A globe is a three-dimensional scale model of Earth (terrestrial globe) or other spheroid celestial body such as a planet, star, or moon. It may also refer to a spherical representation of the celestial sphere, showing the apparent positions of the stars and constellations in the sky (celestial globe). The word "globe" comes from the Latin word ''globus'', meaning round mass or sphere.

Terrestrial and planetary

A globe is the only representation of the earth that does not distort either the shape or the size of large features; flat maps are created using a map projection that inevitably introduces an increasing amount of distortion the larger the area that the map shows. A typical scale for a terrestrial globe is roughly 1:40 million.

Sometimes a globe has surface texture showing topography; in these, elevations are exaggerated, otherwise they would be hardly visible. Most modern globes are also imprinted with parallels and meridians so that one can tell the approximate coordinates of a specific place. Globes provide the best view of Earth today.

Celestial

Celestial globes show the apparent positions of the stars in the sky. They omit the Sun, Moon and planets because the positions of these bodies vary relative to those of the stars, but the ecliptic, along which the Sun moves, is indicated.

A potential issue arises regarding the "handedness" of celestial globes. If the globe is constructed so that the stars are in the positions they actually occupy on the imaginary celestial sphere, then the star field will appear back-to-front on the surface of the globe (all the constellations will appear as their mirror images). This is because the view from Earth, positioned at the centre of the celestial sphere, is of the ''inside'' of the celestial sphere, whereas the celestial globe is viewed from the ''outside''. For this reason, celestial globes may be produced in mirror image, so that at least the constellations appear the "right way round". Some modern celestial globes address this problem by making the surface of the globe transparent. The stars can then be placed in their proper positions and viewed ''through'' the globe, so that the view is of the inside of the celestial sphere, as it is from Earth.

History

The sphericity of the Earth was established by Hellenistic astronomy in the 3rd century BC, and the earliest terrestrial globe appeared from that period. The earliest known example is the one constructed by Crates of Mallus in Cilicia (now Çukurova in modern-day Turkey), in the mid-2nd century BC.

No terrestrial globes from Antiquity or the Middle Ages have survived. An example of a surviving celestial globe is part of a Hellenistic sculpture, called the Farnese Atlas, surviving in a 2nd century AD Roman copy in the Naples Museum, Italy.

Early terrestrial globes depicting the entirety of the Old World were constructed in the Islamic Golden Age. One such example was constructed in the 9th century by Muslim geographers and cartographers working under the Abbasid caliph, Al-Ma'mun. Another example was the terrestrial globe introduced to Beijing by the Persian astronomer, Jamal ad-Din, in 1267.

The oldest surviving terrestrial globe is credited to Martin Behaim in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1492. A facsimile globe showing America was made by Martin Waldseemueller in 1507. Another early globe, the Hunt-Lenox Globe, ca. 1507, is thought to be the source of the phrase "Here be dragons". Another "remarkably modern-looking" terrestrial globe of the Earth was constructed by Taqi al-Din at the Istanbul observatory of Taqi al-Din during the 1570s.

An unusually high proportion of vintage 20th century world globes feature the Australian town of Birdum, which no longer exists but once held an important position at the end of the Northern Australian Railway.

Manufacture

Mass-produced globes are typically covered by a printed paper map. The most common type has long, thin gores (strips) of paper that narrow to a point at the North Pole and the South Pole. Then a small disk is used to paper over the inevitable irregularities at the poles. The more gores there are, the less stretching and crumpling is required to make the paper map fit the sphere. From a geometric point of view, all points on a sphere are equivalent – one could select any arbitrary point on the Earth, and create a paper map that covers the Earth with strips that come together at that point and the antipodal point.

A globe is usually mounted at a 23.5° angle on bearings. In addition to making it easy to use this mounting also represents the angle of the planet in relation to its sun and the spin of the planet. This makes it easy to visualize how days and seasons change.

Notable examples

The Unisphere in Queens, New York, at 120 feet (36.6 m) in diameter, is the world's largest global structure.

Eartha, currently the world's largest rotating globe ( in diameter), at the Delorme headquarters in Yarmouth, Maine The Mapparium, three-story, stained glass globe at the Mary Baker Eddy Library in Boston, which visitors walk through via a glass bridge. The Babson globe in Wellesley, Massachusetts, a globe which originally rotated on its axis and on its base to simulate day and night and the seasons

The giant globe in the lobby of The News Building in New York City.

The Hitler Globe, also known as the Führer globe, was formally named the Columbus Globe for State and Industry Leaders. Two editions existed during Hitler's lifetime, created during the mid-1930s on his orders. (The second edition changed the name of Abyssinia to Italian East Africa). These globes were "enormous" and very costly. According to the New York Times, "the real Columbus globe was nearly the size of a Volkswagen and, at the time, more expensive." Several still exist, including three in Berlin: one at a geographical institute, one at the Märkisches Museum, and another at the Deutsches Historisches Museum. The latter has a Soviet bullet hole through Germany. One of the two in public collections in Munich has an American bullet hole through Germany. There are several in private hands inside and out of Germany. A much smaller version of Hitler's globe was mocked by Charlie Chaplin in ''The Great Dictator'', a film released in 1940.

Gallery

See also

Armillary sphere

Cartography

Dymaxion map

Emery Molyneux

Google Earth

NASA World Wind

Johannes Schöner globe

Virtual globe

References

External links

ppmglobe - generate strips to glue onto a sphere

3D VRML globe

3D Java Globe with coastlines, parallels, meridians, etc.

Category:Map types

az:Qlobus bs:Globus bg:Глобус ca:Globus terraqüi cs:Glóbus da:Globus de:Globus et:Gloobus es:Globo terráqueo eo:Globuso fr:Globe planétaire ga:Cruinneog gl:Globo terráqueo ko:지구본 hy:Գլոբուս hr:Globus (svijet) id:Globe io:Globo it:Globo he:גלובוס ka:გლობუსი lv:Globuss lt:Gaublys ms:Glob nl:Globe ja:地球儀 no:Globus pl:Globus pt:Globo terrestre ru:Глобус scn:Crobbu simple:Globe sk:Glóbus sl:Globus sr:Глобус fi:Karttapallo sv:Jordglob tl:Globo tg:Глобус uk:Глобус zh:地球儀

Coordinates	44°56′24″N26°1′48″N
name	Stephen Brunt
birth date	March 20, 1959
birth place	Hamilton, Ontario
occupation	Newspaper Columnist and Sports Broadcaster
gender	Male
credits	''Globe and Mail''
url	}}

Stephen Brunt (born March 20, 1959 in Hamilton, Ontario) is a Canadian sports journalist, well known as a leading columnist for ''The Globe and Mail'' and as co-host to Bob McCown on Prime Time Sports.

Journalist

Stephen Brunt started at The Globe as an arts intern in 1982, after attending journalism school at the University of Western Ontario. He then worked in news, covering the 1984 election, and began to write for the sports section in 1985. His 1988 series on negligence and corruption in boxing won him the Michener Award for public service journalism. In 1989, he became a sports columnist.

Awards and Nominations

Nominated for several National Newspaper Awards, Brunt is also the author of seven books. His work ''Facing Ali'', published in 2004, was named one of the ten best sports books of the year by Sports Illustrated. Brunt makes frequent appearances on sports talk radio shows such as Prime Time Sports and Melnick in the Afternoon on the Team 990 in Montreal. He has been the lead sports columnist for ''The Globe and Mail'' since 1989 and was a frequent sports panelist on TVOntario's now-defunct current affairs programme ''Studio 2''.

Home Life

He currently resides with his wife and children in Hamilton, Ontario, spending much of his summer vacation in ''Winterhouse Brook'' Newfoundland.

The Team 1050 Toronto

In 2001, CHUM Radio Network launched an all-sports radio network in major markets across Canada. The flagship station was to be created in Toronto from the previously formatted oldies station CP24 Radio 1050. The Team 1050 was launched on May 7, 2001 at 3pm. In an attempt to compete with the existing all-sports radio station in Toronto, the Fan 590, Jim Waters and long-time sports executive Paul Williams (who launched the Fan 590 and The Score Television Network) worked to lure talent away from the competition. Previously unsuccessful at luring Bob McCown (Fan 590's highest rated show) to The Score Television Network, Williams went after his co-host, Stephen Brunt. Williams and Waters were able to attract quality on-air talent including Paul Romanuk for the morning show, and Jim Van Horne and Stephen Brunt for the afternoon drive slot. Van Horne and Brunt represented roughly a $375,000 investment in annual salaries.

The Team 1050 performed poorly out of the gate, garnering just 0.7% of the male 25 to 49 market share (compared to the Fan 590's 4.6% share in the mornings and 6.4% during the afternoon drive show), which made it difficult to attach a cost to advertising or attracting advertisers. Just one year after launch, ratings showed little improvement with a 0.9% share of the male 25 to 49 demographic. Brunt stepped down as co-host in spring 2002 but was still heard regularly on air until the Team 1050 was cancelled and reverted to an oldies station on August 27, 2002 at 3pm.

It took sometime before Brunt was brought back into the Fan 590 fold as McCown's co-host and foil. Presumably, McCown was perturbed by Brunt's leaving to compete directly against Primetime Sports on the Team 1050. The two appear to have resolved any past issues and are arguably the best Canadian radio personalities on-air today.

To this day when the Team or Brunt's leaving the Fan 590 comes up on the radio, Brunt notes that he did it for the nice cheque, something McCown should understand.

Author

Stephen Brunt has authored several successful books including ''Facing Ali'', ''Gretzky's Tears'' and the #1 Canadian best seller ''Searching for Bobby Orr''.

His other works include: The Way it Looks from Here: Contemporary Canadian Writing on Sports; Mean Business: The Rise and Fall of Shawn O'Sullivan; Second to None: The Roberto Alomar Story (which he famously wrote in a single month) and Diamond Dreams: 20 Years of Blue Jays Baseball

2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics

Torch Relay Controversy

As the CTV-Rogers Olympic consortium won the broadcast rights to the 2010 Winter Olympics, Stephen Brunt became a central journalist leading up to and during the games. A minor controversy arose when it was announced that Brunt would be carrying the Olympic torch in Newfoundland. Brunt was initially singled out by the Toronto Sun and by the Toronto Star as being unethical as a journalist for carrying the torch. When confronted by the question of integrity and ethics of the relay on Primetime Sports, the conversation unfolded as follows:

Brunt “This is a commercial endeavor. The torch relay, God love it, which is going to make people tear up and is a lovely thing, and a way of including people in the Olympic process, is sponsored. And it is corporate and underwritten. And spots were sold as part of the sponsorship package... This is all part of the machinery of the Olympic Games.” :“You don’t see an ethics problem?” asked Bob McCown. :“No,” Brunt said, “because nobody is telling me what to say or what to do.”

The issue quickly subsided as it became clear a wide variety of people were to carry the torch, including 25 other journalists from the Olympic Consortium.

Video Essay: What these Games mean to Canada

Stephen Brunt worked throughout the Olympics writing stories, doing sports radio, and enjoying the games. His work culminated in a video essay which he wrote and performed the voiceover for, which aired just after Canada won Gold in Men's Hockey. The piece was entitled ''What these Games mean to Canada'' and summed up the Canadian experience during the Olympics.

References

Category:Canadian sportswriters Category:Canadian television sportscasters Category:Canadian radio sportscasters Category:People from Hamilton, Ontario Category:University of Western Ontario alumni Category:Living people Category:1959 births Category:The Globe and Mail people

Coordinates	44°56′24″N26°1′48″N
Name	Bridget Sloan
Fullname	Bridget Elizabeth Sloan
Country
Birth date	June 23, 1992
Birth place	Cincinnati, Ohio
Hometown	Pittsboro, Indiana
Height	1.50m (4'11")
Weight	47kg (104lbs)
Discipline	WAG
Level	Elite
Club	Sharp's Gymnastics Academy
Collegeteam	Florida Gators
Headcoach	Marvin Sharp
Show-medals	yes
Medaltemplates	}}

}}

Bridget Elizabeth Sloan (born June 23, 1992) is an American gymnast. She is the 2009 All-Around World Champion and the 2009 All-Around U.S. National Champion. Sloan was a member of the silver medal U.S. women's gymnastics team at the 2008 Olympics.

Early life and career

Bridget Sloan was born on June 23, 1992, in Cincinnati, Ohio. She began gymnastics in 1996 when she was 4. She currently lives in Pittsboro, Indiana, and graduated from Tri-West Hendricks High School.

2007

In her first year as a senior, 2007, Sloan placed 5th all-around and 3rd on Bars at the U.S. National Championships. She served as the alternate on the American team for the 2007 World Championships. Sloan also represented the United States at the Good Luck Beijing Olympic test event in December 2007, where she won the bronze medal in the all-around and a silver on floor exercise.

2008

In March 2008, Sloan suffered a torn meniscus while warming up at a meet in Italy. She was forced to sit out the competition and returned home for surgery and rehabilitation, but recovered in time to compete at the 2008 U.S. National Championships, where she competed only on beam, bars and floor; and the U.S. Olympic Trials. Sloan was named to the U.S. team after the final selection camp in Houston in July 2008.

At the 2008 Olympics, Sloan competed in both the qualifying and team final rounds of competition. Her contributions to the team became critical in the qualifying round, where the Americans were forced to put up only four athletes on three events, and count all four scores, due to injuries to Chellsie Memmel and Samantha Peszek. Sloan made small errors on floor and uneven bars but performed well under pressure. Her all-around scores placed her 11th overall among all competitors. In the team finals, Sloan competed on vault, contributing a 15.200 score to the American team's silver medal win.

2009

In February 2009, Sloan competed in the Tyson American Cup and placed second to 13-year-old Jordyn Wieber. In August, Sloan competed in the US Nationals and had a shaky preliminary competition. However, her consistency in the finals won her the gold medal in the All-Around, Floor and Uneven Bars.

In October at the 2009 London World Championships, after a shaky preliminary round, Sloan qualified 5th for the all-around and 7th for the uneven bars final. She competed like a champion in the all-around final and won the gold medal over teammate Rebecca Bross by only 0.050. Sloan earned her place in gymnastics history as the fifth American woman to win the World all-around title. In the bars final, she performed a solid routine and placed 6th.

2010

Injuries plagued Bridget throughout the year, greatly limiting her in competitions. An ankle injury early in the year limited her participation in the Pacific Rim Championships to bars. The same injury kept Sloan to the beam at the CoverGirl Classic. A new pectoral injury prevented her from defending her National all-around title. At Nationals she performed two tentative beam routines, one that included a fall, and placed 11th on the apparatus. However, Sloan impressed National Team Coordinator Márta Károlyi with her improvement at the selection camp, and was brought to the World Championships to perform on bars and floor, placing fourth in the bars final.

2011

Sloan sat out the majority of the competitive season while recovering from surgery on her bicep. She stated that it is unlikely she would take part in the 2011 National or World Championships in an effort to stay healthy for the 2012 season, her ultimate goal being the 2012 Olympics.

College

Sloan has committed to attend the University of Florida, signing her national letter-of-intent with the Gator Gymnastics team. Sloan will defer enrollment at UF until the 2012 fall semester to allow her to seek her second consecutive spot on the U.S. team for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Sloan will rejoin 2010 World Championship teammate Mackenzie Caquatto on the Florida team.

Competitive history

Senior Career History

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |- ! Year ! Competition Description ! Location ! Apparatus ! Rank-Final ! Score-Final ! Rank-Qualifying ! Score-Qualifying |- | rowspan="2" | 2010 | rowspan="2" | World Championships | rowspan="2" | Rotterdam, Netherlands

| Team | bgcolor="silver" | 2 | | |- | Uneven Bars | 4 | | | |}

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |- ! Year ! Competition Description ! Location ! Apparatus ! Rank-Final ! Score-Final ! Rank-Qualifying ! Score-Qualifying |- | rowspan="6" | 2009 | rowspan="1" | American Cup | rowspan="1" | Chicago, IL | All around | bgcolor="silver" | 2 | 59.600 | |- | rowspan="4" | U.S. Championships | rowspan="4" | Dallas, TX | All Around | bgcolor="gold" | 1 | 117.550 | 3 | 57.700 |- | Uneven bars |bgcolor="gold" | 1 | 29.450 | 3 | 14.550 |- | Floor exercise |bgcolor="gold" | 1 | 29.350 | 3 | 14.300 |- | Balance beam | 5 | 28.850 | 6 | 13.950 |- | rowspan="1" | World Championships | rowspan="1" | London, UK | All Around | bgcolor="gold" | 1 | 57.825 | 5 | 56.075 |}

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |- ! Year ! Competition Description ! Location ! Apparatus ! Rank-Final ! Score-Final ! Rank-Qualifying ! Score-Qualifying |- | rowspan="6" | 2008 | rowspan="1" | Olympic Games | rowspan="1" | Beijing, China | Team | bgcolor="silver" | 2 | 186.525 | 2 | 246.800 |- | rowspan="3" | U.S. Olympic Team Trials | rowspan="3" | Philadelphia, PA | Uneven bars | 8 | 30.100 | | |- | Balance beam | 12 | 29.100 | | |- | Floor exercise | 14 | 28.850 | | |- | rowspan="2" | U.S. Championships | rowspan="2" | Boston, MA | Uneven bars | bgcolor=cc9966 | 3 | 31.700 | | |- | Balance beam | 7 | 30.600 | | |- |}

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |- ! Year ! Competition Description ! Location ! Apparatus ! Rank-Final ! Score-Final ! Rank-Qualifying ! Score-Qualifying |- | rowspan="9" | 2007 | rowspan="4" | U.S. Championships | rowspan="4" | San Jose, CA | Floor exercise | bgcolor="silver" | 2 | | | |- | All around | 5 | | | |- | Uneven bars | 5 | | | |- | Balance beam | 10 | | | |- | rowspan="5" | U.S. Classic | rowspan="5" | Battle Creek, MI | All around | bgcolor="gold" | 1 | | | |- | Uneven bars | bgcolor="silver" | 2 | | | |- | Vault | bgcolor=cc9966 | 3 | | | |- | Balance beam | bgcolor=cc9966 | 3 | | | |- | Floor exercise | bgcolor=cc9966 | 3 (T) | | | |- |}

Floor music

2008: Araba (Instrumental Version) by Mustafa Sandal

References

External links

Official Website

Sloan on Twitter

Category:1992 births Category:Living people Category:American female artistic gymnasts Category:Gymnasts at the 2008 Summer Olympics Category:Medalists at World Gymnastics Championships Category:Olympic gymnasts of the United States Category:Olympic silver medalists for the United States Category:People from Cincinnati, Ohio Category:People from Hendricks County, Indiana Category:Olympic medalists in gymnastics

de:Bridget Sloan es:Bridget Sloan fr:Bridget Sloan it:Bridget Sloan pl:Bridget Sloan pt:Bridget Sloan fi:Bridget Sloan uk:Бріджет Слоун zh:布丽奇特·斯隆

}}

Seth Benjamin Wescott (born June 28, 1976) is an American snowboarder. He is a two-time Olympic champion in the snowboard cross.

Life and career

Wescott was born in Durham, North Carolina, and lives in Carrabassett Valley, Maine. His father Jim Wescott was the Track and Cross Country coach at Colby College.His mother Margaret-Gould Wescott teaches at University of Maine at Farmington. Wescott has trained in the mountains near Cordova, Alaska, at times, along with Sugarloaf, in Maine. He began snowboarding at age 7, but had also grown up skiing. In 1989, after competing in both sports for a few years, he stopped skiing to focus mainly on snowboarding. Wescott attended Carrabassett Valley Academy where he studied and trained with fellow Olympians Bode Miller, Jeff Greenwood, Kirsten Clark and Emily Cook. He started out in Sugarloaf USA in Carrabassett Valley, Maine

In his Olympic debut, at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, Wescott won gold in the snowboard cross as the first Olympic champion in the event. At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, Wescott successfully defended his Olympic gold. Wescott, who started off the race in fourth, slowly advanced throughout the field until the end, when he narrowly defeated hometown favorite Mike Robertson on the final jump.

Wescott co-owns The Rack, a restaurant and bar near Sugarloaf that caters food and drinks to skiers and snowboarders.

On February 25, 2010, Wescott appeared on The Colbert Report.

References

External links

Seth Wescott on Go211.com – blogs, photos, videos

Official website

NBC Olympics

U.S. Olympic Team bio

AP Winter Games Profile: Seth Wescott

Snowboardcross steals some spotlight from downhill

Category:1976 births Category:American snowboarders Category:Living people Category:Olympic snowboarders of the United States Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States Category:People from Durham, North Carolina Category:People from Franklin County, Maine Category:People from the Research Triangle, North Carolina Category:Snowboarders at the 2006 Winter Olympics Category:Snowboarders at the 2010 Winter Olympics Category:X-Games athletes Category:Olympic medalists in snowboarding

bg:Сет Уескот ca:Seth Wescott de:Seth Wescott fr:Seth Wescott lt:Seth Wescott nl:Seth Wescott ja:セス・ウェスコット no:Seth Wescott nn:Seth Wescott pl:Seth Wescott pt:Seth Wescott ru:Уэскотт, Сет fi:Seth Wescott sv:Seth Wescott uk:Сет Вескотт

Coordinates	44°56′24″N26°1′48″N
Name	k.d. lang
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Kathryn Dawn Lang
Birth date	November 02, 1961
Origin	Consort, Alberta, Canada
Instrument	Guitar, vocals
Genre	Country, pop
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, record producer
Years active	1984–present
Label	Bumstead, Sire, Warner Bros. Records, Nonesuch, Elektra Records
Website	www.kdlang.com}}

Kathryn Dawn Lang, OC (born November 2, 1961), known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. She styles her name in lowercase letters, with the given names contracted to initials and no space between these initials.

Lang has won both Juno Awards and Grammy Awards for her musical performances; hits include "Constant Craving" and "Miss Chatelaine". She has contributed songs to movie soundtracks and has teamed with musicians such as Roy Orbison, Tony Bennett, Elton John, and Anne Murray. Lang is also known for being a vegan as well as an animal rights, gay rights, and Tibetan human rights activist. She is a tantric practitioner of the Old School of Tibetan Buddhism. She performed Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" live at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.

Early years

Lang was born in Edmonton, Alberta, the daughter of Audrey and Adam Frederick Lang. She is of English, Irish, Scottish, German, Russian Jewish, Icelandic, and Sioux ancestry. When k.d. was nine months old, her family moved to Consort, Alberta, where she grew up with two sisters and one brother on the Canadian prairie. Her father was a drug store owner and left the family when Lang was twelve.

After secondary school, lang attended Red Deer College, where she became fascinated with the life and music of Patsy Cline and ultimately determined to pursue a career as a professional singer. She formed a Patsy Cline tribute band called the Reclines in 1983, and they recorded a debut album, ''Friday Dance Promenade''. Also in 1983, lang presented a performance-art piece, a seven-hour re-enactment of the transplantation of an artificial heart for Barney Clark, a retired American dentist. ''A Truly Western Experience'' was released in 1984 and received strong reviews and led to national attention in Canada. In August 1984, k.d. lang was one of three Canadian artists to be selected to perform at the World Science Fair in Tsukuba, Japan (along with other performing and recording contracts throughout Japan).

Singing at country and western venues in Canada, lang made several recordings that received very positive reviews and earned a 1985 Juno Award for Most Promising Female Vocalist. She accepted the award wearing a wedding dress and made numerous tongue-in-cheek promises about what she would and would not do in the future, thus fulfilling the title of "Most Promising." She has won eight Juno Awards.

In 1986, she signed a contract with an American record producer in Nashville, Tennessee, and received critical acclaim for her 1987 album, ''Angel with a Lariat'', which was produced by Dave Edmunds.

Career rise

Lang's career received a huge boost when Roy Orbison chose her to record a duet of his standard, "Crying," a collaboration that won them the Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals in 1989. The song was used in the Jon Cryer film ''Hiding Out'' released in 1987. Due to the success of the song, lang was awarded Entertainer of the Year award from the Canadian Country Music Association. Lang would win the same award for the next three years, in addition to two Female Vocalist of the Year awards in 1988 and 1989.

1988 marked the release of ''Shadowland'', an album of torch country produced by Owen Bradley. In late 1988, ''Shadowland'' was named Album of the Year by the Canadian Country Music Association. That year she also performed "Turn Me Round" at the closing ceremonies of the XV Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, and sang background vocals with Jennifer Warnes and Bonnie Raitt for Orbison's acclaimed television special, ''Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night''.

In 1990, Lang contributed the song "So in Love" to the Cole Porter tribute album ''Red Hot + Blue'' produced by the Red Hot Organization. In 1998, she contributed "Fado Hilário" to the AIDS benefit compilation album ''Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon'' produced by the same organization.

Grammy Awards and mainstream success

Lang won the American Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her 1989 album, ''Absolute Torch and Twang''. The single "Full Moon Full of Love" that stemmed from that album became a modest hit in the United States in the summer of 1989 and a number 1 hit on the RPM Country chart in Canada.

In 1989 she sang a duet, Sin City, with Dwight Yoakam on his album "Just Lookin' for a Hit."

The 1992 album, ''Ingénue'', a set of adult contemporary pop songs that showed comparatively little country influence, contained her most popular song, "Constant Craving." That song brought her multi-million sales, much critical acclaim, and the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Another top ten single from the record was "Miss Chatelaine". The salsa-inspired track was ironic; ''Chatelaine'', a women's magazine, once chose lang as its "Woman of the Year," and the song's video depicted lang in an exaggeratedly feminine manner, surrounded by bright pastel colors and a profusion of bubbles reminiscent of a performance on the Lawrence Welk show.

Lang received a writing credit for The Rolling Stones' song "Anybody Seen My Baby?", whose chorus sounds strikingly similar to "Constant Craving". Jagger and Richards claimed to have never heard the song before and when they discovered the similarity prior to the song's release, were flummoxed as to how the songs could be so similar. Jagger then soon discovered his daughter listening to a recording of “Constant Craving” on her stereo and realized he had heard the song before many times but only subliminally. The two gave Lang credit, along with her co-writer Ben Mink, in order to avoid any possible lawsuits. Afterwards, Lang said she was "completely honored and flattered" by receiving the songwriting credit.

Lang contributed much of the music towards Gus Van Sant's soundtrack of the film ''Even Cowgirls Get the Blues'', and also did a cover of "Skylark" for the 1997 film adaptation of ''Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil''. She performed "Surrender" for the closing titles of the James Bond film ''Tomorrow Never Dies'', having previously worked with Bond composer David Arnold on his album, ''Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project''.

In 1996, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

In 1997, ''Drag'', an album of cover tunes dedicated to 'smoke' (specifically cigarette smoking) was released, although the album cover and booklet photographs show lang in a man's suit, referring to crossdressing as another possible meaning of the word 'drag'. The songs on ''Drag'' include "Smoke Dreams," from the '40s, Steve Miller Band's "The Joker," "Smoke Rings," the theme from the cult movie ''Valley of the Dolls'', and 8 other smoke-themed songs.

Lang ranked #33 on ''VH-1's 100 Greatest Women in Rock & Roll'' in 1999 and #26 on ''CMT' 40 Greatest Women in Country Music'' in 2002, one of only eight women to make both lists. The others were Linda Ronstadt, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Lucinda Williams, and Emmylou Harris.

In 2003, she won her fourth Grammy Award, this time for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for her collaboration with Tony Bennett on ''A Wonderful World''.

On subsequent tours, critical acclaim continued to come her way. In 2004, Stephen Holden of ''The New York Times'' wrote: "Few singers command such perfection of pitch. Her voice, at once beautiful and unadorned and softened with a veil of smoke, invariably hits the middle of a note and remains there. She discreetly flaunted her technique, drawing out notes and shading them from sustained cries into softer, vibrato-laden murmurs. She balanced her commitment to the material with humor, projecting a twinkling merriment behind it all."

In the same year, lang released ''Hymns of the 49th Parallel'', which featured cover versions of songs by iconic English-speaking Canadian singer-songwriters: Bruce Cockburn, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Ron Sexsmith, Jane Siberry, and Neil Young. According to the Canadian Record Industry Association (CRIA), in April 2006 the album went platinum in Canada selling over 100,000 copies. In December 2007 the album reached double platinum status in Australia selling over 140,000 copies.

Also in 2004, she sang the song "Little Patch of Heaven" for the Walt Disney Feature Animation film, ''Home on the Range''.

On July 29, 2006, lang performed her hit "Constant Craving" at the Outgames Opening Ceremonies in Montreal, Canada.

In 2006, lang paired with singer Madeleine Peyroux on a cover of the Joni Mitchell song "River" for Peyroux's album, ''Half the Perfect World''. That same year lang was featured in Nellie McKay's second album, ''Pretty Little Head'', singing with McKay in "We Had it Right". As well, lang sang a version of The Beatles' "Golden Slumbers" for the ''Happy Feet'' film soundtrack. She also sang a duet with Ann Wilson on the Heart singer's solo album ''Hope & Glory'' covering the Lucinda Williams song "Jackson".

In 2007, she partnered with Anne Murray on a re-make of Murray's hit "A Love Song," to be featured on Murray's CD, ''Anne Murray Duets: Friends and Legends''. The duet was recorded in Los Angeles, and on Murray's official website there is a picture of Murray and lang kneeling behind Murray's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Anne Murray was one of lang's childhood idols.

She released an album of new material, ''Watershed'' on February 5, 2008. It is her first collection of original material since ''Invincible Summer'' (2000). An article in which lang is interviewed states: "when she isn’t working, [lang] is mostly a homebody, living quietly with a girlfriend she refers to as “my wife” — they’re not legally married — and her two dogs."

Lang's first complete Greatest Hits collection was released February 2, 2010 on the Nonesuch label as "Recollection". Her debut album, which was dedicated to her life partner, Jenni Coonan, was re-released as a deluxe version on February 9.

In 2010, lang was in Nashville, working on a new country album, titled ''Sing it Loud''. The album, officially recorded as a release by k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang, was released in spring 2011 release, via Nonesuch. The band is touring North America in summer 2011.

Film and television appearances

In 1988 k.d. lang & The Reclines performed on Austin City Limits. Lang played the lead in the 1991 drama film, ''Salmonberries'', and also co-starred with Ewan McGregor and Ashley Judd in ''Eye of the Beholder'' (1999). She had an uncredited role as a lounge singer in 2006's ''The Black Dahlia''. She has also made guest appearances on the sitcoms ''The Larry Sanders Show'', ''Dharma & Greg'', and the famous coming out episode of ''Ellen''. She appeared on the Christmas special of Pee Wee's Playhouse, where she performed the song "Jingle Bell Rock." She also made a guest appearance on the "Garbage" episode of ''The Jim Henson Hour'', and in 2008 appeared on Rove McManus' live hour show, ''Rove''.

Lang performed with the BBC Concert Orchestra for an intimate crowd at 18th century church LSO St Luke's in London on February 3, 2008. First aired as part of the BBC Four Sessions, the concert was released as a DVD entitled "Live In London" in 2009.

On February 12, 2010, she performed Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" at the Olympics Opening Ceremony in Vancouver, British Columbia. In early May 2010, Lang filled in at the last minute for Susan Boyle at the Australian TV Logie Awards to reprise her Winter Olympics performance of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", receiving an extended standing ovation. In 2010 she sang "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" with Matthew Morrison in a Christmas episode of ''Glee'', and is featured on ''Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album''.

Activism

Lang, who came out as a lesbian in a 1992 article of the LGBT-related news magazine ''The Advocate'', has actively championed gay rights causes. She has performed and supported many causes over the years, including HIV/AIDS care and research. Her cover of Cole Porter's "So in Love" (from the Broadway musical, ''Kiss Me, Kate''), appears on the ''Red Hot + Blue'' compilation album and video from 1990 (a tribute to Cole Porter to benefit AIDS research and relief). Her 2010 Greatest Hits album, ''Recollection'', also includes this cover of "So in Love".

Her animal rights vegetarian stance, including a "Meat Stinks" campaign, created much controversy, particularly at her hometown in the middle of Alberta's cattle ranching industry.

Lang appeared on the cover of the August 1993 issue of ''Vanity Fair''. The cover featured Lang in a barber chair while model Cindy Crawford appeared to shave her face with a straight razor. The issue contained a detailed article about Lang which observed that she had thought that she would be ostracized by the country music industry when she came out as a lesbian. However, Nashville was accepting, and her records continued to sell. When she appeared in an ad for PETA however, Nashville was less impressed owing to the relationship between country music and cattle ranching.

In April 2008, Lang spent time in Melbourne, Australia, as a guest editorialist for ''The Age''. This was in connection with her support for the Tibet human rights issues. On April 24, 2008, she joined pro-Tibet protesters in Canberra as the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay made its way through the Australian capital.

Recognition

On June 3, 2008, it was announced that she would receive a star on Canada's Walk of Fame.

Awards and nominations

Of the multiple Grammy nominations that lang has received, she has won four Awards.

; 1989

Grammy Award — Best Country Vocal Collaboration for "Crying" (shared with Roy Orbison)

; 1990

Grammy Award — Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "Absolute Torch and Twang"

; 1993

Grammy Award — Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Constant Craving"

Grammy Award nomination — Song of the Year for "Constant Craving"

Grammy Award nomination — Record of the Year for "Constant Craving"

Grammy Award nomination — Album of the Year for "Ingenue"

; 1994

Grammy Award nomination — Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Miss Chatelaine"

; 1995

Grammy Award nomination — Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Moonglow" (with Tony Bennett)

; 2003

Grammy Award nomination — Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "What A Wonderful World" (with Tony Bennett)

; 2004

Grammy Award — Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for "A Wonderful World" (shared with Tony Bennett)

Grammy Award nomination — Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "La Vie En Rose" (with Tony Bennett)

Discography

See also

Academy of Country Music

Country Music Association

List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

List of country musicians

List of number-one dance hits (United States)

Further reading

References

External links

Official website

Shambhala Sun Magazine Interview

K.D. Lang questionnaire February 2008

Category:1961 births Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Canadian activists Category:Canadian country singers Category:Canadian female guitarists Category:Canadian female singers Category:Canadian pop singers Category:Canadian singer-songwriters Category:Canadian people of German descent Category:Canadian people of Scottish descent Category:Canadian people of Russian descent Category:Canadian people of Icelandic descent Category:Canadian vegans Category:Canadian Buddhists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Juno Award winners Category:Lesbian musicians Category:LGBT musicians from Canada Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Alberta Category:Officers of the Order of Canada Category:People from Special Areas, Alberta Category:Sioux people Category:Torch singers Category:Sire Records artists Category:Warner Bros. Records artists Category:Nonesuch Records artists Category:Lowercase proper names or pseudonyms Category:Canadian people of English descent

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