on the ''Billboard'' 200 album charts, and received a Gold certification from the BPI in the UK shortly after its release. His second single "It's OK" was a hit in Europe and the third single, "Bright Lights Bigger City" has also seen similar charting success. Cee Lo is currently a vocal coach on the NBC reality talent show ''The Voice'' with Adam Levine, Christina Aguilera, and Blake Shelton.

Early life

Cee Lo Green was born Thomas DeCarlo Callaway in Atlanta, Georgia and graduated from Benjamin E. Mays High School in Southwest Atlanta. Both of his parents were ordained ministers and he started his music career in his church. His father died when he was two years old. His mother, Sheila J. Tyler-Callaway, was also a volunteer firefighter. She was involved in a car crash, leaving her paralyzed, and died two years after the accident. At the time, Cee Lo was 18 years old and his career with Goodie Mob had just begun taking off. His mother's death led Cee Lo into depression, as is reflected in various songs throughout his career, including "Free" by Goodie Mob, songs on ''St. Elsewhere'', and on ''The Odd Couple'' ("She Knows", "A Little Better"). Cee Lo also expresses his love for his mother in the song "Guess Who" from Goodie Mob's ''Soul Food'' album.

Music career

Goodie Mob

Along with Big Gipp, T-Mo, and Khujo, Cee Lo was an original member of the Atlanta hip-hop group Goodie Mob. He is the youngest of the four. The Goodie Mob were a part of the Atlanta rap collective the Dungeon Family, which also included OutKast. The group released their debut album, ''Soul Food'' in 1995. The album received much critical praise as a pioneering record for the then emerging Southern rap scene. It featured a distinctive soulful southern sound by production team Organized Noize, who had also produced OutKast's debut ''Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik''. Cee Lo got considerable praise for his rapping and singing of hooks, particularly on the hit singles "Cell Therapy" and "Soul Food".

The group's second album, ''Still Standing'' came out in 1998 and also received much critical praise. Its commercial performance was slightly lower than the group's previous effort however. At this time, Cee Lo focused primarily on rapping over singing. While he did frequently sing hooks and did some singing, at this point he was a rapper first and foremost. Cee Lo took more creative control on the group's next album, ''World Party''. Released in 1999, this album was more of a party record than the group's previous output, getting away somewhat from their socially conscious lyricism.

During the making of the album ''World Party'', Cee Lo left the group to pursue a solo career under Arista and the remaining members continued to perform together under the Goodie Mob name with Koch Records. They did however collaborate in combinations in the Dungeon Family album ''Even in Darkness''. Although the next Goodie Mob album seemed to mock Cee Lo with its title, ''One Monkey Don't Stop No Show'', the group expressed that it was more of a jab at Arista and the music industry as a whole.

In 2005, Cee Lo and Big Gipp were both noted in interview. No title or release date have been given for the new project. The song "Hold On" from Big Boi of OutKast's Got Purp? Vol 2 album was the first newly recorded Goodie Mob song with all four members since ''World Party''. (Khujo later revealed to fans at an album signing for his new album "Mercury", that the song "Hold On" was originally recorded in 1995 before ''Soul Food'' was released.)

Santana

In 1999, Cee Lo, credited as "Cee-Lo" was one of ten famous guest musicians who contributed to the highly successful Santana album ''Supernatural''. Lauryn Hill wrote "Do You Like The Way," and the two of them trade off on lead vocals.

Solo career

Cee Lo's Arista career was short-lived, as he was dropped after only two albums due to low record sales. His first album, ''Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections'', was heavily in the vein of various other Dungeon Family releases, with southern soul/funk/jazz backings produced solely by himself and boasting appearances by fellow Dungeon Fam members Big Gipp and Backbone. The album explored his departure from Goodie Mob and his solo growth in the song "El Dorado Sunrise (Super Chicken)", as well as socio-political issues, and showcased his singing. The album did not sell very well, but Cee Lo achieved some airplay with the single "Closet Freak".

His second Arista album, ''Cee-Lo Green... Is the Soul Machine'' brought a more branched-out sound and more deeply explored southern rap music. This is evidenced by collaborations with Ludacris, T.I., and Pharrell and production from Timbaland, The Neptunes, and Jazze Pha among others. The only other Dungeon Family member that appeared on his second release was Big Rube. This album saw Cee Lo delve into other styles besides traditional rap. Timbaland proved to be Cee Lo's single producer as their song "I'll Be Around" received mild airplay. They performed the single on an episode in the second season of ''Chappelle's Show''. "The One" featuring Jazze Pha and T.I. was also released as a single. On the heels of the success of Gnarls Barkley, Arista released a 17-track greatest hits collection of Cee Lo songs, ''Closet Freak: The Best of Cee Lo Green the Soul Machine''. It features predominantly Cee Lo solo tracks and several Goodie Mob songs. His new song "What Part of Forever" has been included in ''The Twilight Saga: Eclipse'' Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.

After his second solo album, Cee Lo joined the group Gnarls Barkley (see below) with Danger Mouse, temporarily putting his solo career on hold. He would release two albums with that group, before again releasing solo material in 2010.

On August 19, 2010, Cee Lo released a single "Forget You!" to YouTube ahead of his planned solo album release, due to its partial leak on April 13. "Forget You!" was an instant viral smash hit, registering over two million plays in less than a week. Two weeks later on September 1, Cee Lo released to YouTube an official music video of the song. "Forget You!" made a debut at No.1 on the UK charts, notably beating out "Shame" from the recently reunited Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow. On December 1, 2010, Cee Lo received five Grammy nominations for "Forget You!", which has been certified Gold in the United States and Denmark. The single achieved platinum status in Canada, New Zealand, and the UK; and multi-platinum status in Australia.

When discussing his most recent album, ''The Lady Killer'' (released on November 9, 2010, by Elektra Records and Roadrunner Records), Cee Lo said: "I suppose this is a more clear, concise, consistent, conceptual, entire album. It's a complete thought, because it's written to be like a score. The album's meant to be a motion picture, you know? I've never taken that approach to doing an album before." The album was certified Gold in the UK on December 6, 2010.

Green is touring with an all-female backing band named "Scarlet Fever", performing for ''Taratata'', the BBC, ''Late Show with David Letterman'', W's ''Symmetry Live Concert Series'', ''Saturday Night Live'', the ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' special show following the Academy Awards, and many other venues. Green also performed "Forget You", a sanitized version of his hit "Forget You!", with Gwyneth Paltrow and several puppets provided by The Jim Henson Company at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards on February 13, 2011, a shoutout to Elton John, who wore a very similar costume in a Muppet show performance in 1977. At the 2011 BRIT Awards two days later, he was joined by British vocalist Paloma Faith in another duet of "Forget You". Shortly thereafter, it was announced that Green will be joining Rihanna and J. Cole on the North American leg of Rihanna Loud Tour in the summer of 2011. However, he later dropped out of the tour citing that his busy work schedule which includes his commitment to judging “The Voice”, writing a new book and recording a new album as the reason for his withdrawal. On August 14th 2011, Green performed at WWE SummerSlam performing "Forget You" and the event's theme, "Bright Lights, Bigger City".

Twitter Controversy

On Thursday June 16, 2011, journalist Andrea Swensson of City Pages negatively reviewed one of Green's performances, writing that it "failed to measure up to the fun factor of his recorded material. Green spent most of the set stationed in front of a mic at the center of the stage, barely moving an inch while he sang and flanked by two forgettable back-up singers and a DJ that was all but hidden behind a giant LCD display”. In response, the following day Green tweeted "I respect your criticism but be fair! People enjoyed last night! I'm guessing ur gay? And my masculinity offended u? well fuck U!”. Green promptly received angered responses from some of his followers on Twitter, to which he replied "Apologies gay community! what was homophobic about that?" In a subsequent interview with magazine US Weekly Green stated that his comments were in good fun, adding that "I am not harboring any sort of negative feeling toward the gay community" and that "I am one of the most liberal artists that I think you will ever meet, and I pride myself on that". Green has since deleted the tweets pertaining to this review.

Gnarls Barkley

Along with DJ Danger Mouse, Cee Lo was part of a duo called Gnarls Barkley. They first met when Danger Mouse took second in a talent contest and opened for OutKast and Goodie Mob at a University of Georgia concert in 1998. Afterwards, Danger Mouse gave Cee Lo an instrumental demo tape and told him to call him if he was interested. They did not make contact again until Cee Lo was contacted to be featured in a remix of the Danger Mouse and Jemini song "What U Sittin' On?" from the album ''Ghetto Pop Life''. They worked together again on the 2005 Danger Doom (Danger Mouse and MF Doom collaboration) album The Mouse and The Mask on the song "Benzi Box" where Cee Lo sings the chorus.

Gnarls Barkley first collaborative album, ''St. Elsewhere'', was released on April 24, 2006, in the UK and May 2, 2006, in the United States. ''St. Elsewhere'' entered the charts at No.1 in the UK, as did the first single "Crazy". "Crazy" is the first single to go straight to No.1 in the UK based on digital download sales alone and is ranked by Rolling Stone as the No.1 song of the decade. The album is Cee Lo's greatest selling venture yet, having shipped over 3 million copies in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan. A second album by Gnarls Barkley, titled ''The Odd Couple'', was released in March 2008. Its first single was released in January called "Run (I'm a Natural Disaster)".

Future projects

Cee Lo is collaborating with producer Jazze Pha to release an album called ''Happy Hour'' on Jazze’s record label. The songs "Happy Hour" (as well as the remix with Bun B, Snoop Dogg & Tone Tone), "Man of the Hour", and "Disco Bitch" (featuring The Pussycat Dolls) from the album have already been released as singles and B-sides. Jazze Pha has produced numerous hit singles with many artists, but this project is his rapping and singing debut. Cee Lo is co-producing the album with him, so both artist and producer share equal roles in vocals and production. Also, Melody Thornton confirmed that she is currently in the studio with Cee Lo working on her solo album. In 2010, he recorded a song for the ''Sex and the City 2'' soundtrack which reached number 9 in the charts and was written by him and produced by T-Pain which is called "Language of Love". He along with The Red Hot Chili Peppers and OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder were rumored to be appearing on British DJ Paul Oakenfold's upcoming album.

Television and film career

Cee Lo, along with the rest of the Goodie Mob, had a cameo in the 1999 film ''Mystery Men'' as a member of the Not So Goodie Mob. He also has done voice acting work, voicing Prime Cut Miggity-Mo' Macdaddy Gizzabang Doggy Dog Dog on the ''Brak Show'' episode "Brakstreet" in 2002, Frank and Buddy Z ''Class of 3000'''s Christmas special and as Godzilla in the ''Robot Chicken'' episode "Squaw Bury Shortcake" in 2007, and Rev. Rollo Goodlove in the ''Boondocks'' episodes "The S-Word" and "The Hunger Strike" in 2008. In 2010, he appeared in T-Pain's ''Freaknik: The Musical'' as Light Skin.

On January 15, 2011, Cee Lo both acted and performed on NBC's ''Saturday Night Live'' hosted by Gwyneth Paltrow, who, in November 2010, covered his song "Forget You" on an episode of ''Glee''.

Cee Lo is currently one of the coaches for contestants on the singing TV show ''The Voice''.

Personal life

Cee Lo has described himself as being a "goon" in his youth.

Cee Lo was married to Christina Johnson until they divorced in 2005. Together they have a son Kingston; and Cee Lo was a stepfather to Christina's daughters, Sierra and Kalah.

Discography

''Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections'' (2002)

''Cee-Lo Green... Is the Soul Machine'' (2004)

''The Lady Killer'' (2010)

Awards and nominations

|- | rowspan="3"| 2011 | rowspan="2"| Brit Awards | ''Best International Album'' | |- | ''Best International Male'' | |- | BET Awards | ''Best Male R&B; Artist'' |

Grammy Awards

|- | style="text-align:center;" rowspan="4"| 2007 ||style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"|"Crazy" || Record of the Year || |- | Best Urban/Alternative Performance || |- |style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"|''St. Elsewhere'' || Album of the Year || |- | Best Alternative Music Album || |- |style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"| 2009 || "Going On" || Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals || |- | ''The Odd Couple'' || Best Alternative Music Album || |- |style="text-align:center;" rowspan="4"| 2011 ||style="text-align:left;" rowspan="4"|"Forget You" || Record of the Year || |- | Song of the Year || |- | Best Urban/Alternative Performance || |- | Best Short Form Music Video ||

References

External links

Cee Lo Green on BBC Music

Official Jazze Pha & Cee Lo website

Cee Lo Green Storytellers on VH1

Category:1974 births Category:Living people Category:African American singers Category:American funk musicians Category:American male singers Category:American pop singers Category:American tenors Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American soul singers Category:Dungeon Family Category:Gnarls Barkley members Category:Hip hop record producers Category:Rappers from Atlanta, Georgia Category:Neo soul singers Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:The Voice judges

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