Events

218 – Julia Maesa, aunt of the assassinated Caracalla, is banished to her home in Syria by the self-proclaimed emperor Macrinus and declares her 14-year old grandson Elagabalus, emperor of Rome.

1204 – Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire.

1527 – The Florentines drive out the Medici for a second time and Florence re-establishes itself as a republic.

1532 – Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England.

1568 – Mary, Queen of Scots, flees to England.

1770 – 14-year old Marie Antoinette marries 15-year-old Louis-Auguste who later becomes king of France.

1771 – The Battle of Alamance, a pre-American Revolutionary War battle between local militia and a group of rebels called The "Regulators", occurs in present-day Alamance County, North Carolina.

1811 – Peninsular War: The allies Spain, Portugal and United Kingdom, defeat the French at the Battle of Albuera.

1822 – Greek War of Independence: The Turks capture the Greek town of Souli.

1843 – The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail with one thousand pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri.

1866 – The U.S. Congress eliminates the half dime coin and replaces it with the five cent piece, or nickel.

1868 – President Andrew Johnson is acquitted in his impeachment trial by one vote in the United States Senate.

1874 – A flood on the Mill River in Massachusetts destroys much of four villages and kills 139 people.

1877 – May 16, 1877 political crisis in France.

1891 – The International Electro-Technical Exhibition opens in Frankfurt, Germany, and will feature the world's first long distance transmission of high-power, three-phase electrical current (the most common form today).

1914 – The first ever Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final is played. Brooklyn Field Club defeats Brooklyn Celtic 2-1.

1918 – The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government an imprisonable offense.

1919 – A naval Curtiss aircraft NC-4 commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight.

1920 – In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc.

1929 – In Hollywood, California, the first Academy Awards are handed out.

1943 – Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.

1948 – Chaim Weizmann is elected the first President of Israel.

1951 – The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights begin between Idlewild Airport (now John F Kennedy International Airport) in New York City and Heathrow Airport in London, operated by El Al Israel Airlines.

1953 – American journalist William N. Oatis is released after serving 22 months of a ten-year prison sentence for espionage in Czechslovakia.

1960 – Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser, at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.

1961 – Park Chung-hee leads a coup d'état to overthrow the Second Republic of South Korea.

1966 – The Communist Party of China issues the "May 16 Notice", marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.

1969 – Venera program: ''Venera 5'', a Soviet spaceprobe, lands on Venus.

1974 – Josip Broz Tito is re-elected president of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This time he is elected for life.

1975 – India annexes Sikkim after the mountain state holds a referendum in which the popular vote is in favor of merging with India.

1975 – Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

1983 – Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement rebels against the Sudanese government.

1986 – The Seville Statement on Violence is adopted by an international meeting of scientists, convened by the Spanish National Commission for UNESCO, in Seville, Spain.

1988 – A report by United States' Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.

1991 – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom addressed a joint session of the United States Congress. She is the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.

2003 – In Casablanca, Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks.

2005 – Kuwait permits women's suffrage in a 35-23 National Assembly vote.

Births

1578 – Everard Digby, English conspirator (d. 1606)

1611 – Pope Innocent XI (d. 1689)

1710 – William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot, English politician (d. 1782)

1718 – Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian mathematician (d. 1799)

1763 – Louis Nicolas Vauquelin, French pharmacist (d. 1829)

1788 – Friedrich Rückert, German Poet, Translator and Orientalist (d. 1866)

1801 – William H. Seward, American politician and diplomat (d. 1872)

1821 – Pafnuty Chebyshev, Russian mathematician (d. 1894)

1824 – Levi P. Morton, 22nd United States Vice President (d. 1920)

1827 – Pierre Cuypers, Dutch architect (d. 1921)

1831 – David E. Hughes, British inventor and musician (d. 1900)

1845 – Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, Russian microbiologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1916)

1861 – H. H. Holmes, American serial killer (d. 1896)

1888 – Royal Raymond Rife, American inventor (d. 1971)

1891 – Richard Tauber, Austrian tenor (d. 1948)

1897 – Zvi Sliternik, Israeli entomologist (d. 1994)

1898 – Tamara de Lempicka, Polish-born painter (d. 1980)

1898 – Kenji Mizoguchi, Japanese film director (d. 1956)

1905 – Henry Fonda, American actor (d. 1982)

1906 – Alfred Pellan, French Canadian painter (d. 1988)

1906 – Arturo Uslar Pietri, Venezuelan writer (d. 2001)

1906 – Margret Rey, author and illustrator (d. 1996)

1909 – Margaret Sullavan, American actress (d. 1960)

1910 – Olga Berggolts, Russian poet (d. 1975)

1910 – Aleksandr Ivanovich Laktionov, Russian painter (d. 1972)

1912 – Studs Terkel, American writer (d. 2008)

1913 – Woody Herman, American musician and band leader (d. 1987)

1914 – Edward T. Hall, American anthropologist and author (d. 2009)

1916 – Adriana Caselotti, American actress (d. 1997)

1916 – Ephraim Katzir, Israeli politician (d. 2009)

1916 – Fred Hargesheimer, American World War II pilot (d. 2010)

1917 – Juan Rulfo, Mexican novelist (d. 1986)

1917 – James C. Murray, American politician (d. 1999)

1917 – George Gaynes, American actor

1918 – Wilf Mannion, English former footballer (d. 2000)

1919 – Liberace, American pianist (d. 1987)

1919 – Ramon Margalef, Spanish scientist (d. 2004)

1920 – Martine Carol, French actress (d. 1967)

1921 – Harry Carey, Jr., American actor

1921 – S. Neil Fujita, American graphic designer (d. 2010)

1923 – Merton Miller, American economist, Nobel laureate (d. 2000)

1923 – Victoria Fromkin, American linguist (d. 2000)

1923 – Peter Underwood, English parapsychologist

1925 – Bobbejaan Schoepen, Belgian entertainer (d. 2010)

1926 – Ronald Podrow, British peace activist (d. 2004)

1927 – Nílton Santos, Brazilian footballer

1928 – Billy Martin, American baseball player and coach (d. 1989)

1929 – John Conyers, American politician

1929 – Claude Morin, French Canadian politician

1929 – Adrienne Rich, American writer

1930 – Betty Carter, American jazz singer (d. 1998)

1930 – Friedrich Gulda, Austrian pianist (d. 2000)

1931 – Jack Dodson, American actor (d. 1994)

1931 – Denise Filiatrault, French Canadian actress and director

1931 – Natwar Singh, Indian politician

1931 – Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., American politician

1931 – Hana Brady, Polish Holocaust victim (d. 1944)

1936 – Roy Hudd, English radio and television actor

1936 – Karl Lehmann, German Catholic cardinal

1937 – Yvonne Craig, American actress

1943 – Dan Coats, American politician, junior senator of Indiana

1943 – Marko Kravos, Slovenian poet

1944 – Billy Cobham, American drummer

1944 – Danny Trejo, American actor

1945 – Nicky Chinn, English songwriter (Sweet, Suzi Quatro)

1945 – Alan Flusser, American clothing designer

1946 – Robert Fripp, English guitarist (King Crimson)

1946 – Roger Earl, English rock drummer (Savoy Brown, Foghat)

1947 – Bob Edwards, American newscaster

1947 – Bill Smitrovich, American actor

1948 – Katia Dandoulaki, Greek actress

1948 – Judy Finnegan, English TV presenter (Richard & Judy)

1948 – Adrian Legg, English guitarist

1948 – Jesper Christensen, Danish actor

1950 – J. Georg Bednorz, German physicist, Nobel laureate

1950 – Ray Condo, Canadian rockabilly musician (d. 2004)

1951 – Christian Lacroix, French fashion designer

1951 – Jonathan Richman, American Protopunk singer and musician (The Modern Lovers)

1952 – James Herndon, American media psychologist

1953 – Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor

1953 – Kitanoumi Toshimitsu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 55^th Yokozuna

1954 – Dafydd Williams, Canadian physician and astronaut

1955 – Olga Korbut, Belarussian gymnast

1955 – Jack Morris, American baseball player

1955 – Hazel O'Connor, English singer

1957 – Yuri Shevchuk, Russian singer

1955 – Debra Winger, American actress

1958 – Glenn Gregory, British musician (Heaven 17)

1958 – Gitane Demone, American Goth singer

1959 – Mare Winningham, American actress

1960 – Landon Deireragea, Nauruan politician

1961 – Kevin McDonald, Canadian comedian and actor

1961 – Charles Wright, American professional wrestler

1963 – Jon Coffelt, American artist

1963 – Mercedes Echerer, Austrian actress and politician

1964 – John Salley, American basketball player

1964 – Boyd Tinsley, American musician (Dave Matthews Band)

1964 – Edit Berces, Hungarian marathon runner

1965 – Krist Novoselic, American musician and author

1966 – Janet Jackson, American singer

1966 – Scott Reeves, American actor and singer

1966 – Thurman Thomas, American football player

1968 – Ralph Tresvant, American singer (New Edition)

1968 – Chingmy Yau, Hong Kong actress

1969 – David Boreanaz, American actor

1969 – Tucker Carlson, American television commentator

1969 – Tracey Gold, American actress

1969 – Steve Lewis, American athlete

1970 – Gabriela Sabatini, Argentine tennis player

1970 – Danielle Spencer, Australian singer and actress

1971 – Rachel Goswell, English singer and songwriter (Slowdive, Mojave 3)

1972 – Derek Mears, American actor

1972 – Khary Payton, American actor

1972 – Christian Califano, French rugby player

1973 – Jason Acuña, American television personality

1973 – Special Ed, American rapper

1973 – Tori Spelling, American actress

1974 – Laura Pausini, Italian pop singer

1974 – Sonny Sandoval, American singer (P.O.D.)

1974 – Adam Richman, American actor and television personality

1975 – Tony Kakko, Finnish singer (Sonata Arctica)

1975 – Tonéx, American singer

1976 – Brian Langtry, American lacrosse player

1976 – Dirk Nannes, Dutch-born Australian cricketer

1977 – Dolcenera, Italian singer

1977 – Jean-Sébastien Giguère, Canadian ice hockey player

1977 – Melanie Lynskey, New Zealand actress

1977 – Emiliana Torrini Icelandic singer and songwriter

1978 – David Ford, English singer and songwriter

1978 – Lionel Scaloni, Argentine footballer

1979 – McKenzie Lee, English pornographic actress

1980 – Mikel Alonso, Spanish footballer

1980 – Melanie Lofton, American journalist

1980 – Michael Ryan, American ice hockey player

1981 – Taavi Rähn, Estonian footballer

1981 – Jim Sturgess, English actor

1982 – Billy Crawford, Filipino singer and musician

1982 – Joo Ji Hoon, Korean actor and model

1982 – Łukasz Kubot, Polish tennis player

1982 – Hanna Mariën, Belgian athlete

1983 – Nancy Ajram, Lebanese singer

1983 – Daniel Kerr, Australian football player (AFL)

1983 – Kyle Wellwood, Canadian ice hockey player

1984 – Dario Cvitanich, Argentinian footballer

1984 – Jensen Lewis, American baseball player

1984 – Mickie Knuckles, American professional wrestler

1984 – Rick Rypien, Canadian hockey player (d. 2011)

1985 – Café, Brazilian footballer

1985 – Stanislav Ianevski, Bulgarian actor

1985 – Anja Mittag, German footballer

1985 – Corey Perry, Canadian ice hockey player

1985 – Okura Tadayoshi, Japanese singer (Kanjani Eight)

1986 – Megan Fox, American actress

1986 – Andy Keogh, Irish footballer

1987 – Tom Onslow-Cole, British racing driver

1990 – Thomas Sangster, English actor

1990 – Darko Sarovic, Serbian sprinter

1991 – Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgarian tennis player

1992 – Jeff Skinner, Canadian ice hockey player

1993 – Lee Ji-eun, Korean singer also known as IU

1994 – Miles Heizer, American actor

1998 – Ariel Waller, Canadian actress

Deaths

583 – Saint Brendan, Irish navigator (b. 484)

1265 – Saint Simon Stock, English saint (b. 1165)

1569 – Dirk Willems, Dutch Anabaptist

1620 – William Adams, English navigator (b. 1564)

1657 – Andrzej Bobola, Polish Jesuit missionary (b. 1591)

1667 – Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton, English statesman (b. 1607)

1669 – Pietro da Cortona, Italian architect (b. 1596)

1691 – Jacob Leisler, American colonist (b. 1640)

1703 – Charles Perrault, French author (b. 1628)

1778 – Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, English diplomat (b. 1718)

1782 – Daniel Solander, Swedish botanist (b. 1736)

1790 – Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke, English politician (b. 1720)

1830 – Joseph Fourier, French scientist (b. 1768)

1882 – Reuben Chapman, American lawyer and politician (b. 1799)

1891 – Ion Brătianu, Romanian statesman (b. 1821)

1913 – Louis Perrier, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1849)

1920 – Levi P. Morton, 22nd United States Vice President (b. 1824)

1926 – Mehmed VI, last Ottoman Sultan (b. 1861)

1943 – Alfred Hoche, German psychiatrist (b. 1865)

1944 – George Ade, American author (b. 1866)

1947 – Frederick Hopkins, English biochemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1861)

1953 – Django Reinhardt, Belgian musician (b. 1910)

1954 – Clemens Krauss, Austrian conductor (b. 1893)

1955 – James Agee, American writer (b. 1909)

1956 – H. B. Reese, American confectioner, founder of Reese's (b. 1876)

1957 – Eliot Ness, American federal agent (b. 1903)

1959 – Elisha Scott, Northern Irish footballer (b. 1894)

1961 – George A. Malcolm, American jurist & educator (b. 1881)

1969 – Robert R., American AIDS victim (b. 1954)

1975 – Al Helfer, American radio sportscaster (b. 1911)

1979 – A. Philip Randolph, American civil rights activist and labor union leader (b. 1889)

1981 – Ernie Freeman, American pianist and arranger (b. 1922)

1984 – Andy Kaufman, American comedian (b. 1949)

1984 – Irwin Shaw, American author (b. 1913)

1985 – Margaret Hamilton, American actress (b. 1902)

1988 – Charles Keeping, English illustrator (b. 1924)

1988 – George Pyrounakis, Greek religious figure (b. 1910)

1990 – Sammy Davis, Jr., American entertainer (b. 1925)

1990 – Jim Henson, American puppeteer (b. 1936)

1992 – Chalino Sanchez, Mexican musician (b. 1960)

1993 – Marv Johnson, American R&B; and soul singer (b. 1938)

1996 – Jeremy Michael Boorda, American admiral (b. 1939)

1997 – Elbridge Durbrow, American diplomat (b. 1903)

2000 – Bodacious the Bull, rodeo bull (b. 1988)

2001 – Brian Pendleton, English musician (The Pretty Things) (b. 1944)

2002 – Alec Campbell, Australian soldier (b. 1899)

2002 – Big Dick Dudley, American professional wrestler (b. 1968)

2003 – Mark McCormack, American businessman (b. 1930)

2008 – David Mitton, British television director (b. 1939)

2008 – Robert Mondavi, American winemaker (b. 1913)

2010 – Ronnie James Dio, American heavy metal vocalist (b. 1942)

2010 – Hank Jones, American jazz pianist (b. 1918)

2011 – Bob Davis, Australian rules footballer (b. 1928)

2011 – Bill Skiles, American comic (b. 1931)

2011 – Edward Hardwicke, English actor (b. 1932)

Holidays and observances

Christian Feast Day:

* Aaron (Coptic Church)

* Abda and Abdjesus, and companions:

** Abdas of Susa

* Andrew Bobola

* Brendan the Navigator (Roman Catholic Church)

* Germerius

* Honoratus of Amiens

* John of Nepomuk

* Margaret of Cortona

* Peregrine of Auxerre

* Simon Stock

* Ubald (see Saint Ubaldo Day)

* May 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Mass Graves Day (Iraq)

Middlesex Day (Middlesex)

National Day, declared by Salva Kiir Mayardit (Southern Sudan)

Teachers' Day (Malaysia)

External links

BBC: On This Day

On This Day in Canada

----

Category:Days of the year Category:May

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Coordinates	33°51′35.9″N151°12′40″N
fullname	Tony Frank Hawk
birth date	May 12, 1968
birth place	Carlsbad, California, United States
sport	Skateboarding
country
height
weight
medaltemplates	}}

}} Anthony Frank "Tony" Hawk (born May 12, 1968) is an American retired professional skateboarder and actor. Hawk gained significant fame for completing the first 900 as well as his licensed video game titles distributed by Activision. He is widely considered one of the most successful and influential pioneers of modern vertical skateboarding.

Raised in San Diego, CA, Hawk was described as being "hyperactive" as a child. His parents supported his skateboarding because it served as an outlet for his excessive energy, and as Hawk's skills developed, he became a professional skateboarder at age fourteen. In 1999, he became the first skater to land a 900. In 2002, he created the Boom Boom HuckJam, an extreme sports exhibition and tour which launched in Las Vegas. Throughout his career, Hawk has made numerous appearances in films and other media, as well as his own series of video games. He has also been involved in various philanthropic activities including his own Tony Hawk Foundation which helps build skateparks in underprivileged areas, and also including collaborations with other athletes in the charity Athletes for Hope.

Early life

Hawk was born in San Diego, California, to a retired U.S. Navy officer, Frank Hawk. His wife Nancy Hawk, is a part-time business teacher. Hawk began skateboarding at age eight after his older brother Steve gave him a used skateboard and his father constructed a ramp in their backyard. When Hawk was young, he was described as being "hyperactive," and his mother says that he was "so hard on himself and expected himself to do so many things." One time, Tony struck out in baseball and was so distraught that he hid in a ravine and had to be "physically coaxed out" by his father. His frustration with himself was so harsh that his parents had him psychologically evaluated at school. The results were that Tony was "gifted," and school advisors recommended placing him in advanced classes.

Hawk attended Jean Farb Middle School from 1980 to 1981, and recently went back there for the show "Homecoming" where he set up a ramp and did a demonstration.

He turned pro by the age of 14. He graduated from Torrey Pines High School in the North County Coastal area of San Diego, California. Tony Hawk was the world champion for 12 consecutive years.

Professional career

The 900

On July 27, 1999, Hawk was the first skater to land a 900. He successfully landed the trick, which involves completing two-and-a-half revolutions with the skateboard, on the eleventh attempt. After completing the trick, he commented, "This is the best day of my life." Nearly 12 years later Hawk was still able to land his famous 900 and posted a video of the trick via his Twitter account stating "I'm 42 and I did a 900 today."

Boom Boom HuckJam

In 2002, Tony Hawk started the Boom Boom HuckJam tour, which is a touring exhibition featuring freestyle motocross, skateboarding, and BMX with a show in Las Vegas and then on to 31 cities around the USA and eventually to Six Flags amusement parks.

Film and television appearances

thumb|left|300px|Tony Hawk (left) making a guest judge appearance, at the FlowRider Mobile Wave machine, installed for the 2009 Canadian National. In 1989, he appeared as a skateboarder in ''Gleaming the Cube''. In 2002, he appeared in Neal H. Moritzs's and Christopher Gilcrest's film ''xXx'' playing the role of one of Xander Cages stuntman friends, and later in the movie, a skateboarder at a party. In 2004 he played himself in the Australian skateboarding movie Deck Dogz. In 2006, Tony Hawk appeared in a cameo on the film ''Drake & Josh Go Hollywood'' as himself; when Drake & Josh steal his car to escape from two crooks with the Geo (iPods) that carry illegal information for counterfeiting money. Tony Hawk also asks for the cops to give Drake & Josh a police escort to Sunset Studios, for a performance on TRL. Hawk has had a cameo in film ''The New Guy''. Hawk appeared in ''Jackass: The Movie'' with Mat Hoffman and Bam Margera, skateboarding in a fat suit and Jackass 2, while skateboarding through an obstacle course. Tony appears in the film following the 2006 Gumball Rally, 3000 Miles, again with Bam Margera. He also plays the police officer who arrests Ryan Dunn in the movie Haggard: The Movie. Hawk also made a brief cameo appearance in ''Lords Of Dogtown'' as an astronaut, where he is shown comically falling off the skateboard as he is a "rookie". He played himself in an episode of ''Rocket Power''.

Hawk was featured as an extra in the "Weird Al" Yankovic video "Smells like Nirvana". He can be seen sitting in the bleachers during the crowd sweep near Dick Van Patten. He also made a cameo appearance in the Simple Plan music video for "I'm Just a Kid", he can be seen, in a crowd, watching kids at a high school skating..

On television, he has also appeared in ''What I Like About You'', ''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody'', ''The Tom Green Show'', ''The Naked Brothers Band'' and ''Zeke and Luther'', ''So Random'', and ''All That''. Hawk was a guest on the kid's show on Nickelodeon, ''Yo Gabba Gabba''. In 2000, he played himself in Max Steel. He also guest voiced on ''The Simpsons'' episode "Barting Over", where he played himself, along with fellow San Diegans Blink-182. In the episode, Hawk lends Homer a new board from his brand where complete rookies are able to perform at the top levels. He ends up having a comical play off with him after Homer begins to show him up. On the PBS Kids show ''Cyberchase'', he guest starred as Slider's long-lost father, Coop. In the CSI: Miami episode "Game Over" he played a game programmer who was murdered. In 2008, he played on ''Million Dollar Password''. Hawk also played on Fox's ''Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader''. Tony Hawk helped design the world famous Canvey Island skate park in 1982 and has hosted Cartoon Network's "Hall of Game" sports award show on February 25, 2011. Hawk was also on the Live-Action/Animated Talk Show Take Two With Phineas and Ferb.

Video games

A video game series based on his skateboarding debuted in 1999. Since then, the series has spawned 16 titles, including main series titles, spin-offs, and repackages. The latest game of the series is the Tony Hawk: Ride, which involves riding on a skateboard-shaped controller.

Amusement park rides

A series of amusement park rides known as Tony Hawk's Big Spin were built in three Six Flags parks in 2007 and 2008. The ride was originally billed as the "total Tony Hawk experience" and was designed to have the look and feel of a giant red-and-black skatepark. It offered a full "extreme sports" experience, with monitors in the queue lines displaying highlights of the history of action sports and a large spinning Tony Hawk figure crowning the ride. Additionally, a water park ride called Tony Hawk's Halfpipe was opened at Six Flags America in Bowie, MD.

In-game likeness and appearances

Tony Hawk was originally designated as the protagonist of the ''Tony Hawk'' series. Hawk appears as a player character in all of the Tony Hawk games.

Hawk's role in the series was usurped by customizable player characters in later installments, but he has remained a prominent character. In the 2003 game ''Tony Hawk's Underground'', he is a minor non-player character whom the player meets in Tampa, Florida and skates against. Impressed with the player's skills, Hawk grants them entry into a skate competition. He later appears in Moscow to teach them the "360 Varial Heelflip Lien" move. Hawk and other skaters are briefly playable near the end of the game when they skate in a promotional video for the player's skate team, and in all gameplay modes except the story mode.

Personal life

Hawk married Cindy Dunbar in April 1990. They had a son, Riley Hawk (born December 6, 1992) whom they named for one of Hawk's ancestors. Riley also skates for Lakai Limited Footwear and Hawk's own Birdhouse Skateboards. The couple divorced in 1993.

Hawk married Erin Lee in 1996. They had two sons, Spencer (born July 26, 1999) and Keegan (born March 18, 2001). Lee and Hawk divorced in 2004.

Hawk married Lhotse Merriam on January 12, 2006, on the island of Tavarua, Fiji. The couple's first child, a daughter named Kadence Clover Hawk, was born on June 30, 2008. The couple announced their divorce on February 7, 2011.

Philanthropy

Tony launched the Tony Hawk Foundation, which has given away more than $3.4 million to help build well over 400 skateparks around the U.S.A. The Foundation supports projects in low income areas and helps underprivileged kids. In 2007, Hawk, Andre Agassi, Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, Warrick Dunn, Jeff Gordon, Mia Hamm, Andrea Jaeger, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mario Lemieux, Alonzo Mourning and Cal Ripken, Jr. founded the charity Athletes for Hope which helps professional athletes get involved in charitable causes and aims to inspire all people to volunteer and support their communities.

References

External links

tonyhawkfoundation.org

Tony's Birdhouse Skateboards website

Category:1969 births Category:American businesspeople Category:American skateboarders Category:Sportspeople from San Diego, California Category:Living people Category:People from San Diego, California Category:X-Games athletes

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Coordinates	33°51′35.9″N151°12′40″N
name	Bolo Yeung
birth date	July 03, 1946
birth place	Guangzhou, China
occupation	Actor
yearsactive	1970–2008 }}

Yang Sze (; born July 3, 1946 in Guangzhou), better known as Bolo Yeung, is a former competitive bodybuilder and a martial arts film actor. Primarily cast as the villain in the movies he stars in, he is best known for his performances as Bolo in ''Enter the Dragon'' and as Chong Li in ''Bloodsport'', and also for his many appearances in martial arts B-movies.

Biography

Bolo began his martial arts training at the age of 10 in Guangzhou, China, where he studied under several kung fu masters. Growing up he took an interest in bodybuilding. Later he became Mr. Hong Kong bodybuilding champion. He held the title for ten years. Because of his impressively muscular physique he was chosen for several bad guy roles in films produced by Shaw Brothers Studios such as ''The Heroic Ones'', ''The Deadly Duo'', ''Angry Guest'' and others. He left Shaw Brothers in 1971.

Bolo met Bruce Lee while the two were filming a Winston cigarettes commercial. A friendship emerged and Bruce invited him to star in ''Enter the Dragon'', where he became known as Bolo. They were really close friends and during the filming of ''Enter the Dragon'', Bruce and Bolo worked very closely on technique training. In fact, he once stated in an interview, many years after Lee's death, "''There will never be another Bruce Lee, and I am privliged to have had the honor of calling him friend''."

During the 1970s and '80s, Bolo starred in numerous kung fu films, but his breakout film was ''Bloodsport'', based on the alleged true story of Frank Dux. Shot on a 1.5 million dollar budget, it became a U.S. box-office hit in the spring of 1988. Jean-Claude Van Damme had the leading role as Frank Dux and Bolo Yeung played the bad guy role of Chong Li.

Another film ''Double Impact'' featured Yeung in the bad guy role of Moon, one of the gangsters who was responsible for the parent's death. Due to a strong friendship formed between the two actors on the set of ''Bloodsport'', Jean-Claude Van Damme wanted no one but Bolo to play the lead villain in this film.

The Canadian action film actor, director and producer Jalal Merhi met Bolo in Hong Kong while shooting his first film ''Fearless Tiger'', then they met again on the set of ''Double Impact''. Jalal was impressed with his personality and ability and decided to create a part with Bolo in it. Later Merhi worked with Yeung on more films such as ''Tiger Claws'', ''TC 2000'' and ''Tiger Claws 2''.

In 2007 Bolo played a good guy role in ''Blizhniy Boy: The Ultimate Fighter'' and Jalal Merhi directed the first 60 minutes of the film that they shot in Toronto, but he was very busy and could not travel and do the Russia shoot and the producer Erken Ialgashev had finished directing but this film is still not released because of legal issues.

It has been reported that actor Sylvester Stallone has talked with Yeung about a possible appearance in the sequel to ''The Expendables'', ''The Expendables 2'', starring with former ''Bloodsport'' actor, Jean-Claude Van Damme and others.

Bolo Yeung confirmed to star in the upcoming action film ''Trigger Reaction''.

Filmography

{| cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4" border="1" |- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" ! Year || Film || Role |- | TBA || ''Trigger Reaction'' || Uncle Wong |- | 2007 || ''Blizhniy Boy: The Ultimate Fighter'' || Erik's Trainer |- | 1997 || ''Tiger Claws II'' || Chong |- | 1996 || ''Fists of Legends 2 Iron Bodyguards'' || Mongolian fighter |- | 1995 || ''Shootfighter 2'' || Shingo |- | 1994 || ''Fearless Tiger'' || Master on mountain |- | 1993 || ''TC 2000'' || Master Sumai |- | 1992 || ''The Magnificent Duo'' || Bolo |- | 1992 || ''Tiger Claws'' || Chong |- | 1992 || ''Ironheart'' || Ice |- | 1992 || ''Shootfighter: Fight to the Death'' || Shingo |- | 1992 || ''Mega Force from Highland'' || The Wu Tang Swordsman |- | 1991 || ''Double Impact'' || Moon |- | 1991 || ''Breathing Fire'' (as Bolo Young) || Thunder |- | 1989 || ''Bloodfight'' || Chang Lee - The Vietnamese Cobra |- | 1988 || ''Bloodsport'' || Chong Li |- | 1988 || ''One Husband Too Many'' || Dung Ken - Muscleman |- | 1987 || ''Killer's Nocturne'' (''No-Evening Day'') || ??? |- | 1987 || ''To Err is Humane'' (aka ''To Err is Human'') || ??? |- | 1987 || ''Shanghai Express'' (aka ''Millionaire's Express'', ''Wealthy Train'', ''Nobles' Express'') || ??? (cameo) |- | 1986 || ''Legacy of Rage'' || Thug |- | 1986 || ''Lucky Stars Go Places'' (aka ''Luckiest Stars'') || Movie patron |- | 1994 || ''Seven Angels'' || Bar customer in green shirt |- | 1985 || ''Bruce Lee's Dragons Fight Back'' || ??? |- | 1985 || ''My Lucky Stars'' (aka ''Lucky Stars Superior Shine'' or ''Winners and Sinners 2'') || Millionaire Chan |- | 1985 || ''Working Class'' (aka ''Hit Work Emperor'') || Giant kickboxer |- | 1985 || ''Lucky Diamond'' (aka ''Wish You Good Luck'') || ??? |- | 1985 || ''Way of the Dragon 2'' (as Sze Yang) || ??? |- | 1984 || ''Silent Romance'' || ??? |- | 1983 || ''Just for Fun'' || ??? |- | 1983 || ''The Boxers Omen'' (aka ''Mo'') || Mr Bu Bo - The Thai Boxer |- | 1982 || ''The Supergang'' || Big King |- | 1982 || ''The Ninja Strikes Back'' (aka'' Bruce Le Fights/Strikes Back'' or ''Eye of the Dragon'') || ??? |- | 1981 || ''All the Wrong Clues (for the Right Solution)'' || ??? |- | 1981 || ''(Mad) Cold-blooded Murder'' || ??? |- | 1980 || ''Enter the Game of Death'' (aka ''The King of Kung Fu'') || ??? |- | 1980 || ''The 36 Deadly Styles'' || Cheungs Brother |- | 1980 || ''(Bruce) the King of Kung Fu'' (aka ''Revenge of the Dragon/s'') || ??? |- | 1980 || ''Fearless Hyena 3'' (as Yang Tze) (aka ''Fearless Master'') || ??? |- | 1980 || ''Challenge of the Tiger'' (as Yang Sze) (aka ''Dragon Bruce Le'' or ''Gymkata Killer'') || ??? |- | 1980 || ''Invincible'' (aka ''Fighting Dragon'') || ??? |- | 1980 || ''Treasure of Bruce Lee'' (aka ''King Boxer 2'') || ??? |- | 1979 || ''Bruce the Superhero'' (as Yang Sze) || Peter Sze The Bullkiller |- | 1979 || ''Ruthless Revenge'' (aka ''Invincible Kung Fu'' or ''The Two Tricky Kids'') || ??? |- | 1979 || ''(The) Dragon, the Hero'' (aka ''Dragon on Fire'') || ??? |- | 1979 || ''Enter Three Dragons'' (aka ''Three Avengers'') || ??? |- | 1979 || ''The Fists, the Kicks, and the Evil'' || Master Lung |- | 1979 || ''Snake Deadly Act'' || The Giant |- | 1979 || ''Writing Kung Fu'' (as Sze Yang) || Ah Yen |- | 1978 || ''Bruce (Li/Lee) in New Guinea'' (aka ''Last Fist of Fury'') || ??? |- | 1978 || ''Amsterdam Connection'' (as Yang Sze) || Big Louie |- | 1978 || ''Bruce Le's Greatest Revenge'' || ??? |- | 1978 || ''Black Belt Jones 2'' (aka ''Tattoo Connection'') ||Tan Yu Lu's henchman |- Master Killers (1978) | 1978 || ''The Image of Bruce Lee'' (aka ''Storming Attacks'') || Kimura |- | 1977 || ''10 Magnificent Killers'' (as Yang Szu) || Ling Chu |- | 1977 || ''Bolo the Brute'' (aka Bolo) || Bolo |- | 1977 || ''The Clones of Bruce Lee'' || Martial arts trainer |- | 1977 || ''Bruce and Shaolin Kung Fu'' (aka ''Bruce vs Black Dragon'') || Lam Chi Chu |- | 1976 || ''A Queen's Ransom'' (aka ''International Assassin(s)'') || Ram |- | 1975 || ''Hong Kong Superman'' (aka ''Bruce: Hong Kong Master'') || ??? |- | 1975 || ''Seven Blows of the Dragon 2'' (aka ''108 Heroes'', ''7 Soldiers of Kung Fu'', ''All Men are Brothers 2'', ''7 Kung Fu Assassins'', ''Turbulent Invade Record'') || ??? |- | 1975 || ''Kung Fu Massacre'' (as Yang Sze) || ??? |- | 1975 || ''G-Men '75'' (TV series) || ??? |- | 1975 || ''He Loved Once Too Many'' (as Bolo Yeung Tze) || ??? |- | 1975 || ''The Fighting Dragon'' (TV series) (aka ''The Fighting Dragon'') || Red Tiger |- | 1974 || ''Super Kung Fu Kid'' (as Sze Yang) || Tiger |- | 1973 || ''Chinese Hercules'' || Chinese Hercules |- | 1973 || ''Thunderkick'' || ??? |- | 1973 || ''Kung Fu's Hero'' (as Sze Yang) || ??? |- | 1973 || ''Soul of Chiba'' (aka Soul of Bruce Lee) || The White Haired Assassins Bodyguard |- | 1973 || ''Enter the Dragon'' || Bolo |- | 1973 || ''Freedom Strikes A Blow'' (as Yang Sze) || Chiang Tai |- | 1973 || ''Greatest Thai Boxing'' || ??? |- | 1973 || ''Tiger'' || ??? |- | 1973 || ''Ninja Killer'' (as Yang Sze) || Mr Yang |- | 1972 || ''Man of Iron'' (aka ''Iron Man'' or ''Warrior of Steel'') || Jin Xi Fu |- | 1972 || ''Trilogy of Swordsmanship'' || ??? |- | 1972 || ''Young People'' || ??? |- | 1972 || ''King Boxer'' (aka ''5 Fingers of Death'', ''Invincible Boxer'', ''Iron Palm'', ''Hand of Death'') || Pa Tu Er, Mongolian fighter |- | 1972 || ''Angry Guest'' (aka ''Kung Fu Killers'') || Sze Yang |- | 1971 || ''The Rescue'' || Chief Cha Te |- | 1971 || ''The Lady Professional'' || Bald Killer |- | 1971 || ''The Oath of Death'' || Officer Shi |- | 1971 || ''The Deadly Duo'' || The River Dragon of Jin |- | 1970 || ''Heroic Ones'' (aka ''Shaolin Masters'', ''13 Fighters'', ''13 Warlords'') || General Meng Cheih Hui |- | 1970 || ''The Wandering Swordsman'' ||Unicorn Du Kuo Lung |- |}

See also

List of Cantonese-related topics

References

Further reading

Hong Kong Action Cinema by Bey Logan (21 Sep 1995)

Martial Arts Illustrated (UK), 1990 September, Vol 3, Num 4

Inside Kung Fu, 1991 September, Vol 18, Num 9

Inside Kung Fu, 1992 June, Vol 19, Num 6

Martial Arts Illustrated (UK), 1992 November, Vol 5, Num 6

Inside Karate, 1993 January, Vol 14, Num 1

Masters of Kung Fu, 1993 December, Vol 1, Num 7

Inside Karate, 1994 March, Vol 15, Num 3

External links

Bolo Yeung Biography

Bolo Yeung in the upcoming action film

Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:Chinese wushu practitioners Category:Chinese martial artists Category:Chinese weightlifters Category:Hong Kong actors Category:People from Guangzhou

cs:Bolo Yeung de:Bolo Yeung es:Bolo Yeung fr:Bolo Yeung hy:Բոլո Յանգ it:Bolo Yeung he:בולו יאנג nl:Bolo Yeung ja:ヤン・スエ pl:Bolo Yeung pt:Bolo Yeung ru:Боло Йен sk:Bolo Yeung fi:Bolo Yeung sv:Bolo Yeung tr:Bolo Yeung

Coordinates	33°51′35.9″N151°12′40″N
Name	Brian May
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Brian Harold May
Born	July 19, 1947Hampton, London, England, UK
Occupation	Musician, songwriter, producer, astrophysicist, author, contributor (''The Sky at Night'')
Instrument	Guitar, vocals, piano
Genre	Rock
Years active	1965–present
Associated acts	Smile, Queen, Phenomena, G3, Queen + Paul Rodgers, Kerry Ellis
Label	Hollywood, Parlophone
Website	brianmay.com
Notable instruments	}}

Brian Harold May, CBE (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen. As a guitarist he uses his home-built guitar, "Red Special", and has composed hits such as "Tie Your Mother Down", "We Will Rock You", and "Fat Bottomed Girls".

He was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005 for "services to the music industry". May earned a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College in 2007 and is currently the Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University. May lives in Surrey.

In 2005, a Planet Rock poll saw May voted the 7th greatest guitarist of all time. He was ranked at #39 on the ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Early life

Brian May, the only child of Harold and Ruth May, was born in Hampton, London and attended Hampton Grammar School (now Hampton School). During this time he formed his first band with vocalist and bassist Tim Staffell, named Nineteen Eighty-Four after George Orwell's novel of the same name. He left Hampton Grammar School with ten GCE Ordinary Levels and three Advanced Levels in Physics, Mathematics and Applied Mathematics.

May's father Harold worked as a draughtsman at the Ministry of Aviation and had been a long-time cigarette-smoker. As a result, May dislikes smoking, even to the point where he has prohibited smoking indoors at his more recent concerts.

From 1974 to 1988, May was married to Chrissie Mullen, who is the mother of his three children: Jimmy, who was born on 15 June 1978; Louisa, who was born on 22 May 1981 and Emily Ruth, who was born on 17 February 1987. Chrissie and Brian separated in 1988.

He has stated in interviews that he suffered from depression in the late 1980s, even to the point of contemplating suicide, for reasons having to do with his troubled first marriage and his perceived failure as a husband and a dad, his father Harold's death, and Freddie Mercury's illness.

May is now married to former ''Eastenders'' actress Anita Dobson, whom he met in 1986, and who gained fame in the 1980s for providing vocals to the theme tune to the aforementioned soap, entitled "Anyone Can Fall in Love". May himself produced the song, which reached #4 in the UK Singles Chart in August 1986. According to ''The Sunday Times'' Rich List he is worth £85 million .

Career

Smile

Brian May formed the band Smile in 1968. The group included Tim Staffell as singer and bassist, and later, drummer Roger Taylor, who also went on to play for Queen. The band lasted for only two years from 1968 to 1970, as Staffel left in 1970, leaving the band with a catalogue of only nine songs. Smile would reunite for several songs on 22 December 1992. Taylor's band The Cross were headliners and he brought May and Staffell on to play "Earth" and "If I Were a Carpenter". May also performed several other songs that night.

Queen

In Queen's three-part vocal harmonies, May's was generally the lower-range backing vocal. On some of his songs he sings the lead vocal, most notably the first verse of "Who Wants to Live Forever", the bridge on "I Want It All" and "Flash's Theme", and full lead vocals on "Some Day One Day", "She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettoes)", "'39", "Good Company", "Long Away", "All Dead, All Dead", "Sleeping on the Sidewalk", "Leaving Home Ain't Easy" and "Sail Away Sweet Sister".

Throughout Queen's career May frequently wrote songs for the band and has composed many significant songs such as the worldwide hit "We Will Rock You", as well as "Tie Your Mother Down", "Who Wants to Live Forever", "Hammer to Fall", "Save Me", "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "I Want It All". Typically, either Freddie Mercury or May wrote the most songs on every Queen album.

After the famous Live Aid concert in summer 1985, Mercury rang his bandmates and proposed writing a song together. The result was "One Vision", which was basically May on music (the ''Magic Years'' documentary shows how he came up with the opening section and the basic guitar riff) and Roger Taylor on lyrics, with Freddie Mercury being more a producer and arranger than a proper co-writer, and John Deacon mostly absent.

For their 1989 release album, ''The Miracle'', the band had decided that all of the tracks would be credited to the entire band, no matter who had been the main writer. Still, interviews and musical analyses tend to help identify the input of each member on each track.

May composed "I Want It All" for that album, as well as "Scandal" (based on his personal problems with the British press). For the rest of the album he did not contribute so much creatively, although he helped in building the basis of "Party" and "Was It All Worth It" (both being predominantly Mercury's pieces) and created the guitar riff of "Chinese Torture".

Queen's subsequent album was ''Innuendo'', on which May's contributions increased, although more in arrangements than actual writing in most cases; for the title track he did some of the arrangement for the heavy solo, then he added vocal harmonies to "I'm Going Slightly Mad" and composed the solo of "These Are the Days of Our Lives", a song for which the four of them decided the keyboard parts together. He changed the tempo and key of Mercury's song "The Hitman" and took it under his wing, even singing guide vocal in the demo. May also co-wrote some of the guitar lines in "Bijou".

Two songs that May had composed for his first solo album, "Headlong" and "I Can't Live With You", eventually ended up in the Queen project. His other composition was "The Show Must Go On", a group effort in which he was the coordinator and primary composer, but in which they all had input, Deacon and Taylor with the famous chord sequence.

In recent years, he has overseen the remastering of Queen albums and various DVD and greatest hits releases. In 2004, he announced that he and drummer Roger Taylor were going on tour for the first time in 18 years as "Queen", along with Free/Bad Company vocalist Paul Rodgers. Billed as "Queen + Paul Rodgers", the band has played throughout 2005 and 2006 in South Africa, Europe, Aruba, Japan, and North America and released a new album with Paul Rodgers in 2008, entitled ''The Cosmos Rocks''. This album was supported by a major tour.

Solo work and The Brian May Band

During 1983, several members of Queen explored side projects. On 21 and 22 April in Los Angeles, May recorded his first solo work, a mini-album entitled ''Star Fleet Project'', on which he collaborated with Eddie Van Halen.

Following the death of Freddie Mercury in November 1991, May chose to deal with his grief by committing himself as fully as possible to work, first by finishing his solo album, ''Back to the Light'', and then touring worldwide to promote it. He frequently remarked in press interviews that this was the only form of self-prescribed therapy he could think of.

In late 1992, the Brian May Band was officially formed. An early version of the band was loosely formed for 19 October 1991, when May took part in the ''Guitar Legends'' guitar festival in Seville, Spain. The line-up for his performance was May (Lead Vocals & Lead Guitar), Cozy Powell (Drums & Percussion), Mike Moran (Keyboards), Rick Wakeman (Keyboards), Maggie Ryder (Backing vocals), Miriam Stockley (Backing vocals) and Chris Thompson (Backing vocals).

The original line-up was Brian May (Lead Vocals and Lead Guitar), Cozy Powell (Drums and Percussion), Mike Caswell (Guitar), Neil Murray (Bass), Maggie Ryder (Backing vocals), Miriam Stockley (Backing vocals) and Chris Thompson (Backing vocals). This version of the band lasted only during the South American support tour (supporting The B-52's and Joe Cocker) on only five dates. In Spain, a Catalan band called Sweet Sister supported the tour.

Afterwards, May made significant changes, feeling the group never quite gelled. Most significantly, May brought guitarist Jamie Moses on board to replace Mike Caswell. May considered Moses a perfect fit to the band. The other change made was in the backing vocal department. Ryder, Stockley and Thompson were replaced with Catherine Porter and Shelley Preston. On 23 February 1993, this new line-up of The Brian May Band began its world tour in the US, both supporting Guns N' Roses and headlining a few dates. The tour would take them through North America, Europe (support act: Valentine) and Japan.

After the tour ended on 18 December 1993, May returned to the studio with fellow surviving Queen band members Roger Taylor and John Deacon to work on tracks that became ''Made in Heaven'', the final Queen studio album. The band took Mercury's solo album demos and last recordings, which he managed to perform in the studio after the album ''Innuendo'' was finished, and completed them with their additions both musically and vocally. Work on the album after Mercury's death originally began in 1992 by Deacon and May, but was left until a later date due to other commitments.

In 1995, May began working towards a new solo album of covers tentatively named ''Heroes'', in addition to working on various film and television projects and other collaborations. May subsequently changed the approach of his second album from covers to focus on those collaborations and on new material. The songs recorded for that album, ''Another World'', would feature mainly Spike Edney, Cozy Powell, Neil Murray and Jamie Moses, who had become his core support/collaborative team.

On 5 April 1998, Cozy Powell was killed in a car accident on the M4 motorway near Bristol, England. This caused a huge, unexpected disruption to the upcoming tour for The Brian May Band, with the need for a new drummer on short notice. Steve Ferrone was brought on to help May finish recording drums for the title track "Another World" and to join the band for the early stage promotional tour of five dates in Europe before the world tour.

The line up was then May (Lead Vocals & Lead Guitar), Edney (Keyboards), Murray (Bass), Moses (Guitar), Ferrone (Drums & Percussion), Susie Webb (Backing vocals) and Zoe Nicholas (Backing vocals). Following the early promo tour, Eric Singer replaced Steve Ferrone for the full 1998 world tour.

Later solo work

From his last solo release in 1998 May has been performing as a solo artist, as part of an ensemble, and infrequently as Queen with Roger Taylor. On 22 October 2000, Brian May made a guest appearance at the Motörhead 25th Anniversary show at Brixton Academy along with Eddie Clarke (former Motörhead guitarist) for the encore song "Overkill". In the Queen's birthday honours list of 2005, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire "for services to the music industry". May is a friend of singer and musician Phil Collins and was a special guest at the Genesis reunion concert at Twickenham Stadium in 2007. On 17 November 2007, Brian May was appointed Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University, taking over from Cherie Blair, and installed in 2008. May worked extensively with stage actress and singer Kerry Ellis after he cast her in the musical ''We Will Rock You''. He produced and arranged her debut studio album ''Anthems'' (2010), a follow-up to her extended play ''Wicked in Rock'' (2008), as well as appeared with Ellis at many public performances – playing guitar alongside her. He also contributed a guitar solo to Meat Loaf's ''Hang Cool, Teddy Bear'' album in exchange for the use of drummer John Miceli. Along with Elena Vidal, Brian May released a historical book in 2009 entitled ''A Village Lost and Found: Scenes in Our Village''. The book is an annotated collection of stereoscopic photographs taken by the Victorian era photographer T. R. Williams and it is sold with a focussing stereoscope. May became an enthusiast of stereoscope photographs as a child, and first encountered the work of Williams during the late 1960s. In 2003 May announced a search in order to identify the actual location of the ''Scenes in Our Village'' images. In 2004 May reported that he had identified the location as the village of Hinton Waldrist in Oxfordshire.

In November 2009, May appeared on the popular reality TV show ''The X Factor'' with band mate Roger Taylor as Queen mentoring the contestants, then later performing "Bohemian Rhapsody". In April 2010, May founded the "Save Me" 2010 project to work against any proposed repeal of the fox-hunting ban. In February 2011 it was announced that May will tour with Kerry Ellis, playing 12 dates across the UK in May 2011. On 18 April 2011 Lady Gaga confirmed that May would play the guitar on her track "Yoü and I" from her latest album Born This Way, released on 23 May 2011. On 26 August, May performed "We Will Rock You" and "Welcome To The Black Parade" with American rock band My Chemical Romance at the Reading Festival.

Queen + Paul Rodgers

At the end of 2004, May and Taylor announced that they would reunite and return to touring in 2005, with Paul Rodgers (founder and former lead singer of Free and Bad Company). Brian May's website also stated that Rodgers would be "featured with" Queen as Queen + Paul Rodgers, not replacing the late Freddie Mercury. The retired John Deacon would not be participating.

Between 2005 and 2006 Queen and Paul Rodgers embarked on a world tour, the first leg being Europe and the second, Japan and the US in 2006. On 25 May 2006, Queen received the inaugural VH1 Rock Honors at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, and May and Taylor were joined on stage with the Foo Fighters to perform a selection of Queen songs. On 15 August 2006, May confirmed through his website and fan club that Queen + Paul Rodgers would begin producing their first studio album beginning in October, to be recorded at a "secret location". The album, titled ''The Cosmos Rocks'', was released in Europe on 12 September 2008 and in the United States on 28 October 2008. Following the album the band again embarked on a tour through Europe and parts of the US, opening on Kharkov's freedom square in front of 350,000 Ukrainian fans. The show in Ukraine was later released on DVD.

Queen and Paul Rodgers officially split up on 12 May 2009. Rodgers does not rule out the possibility of working together again.

Highlights

Brian May began composing in 1968/1969, and through the years he has collaborated with other songwriters, including Frank Musker, with whom he wrote "Too Much Love Will Kill You", and with Elizabeth Lamers, whose music won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically & Lyrically in 1996. A meticulous arranger, he focuses on multi-part harmonies, often more contrapuntal than parallel—a rarity for rock guitar. Examples are found in Queen's albums ''A Night at the Opera'' and ''A Day at the Races'', where he arranged a jazz band for guitar mini-orchestra ("Good Company"), a vocal canon ("The Prophet's Song") and guitar and vocal counterpoints ("Teo Torriatte").

May explored a wide variety of styles in guitar, including sweep picking ("Was It All Worth It", "Chinese Torture"), tremolo ("Brighton Rock", "Stone Cold Crazy", "Death on Two Legs", "Sweet Lady", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Get Down Make Love", "Dragon Attack"), tapping ("Bijou", "It's Late", "Resurrection", "Cyborg", "Rain Must Fall", "Business", "China Belle", "I Was Born To Love You"), slide guitar ("Drowse", "Tie Your Mother Down", "Radio Ga Ga"), Hendrix sounding licks ("Liar", "Brighton Rock"), tape-delay ("Brighton Rock", "White Man") and melodic parts ("Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "These Are the Days of Our Lives"). Some of his solos and orchestral parts were composed by Freddie Mercury, who then asked May to bring them to life ("Bicycle Race", "Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon", "Killer Queen", "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy"). May also performed notable acoustic works, including the acoustic guitar live version of "Love of My Life" from 1975's ''A Night at the Opera'', the finger-picked solo of "White Queen" and the skiffle-influenced "'39".

In January 2007, the readers of ''Guitar World'' voted May's guitar solos "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Brighton Rock" into the top 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of all time ("Bohemian Rhapsody" was voted #20 and "Brighton Rock" was voted #41).

Aided by the uniqueness of his guitar—the Red Special—May was often able to create strange and unusual sound effects. For example, he was able to imitate an orchestra in the song "Procession"; in "Get Down, Make Love" he was able to create sound effects with his guitar that were so unusual that many thought a synthesiser was being used; in "Good Company" he used his guitar to mimic a trombone, a piccolo and several other instruments for the song's Dixieland jazz band feel. Queen used a "No synthesizers were used on this album" sleeve note on their early albums to make this clear to the listeners.

Other instruments

The first instrument Brian May learned to play was the banjolele, which he then played on Queen's song "Bring Back That Leroy Brown" (live and in the studio). For "Good Company", he used a regular baritone ukelele which he had bought in Hawaii on a holiday. Occasionally, May would also record on other string instruments such as harp (one chord per take, then copied and pasted by the engineer to make it sound like a continuous performance) and bass (on some demos and many songs in his solo career, and the Queen + Paul Rodgers album).

As a child, he was also trained on classical piano. Although Freddie Mercury was the band's main pianist, Brian would occasionally step in (once per album, on average). From 1979 onwards, he also played synthesisers, organ ("Wedding March") and programmed drum-machines for both Queen and outside projects (such as producing other artists and his own solo records).

May is also an accomplished singer. From Queen's ''Queen II'' to ''The Game'', May contributed lead vocals to at least one song per album.

May co-composed a mini-opera with Lee Holdridge, ''Il Colosso'', for Steve Barron's 1996 film, ''The Adventures of Pinocchio''. May performed the opera with Jerry Hadley, Sissel Kyrkjebo, and Just William. On-screen, it was performed entirely by puppets.

Musician

Brian May has been referred to as a virtuoso guitarist by many publications and musicians. Former Van Halen vocalist Sammy Hagar stated, "I thought Queen were really innovative and made some great sounding records.. I like the rockin' stuff. I think Brian May has one of the great guitar tones on the planet, and I really, really love his guitar work." May has used a range of guitars, most often the "Red Special", which he designed when he was only 16 years old. It was built with wood from an 18th century fireplace. His comments on this instrument, from ''Queen In Their Own Words'' (ed. Mick St. Michael, Omnibus Press, 1992, p. 62) are:

In addition to using his home-made guitar he prefers to use coins (especially a sixpence from the farewell proof set of 1970), instead of a more traditional plastic plectrum, on the basis that their rigidity gives him more control in playing. He is known to carry coins in his pockets specifically for this purpose.

May's early heroes were Cliff Richard and The Shadows, who he says were "the most metallic thing out at the time." Many years later he gained his opportunity to play on separate occasions with both Cliff Richard and Shadows lead guitarist Hank Marvin. He has collaborated with Cliff Richard on a re-recording of the Cliff Richard and The Shadows (then known as The Drifters) 1958 hit "Move It" on the Cliff Richard duets album ''Two's Company'' which was released on 6 November 2006. On Queen For An Hour 1989 Interview on BBC Radio 1 May listed Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton as his guitar heroes. In a 1991 interview for ''Guitar World magazine'', May referred to The Who as "my inspiration", and on seeing Led Zeppelin stated, "We used to look at those guys and think, "That's the way it should be done."

During the time in which Brian May and his father were building the Red Special, May also produced plans to build a second guitar. However, so successful was the Red Special, that May simply had no need to build another guitar. These plans were eventually given to guitar luthier Andrew Guyton in around 2004/05, some slight modifications were made and the guitar was built. It was named "The Spade", as the shape of the body resembled the form shown on playing cards. However the guitar also came to be known as "The Guitar That Time Forgot". As yet, this guitar has not been used in any recordings and remains in May's possession.

Equipment

Most of May's electric guitar work live and in the studio was done on the Red Special, which he built with his father during his teenage years. From 1975 onwards, he's also had some replicas made, some of which were also used for live and recording purposes, others were mainly spares. The most famous replicas were made by John Birch (in 1975—May actually smashed it during a concert in the States in 1982), Greco BM90 (featured in the promo video of "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" in 1977), Guild (back-up from 1984 to 1993) and Fryers (1997–1998, used both live and in the studio). On stage, Brian used to carry at least one back-up guitar (in case he broke a string) and occasionally would use others for certain songs or parts. Currently, May has his own company which makes guitars whose design is modelled after the original Red Special guitar.

July 1973 – May 1974: Fender Stratocaster Pre-CBS

October 1974 – May 1975: Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, and the Stratocaster from the previous tour.

November 1975 – May 1976: Same two guitars as before, plus a natural finish John Birch replica of the Red Special.

September 1976: Same three as before, plus a Martin D-18 acoustic for "'39".

January 1977 – August 1979: Just the Birch replica plus an Ovation Pacemaker 12-string acoustic on some numbers ("'39", "Love of My Life", "Dreamer's Ball").

November 1979 – June 1982: Birch replica (back-up), Fender Telecaster ("Crazy Little Thing Called Love" 2nd verse, middle-eight and solo), Ovation (acoustic numbers).

July – November 1982: Added a Gibson Flying V as second back-up. On 9 August 1982 Brian smashed the Birch guitar, so the Flying V became the only spare.

August to October 1984: The Flying V became a second back-up again as his main spare was the Guild replica. He also used Roger Taylor's Gibson Chet-Atkins Classical Electric.

July 1985 – August 1986: Gibson Flying V no longer used. The rest remained the same.

Some of the non-RS electric guitars he used in the studio included:

Burns Double Six on "Long Away" (1976) and "Under Pressure" (1981).

Fender Broadcaster on "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (1979). It was used for the video (but not the recordings) of "Back Chat" (1982).

Gibson Firebird on "Hammer to Fall" and "Tear It Up" (album versions only, not on stage).

Ibanez JS on "Nothing But Blue" (1991).

Parker Fly on "Mother Love" (1993–1995).

For acoustic, he favoured Ovation, Martin, Tōkai Hummingbird, Godin and Guild. On a couple of videos he also used some different electric guitars: a Stratocaster copy on "Play the Game" (1980) and a Washburn RR2V on "Princes of the Universe" (1986).

In 1984 Guild released the first official Red Special replica for mass production, and made some prototypes specifically for May. However the solid body construction (the original RS has hollow cavities in the body) and the pick-ups (DiMarzio) that were not an exact replica of the Burns TriSonic did not make May happy, so the production stopped after just 300 guitars. In 1993 Guild made a second replica of the RS, made in just 1000 copies, of which May has some and used as a backup. At the moment, he uses the two guitars made by Greg Fryer—the luthier who restored the Old Lady in 1998—as backup. They are almost identical to the original, except for the Fryer logo on the headstock (May's original one has a sixpence).

In the studio, May used Yamaha DX7 synths for the opening sequence of "One Vision" and the backgrounds of "Who Wants to Live Forever" (also on stage), "Scandal" and "The Show Must Go On". He mostly used Freddie Mercury's 1972 Steinway piano and reportedly now owns the instrument in question.

May was keen on using some toys as instruments as well. He used a Yamaha plastic piano in "Teo Torriatte", a "genuine George Formby Ukulele-Banjo" in "Bring Back That Leroy Brown" and in "Good Company", and a toy mini koto in "The Prophet's Song".

May has used Vox AC30 amplifiers almost exclusively since a meeting with his long time hero Rory Gallagher at a gig in London during the late '60s/early '70s. His choice is the model AC30TBX, the top-boost version with Blue Alnico speakers, and he runs the amp at full volume on the Normal channel. He also customises his amps by removing the circuitry for the Brilliant and Vib-trem channels (leaving only the circuitry for the Normal), and this alters the tone slightly, with a gain addition of 6–7 dB. He always used a treble booster built by Queen's former bass guitarist (John Deacon) which, along with the AC30, went a long way in helping to create many of his signature guitar tones. He used the Dallas Rangemaster for the first Queen albums, up to A Day at the Races. Effects guru Pete Cornish built for him the TB-83 (32 dB of gain) that was used for all the remaining Queen albums. He switched in 2000 to the Fryer's booster, which actually gives less boost than the TB-83.

Live, he uses banks of Vox AC30 amplifiers keeping some amps with only guitar and others with all effects such as delay, flanger and chorus. He has a rack of 14 AC30s, which are grouped as Normal, Chorus, Delay 1, Delay 2. On his pedal board, May has a custom switch unit made by Cornish and subsequently modified by Fryer that allows him to choose which amps are active. He uses a BOSS pedal from the '70s, the Chorus Ensemble CE-1, which can be heard in In The Lap of The Gods (Live at Wembley '86) or Hammer to Fall (slow version played live with P. Rodgers). Next in the chain, he uses a Foxx Foot Phaser (We Will Rock You, We Are the Champions, Keep Yourself Alive, etc.), and two delay machines to play his trademark solo in Brighton Rock.

May's lead vocals in Queen

"Keep Yourself Alive" – Vocal bridge with Taylor, rest sung by Mercury (1973)

"Some Day, One Day" (1974)

"She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettoes)" (1974)

"'39" (1975)

"Good Company" (1975)

"Long Away" (1976)

"All Dead, All Dead" (1977)

"Sleeping on the Sidewalk" (1977)

"Fat Bottomed Girls" – Chorus lead vocals (1978)

"Leaving Home Ain't Easy" (1978)

"Sail Away Sweet Sister" – Mercury sings the bridge (1980)

"Flash" – with Freddie Mercury (1980)

''Put Out the Fire" - lead on falsetto lines.

"Las Palabras de Amor" – Lead harmony vocals on chorus (1982)

"I Go Crazy" – Lead Bridge Vocals (1984)

"Who Wants to Live Forever" – Intro verse, harmony and other lines throughout (1986)

"I Want It All" – with Mercury (1989)

"Lost Opportunity" (1991)

"Mother Love" – Lead vocals on final verse (1995)

"Let Me Live" – Lead vocals on third verse (1995)

"No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)" – with Taylor (1997)

Astrophysics

May studied physics and mathematics at Imperial College London, graduating with a BSc (Hons) degree and ARCS in physics with Upper Second-Class Honours. He then proceeded to study for a PhD degree, also at the Imperial College London departments of Physics and Mathematics, and was part way through this PhD programme, studying reflected light from interplanetary dust and the velocity of dust in the plane of the Solar System. When Queen became successful he abandoned his physics doctorate but did co-author two scientific research papers: ''MgI Emission in the Night-Sky Spectrum'' (1972) and ''An Investigation of the Motion of Zodiacal Dust Particles (Part I)'' (1973), which were based on his observations at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife. He is the co-author of ''Bang! – The Complete History of the Universe'' with Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott, which was published in October 2006. In October 2007, more than 30 years after he started his research, he completed his PhD thesis in astrophysics, entitled ''A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud'', passed his ''viva voce'', and performed the required corrections. He officially graduated at the postgraduate awards ceremony held in the Royal Albert Hall, on the afternoon of Wednesday 14 May 2008.

On 17 November 2007, May was appointed Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University, taking over from Cherie Blair, and installed in 2008.

Asteroid 52665 Brianmay was named in his honour on 18 June 2008 on the suggestion of Sir Patrick Moore (probably influenced by the asteroid's provisional designation of ).

May appeared on the 700th episode of The Sky at Night hosted by Patrick Moore, along with Dr. Chris Lintott, Jon Culshaw, Prof. Brian Cox and the Astronomer Royal Martin Rees who on leaving the panel told Brian May, who was joining it, "I don't know any scientist who looks as much as like Isaac Newton as you do". May replied that "that could be my after dinner comment, thank you very much".

Activist

Brian May has formed a group to promote decent treatment for animals. Though a Conservative Party voter most of his life, he has stated that their policy on fox hunting and the culling of badgers turned him off voting for them. His group, Save Me, is a campaign group for the protection of all animals against unnecessary, cruel and degrading treatment; with a particular emphasis on preventing hunting of foxes and the culling of badgers.

The group's primary concern is to ensure that the Hunting Act 2004 and other laws protecting animals are kept in place.

In a September 2010 interview with Stephen Sackur for the BBC’s HARDtalk program, May said that he would rather be remembered for his animal rights work, than for his music or science.

Stereophotography

May has had a lifelong interest in collecting Victorian stereophotography. In 2009, with co-author Elena Vidal, he published his second book, ''A Village Lost and Found,'' on the work of English stereophotography innovator TR Williams.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

! Year	! Title	! UK	! US
1983	''Star Fleet Project''	35	125
1992	''Back to the Light''	6	159
1998		23	–
2000		–	–

Live albums

! Year	! Title	! UK	! US
1993		20	–

Bibliography

References

External links

Brian May's official homepage

Brian May World

Brian Interviews

Queenpedia – Brian May Complete Song List

Scientific paper with Brian May as co-author

Brian May's astronomy book

Five interview clips with Brian May

Brian May's Ph.D thesis

Brian May interview with Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air, 3 August 2010

''Brian May: the interview'', by Rachel Cooke, The Observer, Sunday 5 September 2010

Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English male singers Category:English rock guitarists Category:English heavy metal guitarists Category:English tenors Category:English pianists Category:English multi-instrumentalists Category:Old Hamptonians Category:Musicians from London Category:Queen (band) members Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Alumni of Imperial College London Category:People associated with Imperial College London Category:Hollywood Records artists Category:People from Hampton, London Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:English vegetarians Category:English astronomers Category:English agnostics Category:People associated with Liverpool John Moores University Category:Lead guitarists Category:Backing vocalists

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Coordinates	33°51′35.9″N151°12′40″N
name	Kerry Ellis
alt	Kerry Ellis performing on Anthems: The Tour (2011)
background	solo_singer
birth name	Kerry Jane Ellis
birth date	May 06, 1979
birth place	Haughley, Suffolk, England
genre	Acoustic, hard rock, musical theatre, orchestral, rock
occupation	Stage actress, singer
instrument	Vocals
years active	1998–present
label	Decca, Universal
associated acts	Brian May
website	}}

Kerry Jane Ellis (born 6 May 1979) is an English stage actress and singer who is best known for her work in musical theatre and subsequent crossover into music. Born and raised in the Suffolk village of Haughley, Ellis began singing at an early age and developed a great interest in musicals.

After graduating from performing arts college Laine Theatre Arts, she made her West End debut in the 2001 revival of ''My Fair Lady'' as Martine McCutcheon's understudy in the role of Eliza Doolittle. Later originating the role of Meat in ''We Will Rock You'' and playing lead roles in ''Les Misérables'', ''Wicked'', ''Chess'' and ''Oliver!'', Ellis has since become a well-recognised stage actress in the West End and on Broadway. In addition to receiving several awards and nominations for her performances, she has been hailed the new First Lady of the West End.

Expanding her repertoire as a solo artist in collaboration with rock musician and Queen guitarist Brian May, Ellis has released an extended play ''Wicked in Rock'' (2008) which was followed by her debut studio album ''Anthems'' (2010). Peaking at number 15 on the UK Albums Chart, her debut album was supported by her first headlining concert tour Anthems: The Tour. In addition to singing in concerts across the world, Ellis appears as a featured artist on several albums and is featured on three cast albums.

Life and career

Early life and training

Kerry Jane Ellis was born on 6 May 1979 in Haughley, a small village near Stowmarket, Suffolk to her mother Sandra Ellis and father Terry John Ellis. Describing herself as a hyperactive young girl, she attended dance classes and enjoyed performing at local shows and pantomimes as well as swimming and horse-riding. Aged 9, her first role on the stage was in an amateur production of ''The Wizard of Oz'' at the Wolsey Theatre where she played a Munchkin. She cites her early influences as Liza Minnelli and Barbra Streisand; their music she would sing much to the disturbance of her older brother, Andrew. However, she stated that she had not discovered her vocal ability until she was at college and had started working. While attending Stowmarket High School, she completed work experience with Starmakers, a company of holiday entertainers at Potters Leisure Resort in Hopton-on-Sea, Norfolk. Shortly after, she spent the summers of 1995 and 1997 with the Starmakers to sing in cabaret-style performances and appear in many of their shows. Having left school at 16, Ellis turned to Laine Theatre Arts, an independent performing arts college, where she would stay for the next three years receiving formal stage training.

Career beginnings and ''My Fair Lady''

After graduating at Laine Theatre Arts in 1998, she was credited as the first understudy for Marti Webb in a UK concert tour of ''The Magic of the Musicals'', where she was required on several occasions in Webb's absence. However, Ellis spent a nine month hiatus from the tour to work on the cruise ship MS ''Voyager of the Seas'' in 1999. Deciding to gain an experience different to that she had in theatre, Ellis was employed as a lead vocalist as part of the liner's entertainment schedule. After this engagement, her professional theatrical credits had included Mary in ''Merrily We Roll Along'' at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre and lead female roles in pantomimes ''Dick Whittington'', ''Aladdin'' and ''Cinderella'' across theatres in the UK. Additionally, she had appeared as the title role in a Gary Griffin-directed workshop production titled ''Helen of Troy'' and made her first television appearance on ''Children in Need'' in 1999, where she was involved in ''Pudsey the Musical'' while the same year, she was featured in a jingle for Capital FM.

Ellis marked her West End debut by joining the original cast of Cameron Mackintosh's London revival of ''My Fair Lady'' in late 2000. She was appointed swing and became the second understudy to Martine McCutcheon in the role of Eliza Doolittle. The musical initially played at the Lyttelton Theatre from 6 March 2001 to 20 June 2001 but later transferred to Theatre Royal, Drury Lane with shows beginning 21 July 2001. Due to McCutcheon's illness during the production's run at both theatres, Ellis played Eliza Doolittle on five occasions opposite Jonathan Pryce and Dennis Waterman. Upon reflection, she stated that it was "fantastic" to gain experience from the cast and creative team of ''My Fair Lady''. Ellis departed from the company in early 2002.

''We Will Rock You'', ''Miss Saigon'' and ''Les Misérables''

– Brian May}} After attending a performance of ''My Fair Lady'' where Ellis played Doolittle, Brian May (who attended with Ben Elton) encouraged her to audition for the debut of their jukebox musical ''We Will Rock You''. After one audition, she was cast in the role of Meat, her only original role to date. She began performances on 14 May 2002, and was also involved in television appearances with the cast on ''Parkinson'', ''Party in the Park'' and the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations. She stated that working with May, Elton and Roger Taylor was "a great step forward" in her professional career; calling her journey "breath-taking." Ellis, who ended her run as Meat on 17 April 2004, is also featured on the original London cast recording of ''We Will Rock You''. While in the musical, Ellis started to create the foundations of her musical career after Brian May became interested in working with her musically. Her time in ''We Will Rock You'' allowed the pair to collaborate and in 2002 the pair recorded an orchestral version of the song "No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)". This version was digitally released three years later but failed to chart on the UK Singles Chart.

After leaving ''We Will Rock You'', Ellis played Eva Cassidy in a 2004 workshop production of ''Way Beyond Blue'', a Trevor Nunn-directed and Imogen Stubbs-written piece in addition to being cast as Ellen in a UK tour of ''Miss Saigon'' – again pairing up with producer Cameron Mackintosh. She went into rehearsals for ''Miss Saigon'' at Sadler's Wells Theatre in Islington before performances commenced on 14 June 2004 at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth. The company toured theatres across the UK, however, Ellis had to prematurely disembark from the production on 9 June 2005, shortly prior to the end of the tour's run, due to the rehearsal requirement in her next musical role. While still in the touring production of ''Miss Saigon'', Ellis rehearsed for four weeks in order to play her next lead role in London's West End – Fantine in ''Les Misérables''. She began performing the role of Fantine on 27 June 2005 at the Queen's Theatre alongside John Owen-Jones, Shonagh Daly, Shaun Escoffery and Hayden Tee. Playing Fantine for almost a year, Ellis ended her time with the company on 24 June 2006.

''Wicked'', ''Chess'', Broadway and first extended play

In mid 2006, Ellis joined the original London cast of the musical ''Wicked'' to play Elphaba. Serving as a temporary standby to Idina Menzel – who originated the lead role on Broadway – from the show's opening in London on 7 September 2006 to 30 December 2006, Ellis played Elphaba on nine occasions at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in Menzel's absence. After Menzel's pre-planned departure, Ellis took over the full-time position in the role three months after the show had opened on 1 January 2007. Ellis, who played the misunderstood Wicked Witch of the West, played alongside Dianne Pilkington as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. The pair remain the show's longest serving leads. For the role of Elphaba, Ellis won the award for Best Takeover in a Role at the 2008 Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Awards and was nominated for the Favourite Theatre Actress award at the 2007 Lastminute.com People's Choice Theatre Awards; losing to Connie Fisher for her role as Maria von Trapp in ''The Sound of Music''. Her time in ''Wicked'' enabled her to make numerous appearances at concerts where she sang songs from the musical. Her debut at various London events came in 2007 including West End Live in Leicester Square; Walk for Life in Hyde Park; Kids Week in Covent Garden; and the annual Gay Pride Festival in Trafalgar Square as well as on lunchtime chat-show ''Loose Women'' where she performed, as Elphaba, the ''Wicked'' song "The Wizard and I".

While still performing the role of Elphaba, Ellis appeared alongside Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal and Josh Groban, Clarke Peters, Marti Pellow and David Bedella in a two-day limited engagement of ''Chess in Concert'' at the Royal Albert Hall on 12 and 13 May 2008. She played the role of Svetlana and upon reflection, stated that to star at the Royal Albert Hall, work with an "amazing" company and sing alongside those particular cast members "was a dream come true." Although a relative unknown and in a small part, Ellis was met with positive reviews for her performance. A critic labelled her stronger than Menzel – who attained the female lead – and argued that Ellis should have received it instead.

She continued the role of Elphaba in London until 7 June 2008 when she temporarily departed from the Apollo Victoria Theatre, to be succeeded by Alexia Khadime, and transferred to the Broadway production of ''Wicked'' at the Gershwin Theatre with performances starting on 17 June of the same year. She replaced stage actress Stephanie J. Block on Broadway; making her not only the first British actress to play the role of Elphaba on Broadway, but also the first to transfer from the West End to Broadway – mirroring original Broadway cast member Idina Menzel who transferred from Broadway to London to open the production. She played alongside Kendra Kassebaum as Glinda and Aaron Tveit as Fiyero. For her five month run in the Broadway production, she won the 2009 Broadway.com Audience Award for Favorite Female Breakthrough Performance. Ellis left the Broadway company on 9 November 2008 and was replaced by Marcie Dodd. During her time in New York, Ellis recorded "Behind these Walls", a song for Scott Alan's album ''Keys'', and also performed at Broadway on Broadway, an annual musical theatre event, in Times Square. She refers to the transfer from West End to Broadway theatre as "a real honour [and] a joy"; adding that performing on Broadway was "a dream come true." Ellis spent a further five months in the role of Elphaba where ultimately, she would end her time with the musical. She played her last performance as Elphaba on 9 May 2009 and was once again succeeded by Alexia Khadime two days later. Upon departure, Ellis had been billed as lead for a total of 116 weeks (omitting absence) in both the London and Broadway companies and therefore currently assumes the position of the longest-serving British actress in the role of Elphaba. Her portrayal of Elphaba in ''Wicked'' has garnered her not only two awards, but critical acclaim and worldwide praise. Ellis also represented ''Wicked'' at the annual Royal Variety Performance in 2008 where she performed her rock version of the ''Wicked'' song "Defying Gravity" alongside Brian May. She cited the role of Elphaba as the "most challenging [that she had] ever undertaken" stating that it was "a massive journey" to go on at every performance and admits that ''Wicked'' "changed [her] life" in terms of boosting her recognition within the entertainment industry. She performed on four dates in the latter part of June 2009 with the inclusion of Brian May in each night's encore. Upon the subject of the concerts, she commented, "It's finally something that I can do as me, as opposed to being in a show as a character. It's lovely to be able to sing songs that I really want to sing or which I wouldn't normally get to sing." The showcase paid tribute to some of Ellis' favourite British composers and lyricists – including Take That, Duffy, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Paul McCartney.

Lending her vocal ability on tours elsewhere, she performed on five occasions in 2009 at the Symphonic Queen Spectacular – a concert tour that commemorated the music of Queen – in Bournemouth, Weybridge, Romsey, Birmingham and Nottingham with fellow stage performers Mazz Murray, Mig Ayesa and Ricardo Afonso. Furthermore, she performed with John Barrowman at the 2009 Henley Festival (which was later broadcast on BBC Radio 2's ''Friday Night is Music Night''); at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and at Thank You for the Music – a special concert in Hyde Park that celebrated the music of Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (of ABBA) – in September 2009. She also joined Peter Johansson in his Swedish concert tour, Champions of Rock, which went to Gothenburg, Helsingborg, Vänersborg, Stockholm, Örebro, Uppsala and Norrköping in October 2009. Additionally, she performed at the Royal Albert Hall in November of that year – alongside many other musicians – at Women of Rock, a performance dedicated to breast cancer research. Ellis also appeared as a featured artist on a version of "Somebody to Love" on Only Men Aloud!'s second studio album ''Band of Brothers'', which was released in October 2009. She later performed this song live with the choir at one of their concerts in December of that year at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

''Oliver!'', ''Anthems'' and tour

In December 2009, it was announced that Ellis would replace Jodie Prenger in the role of Nancy in Cameron Mackintosh's London revival of ''Oliver!'' at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane – Ellis' return to the stage for the first time in almost a year. Opening on 29 March 2010 to positive reviews and starring alongside both Griff Rhys Jones and Russ Abbot as Fagin and Steven Hartley as Bill Sikes, she was the second actress to play Nancy in the London revival, but also the final, and continued the role until the end of the show's run on 8 January 2011. Ellis was nominated for the 2010 BroadwayWorld.com UK Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical but lost to Sheridan Smith for her role as Elle Woods in ''Legally Blonde'' and was also nominated for the 2011 Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best Takeover in a Role; losing to Rachel Tucker who coincidentally won for her role as Elphaba in ''Wicked'' (the same role that Ellis won the award for in 2008).

Appearing on ''Over The Rainbow'', a televised BBC talent show competition, that searched for a Dorothy Gale for the 2011 musical adaptation of ''The Wizard of Oz'', Ellis served as a mentor towards potential candidates in late March 2010. The previous year, Ellis had appeared as a mentor in another of BBC's talent shows ''I'd Do Anything'' where she mentored potential Nancys (including Jodie Prenger) – a role she would eventually take – in the fore-running to the opening of the 2009 London revival of the musical ''Oliver!''. Performing at the Royal Albert Hall once again in May 2010, she lent her vocal ability to a performance titled The Night of 1000 Voices, dedicated to the eightieth birthday of American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim. In July, she performed "Somebody to Love" with Only Men Aloud! at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff at an event called A Weekend with the Stars while October saw an appearance at the Hackney Empire where she sang the ''Oliver!'' song "As Long as He Needs Me" at an event celebrating the eightieth anniversary of the birth of composer Lionel Bart. The last two performances were later broadcast in December on British television channel S4C and on BBC Radio 2 respectively.

– Kerry Ellis}} Ellis' debut studio album ''Anthems'' was released in mid September 2010. The album, a follow-up to her extended play ''Wicked in Rock'' (2008), peaked at number 15 on the UK Albums Chart. Fabricated within the space of nine months and produced by Brian May, Ellis and he recorded the album at Abbey Road Studios with a 70-piece orchestra. She described the album as one that "tap[s] into all the different areas that [she has] been part of" in her career between the years 2000 and 2010 – an album that includes both original songs, songs from musicals and concerts she has been in as well as new arrangements of personal favourites. Whilst promoting the album, Ellis appeared on many television shows including ''Tonight's the Night''; ''The Michael Ball Show''; ''This Morning'' and ''The Alan Titchmarsh Show'', as well as performing live at the BBC Radio Theatre and later, London nightclub, G-A-Y. On all occasions she performed songs from the album with Brian May; with the exception of the latter, where May was not present. The weekend prior to the album's release, Ellis was accompanied by May on guitar at BBC's Proms in the Park where she performed songs from ''Anthems'' as well as a medley of Queen songs. Joined by May once again, Ellis has most recently performed at The Royal British Legion's ''Festival of Remembrance'' at the Royal Albert Hall in the presence of the British Royal Family – including Queen Elizabeth II. In support her debut studio album, Ellis embarked on her first headlining concert tour of Great Britain, titled Anthems: The Tour, which saw Ellis accompanied by Brian May and the Anthems Ensemble at venues in England, Wales and Scotland from May to July 2011. The tour commenced at the Royal Albert Hall on 1 May 2011 for two special charity performances (benefiting Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research), titled Anthems: The Concert, where Ellis was supported by the City of London Philharmonic, The West End Chorus, American performer Adam Pascal and electronic string quartet Escala. The tour finished at RAF Cranwell where the pair headlined at a special concert titled Anthems in the Park.

As well as recording her own material, Ellis has lent her voice to a version of the song "Wind Beneath My Wings" that features the Central Band of the Royal Air Force on their album ''Reach for the Skies'' and appears on a version of the song "Come What May" with Alfie Boe on his album ''Bring Him Home''. Among other participants from the London theatre community, Ellis also lent her voice to "inspirational" videos that were released upon to video-sharing website YouTube for the "It Gets Better" campaign – a project created by columnist Dan Savage in response to school bullying and a rash of suicides among young LGBT people aiming to "provide hope to youth struggling with their identity."

Ellis performed at the 2011 Laurence Olivier Awards in March, duetting with Barry Manilow, and was a member of the judging panel at the 2011 Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year competition,

Credits

+ Theatre credits
Title	Duration	Role(s)	Venue(s)	Awards and nominations
''My Fair Lady''	2001–02	SwingEliza Doolittle (understudy)
! scope="row"	2002–04	Meat	Dominion Theatre, London
''Miss Saigon''	2004–05	Ellen	Various across the United Kingdom
! scope="row"	2005–06	Fantine	Queen's Theatre, London
! scope="row"	2006–09	Elphaba (Credited as standby in 2006)	Apollo Victoria Theatre, London (from 2006 to June 2008; from December 2008 to May 2009)Gershwin Theatre, New York (from June to November 2008)		Theatregoers' Choice Award>Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best Takeover in a Role	*Won: 2009 Broadway.com Audience Award for Favorite Female Breakthrough Performance	*Nominated: 2007 Lastminute.com People's Choice Theatre Award for Favourite Theatre Actress
! scope="row"	2008	Svetlana	Royal Albert Hall, London
''Oliver!''	2010–11		Theatre Royal, Drury Lane		*Nominated: 2010 BroadwayWorld.com UK Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical	*Nominated: 2011 Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best Takeover in a Role

Personal life

Ellis resides in Hitchin, Hertfordshire with fiancé James Townsend and two pet dogs Jack and Ocho.

Discography

''Anthems'' (2010)

Tours

Anthems: The Tour (2011)

References

External links

Kerry Ellis' CV on Spotlight

Category:1979 births Category:Decca Records artists Category:English female singers Category:English-language singers Category:English musical theatre actors Category:English sopranos Category:English stage actors Category:Living people Category:British musical theatre actors

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