Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are of Hispanic or Latino origin (ethnicity).

The racial categories represent a social-political construct for the race or races that respondents consider themselves to be and "generally reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country." The race categories include both racial and national-origin groups.

Race and ethnicity are considered separate and distinct identities, with Hispanic or Latino origin asked as a separate question. Thus, in addition to their race or races, all respondents are categorized by membership in one of two ethnicities, which are "Hispanic or Latino" and "Not Hispanic or Latino".

In 1997, OMB issued a Federal Register Notice regarding revisions to the standards for the classification of federal data on race and ethnicity. OMB developed race and ethnic standards in order to provide "consistent data on race and ethnicity throughout the Federal Government. The development of the data standards stem in large measure from new responsibilities to enforce civil rights laws." Among the changes, OMB issued the instruction to "mark one or more races" after noting evidence of increasing numbers of interracial children and wanting to capture the diversity in a measurable way, and after having received requests by people who wanted to be able to acknowledge their or their children's full ancestry rather than identifying with only one group. Prior to this decision, the Census and other government data collections asked people to report only one race.

How data on race and ethnicity are used

The OMB states that “many federal programs are put into effect based on the race data obtained from the decennial census (i.e., promoting equal employment opportunities; assessing racial disparities in health and environmental risks). Race data are also critical for the basic research behind many policy decisions. States require these data to meet legislative redistricting requirements. The data are needed to monitor compliance with the Voting Rights Act by local jurisdictions."

"Data on ethnic groups are important for putting into effect a number of federal statutes (i.e., enforcing bilingual election rules under the Voting Rights Act; monitoring and enforcing equal employment opportunities under the Civil Rights Act). Data on Ethnic Groups are also needed by local governments to run programs and meet legislative requirements (i.e., identifying segments of the population who may not be receiving medical services under the Public Health Act; evaluating whether financial institutions are meeting the credit needs of minority populations under the Community Reinvestment Act).”

Brief overview of race and ethnicity in the U.S. Census' history

Census 1790

In 1790, first official year of the U.S. Census, the following questions were asked, four of which had racial implications:

Number of free White males aged under 16 years

Number of free White males aged 16 years and upward

Number of free White females

Number of other free persons

Number of slaves

In 1800 and 1810, the age question regarding free white males was more detailed.

Census 1820

The 1820 census built on the questions asked in 1810 by asking age questions about the slaves who were owned. Also the term “colored” enters the census rhetoric. In addition, a question stating “Number of foreigners not naturalized” was included.

Census 1830

For the 1830 census, a new question which stated “The number of White persons who were foreigners not naturalized” was included, as well as combining the number and age question of both slaves and free colored individuals.

Census 1850

The 1850 census saw a dramatic shift in the way information about residents was collected. For the first time, free persons were listed individually instead of by head of household. There were two questionnaires: one for free inhabitants and one for slaves. The question on the free inhabitants schedule about color was a column that was to be left blank if a person was White, marked "B" if a person was Black, and marked "M" if a person was Mulatto. Slaves were listed by owner, and classified by gender and age, not individually, and the question about color was a column that was to be marked with a "B" if the slave was Black and an "M" if Mulatto.

Census 1870

For the 1870 census, the color/racial question was expanded to include “C” for Chinese, which was a category that included all east Asians, as well as “I” for American Indians.

Census 1890

For 1890, the Census Office changed the design of the population questionnaire. Residents were still listed individually, but a new questionnaire sheet was used for each family. Additionally, this was the first year that the census distinguished between different East Asian races, such as Japanese and Chinese, due to increased immigration. This census also marked the beginning of the term “race” in the questionnaires. Enumerators were instructed to write "White," "Black," "Mulatto," "Quadroon," "Octoroon," "Chinese," "Japanese," or "Indian."

Census 1900

For 1900, the “Color or Race” question was slightly modified, removing the term “Mulatto”. Also, there was an inclusion of an “Indian Population Schedule” in which “enumerators were instructed to use a special expanded questionnaire for American Indians living on reservations or in family groups off of reservations.” This expanded version included the question “Fraction of person's lineage that is white.”

Census 1910

The 1910 census was similar to that of 1900, but it included a re-insertion of “Mulatto” and a question about the respondent's "mother tongue.” “Ot” was also added to signify "other races", with space for a race to be written in. This decade's version of the Indian Population Schedule featured questions asking the individual’s proportion of white, black, or American Indian lineage.

Census 1920

The 1920 census questionnaire was similar to 1910, but excluded a separate schedule for American Indians. “Hin”, “Kor”, and “Fil” were also added to the “Color or Race” question, signifying Hindu (South Asia Indian), Korean, and Filipino, respectively.

Census 1930

The biggest change in this year’s census was in racial classification. Enumerators were instructed to no longer use the "Mulatto" classification. Instead, they were given special instructions for reporting the race of interracial persons. A person with both White and Black ancestry (termed "blood") was to be recorded as "Negro," no matter the fraction of that lineage (the "one-drop rule"). A person of mixed Black and American Indian ancestry was also to be recorded as "Neg" (for "Negro") unless he was considered to be "predominantly" American Indian and accepted as such within the community. A person with both White and American Indian ancestry was to be recorded as an Indian, unless his American Indian ancestry was small, and he was accepted as White within the community. In all situations in which a person had White and some other racial ancestry, he was to be reported as that other race. Persons who had minority interracial ancestry were to be reported as the race of their father.

For the first and only time, "Mexican" was listed as a race. Enumerators were instructed that all persons born in Mexico, or whose parents were born in Mexico, should be listed as Mexicans, and not under any other racial category. But, in prior censuses and in 1940, enumerators were instructed to list Mexican Americans as white.

The Supplemental American Indian questionnaire was back, but in abbreviated form. It featured a question asking if the person was of full or mixed American Indian ancestry.

Census 1940 (Population)

The 1940 census was the first to include separate population and housing questionnaires. The race category of "Mexican" was eliminated in 1940, and the population of Mexican descent was counted with the White population.

Census 1950 (Population)

The 1950 Census questionnaire removed the word “color” from the racial question, and also removed Hindu and Korean from the race choices.

Census 1960 (Population)

The 1960 Census re-added the word “color” to the racial question, and changed “Indian” to “American Indian”, as well as added Hawaiian, Part-Hawaiian, Aleut, and Eskimo. The Other (print out race) option was removed.

Census 1970 (Population)

This year’s census included “Negro or Black”, re-added Korean and the Other race option. There was a questionnaire that was asked of only a sample of respondents. These questions were as follows:

a. Where was this person born?

b. Is this person's origin or descent...

Mexican

Puerto Rican

Cuban

Central or South American

Other Spanish

None of These

14. What country was the person's father born in?

15. What country was the person's mother born in?

16.

a. For persons born in a foreign country- Is the person naturalized?

b. When did the person come to the United States to stay?

17. What language, other than English, was spoken in the person's home as a child?

Spanish

French

German

Other

None, only English

Census 1980 (Population)

This year added several options to the race question, including Vietnamese, Indian (East) Guamanian, Samoan, and re-added Aleut. Again, the term “color” was removed from the racial question, and the following questions were asked of a sample of respondents:

11. In what state or foreign country was the person born?

12. If this person was born in a foreign country...

a. Is this person a naturalized citizen of the United States?

b. When did this person come the United States to stay?

13.

a. Does this person speak a language other than English at home?

b. If yes, what is this language?

c. If yes, how well does this person speak English?

14. What is this person's ancestry?

Census 1990 (Population)

The racial categories in this year are as they appear in the 2000 and 2010 Census. The following questions were asked of a sample of respondents for the 1990 Census:

8. In what U.S. State or foreign country was this person born?

9. Is this person a citizen of the United States?

10. If this person was not born in the United States, when did this person come to the United States to stay?

The 1990 Census was not designed to capture multiple racial responses, and when individuals marked the Other race option and provided a multiple write in, the response was assigned according to the race written first. “For example, a write in of "Black-White" was assigned a code of Black, a write in of "White-Black" was assigned a code of White.”

Census 2000 (Population)

Race was asked differently in the Census 2000 in several other ways than previously. Most significantly, respondents were given the option of selecting one or more race categories to indicate racial identities. Data show that nearly seven million Americans identified as members of two or more races. Because of these changes, the Census 2000 data on race are not directly comparable with data from the 1990 census or earlier censuses. Use of caution is therefore recommended when interpreting changes in the racial composition of the US population over time.

The 23rd federal census, 2010 asks one ethnic and one race question (questions 1-4 not reproduced here, questions 5 and 6 paraphrased):

8. Is the person of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin?

*No, not of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin

*Yes, Mexican, Mexican Am., Chicano

*Yes, Puerto Rican

*Yes, Cuban

*Yes, another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin — Print origin, for example, Argentinean, Colombian, Dominican, Nicaraguan, Salvadoran, Spaniard, and so on.

9. What is the person's race?

*White

*Black, African Am., or Negro

*American Indian or Alaska Native — Print name of enrolled or principal tribe.

*Asian Indian

*Chinese

*Filipino

*Other Asian — Print race, for example, Hmong, Laotian, Thai, Pakistani, Cambodian, and so on.

*Japanese

*Korean

*Vietnamese

*Native Hawaiian

*Guamanian or Chamorro

*Samoan

*Other Pacific Islander — Print race, for example, Fijian, Tongan, and so on.

*Some other race — Print race.

This census acknowledged that "race categories include both racial and national-origin groups."

The following definitions apply to the 2000 census only.

"White. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as "White" or report entries such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Near Easterner, Arab, or Polish."

"Black or African American. A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as 'Black, African Am., or Negro,' or provide written entries such as African American, Afro American, Kenyan, Nigerian, or Haitian."

"American Indian and Alaska Native. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) and who maintain tribal affiliation or community attachment."

"Asian. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. It includes 'Asian Indian,' 'Chinese', 'Filipino', 'Korean', 'Japanese', 'Vietnamese', and 'Other Asian'."

"Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. It includes people who indicate their race as 'Native Hawaiian', 'Guamanian or Chamorro', 'Samoan', and 'Other Pacific Islander'."

"Some other race. Includes all other responses not included in the 'White', 'Black or African American', 'American Indian and Alaska Native', 'Asian' and 'Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander' race categories described above. Respondents providing write-in entries such as multiracial, mixed, interracial, We-Sort, or a Hispanic/Latino group (for example, Mexican, Puerto Rican, or Cuban) in the "Some other race" category are included here."

"Two or more races. People may have chosen to provide two or more races either by checking two or more race response check boxes, by providing multiple write-in responses, or by some combination of check boxes and write-in responses."

The Federal government of the United States has mandated that "in data collection and presentation, federal agencies are required to use a minimum of two ethnicities: 'Hispanic or Latino' and 'Not Hispanic or Latino'." The Census Bureau defines "Hispanic or Latino" as "a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race." For discussion of the meaning and scope of the Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, see the Hispanic and Latino Americans and Racial and ethnic demographics of the United States articles.

Use of the word ''ethnicity'' for Hispanics only is considerably more restricted than its conventional meaning, which covers other distinctions, some of which are covered by the "race" and "ancestry" questions. The distinct questions accommodate the possibility of Hispanic and Latino Americans' also declaring various racial identities (see also White Hispanic and Latino Americans, Asian Latinos, and Black Hispanic and Latino Americans).

In the 2000 Census, 12.5% of the US population reported "Hispanic or Latino" ethnicity and 87.5% reported "Not-Hispanic or Latino" ethnicity.

Relation between ethnicity and race in census results

The Census Bureau warns that data on race in 2000 Census are not directly comparable to those collected in previous censuses. Many US residents consider race and ethnicity to be the same concept.

100 93.7 47.9 2.0 1.2 0.3 0.1 42.2 6.3 5.3 1.0

!Race !!Hispanic orLatino!!% ofH/L!!% ofUS!!Not Hispanicor Latino!!% of NotH/L!!% ofUS
!Any races	35,305,818	|	12.5	246,116,088	100	87.5
!One race:	33,081,736	|	11.8	241,513,942	98.1	85.8
!White	16,907,852	|	6.0	194,552,774	79.1	69.1
!Black orAfrican A.	710,353	|	0.3	33,947,837	13.8	12.1
!A. Indian/Alaska Nat.	407,073	|	0.1	2,068,883	0.8	0.7
!Asian	119,829	|	<0.1	10,123,169	4.1	3.6
!Hawaiian N.& Pacific Is.	45,326	|	<0.1	353,509	0.1	0.1
!Some other	14,891,303	|	5.3	467,770	0.2	0.2
!2+ races:	2,224,082	|	0.8	4,602,146	1.9	1.6
!Some other+ W/B/N/A	1,859,538	|	0.7	1,302,875	0.5	0.5
!2+ W/B/N/A	364,544	|	0.1	3,299,271	1.3	1.2

In the 2000 Census, respondents were tallied in each of the race groups they reported. Consequently, the total of each racial category exceeds the total population because some people reported more than one race.

The Census Bureau implemented a Census Quality Survey, gathering data from approximately 50,000 households in order to assess the reporting of race and Hispanic origin in the 2000 Census with the purpose creating a way to make comparisons between the 2000 Census with previous Census racial data.

The AAA also stated,

The recommendations of the AAA were not adopted by the Census Bureau for the 2000 Census or the 2010 Census.

2010 Census

The 2010 US Census includes changes designed to more clearly distinguish Hispanic ethnicity as not being a race. That includes adding the sentence: "For this census, Hispanic origins are not races." Additionally, the Hispanic terms are modified from "Hispanic or Latino" to "Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin".

Although used in the Census and the American Community Survey, "Some other race" is not an official race, and the Bureau considered eliminating it prior to the 2000 Census. As the 2010 census form does not contain the question titled "Ancestry" found in recent censuses, there are campaigns to get non-Hispanic West Indian Americans, Arab Americans and Iranian Americans to indicate their ethnic or national background through the race question, specifically the "Some other race" category.

The Interagency Committee has suggested that the concept of marking multiple boxes be extended to the Hispanic origin question, thereby freeing individuals from having to choose between their parents' ethnic heritages. In other words, a respondent could chose both "Hispanic or Latino" and "Not Hispanic or Latino".

Other agencies

In 2001, the National Institutes of Health adopted the new language to comply with the revisions to Directive 15, as did the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission of the United States Department of Labor in 2007. See Race and ethnicity (EEO).

See also

Criticism of the term Latino

Language (United States Census)

Race (classification of humans)

Race in the United States

Race and ethnicity in the United States

United States Census, 2000

References

Category:Demographics of the United States Category:Race in the United States

de:Race (United States Census) es:Raza (censo de los Estados Unidos) fr:Race (recensement des États-Unis) gl:Raza (censo dos Estados Unidos) id:Ras dan etnisitas di Sensus Amerika Serikat ru:Расовый состав США

Coordinates	9°1′48″N38°44′24″N
name	Shahrukh Khan
other names	Shah Rukh Khan, King Khan, SRK
birth date	November 02, 1965
birth place	New Delhi, India
years active	1988–present
spouse	Gauri Khan (1991–present)
occupation	Actor, producer, television presenter }}

Shahrukh Khan (; born 2 November 1965), often credited as Shah Rukh Khan, is an Indian film actor, as well as a film producer and television host. Often referred to as "The King of Bollywood", Khan has acted in over 70 Hindi films.

Khan began his career appearing in several television serials in the late 1980s. He made his film debut in ''Deewana'' (1992). Since then, he has been part of numerous commercially successful films and has earned critical acclaim for many of his performances. Khan has won fourteen Filmfare Awards for his work in Indian films, eight of which are in the Best Actor category (a record). In 2005, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri for his contributions towards Indian Cinema.

Khan's films such as ''Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge'' (1995), ''Kuch Kuch Hota Hai'' (1998), ''Chak De! India'' (2007), ''Om Shanti Om'' (2007) and ''Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi'' (2008) remain some of Bollywood's biggest hits, while films like ''Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...'' (2001), ''Kal Ho Naa Ho'' (2003), ''Veer-Zaara'' (2004), ''Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna'' (2006) and ''My Name Is Khan'' (2010) have been top-grossing Indian productions in the overseas markets, thus making him one of the most successful actors of India.

Since 2000, Khan branched out into film production and television presenting as well. He is the founder/owner of two production companies, Dreamz Unlimited and Red Chillies Entertainment. Globally, Khan is considered to be one of the biggest movie stars, with a fan following numbering in the billions and a net worth estimated at over . In 2008, ''Newsweek'' named him one of the 50 most powerful people in the world.

Biography

Khan was born in 1965 to Muslim parents of Pathan descent in New Delhi, India. His father, Taj Mohammed Khan, was an Indian independence activist from Peshawar, British India. According to Khan, his paternal grandfather was originally from Afghanistan. His mother, Lateef Fatima, was the adopted daughter of Major General Shah Nawaz Khan of the Janjua Rajput clan, who served as a General in the Indian National Army of Subash Chandra Bose. Khan's father came to New Delhi from Qissa Khawani Bazaar in Peshawar before the partition of India, while his mother's family came from Rawalpindi, British India. Khan has an elder sister named Shehnaz.

Growing up in Rajendra Nagar neighbourhood, Khan attended St. Columba's School where he was accomplished in sports, drama, and academics. He won the ''Sword of Honour'', an annual award given to the student who best represents the spirit of the school. Khan later attended the Hansraj College (1985–1988) and earned his Bachelors degree in Economics (honors). Though he pursued a Masters Degree in Mass Communications at Jamia Millia Islamia, he later opted out to make his career in Bollywood.

After the death of his parents, Khan moved to Mumbai in 1991. In that same year, before any of his films were released, he married Gauri Chibber, a Hindu, in a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony on 25 October 1991. They have two children, son Aryan (b. 1997) and daughter Suhana (b. 2000). According to Khan, while he strongly believes in Allah, he also values his wife's religion. At home, his children follow both religions, with the Qur'an being situated next to the Hindu deities.

In 2005, Nasreen Munni Kabir produced a two-part documentary on Khan, titled ''The Inner and Outer World of Shah Rukh Khan''. Featuring his 2004 Temptations concert tour, the film contrasted Khan's inner world of family and daily life with the outer world of his work. The book ''Still Reading Khan'', which details his family life, was released in 2006. Another book by Anupama Chopra, ''King of Bollywood: Shahrukh Khan and the seductive world of Indian cinema'', was released in 2007. It describes the world of Bollywood through Khan's life.

Film career

Background

Khan studied acting under celebrated Theatre Director Barry John at Delhi's Theatre Action Group (TAG). In 2007, John commented thus on his former pupil, "The credit for the phenomenally successful development and management of Shahrukh's career goes to the superstar himself." Khan made his acting debut in 1988 with the television series, ''Fauji'', playing the role of Commando Abhimanyu Rai. He went on to appear in other television serials, such as the 1989 serial, Aziz Mirza's ''Circus'', which depicted the life of circus performers. The same year, Khan also had a minor role in the made-for-television English-language film, ''In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones'', which was based on life at Delhi University and was written by Arundhati Roy. When Khan appeared in those teleserials, people found in him some resemblance with legendary actor Dilip Kumar and also compared his acting style with the thespian.

1990s

Upon moving from New Delhi to Mumbai in 1991, Khan made his Bollywood movie debut in ''Deewana'' (1992). The movie became a box office hit, and launched his career in Bollywood. His performance won him a Filmfare Best Male Debut Award. He went on to star in ''Maya Memsaab'', which generated some controversy because of his appearance in an "explicit" sex scene in the movie.

In 1993, Khan won acclaim for his performances in villainous roles as an obsessive lover and a murderer, respectively, in the box office hits, ''Darr'' and ''Baazigar''. In Khan's entry in Encyclopedia Britannica's "Encyclopedia of Hindi Cinema" it was stated that "he defied the image of the conventional hero in both these films and created his own version of the revisionist hero." ''Darr'' marked his first collaboration with renowned film-maker Yash Chopra and his banner Yash Raj Films, the largest production company in Bollywood. ''Baazigar'', which saw Khan portraying an ambiguous avenger who murders his girlfriend, shocked its Indian audience with an unexpected violation of the standard Bollywood formula. His performance won him his first Filmfare Best Actor Award. In that same year, Khan played the role of a young musician in Kundan Shah's ''Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa'', a performance that earned him a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance. Khan maintains that this is his all-time favourite among the movies he has acted in. In 1994, Khan once again played an obsessive lover/psycho's role in ''Anjaam'', co-starring alongside Madhuri Dixit. Though the movie was not a box office success, Khan's performance earned him the Filmfare Best Villain Award.

In 1995, Khan starred in the two biggest hits of the year in India. His first release was Rakesh Roshan's ''Karan Arjun''. The film, which dealt with reincarnation, became the second-highest grossing film of the year. He followed it with Aditya Chopra's directorial debut, the romance ''Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge''. A major critical and commercial success, the movie became the year's top-grossing production in India. In 2007, it entered its twelfth year in Mumbai cinemas. By then the movie had grossed over 12 billion rupees, making it one of India's biggest movie blockbusters. ''Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge'' won ten Filmfare Awards, and Khan's performance as a young NRI who falls for Kajol's character while on a college vacation, won him his second Best Actor Award. In 2005, ''Indiatimes Movies'' ranked the movie amongst the ''25 Must See Bollywood Films'', citing it as a "trendsetter of sorts". In that same year's retrospective review by Rediff, Raja Sen stated, "Khan gives a fabulous performance, redefining the Lover for the 1990s with great panache. He's cool and flippant, but sincere enough to appeal to the junta. The performance itself is, like the best in the business, played well enough to come across as effortless, as non-acting."

1996 was a disappointing year for Khan as all his movies released that year failed to do well at the box office. This was, however, followed by a comeback in 1997. He saw success with Subhash Ghai's social drama ''Pardes'' – one of the biggest hits of the year – and Aziz Mirza's comedy ''Yes Boss'', a moderately successful feature. His second project with Yash Chopra as a director, ''Dil to Pagal Hai'' became that year's second highest-grossing movie, and he won his third Filmfare Best Actor Award for his role as a stage director who falls in love with one of his new actresses.

In 1998, Khan starred in Karan Johar's directorial debut, ''Kuch Kuch Hota Hai'', which was the biggest hit of the year. His performance won him his fourth Best Actor award at the Filmfare. He won critical praise for his performance in Mani Ratnam's ''Dil Se''. The movie did not do well at the Indian box office, though it was a commercial success overseas. Khan's only release in 1999, ''Baadshah'', was an average grosser.

2000s

Khan's success continued with Aditya Chopra's 2000 film, ''Mohabbatein'', co-starring Amitabh Bachchan. It did well at the box office, and Khan's performance as a college teacher won him his second Critics Award for Best Performance. He also starred in Mansoor Khan's action film ''Josh''. The film starred Khan as the leader of a Christian gang in Goa and Aishwarya Rai as his twin sister, and was also a box office success. In that same year, Khan set up his own production house, ''Dreamz Unlimited'' with Juhi Chawla (see below). Both Khan and Chawla starred in the first movie of their production house, ''Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani''. His collaboration with Karan Johar continued in 2001 with the family drama ''Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham'' which was the second biggest hit of the year. He also received favourable reviews for his performance as Emperor Asoka in the historical epic, ''Asoka'', a partly fictionalised account of the life of Ashoka the Great (304 BC–232 BC).

In 2002, Khan received acclaim for playing the title role in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's award-winning period romance, ''Devdas''. This was the third Hindi movie adaptation of Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay's well-known novel of the same name, and surfaced as one of the biggest hits of that year. Khan also starred opposite Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit in the family-drama ''Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam'', which did well at the box office. In 2003, Khan starred in the moderately successful romantic drama, ''Chalte Chalte''. That same year, he starred in the tearjerker, ''Kal Ho Naa Ho'', written by Karan Johar and directed by Nikhil Advani. Khan's performance in this movie as a man with a fatal heart disease was appreciated. The movie proved to be one of the year's biggest hits in India and Bollywood's biggest hit in the overseas markets.

2004 was a particularly good year for Khan, both commercially and critically. He starred in Farah Khan's directorial debut, the action comedy ''Main Hoon Na''. The movie did well at the box office. He then played the role of an Indian officer, Veer Pratap Singh in Yash Chopra's love saga ''Veer-Zaara'', which was the biggest hit of 2004 in both India and overseas. The film relates the love story of Veer and a Pakistani woman Zaara Haayat Khan, played by Preity Zinta. Khan's performance in the film won him awards at several award ceremonies. In that same year, he received critical acclaim for his performance in Ashutosh Gowariker's drama ''Swades''. He was nominated for the Filmfare Best Actor Award for all three of his releases in 2004, winning it for ''Swades''.

In 2006, Khan collaborated with Karan Johar for the fourth time with the melodrama ''Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna''. It did well in India and much more so in the overseas market, becoming the biggest Bollywood hit in the overseas market of all-time. His second release that year saw him playing the title role in the action film ''Don: The Chase Begins Again'', a remake of the 1978 hit ''Don''. The movie was a success.

Khan's success continued with a few more highly popular films. One of his most successful works was the multiple award-winning 2007 film, ''Chak De! India'', about the Indian women's national hockey team. Earning over Rs 639 million, ''Chak De! India'' became the third highest grossing movie of 2007 in India and won yet another Filmfare Best Actor Award for Khan. The film was a major critical success. In the same year Khan also starred in Farah Khan's 2007 film, ''Om Shanti Om''. The film emerged as the year's highest grossing film in India and the overseas market, and became India's highest grossing production ever up to that point. It earned him another nomination for Best Actor at the Filmfare ceremony. His 2008 release, the romantic drama ''Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi'' was a box office success. His only 2009 release was ''Billu'' where he played film superstar Saahil Khan who is reunited with his childhood friend Billu played by Irrfan Khan.

2010s

Khan's next film was ''My Name Is Khan'', his fourth collaboration with director Karan Johar and the sixth movie in which he is paired with Kajol. Filming commenced in December 2008 in Los Angeles and ended in October 2009. While on one shoot in Los Angeles, along with his wife Gauri and director Karan Johar, he took a break from filming to attend the 66th Golden Globe Awards, held in Los Angeles, on 11 January 2009, where he was introduced as the ''King of Bollywood''. Khan introduced ''Slumdog Millionaire'', a movie he had previously turned down, along with a star from the film, Freida Pinto. ''My Name Is Khan'' was released on 12 February 2010. Based on a true story, and set against the backdrop of perceptions on Islam post 11 September attacks, ''My Name Is Khan'' stars Khan as Rizwan Khan, a Muslim man suffering from Asperger syndrome who sets out on a journey across America on a mission to meet the country's President and clear his name. During a promotional visit to the United States, Khan was detained at Newark Airport, New Jersey because of the similarity of his last name to known terrorists. Upon release, the film received positive reviews from critics and became the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time in the overseas market. Khan won his eighth Filmfare Award for Best Actor for his portrayal, thereby joining Dilip Kumar as the record holder in this category. He has completed filming for Anubhav Sinha's science fiction ''Ra.One'' opposite Kareena Kapoor, which is due for release on 26 October 2011. While shooting for the film, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited Yash Raj Studios, to watch Khan at work.

Producer

Khan turned producer when he set up a production company called ''Dreamz Unlimited'' with Juhi Chawla and director Aziz Mirza in 1999. The first two of the films he produced and starred in: ''Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani'' (2000) and ''Asoka'' (2001) were box office failures. However, his third film as a producer and star, ''Chalte Chalte'' (2003), proved a box office hit.

In 2004, Khan set up another production company, ''Red Chillies Entertainment'', and produced and starred in ''Main Hoon Na'', another hit. The following year, he produced and starred in the fantasy film ''Paheli'', which did poorly. It was, however, India's official entry to the Academy Awards for consideration for Best Foreign Language Film, but it did not pass the final selection. Also in 2005, Khan co-produced the supernatural horror film ''Kaal'' with Karan Johar, and performed an item number for the film with Malaika Arora Khan. ''Kaal'' was moderately successful at the box office. His company has further gone on to produce ''Om Shanti Om'' (2007), ''Billu'' (2009), ''Always Kabhi Kabhi'' (2011), as well as his forthcoming releases ''Ra.One'' and ''Don 2: The Chase Continues''.

Apart from film production, the company also has a visual effects studio known as ''Red Chillies VFX''. It has also ventured into television content production, with shows like, ''The First Ladies'', ''Ghar Ki Baat Hai', and ''Knights and Angels''. Television advertisements are also produced by the company.

In 2008, Red Chillies Entertainment became the owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders in the BCCI-backed IPL cricket competition.

Television

In 2007, Khan replaced Amitabh Bachchan as the host of the third series of the popular game show ''Kaun Banega Crorepati'', the Indian version of ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''. The previous had hosted the show for five years from 2000–05. On 22 January 2007, ''Kaun Banega Crorepati'' aired with Khan as the new host and later ended on 19 April 2007.

On 25 April 2008, Khan began hosting the game show ''Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?'', the Indian version of ''Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?'', whose last episode was telecasted on 27 July 2008, with Lalu Prasad Yadav as the special guest.

In February 2011, he began hosting Zor Ka Jhatka, the Indian version of the American game show Wipeout, on Imagine TV.

Awards and nominations

Apart from acting awards, Khan has been awarded several honours which include the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award from the Government of India in 2005. In April 2007, a life-size wax statue of Khan was installed at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, London. Another statue was installed at the Musée Grévin in Paris, the same year. During the same year, he was accorded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of the Arts and Literature) award by the French government for his “exceptional career”. There are also statues in Hong Kong and New York

In October 2008, Khan was conferred the ''Darjah Mulia Seri Melaka'' which carries the honorific Datuk (in similar fashion to "Sir" in British knighthood), by the Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Mohd Khalil Yaakob, the head of state of Malacca in Malaysia. Khan was honoured for "promoting tourism in Malacca" by filming ''One Two Ka Four'' there in 2001. Some were critical of this decision. He was also honoured with an honorary doctorate in arts and culture from Britain's University of Bedfordshire in 2009.

Filmography

Film actor

''Maya Memsaab'' ''Anjaam'' ''Karan Arjun'' ''English Babu Desi Mem'' ''Gudgudee'' ''Duplicate (1998 film) ''Baadshah'' ''Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani'' ''One 2 Ka 4'' ''Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam'' ''Chalte Chalte (2003 film) ''Yeh Lamhe Judaai Ke '' ''Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye'' ''Alag'' ''Chak De ''Krazzy 4'' ''Luck by Chance'' ''Dulha Mil Gaya'' ''Always Kabhi Kabhi'' ''Koochie Koochie Hota Hain''

style="background:#B0C4DE;"	Year	Film	Role	Notes
rowspan="5"	1992	Deewana (1992 film)>Deewana''	Raja Sahai
''Idiot (1992 film)	Idiot''	Pawan Raghujan
''Chamatkar''	Sunder Srivastava
''Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman''	Raju (Raj Mathur)
''Dil Aashna Hai''	Karan
rowspan="5"	1993	|	Lalit Kumar
''King Uncle''	Anil Bhansal
''Baazigar''	Ajay Sharma/Vicky Malhotra
''Darr''	Rahul Mehra
''Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa''	Sunil
1994	|	Vijay Agnihotri	Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role
rowspan="7"	1995	|	Arjun Singh/Vijay
''Zamana Deewana''	Rahul Malhotra
''Guddu''	Guddu Bahadur
''Oh Darling	Yeh Hai India!''	Hero
''Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge''	Raj Malhotra
''Ram Jaane''	Ram Jaane
''Trimurti (film)	Trimurti''	Romi Singh
rowspan="4"	1996	|	Vikram/Hari/Gopal Mayur
''Chaahat''	Roop Rathore
''Army (film)	Army''	Arjun
''Dushman Duniya Ka''	Badru
rowspan="5"	1997	|		Special appearance
''Koyla''	Shankar
''Yes Boss''	Rahul Joshi
''Pardes (film)	Pardes''	Arjun Saagar
''Dil To Pagal Hai''	Rahul
rowspan="4"	1998	Duplicate'' ||	Bablu Chaudhry/Manu Dada	Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role
''Achanak (1998 film)	Achanak''	Himself
''Dil Se''	Amarkant Varma
''Kuch Kuch Hota Hai''	Rahul Khanna
1999	|	Raj Heera/Baadshah	Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Comic Role
rowspan="6"	2000	|	Ajay Bakshi
''Hey Ram''	Amjad Ali Khan
''Josh (2000 film)	Josh''	Max
''Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega''	Rahul
''Mohabbatein''	Raj Aryan Malhotra
''Gaja Gamini''	Himself
rowspan="3"	2001	|	Arun Verma
''Asoka (2001 film)	Asoka''	Asoka
''Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...''	Rahul Raichand
rowspan="4"	2002	|	Gopal
''Devdas (2002 film)	Devdas''	Devdas Mukherjee
''Shakti (2002 film)	Shakti: The Power''	Jaisingh
''Saathiya''	Yeshwant Rao
rowspan="2"	2003	Chalte Chalte'' ||	Raj Mathur
''Kal Ho Naa Ho''	Aman Mathur
rowspan="4"	2004	|	Dushant
''Main Hoon Na''	Maj. Ram Prasad Sharma
''Veer-Zaara''	Veer Pratap Singh
''Swades''	Mohan Bhargava
rowspan="5"	2005	|	Himself	Special appearance
''Kaal (2005 film)	Kaal''
''Silsilay''	Sutradhar
''Paheli''	Kishenlal/The Ghost
''The Inner and Outer World of Shah Rukh Khan	The Inner and Outer World of Shah Rukh Khan''	Himself (Biopic)
rowspan="4"	2006	|		Special appearance in song "Sabse Alag"
''Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna''	Dev Saran
''Don: The Chase Begins Again''
''I See You (film)	I See You''
rowspan="3"	2007	India''	Kabir Khan
''Heyy Babyy''	Raj Malhotra
''Om Shanti Om''	Om Prakash Makhija/ Om Kapoor
rowspan="4"	2008	|		Special appearance in song "Break Free"
''Bhoothnath''	Aditya Sharma
''Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi''	Surinder Sahni/Raj
''Kismat Konnection''	Narrator
rowspan="2"	2009	|	Himself	Guest appearance
''Billu''	Sahir Khan
rowspan="3"	2010	|	Pawan Raj Gandhi (PRG)	Extended appearance
''My Name Is Khan''	Rizwan Khan
''Shahrukh Bola Khoobsurat Hai Tu''	Himself
rowspan="3"	2011	|		Special appearance in song "Antenna"
''Ra.One''	G.One
''Don 2: The Chase Continues''	Don
2012	|	Rocky	Post-production

Producer

''Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani'' (2000)

''Asoka'' (2001)

''Chalte Chalte'' (2003)

''Main Hoon Na'' (2004)

''Kaal'' (2005)

''Paheli'' (2005)

''Om Shanti Om'' (2007)

''Billu'' (2009)

''Always Kabhi Kabhi'' (2011)

''Ra.One'' (2011)

''Don 2: The Chase Continues'' (2011)

Television appearances

''Dil Dariya'' (1988)

''Fauji'' (1988) ... Abhimanyu Rai

''Doosra Keval'' (1989) ... Keval

''Circus'' (1989)

''In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones'' (1989)

''Kareena Kareena'' (2004) ... Special appearance

''Kaun Banega Crorepati'' (2007) ... Host

''Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?'' (2008)  .... Host

''Zor Ka Jhatka: Total Wipeout'' (2011) ... Host

See also

List of Indian Actors

Newark Airport Incident

Notes

Bibliography

Nasreen Munni Kabir. ''The Inner and Outer World of Shah Rukh Khan'' (Documentary, 2005).

''Shahrukh Khan – Still Reading Khan''. A1Books Distributor 2007. ISBN 9788187107798.

Gahlot, Deepa; Agarwal, Amit. ''King Khan SRK''. Augsburg Weltbild 2007. ISBN 9783828988699.

Ghosh, Biswadeep. ''Hall of fame: Shahrukh Khan'' (in English). Mumbai: Magna Books, 2004. ISBN 8178092379.

Chopra, Anupama. ''King of Bollywood : Shah Rukh Khan and the seductive world of Indian cinema'' (English). New York: Warner Books, 2007. ISBN 9780446578585.

External links

Category:1965 births Category:Filmfare Awards winners Category:Hindi film actors Category:Indian actors Category:Indian film actors Category:Indian film producers Category:Indian Muslims Category:Indian Premier League franchise owners Category:Indian singers Category:Indian television actors Category:Indian voice actors Category:Indian television presenters Category:Indian people of Afghan descent Category:Jamia Millia Islamia alumni Category:Living people Category:Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Category:Pashtun people Category:People from Delhi Category:People from Peshawar Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri Category:University of Delhi alumni Category:Indian game show hosts

ar:شاه روخان az:Şahrux Xan bn:শাহরুখ খান br:Shahrukh Khan bg:Шах Рук Хан ca:Shahrukh Khan cs:Shahrukh Khan da:Shah Rukh Khan de:Shah Rukh Khan dv:ޝާހުރުކް ޚާން es:Shahrukh Khan eo:Shahrukh Khan fa:شاهرخ خان fr:Shahrukh Khan gu:શાહરૂખ ખાન hi:शाहरुख़ ख़ान id:Shahrukh Khan it:Shah Rukh Khan he:שאהרוח' ח'אן jv:Shahrukh Khan kn:ಶಾರುಖ್ ಖಾನ್ (ಹಿಂದಿ ನಟ) ku:Shahrukh Khan lb:Shahrukh Khan hu:Sáhruh Khán ml:ഷാരൂഖ് ഖാൻ mr:शाहरुख खान ms:Shahrukh Khan nl:Shahrukh Khan ja:シャー・ルク・カーン no:Shah Rukh Khan oc:Shah Rukh Khan or:ଶାହାରୁଖ ଖାନ pnb:شاہ رخ خان ps:شاهرخ خان pl:Shah Rukh Khan pt:Shahrukh Khan ru:Хан, Шах Рух sq:Shah Rukh Khan simple:Shahrukh Khan sd:Shahrukh Khan sh:Shahrukh Khan fi:Shahrukh Khan sv:Shahrukh Khan ta:சாருக் கான் te:షారుఖ్ ఖాన్ th:ศาห์รุข ข่าน tg:Шоҳрух Хон tr:Shahrukh Khan ur:شاہ رخ خان wuu:沙·卢克·康 zh-yue:沙魯克汗 zh:沙魯克·汗

Coordinates	9°1′48″N38°44′24″N
name	Kareena Kapoor
alt	A young Indian woman. Her face is brightly lit. She has dark brown hair falling upto her chest and is clad in a red sari. Her eyes are bluish in color and she appears to be smiling while looking at the camera.
birth date	September 21, 1980
birth place	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
occupation	Film actress
years active	2000–present
partner	Saif Ali Khan (2007–present)
signature	KareenaKapoor sig.jpg
signature alt	"Kareena Kapoor"
website	}}

Kareena Kapoor (, pronounced ; born on 21 September 1980), often informally referred to as Bebo, is an Indian actress who appears in Bollywood films. During her career, Kapoor has received six Filmfare Awards, among nine nominations, and has been noted for her performances in a range of film genres; these include her work from contemporary romantic dramas to comedies, period films to major Bollywood productions, as well as less publicised independent films.

Born into a family where her parents, Randhir Kapoor and Babita, and elder sister Karisma were actors, Kapoor faced the media spotlight from a very young age, but did not make her acting debut until the 2000 film ''Refugee''. Her melodrama ''Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...'' became India's highest-grossing film in the overseas market in 2001, and is one of her biggest commercial successes to date. After receiving negative reviews for a series of repetitive roles, Kapoor accepted more demanding parts in order to avoid being typecast, and was consequently recognized by critics for displaying greater versatility as an actress. Her portrayal of a sex worker in ''Chameli'' (2004) proved to be the turning point in her career and she was later noted for her performances in the critically acclaimed projects ''Dev'' (2004) and ''Omkara'' (2006).

In 2007, Kapoor received the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her performance in ''Jab We Met'', a romantic comedy directed by Imtiaz Ali. She went on to play the lead female role in the thriller ''Kurbaan'' (2009), for which she earned critical acclaim, and the drama ''3 Idiots'' (2009), which became the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time. Having done so, Kapoor has established herself as a leading actress of the Hindi film industry. In addition to movie acting, Kapoor is a regular stage performer and has launched her own clothing line in association with being the brand ambassador for the retail chain Globus. Her off-screen life, including her relationship with actor Saif Ali Khan, is the subject of wide media coverage in India.

Life and career

Early life and background

Born in Mumbai, India, on 21 September 1980, into the Kapoor film family, Kapoor is the younger daughter of actors Randhir Kapoor and Babita (''née'' Shivdasani); her elder sister Karisma Kapoor, is also an actress. She is the granddaughter of actor and filmmaker Raj Kapoor, great-granddaughter of actor Prithviraj Kapoor, and niece of actor Rishi Kapoor. According to Kapoor, the name "Kareena" was derived from the book ''Anna Karenina'', which her mother read while she was pregnant with her. Often informally referred to as ''Bebo'', she is of Punjabi Khatri descent from her father's side, and on her mother's side she is Sindhi.

As a child, she had strong aspirations to become an actress, and was particularly inspired by watching the films of Bollywood actresses Nargis and Meena Kumari. Kapoor, who describes herself as a "very naughty [and] spoilt child", would regularly dress up in her mother's clothes and perform in front of the mirror. Despite her family background, her father disapproved of women entering the acting profession because he believed it conflicted with the traditional maternal duties and responsibility of women in the family. This led to a conflict between her parents and resulted in Kapoor's mother leaving the house with her daughters. After her parents' separation, she was raised in Lokhandwala by her mother, who worked several jobs to support her daughters until Karisma debuted as an actress in 1991. In an interview with Vir Sanghvi, Kapoor said that growing up in a household filled with women helped her become strong and independent. Following her parents' reconciliation in October 2007, Kapoor explained that they "were never officially divorced ... [but] ... liv[ed] separately." Asked about the relationship she shared with her father, Kapoor remarked, "My father is ... an important factor in my life. [Al]though we did not see him often in our initial years, we are a family now."

Kapoor attended Jamnabai Narsee School in Mumbai before progressing to Welham Girls Boarding School in Dehradun. She later recalled, "I learnt so much from being at Welham", and described her experience there as "one of the finest parts of my life". According to Kapoor, she was a good student and received first-class honours in all subjects except mathematics. Upon graduating from the boarding school, she studied commerce for two years at Mithibai College in Vile Parle, Mumbai, but later confessed that she only studied there because she was close to her family. Kapoor then registered for a three-month summer course in microcomputers at Harvard University in the United States. She later developed an interest in law and enrolled at the Government Law College in Churchgate; during this period she became immersed in law books and developed a long-lasting passion for reading. However, after completing one year at Churchgate, Kapoor realized that she was not inclined towards academics and returned to her initial plan to become an actress. She began training at an acting institute in Andheri, mentored by Kishore Namit Kapoor, a member of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).

2000–03: Debut and breakthrough

Kapoor was initially scheduled to make her debut in Rakesh Roshan's ''Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai'' (2000), opposite the director's son Hrithik Roshan. Several days into the filming, however, she abandoned the project and later explained that, "it was probably destined that I was not to be in the film. After all, it was a launch for his son. The whole focus was on the boy. Now I am glad I did not do the movie."

She made her debut later that year in J.P. Dutta's war drama ''Refugee'', alongside Abhishek Bachchan. Set during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, the film centers on a man known simply as "Refugee", who illegally transports civilians back and forth across the Indo-Pakistani border. Kapoor portrayed Naaz, a Bangladeshi girl who falls in love with Refugee while illegally migrating to Pakistan with her family. Her performance was acclaimed by critics; Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama wrote that Kapoor "has a magnetic personality, which will make the viewer fall in love with her instantly. What surprises you is the ease with which she emotes the most difficult of scenes [...] There is no denying the fact that she is a natural performer who is very camera friendly." On the experience of making her first film, she described it as "...tough ... [but] also a great learning experience." ''Refugee'' became the fifth highest-grossing film in India in 2000, and Kapoor's performance earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut.

In 2001, Kapoor appeared opposite Tusshar Kapoor in the romantic drama ''Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai'', which became one of the highest earners of the year. A review in ''The Hindu'', in regards to her performance, noted that she was "definitely the actress to watch out for, if her debut with Abhishek in ''Refugee'' and now ''Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai'' are any indication [...] Kareena shines throughout the flick, with the grace of a seasoned sizzler already." She next starred in Subhash Ghai's family drama ''Yaadein'' alongside Jackie Shroff and Hrithik Roshan. The drama centers on the character of Raj Singh Puri, a middle-class man, and his daughters' marriages. Kapoor played the part of the youngest daughter and Roshan's love interest, Isha Singh Puri. The film was met with negative reactions from reviewers and garnered poor box office returns. Kapoor then appeared in the Abbas-Mustan thriller ''Ajnabee''. The feature was adapted from the 1992 American thriller film ''Consenting Adults'', and was a moderate box office success in India.

Later in the year, she played the female lead in Santosh Sivan's period epic ''Asoka'', a partly fictionalized account of the life of Ashoka the Great. It was widely screened across the United Kingdom and North America, and was also selected for screening at the Venice Film Festival and the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival. Featured opposite Shahrukh Khan who played Ashoka, Kapoor portrayed the character of Kaurwaki—a princess of Kalinga with whom Ashoka falls in love—and received her first Filmfare Best Actress nomination. While the film received generally positive reviews, Kapoor's performance received a mixed reaction from critics. Rediff.com concluded that "while a large portion of the first half is focused on the emerging romance between the runaway prince and herself and to their credit they do manage to whip up some on-screen chemistry, I am still unsure as to her acting abilities." Meanwhile, David Rooney from ''Variety'' wrote, "Kapoor plays ornately tattooed Kaurwaki as a lively mix of flirtatious coquette and feisty warrior woman, kind of like J.Lo meets Michelle Yeoh."

Her final release of 2001 was ''Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...'', a melodrama, in which she featured as part of an ensemble cast that included Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Kajol and Hrithik Roshan. Directed by Karan Johar, the movie was a major financial success and became India's second highest-grossing film of the year, as well as Kapoor's highest-grossing movie up until then. It also performed well internationally and became one of the biggest Bollywood success of all time in the overseas market, earning over worldwide. Kapoor's performance as "Poo", a good-natured but superficial girl, was described as "one of the main ... highlights of the film", and her portrayal earned her a Filmfare Best Supporting Actress nomination.

During 2002 and 2003, Kapoor experienced a setback in her career. She was in six films—''Mujhse Dosti Karoge!'', ''Jeena Sirf Merre Liye'', ''Talaash: The Hunt Begins...'', ''Khushi'', ''Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon'', and the four-hour war epic ''LOC Kargil''—all of which proved critically and commercially unsuccessful in India. Kapoor's performances were often identified by critics as unoriginal and repetitive, with little inspiration. They expressed concern that she was becoming typecast, but these negative reviews were fundamental in motivating her to improve her integrity as an actress in subsequent years by accepting more demanding roles.

2004–06: Critical acclaim

Following the negative period in Kapoor's career, 2004 marked the beginning of her work in more serious films, most of which would bring her critical acclaim rather than commercial success. Under the direction of Sudhir Mishra, Kapoor portrayed the role of a prostitute in ''Chameli''. The film relates the story of a young prostitute who meets with a widowed investment banker (played by Rahul Bose), and follows the development of their relationship as they share their devastating life experiences. When Kapoor was initially offered the role in 2002, she refused it, stating that she was reluctant to play a bold role at the beginning of her career. However, when the director again approached her a year later, she agreed to do the film and viewed it as an opportunity to show the range of her acting skills. To prepare for the role, she visited several of Mumbai's red-light district areas at night to study the dress and mannerisms of sex workers. Upon release, the film and Kapoor's performance opened to predominantly positive reviews by critics, with the ''Indiatimes'' praising her "intuitive brilliance" and stating that she had exceeded all expectations. Another reviewer, however expressed concern that they found her portrayal unconvincing and excessively stereotypical, describing her as "sounding more like a teenager playacting than a brash, hardened streetwalker", and likening her mannerisms to that of a caricature. Nonetheless, Kapoor's portrayal of Chameli garnered her the Filmfare Special Performance Award and the film marked a significant turning point in her career as an actress.

She next co-starred in Mani Ratnam's bilingual project ''Yuva'' alongside Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan, Vivek Oberoi, Rani Mukerji and Esha Deol. The film, consisting of three chapters, tells the story of six individuals linked by a car accident. Kapoor is featured in the third chapter as Oberoi's love interest, Mira, a young witty woman. In a review published by ''The Times of India'', film critic Subhash K Jha described her role as "fey and insubstantial", but further stated that "she turns these character traits to her own advantage to create a girl who is at once enigmatic and all-there, a bit like the film itself which is both mysterious and voluptuous". She then appeared alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Fardeen Khan in Govind Nihalani's critically acclaimed film ''Dev'', which revolved around the 2002 Hindu-Muslim riots in the Indian state of Gujarat. Kapoor's role was that of a Muslim victim named Aaliya, modelled after Zaheera Sheikh, a key witness in Vadodara's Best Bakery case. It earned her a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance, as well as nominations for ''Best Actress'' at various award ceremonies. Taran Adarsh commented, "Kareena Kapoor is first-rate. Sporting a deglamorized look, the actress takes a giant leap with this film. Her scene with Amitabh Bachchan (when the latter asks for witnesses to come forward) is an example of superb acting."

Shortly afterwards, she was cast for the first time as a villain in the thriller ''Fida''. The film follows the story of an on-line robbery and the Mumbai underworld with which her character Neha Mehra becomes involved. During the filming of ''Fida'', Kapoor entered into a relationship with actor Shahid Kapoor, whom she later described as having "a major positive influence in my life." Although the film did not succeed at the box office, Kapoor garnered positive reviews for her performance, with some critics noting a distinct progression from her earlier roles. Her subsequent releases that year included Abbas-Mustan's thriller ''Aitraaz'' and Priyadarshan's comedy ''Hulchul'', both of which did well at the Indian box office. Following the success of her last two releases, she was cast as the protagonist in the 2005 drama ''Bewafaa''. The feature received mostly negative reviews and Kapoor's portrayal of Anjali Sahai, an unfaithful woman, was not well-received. Nikhat Kazmi of ''Indiatimes'' believed that in an effort to become a serious actress, Kapoor was embodying a maturer, more jaded character ahead of her years in ''Bewafaa'' which appeared peculiar for a young woman of her age. She then starred in Priyadarshan's romantic drama ''Kyon Ki'', a film that relates the love story of a mentally ill patient, played by Salman Khan, and his physician, played by Kapoor. The film was a box office failure, though Kapoor's performance was generally enjoyed by critics, with the ''BBC'' reporting that she is "[...] a pure natural when it comes to acting."

In 2006, Kapoor appeared in three films. She first starred in the thriller ''36 China Town'' followed by the comedy ''Chup Chup Ke''; both films performed reasonably well. She next portrayed the Shakespearean character of Desdemona in ''Omkara'', the Hindi adaptation of William Shakespeare's ''Othello''. Directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, the film is a tragedy of sexual jealousy set against the backdrop of the political system in Uttar Pradesh. The film premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and was also selected for screening at the Cairo International Film Festival. ''Omkara'' was embraced by critics and Kapoor's portrayal earned her a fourth Filmfare Award and first Star Screen Award; her performance was later included in the 2010 issue of the "Top 80 Iconic Performances" by ''Filmfare''. Kapoor herself considers her role in ''Omkara'' as a "new benchmark" in her career and has made comparisons between her portrayal of Dolly and her own evolving maturity as a woman.

Following ''Omkara'', she stopped acting for a short time, as she felt that "nothing [was] challenging enough for me to say yes". In an interview with ''The Times of India'', Kapoor commented, "In my initial years in the industry, I pushed myself to do a lot of work because I was greedy. I did some films – which I now regret – purely for the money. Today, I want to do selective films"; she later described this period as a way of "finally getting to do the things I have always wanted to do."

2007–present: ''Jab We Met'' and other works

Kapoor returned to film as the female protagonist Geet Dhillon, a vivacious Sikh girl with a strong zest for life, in the Imtiaz Ali directed romantic comedy ''Jab We Met'' (2007). Featured opposite Shahid Kapoor, the film relates the story of two people with contrasting personalities who meet on a train and eventually fall in love. The film was received favourably by critics and became one of the year's most successful films, with a domestic box office of . Kapoor won several awards for her performance, including her second Screen Award as well as the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Rajeev Masand from ''CNN-IBN'' noted, "Uninhibited and spontaneous, Kareena Kapoor is the soul of this picture, its biggest strength, as she brings alive her character with not just those smart lines, but with the kind of candor actors seldom invest in their work." While shooting for ''Jab We Met'', Kapoor and Shahid ended their three-year relationship. Asked in ''Mumbai Mirror'' about their well-publicized break-up, she stated that "I hold him in utmost regard, and I hope one day we could be good friends. He is a great guy." During this period, speculation began to surface that she was dating actor Saif Ali Khan, her co-star in the film ''Tashan'' (2008). On October 18, 2007, during Manish Malhotra's grand finale show at the ''Lakme Fashion Week'', Khan confirmed their relationship to the media.

The following year, she co-starred alongside Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan and Anil Kapoor in Vijay Krishna Acharya's action-thriller ''Tashan''. Though a poll conducted by Bollywood Hungama named it as the most anticipated release of the year, the film eventually became a commercial and critical failure. She next provided her voice for the character of Laila, the love interest of a street dog named Romeo, in the Yash Raj Films and Walt Disney Pictures animated film ''Roadside Romeo''. It was the second Bollywood film to receive a North American release by a Hollywood studio. In preparation for the role, Kapoor viewed several Hollywood animated films to analyse how actors delivered their dialogues. Kapoor then appeared in Rohit Shetty's comedy ''Golmaal Returns'', the sequel to the 2006 film ''Golmaal''. A part of an ensemble cast that included Ajay Devgn, Arshad Warsi and Tusshar Kapoor, Kapoor played a distrustful wife who believed her husband to be unfaithful. The film received an ambivalent reception from critics and Kapoor herself received mixed reviews. ''The Indian Express'' believed the screenplay was unoriginal, concluding, "There is nothing particularly new about a suspicious wife keeping tabs on her husband, and there is nothing particularly new in the way Kareena plays it." ''Golmaal Returns'' was nonetheless a major financial success, with revenues of internationally.

In 2009, Kapoor was cast as Simrita Rai opposite Akshay Kumar in Sabbir Khan's battle of the sexes comedy ''Kambakkht Ishq''. Set in Los Angeles, California, it became the first Indian film in history to be shot within Universal Studios Hollywood, California, and featured several cameo appearances from Hollywood actors. The film earned over worldwide, but was a critical failure. ''The Times of India'' described her performance as "a complete let-down" and further stated that "despite her haute-coutured look, micro minis [and] pencil heels, she comes across as a completely unconvincing supermodel cum surgeon." She next played the leading female role in the dramatic thriller ''Kurbaan'', alongside Saif Ali Khan and Vivek Oberoi. The film, which marked the directorial debut of Rensil D'Silva, featured Kapoor in the role of Avantika Ahuja, a woman who is confined to house arrest after finding out that her husband is a terrorist. She described the film as "an emotionally draining experience", which did not let her disconnect from her character during shooting. Upon release, the film was critically embraced and Kapoor received her fourth Filmfare Best Actress nomination. According to Subhash K Jha, "''Kurbaan'' belongs to Kareena Kapoor. In her most consistently-pitched performance to date she pulls out all stops to play a betrayed wife with splendid sensitivity. Kareena accommodates her radiant beauty into an utterly credible character and performance. At her best, Kareena is incomparable. She proves it in ''Kurbaan''."

Her final release of the year was Rajkumar Hirani's drama ''3 Idiots'', a film loosely based on the novel ''Five Point Someone'' by Chetan Bhagat. Co-starring alongside Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan and Sharman Joshi, Kapoor starred as Pia, an independent-minded medical student and Khan's love interest. On acting alongside Khan, Kapoor revealed that it was "a dream come true" and further stated that her journey as an actress was "finally complete". The feature received much critical devotion and emerged as the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time, grossing at the Indian box office. It also did well internationally and earned over , the second biggest Bollywood success of all time in the overseas market. Rediff.com opined that Kapoor dazzled with her "brief role, and even though a lot of her spunk seems significantly ''Jab We Met'' in tone, she lights up the screen when she is around." During the 55th Filmfare Awards, Kapoor received another ''Best Actress'' nomination for her role.

In 2010, she appeared in the romantic comedy ''Milenge Milenge'', a production that had been delayed since 2005. The feature garnered negative reviews and poor box office returns. Kapoor's role was small and was not well-received. She next took the supporting role of the career-oriented Shreya Arora in ''We Are Family'', the Hindi adaptation of the 1998 Hollywood release ''Stepmom''. Prior on commencing work for the project, Kapoor explained that she did not want to watch the original film in an attempt to "interpret the role...in my own style". Reaction to the film was mostly lukewarm, but Kapoor's performance drew positive reviews and ultimately won her the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress; critic Priyanka Roy of ''The Telegraph'' reported that Kapoor "[...] breathes life and a new-found maturity into what is largely a uni-dimensional character lacking depth." At the end of the year, Kapoor reunited with director Rohit Shetty for his sequel to the 2008 release ''Golmaal Returns''. Like its predecessor, the project was met with mixed reactions from reviewers, though became the most successful entry in the ''Golmaal'' film series, earning more than domestically. For her portrayal of the tomboy Daboo, Kapoor went on to receive several ''Best Actress'' nominations at a number of award ceremonies, including Filmfare. A review in ''MiD DAY'' described her as "[the film's]...real hero...who takes the story forward."

By July 2011, Kapoor completed shooting for the Hindi remake of the 2010 Malayalam film ''Bodyguard'', and the science fiction ''Ra.One''. She is scheduled to appear in Dharma Productions' ''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' alongside Imran Khan, as well as Sriram Raghavan's action-thriller ''Agent Vinod'', both of which began principal photography in late 2010.

Off-screen work

Stage performances

Kapoor has been part of several stage shows and world tours since 2002. Her first world tour, the ''Heartthrobs: Live in Concert'', was successfully performed across the United States and Canada alongside Hrithik Roshan, Karisma Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, and Aftab Shivdasani. At the end of the year, she performed alongside several Bollywood stars at the Kings Park Stadium in Durban, South Africa, for the show ''Now or Never''. Four years later, Kapoor took part in the ''Rockstars Concert'' world tour, along with Salman Khan, Zayed Khan, John Abraham, Shahid Kapoor, Esha Deol and Mallika Sherawat. The concert was showcased in 19 cities across the United Kingdom, United States and Canada, and went on to become a success. In 2008, Kapoor participated in Shahrukh Khan's ''Temptation Reloaded 2008'', a series of concerts showcased across several different countries. The show, which also featured Arjun Rampal, Katrina Kaif, Ganesh Hegde, Javed Ali and Anusha Dandekar, took place at the Ahoy Rotterdam venue in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Several months later, she again joined Khan, Rampal and Kaif to perform for 15,000 spectators at Dubai's Festival City Arena.

Humanitarian work

During her years in the film industry, Kapoor has also been involved with various humanitarian causes. In November 2003, Kapoor performed at the ''Marco Ricci Each One Reach One Benefit Concert'', a fundraiser for the World Youth Peace Summit, while in 2005, along with other Bollywood stars, she took part in the ''HELP! Telethon Concert'', to help raise money for the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Later that year, she visited the desert heartland of Rajasthan to boost the morale of the jawan troops for a special Holi weekend episode on the NDTV show, ''Jai Jawan''. The show consists of entertainers and stars visiting Indian troops in isolated regions along with the NDTV team. In April 2007, Kapoor donated her winnings of from ''Kaun Banega Crorepati'' (India's version of ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'') to St. Anthony's Old Age Home and Mount Mary Bandra. She subsequently went on to donate her winnings from ''Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?'' and ''10 Ka Dum'' to the old age home in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

The following year, Kapoor attended the ''NDTV Greenathon'', where she adopted the village of Chanderi in Madhya Pradesh to provide them with electricity. While there, she also raised awareness on creating a greener future for the environment. Several months later, Kapoor was roped in by UNESCO and FIFA for their international campaign, ''1GOAL Education for All''. The project consisted of a group of individuals raising public awareness and involvement in achieving education for children. Upon joining the project, she said: "Education is a way to emancipation. It is not just freedom from poverty but also from hopelessness. Countries in Southeast Asia have a high level of poverty […] and we should do something to help erase this. I would like to contribute in some way or other to help spread this awareness." In March 2011, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, Kapoor was appointed as the brand ambassador of the ''Shakti'' campaign, a project launched by the television company, NDTV, to help fight violence against women.

Clothing line

In August 2007, Kapoor replaced actress Soha Ali Khan, when she was hired as the brand ambassador for the clothing chain Globus on a two-year contract. Vinay Nadkarni, CEO of Globus Stores Pvt Ltd, explained that in an attempt to move away from being a multi-branded retail chain to adopting a single brand strategy for its stores, the clothing chain decided to appoint a different brand ambassador for its new business ventures. On being appointed by Globus, Kapoor commented, "I am delighted to be the face of Globus [...] I look forward to spreading this new language of fashion across the nation". Since her start, it was reported that the brand had experienced a 75 percent increase in sales.

Several months later, Kapoor announced that she would be launching her own line of clothing, thus becoming the first Indian actress to do so. She said, "I will be launching my exclusive line of clothes soon and I am quite sure people will like it. My clothing line is very reflective of my personal sense of style and will have my label on it. Just like I am pretty casual about my dressing, my line will also consist of an extremely wearable yet stylish collection. I am taking out this line in association with Globus, a brand that I am also the ambassadress for". Kapoor further stated that she would also be involved in the planning and designing process of the clothing as well. Her clothing line debuted several months later in stores across India and was well-received by the public. Following the end of her contract with Globus, Kapoor expressed her desire of working with an international design house to release her clothing line internationally; she later explained that her plans had to be put on hold due to prior commitments.

In the media

Hailing from a family deeply involved in the Bollywood film industry, Kapoor faced the media spotlight from a very young age. As a child, Kapoor regularly attended award ceremonies and events with her mother Babita and sister Karisma Kapoor, and would also accompany her sister on set during filming. In an interview with ''Filmfare'', she said that growing up in a film family helped her develop a sense of professionalism towards her work and remain grounded as a human being. Kapoor's off-screen life has been subject to wide media coverage in India with frequent press coverage of her weight and diet. She also created headlines with her much publicized breakup with Shahid Kapoor and her subsequent relationship with actor Saif Ali Khan. Often referred to as India's "Brangelina" ("Saifeena") by the press, her relationship with Khan has become one of the most reported celebrity stories in India since 2007. In recent years, in response to media speculation, Kapoor has developed a nonchalant relationship with the media and has gained a reputation for discussing her professional or private life with the press with no reservations.

As one of her most distinctive physical features, Kapoor's lips have been cited by the Indian media as her trademark. Her off-screen image has been open to much debate and criticism. While a section of the press has described her as friendly and extremely close to her family, others have described her as arrogant and vain, an image she gained following the portrayal of her character in the film ''Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...'' (2001). She subsequently went on to play similar characters in her films from 2002–03, which further established her off-screen as well as her on-screen image as an actress. Prior to the release of ''Chameli'' (2004), in which she played the role of a sex worker, Kapoor stated that, "there is a certain image that people identify you with. It always follows you whichever role you play. I am trying to transgress this image and become more screen-friendly than image-friendly." Following the release of ''Chameli'', which helped her gain a new on-screen image, Kapoor was asked about her off-screen image. During an interview, she explained that as a child she was always taught to be self-confident, a trait she says was often misunderstood by the media for her arrogance.

In 2004, Kapoor appeared third on Rediff's list of "Top Bollywood Female Stars". She was later ranked seventh and fifth in 2005–2006 respectively, and came back to the third position in 2007. She has been featured frequently on other Rediff lists, including "Bollywood's Most Beautiful Actresses", "Bollywood's Best Dressed Women" and "Women of Many Faces". During 2005, Kapoor made her first appearance on Karan Johar's talk show ''Koffee with Karan'' alongside Rani Mukerji, whilst she later appeared along with Shahid Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan in 2007 and 2010 respectively. In 2006, she was chosen to model and walk the runway for Manish Malhotra's fashion display at the ''Fashion Week 2006'', along with actors Shahid Kapoor and Urmila Matondkar. Three years later, Kapoor once again walked the runway for Malhotra's bridal collection titled ''Destination Wedding'' during the ''2009 India Couture Week''.

Today, Kapoor is considered as one of the most popular Bollywood celebrities in India. Her look and performances have established her as a style icon for young girls and women. In a 2009 poll conducted by the newspaper ''DNA'', she was voted as one of India's most popular icons. According to the UK magazine ''Eastern Eye'', Kapoor was ranked fourth in the list of "Asia's Sexiest Women" in 2009; she had been previously ranked eighth in 2007 and third in 2008. She became the only actress to be featured on CNNGo's list of "Who Mattered Most in India" and was described as "India's Most Beautiful Woman" by ''People'' in 2010. In July 2010, Kapoor was placed eighth in ''Filmfare Magazine'''s annual power list, an achievement she repeated from the previous year, where she was ranked at number ten.

Filmography

! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
2000		Nazneen "Naaz" Ahmed	Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut
2001	''Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai''	Pooja Saxena
2001		Isha Singh Puri
2001		Priya Malhotra
2001		Kaurwaki	Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actress
2001	''Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...''	Pooja "Poo" Sharma	Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress
2002	''Mujhse Dosti Karoge!''	Tina Kapoor
2002	''Jeena Sirf Merre Liye''	Pooja / Pinky
2003	''Talaash: The Hunt Begins...''	Tina
2003		Khushi Singh (Lali)
2003	''Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon''	Sanjana
2003	''LOC Kargil''	Simran
2004		Chameli
2004	''Yuva''	Mira
2004		Aaliya	Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress
2004	''Fida''	Neha Mehra
2004	''Aitraaz''	Priya Saxena / Malhotra
2004		Anjali
2005	''Bewafaa''	Anjali Sahai
2005	''Kyon Ki''	Dr. Tanvi Khurana
2005	''Dosti: Friends Forever''	Anjali
2006	''36 China Town''	Priya
2006	''Chup Chup Ke''	Shruti
2006		Dolly Mishra	Filmfare Critics Award for Best ActressNominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actress
2006	''Don: The Chase Begins Again''	Kamini	Cameo
2007	''Kya Love Story Hai''	Herself	Special appearance in song "It's Rocking"
2007	''Jab We Met''	Geet Dhillon	Filmfare Award for Best Actress
2008	''Halla Bol''	Herself	Special appearance
2008		Pooja Singh
2008	''Roadside Romeo''	Laila	Voice
2008	''Golmaal Returns''	Ekta
2009	''Luck by Chance''	Herself	Special appearance
2009	''Billu''	Herself	Special appearance in song "Marjaani"
2009	''Kambakkht Ishq''	Simrita Rai
2009	''Main Aurr Mrs Khanna''	Raina Khanna
2009		Avantika Ahuja / Khan	Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actress
2009	''3 Idiots''	Pia Sahastrabudhhe	Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actress
2010	''Milenge Milenge''	Priya Malhotra
2010		Shreya Arora	Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress
2010	''Golmaal 3''	Daboo	Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actress
2011		Divya	Releasing on 31 August 2011
2011	''Ra.One''	Sonia Shekhar Subramanium	Post-production
2011		Iram	Filming
2012	''Reema Kagti's Untitled Project''		Filming
2012	''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu''	Tiara	Filming

See also

List of Indian film actresses

List of Punjabis

List of awards and nominations received by Kareena Kapoor

Notes

References

Further reading

, ,

External links

Category:1980 births Category:Indian film actors Category:Hindi film actors Category:People from Mumbai Category:Punjabi people Category:Indian vegetarians Category:Filmfare Awards winners Category:Living people Category:Mithibai College alumni

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Coordinates	9°1′48″N38°44′24″N
Name	Sun Ra
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	Herman Poole Blount
Alias	Sun Ra, Le Sony'r Ra
Birth date	May 22, 1914
Death date	May 30, 1993
Origin	Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Instrument	Hammond organ, piano, organ, keyboards, Minimoog, Celesta
Genre	Hard bop, swing, avant-garde jazz, free jazz, experimental music
Occupation	Bandleader, composer
Years active	1934–1993
Label	El Saturn Records, Impulse!, MPS Records, ESP-Disk, Black Saint, A&M;, Leo
Associated acts	Arkestra }}

Sun Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, legal name Le Sony'r Ra; May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993) was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He is a 1979 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.

"Of all the jazz musicians, Sun Ra was probably the most controversial," critic Scott Yanow said, because of Sun Ra's eclectic music and unorthodox lifestyle. Claiming that he was of the "Angel Race" and not from Earth, but from Saturn, Sun Ra developed a complex persona using "cosmic" philosophies and lyrical poetry that made him a pioneer of afrofuturism. He preached awareness and peace above all. He abandoned his birth name and took on the name and persona of Sun Ra (Ra being the Egyptian God of the Sun), and used several other names throughout his career, including Le Sonra and Sonny Lee. Sun Ra denied any connection with his birth name, saying "That's an imaginary person, never existed … Any name that I use other than Ra is a pseudonym."

From the mid-1950s to his death, Sun Ra led "The Arkestra" (a deliberate re-spelling of "orchestra"), an ensemble with an ever-changing lineup and name. It was by turns called "The Solar Myth Arkestra", "His Cosmo Discipline Arkestra", the "Blue Universe Arkestra", "The Jet Set Omniverse Arkestra", as well as many other permutations. Sun Ra asserted that the ever-changing name of his ensemble reflected the ever-changing nature of his music. His mainstream success was limited, but Sun Ra was a prolific recording artist and frequent live performer. His music ranged from keyboard solos to big bands of over 30 musicians and touched on virtually the entire history of jazz, from ragtime to swing music, from bebop to free jazz. He was also a pioneer of electronic music and space music. He also used free improvisation and was one of the first musicians, of any genre, to make extensive use of electronic keyboards.

Biography

Early life

For decades, very little was known about Sun Ra's early life, much of it being obscured by Sun Ra himself. He routinely gave evasive, contradictory or seemingly nonsensical answers to personal questions and even denied his birth name. His birthday for years remained unknown, his birth year being claimed as years ranging from 1910 to 1918. Only a few years before his death, the date of Sun Ra's birth remained a mystery. Jim Macnie's notes for ''Blue Delight'' (1989) could only state that Sun Ra was believed to be about 75 years old. However, Ra's biographer John F. Szwed was able to uncover a wealth of information about Ra's early life, including confirming a May 22, 1914 birth date. Named after the popular vaudeville stage magician Black Herman, who had deeply impressed his mother, Sun Ra would speculate, only half in jest, that he was distantly related to Elijah Poole, later famous as Elijah Muhammed, leader of the Nation of Islam. He was nicknamed "Sonny" from his childhood, had an older sister and half-brother, and was doted upon by his mother and grandmother.

Sun Ra was a skilled pianist as a child. By 11 or 12 years old he was writing original songs, and was able to sight read sheet music. Birmingham was an important stop for touring musicians, and he saw famous musicians like Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, along with less-famous performers who were often just as talented as their better-known peers, with Sun Ra once stating "the world let down a lot of good musicians". In his teenage years, Sun Ra demonstrated prodigious musical talent: many times, according to acquaintances, he would see big band performances and produce full transcriptions of the bands' songs from memory. By his mid-teens Sun Ra was performing semi-professionally as a solo pianist, or as a member of various ad hoc jazz and R&B; groups. He attended Birmingham's Industrial High School (now known as Parker High School) where he studied under famed music teacher John T. "Fess" Whatley, a demanding disciplinarian who was widely respected and whose classes produced many professional musicians.

At ten years old Sun Ra joined the Knights of Pythias, and remained a member until he graduated from high school. His family was deeply religious but was not formally associated with any Christian church or sect. Ra had few or no close friends in high school but was remembered as kind-natured and quiet, an honor roll student, and a voracious reader. The Black Masonic Lodge was one of the few places in Birmingham where African-Americans had essentially unlimited access to books, and the Lodge's many books on Freemasonry and other esoteric concepts made a large impression on him.

Also by his teens, Sun Ra suffered from cryptorchidism, a chronic testicular hernia that left him with a nearly constant discomfort that sometimes flared into severe pain. Szwed suggests that the condition left Blount with a sense of shame and increased his sense of isolation.

Early professional career and college

In 1934 Blount was offered his first full-time musical job when Industrial High School Biology teacher Ethel Harper organized a band and decided to pursue a career as a singer. Blount joined a musicians' trade union and Harper's group toured through the US southeast and Midwest. Harper left the group mid-tour to move to New York (she later was a member of the modestly successful singing group the Ginger Snaps), and Blount took over leadership of the group, renaming it the Sonny Blount Orchestra. They continued touring for several months before dissolving the unprofitable group. Though the first edition of the Sonny Blount Orchestra was not financially successful, they earned positive notice from fans and other musicians, and Blount afterwards found steady employment in Birmingham.

The clubs of Birmingham often featured exotic trappings such as vivid lighting and murals with tropical or oasis scenes that were believed to have influenced Sun Ra's later stage shows. The big bands also imparted a sense of pride and togetherness to black musicians: musicians were highly regarded in the black community, and were expected to be disciplined and presentable, and in the segregated south, black musicians arguably had the most acceptance in white society, often performing for white high society audiences (though they were typically forbidden from associating with the audiences).

In 1936 Whatley's intercession led to Blount being awarded a scholarship at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University. He was a music education major, studying composition, orchestration, and music theory, but after a year, he dropped out.

"Trip to Saturn"

Finances and his increasing sense of isolation are believed to have been a factor in Sun Ra's leaving college, but perhaps more importantly, he claimed a visionary experience as a college student, a strange event that was to have a major long-term influence on the young pianist. In 1936 or 1937, in the midst of deep religious concentration, Sun Ra claimed that a bright light appeared around him, and, as he later stated,

… my whole body changed into something else. I could see through myself. And I went up … I wasn't in human form … I landed on a planet that I identified as Saturn … they teleported me and I was down on [a] stage with them. They wanted to talk with me. They had one little antenna on each ear. A little antenna over each eye. They talked to me. They told me to stop [attending college] because there was going to be great trouble in schools … the world was going into complete chaos … I would speak [through music], and the world would listen. That's what they told me.

Sun Ra said that this experience occurred in 1936 or 1937, but according to Swzed, even his closest associates cannot date the story any earlier than 1952 (Sun Ra also stated that it occurred when he was living in Chicago, a town he did not regularly inhabit until the late 1940s). With no substantial variations, Sun Ra discussed the vision to the end of his life. The trip to Saturn allegedly happened a full decade before flying saucers entered public consciousness with the 1947 encounter of Kenneth Arnold; about 15 years before the contactees and their stories of benevolent Space Brothers were publicized by the likes of George Adamski; and almost 20 years before sinister UFO abductions were a public concept with the 1961 case of Barney and Betty Hill. Szwed states that "even if this story is revisionist autobiography … Sonny was pulling together several strains of his life. He was both prophesizing his future and explaining his past with a single act of personal mythology."

New devotion to music (late 1930s)

Even putting Blount's strange vision aside, after leaving college, he became known as perhaps the most singularly devoted musician in Birmingham. He rarely slept, citing Thomas Edison, Leonardo da Vinci, and Napoleon as fellow highly productive cat-nappers. He transformed the first floor of his family's home into a conservatory-workshop where he wrote songs, transcribed recordings, rehearsed with the many musicians who were nearly constantly drifting in and out, and discussed Biblical and esoteric concepts with whomever was interested.

Blount became a regular at Birmingham's Forbes Piano Company, a white-owned company which—astoundingly for a business in the Deep South—simply ignored the strict Jim Crow laws of the racially segregated era. Blount visited the Forbes building almost daily to play music, swap ideas with staff and customers, or copy sheet music into his notebooks. He formed a new band, and, like his old teacher Whatley, insisted on rigorous daily rehearsals. The new Sonny Blount Orchestra earned a reputation as an impressive, disciplined band that could play in a wide variety of styles with equal skill.

Draft and wartime experiences

In October 1942 Blount received a selective service notification that he had been drafted into the Military of the United States. He quickly declared himself a conscientious objector, citing religious objections to war and killing, his financial support of his great-aunt Ida, and his chronic hernia. His case was rejected by the local draft board, and in his appeal to the national draft board, Blount wrote that the lack of black men on the draft appeal board "smacks of Hitlerism". His family was deeply embarrassed by Sonny's refusal to join the military, and he was effectively ostracized by many of his relatives. Blount was eventually approved for alternate service at Civilian Public Service camp in Pennsylvania. However, Blount didn't appear at the camp as scheduled on December 8, 1942, and shortly thereafter, he was arrested in Alabama.

In court, Blount declared that even alternate service was unacceptable to him, and he debated the judge on points of law and Biblical interpretation. Though sympathetic to Blount, the judge also declared that he was clearly in violation of the law, and was risking forcible induction into the U.S. Military. Blount declared that if he were inducted, he would use his military weapons and training to kill the first high-ranking military officer he could. The judge sentenced Blount to jail (pending draft board and CPS rulings), and then declared "I've never seen a nigger like you before;" Blount replied, "No, and you never will again."

In January 1943 a desperate Blount wrote to the United States Marshals Service from the Walker County, Alabama jail in Jasper. He said he was facing a nervous breakdown from the stress of imprisonment, that he was suicidal, and that he was in constant fear of sexual assault. His conscientious objector status was eventually reaffirmed in February 1943 and Blount was escorted to Pennsylvania where he conducted forestry work in the day and was allowed to play piano at night. Psychiatrists there described him as "a psychopathic personality [and] sexually perverted" but also as "a well-educated colored intellectual".

In March 1943 Blount was classified as 4-F because of his hernia. He returned to Birmingham embittered and angered by his experiences. He formed a new band and quickly was playing professionally. After his beloved great-aunt Ida died in 1945, Blount felt no reason to stay in Birmingham. He dissolved the band, and moved to Chicago, part of the wave of southern African Americans who moved north during and after World War II.

Chicago years (1945–1961)

In Chicago Blount quickly found work, notably with blues singer Wynonie Harris, with whom he made his recording debut on two 1946 singles, "Dig This Boogie/Lightning Struck the Poorhouse" and "My Baby's Barrelhouse"/"Drinking By Myself;" "Dig This Boogie" was also Blount's first recorded piano solo. He performed with the locally successful Lil Green band and played bump-and-grind music for months in Calumet City strip clubs.

In August 1946, Blount earned a lengthy engagement at the Club DeLisa under bandleader and composer Fletcher Henderson. Blount had long admired Henderson, but Henderson's fortunes were fading (his band was now made of up middling musicians rather than the stars of earlier years) in large part because of his instability. Henderson hired Blount as pianist and arranger, replacing Marl Young. Ra's arrangements initially showed a degree of bebop influence, but the band members resisted the new music, despite Henderson's encouragement.

In 1948 Blount performed briefly in a trio with saxophonist Coleman Hawkins and violinist Stuff Smith, both preeminent swing-era musicians. There are no known recordings of this trio, but a home recording of a Blount-Smith duet from 1948 or 1949 appears on ''Sound Sun Pleasure'', and one of Sun Ra's final recordings was a rare sideman appearance on violinist Billy Bang's ''Tribute to Stuff Smith''.

In addition to professional advancement, Chicago also changed Blount's personal outlook. The city was a center of African American political activism and fringe movements, with Black Muslims, Black Hebrews, and others proselytizing, debating, and printing leaflets or books. Blount absorbed it all and was fascinated with the city's many ancient Egyptian-styled buildings and monuments. He read books like George G.M. James's ''Stolen Legacy'' (which argued that classical Greek philosophy actually had its roots in ancient Egypt), which convinced Blount that the accomplishments and history of Africans had been systematically suppressed and denied by European cultures.

By 1952 Blount was leading the Space Trio with drummer Tommy "Bugs" Hunter and saxophonist Pat Patrick, two of the most accomplished musicians he had known. They performed regularly and Sun Ra began writing more advanced songs.

On October 20, 1952 Blount legally changed his name to Le Sony'r Ra. Sun Ra claimed to have always been uncomfortable with his birth name of Blount, seeing it as a slave name of a family that he was not really a member of. One observer has argued that this change was similar to the way "Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali … [dropped] their slave names in the process of attaining a new self-awareness and self-esteem".

Patrick left the group to move to Florida with his new wife; not long after, Patrick's friend John Gilmore (tenor sax) joined the group, and Marshall Allen (alto sax) soon joined the fold. Patrick was in and out of the group until the end of his life, but Allen and Gilmore—who would both earn critical praise for their talents—were the two most devoted members of the Arkestra. Saxophonist James Spaulding and trombonist Julian Priester also recorded with Sun Ra in Chicago, and both went on to notable careers of their own. The Chicago tenorist Von Freeman also did a short stint with the band of the early 1950s.

In Chicago, Blount met Alton Abraham, a precociously intelligent teenager and something of a kindred spirit who became the Arkestra's biggest booster and one of Sun Ra's closest friends. The men both felt like outsiders and shared an interest in fringe esoterica. Abraham's strengths balanced Ra's shortcomings: though he was a disciplined bandleader, Sun Ra was somewhat introverted and lacked business sense (a trait that would haunt his entire career); Abraham was outgoing, well-connected, and practical. Though still a teenager, Abraham eventually became Sun Ra's ''de facto'' business manager: he booked performances, suggested musicians for the Arkestra, and introduced several popular songs into the group's repertoire. Ra, Abraham and others formed a sort of book club to trade ideas and discuss the offbeat topics that so intrigued them. This group printed a number of pamphlets and broadsides explaining their conclusions and ideas; some of these were collected by critic John Corbett and Anthony Elms as ''The Wisdom of Sun Ra: Sun Ra's Polemical Broadsheets and Streetcorner Leaflets '' (2006).

Sun Ra and Abraham also formed an independent record label in the mid-1950s; it was generally known as El Saturn Records, though (as with the Arkestra) there were several variants of the name. Initially focused on 45 rpm singles by Sun Ra and artists related to him, Saturn Records did issue two full-length albums during the 1950s: ''Super-Sonic Jazz'' (1957) and ''Jazz In Silhouette'' (1959). Producer Tom Wilson was actually the first to release a Sun Ra album, through his independent label Transition Records in 1957, entitled ''Jazz by Sun Ra''.

It was during the late 1950s that Sun Ra and his band began wearing the outlandish, Egyptian-styled or science fiction-themed costumes and headdresses for which they would become known. These costumes had multiple purposes: they evidenced Sun Ra's abiding fascination with ancient Egypt and the space age; they provided a sort of distinctive, memorable uniform for the Arkestra; they were a way to take on a new identity, at least while onstage; and they provided comic relief (Sun Ra thought ''avant garde'' musicians typically took themselves far too seriously).

New York years (1961–1968)

Sun Ra and some of his core musicians (Allen, Gilmore, and Boykins) left Chicago in July 1961, staying in Montreal through the end of September before settling in New York City. They initially had trouble finding performance venues and began living communally because of New York's higher cost of living. This frustration helped to fuel the drastic changes in the Arkestra's sound as Sun Ra's music underwent a free jazz-influenced experimental period.

In March 1966 the Arkestra scored a regular Monday night gig at Slug's Saloon. This proved to be a breakthrough to new audiences and recognition. Sun Ra's popularity reached an early peak during this period, as the beat generation and early followers of psychedelia embraced him. Regularly for the next year and a half (and intermittently for another half-decade afterwards), Sun Ra and company performed at Slug's for audiences that eventually came to include music critics and notable jazz musicians. Opinions of Sun Ra's music were divided (and hecklers were not uncommon), but high praise came from two of the architects of bebop: trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie offered encouragement, once stating, "Keep it up, Sonny, they tried to do the same shit to me", while pianist Thelonious Monk chided someone who said Sun Ra was "too far out" by responding, "Yeah, but it ''swings''."

In 1971, Sun Ra traveled throughout Egypt and performed with Egyptian drummer Salah Ragab. He would travel again to Egypt in 1983, when he would record with Ragab once more (''Sun Ra Meets Salah Ragab'').

Philadelphia years (1968–1990s)

In 1968, when the New York building they were renting was put up for sale, Sun Ra and the Arkestra relocated to the Germantown section of Philadelphia, where his Morton Street house remained the Arkestra's base of operations until Sun Ra's death. Apart from occasional complaints about the noise of rehearsals, they were soon regarded as good neighbors because of their friendliness, drug-free living, and rapport with youngsters. Saxophonist Danny Thompson owned and operated the Pharaoh's Den, a convenience store in the neighborhood. When lightning struck a tree on their street, Sun Ra took it as a good omen and multireedist James Jacson fashioned the Cosmic Infinity Drum from the scorched tree trunk. They still commuted via railroad to New York for the Monday night gig at Slug's and for other engagements.

In late 1968 Sun Ra and the Arkestra undertook their first tour of the US West Coast. Reactions were mixed; even hippies accustomed to long-form psychedelia like the Grateful Dead were often bewildered by the Arkestra, which included 20–30 musicians, dancers, singers, fire-eaters, and elaborate lighting. John Burks of ''Rolling Stone'' wrote a positive review of a San Jose State College concert that led to Sun Ra being featured on the April 19, 1969 cover of the magazine and introducing Sun Ra's inscrutable gaze to millions. This first West Coast tour also led to vibraphonist Damon Choice, then an art student at San Jose, joining the Arkestra.

Starting with concerts in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom in 1970, the Arkestra began to find opportunities for working outside the US, playing to audiences who had hitherto known his music only through records. Sun Ra continued playing in Europe to nearly the end of his life. Given Sun Ra's unorthodox financial management, saxophonist Danny Thompson became a ''de facto'' tour and business manager during this era, specializing in what he called "no bullshit C.O.D.", preferring to take cash before performing or delivering records.

In early 1971 Sun Ra was artist-in-residence at University of California, Berkeley, teaching a course called "The Black Man In the Cosmos". Rather few students enrolled but the classes were often full of curious persons from the surrounding community. One half-hour of each class was devoted to a lecture (complete with handouts and homework assignments), the other half-hour to an Arkestra performance or Sun Ra keyboard solo. Reading lists included the works of Madame Blavatsky and Henry Dumas, the Book of the Dead, Alexander Hislop's ''The Two Babylons'', The Book of Oahspe and assorted volumes concerning Egyptian hieroglyphs, African American folklore, and other topics.

In 1971 Sun Ra fulfilled a long-standing desire by performing with the Arkestra at ancient Egyptian pyramids.

In 1972 San Francisco public TV station KQED producer John Coney, producer Jim Newman, and screen writer Joshua Smith worked with Sun Ra to produce an 85-minute feature film, entitled ''Space Is the Place'', with Sun Ra's Arkestra and an ensemble of actors assembled by the production team. It was filmed in Oakland and San Francisco. On May 20, 1978 Sun Ra and the Arkestra appeared on ''Saturday Night Live''.

In the mid-1970s, the Arkestra would sometimes play free Saturday afternoon concerts in a Germantown park near their Philadelphia home. Sometimes at their mid 1970s shows in Philadelphia nightclubs, someone would stand at the back of the room, selling stacks of unmarked LPs in plain white sleeves, pressed from recordings of the band's live performances (including one Halloween show where the salesman was dressed as a golden alien, and the LPs included a cover arrangement of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow").

Back in New York City, in the fall of 1979, Sun Ra and the Arkestra were essentially the 'house band' at the notorious Squat Theater on 23rd St.-the performance home of the avant garde Hungarian theater troupe. Their young mastermind manager, Janos, transformed the theater into a riveting nightclub while the core of the troupe was away that season performing in Europe. Debbie Harry, 'The Velvet Underground's' John Cale and Nico (from Andy Warhol's factory days), John Lurie and 'The Lounge Lizards' and other pop and avant garde musicians were regulars. Sun Ra was a disciplined person who avoided drinking anything other than club soda at the gigs, but did not impose his strict code on his musicians, the majority of whom regarded his claim that he was a 'messenger' from Saturn with wry skepticism. Nevertheless it was clear they deeply respected his genius, discipline and authority. Soft spoken and charismatic, Sun Ra turned Squat Theater into a syncopated universe of big band 'space' jazz backed by a floor show of writhing, sexy, Jupiterettes—him directing and playing three synthesizers at the same time. In those days 'Space Is The Place' was the space at Squat.

The Arkestra continued their touring and recording through the 1980s and into the 1990s, and Sun Ra became a fixture in Philadelphia, appearing semi-regularly on WXPN radio, giving lectures to community groups, or haunting the city's libraries.

Even after a stroke in 1990, Sun Ra kept composing, performing, and leading the Arkestra. Late in his career, Sun Ra opened a few concerts for New York–based rock group Sonic Youth. Eventually, Sun Ra grew too ill to perform and tour, and he entrusted Gilmore with leading the Arkestra. (Gilmore himself was frail from emphysema, and when he died, Allen would take over leadership of the Arkestra.) Sun Ra went back to Birmingham and reconnected with his sister whom he had rarely seen for nearly 40 years. He contracted pneumonia, died in Birmingham on May 30, 1993, and was buried at the Elmwood Cemetery. According to the hospital, he had also been affected by circulatory system problems and numerous strokes shortly before his death. The small footstone read only "Sonny Blount (aka [sic] Le Son'y [sic] Ra)".

The Arkestra continues

Following Sun Ra's death, the Arkestra was led by tenor saxophonist John Gilmore. Following Gilmore's death, the group has performed under the direction of alto saxophonist Marshall Allen, who celebrated his 80th birthday on stage during Arkestra performances at the Vox Populi gallery in Philadelphia and the Vision Festival in New York City. In the summer of 2004 the Arkestra became the first American jazz band to perform in Tuva, playing five sets at the Ustuu-Huree Festival. As of May 2008, the Arkestra continues to tour and perform, with captain Marshall Allen celebrating his 84th birthday on stage at New York City's Sullivan Hall. In September 2008 they played for 7 days in a row at the ZXZW festival, every day emphasizing different aspects of the musical legacy of Sun Ra. The Arkestra celebrated Allen's 85th birthday on May 24, 2009 to a packed house at Johnny Brenda's in Philadelphia's Fishtown neighborhood. A month later, they performed at Philadelphia's Institute of Contemporary Art in conjunction with an exhibition that explored the intersection of the Arkestra's performative legacy and the practice of contemporary art. More recently they ventured to Australia for the first time for the 2011 Melbourne International Jazz Festival, still under the control of the sprightly 87 year old Marshall Allen playing to very enthusiastic sold out crowds.

Music

Sun Ra's piano technique touched on many styles: his youthful fascination with boogie woogie, stride piano and blues, a sometimes refined touch reminiscent of Count Basie or Ahmad Jamal, and angular phrases in the style of Thelonious Monk or brutal, percussive attacks like Cecil Taylor. Often overlooked is the range of influences from classical music—Sun Ra cited Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Schoenberg and Shostakovich as his favorite composers for the piano.

As a synthesizer and electric keyboard player, Sun Ra ranks among one of the earliest and most radical pioneers. By the mid-1950s, he used a variety of electric keyboards, and almost immediately, he exploited their potential perhaps more than anyone, sometimes modifying them himself to produce sounds rarely if ever heard before. His live albums from the late 1960s and early 1970s feature some of the noisiest, most bizarre keyboard work ever recorded. Sun Ra's music can be roughly divided into three phases, but his records and performances were full of surprises.

Chicago phase

The first period occurred in the 1950s when Sun Ra's music evolved from big band swing into the outer-space-themed "cosmic jazz" for which he was best known. Music critics and jazz historians say some of his best work was recorded during this period and it is also some of his most accessible music. Sun Ra's music in this era was often tightly arranged and sometimes reminiscent of Duke Ellington's, Count Basie's, or other important swing music ensembles. However, there was a strong influence from post-swing styles like bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, and touches of the exotic and hints of the experimentalism that would dominate his later music. Notable Sun Ra albums from the 1950s include ''Sun Ra Visits Planet Earth'', ''Interstellar Low Ways'', ''Super-Sonic Jazz'', ''We Travel the Spaceways'', ''The Nubians of Plutonia'' and ''Jazz In Silhouette''.

Ronnie Boykins, Sun Ra's bassist, has been described as "the pivot around which much of Sun Ra's music revolved for eight years". This is especially pronounced on the key recordings from 1965 (''The Magic City'', ''The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One'', and ''The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume Two'') where the intertwining lines of Boykins' bass and Ra's electronic keyboards provide cohesion.

New York phase

After the move to New York, Sun Ra and company plunged headlong into the experimentalism that they had only hinted at in Chicago. The music was often extremely loud and the Arkestra grew to include multiple drummers and percussionists. Recordings of this era began to utilize new technological possibilities such as extensive use of tape delay systems to assemble spatial sound pieces which are far removed from earlier compositions such as "Saturn". Recordings and live performances often featured passages for unusual instrumental combinations and passages of collective playing which point towards free improvisation—in fact, it is often difficult to tell where the compositions end and the improvisations begin.

In this era Sun Ra began conducting using hand and body gestures. This system would inspire cornetist Butch Morris, who would later develop his own more highly refined way to conduct improvisers.

Though often associated with avant-garde jazz, Sun Ra did not believe his work could be classified as "free music": "I have to make sure that every note, every nuance, is correct. … If you want to call it that, spell it ''p-h-r-e'', because ''ph'' is a definite article and ''re'' is the name of the sun. So I play ''phre'' music—music of the sun."

Seeking to broaden his compositional possibilities, Sun Ra insisted all band members double on various percussion instruments—predating world music by drawing on various ethnic musical forms—and most saxophonists became multireedists, adding instruments such as flutes, oboes, or clarinets to their arsenals. In this era, Sun Ra was among the first of any musicians to make extensive and pioneering use of synthesizers and other various electronic keyboards; he was given a prototype Minimoog by its inventor, Robert Moog.

Notable titles from this period include ''The Magic City'', ''Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy'', ''When Sun Comes Out'', ''The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One'', ''Atlantis'', ''Secrets of the Sun'' and ''Other Planes of There.''

Philadelphia phase

During their third period, beginning in the 1970s and onward, Sun Ra and the Arkestra settled down into a relatively conventional sound, often incorporating swing standards, though their records and concerts were still highly eclectic and energetic, and typically included at least one lengthy, semi-improvised percussion jam. Sun Ra was explicitly asserting a continuity with the ignored jazz tradition: "They tried to fool you, now I got to school you, about jazz, all about jazz" he rapped, framing the inclusion of pieces by Fletcher Henderson and Jelly Roll Morton.

In the 1970s Sun Ra took a liking to the films of Walt Disney. He incorporated smatterings of Disney musical numbers into many of his performances from then on. In the late 1980s the Arkestra performed a concert at Walt Disney World. The Arkestra's version of "Pink Elephants on Parade" is available on ''Stay Awake'', a tribute album of Disney tunes played by various artists and produced by Hal Willner. A number of Sun Ra's 1970s concerts are available on CD, but none have received a wide release in comparison to his earlier music. The album ''Atlantis'' can be considered the landmark that led into his 1970s era. In 1978-1980 performances, Sun Ra added a large electronic creation, the Outerspace Visual Communicator, which produced images rather than sounds; this was performed at a keyboard by its inventor, Bill Sebastian. During concerts, the OVC usually was positioned at center stage behind the Arkestra while Sebastian sat on stage with the musicians.

Musicians

Certainly dozens of musicians—perhaps hundreds—passed through Sun Ra's bands over the years. Some stayed with him for decades, while others made only a few recordings or performances.

Sun Ra was personally responsible for the vast majority of the constant changes in the Arkestra's lineup. According to contrabassist Jiunie Booth, himself a member of the Arkestra, Sun Ra would not confront any musician whose performance he was unsatisfied with. Instead, Sun Ra would simply gather the entire Arkestra minus the offending musician, and skip town, leaving the fired musician stranded. After repeated instances of US jazz musicians becoming stranded in foreign countries, Sun Ra's unique method of dismissal became a diplomatic liability for the United States. The U.S. State Department was compelled to tell Sun Ra to bring any fired musicians stateside rather than leaving them stranded.

The following is a partial list of musical collaborators and the eras in which they played with Sun Ra and/or the Arkestra:

Luqman Ali, drums

Marshall Allen, alto saxophone, flute, oboe (1957–present)

Ronnie Boykins, double bass (1957–1974)

Arthur "Jiunie" Booth, double bass

Darryl Brown, drums (1970–1972)

Owen "Fiidla" Brown, violin, dance, vocals (1987–1990s and later appearances)

Tony Bunn, electric bass (1976)

Francisco Mora Catlett (musician), drums (1973–1980)

Don Cherry, pocket trumpet (1983–1990)

Damon Choice, vibraphone (late 1960s–1990s)

Phil Cohran, trumpet (1959–1961)

Danny Davis, alto saxophone, flute (1962–1977, 1985)

Joey DeStefano, alto saxophone (1968–1969)

Bruce Edwards Arch top Guitar (1983–1993,)

Eddie Gale, trumpet (1960s)

John Gilmore, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet (1954–1964, 1965–1995)

Tommy "Bugs" Hunter, drums, sound engineer

James Jacson, bassoon, oboe, flute, Ancient Egyptian Infinity Drum

Clifford Jarvis, drums, (1961–76, 1983)

Donald Jones, drums (1973–1974)

Wayne Kramer, guitar (2006)

Eloe Omoe, bass clarinet

John Ore (Double Bass)

Taylor Richardson, guitar (1979–1983)

Pat Patrick, baritone saxophone, alto saxophone, clarinet, flute (1950–1959, 1961–1977, 1985–1988)

Julian Priester, trombone (1955–1956, 1980s–1990s)

Rollo Radford, bass

Buster Smith, Drums

Marvin Bugalu Smith, Drums

Michael Ray, trumpet (1978–present)

Pharoah Sanders, saxophone (1964–1965)

Bill Sebastian, Outerspace Visual Communicator (1978–1980)

Arthur Doyle, saxophone

Talvin Singh, tablas

Alan Silva, double bass, cello, violin (early 1970s)

June Tyson, singer, violin

Philosophy

Sun Ra's world view was often described as a philosophy, but he rejected this term, describing his own manner as an "equation"—he claimed that while philosophy was based on theories and abstract reasoning, his method was based on logic and pragmatism. Many of the Arkestra cite Sun Ra's teachings as pivotal and for inspiring such long-term devotion to the music that they knew would never make them much money. His equation was rarely (if ever) explained as a whole; instead, it was related in bits and pieces over many years, leading some to think his world view was naïve or composed of nonsensical new-age platitudes. However, Martinelli argues that, when considered as a whole, one can discern a unified world view that draws upon many sources, but is also unique to Sun Ra, writing:

Sun Ra presents a unified conception, incorporating music, myth, and performance into his multi-leveled equations. Every aspect of the Sun Ra experience, from business practices like Saturn Records to published collections of poetry to his 35-year career in music, is a manifestation of his equations. Sun Ra seeks to elevate humanity beyond their current earthbound state, tied to outmoded conceptions of life and death when the potential future of immortality awaits them. As Hall has put it, 'In this era of 'practical' things men ridicule even the existence of God. They scoff at goodness while they ponder with befuddled minds the phantasmagoria of materiality. They have forgotten the path which leads beyond the stars.'

He drew on sources as diverse as the Kabbalah, Rosicrucianism, channeling, numerology, Freemasonry, and black nationalism. Sun Ra's system had distinct Gnostic leanings arguing that the god of most monotheistic religions was not the creator god, not the ultimate god, but a lesser, evil being. Sun Ra was wary of the Bible, knowing that it had been used to justify slavery. He would often re-arrange and re-word Biblical passages (along with re-working many other words, names or phrases) in an attempt to uncover "hidden" meanings. The most obvious evidence of this system was Ra's practice of renaming many of the musicians who played with him.

Bassoonist/multireedist James Jacson had studied Zen Buddhism before joining Sun Ra and identified strong similarities between Zen teachings and practices (particularly Zen koans) and Ra's use of ''non sequiturs'' and seemingly absurd replies to questions. Drummer Art Jenkins admitted that Sun Ra's "nonsense" sometimes troubled his thoughts for days until inspiring a sort of paradigm shift, or profound change in outlook. Drummer Andrew Cyrille said Sun Ra's comments were "very interesting stuff … whether you believed it or not. And a lot of times it was humorous, and a lot of times it was ridiculous, and a lot of times it was right on the money."

Some of Sun Ra's songs with words featured lyrics that although simple, were inspirational and philosophical. The most famous example was "Space is the Place!". Another example was the song that went, "You made a mistake. You did something wrong. Make another mistake, and do something right!". Sometimes (typically at the end of a set) the entire Arkestra would snake out through the audience, playing and chanting something like this. Sun Ra even came up once, behind a frightened young audience member, grabbed him in a bear hug, and whispered this in his ear, while the whole band chanted and played along, in a circle around his table, with the rest of the audience watching on in amusement. (1978, in a performance in a small short-lived nightclub on City Line Avenue in Philadelphia)

Sun Ra and black culture

According to Szwed Sun Ra's view of his relationship to black people and black cultures "changed drastically" over time. Initially, Sun Ra identified closely with broader struggles for black power, black political influence, and black identity, and saw his own music as a key element in educating and liberating blacks. But by the heyday of black power radicalism in the 1960s, Sun Ra was expressing disillusionment with these aims, and he denied feeling closely connected to any race. In 1970 he said:

I couldn't approach black people with the truth because they like lies. They live lies … At one time I felt that white people were to blame for everything, but then I found out that they were just puppets and pawns of some greater force, which has been using them … Some force is having a good time [manipulating black and white people] and looking, enjoying itself up in a reserved seat, wondering, "I wonder when they're going to wake up."

Influence and legacy

Many of Sun Ra's innovations remain important and groundbreaking: "Ra was one of the first jazz leaders to use two basses, to employ the electric bass, to play electronic keyboards, to use extensive percussion and polyrhythms, to explore modal music and to pioneer solo and group freeform improvisations. In addition, he made his mark in the wider cultural context: he proclaimed the African origins of jazz, reaffirmed pride in black history and reasserted the spiritual and mystical dimensions of music (all important factors in the black cultural/political renaissance of the 60s)."

George Clinton of P-funk fame drew inspiration from Sun Ra; see P-Funk mythology. He once declared in an interview, "Yeah, Sun Ra's out to lunch... same place I eat at!"

Detroit's MC5 played a handful of shows with Sun Ra (including surviving MC5 members Michael Davis , Wayne Kramer and Dennis "Machine Gun" Thompson , under the DKT / MC5 name ), and were influenced by his works monumentally . One of their songs from their premiere album Kick Out the Jams featured a track called "Starship" , which was based upon a poem by Ra .

He was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1979. His interment was located in Elmwood Cemetery.

Filmography

Sun Ra and his Arkestra were the subject of a few documentary films, notably Robert Mugge's ''A Joyful Noise'' (1980), which interspersed performances and rehearsals with Sun Ra's commentary on various subjects ranging from today's youth to his own place in the cosmos. There is also a feature film entitled ''Space Is the Place'' from 1974 which stars Sun Ra and his band who play themselves. The soundtrack, also by Sun Ra, is available on CD.

In 1995 his influnce was a significant factor in the foundation of the Association of Autonomous Astronauts.

More recently (2005) Don Letts' ''Sun Ra—Brother from Another Planet'' reuses some of Mugge's material and includes some additional interviews.

In 2009, ''Points On A Space Age'', a documentary by Ephrahaim Asili was released. "It's a 60-minute doc along the lines of the talking-head-intercut-with performance clips style. It works because of the interesting and passionate nature of the images of the band as well as of the audio, as the band attempts to articulate what Ra meant to them, and why they are keeping the flame alive. He “left the earth” for his next mission in 1993. The remnants of the band include Marshall Allen, Ra’s greatest discliple as well as current bandleader and keeper of the flame. Now 86, Allen also serves as recruiter for new members, and potential converts of Sun Ra’s philosophy, once based on space travel and music as a tool for evolution into a new consciousness and tuning into holy vibrations."

Bibliography

Sun Ra wrote an enormous number of songs and material regarding his spiritual beliefs and music. A magazine titled ''Sun Ra Research'' was published irregularly for many years, providing extensive documentation of Sun Ra's perspectives on many issues. Sun Ra's collected poetry and prose is available as a book, published May 2005, entitled ''Sun Ra, The Immeasurable Equation''. Another book of over 260 of Sun Ra's poems, ''Sun Ra: Collected Works Vol. 1: Immeasurable Equation'' was published by Phaelos Books in November 2005. ''The Wisdom of Sun Ra: Sun Ra's Polemical Broadsheets and Streetcorner Leaflets,'' was published in book form in 2005, by WhiteWalls. A collection of Sun Ra's poetry, ''This Planet Is Doomed'', was published by Kicks Books in 2011.

Discography

Notes

References

External links

Official site of the Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen

Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen perform at the Philadelphia ICA (July, 2009)

''Space is the Place'' film

1988 interview with Sun Ra

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bg:Сън Ра da:Sun Ra de:Sun Ra es:Sun Ra eo:Sun Ra fr:Sun Ra it:Sun Ra ku:Sun Ra nl:Sun Ra no:Sun Ra nds:Sun Ra pl:Sun Ra pt:Sun Ra sc:Sun Ra fi:Sun Ra sv:Sun Ra

:''Rugged Man redirects here. You may be looking for R.A. The Rugged Man.''

Coordinates	9°1′48″N38°44′24″N
Name	Ruggedman
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Michael Ugochukwu Stephens
Alias	Mr. Controversial The Diss Master
Born	20 September
Origin	Abia, Nigeria
Instrument	Rapping
Genre	African hip hop
Occupation	Rapper
Years active	2004–present
Label	Rugged Records
Website	ruggedmanonline.com }}

Michael Ugochukwu Stephens, known by his stage name Ruggedman, born on September 20 (year unidentified) in Ehen, Abia State, is a Nigerian rapper.

A graduate of political science from Lagos State University, Ọ̀jọ́, he started loving music in 1989. He had his own songs done in 1991 and released a CD, which had two tracks. The two songs got massive air play, but in 2002, Ruggedman felt Nigerian rappers (such as Rasqie, Eedris Abdulkareem, Maintain and many others) lacked talent and he needed to do something about it. He was the most controversial musician at that time and that won him a lot of awards.

One of his controversial tracks is Big Bros. This diss track was attacking the CEOs of Kennis Music Keke Ogungbe and Dayo "D1" Adeneye. He also hit harder than anyone could have imagined when he said "the fact that you have (got) money doesn't mean you can toy with me" reasons being that he felt that the CEOs were politicizing the industry and barring other acts from proving their skills. He did not attack rappers such as Modenine, 2-Shotz, Freestyle, Six Foot+ possibly because he saw them as rappers who use words, because that was what he advised Edris Abdulkareem - "try use words, and u might sound nice, but not as precise as my guys you see in front of your eyes". He is from the Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria.

He has however made up with all the people he has dissed in the past save for Mode Nine.

He released an album entitled ''Thy Album Come'', and also has an album with Afro hip hop artist Faze . He has also been around the world including Dublin and Durban, South Africa where he says he had the time of his life hanging out with his old time friend, Deji of Soundcity at the 2005 KORA Awards.

He is still considered by a larger proportion of Nigerians to be one of the best rappers ever to emerge from West Africa. On March 3, 2007, he released his second album, Ruggedy Baba, which includes the lead single Ruggedy Baba (featuring 9ice) and Club Rugged. It moved over 100,000 units after only three weeks of release.

Discography

Singles

Baraje

Peace or War

Ehen

Big Bros

Ruggedy Baba

Club Rugged

Watch me

Koleyewon {Eedris Abdulkareem ft Rugged Man}

Banging (modenine diss)

Albums

2004: Thy Album Come

2007: Ruggedy Baba

2010: TBA

Just hosted the prestigious NB Plc sponsored Star Quest Reality Tv Talent Show (2009) and anchored for the 2nd year running MTN Project Fame 2009 Official Press Media Launch.

CURRENT PROJECTS He is currently feuding with Modenine. he clames modenine has 4 albums and has nothing to show for it. ruggedy baba was thought as a diss track to the underground rappers. modenine released 'Talking to you' but ruggedman fired back with 'banging' then on his second studio album 'The paradgim shift' modenine replies with deathblow. we are stillwaiting for ruggedman reply

Ruggedman is currently working on his 3rd album A 20 states album tour and his tv show.

Awards

''Won'' Hip Hop Artiste of the year (Nigerian Music Awards (NMA) 2006) Hip Hop World Awards Best rap album (Ruggedy Baba)2008 Nigerian Music Awards Best Rap Artist 2008 Nigerian Music Video Awards Best Indigenous video concept (Ruggedy Baba)2008

2008 KORA Award nomination for Best African Hip Hop

References

kora awards

External links

Official Website

Category:Nigerian rappers Category:Igbo rappers Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people)