Colored pencils

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

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

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

Physics[link]

Continuous optical spectrum rendered into the sRGB color space.

Electromagnetic radiation is characterized by its wavelength (or frequency) and its intensity. When the wavelength is within the visible spectrum (the range of wavelengths humans can perceive, approximately from 390 nm to 750 nm), it is known as "visible light".

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

Spectral colors[link]

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

The color table should not be interpreted as a definitive list – the pure spectral colors form a continuous spectrum, and how it is divided into distinct colors linguistically is a matter of culture and historical contingency (although people everywhere have been shown to perceive colors in the same way^[2]). A common list identifies six main bands: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Newton's conception included a seventh color, indigo, between blue and violet. Optical scientists Hardy and Perrin list indigo as between 446 and 464 nm wavelength.^[3]

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

For discussion of non-spectral colors, see below.

Color of objects[link]

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

The upper disk and the lower disk have exactly the same objective color, and are in identical gray surroundings; based on context differences, humans perceive the squares as having different reflectances, and may interpret the colors as different color categories; see checker shadow illusion.

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

• Light arriving at an opaque surface is either reflected "specularly" (that is, in the manner of a mirror), scattered (that is, reflected with diffuse scattering), or absorbed – or some combination of these.
• Opaque objects that do not reflect specularly (which tend to have rough surfaces) have their color determined by which wavelengths of light they scatter more and which they scatter less (with the light that is not scattered being absorbed). If objects scatter all wavelengths, they appear white. If they absorb all wavelengths, they appear black.
• Opaque objects that specularly reflect light of different wavelengths with different efficiencies look like mirrors tinted with colors determined by those differences. An object that reflects some fraction of impinging light and absorbs the rest may look black but also be faintly reflective; examples are black objects coated with layers of enamel or lacquer.
• Objects that transmit light are either translucent (scattering the transmitted light) or transparent (not scattering the transmitted light). If they also absorb (or reflect) light of various wavelengths differentially, they appear tinted with a color determined by the nature of that absorption (or that reflectance).
• Objects may emit light that they generate themselves, rather than merely reflecting or transmitting light. They may do so because of their elevated temperature (they are then said to be incandescent), as a result of certain chemical reactions (a phenomenon called chemoluminescence), or for other reasons (see the articles Phosphorescence and List of light sources).
• Objects may absorb light and then as a consequence emit light that has different properties. They are then called fluorescent (if light is emitted only while light is absorbed) or phosphorescent (if light is emitted even after light ceases to be absorbed; this term is also sometimes loosely applied to light emitted because of chemical reactions).

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

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

Perception[link]

Normalized typical human cone cell responses (S, M, and L types) to monochromatic spectral stimuli

Development of theories of color vision[link]

Although Aristotle and other ancient scientists had already written on the nature of light and color vision, it was not until Newton that light was identified as the source of the color sensation. In 1810, Goethe published his comprehensive Theory of Colors in which he described the physiological effects of color.

In 1801 Thomas Young proposed his trichromatic theory, based on the observation that any color could be matched with a combination of three lights. This theory was later refined by James Clerk Maxwell and Hermann von Helmholtz. As Helmholtz puts it, "the principles of Newton's law of mixture were experimentally confirmed by Maxwell in 1856. Young's theory of color sensations, like so much else that this marvellous investigator achieved in advance of his time, remained unnoticed until Maxwell directed attention to it."^[4]

At the same time as Helmholtz, Ewald Hering developed the opponent process theory of color, noting that color blindness and afterimages typically come in opponent pairs (red-green, blue-orange, yellow-purple, and black-white). Ultimately these two theories were synthesized in 1957 by Hurvich and Jameson, who showed that retinal processing corresponds to the trichromatic theory, while processing at the level of the lateral geniculate nucleus corresponds to the opponent theory.^[5]

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

Color in the eye[link]

This image (when viewed in full size, 1000 pixels wide) contains 1 million pixels, each of a different color. The human eye can distinguish about 10 million different colors.^[6]

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

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

The response curve as a function of wavelength for each type of cone is illustrated above. Because the curves overlap, some tristimulus values do not occur for any incoming light combination. For example, it is not possible to stimulate only the mid-wavelength (so-called "green") cones; the other cones will inevitably be stimulated to some degree at the same time. The set of all possible tristimulus values determines the human color space. It has been estimated that humans can distinguish roughly 10 million different colors.^[6]

The other type of light-sensitive cell in the eye, the rod, has a different response curve. In normal situations, when light is bright enough to strongly stimulate the cones, rods play virtually no role in vision at all.^[7] On the other hand, in dim light, the cones are understimulated leaving only the signal from the rods, resulting in a colorless response. (Furthermore, the rods are barely sensitive to light in the "red" range.) In certain conditions of intermediate illumination, the rod response and a weak cone response can together result in color discriminations not accounted for by cone responses alone. These effects, combined, are summarized also in the Kruithof curve, that describes the change of color perception and pleasingness of light as function of temperature and intensity.

Color in the brain[link]

The visual dorsal stream (green) and ventral stream (purple) are shown. The ventral stream is responsible for color perception.

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

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

Nonstandard color perception[link]

Color deficiency[link]

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

Tetrachromacy[link]

While most humans are trichromatic (having three types of color receptors), many animals, known as tetrachromats, have four types. These include some species of spiders, most marsupials, birds, reptiles, and many species of fish. Other species are sensitive to only two axes of color or do not perceive color at all; these are called dichromats and monochromats respectively. A distinction is made between retinal tetrachromacy (having four pigments in cone cells in the retina, compared to three in trichromats) and functional tetrachromacy (having the ability to make enhanced color discriminations based on that retinal difference). As many as half of all women are retinal tetrachromats.^[8]:p.256 The phenomenon arises when an individual receives two slightly different copies of the gene for either the medium- or long-wavelength cones, which are carried on the x-chromosome. To have two different genes, a person must have two x-chromosomes, which is why the phenomenon only occurs in women.^[8] For some of these retinal tetrachromats, color discriminations are enhanced, making them functional tetrachromats.^[8]

Synesthesia[link]

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

Afterimages[link]

An example of an Afterimage

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

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

Color constancy[link]

There is an interesting phenomenon which occurs when an artist uses a limited color palette: the eye tends to compensate by seeing any gray or neutral color as the color which is missing from the color wheel. For example, in a limited palette consisting of red, yellow, black, and white, a mixture of yellow and black will appear as a variety of green, a mixture of red and black will appear as a variety of purple, and pure gray will appear bluish.^[9]

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

It should be noted, that both phenomena described above are readily explained and mathematical modeled with modern theories of chromatic adaptation and color appearance (e.g. CIECAM02, iCAM).^[10] There is no need to dismiss the trichromatic theory of vision, but rather it must be enhanced with an understanding of how the visual system adapts (adjusts) to changes in the viewing environment.

Color naming[link]

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

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

Associations[link]

Individual colors have a variety of cultural associations such as national colors (in general described in individual color articles and color symbolism). The field of color psychology attempts to identify the effects of color on human emotion and activity. Chromotherapy is a form of alternative medicine attributed to various Eastern traditions. Colors have different associations in different countries and cultures.^[11]

Different colors have been demonstrated to have effects on cognition. For example, researchers at the University of Linz in Austria demonstrated that the color red significantly decreases cognitive functioning in men.^[12]

Spectral colors and color reproduction[link]

The CIE 1931 color space chromaticity diagram. The outer curved boundary is the spectral (or monochromatic) locus, with wavelengths shown in nanometers. The colors depicted depend on the color space of the device on which you are viewing the image, and therefore may not be a strictly accurate representation of the color at a particular position, and especially not for monochromatic colors.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Species that have color receptors different from humans – such as bird species, which may have four receptors – can make color discriminations that humans cannot. A color reproduction system "tuned" to a human with normal color vision may give very inaccurate results for the other observers, human or non-human.

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

Pigments and reflective media[link]

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

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

Structural color[link]

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

Structural color is studied in the field of thin-film optics. A layman's term that describes particularly the most ordered or the most changeable structural colors is iridescence. Structural color is responsible for the blues and greens of the feathers of many birds (the blue jay, for example), as well as certain butterfly wings and beetle shells. Variations in the pattern's spacing often give rise to an iridescent effect, as seen in peacock feathers, soap bubbles, films of oil, and mother of pearl, because the reflected color depends upon the viewing angle. Numerous scientists have carried out research in butterfly wings and beetle shells, including Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke. Since 1942, electron micrography has been used, advancing the development of products that exploit structural color, such as "photonic" cosmetics.^[13]

Additional terms[link]

• Colorfulness, chroma, purity, or saturation: how "intense" or "concentrated" a color is. Technical definitions distinguish between colorfulness, chroma, and saturation as distinct perceptual attributes and include purity as a physical quantity. These terms, and others related to light and color are internationally agreed upon and published in the CIE Lighting Vocabulary.^[14] More readily available texts on colorimetry also define and explain these terms.^[10][15]
• Dichromatism: a phenomenon where the hue is dependent on concentration and/or thickness of the absorbing substance.
• Hue: the color's direction from white, for example in a color wheel or chromaticity diagram.
• Shade: a color made darker by adding black.
• Tint: a color made lighter by adding white.
• Value, brightness, lightness, or luminosity: how light or dark a color is.

See also[link]

Find more about Color on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Definitions and translations from Wiktionary
	Images and media from Commons

• Chromophore
• CIECAM02
• Color analysis
• Color mapping
• Complementary color
• Impossible color
• International Color Consortium
• International Commission on Illumination
• List of colors (compact version)
• Neutral color
• Pearlescent coating including Metal effect pigments
• Primary, secondary and tertiary colors
• Rainbow

References[link]

External links and sources[link]

• Bibliography Database on Color Theory, Buenos Aires University
• Color entry by Barry Maund in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Why Should Engineers and Scientists Be Worried About Color?
• Robert Ridgway's A Nomenclature of Colors (1886) and Color Standards and Color Nomenclature (1912) - text-searchable digital facsimiles at Linda Hall Library
• Albert Henry Munsell's A Color Notation, (1907) at Project Gutenberg
• AIC, International Colour Association

lez:Ранг

Ice-T
Ice-T near the Meat Packing District in Manhattan on set of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in March 2011
Background information
Birth name	Tracy Marrow
Also known as	Ice T
Born	(1958-02-16) February 16, 1958 (age 54) Newark, New Jersey
Origin	Crenshaw, Los Angeles, California
Genres	Hip hop, heavy metal, punk rock, crossover thrash
Occupations	Musician, actor, CEO, record producer, screenwriter, author
Instruments	Vocals, sampler, turntables
Years active	1982–present (rapping) 1984–present (acting)
Labels	Sire/Warner Bros. Records Rhyme Syndicate/Priority/EMI Records Virgin/EMI Records Atomic Pop Records
Associated acts	Afrika Islam, Body Count, Beastie Boys, Low Profile, Quincy Jones, Eazy-E, 2Pac, Donald D, Six Feet Under (band)
Website	www.icet.com
Notable instruments
Roland TR-808, E-mu SP-1200

Tracy Marrow (born February 16, 1958), better known by his stage name Ice-T, is an American musician and actor. He was born in Newark, New Jersey, and moved to the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles when he was in the 7th grade. After graduating from high school, he served in the United States Army for four years. He began his career as a rapper in the 1980s and was signed to Sire Records in 1987, when he released his debut album Rhyme Pays, the first hip-hop album to carry an explicit content sticker. The next year, he founded the record label Rhyme Syndicate Records (named after his collective of fellow hip-hop artists called the Rhyme Syndicate) and released another album, Power.

He co-founded the heavy metal band Body Count, which he introduced in his 1991 album O.G.: Original Gangster. Body Count released its self-titled debut album in 1992. Ice-T encountered controversy over his track "Cop Killer", which was perceived to glamorize killing police officers. Ice-T asked to be released from his contract with Warner Bros. Records, and his next solo album, Home Invasion, was released later in the fall of 1993 through Priority Records. Body Count's next album was released in 1994, and Ice-T released two more albums in the late 1990s. Since 2000, he has portrayed NYPD Detective Odafin Tutuola on the NBC police drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Early life[link]

Ice-T was born Tracy Marrow, son of Solomon and Alice Marrow,^[1][2] in Newark, New Jersey. As a child, his family moved to upscale Summit, New Jersey.^[1] Solomon was an African American, and Alice was Creole.^[1] For decades, Solomon worked as a conveyor belt mechanic at the Rapistan Conveyor Company. The first time race played a major part in Tracy's life was at the age of 7, when he became aware of the racism leveled by his white friends toward dark-skinned children, and that he escaped similar treatment because they thought that Marrow was white because of his lighter skin.^[1] Relating this incident to his mother, she told him "Honey, people are stupid"; her advice and this incident taught Marrow to control the way the negativity of others affected him.^[1]

His mother died of a heart attack when Tracy was in third grade. Solomon raised Tracy while he was a single father for four years, with help from a housekeeper.^[1] Tracy's first experience with an illegal activity occurred after a bicycle that Solomon bought him for Christmas was stolen. After Tracy told his father, Solomon shrugged, "Well, then, you ain't got no bike."^[1] Tracy stole parts from bicycles and assembled "three or four weird-looking, brightly painted bikes" from the parts; his father either did not notice, or never acknowledged this.^[1] When Tracy was 12 years old, Solomon died of a heart attack.^[1][3] For many years, AllMusic.com has stated that his parents "died in an auto accident",^[4] but Ice-T has stated that it was actually he who had been in a brutal auto accident and that was decades later.^[1]

Following his father's death, Tracy lived with a nearby aunt briefly, and was sent to live with his other aunt and her husband in View Park-Windsor Hills, a middle-class black neighborhood by South Los Angeles.^[5] While his cousin Earl was preparing to leave for college, Tracy shared a room with him. Earl was a fan of rock music and listened to only the local rock stations; sharing a room with him spurred Tracy's interest in heavy metal music.^[6]

Gang affiliation, criminal life and time in the Army[link]

Tracy attended Palms Junior High, which was predominately made up of white students, and included black students bused in from South Central.^[5] After graduating, he attended Crenshaw High School, which was almost entirely made up of black students.^[5][7] Marrow stood out from most of his friends because he did not drink alcohol, smoke tobacco, or use drugs.^[8] During high school, gangs began to intensify in the Los Angeles school system. Students who belonged to the Bloods and Crips gangs attended Crenshaw, and fought in the school's halls.^[5] Tracy aligned with the Crips,^[5] and began reading the novels of Iceberg Slim, which he memorized and recited to his friends, who enjoyed hearing the excerpts and told him, "Yo, kick some more of that by Ice, T,"^[8] and the handle stuck. Marrow and other Crips wrote and performed "Crip Rhymes", long before the advent of hip hop and recorded rapping.^[9]

At the age of 17, Tracy received the Social Security death-benefit money for the death of his father to rent an apartment for $90 a month.^[8] Marrow sold cannabis and stole car stereos for money, but was not making enough money to support his girlfriend and daughter, leading him to join the United States Army for the financial benefits; he served for four years in the 25th Infantry Division.^[8][10] Marrow was in a group that were jailed for the theft of an infantry rug.^[8] While awaiting trial, he received a $2,500 bonus check, and decided to escape from the jail and desert his Army duties, returning a month later after the rug had been returned.^[8] He received an Article 15 non-judicial punishment, and completed Advanced Infantry Training.^[8]

Marrow became interested in hip hop music while serving in the Army. During this period, he heard Sugar Hill Gang's newly-released single "Rapper's Delight", which inspired him to perform his own raps over the instrumentals of this and other early hip-hop records, but the music did not fit his lyrics or form of delivery, leading Marrow to try to develop his skills as a rapper.^[9]

As a squad leader at Schofield Barracks, Marrow met a real-life pimp named Mac in Hawaii, where prostitution was not heavily prosecuted, due to the high level of visits from soldiers during their weekends, as well as tourists, in order to keep the level of violence low.^[8] Mac admired that Marrow could quote Iceberg Slim, and taught Marrow how to pimp.^[8] Marrow was also able to purchase stereo equipment cheaply in Hawaii, including two Technics turntables, a mixer, and large speakers, and began to learn turntablism and rapping.^[9]

Towards the end of his time in the Army, Marrow learned from his commanding officer that he could receive an honorable discharge and leave the Army early because he was a single father, and left four months ahead of schedule.^[8][10]

Music career[link]

Early career[link]

After leaving the Army, Marrow wanted to stay away from gang life and violence, and decided to make use of the stereo equipment he had purchased in Hawaii, and make a name for himself as a disc jockey.^[9] As a tribute to Iceberg Slim, Marrow adopted the stage name Ice-T.^[9] While performing as a DJ at parties, he received more attention as a rapper, and decided to pursue a career as a rapper.^[9] After breaking up with his girlfriend Caitlin Boyd, he returned to a life of crime, and robbed jewelry stores with his high school friends, pretending to be customers in order to plan the thefts, and later smashing the display glass with baby sledgehammers, events Marrow later described in his raps.^[9][11]

One of Marrow's friends, Sean E. Sean, was arrested for possession of not only cannabis, which Sean sold, but also material stolen by Marrow. Sean took the blame, and served two years in prison. Marrow stated that he owed a gratitude to Sean, because his prison time allowed Marrow to pursue a career as a rapper.^[12] Concurrently, Marrow wound up in a car accident and was hospitalized as a John Doe because he did not carry any form of identification due to his criminal activities.^[13] After being discharged from the hospital, he decided to abandon the criminal lifestyle and pursue a professional career rapping.^[13] Two weeks after being released from the hospital, he won an open mic competition judged by Kurtis Blow.^[14]

Professional career[link]

Ice-T with Body Count performing in 2006.

In 1982, Marrow met producer William Strong from Saturn Records, who recorded his first single, "Cold Wind Madness", also known as "The Coldest Rap", which became an underground success, becoming popular even though radio stations did not play it due to the song's hardcore lyrics.^[12] Marrow appeared as a featured rapper on "Reckless", a single by DJ Chris "The Glove" Taylor, and recorded the songs "You Don't Quit" and "Dog'n the Wax" with Unknown DJ, who provided a sound for the songs.^[14]

Marrow received further inspiration as an artist from Schoolly D's gangsta rap single "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?", which Marrow heard in a club. Marrow enjoyed the single's sound and delivery, as well as its vague references to gang life, although the real life gang, Park Side Killers, was not named in the song.^[14]

Marrow decided to adopt Schoolly D's style, and wrote the lyrics to his first gangsta rap song, "6 in the Mornin'", in his Hollywood apartment, and created a minimal beat with a Roland TR-808. Marrow compared the sound of the song, which was recorded as a B-Side on the single "Dog'n The Wax", to that of the Beastie Boys.^[14] The single was released in 1986, and Marrow learned that "6 in the Mornin'" was more popular in clubs than its A-side, leading Marrow to rap about Los Angeles gang life, which Marrow described more explicitly than any previous rapper. He intentionally did not represent any particular gang, and wore a mixture of red and blue clothing and shoes to avoid antagonizing gang-affiliated listeners, who debated his true affiliation.^[14]

Ice-T finally landed a deal with a major label Sire Records. When label founder and president Seymour Stein heard his demo, he said, "He sounds like Bob Dylan."^[15] Shortly after, he released his debut album Rhyme Pays in 1987 supported by DJ Evil E, DJ Aladdin and producer Afrika Islam, who helped create the mainly party-oriented sound. The record wound up being certified gold by the RIAA. That same year, he recorded the title theme song for Dennis Hopper's Colors, a film about inner-city gang life in Los Angeles. His next album Power was released in 1988, under his own label Rhyme Syndicate, and it was a more assured and impressive record, earning him strong reviews and his second gold record. Released in 1989, The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech... Just Watch What You Say established his popularity by matching excellent abrasive music with narrative and commentative lyrics.^[16]

Ice-T performing in August 2006

In 1991, he released his album O.G. Original Gangster, which is regarded as one of the albums that defined gangsta rap. On OG, he introduced his heavy metal band Body Count in a track of the same name. Ice-T toured with Body Count on the first annual Lollapalooza concert tour in 1991, gaining him appeal among middle-class teenagers and fans of alternative music genres. The self-titled debut album by Body Count followed.^[16] For his appearance on the heavily collaborative track "Back on the Block", a composition by jazz musician Quincy Jones that "attempt[ed] to bring together black musical styles from jazz to soul to funk to rap", Ice-T won a Grammy Award for the Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, an award shared by others who worked on the track including Jones and fellow jazz musician Ray Charles.^[17]

Controversy later surrounded Body Count over its song "Cop Killer", a song intended as a narrative from the view of a criminal getting revenge on racist police officers guilty of brutality, from the National Rifle Association and various police advocacy groups.^[16] Consequently, Time Warner Music refused to release Ice-T's upcoming album Home Invasion because of the controversy surrounding "Cop Killer". When Ice split amicably with Sire/Warner Bros. Records after a dispute over the artwork of the album Home Invasion, he reactivated Rhyme Syndicate and formed a deal with Priority Records for distribution. Priority released Home Invasion in the spring of 1993.^[18] The album peaked at #9 on Billboard magazine's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and at #14 on the Billboard 200,^[19] spawning several singles including "Gotta Lotta Love", "I Ain't New To This" and "99 Problems" – which would later inspire Jay Z to record a version with new lyrics in 2003. Ice-T had also collaborated with certain other heavy metal bands during this time period. For the film Judgment Night, he did a duet with Slayer on the track "Disorder".^[20] In 1995, Ice-T made a guest performance on Forbidden by Black Sabbath.^[2] Another album of his, VI - Return of the Real came out in 1996, followed by The Seventh Deadly Sin in 1999.^[21]

His first rap album since 1999, Gangsta Rap, was released on October 31, 2006. The album's cover, which "shows [Ice-T] lying on his back in bed with his ravishing wife's ample posterior in full view and one of her legs coyly draped over his private parts," was considered to be too suggestive for most retailers, many of which were reluctant to stock the album.^[22] Some reviews of the album were unenthusiastic, as many had hoped for a return to the political raps of Ice-T's most successful albums.

Ice-T appears in the film Gift. One of the last scenes includes Ice-T and Body Count playing with Jane's Addiction in a version of the Sly and the Family Stone song "Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey."

Besides fronting his own band and rap projects, Ice-T has also collaborated with other hard rock and metal bands, such as Icepick, Motörhead, Slayer, Pro-Pain, and Six Feet Under. He has also covered songs by hardcore punk bands such as The Exploited, Jello Biafra, and Black Flag. Ice-T made an appearance at Insane Clown Posse's Gathering of the Juggalos (2008 edition).^[23] Ice-T was also a judge for the 7th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists.^[24] His 2012 film Something From Nothing: The Art Of Rap features a who's who of underground and mainstream rappers.^[25]

Ice T announced via Twitter that he is in the process of collecting beats for his next LP which as of November 2011 is expected sometime during 2012.^[26]

Other ventures[link]

Acting career[link]

Ice-T's first film appearances were in the motion pictures, Breakin' (1984), and its sequel, Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (1985). These films were released before Ice-T released his first LP, although he appears on the soundtrack to Breakin'. He has since stated he considers the films and his own performance in them to be "wack".^[27]

In 1991 he embarked on a serious acting career, portraying police detective Scotty Appleton in Mario Van Peebles' feature film New Jack City, gang leader Odessa (alongside Denzel Washington and John Lithgow) in Ricochet (1991), gang leader King James in Trespass (1992), followed by a notable lead role performance in Surviving the Game (1994), in addition to many supporting roles, such as J-Bone in Johnny Mnemonic (1995), and the marsupial mutant T-Saint in Tank Girl (1995). Marrow was also interviewed in the Brent Owens documentary Pimps Up, Ho's Down,^[28] in which he claims to have had an extensive pimping background before getting into rap. He is quoted as saying "once you max something out, it ain't no fun no more. I couldn't really get no farther." He goes on to explain his pimping experience gave him the ability to get into new businesses. "I can't act, I really can't act, I ain't no rapper, it's all game. I'm just working these niggas." Later he raps at the Players Ball.

In 1993 Marrow along with other rappers and the three Yo! MTV Raps hosts Ed Lover, Doctor Dre and Fab 5 Freddy starred in the comedy Who's the Man?, directed by Ted Demme. In this movie, Marrow is a drug dealer who gets really frustrated when someone calls him by his real name, "Chauncey," rather than his street name, "Nighttrain."

Ice-T with Christopher Meloni on the set of ‘’Law & Order: SVU’’ on October to, 2008 in Broome St, SoHo, New York.

In 1995 Marrow had a recurring role as vengeful drug dealer Danny Cort on the television series New York Undercover, co-created by Dick Wolf. His work on the series earned him the 1996 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. In 1997 Marrow co-created the short-lived series Players, produced by Wolf. This was followed by a role as pimp Seymour "Kingston" Stockton in Exiled: A Law & Order Movie (1998). These collaborations led Wolf to add Marrow to the cast of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Since 2000 he has portrayed Odafin "Fin" Tutuola, a former undercover narcotics officer transferred to the Special Victims Unit. In 2002 the NAACP awarded Marrow with a second Image Award, again for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, for his work on Law & Order: SVU.

In 1997 Marrow had a pay-per-view special titled Ice-T's Extreme Babes which appeared on Action PPV, formerly owned by BET networks.^[29]

In 1999 Marrow starred in the HBO movie Stealth Fighter as a United States Naval Aviator who fakes his own death, steals a F-117 stealth fighter, and threatens to destroy United States military bases. He also acted in the movie Sonic Impact, released the same year.

Ice-T made an appearance on the comedy television series Chappelle's Show as himself presenting the award for "Player Hater of the Year" at the "Player-Haters Ball", a parody of his own appearance at the Players Ball. He was dubbed the "Original Player Hater."

Beyond Tough, a 2002 documentary series, aired on Discovery Channel about the world's most dangerous and intense professions, such as alligator wrestlers and Indy 500 pit crews, was hosted by Marrow.^[30]

Ice-T at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival for the premiere of Burning Down the House

In 2007 Marrow appeared as a celebrity guest star on the MTV sketch comedy show Short Circuitz. Also in late 2007 Marrow appeared in the short-music film Hands of Hatred, which can be found online.

Ice-T was interviewed for the Cannibal Corpse retrospective documentary Centuries of Torment, as well as appearing in Chris Rock's 2009 documentary Good Hair, in which he reminisced about going to school in hair curlers.^[31]

Voice acting[link]

Ice-T voiced Madd Dogg in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, as well as Agent Cain in Sanity: Aiken's Artifact. He also appears as himself in Def Jam: Fight for NY and UFC: Tapout fighting video games.

He also voiced the character Griffin in the video game Gears of War 3.^[32]

He was the voice of Jackie A in Tommy and the Cool Mule.^[33]

Reality television[link]

On October 20, 2006, Ice-T's Rap School aired and was a reality television show on VH1. It was a spin-off of the British reality show Gene Simmons' Rock School, which also aired on VH1. In Rap School, rapper/actor Ice-T teaches eight teens from York Preparatory School in New York called the "York Prep Crew" ("Y.P. Crew" for short). Each week, Ice-T gives them assignments and they compete for an imitation gold chain with a microphone on it. On the season finale on November 17, 2006, the group performed as an opening act for Public Enemy.

On June 12, 2011, E! reality show Ice Loves Coco debuted. The show is mostly about his relationship with his wife of ten years, Nicole "Coco" Austin.^[34][35]

Style and influence[link]

Marrow cites writer Iceberg Slim and rapper Schoolly D as influences, with Iceberg Slim's novels guiding his skills as a lyricist.^[9][14] Marrow's favorite heavy rock acts are Edgar Winter, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.^[6] Marrow's hip hop albums helped shape the gangsta rap style, with music journalist tracing works of artists such as Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G., Eminem and N.W.A to "6 in the Mornin'".^[14]

His love of rock music led Marrow use electric guitar in the instrumentation of his hip hop albums in order to provide his songs with edge and power, and to make his raps harder; he used the fusion of rock and hip hop of Rick Rubin-produced acts like Beastie Boys, Run-DMC and LL Cool J, which featured rock samples in their songs.^[6] His work with Body Count, whose 1992 debut album Marrow described as a "rock album with a rap mentality",^[36] is described as paving the way for the success of rap rock fusions by bands like Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit;^[6][36] however, Marrow states that the band's style does not fuse the two genres, and is solely a rock band.^[6] He is also a fan of the British singer Phil Collins; Collins claimed he was "incredibly flattered" when he learned this.^[37]

Personal life[link]

Relationships and family[link]

Ice-T and wife Coco attend the Billboard-Children Uniting Nations After-Party

In 1976, Marrow's girlfriend Adrienne gave birth to their daughter, LeTesha, and they attended high school while raising the child. She gave her father two grandchildren.^[8] Later in 1984, while filming Breakin', Marrow met Darlene Ortiz, who had been at the club in which the film was being shot, and the two began a relationship; Ortiz was featured on the covers of Rhyme Pays and Power.^[14] Marrow and Ortiz had a son, Ice Tracy Marrow, in 1992.^[14] On December 31, 2001, Marrow married swimsuit model Nicole "Coco Marie" Austin.^[2][35] In celebration of their 10th wedding anniversary, the couple renewed their wedding vows on June 4, 2011.^[34]

Activism[link]

CIA involvement[link]

He has condemned the involvement of the Central Intelligence Agency in drug trafficking (in connection with the Iran-Contra scandal, as documented in the Kerry Committee report and elsewhere)^[38] on tracks such as "This One's for Me" and "Message to the Soldier", in sections of his book.

Politics[link]

On June 5, 2008, Ice-T jokingly stated that he would be voting for John McCain in the 2008 American elections. Ice-T also speculated that his past affiliation with Body Count could hurt Barack Obama's chances if he endorsed him, so he'd choose instead to ruin John McCain's campaign by saying he supported him.^[39][40]

Feuds[link]

LL Cool J[link]

Ice-T had a non-publicized feud with LL Cool J in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Apparently, this was instigated by LL's claim to be "the baddest rapper in the history of rap itself"^[41] Ice-T recorded two disses against LL on his 1988 album Power. On the album was the track, "I'm Your Pusher", in which a rap music addict declines to buy an LL Cool J record. The album also contains the posse rap track, "The Syndicate", which took aim at LL's lyrical ability, claiming that rapping about oneself so frequently was a "first grade topic".^[42] The song also mocked the song's hook "I'm Bad", which identified it as an LL diss specifically.

On LL's response, "To da Break of Dawn" in 1990, he dissed Kool Moe Dee (Whose feud with LL was far more publicized) as well as MC Hammer. He then devoted the third verse of the song to dissing Ice-T, mocking his rap ability ("take your rhymes around the corner to rap rehab"), his background ("before you rapped, you was a downtown car thief"), and his style ("a brother with a perm deserves to get burned"). Ice-T appeared to have ignored the insults and he had also defended LL Cool J after his arrest in the song "Freedom of Speech".^[43]

Soulja Boy Tell 'Em[link]

In June 2008, on DJ Cisco's Urban Legend mixtape, Ice-T criticized DeAndre Cortez "Soulja Boy Tell 'Em" Way for "killing hip hop" and his song "Crank That" for being "garbage" compared to the works of other hip-hop artists such as Rakim, Das EFX, Big Daddy Kane and Ice Cube. One of the comments in the exchange was when Ice-T told Way to "eat a dick".^[44] The two then traded numerous videos back and forth over the Internet. These videos included a cartoon and video of Ice-T dancing on Way's behalf and an apology, but reiteration of his feelings that Way's music "sucks", on Ice-T's behalf.^[45] Rapper Kanye West defended Way by arguing that the younger artist created a new, original work for hip hop, thus keeping the authentic meaning of the music.^[46]

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• 1987: Rhyme Pays
• 1988: Power
• 1989: The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech...Just Watch What You Say
• 1991: O.G. Original Gangster
• 1993: Home Invasion
• 1996: VI - Return of the Real
• 1999: The Seventh Deadly Sin
• 2006: Gangsta Rap

Collaboration albums

• 1988: Rhyme Syndicate Comin' Through (with Rhyme $yndicate)
• 1992: Body Count (with Body Count)
• 1994: Born Dead (with Body Count)
• 1997: Violent Demise: The Last Days (with Body Count)
• 2000: Pimp to Eat (with Analog Brothers)
• 2004: Repossession (with SMG)
• 2006: Murder 4 Hire (with Body Count)
• 2008: Urban Legends (with Black Ice)

Awards and nominations[link]

Grammy Awards

MTV Video Music Awards

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

Video games[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Allison, Kugel (May 31, 2011). "Ice-T & Coco Austin on Married Life, the Business of Being Ice, & Coco's Bodacious Body". PR.com. http://www.pr.com/article/1177. 
• Video: Ice-T interview with Adam Horovitz
• Conspiracy Worldwide Radio Ice T interview (December 2009)
• Marrow, Tracy; Century, Douglas (2011). Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption—from South Central to Hollywood. Random House. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/97804345523280|97804345523280]]. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ice-T

• Official website
• Ice-T at the Internet Movie Database
• Ice-T on Twitter

Amos Lee
Lee performing at Poptech in 2008
Background information
Birth name	Ryan Anthony Massaro
Born	1978 (age 33–34)
Origin	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Genres	Soul, folk, blues
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments	Guitar, vocals
Years active	2004–present
Labels	Blue Note
Website	amoslee.com

Amos Lee (born 1978 as Ryan Anthony Massaro^[1][2]) is an American singer-songwriter whose musical style encompasses folk, rock and soul. He was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the University of South Carolina with a degree in English. After working as a schoolteacher and bartender he began to pursue a career in music. His manager submitted a demo recording to Blue Note Records which resulted in a recording contract and an association with Norah Jones.

Since that time Lee has recorded four albums on Blue Note Records and has toured as an opening act for Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Paul Simon, Merle Haggard, Van Morrison, John Prine, Dave Matthews Band and Adele and his music has appeared on the soundtracks of numerous TV shows and movies. He has performed on several late night TV shows and at a voter registration rally for Barack Obama. In 2011, his album Mission Bell debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart^[3][4][5] and his music has been described as "1970s folk rock and rustic soul".

Early life and education[link]

Lee was born Ryan Anthony Massaro in 1978 and was raised in Philadelphia.^[6][7] He moved to Cherry Hill, New Jersey at age 11 and graduated from Cherry Hill High School East.^[7][5][4]

Lee attended the University of South Carolina and graduated with a degree in English and a minor in education.^[8] During his college years he developed an interest in music after being inspired by the John Prine album, Great Days.^[8][5] Later began playing the guitar and played the bass as part of a band while working at a record store where he was exposed to the music of Donny Hathaway, Joni Mitchell, Luther Vandross, Bill Withers and Otis Redding.^[8][9][10]

Career[link]

After returning to Philadelphia, Lee worked as a second grade school teacher at the Mary McLeod Bethune School and as a bartender at local music venues. He performed at "open mic" events in the area and through his contacts with promoters, was hired as an opening act for artists like Mose Allison and B.B. King.^[7]

In 2003, Lee's manager sent a four-song demo CD to several record labels, and Eli Wolf of Blue Note Records heard the recording and was "immediately struck by his [Lee's] voice".^[8] Afterwards, Norah Jones heard the demo CD while visiting the record company and invited Lee to be the opening act for her 2004 tour.^[5]

The friendship between Lee's manager and the manager for Bob Dylan resulted in Lee touring with Dylan as his opening act in early 2005.^{[7][11][12][13]} Later Lee began touring on his own and recorded his self-titled and "widely praised" debut album of "subtle, folky soul"^{[6][14][10][15]} which included vocals and instrumentation by Norah Jones and members of her band.^[8] After it was released, the album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart and Lee was named one of Rolling Stone's "Top 10 Artists to Watch."^[9][16] One song from the album, called "Colors", appeared on the TV show Grey's Anatomy and in the film Just Like Heaven.^[17] Lee's music received additional media attention when he performed on late night TV shows such as The Late Show with David Letterman.^[18]

In 2006, Lee recorded his second album, Supply and Demand which was produced by Barrie Maguire. An NPR Music reviewer described it as having "more complicated instrumentation and production" than his prior work.^[15] The song "Shout Out Loud" was released as a single and peaked at No. 76 on the Billboard 200.^[19] and the song, called "Sweet Pea", was used in an AT&T ad campaign.^[17]

Lee's third studio album, Last Days at the Lodge was released in 2008 and re-emphasized "his grounding in folk and soul". The album peaked at number 29 on the Billboard 200 chart and Lee performed at the Change Rocks, voter registration rally for Barack Obama, in Philadelphia that summer.^[4][20][21]

In 2011, Lee released his fourth album on Blue Note Records, entitled Mission Bell which was produced by Joey Burns of Calexico. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, number one on the Digital Albums chart, number two on the Internet chart and number one on the Amazon Top-Selling Albums and iTunes charts.^[22] The album's single, "Windows are Rolled Down", became a top 10 hit on USA Today's adult-alternative chart.^[17] Guest artists on the album included Lucinda Williams, Willie Nelson, Priscilla Ahn, Pieta Brown, James Gadson, and Sam Beam.^[12][23] The album was described by critics as tunes placed in "a stark landscape, enveloped by rustling percussion and reverberant drones" with a tones and lyrics that were more optimistic than prior albums.^[24][25] Other critics called it "a restless album with a gentle soul" and "another fine showcase for his [Lee's] elegant, soothing songwriting".^[26]

Reception[link]

Lee's "folksy, bluesy sound" has been compared to that of John Prine and Norah Jones.^[27] His music is said to utilize the "supple funk of his vocals and arid strum of his guitar" while recalling "the low-volume, early-'70s acoustic soul of stars like Bill Withers and Minnie Ripperton".^[7] A New York Times music critic described Lee as having a "honeyed singing voice – light amber, mildly sweet, a touch of grain" which he features "squarely, without much fuss or undue strain" in his "1970s folk rock and rustic soul" musical song craft.^[24] According to a music writer at ABC News, Lee "has that folksy, bluesy vibe, with a bit of country twang" and a voice that is "ever soulful".^[25] Simultaneously Lee has been both lauded and dismissed as the "male Norah Jones" and^[3] his lyrics are said to convey "the complexities of everyday emotions" without falling into flowery imagery.^[8]

Lee's songs have appeared on a number of TV shows including the Parenthood (TV series).^[28][17]

Personal life[link]

Lee describes himself as being of "mixed" ethnicity^[29] and maintains a residence in Philadelphia and while spending some winter months in San Francisco.^[6]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Extended plays[link]

Singles[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Amos Lee's official website
• Amos Lee at Blue Note Records
• Amos Lee at NPR Music

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2011)

Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper in 2011
Background information
Birth name	Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper
Also known as	Cyn
Born	(1953-06-22) June 22, 1953 (age 59)
Origin	Woodhaven, Queens, New York City, USA
Genres	Pop, Pop rock, Dance rock, Pop dance, New Wave, Blues, adult contemporary
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, producer, actress (film & stage)
Instruments	Vocals, Appalachian dulcimer, zither, guitar, recorder, omnichord, trombone, percussion, electric bass, piano, banjo, ukulele
Years active	1977–present
Labels	Portrait, Epic, Daylight, Downtown
Associated acts	Blue Angel
Website	www.cyndilauper.com Cyndi Lauper's signature

Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper (born June 22, 1953 in Queens, New York) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and LGBT rights activist.

She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the debut solo album She's So Unusual in 1983, which spawned four Billboard Hot 100 top-five songs—"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", "Time After Time", "She Bop" and "All Through the Night"—She's So Unusual was the first album in history to have four top five singles by a female. The album earned Lauper Best New Artist at the 27th Grammy Awards in 1985.

Her success continued with the follow-up, True Colors in 1986, which spawned two Billboard Hot 100 top-ten songs—"True Colors" and "Change of Heart", and earned two nominations at the 29th Grammy Awards.

Since 1989 released from a nine studio albums acclaimed critical, A Night to Remember (1989), Hat Full of Stars (1993), Sisters of Avalon (1996), Merry Christmas... Have a Nice Life (1998),Shine (2001), At Last (2003), The Body Acoustic (2005), Bring Ya to the Brink (2008).

In 2010, her eleventh studio album, Memphis Blues in 2010, which topped the Billboard Blues Albums chart for thirteen consecutive weeks at number one, and spawned five Billboard Digital Blues Songs top-five songs—"Just Your Fool", "Crossroads", "How Blue Can You Get?", "Rollin' and Tumblin'" and "Early in the Mornin'", became most album successful on the charts since She's So Unusual and True Colors.

Lauper has also released over 40 singles, and as of 2011 had sold more than 50 million albums worldwide,^[1][2] and 1 million DVDs and 20 million singles,^[3] which makes her one of the best selling artists of all time.

Throughout her career, Lauper has won numerous awards, including Grammy, Emmy, MTV VMA, Billboard, and AMA. In 1999, Lauper ranked #58 of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll by VH1.^[4]

Life and career[link]

1953–1979: Early life[link]

The daughter of Fred and Catrine Lauper, Cyndi Lauper was born and raised in Ozone Park in a Roman Catholic family, in the borough of Queens in New York City.^[5] Her mother uses the stage name "Catrine Dominique" for the music videos in which she has appeared.^[6] Her father was of German and Swiss descent and her mother is Italian American (from Sicily). She has an older sister, Ellen, and a younger brother, Fred (nicknamed Butch).^[7]

After Lauper's parents divorced, her mother remarried, divorced again, and went to work as a waitress. It was during this time that Lauper began listening to artists such as Judy Garland, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and the Beatles. Her mother encouraged her independence and creativity. At the age of twelve, Lauper learned how to play an acoustic guitar, which her sister had given to her,^[8] and she started to write her own lyrics. She had a great love of art and music and tried to find ways to express herself. Even at this early age, Lauper started dyeing her hair different colors and wearing radical fashions. Lauper was accepted in a special public high school for students with talent in the visual arts, but she was held back and eventually dropped out, earning her GED sometime later. At the age of seventeen, she left home, planning to study art. Her journey would take her to Canada, where she spent two weeks in the woods with her dog, Sparkle, trying to find herself. She eventually wound up in Vermont, where she took art classes at Johnson State College. She supported herself by working at various odd jobs.

In the mid 1970s, Lauper performed as a vocalist with various cover bands (such as Doc West and Flyer, who still perform under the names Gap Wilson Band and Red, White and Blues Band), in the New York metropolitan area, singing hits by bands such as Jefferson Airplane, Led Zeppelin, and Bad Company. Even though Lauper was now performing on stage, she was not happy singing cover songs. In 1977, Lauper damaged her vocal cords and took a year off. She was told by three doctors that she would never sing again. Vocal coach Katie Agresta helped Lauper regain her voice by teaching her proper vocal exercises.^[9]

1980–1982: Blue Angel[link]

In 1978, after regaining her voice, Lauper met saxophone player John Turi through her manager Ted Rosenblatt. Turi and Lauper became writing partners and formed a band called Blue Angel. They decided to put everything they had into making an album of original material. A few demos were recorded and the tape found its way over to Steve Massarsky, who was managing The Allman Brothers Band. Massarsky said the tape was horrible, but he was attracted to Lauper's voice. He saw them play live and eventually started managing the band after buying their contract out for $5,000. Many people wanted to sign Lauper only if she would sign on as a solo artist. Lauper held out, wanting the band to be included in any deal she made. Polydor Records eventually signed them as a band. In 1980, they released a self-titled album on Polydor Records. Rolling Stone magazine later included it as one of the 100 best new wave album covers (2003). Lauper hated the cover, often saying they made her look like Big Bird. Despite critical acclaim, the album sold poorly (or "went lead", as Lauper says) and the band broke up. Polydor Records had a regime change, and the label would not let the band back into the studio unless they had a hit. The members of Blue Angel had a falling out with Massarsky and fired him as their manager. He later filed an $80,000 suit against them. This suit forced Lauper into bankruptcy.^[10]

Lauper started working in retail stores such as the New York high-end thrift store Screaming Mimi's to make ends meet, and she still sang in local clubs. Her most frequent gigs were at El Sombrero. Music critics that saw Lauper perform with Blue Angel thought that she had star potential since she had a wide singing range (four octaves),^[11] perfect pitch, and a vocal style all her own. In 1981, while singing in a local New York bar, Lauper met David Wolff, who took over as her manager (and at some point became romantically involved with her) and got her signed with Portrait Records, a subsidiary of Epic Records. Wolff had been working with a band called Arc Angel.

[edit] 1983–1985: She's So Unusual era

Lauper performing in Memphis Blues Tour

On October 14, 1983, She's So Unusual was released and peaked at #4 in the US becoming a worldwide hit. With help from Rick Chertoff, Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman (of The Hooters) as her primary studio musicians, She's So Unusual's popularity spread like wildfire. At the time, Lauper became popular with teenagers and critics, in part due to her hybrid punk image, crafted by stylist Patrick Lucas.^[12]

	"Girls Just Want To Have Fun". noicon
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Lauper knew she could write songs, but the record company had a lot of material they wanted her to record. She altered a lot of the songs that were thrown her way, often changing the lyrics to suit her. An example is her Platinum-certified "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"; Lauper says the original lyrics of the song dealt more with a girl pleasing a man, and therefore she changed the lyrics, wanting the song to be more of an anthem as she felt the original song seemed misogynistic.^[13]

	"Time After Time" noicon
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

The album's second single was the ballad "Time After Time". Lauper co-wrote "Time After Time" with Rob Hyman when her producer, Rick Chertoff, suggested to the band that the album could use one more song. The record label did not have much faith in Lauper as a songwriter, but they gave her the chance to prove herself. "Time After Time" hit #1 on both Billboard's Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts. It earned Lauper Gold certification with sales of 500,000 from the RIAA and was one of the biggest hits of 1984. It has been covered by more than 100 artists. Lauper came up with the title for "Time After Time" while reading TV Guide—Time After Time was a 1979 science fiction movie starring Malcolm McDowell as H. G. Wells, portraying him inventing and then traveling in a time machine. "She Bop" was the album's third single release. It reached #3 on the Hot 100 and earned Cyndi another Gold certification of 500,000 from the RIAA. This was followed by "All Through the Night" which was written by Jules Shear and reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.^{[citation needed]} Jules Shear and Cyndi Lauper went on to co-write the song "Steady", which reached #57 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985.

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

She's So Unusual led Lauper to win an award at the 1985 Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, the album also won the Grammy for Best Album Package, this award went to the art director, Janet Perr; Additionally, it received four nominations; Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Girls Just Want To Have Fun", and Song of the Year for "Time After Time". Cyndi became the first female solo artist winner since Sheena Easton to win the Grammy for Best New Artist.

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

She started 1985 by participating on USA for Africa's famine-relief fund-raising single "We Are the World", singing the climactic soprano part of the bridge. During the taping of the song, the audio engineers were having problems discovering what was causing a clicking noise in the recording. It was discovered to be coming from Lauper's jewelry. At the event, she appeared with WWF Superstar Hulk Hogan, who played her "bodyguard." Lauper, in return, made many appearances as herself in a number of the World Wrestling Federation's "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection" events, including the inaugural WrestleMania event, where she was the manager of Wendi Richter. Their entrance music was "Girls Just Want to Have Fun."^[14]

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

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

[edit] 1986–1988: True Colors

Lauper performing in 2000.

In 1986, We are the World won four awards at the 1986 Grammy Awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Best Music Video, Short Form. However, none of these awards went to Lauper. Quincy Jones, the producer, won three, while Song of the Year went to the composers of the song, Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie. Cyndi Lauper did receive two nominations; Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for "What A Thrill" and Best Long Form Music Video for "Cyndi: Live in Paris". In the same year, Lauper released her second album, True Colors, on September 15, 1986. It reached #4 on the Billboard 200. For this album, she increased her involvement both in production and songwriting. Guests on the album included Angela Clemons-Patrick, Nile Rodgers, Aimee Mann, Billy Joel, Adrian Belew, The Bangles, Ellie Greenwich, and Rick Derringer. Lauper co-wrote most of the album with Essra Mohawk, John Turi, Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. Although the album was not as commercially successful as its predecessor was, it contained three high-charting singles, including the title track, "True Colors" which became Cyndi's second song to hit #1 on Billboard's Hot 100, "Change of Heart" (#3) and a cover of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" (#12) followed. The album also featured an older song called "Maybe He'll Know", which was on the Blue Angel album. The album covers for both She's So Unusual and True Colors were composed by photographer Annie Leibovitz. "True Colors" was licensed to Kodak for use in its commercials. Lauper had no control over the song, which was written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. The fourth single from the album, "Boy Blue", became Lauper's first solo non-top-40 single. The proceeds of the song were donated to AIDS research. The album sold 2 million copies in the United States.

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

True Colors led Lauper it received two nominations awards at the 1987 Grammy Awards: Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "True Colors" and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for "911". The next awards ceremony, led Lauper it received one nomination awards at the 1988 Grammt Awards; Best Performance Music Video for Cyndi Lauper in Paris.

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

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

[edit] 1989–1992: A Night to Remember