Color or colour (see spelling differences) is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called ''red'', ''green'', ''blue'' and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light (distribution of light energy versus wavelength) interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors. Color categories and physical specifications of color are also associated with objects, materials, light sources, etc., based on their physical properties such as light absorption, reflection, or emission spectra. By defining a color space, colors can be identified numerically by their coordinates.

Because perception of color stems from the varying spectral sensitivity of different types of cone cells in the retina to different parts of the spectrum, colors may be defined and quantified by the degree to which they stimulate these cells. These physical or physiological quantifications of color, however, do not fully explain the psychophysical perception of color appearance.

The science of color is sometimes called ''chromatics'', ''colorimetry'', or simply ''color science''. It includes the perception of color by the human eye and brain, the origin of color in materials, color theory in art, and the physics of electromagnetic radiation in the visible range (that is, what we commonly refer to simply as ''light'').

Physics

{|class=wikitable width=400 align="right" style="margin: 1em 0em 1em 1em; clear: right" |+The colors of the visible light spectrum |- !style="text-align: left"|color ! abbr="wavelength" | wavelength interval ! abbr="frequency" | frequency interval |-align="center" bgcolor="red" style="color:white;" !style="text-align: left"|red |~ 700–635 nm |~ 430–480 THz |-align="center" bgcolor="#FF8000" style="color:white;" !style="text-align: left"|orange |~ 635–590 nm |~ 480–510 THz |-align="center" bgcolor="#FFFF00" style="color:green;" !style="text-align: left"|yellow |~ 590–560 nm |~ 510–540 THz |-align="center" bgcolor="#00FF00" style="color:black;" !style="text-align: left"|green |~ 560–490 nm |~ 540–610 THz |-align="center" bgcolor="#0000FF" style="color:white;" !style="text-align: left"|blue |~ 490–450 nm |~ 610–670 THz |-align="center" bgcolor="#8000FF" style="color:white;" !style="text-align: left"|violet |~ 450–400 nm |~ 670–750 THz |} {|class=wikitable width=400 align="right" style="margin: 1em 0em 1em 1em; clear:right;" |+Color, wavelength, frequency and energy of light |- !style="text-align: left"|Color !$\backslash lambda\; \backslash ,\backslash !$ (nm) !$\backslash nu\; \backslash ,\backslash !$ (THz) !$\backslash nu\_b\; \backslash ,\backslash !$ (μm⁻¹) !$E\; \backslash ,\backslash !$ (eV) !$E\; \backslash ,\backslash !$ (kJ mol⁻¹) |-align="right" !style="text-align: left"|Infrared |>1000 |<300 |<1.00 |<1.24 |<120 |-align="right" !style="text-align: left"|Red |700 |428 |1.43 |1.77 |171 |-align="right" !style="text-align: left"|Orange |620 |484 |1.61 |2.00 |193 |-align="right" !style="text-align: left"|Yellow |580 |517 |1.72 |2.14 |206 |-align="right" !style="text-align: left"|Green |530 |566 |1.89 |2.34 |226 |-align="right" !style="text-align: left"|Blue |470 |638 |2.13 |2.64 |254 |-align="right" !style="text-align: left"|Violet |420 |714 |2.38 |2.95 |285 |-align="right" !style="text-align: left"|Near ultraviolet |300 |1000 |3.33 |4.15 |400 |-align="right" !style="text-align: left"|Far ultraviolet |<200 |>1500 |>5.00 |>6.20 |>598 |} Electromagnetic radiation is characterized by its wavelength (or frequency) and its intensity. When the wavelength is within the visible spectrum (the range of wavelengths humans can perceive, approximately from 390 nm to 750 nm), it is known as "visible light".

Most light sources emit light at many different wavelengths; a source's ''spectrum'' is a distribution giving its intensity at each wavelength. Although the spectrum of light arriving at the eye from a given direction determines the color sensation in that direction, there are many more possible spectral combinations than color sensations. In fact, one may formally define a color as a class of spectra that give rise to the same color sensation, although such classes would vary widely among different species, and to a lesser extent among individuals within the same species. In each such class the members are called ''metamers'' of the color in question.

Spectral colors

The familiar colors of the rainbow in the spectrum – named using the Latin word for ''appearance'' or ''apparition'' by Isaac Newton in 1671 – include all those colors that can be produced by visible light of a single wavelength only, the ''pure spectral'' or ''monochromatic'' colors. The table at right shows approximate frequencies (in terahertz) and wavelengths (in nanometers) for various pure spectral colors. The wavelengths are measured in air or vacuum (see refraction).

The color table should not be interpreted as a definitive list – the pure spectral colors form a continuous spectrum, and how it is divided into distinct colors linguistically is a matter of culture and historical contingency (although people everywhere have been shown to ''perceive'' colors in the same way). A common list identifies six main bands: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Newton's conception included a seventh color, indigo, between blue and violet. Optical scientists Hardy and Perrin list indigo as between 446 and 464 nm wavelength.

The ''intensity'' of a spectral color, relative to the context in which it is viewed, may alter its perception considerably; for example, a low-intensity orange-yellow is brown, and a low-intensity yellow-green is olive-green.

For discussion of non-spectral colors, see below.

Color of objects

The color of an object depends on both the physics of the object in its environment and the characteristics of the perceiving eye and brain. Physically, objects can be said to have the color of the light leaving their surfaces, which normally depends on the spectrum of the incident illumination and the reflectance properties of the surface, as well as potentially on the angles of illumination and viewing. Some objects not only reflect light, but also transmit light or emit light themselves (see below), which contribute to the color also. And a viewer's perception of the object's color depends not only on the spectrum of the light leaving its surface, but also on a host of contextual cues, so that the color tends to be perceived as relatively constant: that is, relatively independent of the lighting spectrum, viewing angle, etc. This effect is known as color constancy.

Some generalizations of the physics can be drawn, neglecting perceptual effects for now:

Light arriving at an opaque surface is either reflected "specularly" (that is, in the manner of a mirror), scattered (that is, reflected with diffuse scattering), or absorbed – or some combination of these.

Opaque objects that do not reflect specularly (which tend to have rough surfaces) have their color determined by which wavelengths of light they scatter more and which they scatter less (with the light that is not scattered being absorbed). If objects scatter all wavelengths, they appear white. If they absorb all wavelengths, they appear black.

Opaque objects that specularly reflect light of different wavelengths with different efficiencies look like mirrors tinted with colors determined by those differences. An object that reflects some fraction of impinging light and absorbs the rest may look black but also be faintly reflective; examples are black objects coated with layers of enamel or lacquer.

Objects that transmit light are either ''translucent'' (scattering the transmitted light) or ''transparent'' (not scattering the transmitted light). If they also absorb (or reflect) light of various wavelengths differentially, they appear tinted with a color determined by the nature of that absorption (or that reflectance).

Objects may emit light that they generate themselves, rather than merely reflecting or transmitting light. They may do so because of their elevated temperature (they are then said to be ''incandescent''), as a result of certain chemical reactions (a phenomenon called ''chemoluminescence''), or for other reasons (see the articles Phosphorescence and List of light sources).

Objects may absorb light and then as a consequence emit light that has different properties. They are then called ''fluorescent'' (if light is emitted only while light is absorbed) or ''phosphorescent'' (if light is emitted even after light ceases to be absorbed; this term is also sometimes loosely applied to light emitted because of chemical reactions).

For further treatment of the color of objects, see structural color, below.

To summarize, the color of an object is a complex result of its surface properties, its transmission properties, and its emission properties, all of which factors contribute to the mix of wavelengths in the light leaving the surface of the object. The perceived color is then further conditioned by the nature of the ambient illumination, and by the color properties of other objects nearby, via the effect known as color constancy and via other characteristics of the perceiving eye and brain.

Perception

Development of theories of color vision

Although Aristotle and other ancient scientists had already written on the nature of light and color vision, it was not until Newton that light was identified as the source of the color sensation. In 1810, Goethe published his comprehensive ''Theory of Colors''. In 1801 Thomas Young proposed his trichromatic theory, based on the observation that any color could be matched with a combination of three lights. This theory was later refined by James Clerk Maxwell and Hermann von Helmholtz. As Helmholtz puts it, "the principles of Newton's law of mixture were experimentally confirmed by Maxwell in 1856. Young's theory of color sensations, like so much else that this marvellous investigator achieved in advance of his time, remained unnoticed until Maxwell directed attention to it."

At the same time as Helmholtz, Ewald Hering developed the opponent process theory of color, noting that color blindness and afterimages typically come in opponent pairs (red-green, blue-orange, yellow-purple, and black-white). Ultimately these two theories were synthesized in 1957 by Hurvich and Jameson, who showed that retinal processing corresponds to the trichromatic theory, while processing at the level of the lateral geniculate nucleus corresponds to the opponent theory.

In 1931, an international group of experts known as the ''Commission internationale de l'éclairage'' (CIE) developed a mathematical color model, which mapped out the space of observable colors and assigned a set of three numbers to each.

Color in the eye

[[File:1Mcolors.png|thumb|This image (when viewed in full size, 1000 pixels wide) contains 1 million pixels, each of a different color. The human eye can distinguish about 10 million different colors. ]]

The ability of the human eye to distinguish colors is based upon the varying sensitivity of different cells in the retina to light of different wavelengths. Humans being trichromatic, the retina contains three types of color receptor cells, or cones. One type, relatively distinct from the other two, is most responsive to light that we perceive as violet, with wavelengths around 420 nm; cones of this type are sometimes called ''short-wavelength cones'', ''S cones'', or ''blue cones''. The other two types are closely related genetically and chemically. One of them, sometimes called ''long-wavelength cones'', ''L cones'', or ''red cones'', is most sensitive to light we perceive as greenish yellow, with wavelengths around 564 nm; the other type, known as ''middle-wavelength cones'', ''M cones'', or ''green cones'' is most sensitive to light perceived as green, with wavelengths around 534 nm.

Light, no matter how complex its composition of wavelengths, is reduced to three color components by the eye. For each location in the visual field, the three types of cones yield three signals based on the extent to which each is stimulated. These amounts of stimulation are sometimes called ''tristimulus values''.

The response curve as a function of wavelength for each type of cone is illustrated above. Because the curves overlap, some tristimulus values do not occur for any incoming light combination. For example, it is not possible to stimulate ''only'' the mid-wavelength (so-called "green") cones; the other cones will inevitably be stimulated to some degree at the same time. The set of all possible tristimulus values determines the human ''color space''. It has been estimated that humans can distinguish roughly 10 million different colors.

The other type of light-sensitive cell in the eye, the rod, has a different response curve. In normal situations, when light is bright enough to strongly stimulate the cones, rods play virtually no role in vision at all. On the other hand, in dim light, the cones are understimulated leaving only the signal from the rods, resulting in a colorless response. (Furthermore, the rods are barely sensitive to light in the "red" range.) In certain conditions of intermediate illumination, the rod response and a weak cone response can together result in color discriminations not accounted for by cone responses alone. These effects, combined, are summarized also in the Kruithof curve, that describes the change of color perception and pleasingness of light as function of temperature and intensity.

Color in the brain

While the mechanisms of color vision at the level of the retina are well-described in terms of tristimulus values (see above), color processing after that point is organized differently. A dominant theory of color vision proposes that color information is transmitted out of the eye by three opponent processes, or opponent channels, each constructed from the raw output of the cones: a red-green channel, a blue-yellow channel and a black-white "luminance" channel. This theory has been supported by neurobiology, and accounts for the structure of our subjective color experience. Specifically, it explains why we cannot perceive a "reddish green" or "yellowish blue," and it predicts the color wheel: it is the collection of colors for which at least one of the two color channels measures a value at one of its extremes.

The exact nature of color perception beyond the processing already described, and indeed the status of color as a feature of the perceived world or rather as a feature of our ''perception'' of the world, is a matter of complex and continuing philosophical dispute (see qualia).

Nonstandard color perception

Color deficiency

If one or more types of a person's color-sensing cones are missing or less responsive than normal to incoming light, that person can distinguish fewer colors and is said to be ''color deficient'' or ''color blind'' (though this latter term can be misleading; almost all color deficient individuals can distinguish at least some colors). Some kinds of color deficiency are caused by anomalies in the number or nature of cones in the retina. Others (like ''central'' or ''cortical'' ''achromatopsia'') are caused by neural anomalies in those parts of the brain where visual processing takes place.

Tetrachromacy

While most humans are ''trichromatic'' (having three types of color receptors), many animals, known as ''tetrachromats'', have four types. These include some species of spiders, most marsupials, birds, reptiles, and many species of fish. Other species are sensitive to only two axes of color or do not perceive color at all; these are called ''dichromats'' and ''monochromats'' respectively. A distinction is made between ''retinal tetrachromacy'' (having four pigments in cone cells in the retina, compared to three in trichromats) and ''functional tetrachromacy'' (having the ability to make enhanced color discriminations based on that retinal difference). As many as half of all women are retinal tetrachromats. The phenomenon arises when an individual receives two slightly different copies of the gene for either the medium- or long-wavelength cones, which are carried on the x-chromosome. To have two different genes, a person must have two x-chromosomes, which is why the phenomenon only occurs in women. For some of these retinal tetrachromats, color discriminations are enhanced, making them functional tetrachromats.

Synesthesia

In certain forms of synesthesia, perceiving letters and numbers (grapheme–color synesthesia) or hearing musical sounds (music–color synesthesia) will lead to the unusual additional experiences of seeing colors. Behavioral and functional neuroimaging experiments have demonstrated that these color experiences lead to changes in behavioral tasks and lead to increased activation of brain regions involved in color perception, thus demonstrating their reality, and similarity to real color percepts, albeit evoked through a non-standard route.

Afterimages

After exposure to strong light in their sensitivity range, photoreceptors of a given type become desensitized. For a few seconds after the light ceases, they will continue to signal less strongly than they otherwise would. Colors observed during that period will appear to lack the color component detected by the desensitized photoreceptors. This effect is responsible for the phenomenon of afterimages, in which the eye may continue to see a bright figure after looking away from it, but in a complementary color.

Afterimage effects have also been utilized by artists, including Vincent van Gogh.

Color constancy

There is an interesting phenomenon which occurs when an artist uses a limited color palette: the eye tends to compensate by seeing any grey or neutral color as the color which is missing from the color wheel. For example, in a limited palette consisting of red, yellow, black and white, a mixture of yellow and black will appear as a variety of green, a mixture of red and black will appear as a variety of purple, and pure grey will appear bluish.

The trichromatic theory discussed above is strictly true when the visual system is in a fixed state of adaptation. In reality, the visual system is constantly adapting to changes in the environment and compares the various colors in a scene to reduce the effects of the illumination. If a scene is illuminated with one light, and then with another, as long as the difference between the light sources stays within a reasonable range, the colors in the scene appear relatively constant to us. This was studied by Edwin Land in the 1970s and led to his retinex theory of color constancy.

It should be noted, that both phenomena described above are readily explained and mathematical modeled with modern theories of chromatic adaptation and color appearance (e.g., CIECAM02, iCAM). There is no need to dismiss the trichromatic theory of vision, but rather it must be enhanced with an understanding of how the visual system adapts (adjusts) to changes in the viewing environment.

Color naming

Colors vary in several different ways, including hue (shades of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet), saturation, brightness, and gloss. Some color words are derived from the name of an object of that color, such as "orange" or "salmon", while others are abstract, like "red".

Different cultures have different terms for colors, and may also assign some color names to slightly different parts of the spectrum: for instance, the Chinese character 青 (rendered as ''qīng'' in Mandarin and ''ao'' in Japanese) has a meaning that covers both blue and green; blue and green are traditionally considered shades of "青." South Korea, on the other hand, differentiates between blue and green by using "綠 (녹)" for green and "靑 (청)" for blue.

In the 1969 study Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution, Brent Berlin and Paul Kay describe a pattern in naming "basic" colors (like "red" but not "red-orange" or "dark red" or "blood red", which are "shades" of red). All languages that have two "basic" color names distinguish dark/cool colors from bright/warm colors. The next colors to be distinguished are usually red and then yellow or green. All languages with six "basic" colors include black, white, red, green, blue and yellow. The pattern holds up to a set of twelve: black, grey, white, pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, and azure (distinct from blue in Russian and Italian but not English).

Associations

Individual colors have a variety of cultural associations such as national colors (in general described in individual color articles and color symbolism). The field of color psychology attempts to identify the effects of color on human emotion and activity. Chromotherapy is a form of alternative medicine attributed to various Eastern traditions. Colors have different associations in different countries and cultures.

Different colors have been demonstrated to have affects on cognition. For example, researchers at the University of Linz in Austria demonstrated that the color red significantly decreases cognitive functioning in men.

Spectral colors and color reproduction

Most light sources are mixtures of various wavelengths of light. However, many such sources can still have a spectral color insofar as the eye cannot distinguish them from monochromatic sources. For example, most computer displays reproduce the spectral color orange as a combination of red and green light; it appears orange because the red and green are mixed in the right proportions to allow the eye's red and green cones to respond the way they do to orange.

A useful concept in understanding the perceived color of a non-monochromatic light source is the dominant wavelength, which identifies the single wavelength of light that produces a sensation most similar to the light source. Dominant wavelength is roughly akin to hue.

There are many color perceptions that by definition cannot be pure spectral colors due to desaturation or because they are purples (mixtures of red and violet light, from opposite ends of the spectrum). Some examples of necessarily non-spectral colors are the achromatic colors (black, gray and white) and colors such as pink, tan, and magenta.

Two different light spectra that have the same effect on the three color receptors in the human eye will be perceived as the same color. This is exemplified by the white light emitted by fluorescent lamps, which typically has a spectrum of a few narrow bands, while daylight has a continuous spectrum. The human eye cannot tell the difference between such light spectra just by looking into the light source, although reflected colors from objects can look different. (This is often exploited e.g. to make fruit or tomatoes look more intensely red.)

Similarly, most human color perceptions can be generated by a mixture of three colors called ''primaries''. This is used to reproduce color scenes in photography, printing, television and other media. There are a number of methods or color spaces for specifying a color in terms of three particular primary colors. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages depending on the particular application.

No mixture of colors, though, can produce a fully pure color perceived as completely identical to a spectral color, although one can get very close for the longer wavelengths, where the chromaticity diagram above has a nearly straight edge. For example, mixing green light (530 nm) and blue light (460 nm) produces cyan light that is slightly desaturated, because response of the red color receptor would be greater to the green and blue light in the mixture than it would be to a pure cyan light at 485 nm that has the same intensity as the mixture of blue and green.

Because of this, and because the ''primaries'' in color printing systems generally are not pure themselves, the colors reproduced are never perfectly saturated colors, and so spectral colors cannot be matched exactly. However, natural scenes rarely contain fully saturated colors, thus such scenes can usually be approximated well by these systems. The range of colors that can be reproduced with a given color reproduction system is called the gamut. The CIE chromaticity diagram can be used to describe the gamut.

Another problem with color reproduction systems is connected with the acquisition devices, like cameras or scanners. The characteristics of the color sensors in the devices are often very far from the characteristics of the receptors in the human eye. In effect, acquisition of colors that have some special, often very "jagged," spectra caused for example by unusual lighting of the photographed scene can be relatively poor.

Species that have color receptors different from humans, e.g. birds that may have four receptors, can differentiate some colors that look the same to a human. In such cases, a color reproduction system 'tuned' to a human with normal color vision may give very inaccurate results for the other observers.

The different color response of different devices can be problematic if not properly managed. For color information stored and transferred in digital form, color management techniques, such as those based on ICC profiles, can help to avoid distortions of the reproduced colors. Color management does not circumvent the gamut limitations of particular output devices, but can assist in finding good mapping of input colors into the gamut that can be reproduced.

Pigments and reflective media

Pigments are chemicals that selectively absorb and reflect different spectra of light. When a surface is painted with a pigment, light hitting the surface is reflected, minus some wavelengths. This subtraction of wavelengths produces the appearance of different colors. Most paints are a blend of several chemical pigments, intended to produce a reflection of a given color.

Pigment manufacturers assume the source light will be white, or of roughly equal intensity across the spectrum. If the light is not a pure white source (as in the case of nearly all forms of artificial lighting), the resulting spectrum will appear a slightly different color. Red paint, viewed under blue light, may appear black. Red paint is red because it reflects only the red components of the spectrum. Blue light, containing none of these, will create no reflection from red paint, creating the appearance of black.

Structural color

Structural colors are colors caused by interference effects rather than by pigments. Color effects are produced when a material is scored with fine parallel lines, formed of one or more parallel thin layers, or otherwise composed of microstructures on the scale of the color's wavelength. If the microstructures are spaced randomly, light of shorter wavelengths will be scattered preferentially to produce Tyndall effect colors: the blue of the sky (Rayleigh scattering, caused by structures much smaller than the wavelength of light, in this case air molecules), the luster of opals, and the blue of human irises. If the microstructures are aligned in arrays, for example the array of pits in a CD, they behave as a diffraction grating: the grating reflects different wavelengths in different directions due to interference phenomena, separating mixed "white" light into light of different wavelengths. If the structure is one or more thin layers then it will reflect some wavelengths and transmit others, depending on the layers' thickness.

Structural color is studied in the field of thin-film optics. A layman's term that describes particularly the most ordered or the most changeable structural colors is iridescence. Structural color is responsible for the blues and greens of the feathers of many birds (the blue jay, for example), as well as certain butterfly wings and beetle shells. Variations in the pattern's spacing often give rise to an iridescent effect, as seen in peacock feathers, soap bubbles, films of oil, and mother of pearl, because the reflected color depends upon the viewing angle. Numerous scientists have carried out research in butterfly wings and beetle shells, including Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke. Since 1942, electron micrography has been used, advancing the development of products that exploit structural color, such as "photonic" cosmetics.

Additional terms

Colorfulness, chroma, purity, or saturation: how "intense" or "concentrated" a color is. Technical definitions distinguish between colorfulness, chroma, and saturation as distinct perceptual attributes and include purity as a physical quantity. These terms, and others related to light and color are internationally agreed upon and published in the CIE Lighting Vocabulary. More readily available texts on colorimetry also define and explain these terms.

Dichromatism: a phenomenon where the hue is dependent on concentration and/or thickness of the absorbing substance.

Hue: the color's direction from white, for example in a color wheel or chromaticity diagram.

Shade: a color made darker by adding black.

Tint: a color made lighter by adding white.

Value, brightness, lightness, or luminosity: how light or dark a color is.

See also

CIECAM02

Color mapping

Complementary color

Impossible color

International Color Consortium

International Commission on Illumination

List of colors

Neutral color

Pearlescent coating including Metal effect pigments

Primary color

Rainbow

Secondary color

Tertiary color

References

External links and sources

Bibliography Database on Color Theory, Buenos Aires University

Why Should Engineers and Scientists Be Worried About Color?

Robert Ridgway's ''A Nomenclature of Colors'' (1886) and ''Color Standards and Color Nomenclature'' (1912) - text-searchable digital facsimiles at Linda Hall Library

Albert Henry Munsell's A Color Notation, (1907) at Project Gutenberg

* Category:Image processing Category:Vision

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Coordinates	21°45′49″N94°10′38″N
Name	Cyndi Lauper
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper
Birth date	June 22, 1953
Spouse	David Thornton
Origin	New York City, New York, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, Appalachian dulcimer, zither, guitar, recorder, omnichord, trombone, percussion, electric bass, piano, banjo, ukulele
Associated acts	Blue Angel
Genre	Pop rockDance-rockNew WaveBlues
Occupation	Singer, songwriter, producer, actress (film & stage)
Years active	1977–present
Label	Portrait, Epic, Downtown
Associated acts	Blue Angel
Website	www.cyndilauper.com }}

Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album ''She's So Unusual'' and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album. Lauper has released 11 albums and over 40 singles, and as of 2008 had sold more than 30 million records worldwide.

Life and career

1953–1979: Early life

The daughter of Fred and Catrine Lauper, Cyndi Lauper was born and raised in Ozone Park in a Catholic family, in the borough of Queens in New York City. Her mother uses the stage name "Catrine Dominique" for the music videos in which she has appeared. Her father was of German and Swiss descent and her mother is Italian American (from Sicily). She has an older sister, Ellen, and a younger brother, Fred (nicknamed Butch).

After Lauper's parents divorced, her mother remarried, divorced again, and went to work as a waitress. It was during this time that Lauper began listening to artists like Judy Garland, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and the Beatles. Her mother encouraged her independence and creativity. At the age of twelve, Lauper learned how to play an acoustic guitar, which her sister had given to her, and she started to write her own lyrics. She had a great love of art and music and tried to find ways to express herself. Even at this early age, Lauper started dyeing her hair different colors and wearing radical fashions. Lauper was accepted in a special public high school for students with talent in the visual arts, but she was held back and eventually dropped out, earning her GED sometime later. At the age of seventeen, she left home, planning to study art. Her journey would take her to Canada, where she spent two weeks in the woods with her dog, Sparkle, trying to find herself. She eventually wound up in Vermont, where she took art classes at Johnson State College. She supported herself by working at various odd jobs.

In the mid 1970s, Lauper performed as a vocalist with various cover bands (such as Doc West and Flyer, who still perform under the names Gap Wilson Band and Red, White and Blues Band), in the New York metropolitan area, singing hits by bands such as Jefferson Airplane, Led Zeppelin, and Bad Company. Even though Lauper was now performing on stage, she was not happy singing cover songs. In 1977, Lauper damaged her vocal cords and took a year off. She was told by three doctors that she would never sing again. Vocal coach Katie Agresta helped Lauper regain her voice by teaching her proper vocal exercises.

1980–1981: Blue Angel

In 1978, after Lauper regained her voice, she met saxophone player John Turi through her manager Ted Rosenblatt. Turi and Lauper became writing partners and formed a band called Blue Angel. They decided to put everything they had into making an album of original material. A few demos were recorded and the tape found its way over to Steve Massarsky, who was managing The Allman Brothers Band. Massarsky said the tape was horrible, but he was attracted to Lauper's voice. He saw them play live and eventually started managing the band after buying their contract out for $5,000. Many people wanted to sign Lauper only if she would sign on as a solo artist. Lauper held out, wanting the band to be included in any deal she made. Polydor Records eventually signed them as a band. In 1980, they released a self-titled album on Polydor Records. ''Rolling Stone'' magazine later included it as one of the 100 best new wave album covers (2003). Lauper hated the cover, often saying they made her look like Big Bird. Despite critical acclaim, the album sold poorly (or "went lead", as Lauper says) and the band broke up. Polydor Records had a regime change, and the label would not let the band back into the studio unless they had a hit. The members of Blue Angel had a falling out with Massarsky and fired him as their manager. He later filed an $80,000 suit against them. This suit forced Lauper into bankruptcy.

Lauper started working in retail stores such as the New York high-end thrift store Screaming Mimi's to make ends meet, and she still sang in local clubs. Her most frequent gigs were at El Sombrero. Music critics that saw Lauper perform with Blue Angel thought that she had star potential since she had a wide singing range (four octaves), perfect pitch, and a vocal style all her own. In 1981, while singing in a local New York bar, Lauper met David Wolff, who took over as her manager (and at some point became romantically involved with her) and got her signed with Portrait Records, a subsidiary of Epic Records. Wolff had been working with a band called Arc Angel.

1983–1985: ''She's So Unusual''

On October 14, 1983, ''She's So Unusual'' was released and peaked at #4 in the US becoming a worldwide hit. With help from Rick Chertoff, Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman (of The Hooters) as her primary studio musicians, ''She's So Unusual'''s popularity spread like wildfire. At the time, Lauper became popular with teenagers and critics, in part due to her hybrid punk image, crafted by stylist Patrick Lucas.

Lauper knew she could write songs, but the record company had a lot of material they wanted her to record. She altered a lot of the songs that were thrown her way, often changing the lyrics to suit her. An example is her Platinum-certified "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"; Lauper says the original lyrics of the song dealt more with a girl pleasing a man, and therefore she changed the lyrics, wanting the song to be more of an anthem as she felt the original song seemed misogynistic. The album's second single was the ballad "Time After Time". Lauper co-wrote "Time After Time" with Rob Hyman when her producer, Rick Chertoff, suggested to the band that the album could use one more song. The record label did not have much faith in Lauper as a songwriter, but they gave her the chance to prove herself. "Time After Time" hit #1 on both Billboard's Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts. It earned Lauper Gold certification with sales of 500,000 from the RIAA and was one of the biggest hits of 1984. It has been covered by more than 100 artists. Lauper came up with the title for "Time After Time" while reading ''TV Guide''—''Time After Time'' was a 1979 science fiction movie starring Malcolm McDowell as H. G. Wells, portraying him inventing and then traveling in a time machine. "She Bop" was the album's third single release. It reached #3 on the Hot 100 and earned Cyndi another Gold certification of 500,000 from the RIAA. This was followed by "All Through the Night" which was written by Jules Shear and reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. . Jules Shear and Cyndi Lauper went on to co-write the song "Steady." The song reached #57 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985.

The album also includes a cover of The Brains' New Wave track "Money Changes Everything" which reached number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. In some countries, "When You Were Mine", a cover of a Prince song found on his 1980 album "Dirty Mind", was released as a promotional single in 1985. Lauper spent 1984 touring and promoting ''She's So Unusual''. By the end of the year, she was the first female to have four consecutive Billboard Hot 100 Top Five hits from one album. The LP itself stayed in the Top 200 charts for more than 65 weeks and has since sold 16 million copies worldwide. In 1985, The Women in Crystal Film Awards awarded her with the New Directions Award, given to those who are known for their creativity and originality.

The video for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" made Lauper an MTV staple. The video ran constantly on MTV and featured the late professional wrestling manager "Captain" Lou Albano as Lauper's father, and her real-life mother, Catrine, as her mother. Also in the video are her attorney, her manager and her brother, Butch. It won the first-ever award for Best Female Video at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards. All three of Lauper's first videos were directed by Edd Griles, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "Time After Time" and "She Bop". The videos featured many of Lauper's family members and her dog, Sparkle. Lauper was on the cover of ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in May 1984. The photo on the cover had been reversed to make room for the title. She also appeared on the cover of ''Time'' and ''Newsweek'' with the headline "Women In Rock". Lauper was voted by ''Ms.'' magazine one of its women of the year. During this time period, Lauper appeared on the cover of People magazine twice. The video for "Money Changes Everything" was shot during a concert at the Summit in Houston, Texas. The concert was broadcast over the radio and HBO, and fans were told to show up wearing white T-shirts. The video featured a 14 year old fan named Jennifer Payson hugging Lauper onstage.

She started 1985 by participating on USA for Africa's famine-relief fund-raising single "We Are the World", singing the climactic soprano part of the bridge. During the taping of the song, the audio engineers were having problems discovering what was causing a clicking noise in the recording. It was discovered to be coming from Lauper's jewelry. Also, in 1985, Lauper won a Grammy Award in the Best New Artist category. At the event, she appeared with WWF Superstar Hulk Hogan, who played her "bodyguard." Lauper, in return, made many appearances as herself in a number of the World Wrestling Federation's "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection" events, including the inaugural WrestleMania event, where she was the manager of Wendi Richter. Their entrance music was "Girls Just Want to Have Fun."

Steven Spielberg had asked Lauper to be the musical director of his latest film ''The Goonies'', an adventurous family film about lost treasure. Lauper had the power to choose whom she wanted on the soundtrack, so she tried to make the album very diverse. The Bangles were just one of the bands that contributed to the soundtrack. Lauper stated in a 1986 interview that she had been working 12 hour days and had gynecological problems. Lauper had a minor operation and spent some time in the hospital. Her doctors told her that she needed some rest, preventing her from participating in the Live Aid concert. The music video for "The Goonies R Good Enough" featured many guest stars, including WWF personalities such as the Iron Sheik, Captain Lou Albano, Roddy Piper, André the Giant, "Classy" Freddie Blassie, The Fabulous Moolah, and Nikolai Volkoff, members of the Goonies cast, and the Bangles. The video was split up into two acts, making Lauper the very first artist to have a two-part video. Spielberg even allowed her access to the set pieces from the film. The soundtrack album reached #73 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The song reached #10 on Billboards Hot 100 chart in 1985. Lauper received a Best Female Rock Performance Grammy nomination for the B-side song "What a Thrill". Lauper has been quoted as saying that she had long despised the song because of Richard Donner's insistence on everything being perfect for the video shoot. In behind-the-scenes footage of the video, you can see Lauper physically exhausted from the work on the video. The video was released in two parts. The first part premiered on MTV before ''The Goonies'' was released in theaters, and the second part came after the movie had opened. While the song and the movie have become 1980s cult classics, working on the soundtrack postponed Lauper's second album.

Lauper stopped performing "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough", in concert around 1987. During the Australian leg of her 2004 "At Last" tour, at the request of the crowd she performed an a cappella version of the first verse and chorus at several shows. It was at a show in Baltimore on Lauper's 2006 tour that she finally played it in full again. The crowd was chanting "Goonies" and she sang the song a cappella to an ecstatic crowd. She finally agreed to play the song again on her "True Colors" tour in 2007, and it was featured in her 2008 tour of Australia as the second number performed at each show. During the video commentary for "The Goonies", actor Sean Astin can be heard thanking Lauper for the song. He says that they all appeared tired on the set of the video because of the rigorous shooting schedule, but they really did love the song. Astin apologizes to Lauper again in footage that can be seen in the upcoming "Goonies Documentary".

1986–1988: ''True Colors''

Lauper released her second album, ''True Colors'', on September 15, 1986. It reached #4 on the Billboard 200. For this album, she increased her involvement both in production and songwriting. Guests on the album included Angela Clemons-Patrick, Nile Rodgers, Aimee Mann, Billy Joel, Adrian Belew, The Bangles, Ellie Greenwich, and Rick Derringer. Lauper co-wrote most of the album with Essra Mohawk, John Turi, Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. Although the album was not as commercially successful as its predecessor was, it contained three high-charting singles, including the title track, "True Colors" which became Cyndi's second song to hit #1 on Billboard's Hot 100, "Change of Heart" (#3) and a cover of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" (#12) followed. The album also featured an older song called "Maybe He'll Know", which was on the ''Blue Angel'' album. The album covers for both ''She's So Unusual'' and ''True Colors'' were composed by photographer Annie Leibovitz. "True Colors" was licensed to Kodak for use in its commercials. Lauper had no control over the song, which was written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. The fourth single from the album, "Boy Blue", became Lauper's first solo non-top-40 single. The proceeds of the song were donated to AIDS research. The album sold 2 million copies in the United States.

In 1986, Lauper appeared on the Billy Joel album ''The Bridge'' on a song called "Code of Silence". Lauper also sang the theme song for the series "Pee-wee's Playhouse" the same year, though she was credited as "Ellen Shaw". Playhouse star Paul Reubens appeared on the ''True Colors'' album track "911" as an emergency operator. In 1987, David Wolff produced a concert film for Lauper called ''Cyndi: Live in Paris''. The concert was broadcast on HBO that same year and received a Grammy nomination for Outstanding Long Form Music Video.

Lauper made her film debut in August 1988 in the quirky comedy ''Vibes'', alongside Jeff Goldblum, Julian Sands, Elizabeth Peña and Peter Falk. Lauper played a psychic in search of a city of gold in South America. The film was produced by Ron Howard and David Wolff acted as the film's associate producer.

To prepare for the role, Lauper took a few classes in finger waving and hair setting at the Robert Fiance School of Beauty in New York and studied with a few Manhattan psychics. The film was poorly received by critics and commercially flopped. Lauper contributed a track called "Hole in My Heart (All the Way to China)" but the song was not included on the soundtrack. A video was released, which was a high energy, comic action/adventure romp through a Chinese laundry. The song stalled at a disappointing #54 on the US charts, but fared better in Australia, peaking at #8 and becoming her fifth and final Top 10 single in Australia. It was performed as the opening song on her 2008 Australian tour.

1989–1992: ''A Night to Remember''

''A Night to Remember'' – Lauper's third album – was released in the spring of 1989. The album spawned only one big hit, the #6 single "I Drove All Night", for which Lauper received a Grammy nomination for Rock Vocal Performance as well as another Gold certification of 500,000 from the RIAA in January 1990. The song was originally penned for and sung by Roy Orbison, although his version was not released until 1992, three years after Lauper's version and four years after his death. She also wrote and produced most of the album. Contributing writers were Desmond Child, Christina Amphlett of Divinyls, Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, Diane Warren, and Frank Previte. Guest musicians include Bootsy Collins, Larry Blackmon, Batkini Khumalo, Eric Clapton, and Nile Rodgers. The video for "My First Night Without You", released in 1989, was one of the first to be closed-captioned for the hearing impaired.

The disappointing sales of the album "A Night To Remember", a canceled United States tour due to low ticket sales and the pressures of celebrity led Lauper to "retire" from her "singing." She toured South America and Japan successfully into the early stages of 1990 and then retreated into acting.

On July 21, 1990, Lauper joined many other guests for Roger Waters' massive performance of ''The Wall'' in Berlin, performing "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II". She also performed on the song, "The Tide Is Turning" with Waters, Joni Mitchell, Bryan Adams, Paul Carrack and Van Morrison. Lauper wore a school girl outfit, performing to over 300,000 people. The concert was watched live by over five million people worldwide.

Lauper had become close friends with Yoko Ono. In 1990 she took part in a John Lennon tribute concert in Liverpool, performing the Beatles song "Hey Bulldog" and the John Lennon song "Working Class Hero". The concert was aired on the Disney Channel. She also took part in a project Ono and Lennon developed called "The Peace Choir". They performed a new version of Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance". The reworked "Give Peace a Chance" was written by Sean Lennon. In 1990, Lauper co-wrote the song "Paper Heart" (a song about drug addiction) with Go-Go's alumna Jane Wiedlin. The song appeared on Wiedlin's CD ''Tangled''.

Lauper worked on the movie originally titled ''Moon Over Miami'', which later became ''Off and Running'' with David Keith, Richard Belzer and David Thornton, whom she started seeing romantically. Lauper claims that Miami was a great place to fall in love. The film was released in Europe but never made it off the ground in the US market. (David Wolff was the music supervisor for the film.) On November 24, 1991 Cyndi and David Thornton were married at the Friends Meeting House in New York. Rock and Roll pioneer Little Richard, who at one time gave up Rock and Roll to become a minister performed the ceremony. Patti LaBelle sang Procol Harum's classic "A Whiter Shade of Pale", and Lauper's grandmother served as the matron of honor. Other guests included Paul Reubens, best known for his Pee-wee Herman character, and John Turturro. Lauper had threatened to dress like a lighted Christmas tree, but settled on a traditional white wedding dress.

In 1992, Lauper contributed two tracks to the European musical ''Tycoon'', an English version of the hit French-Canadian stage show ''Starmania''. She scored another Top 20 hit in Europe (it went to #2 in France, earning a 2x platinum certification there) with "The World Is Stone", penned by Tim Rice, Michel Berger, and Luc Plamondon. She also recorded "You Have To Learn To Live Alone". The two tracks were included on a compilation released in the U.S. in 2000. Lauper recorded "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", a duet with Frank Sinatra, which was released on the album ''Very Special Christmas II''. Sinatra's vocals were taken from his original recording and mixed with Lauper's in the studio.

1993–1995: ''Hat Full of Stars''/''Twelve Deadly Cyns''

In June 1993 Lauper released her fourth album, ''Hat Full of Stars'', which tackled such topics as homophobia, spousal abuse, racism and abortion. Despite significant accolades – and decent sales in France and Japan – it was a sales failure (moving less than 120,000 copies) in the United States. The album peaked at #112 on the Billboard charts, largely because the album suffered from a lack of promotion. Lauper appeared on the ''Howard Stern Show'' to promote the album. Lauper said the song "Hat Full of Stars" was written as a message to David Wolff. The video for "Who Let in the Rain" features a picture of David Wolff in a frame. "A Part Hate" was written collaboratively by Lauper and husband David Thornton. The video for "Sally's Pigeons" features the then unknown Julia Stiles as the young Cyndi.

Tommy Mottola, president of Sony Music, told Lauper to go out and make her own ''Graceland'' (referring to Paul Simon's album). Lauper wanted to write her own material and stop doing cover songs. She wrote some songs on the album with other people, including Mary Chapin Carpenter, Ailee Willis, Nicky Holland, Tom Gray, Hugh Masekela and The Hooters. The same year, Lauper recorded "Boys Will Be Boys" with The Hooters. The song "Private Emotion" was dedicated to her by The Hooters. Both songs appeared on the Hooter's CD ''Out of Body''. Lauper also returned to acting, playing Michael J. Fox's ditzy secretary in 1993's ''Life with Mikey,'' which also starred Nathan Lane.

''Twelve Deadly Cyns...and Then Some,'' was released worldwide in 1994 (except in the U.S., where it was held back until the summer of 1995). The album was a greatest hits compilation that included two re-recorded tracks, "I'm Gonna be Strong", first recorded with her band Blue Angel, and a reworking of her first big hit, newly christened "Hey Now (Girls Just Want To Have Fun)". The Japanese edition of the CD includes the single "Hole In My Heart (All The Way To China)" as the final track. The album was released under a number of different titles, and had different packaging and track listings for certain countries. ''Twelve Deadly Cyns'' sold over 5 million copies worldwide and Lauper began a world tour to promote the album. It was especially popular in the UK, "(Hey Now) Girls Just Want to Have Fun" hit number four (the single also returned Lauper to the US Hot 100, albeit briefly). The song includes special appearances by Snow and Patra. The album also included a hot reggae influenced song, "Come On Home", which was remixed by Junior Vasquez with a special appearance by Demetrius "Sir Jam" Ross.

Lauper won an Emmy Award for her role as Marianne on the sitcom ''Mad About You''. A ''12 Deadly Cyns'' VHS tape featuring most of Lauper's videos was released.

1997–2000: ''Sisters of Avalon''

In 1997, Lauper announced that she was expecting a child. Declyn Wallace Thornton Lauper was born on November 17 of that year; he was named after Elvis Costello (whose first name is Declan) and William Wallace. He was born while Lauper was putting the finishing touches on her new album.

Her fifth album, ''Sisters of Avalon'' (released in Japan in 1996 and everywhere else in 1997) failed in America – spending a single week on the ''Billboard'' album chart at #188. The album was quickly embraced by the gay community for its dance and club styling. The album was written and produced with the help of Jan Pulsford (Lauper's keyboard player) and Producer Mark Saunders. Guest musicians include, Bush lead guitarist Nigel Pulsford on "You Don't Know" and "Love to Hate". The album was written and recorded in Tennessee and Connecticut and finished in an old mansion in Tuxedo Park, N.Y., where she lived and worked at that time.

The song "Ballad of Cleo and Joe" addressed the complications of a drag queen's double life. Lauper started writing the song around 1994. "Brimstone and Fire" painted a portrait of a lesbian relationship, and "You Don't Know" showed Lauper flexing more political muscle than on her previous albums. The song "Say a Prayer" was written for a friend of hers who had died from AIDS. The song "Searching'" was used in one of Baywatch's episodes. "Unhook the Stars" was used in the movie of the same name starring Marisa Tomei, Gerard Depardieu, Gena Rowlands and David Thornton.

Lauper's sister Ellen had come out as a lesbian and Lauper considered her to be a role model. Ellen was doing a lot of charity work for the gay community, and was working out of a clinic, helping people who were suffering from AIDS. Lauper began performing as a featured artist at gay pride events around the world (as early as 1994, she had performed at the closing ceremonies for Gay Games IV in New York City). She also served as the opening act for Tina Turner's summer tour, which was one of the highest grossing tours that year. Lauper took up the Appalachian dulcimer, taking lessons from David Schnauffer.

Lauper released her last album for Epic in late 1998. ''Merry Christmas...Have A Nice Life'', as the title implies, was a Christmas collection of original material and standards. It is a combination of folk-rock, Cajun and Celtic music. Her version of "Silent Night" was used in a Pampers commercial. Rob Hyman co-wrote the album opener "Home on Christmas Day", and provides accordion and organ accompaniment on a number of tracks. Producer William Wittman, who has been behind a mixing board for Lauper since her debut album ''She's So Unusual'', was once again in a co-producing and mixing role. Lauper is ably assisted by Jan Pulsford, the keyboardist who tours with Lauper and co-produced her last disc, ''Sisters of Avalon''. The Christmas album was recorded at Lauper's home in Connecticut. Declyn was the major inspiration on ''Merry Christmas'', "December Child" was written for him. Declyn makes his vocal debut on "First Lullaby", Jan tickled him, grabbed the mike, and the results are on tape. Lauper reprises two holiday-themed tracks for previous albums that blend seamlessly with the newer material: "Feels Like Christmas", a Cajun-spiced tune from ''Hat Full of Stars'' and "Early Christmas Morning" from ''Sisters of Avalon''. She closes the album with a stark rendition of "Silent Night" in memory of Peter Wood, the close friend and musician to whom Lauper dedicated her hits compilation, ''Twelve Deadly Cyns...and Then Some''. Wood was a keyboardist who toured with the singer and performed in the studio on many of her tracks.

On January 17, 1999, Lauper appeared on ''The Simpsons''. Lauper appeared on the show as herself singing the National Anthem to the melody of ''Girls Just Wanna Have Fun''. The episode was called "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken". The same year, Lauper opened for Cher's ''Do You Believe? Tour'' alongside Wild Orchid. Lauper and Cher performed "Turn Back Time" on VH1 Divas. She also garnered critical plaudits for her roles in several independent films including ''Mrs. Parker And The Vicious Circle'', and ''The Opportunists''.

Lauper contributed a cover version of The Trammps's classic "Disco Inferno" to the soundtrack for the film ''A Night at the Roxbury''. The remixed version became a club hit and received a Grammy nomination that year for Best Dance Recording. The single was released as an EP, featuring several remixes. In 2000, Lauper contributed a song called "I Want a Mom That Will Last Forever" for the children's movie ''Rugrats in Paris''. The song was written with Mark Mothersbaugh (of the new wave group Devo). Also in 2000, Lauper co-wrote a song, "If You Believe", with Faye Tozer of the British pop group Steps. It appeared on the band's third studio album, "Buzz", and was subsequently released in the US in July 2001.

2001–2003: ''Shine'' / ''At Last''

Lauper prepared her sixth studio album in 2001, ''Shine'', which saw her returning to her early pop/rock sound. It featured Japanese pop superstar Ryuichi Sakamoto, and George Fullan of Train. Just weeks before the album's scheduled release on September 11, 2001, her label, Edel America Records, folded, and the tracks were leaked to the public. Although a five song EP of the same name was made available through her website and at Tower Records, the full-length album concept was scrapped. The five song EP was released in June 2002. An album of ''Shine'' remixes was eventually released through Tower Records. The complete ''Shine'' album was released on April 21, 2004, exclusively in Japan. The album has become a collector's item.

On October 12, 2000, Lauper took part in a television show called ''Women in Rock, Girls With Guitars''. The show featured Sheryl Crow, Ann and Nancy Wilson, Melissa Etheridge, Amy Grant, Wynonna Judd, and Destiny's Child. Lauper performed the Paul McCartney hit "Maybe I'm Amazed" with Ann Wilson of Heart. She also sang the R&B; classic "Ooh Child" with the girl group Destiny's Child. She also performed a new song called "Water's Edge" with Ann Wilson. The song was well received and critics saw that performance as one of the highlights of the night. A CD was issued that contained the studio versions of some songs performed during the concert. The CD was exclusively released to Sears stores from September 30 to October 31, 2001 and $1.00 of each sold went to breast cancer research. In 2003 while on tour with Cher she broke her ankle.

Lauper's former label Sony issued a new best-of CD entitled ''The Essential Cyndi Lauper''. She re-signed with Sony/Epic Records and a cover album entitled ''At Last'' (formerly ''Naked City''), was released in 2003. Lauper received a Grammy nomination in 2005 for the category, "Best Instrumental Composition Accompanying a Vocal." Lauper took part in ''VH1 Divas Live'' with Patti LaBelle, Jessica Simpson, Debbie Harry, Ashanti, Sheila E., and the Pussycat Dolls.

2005–2007: ''The Body Acoustic''

Under a new contract with Sony Music, Lauper released ''The Body Acoustic'', an album that featured acoustic reinterpretations of tracks from her back catalog. Two new tracks were also written and recorded, one of which is "Above the Clouds". Guests on the album included Shaggy, Ani DiFranco, Adam Lazzara of Taking Back Sunday, Jeff Beck, Puffy AmiYumi, Sarah McLachlan,and Vivian Green. "Time After Time" with Sarah McLachlan charted on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart.

Though she had not released an album of new material since 1997's ''Sisters of Avalon'', Lauper remained busy through the years. She made appearances on Showtime's hit show ''Queer As Folk'' in 2005, making her Broadway debut in ''The Threepenny Opera'' in 2006 and directing a commercial for ''Totally 80s'' edition of the board game ''Trivial Pursuit''. Lauper appeared on a VH1 Classics special called ''Decades Rock Live''. The show featured Lauper performing with many artists such as Shaggy, Scott Weiland of Velvet Revolver/Stone Temple Pilots, Pat Monahan of Train, Ani DiFranco, and The Hooters.

On October 16, 2006, she was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. In 2007, she sang "Beecharmer" with Nellie McKay on McKay's ''Pretty Little Head'' album, and "Letters To Michael" with Dionne Warwick.

Lauper headlined the ''True Colors Tour'' for Human Rights through the United States and Canada, in June 2007. The tour also included Deborah Harry, Erasure, The Dresden Dolls, and Gossip, with Margaret Cho as MC and special guests in different cities. The tour, sponsored by Logo, the MTV Networks channel targeting gay audiences, provided information to fans who attended, as well as purple wristbands with the slogan "Erase Hate" from The Matthew Shepard Foundation. A dollar from every ticket sold was earmarked for the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Lauper was also a judge for the 6th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.

2008–2009: ''Bring Ya to the Brink''

Lauper took a role and wrote a song for the Serbian movie ''Here and There'', which stars her husband, David Thornton, in one of the main roles.

Lauper recorded an album of all new material during 2007. The working title given to the project was ''Savoir-faire'', but she announced at her Perth, Australia concert in February 2008 that the name of the album was ''Bring Ya to the Brink'' and that it would be released in the spring. In preparation for the album, Lauper visited England and France during summer 2007 to write for the album and wrote songs with dance artists like Axwell, The Scumfrog, Basement Jaxx, Digital Dog, Dragonette, Kleerup and others. She described it as a mainly dance album with good rhythm. Most of the album was recorded in Sweden. The first single released in Japan was "Set Your Heart" which gained significant airplay there and was used in the advertising campaign for the 2008 Toyota Car Model (Mark X ZIO) starring actor and singer Takeshi Kaneshiro. Lauper embarked on an Australian tour playing at the Kings Park Botanic Gardens in Perth, supported by Katie Noonan and Kate Miller-Heidke on February 22, 2008, and she was the headline and final act at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Party, on March 2, 2008. She sang "Same Ol' Story" followed by a newly remixed version of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun". "Same Ol' Story" was released as the album's first worldwide single and was released as a download only on May 6, 2008. Several remixes of the track were released to DJs. The album was released on May 27, 2008 in the United States.

thumb|left|Cyndi Lauper performing in 2008The ''True Colors Tour 2008'' debuted on May 31, 2008. Joining Lauper at various venues were Rosie O'Donnell, The B-52's, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, The Cliks, Indigo Girls, Kat Deluna, Joan Armatrading, Regina Spektor, Tegan and Sara, Nona Hendryx, Deborah Cox, Wanda Sykes, among others. The MC was Carson Kressley from ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy''. Sarah McLachlan was also featured at the Burnaby, British Columbia show.

In August 2008, Lauper contributed an article titled "Hope" to ''The Huffington Post'' which encouraged Americans to vote for Barack Obama in the upcoming United States presidential election. Lauper also performed alongside Thelma Houston, Melissa Etheridge and Rufus Wainwright at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

David Byrne stated in his blog that he has collaborated with Lauper on a track for his upcoming ''Here Lies Love''. He described her performance as "amazingly fine-tuned" and "very impressive." Lauper recorded a special Christmas duet with Swedish band The Hives, entitled "A Christmas Duel", on CDsingle and 7" vinyl, in Sweden only, on November 19, 2008. It reached number 4 in the Swedish charts.

In December 2008, ''Bring Ya to the Brink'' was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album. Lauper also signed a book deal for an autobiography that is scheduled to come out at the end of 2009 or early 2010. Lauper also performed on the "Girls Night Out", headlining it with Rosie O'Donnell in the US. She appeared on many TV shows in 2009 including the American soap opera, ''As the World Turns'', supporting gay rights, and promoting her True Colors tour and album, Bring Ya to the Brink. She performed "Into the Nightlife" and dedicated a rendition of "True Colors" to one of the show's characters; Luke Snyder. She appeared on the live finale of the eighth season of ''American Idol'' on May 20, 2009, performing a duet of "Time After Time" with top-13 finalist Allison Iraheta, accompanying the song on Appalachian dulcimer. She appeared on the 2009 TV Land Awards on April 19 dressed as the "Emperess of Evil" to perform the theme song for Electra Woman and Dyna Girl as part of a musical tribute to Sid Krofft and Marty Krofft. Lauper performed a duet with Leona Lewis on VH1 Divas on September 19, 2009 singing "True Colors" and also appeared along side hip hop artist Eminem for a comedy skit at the MTV VMA's in September 2009. In addition, Lauper played herself alongside Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Michael McDonald, and Mary J. Blige on ''30 Rock'''s third season finale. She also played Avalon Harmonia, a psychic on the Season 5 premiere of ''Bones''.

Cyndi Lauper was also one of the celebrities who designed a T-shirt for the second Fashion Against Aids campaign in 2009, a collaboration between H&M; and Designers Against Aids to raise HIV/AIDS awareness worldwide, particularly amongst youngsters.

On November 17, 2009, Lauper performed a collaborative work with Wyclef Jean called "Slumdog Millionaire" and performed it live on ''The Late Show with David Letterman''. The collaborative effort stems from Jean's latest album: ''Toussaint St. Jean: From the Hut, To the Projects, To the Mansion''.

2010–present: ''The Celebrity Apprentice'' and ''Memphis Blues''

In January 2010, American toy company Mattel released a Cyndi Lauper Barbie doll as part of their "Ladies of the 80s" series.

On March 2010, NBC began airing, the ninth season of ''The Celebrity Apprentice'' featuring Lauper and other celebrities such as Sharon Osbourne and Bret Michaels. The show had been filmed from October 19, 2009 to November 12th, 2009. Donald Trump fired her on the May 9, 2010 episode, leaving her in sixth place. Lauper donated her winnings to her own True Colors Fund.

On April 1, 2010, Lauper launched the Give a Damn campaign to bring a wider awareness of discrimination of the GLBT community as part of her True Colors Fund. The campaign is to bring straight people to stand up with the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered community and stop the discrimination. Other names included in the campaign are Whoopi Goldberg, Jason Mraz, Elton John, Judith Light, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Kardashian, Clay Aiken, Ricky Martin, Sharon Osbourne and Kelly Osbourne. Anna Paquin is also part of the campaign and came out as bisexual. This news clogged the Give A Damn website.

Lauper appears on the 22-track, 2-disc collaboration, ''Here Lies Love'', by Talking Heads' David Byrne and Fatboy Slim. On the album, she sings the song ''Eleven Days'', as well as the duet ''Why Don't You Love Me'' with Tori Amos.

On June 22, 2010, ''Memphis Blues'' was released. It debuted on the Billboard Blues Album Chart at #1, and it debuted on Billboard's Top 200 Albums Chart at #26. The album remained #1 on the Billboard Blues Album Chart for 14 consecutive weeks; ''Memphis Blues'' fell to #2 on October 16, 2010 and then to #3 on October 23, 2010. ''Memphis Blues'' is Lauper's eleventh album.

In August 2010, she licensed her song and performance of ''It's Hard to Be Me'', from her album ''Shine'', to be used as the theme song for the new TV Pilot, and potentially the series, ''Hard to Be Me''.

In July 2010, she signed a deal with Mark Burnett to produce a reality show that will focus on her career and her everyday life with her husband David Thornton and their son Declyn.

In December 2010, ''Memphis Blues'' was ranked ''Billboard'''s #1 Blues Album of The Year, and was nominated for the Best Traditional Blues Album Grammy Award.

Lauper made international news in March 2011 while waiting for a delayed flight at Aeroparque Jorge Newbery in Buenos Aires. There, she gave an impromptu performance of ''Girls Just Want to Have Fun,'' as other passengers joined in and sang along with her. A video of the performance was later posted on YouTube.

Personal life

Lauper has been married to David Thornton since 1991. They have one son, Declyn Wallace Thornton, born November 19, 1997. Lauper was raised Roman Catholic and attended Catholic school. She refers to herself as a "Recovering Catholic".

Discography

1983: ''She's So Unusual''

1986: ''True Colors''

1989: ''A Night to Remember''

1993: ''Hat Full of Stars''

1996: ''Sisters of Avalon''

1998: ''Merry Christmas...Have a Nice Life''

2001: ''Shine''

2003: ''At Last''

2005: ''The Body Acoustic''

2008: ''Bring Ya to the Brink''

2010: ''Memphis Blues''

2011 or 2012: ''TBA''

Tours

;Headlining

The Fun Tour (1984–85)

True Colors World Tour (1986–87)

A Night to Remember World Tour (1989)

Hat Full of Stars Tour (1993–94)

Twelve Deadly Cyns World Tour (1994–95)

Sisters of Avalon Tour (1996–97)

Shine Tour (2001)

At Last World Tour (2003–04)

Body Acoustic Tour (2005–06)

Australian Tour (2008)

Bring Ya to the Brink Tour (2008)

Memphis Blues Tour (2010–11)

;Co-headlining

True Colors Tour (2007, 2008) (with various artists)

Girls Night Out (2009) (with Rosie O'Donnell)

From Memphis to Mardi Gras (2011) (with Dr. John)

;Supporting act

Wildest Dreams Tour (1997) (supporting Tina Turner)

Living Proof: The Farewell Tour (2002) (supporting Cher)

Filmography

''The Goonies'' ''Vibes (film) ''Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme'' ''Off and Running'' ''Life with Mikey'' ''Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle'' ''Sesame Street Elmocize'' ''The Happy Prince'' ''The Opportunists'' ''Here and There (film)

colspan=4 style="background:#B0C4DE;"	Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1984	''Prime Cuts''	Herself
1985	|	Herself	Music video appearance
1988	Vibes'' ||	Sylvia Pickel	Main Role
rowspan=2	1990	|	Mary (Had a Little Lamb)	made for television (Disney Channel)
''The Wall – Live in Berlin''	Young Pink
	1991	|	Cyd Morse	Main Role
	1993	|	Geena Briganti	Main Role
	1994	|	Picnic Guest	uncredited
	1996	|	Herself	Direct-to-video
	1999	|	Pidge	Home Box Office>HBO)
rowspan=2>2000	|	Sally Mahon	appearance
''Christmas Dream''	TBA
rowspan=2	2009	Here and There''||	Rose	Main Role
''Section B''	Betty

Television

''Higglytown Heroes'' ''That's So Raven'' ''The Backyardigans'' ''Gossip Girl'' ''30 Rock''

colspan=4 style="background:#B0C4DE;"	Television guest appearances
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989		''The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!''		Herself
1993			"A Pair of Hearts" (episode 9, season 2) Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Comedy Series
1995	"Money Changes Everything" (episode 20, season 3) Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Comedy Series
rowspan=4>1999	"Stealing Burt's Car" (episode 18, season 7)
"The Final Frontier" (episode 21, season 7)
''Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child''	Pidge
''The Simpsons''	Herself
2004	|	Operator Hero	"Smooth Operator/Stinky Situation" (episode 6, season 1)
rowspan=2	2005	|	Miss Petuto	"Art Breaker" (episode 13, season 3)
''Queer as Folk (North American TV series)	Queer as Folk''	Herself
2007	|	Herself	Performed the song "The Lady in Pink" in the double-length episode "International Super Spy"
rowspan=2	2008	|	Herself	"Bonfire of the Vanity" (episode 10, season 2)
''As The World Turns''	Herself
rowspan=2	2009	|	Herself	"Kidney Now" (Episode 22, Season 3)
''Bones (TV series)	Bones''	Avalon Harmonia
2010		The Apprentice (U.S. TV series)>The Celebrity Apprentice''		Herself	"Playing for Charity – True Colors of Stonewall Community Foundation"
2011		Made (TV series)		Herself	Season 11, Episode 29

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Lauper won one award from 13 nominations. |- |rowspan="5"|1985 |Cyndi Lauper |Best New Artist | |- |''She's So Unusual'' |Album of the Year | |- |"Time After Time" |Song of the Year | |- |rowspan="2"|"Girls Just Want To Have Fun" |Record of the Year | |- |Best Female Pop Vocal Performance | |- |1986 |"What A Thrill" |Best Female Rock Vocal Performance | |- |rowspan="2"|1987 |"True Colors" |Best Female Pop Vocal Performance | |- |"911" |Best Female Rock Vocal Performance | |- |1988 |"Cyndi Lauper in Paris" |Best Performance Music Video | |- |1990 |"I Drove All Night" |Best Female Rock Vocal Performance | |- |1999 |"Disco Inferno" |Best Dance Recording | |- |2005 |"Unchained Melody" |Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) | |- |2009 |"Bring Ya To The Brink" |Best Electronic/Dance Album | |- |2010 |''Memphis Blues'' |Best Traditional Blues Album | |-

MTV Video Music Award

1984 – Video of the Year for "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" (Nominated)

1984 – Best New Artist for "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" (Nominated)

1984 – Best New Artist for "Time After Time" (Nominated)

1984 – Best Female Video for "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" (Won)

1984 – Best Female Video for "Time After Time" (Nominated)

1984 – Best Concept Video for "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" (Nominated)

1984 – Viewer's Choice for "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" (Nominated)

1984 – Best Overall Performance for "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" (Nominated)

1984 – Best Direction for "Time After Time" (Nominated)

1985 – Best Female Video for "She Bop" (Nominated)

1987 – Best Female Video for "True Colors" (Nominated)

1987 – Best Cinematography for "What's Going On" (Nominated)

American Music Awards

1985 – Favorite Pop/Rock Female Video Artist (Won)

1985 – Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist (Won)

Rolling Stone Awards

1985 – Best New Artist (Won)

1985 – Best Female Video Artist (Won)

Emmy Award

1994 – Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for "Mad About You" (Nominated)

1995 – Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for "Mad About You" (Won)

Women in Film Crystal Awards

1985 – New Directions Award (Won)

See also

List of number-one hits (United States)

List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (US)

List of number-one dance hits (United States)

References

External links

Paul Burston, ''Cyndi Lauper is Back, and the Girl still wants to Have Fun (interview),'' The Times, 2 August 2008

NYTimes feature, 2010

Category:1953 births Category:American dance musicians Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American house musicians Category:American humanitarians Category:American musical theatre actors Category:American pop singers Category:American rock singers Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American television actors Category:Appalachian dulcimer players Category:Emmy Award winners Category:English-language singers Category:Freestyle musicians Category:Female New Wave singers Category:Feminist musicians Category:American musicians of German descent Category:Grammy Award winners Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:Johnson State College alumni Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:Living people Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:People from Queens Category:Professional wrestling managers and valets Category:American people of Swiss descent Category:The Apprentice (U.S. TV series) contestants Category:Tony Award winners Category:American pop singer-songwriters

ar:سيندي لوبر zh-min-nan:Cyndi Lauper cs:Cyndi Lauper da:Cyndi Lauper de:Cyndi Lauper et:Cyndi Lauper es:Cyndi Lauper eu:Cyndi Lauper fa:سیندی لاپر fr:Cyndi Lauper fy:Cyndi Lauper gl:Cyndi Lauper ko:신디 로퍼 hr:Cyndi Lauper id:Cyndi Lauper it:Cyndi Lauper he:סינדי לאופר nah:Cyndi Lauper nl:Cyndi Lauper ja:シンディ・ローパー no:Cyndi Lauper pl:Cyndi Lauper pt:Cyndi Lauper ro:Cyndi Lauper ru:Лопер, Синди simple:Cyndi Lauper sk:Cyndi Lauper sr:Sindi Loper fi:Cyndi Lauper sv:Cyndi Lauper tl:Cyndi Lauper th:ซินดี ลอเปอร์ tr:Cyndi Lauper vi:Cyndi Lauper zh-yue:仙荻廬泊 zh:辛蒂·羅波

Coordinates	21°45′49″N94°10′38″N
name	Amos Lee
background	solo_singer
birth name	Ryan Anthony Massaro
birth date	June 22, 1977
origin	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
instrument	Guitar, vocals
genre	Jazz fusion, soul, folk, blues
occupation	Singer-songwriter, guitarist
years active	2004–present
label	Blue Note
website	amoslee.com }}

Amos Lee (born June 22, 1978) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist whose musical style encompasses folk, rock and soul. He has released four albums on Blue Note Records and toured with musical acts such as Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Norah Jones, Paul Simon, Merle Haggard, John Prine, Dave Matthews Band and Adele. In 2011 his album ''Mission Bell'' debuted at No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart.

Early life and education

Born Ryan Anthony Massaro in 1977, Lee grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Cherry Hill, New Jersey and graduated from Cherry Hill High School East. During his youth Lee played basketball, wrote songs on an acoustic guitar given to him by his stepfather and played the bass guitar in a rock band. While working at a jazz record store, Lee discovered Luther Vandross, Bill Withers, Joni Mitchell and John Prine, who became some of his favorite artists. He enrolled at the University of South Carolina in 1995 and graduated with a degree in English.

Career

Upon returning to Philadelphia Lee held jobs as a second grade school teacher and a bartender, before pursuing a full time music career. His style was noticed by Bob Dylan who asked Lee to join his performance tour.

In 2003, Lee released a self-produced, five song EP which came to the attention of Norah Jones who invited Lee to be the opening act for her 2004 tour. ''Colors'', one of Lee's best known songs, appeared on the TV show Grey's Anatomy and the film Just Like Heaven.

In 2005, Lee recorded a self-titled, debut album, which an NPR music reporter said "brought a feel of county sweetness to the northern blues". Norah Jones made an appearance on several of the tracks, contributing both piano and vocals. The album found commercial success and peaked at #2 on the ''Billboard'' Top Heatseekers chart and later that month Lee appeared on ''Rolling Stone'''s "Top 10 Artists to Watch." That same year Lee performed on ''The Late Show with David Letterman'', ''The Tonight Show'', ''Total Request Live'', and ''Austin City Limits'' which later aired on PBS.

In 2006, Lee released his second album, ''Supply and Demand'', which was produced by Barry McGuire. An NPR Music reviewer commented that "Lee continues to augment his angst with more complicated instrumentation and production" on this album. The album yielded the single "Shout Out Loud" and peaked at #76 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Another song from the album, "Sweet Pea", was used in an AT&T; ad campaign.

In 2008, Lee's third studio album, ''Last Days at the Lodge'', was released and seemed to "emphasize his grounding in folk and soul". The songs "Listen" and "What's Been Going On" were released as singles and Lee performed at the Change Rocks voter registration rally for Barack Obama, in Philadelphia.

In 2011, Lee released his fourth album on Blue Note Records, entitled ''Mission Bell'' which was produced by Joey Burns of the band Calexico. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and was characterized as a “a restless album with a gentle soul” that included duets with Lucinda Williams and Willie Nelson. Other artists who appear on the album include Priscilla Ahn, Pieta Brown, James Gadson, and Sam Beam. The album features tunes placed in "a stark landscape, enveloped by rustling percussion and reverberant drones". Sonically not much has changed from his self-titled debut album, but on his album ''Mission Bell'' the tone of the lyrics is more optimistic. The song "Windows are Rolled Down" became a top 10 hit on USA TODAY’s adult-alternative chart. The album debuted in the number one spot on the Digital Albums chart and number two on the Internet chart after it topped the Amazon Top-Selling Albums and iTunes charts the previous week.

Lee has toured with Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Merle Haggard, Paul Simon and John Prine.

Reception

Lee's songs have become popular on TV shows and movies such as ''Six Degrees'', ''Parenthood (TV series)'', ''Army Wives'', Studio 60, ''ER'' ''Brothers & Sisters'' and ''My Blueberry Nights''.

A New York Times reviewer described Lee as having a "honeyed singing voice — light amber, mildly sweet, a touch of grain" which he features "squarely, without much fuss or undue strain" in his "1970s folk rock and rustic soul" musical song craft. According to a music writer at ABC News, Lee "has that folksy, bluesy vibe, with a bit of country twang; his voice, with that slight rasp, is ever soulful. And acoustic strums of the guitar are ...the centerpiece of his most moving work".

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Details	Peak chart positions
		! width="35"	! width="35"	! width="35"	! width="35"	! width="35"	! width="35"	! width="35"
! scope="row"		* Release date: March 1, 2005	* Label: Blue Note Records	Compact disc>CD, music download	113	—	72	112	75	13	—
! scope="row"		* Release date: October 3, 2006	* Label: Blue Note Records	* Formats: CD, music download	76	25	—	—	—	23	—
''Last Days at the Lodge''		* Release date: June 24, 2008	* Label: Blue Note Records	* Formats: CD, music download	29	11	—	—	—	—	—
! scope="row"		* Release date: January 25, 2011	* Label: Blue Note Records	* Formats: CD, music download	1	1	—	—	98	39	61

Extended plays

Title	Details
''Amos Lee (EP)''		* Release date: 2004	* Label: Blue Note Records	* Formats: CD, music download
''Live from KCRW''		* Release date: 2005	* Label: Blue Note Records	* Formats: CD, music download

Singles

! Year	Single	! Album
2010	"Windows Are Rolled Down"
2011	"Flower"

References

External links

Amos Lee's official website

Amos Lee at Blue Note Records

Amos Lee at NPR Music

Category:1977 births Category:American folk singers Category:American folk guitarists Category:American jazz guitarists Category:American soul guitarists Category:American male singers Category:American rock singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:People from Cherry Hill, New Jersey Category:Blue Note Records artists

da:Amos Lee de:Amos Lee fr:Amos Lee it:Amos Lee nl:Amos Lee ja:エイモス・リー pt:Amos Lee ru:Ли, Эймос sv:Amos Lee

Coordinates	21°45′49″N94°10′38″N
name	Ben Harper
background	solo_singer
birth name	Benjamin Chase Harper
spouse	Eva Stormzand
birth date	October 28, 1969Claremont, CaliforniaUnited States
instrument	Vocals, electric guitar, lap steel guitar, slide guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, piano, bass guitar, drums, percussion, vibes
genre	Folk rock, blues rock, alternative rock, soul, funk rock, gospel, reggae, jam rock, neofolk
occupation	Musician, Singer-songwriter, Humanitarian
years active	1992–present
label	Virgin, EMI Records
associated acts	Ben Harper and The Blind Boys of AlabamaRelentless7Vanessa da MataRingo StarrFistful of Mercy
notable instruments	Weissenborn lap steel guitar
website	www.benharper.com
spouse	Eva Stormzand (1997-present) }}

Benjamin Chase "Ben" Harper (born October 28, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances and activism. Harper's fan base spans several continents. His albums have been commercially successful in North America, Europe and Oceania. Harper is a two-time Grammy Award winner as well, winning awards for Best Pop Instrumental Performance and Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album, in 2005.

Early life

Harper was born in Claremont, in California's Inland Empire. His father, Leonard, was of African-American and Cherokee ancestry, and his mother, Ellen Chase-Verdries, is Jewish. His maternal great-grandmother was a Russian-Lithuanian Jew. His parents divorced when he was age five, and he grew up with his mother's family. Harper has two brothers, Joel and Peter.

Harper began playing guitar as a child. His maternal grandparents' music store ''The Folk Music Center and Museum'' laid a foundation of folk and blues for the artist, complemented by regular patrons Leonard Cohen, Taj Mahal and David Lindley and quotes of William Shakespeare and Robert Frost made often by his grandfather. At the age of 12, Harper played his first gig. During the '80s, in his teen years, Harper began to play the slide guitar, mimicking the style of Robert Johnson. Next, Harper refined his style, taking up the Weissenborn slide guitar. Harper broke out of the Inland Empire after being offered an invitation by Taj Mahal to tour with the artist. They recorded Taj Mahal's album ''Follow the Drinking Gourd'', released in November 1990, and toured Hawaii.

Career

In 1992 Harper recorded the LP ''Pleasure and Pain'' with Folk multi-instrumentalist Tom Freund. After this limited edition record, Harper secured a record deal with Virgin Records, which released his debut album, ''Welcome to the Cruel World'' in 1994. This was followed by ''Fight For Your Mind'' in 1995, which became a college radio favorite and included several songs that Harper still plays live regularly. His 1997 album ''The Will to Live'' was the first to feature his backup band the Innocent Criminals.

In 1999 at the Santa Barbara Bowl, Harper met Jack Johnson, who was unknown at the time and had not recorded. Harper obtained a demo tape of twelve of Johnson's songs that he forwarded to his producer, J.P. Plunier, with whom Johnson recorded his first album.

Early in Harper's career, his music received more attention in Europe and was widely played in Australia (first on Triple J radio). Harper has made comments on a number of occasions that his career was kicked off in Australia. While he was a well-known and respected figure in the United States, he was a star in countries like Australia, New Zealand, France, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, receiving a great deal of airplay and critical acclaim. His popularity in Europe is such that he was French ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's Artist of the Year (''Artiste De L'Année'') in 2003, and his Australian tour that year for ''Diamonds on the Inside'' was highly successful.

In 2002, Harper was one of the featured singers covering Motown hits by Marvin Gaye in the documentary, ''Standing in the Shadows of Motown'' (a history of The Funk Brothers). In October 2004, Harper participated in the Vote for Change concert tour organized to benefit Moveon.org and encourage people in the swing states to vote during the 2004 U.S. presidential election. In the same month, Harper contributed a live recording of the song "Oppression" to ''For The Lady'', a benefit album for jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner and Burmese pro-democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi. In 2006, Harper released the double album ''Both Sides of the Gun'' which debuted at #7 on the Billboard charts. Though uncredited, he appears briefly in the 2006 David Lynch film ''Inland Empire'', alongside his wife Laura Dern.

After several albums without the Innocent Criminals, Harper reconvened that band for the 2007 album, ''Lifeline'', which was recorded in Paris. Harper also covered John Lennon's "Beautiful Boy" on the benefit CD ''Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur''. Harper is part of the No Nukes group which is against the expansion of nuclear power. In 2007 the group recorded a music video of a new version of the Buffalo Springfield song "For What It's Worth". Harper's collaboration "Boa Sorte/Good Luck" with Brazilian singer Vanessa da Mata peaked at #1 in Brazil and Portugal. In Brazil it also won a highly coveted Prêmio Multishow for "Best Song" in 2008. Also in 2008, Harper participated in the benefit album ''Songs for Tibet''.

While recording ''Both Sides of the Gun'' in 2005, Harper met the members who would eventually form his new band, Relentless7, with Texas-based musicians Jason Mozersky (guitar), Jesse Ingalls (bass) and Jordan Richardson (drums). The album ''White Lies for Dark Times'', credited to Ben Harper and Relentless7, was released on May 4, 2009. On July 12, 2009, the band performed the closing concert of the 30th Montreal International Jazz Fest. On January 13, 2010, Harper and Relentless7 appeared on the ''Daily Show'' with Jon Stewart together with Ringo Starr to perform "Walk With You" and "With a Little Help from My Friends". On January 22, 2010, Harper appeared on the last episode of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien with Beck and Billy Gibbons playing a Will Ferrell-led rendition of "Freebird".

On August 27, 2010, it was reported that Ben Harper had formed a band called Fistful of Mercy with Dhani Harrison and Joseph Arthur. Fistful of Mercy released their debut record, ''As I Call You Down'', on October 5, 2010.

On May 17, 2011, Ben Harper's official site posted that his next album was released, entitled ''Give Till It's Gone.'' The album is a continuation of recording with Relentless7.

Personal life

Family

In 1996, Harper married his first wife, Joanna. They had two children, a son and daughter, Charles Joseph and Harris.

On December 23, 2005, Harper married his girlfriend of five years, actress Laura Dern. They have two children together, son Ellery Walker Harper (b. August 21, 2001) and daughter Jaya (b. November 24, 2004).

On October 8, 2010, Harper, having been married for five years, filed for divorce from Dern, citing irreconcilable differences. He is seeking joint custody of their two children, as well as asking for a denial of spousal support for Dern.

Awards and nominations

! Year	Award ceremony>Award Show	! Award/Nomination
2003		''Artist of the Year''
2005	Grammy Award
2005	Grammy Award

Discography

Studio albums

+	Title	Album details	Peak chart positions							! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:13em;"
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"			! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"
!''Pleasure and Pain''		* Album by Ben Harper and Tom Freund	* Released: March 15, 1992	* Label: Cardas Records	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
!''Welcome to the Cruel World''		* Album by Ben Harper	* Released: February 8, 1994	* Label: Virgin Records	—	94	—	11	—	—	—		ARIA Charts>AUS: Gold	Canadian Recording Industry Association>CAN: Gold	SNEP>FRA: Platinum
!''Fight for Your Mind''		* Album by Ben Harper	* Released: 1995	* Label: Virgin Records	—	34	—	39	7	—	—		* CAN: Platinum	* FRA: Gold
!''The Will to Live''		* Album by Ben Harper	* Released: June 17, 1997	* Label: Virgin Records	89	17	—	4	1	—	—		* AUS: Platinum	* FRA: Platinum
Burn to Shine (album)>Burn to Shine''		* Album by Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals	* Released: September 21, 1999	* Label: Virgin Records	67	2	34	2	5	—	—		* AUS: Platinum	* FRA: Platinum	RIANZ>NZ: Platinum
!''Diamonds on the Inside''		* Album by Ben Harper	* Released: March 11, 2003	* Label: Virgin Records	19	2	3	2	2	1	10		* AUS: 2×Platinum	* CAN: Gold	* FRA: Platinum	FIMI>ITA: Platinum	Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa>POR: Silver	* SWI: Gold	* NZ: 2×Platinum
!''There Will Be a Light''		* Album by Ben Harper and The Blind Boys of Alabama	* Released: September 21, 2004	* Label: Virgin Records	81	6	3	1	7	1	7		* AUS: Gold	* FRA: 2×Gold
!''Both Sides of the Gun''		* Album by Ben Harper	* March 21, 2006	* Label: Virgin Records	7	1	4	2	1	1	3		* AUS: Platinum	* CAN: Gold	* FRA: Platinum	* SWI: Gold	* NZ: Platinum
Lifeline (Ben Harper album)>Lifeline''		* Album by Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals	* Released: August 28, 2007	* Label: Virgin Records	9	7	1	1	6	1	5		* AUS: Gold	* FRA: Platinum	* SWI: Gold
!''White Lies for Dark Times''		* Album by Ben Harper and Relentless7	* Released: May 5, 2009	* Label: Virgin Records	9	17	7	6	11	7	23		* FRA: Gold
!''Give Till It's Gone''		* Album by Ben Harper	* Released: May 17, 2011	* Label: Virgin Records	15	9	6	3	13	2	25		* FRA: Gold

Live albums

+	Title	Album details	Peak chart positions							! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:13em;"
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"			! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"
!''Live from Mars''		* Album by Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals	* Released: 2001	* Label: Virgin Records	70	2	29	3	3	12	—		* AUS: 2×Platinum	* FRA: Gold	* NZ: Gold
Live at the Apollo (Ben Harper and The Blind Boys of Alabama)>Live at the Apollo''		* Album by Ben Harper and The Blind Boys of Alabama	* Released: March 14, 2005	* Label: Virgin Records	—	—	96	39	—	—	—	—
!''Live at Twist & Shout''		* Album by Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals	* Released: December 4, 2007	* Label: Virgin Records	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
!''Live from the Montreal International Jazz Festival''		* Album by Ben Harper and Relentless7	* Released: March 9, 2010	* Label: Virgin Records	151	—	—	57	—	—	19	—

Other albums

+	Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"			! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"
!''As I Call You Down''		* Album by Fistful of Mercy	* Released: October 5, 2010	* Label: HOT Records	50	154

Virtual albums

''iTunes Originals - Ben Harper''

''iTunes Must Haves - Ben Harper''

Singles

"Like A King / Whipping Boy" (1994)

"Ground on Down" (1995)

"Excuse Me Mr." (1996)

"Gold to Me" (1996)

"Faded" (1997) #54 UK

"Jah Work" (1997)

"Glory & Consequence" (1997)

"Please Bleed" (1999)

"Burn to Shine" (1999)

"Forgiven" (2000)

"Steal My Kisses" (2000) #15 U.S. Adult Top 40

"With My Own Two Hands" (2003)

"Diamonds On the Inside" (2003) #31 U.S. Adult Top 40

"Brown Eyed Blues" (2004)

"Wicked Man" (2004)

"There Will Be a Light" (2004)

"Better Way" (2006)

"Both Sides Of The Gun" (2006)

"Morning Yearning" (2006)

"Fight Outta You" (2007) #61 Hot Canadian Digital Charts

"Boa Sorte/Good Luck" (2007) (with Vanessa da Mata) #1 Portugal; #1 Brazil

"In The Colors" (2008)

"Fool For A Lonesome Train" (2008)

"Shimmer & Shine" (2009)

"Fly One Time" (2009)

"Lay There & Hate Me" (2010)

"Skin Thin" (2010)

"The Word Suicide" (2010)

"Never Tear Us Apart" (with INXS) (2010)

"Rock N' Roll Is Free" (2011)

"Don't Give Up on Me Now (2011, Italy only)

"Walk Away" ("")

Special appearances

Harper played a slide guitar version of the "Star-Spangled Banner" prior to Game 3 of the 2007 NBA Finals on June 12 in Cleveland.

He can also be seen playing a slide guitar in the video for the song "Flake" by Jack Johnson.

Harper performed alongside Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and John Paul Jones at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in 2007. The jam session included songs by Stevie Wonder, The Isley Brothers, and several Led Zeppelin hits.

Harper performed a cover of "Strawberry Fields Forever" by The Beatles for the soundtrack of the film ''I Am Sam''.

He also appears on the 2003 Pearl Jam DVD ''Live at the Garden'' where Harper plays alongside friends Pearl Jam for the songs "Daughter" & "Indifference".

Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals performed a cover of The Beatles' "Michelle" on the 2005 album ''This Bird Has Flown – A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul''.

Harper also performed at several "Vote Obama" rallies, including one at University of Colorado at Boulder.

Harper performed on the Willie Nelson show ''Outlaws & Angels''.

Harper teamed with the Skatalites to perform Fats Domino's "Be My Guest" on ''Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino''.

Harper is featured in the iPhone / iPod touch Application "Tap Tap Revenge 2" with his singles "Steal my Kisses" and "Keep It Together (So I Can Fall Apart)."

Harper performed a cover of "My Father's House" by Bruce Springsteen for the album ''Badlands: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen''.

Harper was featured, alongside Jack Johnson, playing slide guitar with Toots and the Maytals, performing their 1970s reggae hit "Pressure Drop" on ''Saturday Night Live''.

Harper helped Conan O'Brien end his tenure on ''The Tonight Show'' by playing slide guitar on "Free Bird".

In 2006, Harper was featured on the song "Belief" on John Mayer's album Continuum.

In January 2010, Harper and his band Relentless7 performed at the Grammy Museum with Ringo Starr in support of the Beatles drummer's self-produced album, ''Y Not''.

His song "Suzie Blue" is currently featured in a Cadillac commercial.

In November 2010, his song "Amen Omen" from the album Diamonds on the Inside is featured in the episode "Katerina" of the TV show The Vampire Diaries.

DVDs

''Pleasure and Pain'' (2002)

''Live at the Hollywood Bowl'' (2003)

''Live at the Apollo'' (2005)

References

External links

Official Ben Harper Shop

Ben Harper Live for Earth Day on National Geographic

Ben Harper at RollingStone.com

Ben Harper on Twitter

Category:1969 births Category:African American musicians Category:African American rock musicians Category:American musicians of Russian descent Category:American blues singers Category:American folk guitarists Category:American folk singers Category:American rock guitarists Category:American rock singers Category:American rock singer-songwriters Category:American people of Cherokee descent Category:American people of Russian descent Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Virgin Records artists Category:Real World artists Category:Slide guitarists Category:Steel guitarists Category:Weissenborn players Category:American blues guitarists

ca:Ben Harper cs:Ben Harper da:Ben Harper de:Ben Harper es:Ben Harper fr:Ben Harper it:Ben Harper nl:Ben Harper ja:ベン・ハーパー no:Ben Harper pl:Ben Harper pt:Ben Harper sv:Ben Harper tr:Ben Harper

Coordinates	21°45′49″N94°10′38″N
name	Phil Collins
landscape	yes
background	solo_singer
birth name	Philip David Charles Collins
birth date	January 30, 1951
birth place	London, England, UK
instrument	Drums, vocals, piano, guitar, keyboards, percussion
genre	Progressive rock, rock, pop,jazz fusion, R&B;
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, actor
years active	1968–2011
label	Virgin, Atlantic
associated acts	Genesis, Brand X, Flaming Youth, Philip Bailey, Eric Clapton, The Phil Collins Big Band, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony
website	}}

Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for English progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist.

Collins sang the lead vocals on several chart hits in the United Kingdom and the United States between 1978 and 1994, either as a solo artist or with Genesis. His singles, often dealing with lost love, ranged from the drum-heavy "In the Air Tonight", dance pop of "Sussudio", piano-driven "Against All Odds", to the political statements of "Another Day in Paradise".

Collins's professional music career began as a drummer, first with Flaming Youth and then more famously with Genesis. In Genesis, Collins originally supplied backing vocals for front man Peter Gabriel, singing lead on only two songs: "For Absent Friends" from 1971's ''Nursery Cryme'' album and "More Fool Me" from ''Selling England by the Pound'', which was released in 1973. Following Gabriel's departure in 1975, Collins became the group's lead singer.

His solo career, heavily influenced by his personal life, brought both him and Genesis commercial success. According to Atlantic Records, Collins's total worldwide sales as a solo artist, as of 2000, were 150 million. He has won seven Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and two Golden Globes for his solo work. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010.

Collins is one of only three recording artists (along with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson) who have sold over 100 million albums worldwide both as solo artists and (separately) as principal members of a band. When his work with Genesis, his work with other artists, as well as his solo career is totalled, Collins had more top 40 hits on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart during the 1980s than any other artist. In 2008, Collins was ranked the 22nd most successful artist on the "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists".

Early life

Collins was born in Chiswick, London, England, the son of June, a theatrical agent, and Greville Collins, an insurance agent. He was given a toy drum kit for Christmas when he was five. Later, his uncle made him a makeshift one that he used regularly. As Collins grew older these were followed by more complete sets bought by his parents. He practiced by playing alongside the television and radio, and never learned to read and write conventional musical notation; instead, he uses a system he devised himself.

Early career

His professional training began at fourteen when he entered Barbara Speake Stage School. He began a career as a child actor and model, and won his first major role as The Artful Dodger in the London production of ''Oliver!''. He was an extra in The Beatles' ''A Hard Day's Night'', one of hundreds of screaming teenagers during the TV concert sequence and seen fleetingly in a close-up. He was also in ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' as one of the children who storms the castle at the end of the movie, but it was cut. He also auditioned for the role of Romeo in ''Romeo and Juliet'' (1968), a role won by fellow Artful Dodger actor, Leonard Whiting. Collins was among the last three finalists for the role of I.Q. on the American children's television show ''The Bugaloos'' (he lost out to English actor/musician John McIndoe).

Despite the beginnings of an acting career, Collins continued to gravitate towards music. While attending Chiswick Community School he formed a band called The Real Thing and later joined The Freehold. With the latter group, he wrote his first song titled "Lying Crying Dying".

Collins's first record deal came as drummer for Flaming Youth who released a single album, ''Ark 2'' (1969). A concept album inspired by the recent media attention surrounding the moon landing, ''Ark 2'' (with Ronnie Caryl, Brian Chatton and Gordon (Flash) Smith), failed to make much commercial success despite positive critical reviews. ''Melody Maker'' featured the album as "Pop Album of the Month", describing it as "adult music beautifully played with nice tight harmonies". The album's main single, "From Now On", failed on the radio. After a year of touring, band tensions and the lack of commercial success dissolved the group. In 1970, the 19-year old Collins played percussion on the George Harrison song "The Art of Dying". Harrison credited him in the liner notes to the remastered CD version of the album released in 2000.

Genesis era

In 1970, Collins answered a ''Melody Maker'' classified ad for "...a drummer sensitive to acoustic music, and acoustic twelve-string guitarist". Genesis placed the ad after having already lost three drummers over two albums. The audition occurred at the home of Peter Gabriel's parents. Prospective candidates performed tracks from the group's second album, ''Trespass'' (1970). Collins arrived early, listened to the other auditions while swimming in Gabriel's parents' pool, and memorised the pieces before his turn.

Collins won the audition. ''Nursery Cryme'' was released a year later. Although his role remained primarily that of drummer and backing vocalist for the next five years, he twice sang lead vocals: once on "For Absent Friends" (from ''Nursery Cryme'') and once on "More Fool Me" (from ''Selling England by the Pound'').

In 1974, while Genesis were recording the concept album ''The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway'', Brian Eno (who is credited with "Enossification" for electronic vocal effects on the track "Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging") needed a drummer for his album ''Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)''. Collins was sent to fill the gap, and played drums in lieu of payment for Eno's work with the band.

In 1975, following the final tour supporting the album ''The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway'', Gabriel left the group to pursue a solo career. Collins became lead vocalist after a lengthy but ultimately fruitless search for Gabriel's replacement (where he sang back up with the over 400 hopefuls that reportedly auditioned). In the short term, the group recruited former Yes and King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford to play drums during live shows, although Collins continued to play during longer instrumental sections. Bruford's drumming can be heard on the track "The Cinema Show" on the live album ''Seconds Out''. He was soon replaced by ex-Frank Zappa band member Chester Thompson, who became a mainstay of the band's live line-up. Collins, however, continued to play drums on all of the band's studio recordings.

The first album with Collins as lead vocalist, 1976's ''A Trick of the Tail'', reached the American Top 40, and peaked high as #3 on the UK charts. Said ''Rolling Stone'', "Genesis has managed to turn the possible catastrophe of Gabriel's departure into their first broad-based American success." Following the recording of Genesis's next album ''Wind and Wuthering'' guitarist Steve Hackett left the group to pursue his own solo career. The group decided to continue as a trio for recording with Mike Rutherford playing guitar and bass in the studio, although the lineup was regularly augmented by Chester Thompson and American guitarist Daryl Stuermer for concert tours.

Collins simultaneously performed in a jazz fusion group called Brand X. The band recorded their first album, ''Unorthodox Behaviour'', with Collins as drummer, but because Genesis was Collins's priority, there were several Brand X tours and albums without him. Collins credits Brand X as his first use of a drum machine as well as his first use of a home 8-track tape machine.

Collins also performed on Steve Hackett's first solo album, ''Voyage of the Acolyte'', on which he sang lead vocals and played drums.

As the decade closed, Genesis began a shift from their progressive rock roots and toward more accessible, radio-friendly pop-rock music. The album ''...And Then There Were Three...'' featured their first UK Top 10 and U.S. Top 40 single, "Follow You Follow Me".

In the 1980s, while Collins developed as a songwriter and established a parallel career as a solo artist, Genesis recorded a series of highly successful albums including ''Duke'', ''Abacab'', ''Genesis'', and ''Invisible Touch''. The latter album's title track reached #1 on the American ''Billboard'' singles chart, the only Genesis song to do so. The group received an MTV "Video of the Year" nomination in 1987 for the single "Land of Confusion" (which featured puppet caricatures created by the British satirical team ''Spitting Image'') but lost out to Peter Gabriel's solo hit, "Sledgehammer". Reviews were generally positive, with ''Rolling Stone'''s J. D. Considine stating, "every tune is carefully pruned so that each flourish delivers not an instrumental epiphany but a solid hook."

Collins left Genesis in 1996 to focus on his solo career. The last studio album with him as the lead singer was 1991's ''We Can't Dance''. He and Gabriel reunited with other Genesis members in 1999 to re-record "The Carpet Crawlers" for Genesis's ''Turn It on Again: The Hits''. When in the mid-2000s discussions of a possible Genesis reunion arose, Collins stated that he would prefer to return as the drummer, with Gabriel handling the vocals. Eventually Turn It On Again: The Tour was announced for 2007, with the Collins/Rutherford/Banks lineup.

In March 2010, Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio was asked to pay tribute to Genesis, one of his favourite bands, upon being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In addition to Anastasio's speech, Phish appeared and performed two Genesis songs, "Watcher of the Skies" and "No Reply At All". Collins and his Genesis bandmates (minus Peter Gabriel) attended the ceremony but they did not perform.

Solo career

Early solo recordings (1981–1983)

The dominant theme running through Collins's early solo recordings (although never specifically mentioned in his songs) was the acrimonious breakdown of his first marriage and then-recent divorce. Two songs he wrote on the Genesis album ''Duke'', "Please Don't Ask", and the Top 20 hit "Misunderstanding", dealt with failed relationships. One year earlier, he had played drums and sung backing vocals on John Martyn's ''Grace and Danger'', an album whose main theme is also marriage break-up. With the recording of his first solo album, ''Face Value'', Collins attributed his divorce as his main influence, as can be inferred from songs such as "If Leaving Me Is Easy". Collins made his live debut as a solo performer, appearing at the invitation of producer Martin Lewis at the Amnesty International benefit show, ''The Policeman's Other Ball'' at the Theatre Royal in London in September 1981, performing two songs from ''Face Value'' including "In the Air Tonight" and "The Roof is Leaking" accompanying himself on piano. ''Face Value'' became a surprise international success topping the charts in at least seven countries and hitting the top ten of the Billboard 200 eventually going triple-platinum in the U.S. Hits from the album included "In the Air Tonight", "I Missed Again" and "If Leaving Me Is Easy". In 1982, he produced ABBA member Frida's solo album, ''Something's Going On'', which helped to spawn the title track, "I Know There's Something Going On", which became a hit.

Much like ''Face Value'', many of the songs from Collins's 1982 follow-up album, ''Hello, I Must Be Going!'', came from Collins's marital problems with his first wife such as "I Don't Care Anymore" and "Do You Know and Do You Care". Collins’s early albums had a dark presence, usually heavy on the drums. Regarding ''Face Value'', he says, "I had a wife, two children, two dogs, and the next day I didn't have anything. So a lot of these songs were written because I was going through these emotional changes." There were occasional poppier influences–''Face Value'''s "Behind the Lines", for example, was a jazzy remake of a Genesis song he co-wrote. ''Face Value'' was a critical and multi-platinum success, and saw Collins’s profile increase further. ''Hello, I Must Be Going!'' gave him a UK #1 for his cover of The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love". The album went triple-platinum in the United States, like its predecessor. The Supremes' cover was his first Top 10 U.S. hit (it also hit the Top 10 of Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart). The album also reached #2 on the UK album chart, spending well over a year there.

Two years before, Collins had played drums on Peter Gabriel's third self-titled record (often referred to as ''Melt''), the first record to feature the "gated reverb" sound, which was used on the song "Intruder". Gabriel reportedly "didn't want any metal on the record" and asked Collins to leave his cymbals at home, to concentrate on the sound of his kit more heavily than usual. Studio engineer Hugh Padgham augmented the drum sound by using a microphone normally intended for studio communication rather than recording and feeding it through a signal processor called a noise gate. This allowed the reverberation added to the drums to be suddenly cut off before it naturally decayed. The result was the arresting "gated reverb" which became Collins signature sound. This was the same 'big drum sound' used on such songs as "In The Air Tonight", "Mama" by Genesis, and Frida's "There's Something Going On".

Superstardom (1984–1992)

Collins changed his musical style with the release of the ballad, "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)", which was the theme song to the movie of the same name in 1984. The more pop-friendly and radio-accessible single became Collins's first solo single to reach number-one on the Billboard Hot 100. Later that year, Collins contributed to production on Earth, Wind & Fire singer Phillip Bailey's debut album, ''''Chinese Wall'''', collaborating with Bailey on the hit duet, "Easy Lover". Collins featured on Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas", he played drums and sang on the song. Collins released his most successful album, ''No Jacket Required'', in early 1985. It contained the hits "Sussudio", "One More Night", "Don't Lose My Number", and "Take Me Home", as well as the less known yet equally robust "Who Said I Would", and "Only You Know and I Know". The album featured Sting, Helen Terry and ex-bandmate Peter Gabriel as backing vocalists. He also recorded the successful song "Separate Lives", a duet with Marilyn Martin, and an American number one, for the movie ''White Nights''. Collins had three American number one songs in 1985, the most by any artist that year. ''No Jacket Required'' went on to win several Grammy awards including Album of the Year.

''No Jacket Required'' received criticism that the album was too safe, despite its upbeat reviews and commercial success. A positive review by David Fricke of ''Rolling Stone'' ended, "After years on the art-rock fringe, Collins has established himself firmly in the middle of the road. Perhaps he should consider testing himself and his new fans' expectations next time around." "Sussudio" also drew criticism for sounding too similar to Prince's "1999", a charge that Collins did not deny. Nevertheless, the album went straight to #1 in the U.S. and UK. In 1985, Collins was invited by Bob Geldof to perform at the Live Aid charity event. Collins had the distinction of being the only performer to appear at both the UK concert at Wembley Stadium and the US concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. He accomplished this by performing early in the day at Wembley as both a solo artist and alongside Sting, then transferring to a Concorde flight to the USA enabling him to perform his solo material, and drum for Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton in Philadelphia. While being a guest on major artists' hit recordings, Collins continued to enjoy solo success even while on tour with Genesis, besides from his number-one duet with Marilyn Martin in 1986, Collins would score two more hits from movies with the singles, "Two Hearts" (1988) and "Groovy Kind of Love" (1988), the latter two from the soundtrack of his feature film, ''Buster''.

In 1989, Collins produced another successful album, ''...But Seriously'', featuring the anti-homelessness anthem "Another Day in Paradise", with David Crosby on backing vocals. (Collins later went on to co-write, sing and play on the song "Hero" on Crosby's 1993 album ''Thousand Roads''.) "Another Day in Paradise" went to Number 1 on the Billboard Charts at the end of 1989 and won Collins a Grammy for Record of the Year (1990). In the process, it became the last #1 US pop hit of the 1980s. The album ''...But Seriously'' became the first #1 US album of the 1990s. Other songs included "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven" (#4 US, #15 UK), "Do You Remember?" (not released in the UK, but a #4 hit in the US), and "I Wish It Would Rain Down" (the latter featuring Clapton on guitar) (#3 US, #7 UK). Songs about apartheid and homelessness demonstrated Collins’s turn to politically-driven material. This theme recurred on his later albums. A live album, ''Serious Hits... Live!'', followed.

Later solo work and Genesis reunion (1993–2008)

Collins's record sales began to drop with the 1993 release of ''Both Sides'', a largely experimental album that, according to Collins, included songs that "were becoming so personal, so private, I didn't want anyone else's input". Featuring a less polished sound and fewer up-tempo songs than his previous albums, ''Both Sides'' was a significant departure. Collins used no backing musicians, performed all the vocal and instrumental parts at his home studio, and used rough vocal takes for the final product. The album was not well received by radio. Its two biggest hits were "Both Sides of the Story" and "Everyday". Collins worked on the album completely independently of his record company, and took them by surprise when he delivered them a completed album that they were unaware he was making.

Collins officially parted ways with Genesis in 1996 to focus on his solo career (Genesis would produce one album without Collins—''...Calling All Stations...''—before going on hiatus). Collins attempted a return to pop music with ''Dance into the Light'', which ''Entertainment Weekly'' reviewed by saying that "(e)ven Phil Collins must know that we all grew weary of Phil Collins". It included minor hits such as the title track and The Beatles-inspired "It's in Your Eyes". Although the album went Gold in the US, it sold considerably less than his previous albums. Despite this, the subsequent tour regularly sold out arenas.

In 1996, Collins formed The Phil Collins Big Band. With Collins as drummer, the band performed jazz renditions of various Collins and Genesis hits. The Phil Collins Big Band did a world tour in 1998 that included a performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. In 1999, the group released the CD ''A Hot Night in Paris'' including big band versions of "Invisible Touch", "Sussudio", and the more obscure "The Los Endos Suite" from ''A Trick of the Tail''. A compilation album ''...Hits'' was released in 1998 and sold very well, returning Collins to multi-platinum status in America. The album's sole new track, a cover of the Cyndi Lauper hit "True Colors", received considerable play on US Adult Contemporary stations while peaking at #2. Some of Collins's earlier hits (e.g. "I Missed Again", "If Leaving Me Is Easy", etc.) and other successes were not included in this compilation.

Collins's next single, "You'll Be in My Heart", from the Disney animated movie ''Tarzan'', spent 19 weeks at #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart – the longest time ever up to that point. The song won Collins an Academy Award for Best Song. It was his third nomination in the songwriters category, after being nominated in 1985 and 1989. Collins was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, on 16 June 1999.

In 2002 Collins released ''Testify''. Metacritic's roundup of album reviews found this record to be the worst-reviewed album at the time of its release, though it has since been "surpassed" by three more recent releases. The album's "Can't Stop Loving You" (a Leo Sayer cover) was yet another #1 Adult Contemporary smash hit for Collins. ''Testify'' sold 140,000 copies in the United States by year's end, although a successful worldwide tour followed.

That same year Collins accepted an invitation to drum for the "house band" at a concert celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee. In 2003 announced his last solo tour – the "First Final Farewell Tour", a tongue-in-cheek reference to the multiple farewell tours of other popular artists. In 2006 he worked with Disney on a Broadway production of ''Tarzan'', a musical which received generally mixed reviews. In 2007 Collins reunited with his Genesis bandmates Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford for Turn It On Again: The Tour, a tour of Europe and North America. During the tour Genesis performed at the Live Earth concert at Wembley Stadium. Following the band's performance, presenter Jonathan Ross had to apologise to viewers watching the televised version as Collins had used a swear word while singing "Invisible Touch".

''Going Back'' and retirement (2009–2011)

In October 2009, it was reported that Collins was to record a Motown covers album. He told a German newspaper, "I want the songs to sound exactly like the originals", and that the album would feature up to 30 songs. In January 2010, Chester Thompson said that the album had been completed and would be released some time soon. He also revealed that Collins managed to play the drums on the album despite the adverse effects of his recent spinal operation. It was the first solo album Collins had recorded which consisted entirely of songs written by other people.

''Going Back'' was released on 13 September 2010, entering the UK charts at number 4, rising to number one the following week. In early summer 2010, Collins played six concerts entirely dedicated to the music from ''Going Back''. These included a special programme, ''Phil Collins: One Night Only'', which was broadcast on ITV1 on 18 September 2010.

As of January 2011, Collins has spent 1,730 weeks in German music charts – 766 weeks of them with Genesis albums and singles and 964 weeks with solo releases.

Citing health problems and other concerns, Collins announced on 4 March 2011 that he was taking time off from his career, prompting widespread reports of his retirement. Days later, on 7 March, his UK representative told the press, "He is not, has no intention of, retiring." However, later that day, Collins posted a message to his fans on his own website, confirming his intention to retire in order to focus on his family life.

Drums and other equipment

Phil Collins uses Gretsch drums and Sabian cymbals. Drums (all single headed concert toms except for the snare): 20" Bass Drum, 18" Floor Tom, 16" Floor Tom, 15" Mounted Tom, 12" Tom, 10" Tom, 8" Tom, 14"x4" Snare, 14" Phil Collins Special.

Cymbals: HH Medium Crash 20" – HH Extra Thin Crash 17" – Hi-Hats 15" – HH China 20" – HH Medium-Thin Crash 16" -HH China 22" – HH Raw Bell Dry Ride 21".

Until 1986, Collins played Paiste and Zildjian cymbals. Other drums he's used over the years are Premier, Noble & Cooley, Pearl, Simmons and Ludwig drums. He uses a Ludwig Speed King pedal and Pro Mark sticks.

Other instruments which have become synonymous with Collins's sound (particularly in his post-1978 Genesis and subsequent solo career) include the Roland CR-78 and Roland TR-808 drum machines, Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer, and the Yamaha CP-70 electric grand piano.

Films, theatre and television

The majority of Collins's film work has been through music. Four of his seven American number one songs came from film soundtracks, and his work on Disney's ''Tarzan'' earned him an Oscar. Collins even sang German, Italian, Spanish and French versions of the Tarzan soundtrack for the respective film versions. Collins's acting career has been brief. As a child, he appeared in three films, although two of the films were for brief moments as an extra. Besides the aforementioned ''A Hard Day's Night'' (1964), Collins's first lead role was in a children's film ''Calamity the Cow'' (1967).

Collins wrote and performed the title song to ''Against All Odds'' in 1984. The song became the first of his seven American number one songs and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song. Collins was not invited to perform the song at that year's presentation, although he was in the audience as the song's composer. Collins had arranged his U.S. tour to accommodate the possibility of appearing on the telecast in the event his song was nominated for an Oscar. It is believed that the producers of that year's Academy Awards show were not aware of his prominence as a musical performer. A note to Collins's label from telecast co-producer Larry Gelbart explaining the lack of invitation stated, "Thank you for your note regarding ''Phil Cooper'' (emphasis added). I'm afraid the spots have already been filled". Collins instead watched Ann Reinking perform his song. For a long time afterwards, he would introduce his performance of "Against All Odds" at his concerts by saying: "Miss Ann Reinking's not here tonight, so I guess I'll have to sing my own song".

As a vocalist, Collins sang Stephen Bishop's composition "Separate Lives" for the film ''White Nights'' (1985) as a duet with Marilyn Martin. The single of the recording became another number one hit for Collins. The song itself was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song (a category that honours the composer, not the vocalists). Bishop's song had parallels to some of the songs on Collins's first two albums. Writer Stephen Bishop noted that he was inspired by a failed relationship and called "Separate Lives" "a song about anger". When the song was being nominated for an Academy Award, in interviews about the original snub by the Academy for "Against All Odds", Collins would jokingly say "the hell with him – I'm going up too," referring to if Bishop's song were to win the award.

Collins's first film role since becoming a musician came in 1988 with ''Buster'' about the Great Train Robbery, which took place in England in the 1960s. The movie received good reviews and Collins contributed four songs to the film's soundtrack. His rendition of "Groovy Kind of Love", originally a 1966 single by The Mindbenders, with lyrics by Toni Wine and music by Carole Bayer Sager, but with the melody of the Rondo section of Muzio Clementi's "Sonatina in G major", op. 36 no. 5 reached number one. The film also spawned the hit single "Two Hearts", which he wrote in collaboration with legendary Motown songwriter Lamont Dozier; the two artists would go on to win a Golden Globe for Best Original Song and receive an Oscar nomination in the same category, the second such honour for Collins; "Big Noise", written by Phil Collins and Lamont Dozier, which included Collins on vocals (although the song was not released as a single, an instrumental version of this song appeared as the B-side to the single version of "A Groovy Kind Of Love".) The final song, "Loco In Acapulco", was another collaboration between him and Dozier, with the vocals performed by the legendary Motown group The Four Tops. Movie critic Roger Ebert said the role of Buster was "played with surprising effectiveness" by Collins, although the film's soundtrack proved more successful than the movie did.

Collins had cameo appearances in Steven Spielberg's ''Hook'' (1991) and the AIDS docudrama ''And the Band Played On'' (1993). He starred in 1993's ''Frauds'', which competed for the Palme d'Or at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. He supplied voices to two animated features: Amblin's ''Balto'' (1995) and Disney's ''The Jungle Book 2'' (2003). A long-discussed but never completed project was a movie titled ''The Three Bears''; originally meant to star him alongside Danny DeVito and Bob Hoskins, he often mentioned the film, though an appropriate script never materialised.

Collins performed the soundtrack to the animated film ''Tarzan'' (1999) for The Walt Disney Company. Collins won an Academy Award for "You'll Be in My Heart", which he performed at that year's telecast as well as during a Disney-themed Super Bowl halftime show. The song, which he also recorded in Spanish among other languages, became his only appearance on Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks. Disney hired him, along with Tina Turner, in 2003 for the soundtrack to another animated feature film, ''Brother Bear'', and had some airplay with the song "Look Through My Eyes".

On television, he twice hosted the ''Billboard Music Awards''. He also appeared in an episode of the series ''Miami Vice'', entitled "Phil the Shill", in which he plays a cheating con-man. He also guest starred in several sketches with ''The Two Ronnies''. Most recently, he had a cameo appearance on the television series ''Whoopi''.

In 2001, Collins was sought out by the satirist Chris Morris, and appeared in the Brass Eye 'Paedophile Special' endorsing a spoof charity called 'Nonce Sense'. At one point Collins, dressed in a matching baseball cap and t-shirt emblazoned with the name of this fictitious charity, stares into the camera and declares: "I'm talking Nonce-sense."

In 2005, Collins's work on ''Brother Bear'' was expanded as Disney used the song "Welcome" as the theme for Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams, the main parade celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland.

In 2006 Disney's ''Tarzan'' was adapted for Broadway. Collins contributed 11 new songs and instrumental pieces, and was deeply involved in the production. Unlike the movie, where Collins sang all the material, the characters sang on stage.

Collins made an appearance as himself in the 2006 PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2 video game ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories'', set in 1984. Joseph Martignette, also a left-handed drummer, plays the role of Phil Collins in the game. He appears in three missions in which the main character must save him from a gang that is trying to kill him, the final mission occurring during his concert, where the player must defend the scaffolding against saboteurs while Phil is simultaneously performing "In The Air Tonight." After this, the player is given the opportunity to watch this performance of 'In the Air Tonight.' "In The Air Tonight" was also featured in the soundtrack of ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories'' and it was also featured in the movie ''Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters'', the 2009 movie ''The Hangover'' and the 2007 ''Gorilla'' commercial for Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate. The advertisement also helped the song re-enter the New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart at number three in July 2008, the following week reaching number one, beating its original 1981 #6 peak. Phil Collins had several ties to the hit show ''Miami Vice'' with 5 songs used in the course of the series as well as having starred in the episode "Phil The Shill."

Phil Collins was portrayed in the hit cartoon ''South Park'' in the episode "Timmy 2000" holding his Oscar throughout, referring to his 1999 win for "You'll Be In My Heart", which defeated "Blame Canada" from South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. He was seen again in the episode "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime".

Phil Collins appears briefly in the Finnish animated sitcom ''Pasila'' in the episode "Phil Collins Hangover". The music of this episode is a pastiche of Phil Collins' "Another Day In Paradise".

Personal life

Family

Collins has been married three times. He married Canadian Andrea Bertorelli in 1975. They met as students in a drama class in London. They had a son, Simon Collins, and Collins adopted Bertorelli's daughter Joely Collins, a Canadian actress. They divorced in 1980, after she started an affair with their painter and decorator. Collins later appeared on the BBC's ''Top of the Pops'' singing his 1981 solo hit "In The Air Tonight" with a pot of paint and brush positioned near his piano. Collins has since claimed that the presence of the paint and brush was coincidental.

Collins met his second wife, Jill Tavelman, in 1980. They were married from 1984 to 1996. They had one daughter, Lily Collins, born in 1989. Collins openly admits that some of their divorce-related correspondence was by fax (one, about access to their daughter, was reproduced in ''The Sun''), but denies that this took her by surprise. Collins paid Jill £17M as final settlement.

Collins married his third wife, Orianne Cevey, in 1999 after a five year romance. They have two sons, Nicholas and Matthew. They bought Sir Jackie Stewart's former house located in Begnins, Switzerland, overlooking Lake Geneva. Announcing their separation on 16 March 2006, they were divorced in January 2007. Collins reportedly paid Cevey £25M in settlement. Collins has said he will continue to live in Switzerland to be near the children. He is currently residing in Féchy, while also maintaining homes in New York City and Dersingham, England. In 2008, Collins was quoted in ''People Magazine'': "Marriage is a difficult proposition. But I haven't given up on it, either."

Fortune

Collins was estimated to have a fortune of £115 million in the ''Sunday Times Rich List'' of 2011, making him one of the 20 richest people in the British music industry.

Court case

On 29 March 2000, Phil Collins launched a case against two former musicians from his band to recoup $780,000 (£500,000) in royalties that were overpaid. Louis Satterfield, 62, and Rahmlee Davis, 51, claimed their contract entitled them to 0.5 per cent of the royalties from ''Serious Hits... Live!'', a live album recorded during Collins's Seriously, Live! World Tour tour in 1990. Their claim was they were an integral part of the whole album, but Collins responded the two should only receive royalties from the five tracks in which they were involved. Instead of asking for a return of what Collins considered overpayment, he sought to recoup the funds by withholding future royalties to Satterfield and Davis, which amounted to less than an annual sum of $20,000 (£12,500) each.

On 19 April 2000, the British High Court ruled that the two musicians would receive no more royalty money from Phil Collins. The amount that Collins was seeking was halved, and Satterfield and Davis (who originally brought the suit forward in California) would not have to repay any of it. The judge agreed with Collins's argument that Satterfield and Davis should have been paid for only the five tracks on which they performed, including the hit "Sussudio".

Health problems

Collins reported losing his hearing in his right ear in 2000 due to a viral infection. In September 2009, it was reported that Collins could no longer play drums, due to a recent operation to repair dislocated vertebrae in his neck. A statement from Collins on the Genesis band website said, "There isn't any drama regarding my 'disability' and playing drums. Somehow during the last Genesis tour I dislocated some vertebrae in my upper neck and that affected my hands. After a successful operation on my neck, my hands still can't function normally. Maybe in a year or so it will change, but for now it is impossible for me to play drums or piano. I am not in any 'distressed' state; stuff happens in life."

Activism

Collins was appointed a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order in 1994 in recognition of his work on behalf of the Prince's Trust.

Collins has stated he is a supporter of animal rights and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). In 2005, he donated an autographed drumstick in support of PETA's campaign against Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Collins also has a lifelong interest in the Alamo. He has collected hundreds of artefacts related to the famous 1836 battle in San Antonio, Texas, narrated a light and sound show about the Alamo, and spoken at related events.

Collins has often been mentioned erroneously in the British media as being a supporter of the Conservative Party and an opponent of the Labour Party. Shortly before the 2005 election (when Collins was living in Switzerland), Noel Gallagher is reported as saying: "Vote Labour. If you don't and the Tories get in, Phil is threatening to come back." However, Collins has since stated that although he did once claim many years earlier that he might leave Britain if most of his income was taken in tax, which was Labour Party policy at that time for top earners, he has never been a Conservative Party supporter and he left Britain for Switzerland in 1994 purely because he met a woman who lived there. He said of Gallagher: “I don’t care if he likes my music or not. I do care if he starts telling people I’m a wanker because of my politics. It’s an opinion based on an old misunderstood quote.” Despite his claim that he did not leave Britain for tax purposes, he was one of several super-rich figures living in tax havens who were singled out for criticism in a report by the charity Christian Aid in 2008. Questioned about his politics by Mark Lawson in an interview broadcast in 2009, Collins said: "My father was Conservative but it wasn't quite the same, I don't think, when he was alive. Politics never loomed large in our family anyway. I think the politics of the country were very different then."

Collins founded the Little Dreams Foundation in February 2000, which aims to "realise the dreams of children in the fields of sports and art" by providing future prodigies aged 4 to 16 years with financial, material, and mentoring support with the help of experts in various fields.

Collins supports the South African charity The Topsy Foundation, which provides relief services to some of South Africa's most under-resourced rural communities through a multi-faceted approach to the consequences of HIV and AIDS and extreme poverty. He donates all royalties earned in South Africa to the organization.

Collins is a patron of the charity Children in Hunger, a small UK based charity working to combat child poverty in Brazil.

Discography

Studio albums

{|class="wikitable" |- ! Release date ! Title |- | 1981 | ''Face Value'' |- | 1982 | ''Hello, I Must Be Going!'' |- | 1985 | ''No Jacket Required'' |- | 1989 | ''...But Seriously'' |- | 1993 | ''Both Sides'' |- | 1996 | ''Dance into the Light'' |- | 2002 | ''Testify'' |- | 2010 | ''Going Back'' |}

Number one singles

"In the Air Tonight" re-entered the New Zealand charts in 2008 at #3 and then peaked at #1, after featuring in a Cadbury Gorilla advertisement.

See also

List of awards and nominations received by Phil Collins

Touring and studio musicians of Phil Collins

Brand X

Notes

References

Bronson, Fred ''The Billboard Book of Number One Hits''. Billboard Books, New York. 1998. p. 624. ISBN 0-8230-7641-5

Giammetti, Mario. ''Phil Collins – The Singing Drummer''. Edizioni Segno. Tavagnacco. 2005. ISBN 88-7282-836-8

Rosen, Craig. ''The Billboard Book of Number One Albums''. Billboard Books, New York. 1996. ISBN 0-8230-7586-9 (Two essays about Collins)

Thompson, Dave. ''Turn It On Again: Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, and Genesis''. Back Beat Books. San Francisco. 2004. ISBN 0-87930-810-9

External links

Phil Collins at Atlantic Records

Genesis' official website

Little Dreams Foundation, project of Phil Collins and his estranged wife Orianne, supporting young musicians

Category:1951 births Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:Ballad musicians Category:Best Song Academy Award winning songwriters Category:BRIT Award winners Category:British expatriates in Switzerland Category:English drummers Category:English film actors Category:English-language singers Category:English male models Category:English male singers Category:English pop singers Category:English rock drummers Category:Blue-eyed soul singers Category:English rock singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English television actors Category:English voice actors Category:Genesis (band) members Category:Grammy Award winners Category:MusiCares Person of the Year Honorees Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:Lieutenants of the Royal Victorian Order Category:Living people Category:Musicians from London Category:People from Chiswick Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Silver Clef Awards winners Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees

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