Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Charlotte Maria Reed
Birth date	February 21, 1986
Birth place	Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales
Origin	Cardiff, Wales
Instrument	Vocals
Genre	Pop, Celtic, classical, classical crossover, operatic pop
Occupation(s)	Singer / Songwriter
Years active	1998–present
Label	Sony Music (1998-2006) Power Amp Music(2010-Present)
Website	}}

Charlotte Maria Church (born Charlotte Maria Reed; 21 February 1986) is a Welsh singer-songwriter, actress and television presenter. She rose to fame in childhood as a classical singer before branching into pop music in 2005. By 2007, she had sold more than 10 million records worldwide including over 5 million in the United States. In 2010 she was reported to be worth as much as £11m (though one 2003 report quoted her worth at £25m). She hosted a Channel 4 chat show titled ''The Charlotte Church Show''. Church released her first album in five years, titled ''Back To Scratch'', on 17 October 2010. She is also mentioned as one of the ''Bohemians'' in Ben Elton's musical We Will Rock You.

History[link]

Early life[link]

Charlotte Church was born Charlotte Maria Reed in Llandaff, a district of Cardiff, Wales. She was brought up as a Roman Catholic by her mother, Maria, who was separated from Church's biological father, Stephen Reed. Church was adopted by her mother's second husband, James Church in 1986. Her break came at 11 when she sang Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Pie Jesu" over the telephone on the television show "This Morning" in 1997, followed by her performance on ITV's ''Big, Big Talent Show'' in 1997. This led to concerts at Cardiff Arms Park, the Royal Albert Hall and opening for Shirley Bassey in Antwerp. She also received a vocal scholarship to Howell's School Llandaff in Cardiff where she started in 1998 after leaving The Cathedral School, Llandaff. She balanced performing and school with help from tutors for when she was on the road and said in many interviews that she was "just like every other girl her age".

1998–2005: Classical career[link]

Church was then introduced to the Cardiff impresario Jonathan Shalit, who became her manager and negotiated a contract with Sony Music. Her first album, ''Voice of an Angel'', was a collection of arias, sacred songs, and traditional pieces that sold millions worldwide and made her the youngest artist with a No. 1 album on the British classical crossover charts.

Church appeared on PBS specials. Her self-titled second album also included operatic, religious and traditional tracks. One, the soaring and inspirational ''Just Wave Hello'', was the centre piece of a millennium-themed ad campaign for the Ford Motor Company. The song's full-length video, featuring Church, won acclaim at the Detroit Auto Show and introduced her to new fans. The track reached No. 31 in Britain.

In 2000, she released ''Dream a Dream'', an album of Christmas carols. It included Church's first foray into a more pop-influenced style in the title track ''Dream a Dream'', borrowing the melody from Fauré's Pavane and featuring young American country singer Billy Gilman. Church also sang with Gilman in "Sleigh Ride" on his CD ''Classic Christmas''.

In 2001, Church added more pop, swing, and Broadway with her album ''Enchantment''. That year, Church made her first film appearance in the 2001 Ron Howard film ''A Beautiful Mind''. Celine Dion was beginning a concert engagement in Las Vegas and was not available to perform the film's end title song, "All Love Can Be", so composer James Horner enlisted Church and the song was rewritten for her vocal range. Church also handled other vocal passages throughout the score.

In 2002, at 16, she released a "best of" album called ''Prelude'', and took part in the Royal Christmas tour alongside Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, concluding her classical music career.

2005–09: Pursuing pop career; Tissues and Issues[link]

In 2005, Church issued her first pop album ''Tissues and Issues.'' Four singles were moderately successful in the UK with "Crazy Chick" reaching no. 2, "Call My Name" number 10, "Even God Can't Change the Past" number 17, and "Moodswings (to Come at Me like That)" number 14. Although these were released in Australia as well, they failed to reach the same level of success there, and in March 2006 it was announced that there would be no US releases of Church's pop work until she had achieved a number 1 hit in the UK. Tissues and Issues accounted for no more than 2% of her total sales. Church's pop album was released in the U.S. through Amazon.com MP3 shop, and iTunes in 2009.

In April 2006, she performed three concerts in Glasgow, London, and Cardiff, in venues holding between 2,000 and 3,000 people; the dates at London and Cardiff were sold out. Supported by Irish band the New Druids, Church performed a mix of tracks from her debut pop album and a number of pop covers including Prince's "Kiss" and Gloria Estefan's "Rhythm is Gonna Get You". Though Church hinted at the possibility of a full tour in the future, none took place.

In November 2006, it was announced that she and Sony had parted ways. According to her publicist, this was a mutual decision reached after a series of meetings throughout the year, which were held since her five and later six album deal had come to an end. There was some speculation that Church had decided to take a break from her singing career, in order to focus on her television show. Others suggested that the performance of her pop releases in the charts also contributed to the decision. Soon, she became pregnant with her daughter, Ruby Megan Henson, and this was widely believed to have contributed to the decision.

In 2007, Church became Patron of the charity The Topsy Foundation UK, helping to raise awareness and funds for its work to support rural communities in South Africa, empowering people infected with and affected by HIV and AIDS, through medical care, social support and skills development.

Articles emerged in the UK press in March and April 2008 stating that she was still training classically and was contemplating a return to classical crossover at some point. Church has sung in religious services in Taizé. She has also performed before Pope John Paul II, Queen Elizabeth II, the Prince of Wales and Bill Clinton.

In June 2008, she again became pregnant, this time with her son, Dexter Lloyd Henson. In Church's latest interview, she mentioned she would be ready to work on more music a few months after she was fully recovered from her second pregnancy, and Dexter was a little bit older, though was not sure whether she would further develop her classical career, her pop career, or both as she loves both genres for different reasons, and plans to work on both genres but needs to be in a creative state of mind to continue work on her second Pop album. Charlotte also mentioned that she has been working with a vocal instructor to keep her voice in check during, and after her second pregnancy, and while she has never put a focus on her body image, she would like to get back into the shape she was in before becoming a mother when she resumes work.

In June 2009, Church was interviewed for 'Hello!' magazine, and discussed her life since having her second child. She said that she was currently in the studio, resuming work on a new album. She mentioned that Henson had been strongly encouraging her to get back to work, and pursue her career that she has greatly missed since settling down.

2010–present: Return to Music and ''Back to Scratch''[link]

Church appeared on ''Friday Night With Jonathan Ross'' on 13 March 2010, where she confirmed that she had already begun writing and recording her sixth studio album. Church also stated that the album was of a different sound to previous, more mature with a "kooky" vibe.

On 4 August 2010, Church made a new track, "Cold California", available to download from her Web site .

Church's new album, ''Back to Scratch'', was released in the UK on October 25, 2010. The 14-track set has been produced by Martin Terefe. ''Back to Scratch'' was preceded by a single - the LP's title track - on October 24. "Back to Scratch" was originally inspired "by problems facing a family member", but Church admitted in a press release that the song now has resonance to her own personal life following her recent split from Gavin Henson. Other tracks confirmed for the album include "Ruby", originally recorded by French singer Camille and written by Euston Jones, "Logical World", "Story Of Us", "Don't Think About It" and "Cup Of The Sun". Back To Scratch will also feature "The Actors", which Church performed on BBC One talent contest Over The Rainbow in May, and a cover of Joni Mitchell's "River". A video featuring a snippet of another song from the album, "Snow", is available to watch on the singer's YouTube channel and is currently streaming on her official Web site. On 6 September 2010 Church posted a short video to her official YouTube channel showing her being filmed for the video of the lead single and title track "Back to Scratch" in the background the song can be heard playing. It was announced on March 13, 2011 that Charlotte had terminated her $3 million (£2 million)deal with Power Amp Music over promotional disputes. Her spokesperson released the following statement "All I can really say, because of the confidentiality issues, is that it was in Charlotte's financial interests to do so before the agreement entered the second year of its term. This is typical for these type of deals, which are investment deals rather than record deals. I can also say that the decision to terminate the term early, which suited both parties, was made well before the commercial release of the album." A spokesperson from the record label also released a statement saying "It didn't work out with Charlotte and that's fair enough. There was no falling out. It was a mutual decision. They decided to exit the deal."

The third single to be released from the album, Snow was released on April 11, 2011. As of the beginning of 2012 there appear to be no new musical projects on the horizon for Church.

Acting and television career[link]

Church has made a number of cameo appearances on television. She appeared in the CBS series ''Touched by an Angel'', starred in the 1999 Christmas special of ''Heartbeat'', and in 2002 and 2003 she appeared on episodes of ''Have I Got News For You'' (the first time as the show's youngest-ever panelist; the second time as host). In 2005 she played herself in an episode of ''The Catherine Tate Show'', in a sketch with the fictional character Joannie Taylor. In 2008 she appeared briefly in a sketch in Katy Brand's Big Ass Show.

In December 2005, for ''The Paul O'Grady Show'' Christmas pantomime, ''The Wizard of Oz'', Church played Dorothy Gale.

In January 2010 for ''Hospital 24/7'', Church made an appearance on the program finale, where she visits the Children's Hospital for Wales to launch the Noah's Ark Appeals campaign to fund the equipment in the new Critical Care Unit, which will help children needing high dependency, or critical & intensive care.

In the summer of 2006, Church began work on her own entertainment TV show, ''The Charlotte Church Show''. After a pilot episode which caused some controversy and which was never released to the public, the series began on 1 September 2006 on Channel 4.

The show, hosted by Church and featuring two celebrity guests each week, involved a mixture of sketches, reality TV, interviews, extremely foul language, and music, as well as a recurring Welsh theme. The show has averaged 1.9 million viewers and 10% of the available audience, and on 6 October 2006, it was announced that Channel 4 paid Church a reported £1,200,000 for a further two series of the show. According to her official website, the final series, originally planned for summer of 2007, was deferred until after Church gave birth.

Church won a British Comedy Award for "Best Female Comedy Newcomer" in 2006, and the 'Funniest TV Personality' award at the 2006 ''Loaded Magazine's'' 'LAFTA' awards. In 2008 she was nominated for the ''Rose d'Or'' Special Award for Best Entertainer.

In late June 2008, Channel 4 began showing trials for the series. It has since concluded its eight-show run. Church confirmed on 28 August 2008 that The Charlotte Church Show would return for a Christmas special, which aired on 21 December 2008. On ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'', Church revealed that the third series would be shown on Thursday nights beginning on 10 July 2008. The show ended after its third series.

Church was confirmed by the BBC in February 2010 to be one of the judges on Andrew Lloyd Webber's new West End revival show ''Over The Rainbow''.

She made her silver screen debut in 2003's ''I'll Be There'', co-starring and directed by Craig Ferguson. Church played the role of Olivia, the daughter of a washed-up '80s rocker from a one-night-stand, played by Ferguson. The film did not meet with widespread success, playing for only ten days in British cinemas and being released directly to video in the US. Charlotte was also under consideration to appear in the 2004 film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's ''Phantom of the Opera'' as the leading female character Christine Daaé but elected not to audition as it was specified she would have to lose weight before she could try out which she declined to do. The part eventually went to Emmy Rossum. Church also stated she had wanted the part of Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series of films, however, at 14 she was too old for the part, which eventually went to Emma Watson.

Church sat in for Zoë Ball on BBC Radio 2's Saturday breakfast show on September 10 and 17, 2011

Personal life[link]

Church's personal life has often been portrayed in UK tabloid newspapers, inspiring the song "Let's Be Alone" on her album ''Tissues and Issues''.

Church released an autobiography titled ''Voice of an Angel (My Life So Far)'' at 14, before the release of ''Enchantment'' and just after she had wrapped up her ''Dream a Dream'' Christmas CD. Her change of music direction is hinted at in the final chapter, "Turning Corners". She released a second autobiography titled ''Keep Smiling'' in late 2007, very different in tone from the first.

In 2002, she was photographed smoking; many members of her family were heavy smokers, making it difficult for her to quit. Her smoking habit was alluded to on the album ''Tissues and Issues'', in "Confessional Song". Her weight gain has been mentioned. Church has been quoted as saying, "I'm happy with how I look. I like looking like this. Why change just to be like everyone else? What's the point of that?" In an interview with ''Reveal'' magazine in June 2006, she said, "I do look a bit of a heifer on telly and in pictures but that's because the camera puts pounds on you."

The press devoted much attention to Church's relationship with boyfriend Gavin Henson, a Welsh International rugby union player. At the end of 2005, she bought a property in her native Cardiff—for a reported £500,000—which she later sold for £900,000. The couple then bought a manor with a 20-acre (8 hectare) small holding in the Vale of Glamorgan in the village of St. Bride's Major. The couple mentioned marriage on talk shows and in the press but put off marriage while Church was pregnant.

In 2007, Church made another appearance on a British young people's rich list with Henson. They were ranked 49th-richest young people in Britain with an estimated joint wealth of £12 million, The couple bought a Princess yacht in spring 2008 for £800,000, named ''Sketchy,'' which is berthed at Swansea marina. In late 2009, returning from a day-trip in the Bristol Channel, Church called out Her Majesty's Coastguard to rescue their lost RiB tender. Church practices karate to keep fit.

On 20 September 2007, Church gave birth to daughter named Ruby Megan Henson. On 11 January 2009, Church gave birth to her second child, son Dexter Lloyd Henson. Church has stated she wants her childbearing days to be over by the time she is 32. She has also said she wants four to six children, whereas Henson wanted eight. The ''Daily Mail'' reported on 31 May 2010 that Church and Henson had split up.

In November 2011, Church testified before the Leveson Inquiry about the media intrusion into her personal life stating "I've been made a caricature for so long, and this person portrayed in the tabloids really isn't me. It's not the person I am, and it's had a massive impact on my career. As an artist, I find it hard to be taken seriously because my credibility has been blown to bits."

On 27 February 2012 Church accepted £600,000 in damages and costs in settlement of a lawsuit arising out of the News International phone hacking scandal. She had claimed that 33 stories about her that appeared in the News of the World were the product of illegal hacking into her family's voice mail. After the settlement was announced in open court she made a lengthy statement afterwards. She said, “I have also discovered that despite the apology which the newspaper has just given in court, these people were prepared to go to any lengths to prevent me exposing their behaviour. They are not truly sorry. They are just sorry they got caught.”

Controversy[link]

Church has provoked controversy on some occasions with her comments and criticisms — in an interview with Davina McCall, she agreed being diplomatic was "not in her nature". At age 15 she was criticised for remarks she made about the behaviour of people in the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attacks

The pilot episode of Church's talk show, ''The Charlotte Church Show'', was unwelcome to some religious groups, as Church made comments about Pope Benedict XVI, calling him a "Nazi" because he was a member of the Hitler Youth and German Army. A distributor of religious books, CDs and other goods, Ignatius Press, removed Church's products from its catalogue.

In her video blog entry for 22 March 2007, Church referred to the UK's Eurovision entry, Scooch, as "absolute shit" and went on to say, "I've never seen shit like it, because Scooch really are shit." Russ Spencer of Scooch hit back, saying, "What a pity the voice of an angel has acquired the mouth of a sewer." Spencer's fellow band member Natalie Powers added, "As a mother of a young child myself I find her behaviour and language quite unacceptable. What kind of role model is this for a mum-to-be?" Church commented on her Channel 4 show, "They called me attention seeking ... then what's doing the Eurovision dressed as air hostesses?"

She has claimed she would be a better judge for the reality show ''X-Factor'' than any of the judges on the show. She becomes "annoyed" when their remarks are inaccurate, stating, "They just do not know the ins and outs of a voice or music."

In January 2011, in an interview with ''Esquire'' magazine, Church referred to Queen Elizabeth II as "an old woman who has no idea what's going on", but apologised within days.

Discography[link]

''Voice of an Angel'' (1998)

''Charlotte Church'' (1999)

''Dream a Dream'' (2000)

''Enchantment'' (2001)

''Tissues and Issues'' (2005)

''Back to Scratch'' (2010)

Filmography[link]

''Touched by an Angel'' ''Heartbeat (UK TV series) ''Have I Got News For You'' ''I'll Be There (2003) ''The Catherine Tate Show'' ''The Charlotte Church Show'' ''Katy Brand's Big Ass Show'' ''Hospital 24/7''

Television
!Year	!Title	!Role	!Notes
1997	|	Herself	Cameo Role
1999	Heartbeat'' ||	Katie Kendall	Guest Role
2002–2003	|	Herself	Presenter
2003	I'll Be There'' ||	Olivia Edmonds	Lead Role
2005	|	Herself	Cameo Role
2006–2008	|	Herself	Presenter
2008	|	Various	Guest Role
2010	|	Herself	Guest Role

Awards and nominations[link]

!Year	!Award	!Category	!Result
rowspan=4	2000		Classical BRIT Awards	Best Female Artist
	Classical BRIT Awards	British Artist Of The Year
Hollywood Reporters Young Star Awards	Best Young Recording Artist Or Musical Group
Institute Of Public Relations In Wales	Millenium Communicator Of The Year
	2002		Rear of the year	N/A
	2005		GQ Awards	Woman Of The Year
		Brit Awards	Best British Female
	Loaded (magazine)>Loaded Magazine LAFTA Awards	Funniest T.V Personality
	Glamour (magazine)>Glamour Awards	Editors Choice Award
	Glamour (magazine)>Glamour Awards	Solo Artist Of The Year
	British Comedy Awards	Best Female Newcomer
	2007		Glamour Awards	Readers Favourite TV Personality
	2008		Best Entertainer

References[link]

External links[link]

CharlotteChurch.co - Official website

''The Charlotte Church Show'' - Official website

Biography from BBC Wales

Category:1986 births Category:Living people Category:Adoptees adopted by relations Category:Welsh Roman Catholics Category:People educated at Howell's School Llandaff Category:Musicians from Cardiff Category:Welsh sopranos Category:Welsh child singers Category:Welsh female singers Category:Welsh pop singers Category:Opera crossover singers Category:Welsh child actors Category:Welsh television actors Category:Welsh film actors Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:British karateka Category:Columbia Records artists

ar:شارلوت تشيرش cy:Charlotte Church da:Charlotte Church de:Charlotte Church es:Charlotte Church eo:Charlotte Church fr:Charlotte Church it:Charlotte Church hu:Charlotte Church nl:Charlotte Church ja:シャルロット・チャーチ pl:Charlotte Church pt:Charlotte Church simple:Charlotte Church fi:Charlotte Church sv:Charlotte Church tl:Charlotte Church zh:夏洛蒂·澈奇

name	Josh Groban
background	solo_singer
birth name	Joshua Winslow Groban
birth date	February 27, 1981
birth place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
instrument	Vocals, piano, drums, percussion
genre	Easy listening, vocal, operatic pop, pop rock
occupation	Singer, songwriter, musician, actor, record producer
years active	1997–present
label	143, Reprise
associated acts	Tenacious D
website	}}

Joshua Winslow "Josh" Groban (born February 27, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. His first four solo albums have been certified multi-platinum, and in 2007, he was charted as the number-one best selling artist in the United States with over 21 million records in that country. To date, he has sold over 24 million albums worldwide, and is the top selling classical artist of the 2000s in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Groban originally studied acting, but as his voice changed, it developed into a "significant instrument". Groban attended the Los Angeles High School for the Arts, a free public school where students received a conservatory-style education. His life changed when his vocal coach, Seth Riggs, submitted a tape of Josh singing "All I Ask of You", from ''The Phantom of the Opera'', to Riggs' friend, producer, composer and arranger David Foster. Foster called him to stand in for an ailing Andrea Bocelli to rehearse a duet, "The Prayer," with Celine Dion at the rehearsal for the Grammy Awards in 1998. Rosie O'Donnell immediately invited him to appear on her talk show. Foster asked him to sing at the California Governor's Gray Davis' 1999 inauguration. He was cast on ''Ally McBeal'' by the show's creator, David E. Kelley, performing "You're Still You" for the 2001 season finale.

Early life and education[link]

Groban was born in Los Angeles, to Lindy (née Johnston), a school teacher and full time mother, and Jack Groban, a businessman. He has a younger brother, Chris, who shares the same birthday, four years later. Groban's father was born Jewish, and is a descendant of Russian and Polish immigrants; he converted from Judaism to Christianity when marrying Groban's mother. Groban's mother's ancestry includes Norwegian (from Toten), German, and English; one of her own grandfathers had been Jewish. Groban's parents practiced in the Episcopal Church.

Groban debuted as a singer in the fifth grade. His music teacher chose him to sing a solo of "S'wonderful" at the school's Cabaret Night, where he sang alone on stage for the first time. At this time, he was more focused on theatrical arts. In the summers of 1997 and 1998, he also attended the Interlochen Center for the Arts Camp in Michigan, majoring in music theatre, and began taking vocal lessons. Groban went on to attend the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts as a theatre major and graduated in 1999. He was admitted to Carnegie Mellon University, intending to study drama, but he left four months into his first semester. Offered a recording contract, he decided to pursue his singing career.

Music career[link]

1998–2001: debut[link]

In late 1998, the 17-year-old Groban was introduced by his vocal coach to Grammy-winning producer/arranger David Foster and future manager Brian Avnet. At the time Groban had no recording experience and was preparing to begin studying at Carnegie Mellon University. Groban worked for David Foster as a rehearsal singer on a series of high-profile events, including the January 1999 inauguration of Gray Davis as Governor of California and the 1999 Grammy Awards where—as a stand-in for Andrea Bocelli—he rehearsed Foster's "The Prayer" with Céline Dion. According to manager Avnet, Groban was very nervous about standing in for Bocelli and had to be talked into it, but his performance prompted the show hostess, Rosie O'Donnell, to ask him to appear on her show the following week, which then led to an appearance on the Ally McBeal show. David E. Kelley, creator of the television series ''Ally McBeal,'' created a character, Malcolm Wyatt, for Groban in the season finale aired in May 2001. The character of Malcolm Wyatt was so popular, prompting 8,000 emails from viewers, that Groban was asked to return the next season to reprise his role and perform "To Where You Are." Avnet claims this sequence of events effectively got Groban's career off the ground.

Groban was offered a recording contract at Warner Bros. Records through Foster's 143 Records imprint. Avnet told HitQuarters that Warner initially proved resistant to the deal because "They were afraid they wouldn’t be able to get a voice like that on radio." Explaining his reasons for signing the artist, Foster said: "I love his natural ability in the pop and rock arena, but I love his sense of classics even more. He's a true musical force to be reckoned with." Under Foster's influence, Groban's first album focused more on classics such as "Gira Con Me Questa Notte" and "Alla Luce Del Sole."

Groban performed "There For Me" with Sarah Brightman on her 2000–01 ''La Luna World Tour'', and was featured on her "La Luna" concert DVD. He recorded "For Always" with Lara Fabian on the movie soundtrack to ''A.I.: Artificial Intelligence'' (2001). Groban performed in many benefit shows, including: "The Andre Agassi Grand Slam Event For Children," singing alongside Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Don Henley, and Robin Williams; "Muhammad Ali's Fight Night Foundation" which honored Michael J. Fox and others; "The Family Celebration" (2001), which was co-hosted by President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and David E. Kelley and his wife, Michelle Pfeiffer; and Michael Milken's CapCure event, which raises funds for cancer research.

The singer's self-titled debut album ''Josh Groban'' was released on November 20, 2001. Over the next year, it went from gold to double-platinum.

2002–05: ''Closer''[link]

On February 24, 2002, Groban performed "The Prayer" with Charlotte Church at the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and by November, he had his own PBS special, "Josh Groban In Concert" (2002). In December 2002, he performed "To Where You Are" and sang "The Prayer" in a duet with Sissel Kyrkjebø at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway. He joined The Corrs, Ronan Keating, Sting, Lionel Richie, and others for a Christmas performance at the Vatican in Rome, Italy. In 2003, Groban performed at the David Foster concert for World Children's Day, singing "The Prayer" with Celine Dion and the finale song, "Aren't They All Our Children?" with artists including Yolanda Adams, Nick Carter, Enrique Iglesias, and Celine Dion.

Groban's second album ''Closer'', produced and written by Foster, was released on November 11, 2003. Groban said that he believed that this second album was a better reflection of him, and that his audience would be able to get a better idea of his personality from listening to it. "What most people know about me, they know through my music. This time, I've tried to open that door as wide as possible. These songs are a giant step closer to who I really am and what my music is all about. Hence the title."

Two months after ''Closer'' was released, it rose on the ''Billboard'' charts from number 11 to number one. His cover of Brian Kennedy's "You Raise Me Up" became very popular on the adult contemporary charts. Groban also performed the song "Remember" (with Tanja Tzarovska) on the ''Troy'' soundtrack, "Believe" on the soundtrack to the 2004 animated film ''The Polar Express'', and a cover of Linkin Park's "My December".

In the summer of 2004, Groban returned to Interlochen, performing and discussing his earlier experiences with local residents and campers. On November 30, 2004, his second live DVD, ''Live At The Greek'', was released; it was also shown as a ''Great Performances'' special on PBS. Also in 2004, Groban performed "Remember When It Rained," backed by a full orchestra, at the American Music Awards, where he was nominated for Favorite Male Artist in the pop category; he was also nominated for a People's Choice Award in that year. His recording of "Believe" secured a 2005 Academy Award nomination for the song's two writers, Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri, and earned them a Grammy in the category Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media at the ceremony held in February 2006.

2005–10: ''Awake''[link]

Groban earned his first Grammy nomination in 2005 for his single "You Raise Me Up", in the category of "Best Male Vocal Performance". During the first week of September 2006, Groban's single entitled "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)" was released exclusively on AOL's First Listen. His third studio album ''Awake'' was officially released on November 7, 2006. Groban performed "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)" as well as two other tracks from ''Awake'' at his recording session for ''Live from Abbey Road'' at Abbey Road Studios on 26 October 2006. On that album, Groban also collaborated with British musician and songwriter Imogen Heap, on the single "Now or Never". He performed two tracks with the South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, "Lullaby" and "Weeping." Groban's "Awake" world tour visited 71 cities between February and August 2007, and travelled further to Australia and the Philippines with Lani Misalucha as his special guest in October 2007. He performed a duet with Barbra Streisand ("All I Know of Love") and with Mireille Mathieu ("Over the Rainbow"). As to his future, Groban is open to a plethora of possibilities. He said, "I am fortunate enough to have had many really big moments in my career. I think the mistake a lot of people in my position make is to always search for the next big thing. I am looking forward to playing some small theaters. I'm looking forward to writing more. I want to delve further into my acting career and explore some of the film and TV opportunities that I haven't had time for. My outlook is to expect the unexpected. And when the next step comes, I'm prepared to take it." Groban has also expressed an interest in performing on Broadway.

2010–present[link]

Groban finished his fifth studio album, entitled ''Illuminations'', and the album was released on November 15, 2010. Most of the songs on the album are about "specific situations that I've had where love has existed and ultimately failed," Groban told The New York Times, adding: "And other songs are about the quest, and it just not working out." Groban wrote 11 of the 13 songs on the album. The first single from the album, "Hidden Away," was made available for free download via Facebook on September 8. “For me to sit in a room with a piano in one take with some of Johnny Cash’s musicians — that was totally new for me.” Josh added. “and I think that excitement is on the record.” On October 12, a second single from the upcoming album, "Você Existe Em Mim", was made available on iTunes. This song is sung in Brazilian Portuguese and was written by Brazilian artist Carlinhos Brown. The Washington Post said: "Illuminations" is not a revelation, but it offers a perfectly fine, and often quite lovely, glimpse at a pop-classical crossover artist in the middle of crossing over." Josh plans on making one more record with Rick Rubin. Beginning May 12, 2011 and continuing through December of that year, Groban undertook the 81-city Straight to You Tour to promote ''Illuminations'', encompassing appearances in North America, Europe, and South Africa.

Notable performances[link]

On April 14, 2008, Groban joined Idina Menzel for a PBS ''Soundstage'' taping. The next day, he held his own taping for the same PBS TV series at Lincoln Center's Rose Hall at Jazz in New York City.

In June 2007, Groban recorded a Christmas album in London with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Magdalen College Choir, which he discussed on the DVD from "The Making of ''Noël''". It was released on October 9, 2007, and is titled ''Noël''. The album has been highly successful in the US, breaking numerous records for a Christmas album, as well as becoming the best selling album of 2007 in only its tenth week of release, at sales of 3.6 million.

On July 1, 2007, Groban performed with Sarah Brightman at the ''Concert for Diana'' at Wembley Stadium; it was broadcast to over 500 million homes in 140 countries.

On February 10, 2008, Groban performed at the 2008 Grammy Awards with Andrea Bocelli in a tribute to Luciano Pavarotti.

On May 12 and 13, 2008 At Royal Albert Hall, London, Groban performed as "The Russian" Anatoly Sergievsky; joining with Broadway stars Idina Menzel and Adam Pascal in "''Chess in Concert''" a live concert version of the musical Chess composed by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA fame. This performance has since been made into a DVD and CD recording.

On September 21, 2008, Groban performed a comical medley of well-known TV theme songs at the 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.

In December 2008, Groban appeared on ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks''. He performed a duet with Only Men Aloud! at the Royal Variety Show at the London Palladium for the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.

On January 18, 2009, Groban performed as part of the Presidential Inauguration ceremonies, performing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" in duet with Heather Headley.

On January, 19. 2009, Groban performed with Herbie Hancock as part of Feeding America's Rally Against Hunger in Washington DC. The event was also attended by Martin Luther King III and actor Ben Affleck.

At the 2010 BCS National Championship Game, he performed the ''Star Spangled Banner'' on Jan. 7, 2010, with Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, at the historic Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California.

Film and television appearances[link]

Groban has appeared on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' six times, as well as on ''The Ellen Degeneres Show'', ''Larry King Live'', ''The Rosie O'Donnell Show'', ''Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'', ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'', ''20/20'', ''Today'', Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Super Bowl XXXVIII, and the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade, the Rockefeller Tree Lighting. He has also been a guest co-host on ''Live with Regis and Kelly'' many times from 2006 to 2012.

Groban played Malcolm Wyatt, a preacher's son, on ''Ally McBeal'', episodes "The Wedding" and "Nine One One" (2001).

Groban has made two guest appearances on the series ''Glee'' as himself.

Groban appeared on BBC Two's hit British music quiz ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks''. His first appearance was as a guest on Omid Djalili's team. On December 21, 2010, he returned to ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'', this time as guest host/quiz master and ending the show duetting with Michael Ball in a version of "I Dreamed a Dream" from ''Les Miserables''.

Groban appeared in ''The Office'' as Andy Bernard's brother in the episode "Garden Party" (2011).

On Tuesday, May 24, 2011, Groban appeared as a mystery guest star on the season 12 finale of ''Dancing With the Stars'' to surprise Petra Nemcova by singing "You Raise Me Up" to her dance. When she saw that it was he who was actually singing the song and not one of the usual performers, she momentarily was too stunned to continue dancing.

In the comedy ''Crazy, Stupid, Love.'', a film starring Emma Stone and Steve Carell, released on July 29, 2011, Groban played a character named Richard, a caddish and nerdy attorney.

In 2012, he appeared in episode 5 of series 12 of the revived British comedy panel show ''Room 101''.

Voice type[link]

Various music critics have described Groban's voice in different ways, with some referring to him as a tenor and others as a baritone. In performance, Groban's music goes as low as G₂ (as in the songs "To Where You Are" and "Higher Window") and extends up to at least B₄ (as heard in "You Raise Me Up" or in "February Song"). This places his voice lower than the tenor range on the low end, and just short of Tenor C, and therefore above the baritone range, on the high end. There is currently no authoritative system of voice classification in non-classical music. The problem lies in the fact that classical terms are used to describe not merely various vocal ranges, but specific vocal timbres each unique to those respective ranges, and produced by the classical training techniques with which most popular singers are not intimately familiar and which are not universally employed by the few that are. In a 2002 ''New York Times'' article, Groban described himself as a "tenor in training".

Charity[link]

Under the guidance of his mentor David Foster, Groban performed for many charity events that included VH1 Save the Music (2005), Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope (2005), Fifth Annual Adopt-A-Minefield concert (2005), 2nd Annual Grammy Jam (2005), Live 8 (2005), The Heart Foundation Gala (2005), and David Foster and Friends Charity Gala (2006). He also sang a solo on the recording of We Are The World 25 for Haiti (2010). Inspired by a visit with Nelson Mandela during a 2004 trip to South Africa, he established the Josh Groban Foundation to help children in need through education, healthcare and the arts. Mandela appointed Groban as an Official Ambassador for Mandela's Project 46664, a campaign to help raise Global awareness of HIV/AIDS in Africa. On April 25, 2007, Josh Groban performed with the African Children's Choir on ''American Idol'''s "Idol Gives Back" episode. Also on September 2, 2007, Groban donated $150,000 to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to fund music education. On February 28, 2008, he appeared in One Night Live at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada with Bryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan, Jann Arden and RyanDan in aid of the Sunnybrook Hospital Women and Babies Program. In honor of his 27th birthday, his fans set out to raise $27,000 in a project called "Raise 27". They ended up raising a total of $44,227 for the Josh Groban Foundation, to benefit the Noah's Ark children's orphanage called Siyawela in South Africa. Groban has since referred to this donation as "the best birthday present ever". For those who could afford the $1500 ticket, Josh Groban performed at the The Angel Ball on October 21, 2010. Proceeds went to the Gabrielles Angel Foundation for cancer research.

Impact[link]

Some of Groban's musical influences have been Radiohead, Steve Perry, Paul Simon, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Freddie Mercury and Björk. He cites as vocal influences "anyone who told a story with their songs," including Mandy Patinkin, Klaus Nomi, George Hearn, and Luciano Pavarotti.

He was named the #1 Best Selling Artist of All Time on Barnes & Noble in 2007. Groban has sold more than 20 million albums in less than ten years.

In 2002, Groban was listed as "100 Sexiest Newcomer" and in 2008, he became one of People's "100 Most Beautiful People".

Personal life[link]

Groban dated actress January Jones from 2003–06. Although maintaining a home in Los Angeles, he recently moved his primary residence to New York City, where he indicates that "dating can be very easy or very tough."

Discography[link]

2001: ''Josh Groban''

2003: ''Closer''

2006: ''Awake''

2007: ''Noël''

2010: ''Illuminations''

Concert tours[link]

Closer Tour (2004–2005)

Awake Tour (2007)

Before We Begin (2010)

Straight to You Tour (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

BroadwayWorld: Idina Menzel & Josh Groban to Star in 'Chess' Musical UK Concert?

Chess in Concert (2008)

Brown, Bob. "A Star in the Making: Who is Josh Groban?." ABCNews. com: 20/20

Josh Groban video interview on Virgin Red Room

Watch Josh Groban make a northern cuppa in this exclusive interview with Virgin Red Room

Category:1981 births Category:American people of Jewish descent Category:American male singers Category:American pop pianists Category:American pop singers Category:Carnegie Mellon University alumni Category:Latin-language singers Category:Italian-language singers Category:Opera crossover singers Category:French-language singers Category:Living people Category:American musicians of Norwegian descent Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:Warner Music Group artists

ar:جوش غروبان bg:Джош Гробан cs:Josh Groban da:Josh Groban de:Josh Groban es:Josh Groban fa:جاش گروبن fr:Josh Groban id:Josh Groban it:Josh Groban he:ג'וש גרובן jv:Josh Groban lb:Josh Groban hu:Josh Groban mk:Џош Гробан mn:Жош Гробан nl:Josh Groban ja:ジョシュ・グローバン no:Josh Groban pl:Josh Groban pt:Josh Groban ru:Гробан, Джош simple:Josh Groban sk:Josh Groban fi:Josh Groban sv:Josh Groban tl:Josh Groban th:จอช โกรแบน tr:Josh Groban vi:Josh Groban zh:喬許·葛洛班

Name	Billy Gilman
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	William Wendell Gilman III
Birth date	May 24, 1988
Origin	Hope Valley, Rhode Island, United States
Genre	Country
Years active	1999–present
Associated acts	Ray BensonAsleep at the Wheel
Website	Official Website }}

William Wendell "Billy" Gilman III (born May 24, ) is an American country music artist. In 2000, at the age of 12, he debuted with the single "One Voice," a Top 20 hit on the ''Billboard'' country music charts and became the youngest singer to a Top 40 hit on the country music charts. An album of the same name was released later that year on Epic Records, and was certified Double Platinum in the United States. Following it was a Christmas album Classic Christmas and Dare to Dream, both of which were certified gold. He exited Epic's roster and signed to Image Entertainment in 2005 releasing Everything and More. In 2006, he released the self-titled Billy Gilman.

Biography[link]

William Wendell Gilman III was born on May 24, 1988, in Westerly, Rhode Island, he was raised in Hope Valley, Rhode Island. Gilman began singing before he was in school, and gave his first public performance at age 7. At the age of 9, Gilman was discovered by Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel, who helped him record demos. Gilman was then signed to Epic Records Nashville in 2000.

Musical career[link]

On September 10, 2001, he was voted the European's most awarded new country artist, becoming the youngest contender to ever win that prize. He was also given entry into the Guinness Book of World Records for being the youngest singer to reach #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for his debut single "One Voice" and was nominated for Best Country Song for the songwriters, Don Cook and David Malloy. That same year, he appeared in the tribute album ''Country Goes Raffi'', performing the Raffi song "Baby Beluga."

On September 7 and September 10, 2001, Gilman performed the song "Ben" at Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special in New York which was later televised. It was originally sung by Michael Jackson in 1972.

Gilman was featured on Welsh soprano Charlotte Church's album ''Dream A Dream'' and released a Christmas album in 2000 titled ''Classic Christmas'', which was certified Gold by the RIAA. In 2003, Billy released his fourth album, ''Dare to Dream'', which was also certified gold, although its singles "Elisabeth" and "She's My Girl" both fell short of Top 40 on the Billboard country singles charts.

In 2002, Gilman took part in a reading for the then Broadway-bound musical ''A Tale of Two Cities'', in which he played 'The Young Man', who is Madame DeFarge's brother.

His final album for Epic was entitled ''Music Through Heartsongs: Songs Based on the Poems of Mattie J.T. Stepanek''. These songs were based on poems written by Mattie Stepanek, a poet with muscular dystrophy who died in 2004.

Gilman signed to Image Entertainment in 2005 for the release of his fifth album, ''Everything and More''. A self-titled album followed in 2006.

Personal life[link]

Gilman lives in Hope Valley, Rhode Island with his parents Bill and Fran Gilman and his younger brother Colin, frequently flying back to Nashville to write and record.. He is also a Celebrity Ambassador for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA).

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions				! width="45"	! width="45"
		''[[One Voice (Billy Gilman album)		* Release date: June 20, 2000		Epic Nashville">Music recording sales certification
! width="45"	! width="45"	! width="45"
''[[One Voice (Billy Gilman album)		* Release date: June 20, 2000	Epic Nashville	2	22	—		Recording Industry Association of America>US: 2× Platinum	Canadian Recording Industry Association>CAN: Gold
! scope="row"		* Release date: May 8, 2001	* Label: Epic Nashville	6	45	—		* US: Gold
! scope="row"		* Release date: April 15, 2003	* Label: Epic Nashville	15	109	—
! scope="row"		* Release date: May 3, 2005	* Label:	39	—	17
! scope="row"		* Release date: September 6, 2006	* Label: Image Entertainment	55	—	29

Holiday albums[link]

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions				! width="45"	! width="45"
		! scope="row"		* Release date: October 17, 2000		* Label: Epic Nashville	4	42	5		* US: Gold

Singles[link]

Year	Single	Peak chart positions				Album
		! width="45"	! width="45"	! width="45"	! width="45"
	"[[One Voice (Billy Gilman song)	20	38	29	84
! scope="row"	33	63	—	—
	"There's a Hero"	—	—	—	—
"She's My Girl"	50	—	—	—
"Elisabeth"	56	—	—	—
	"Everything and More"	—	—	—	—
"Hey, Little Suzie (The Cause of All That)"	—	—	—	—
	"Gonna Find Love"	—	—	—	—
"Southern Star"	—	—	—	—
2007	! scope="row"	—	—	—	—
2008	"When You Come Home"	—	—	—	—

Other charted songs[link]

Year	Single	Peak positions	Album
		! width="60"
2000	"Warm and Fuzzy"	50

Music videos[link]

! Year	Video	! Director
	"One Voice"
"Oklahoma"
"Warm and Fuzzy"	David McClister
	"There's a Hero"
"She's My Girl"
"Elisabeth"	[[Shaun Silva">Music recording sales certification
! width="45"	! width="45"	! width="45"
! scope="row"		* Release date: October 17, 2000	* Label: Epic Nashville	4	42	5		* US: Gold

Singles[link]

Year	Single	Peak chart positions				Album
		! width="45"	! width="45"	! width="45"	! width="45"
	"[[One Voice (Billy Gilman song)	20	38	29	84
! scope="row"	33	63	—	—
	"There's a Hero"	—	—	—	—
"She's My Girl"	50	—	—	—
"Elisabeth"	56	—	—	—
	"Everything and More"	—	—	—	—
"Hey, Little Suzie (The Cause of All That)"	—	—	—	—
	"Gonna Find Love"	—	—	—	—
"Southern Star"	—	—	—	—
2007	! scope="row"	—	—	—	—
2008	"When You Come Home"	—	—	—	—

Other charted songs[link]

Year	Single	Peak positions	Album
		! width="60"
2000	"Warm and Fuzzy"	50

Music videos[link]

! Year	Video	! Director
	"One Voice"
"Oklahoma"
"Warm and Fuzzy"	David McClister
	"There's a Hero"
"She's My Girl"
"Elisabeth"	[[Shaun Silva
2003	"I Am (Shades of Life)"
	"Everything and More"
"Hey, Little Suzie (The Cause of All That)"
2012	"The Choice" (Billy Gilman & Friends)	Sean Thomas

Footnotes[link]

External links[link]

Category:1988 births Category:American child singers Category:American country singers Category:American male singers Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Rhode Island Category:People from Hopkinton, Rhode Island Category:Epic Records artists

es:Billy Gilman eo:Billy Gilman fa:بیلی گیلمن fr:Billy Gilman id:Billy Gilman it:Billy Gilman hu:Billy Gilman nl:Billy Gilman ja:ビリー・ギルマン pl:Billy Gilman pt:Billy Gilman ru:Гилман, Билли fi:Billy Gilman vi:Billy Gilman

name	Rupert Murdoch
birth date	March 11, 1931
birth name	Keith Rupert Murdoch
birth place	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
nationality	United States
citizenship	United States (naturalised 1985)
occupation	Chairman and CEO ofNews Corporation
networth	US$8.3 billion (2011)
spouse	(divorced) (divorced)
children	Prudence Murdoch (b. 1958)Elisabeth Murdoch (b. 1968)Lachlan Murdoch (b. 1971)James Murdoch (b. 1972)Grace Murdoch (b. 2001)Chloe Murdoch (b. 2003)
parents	Keith Murdoch (1885–1952)Elisabeth Joy (née Greene, b. 1909)
relatives	Matthew Freud (son-in-law)Sarah Murdoch (daughter-in-law)
awards	Companion of the Order of Australia (1984).
footnotes	Australian citizenship lost in 1985 (under S17 of Australian Citizenship Act 1948) with acquisition of US nationality }}

Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG (born 11 March 1931) is an Australian American media mogul. He is the founder, Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate.

Born and raised in Australia, Murdoch became managing director of News Limited, inherited from his father, in 1952. In the 1950s and '60s, he acquired various newspapers in Australia and New Zealand, before expanding into the United Kingdom in 1969, taking over the ''News of the World'' followed closely by ''The Sun''. He moved to New York in 1974 to expand into the US market and became a naturalised US citizen in 1985. In 1981, he bought ''The Times'', his first British broadsheet.

In 1986, keen to adopt newer electronic publishing technologies, he consolidated his UK printing operations in Wapping, causing bitter industrial disputes. His News Corporation acquired Twentieth Century Fox (1985), HarperCollins (1989) and ''The Wall Street Journal'' (2007). He formed BSkyB in 1990 and during the 1990s expanded into Asian networks and South American television. By 2000 Murdoch's News Corporation owned over 800 companies in more than 50 countries with a net worth of over $5 billion.

In July 2011 Murdoch faced allegations that his companies, including the ''News of the World'', owned by News Corporation, had been regularly hacking the phones of celebrities, royalty and public citizens. He faces police and government investigations into bribery and corruption by the British government and FBI investigations in the US.

Early life[link]

Murdoch was born in Melbourne, the only son of Sir Keith Murdoch (1885–1952) and Elisabeth Greene (born 1909). He has English, Irish and Scottish ancestry. His parents were both born in Melbourne. Keith Murdoch was a renowned war correspondent and later a regional newspaper magnate. He asked for a rendezvous after seeing her debutante photograph in one of his own newspapers and they married in 1928, when she was aged 19 and he 23 years her senior. In addition to Rupert, the couple had three daughters: Janet Calvert-Jones, Anne Kantor and Helen Handbury (1929–2004).

Murdoch attended Geelong Grammar School, where he had his first experience of editing a publication, being co-editor of the school's official journal ''The Corian'' and editor of the student journal ''If Revived''. He also took his School's cricket team to the National Junior Finals. He worked part time at the ''Melbourne Herald'' and was groomed by his father from an early age to take over the family business. Murdoch read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Worcester College, Oxford University in England, where he supported the Labour Party and managed Oxford Student Publications Limited, the publishing house of Cherwell Newspaper. After her husband's death from cancer in 1952, Elisabeth Murdoch went on to invest herself in charity work, as life governor of the Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne and establishing the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. At 102 (in 2011) she had 74 descendants. Murdoch completed an MA before working as a sub-editor with the ''Daily Express'' for two years.

Activities in Australia and New Zealand[link]

Following his father's death, when he was 21, Murdoch returned from Oxford to take charge of the family business News Limited, which had been established in 1923. Rupert Murdoch turned its newspaper, ''Adelaide News'', its main asset, into a major success. He began to direct his attention to acquisition and expansion, buying the troubled ''Sunday Times'' in Perth, Western Australia (1956) and over the next few years acquiring suburban and provincial newspapers in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and the Northern Territory, including the Sydney afternoon tabloid, ''The Daily Mirror'' (1960). ''The Economist'' describes Murdoch as "inventing the modern tabloid", as he developed a pattern for his newspapers, increasing sports and scandal coverage and adopting eye-catching headlines.

Murdoch's first foray outside Australia involved the purchase of a controlling interest in the New Zealand daily ''The Dominion''. In January 1964, while touring New Zealand with friends in a rented Morris Minor after sailing across the Tasman, Murdoch read of a takeover bid for the Wellington paper by the British-based Canadian newspaper magnate, Lord Thomson of Fleet. On the spur of the moment, he launched a counter-bid. A four-way battle for control ensued in which the 32-year-old Murdoch was ultimately successful. Later in 1964, Murdoch launched ''The Australian'', Australia's first national daily newspaper, and its first broadsheet, which was based first in Canberra and later in Sydney. In 1972, Murdoch acquired the Sydney morning tabloid ''The Daily Telegraph'' from Australian media mogul Sir Frank Packer, who later regretted selling it to him. In 1984, Murdoch was appointed Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) for services to publishing.

In 1999, Murdoch significantly expanded his music holdings in Australia by acquiring the controlling share in a leading Australian independent label, Michael Gudinski's Mushroom Records; he merged that with Festival Records, and the result was Festival Mushroom Records (FMR). Both Festival and FMR were managed by Murdoch's son James Murdoch for several years.

Political activities in Australia[link]

Murdoch found a political ally in John McEwen, leader of the Australian Country Party (now known as the National Party of Australia), who was governing in coalition with the larger Menzies-Holt Liberal Party. From the very first issue of ''The Australian'' Murdoch began taking McEwen's side in every issue that divided the long-serving coalition partners. (The Australian, 15 July 1964, first edition, front page: "Strain in Cabinet, Liberal-CP row flares.") It was an issue that threatened to split the coalition government and open the way for the stronger Australian Labor Party to dominate Australian politics. It was the beginning of a long campaign that served McEwen well.

After McEwen and Menzies retired, Murdoch threw his growing power behind the Australian Labor Party under the leadership of Gough Whitlam and duly saw it elected on a social platform that included universal free health care, free education for all Australians to tertiary level, recognition of the People's Republic of China, and public ownership of Australia's oil, gas and mineral resources. Rupert Murdoch's backing of Whitlam turned out to be brief. Murdoch had already started his short-lived ''National Star'' newspaper in America, and was seeking to strengthen his political contacts there.

Asked about the Australian federal election, 2007 at News Corporation's annual general meeting in New York on 19 October 2007, its chairman Rupert Murdoch said, "I am not commenting on anything to do with Australian politics. I'm sorry. I always get into trouble when I do that." Pressed as to whether he believed Prime Minister John Howard should be re-elected, he said: "I have nothing further to say. I'm sorry. Read our editorials in the papers. It'll be the journalists who decide that – the editors." In 2009, in response to accusations by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd that News Limited was running vendettas against him and his government, Murdoch opined that Rudd was "oversensitive" Murdoch described Howard's successor, Labor Party Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, as "...more ambitious to lead the world [in tackling climate change] than to lead Australia..." and criticised Rudd's expansionary fiscal policies in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008 as unnecessary. Although News Limited's interests are extensive, also including the ''Daily Telegraph'', the ''Courier-Mail'' and the ''Adelaide Advertiser'', it was suggested by the commentator Mungo MacCallum in ''The Monthly'' that "the anti-Rudd push, if coordinated at all, was almost certainly locally driven" as opposed to being directed by Murdoch, who also took a different position from local editors on such matters as climate change and stimulus packages to combat the financial crisis.

Activities in Britain[link]

Business activities in Britain[link]

In 1968 Murdoch entered the UK newspaper market with his acquisition of the populist ''News of the World'', followed in 1969 with the purchase of the struggling daily broadsheet ''The Sun'' from IPC. Murdoch turned ''The Sun'' into a tabloid format and reduced costs by using the same printing press for both newspapers. In 1997 ''The Sun'' attracted 10 million daily readers. In 1981, Murdoch acquired the struggling ''Times'' and ''Sunday Times'' from Canadian newspaper publisher Lord Thomson of Fleet. Ownership of ''The Times'' came to him through his relationship with Lord Thomson, who had grown tired of losing money on it as a result of much industrial action that stopped publication. In the light of success and expansion at ''The Sun'' the owners believed that Murdoch could turn the papers around. Harold Evans, Editor of the ''Sunday Times'' from 1967, was made head of the daily ''Times'', though he stayed only a year amid editorial conflict with Murdoch.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, Murdoch's publications were generally supportive of Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. At the end of the Thatcher/Major era, Murdoch switched his support to the Labour Party and its leader, Tony Blair. The closeness of his relationship with Blair and their secret meetings to discuss national policies was to become a political issue in Britain. Though this later started to change, with ''The Sun'' publicly renouncing the ruling Labour government and lending its support to David Cameron's Conservative Party in the English editions, which soon after came to form a coalition government. In Scotland, where the Tories had yet to recover from their complete annihilation in 1997, the paper began to endorse the Scottish National Party (though not yet its flagship policy of independence), which soon after came to form the first ever outright majority in the proportionally elected Scottish Parliament. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown's official spokesman said in November 2009 that Brown and Murdoch "were in regular communication" and that "there is nothing unusual in the prime minister talking to Rupert Murdoch".

In 1986, Murdoch introduced electronic production processes to his newspapers in Australia, Britain and the United States. The greater degree of automation led to significant reductions in the number of employees involved in the printing process. In England, the move roused the anger of the print unions, resulting in a long and often violent dispute that played out in Wapping, one of London's docklands areas, where Murdoch had installed the very latest electronic newspaper purpose-built publishing facility in an old warehouse. The bitter dispute at Wapping started with the dismissal of 6,000 employees who had gone on strike and resulted in street battles and demonstrations. Many on the political left in Britain alleged the collusion of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government with Murdoch in the Wapping affair, as a way of damaging the British trade union movement. In 1987, the dismissed workers accepted a settlement of £60 million.

Murdoch's British-based satellite network, Sky Television, incurred massive losses in its early years of operation. As with many of his other business interests, Sky was heavily subsidised by the profits generated by his other holdings, but convinced rival satellite operator British Satellite Broadcasting to accept a merger on his terms in 1990. They were quick to see the advantages of direct to home (DTH) satellite broadcasting that did not require costly cable networks and the merged company, BSkyB, has dominated the British pay-TV market ever since. By 1996, BSkyB had more than 3.6 million subscribers, triple the number of cable customers in the UK. British financier Lord Jacob Rothschild, a close Murdoch friend since the 1960's, served as deputy chairman of Murdoch's BSkyB corporation from 2003–2007, and Murdoch jointly invested with Rothschild in a 5.5 percent stake in Genie Oil and Gas, which did shale gas and oil exploration in Israel.

In response to print media's decline and the increasing influence of online journalism during the 2000s, Murdoch proclaimed his support of the micropayments model for obtaining revenue from on-line news, although this has been criticised by some.

News Corporation has subsidiaries in the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, the Channel Islands and the Virgin Islands. From 1986, News Corporation's annual tax bill averaged around seven percent of its profits.

Political activities in Britain[link]

In Britain, in the 1980s, Murdoch formed a close alliance with Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher, and ''The Sun'' credited itself with helping her successor John Major to win an unexpected election victory in the 1992 general election, which had been expected to end in a hung parliament or a narrow win for Neil Kinnock's Labour. In the general elections of 1997, 2001 and 2005, Murdoch's papers were either neutral or supported Labour under Tony Blair. This has led some critics to argue that Murdoch simply supports the incumbent parties (or those who seem most likely to win an upcoming election) in the hope of influencing government decisions that may affect his businesses.

The Labour Party, from when Tony Blair became leader in 1994, had moved from the Left to a more central position on many economic issues prior to 1997. Murdoch identifies himself as a libertarian, saying "What does libertarian mean? As much individual responsibility as possible, as little government as possible, as few rules as possible. But I'm not saying it should be taken to the absolute limit."

In a speech delivered in New York, Rupert Murdoch said that the British Prime Minister Tony Blair described the BBC coverage of the Hurricane Katrina disaster as being full of hatred of America.

In 1998, Rupert Murdoch made an attempt to buy the football club Manchester United F.C., with an offer of £625 million, but this failed. It was the largest amount ever offered for a sports club. It was blocked by the United Kingdom's Competition Commission, which stated that the acquisition would have "hurt competition in the broadcast industry and the quality of British football".

On 28 June 2006 the BBC reported that Murdoch and News Corporation were considering backing new Conservative leader David Cameron at the next General Election – still up to four years away. In a later interview in July 2006, when he was asked what he thought of the Conservative leader, Murdoch replied "Not much". In a 2009 blog, it was suggested that in the aftermath of the News of the World phone hacking scandal which is still ongoing in 2012 and might yet have Transatlantic implications Murdoch and News Corporation might have decided to back Cameron. Despite this, there had already been a convergence of interests between the two men over the muting of Britain's communications regulator Ofcom.

In 2006, Britain's ''Independent'' newspaper reported that Murdoch would offer Tony Blair a senior role in his global media company News Corporation when the prime minister stood down from office.

He is accused by former Solidarity MSP Tommy Sheridan of having a personal vendetta against him and of conspiring with MI5 to produce a video of him confessing to having affairs – allegations over which Sheridan had previously sued News International and won. On being arrested for perjury following the case, Sheridan claimed that the charges were "orchestrated and influenced by the powerful reach of the Murdoch empire".

In August 2008, British Conservative leader and future Prime Minister David Cameron accepted free flights to hold private talks and attend private parties with Murdoch on his yacht, the ''Rosehearty''. Cameron has declared in the Commons register of interests he accepted a private plane provided by Murdoch's son-in-law, public relations guru Matthew Freud; Cameron has not revealed his talks with Murdoch. The gift of travel in Freud's Gulfstream IV private jet was valued at around £30,000. Other guests attending the "social events" included the then EU trade commissioner Lord Mandelson, the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and co-chairman of NBC Universal Ben Silverman. The Conservatives have not disclosed what was discussed.

In July 2011 it emerged that Cameron met key executives of Murdoch's News Corporation 26 times during the 14 months that Cameron had served as Prime Minister. It was also reported that Murdoch had given Cameron a personal guarantee that there would be no risk attached to hiring Andy Coulson, the former editor of ''News of the World'', as the Conservative Party's communication director in 2007. This was in spite of Coulson having resigned as editor over phone hacking by a reporter. Cameron chose to take Murdoch's advice, despite warnings from Nick Clegg, Lord Ashdown and ''The Guardian''. Coulson resigned his post in 2011 and was later arrested and questioned on allegations of further criminal activity at The ''News of the World'', specifically the News International phone hacking scandal.

News International phone hacking scandal[link]

In July 2011 Rupert Murdoch along with his son James gave testimony before a British parliamentary committee regarding phone hacking. In the U.K his media empire remains under fire as investigators continue to probe reports of other phone hacking.

On 14 July, the Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the House of Commons served a summons on Murdoch, his son James, and his former CEO Rebekah Brooks to testify before a committee on 19 July. After an initial refusal, the Murdochs confirmed they would attend after the committee issued them a summons to Parliament. The day before the committee, the website of the News Corporation publication ''The Sun'' was hacked, and a false story was posted on the front page claiming that Murdoch had died. Murdoch described the day of the committee "the most humble day of my life". He argued that since he ran a global business of 53,000 employees and that the ''News of the World'' was "just 1%" of this, he was not ultimately responsible for what went on at the tabloid. He added that he had not considered resigning, and that he and the other top executives had been completely unaware of the hacking.

On 15 July Rupert Murdoch attended a private meeting in London with the family of Milly Dowler, where he personally apologised for the hacking of their murdered daughter's voicemail by a company he owns. On 16 and 17 July, News International published two full-page apologies in many of Britain's national newspapers. The first apology took the form of a letter, signed by Rupert Murdoch, in which he said sorry for the "serious wrongdoing" that occurred. The second was titled "Putting right what's gone wrong", and gave more detail about the steps News International was taking to address the public's concerns. In the wake of the allegations Murdoch accepted the resignations of Rebekah Brooks, head of Murdoch's British operations, and Les Hinton, head of Dow Jones who was chairman of Murdoch's British newspaper division when some of the abuses happened. They both deny any knowledge of any wrong-doing under their command.

On 27 February 2012, the following day after Murdoch's controversial release of the Sun on Sunday, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers informed the Leveson Inquiry that Police are investigating a "network of corrupt officials" as part of their inquiries into phone hacking and police corruption. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers told the Leveson Inquiry that evidence suggested a "culture of illegal payments" at the Sun newspaper and that these payments allegedly made by the Sun were authorised at a senior level.

In testimony on 25 April 2012, Murdoch did not deny the quote attributed to him by his former editor of ''The Sunday Times'', Harold Evans: "I give instructions to my editors all round the world, why shouldn't I in London?" On 1 May 2012, the Culture, Media and Sport Committee issued a report stating that Murdoch was "not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company".

Activities in the United States[link]

Murdoch made his first acquisition in the United States in 1973, when he purchased the ''San Antonio Express-News''. Soon afterwards, he founded ''Star'', a supermarket tabloid, and in 1976, he purchased the ''New York Post''. On 4 September 1985, Murdoch became a naturalised citizen to satisfy the legal requirement that only US citizens were permitted to own American television stations. This resulted in Murdoch losing his Australian citizenship.

Marvin Davis sold Marc Rich's interest in 20th Century Fox to Murdoch for $250 million in March 1984. Davis later backed out of a deal with Murdoch to purchase John Kluge's Metromedia television stations. Murdoch went alone and bought the stations, and later bought out Davis' remaining stake in Fox for $325 million. The six television stations owned by Metromedia would form the nucleus of the Fox Broadcasting Company, founded on 9 October 1986, which would go on to have great success with programmes such as ''The Simpsons'' and ''The X-Files''.

In 1987 in Australia, he bought The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd, the company that his father had once managed. By 1990 News Corporation had built up debts of $7 billion (much from Sky TV in the UK). forcing Murdoch to sell many of the American magazine interests he had acquired in the mid-1980s. In 1993, it took exclusive coverage of the National Football League (NFL) from CBS and increased programming to seven days a week. In 1995, Murdoch's Fox Network became the object of scrutiny from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), when it was alleged that News Ltd.'s Australian base made Murdoch's ownership of Fox illegal. However, the FCC ruled in Murdoch's favour, stating that his ownership of Fox was in the best interests of the public. That same year, Murdoch announced a deal with MCI Communications to develop a major news website and magazine, ''The Weekly Standard''. Also that year, News Corporation launched the Foxtel pay television network in Australia in partnership with Telstra. In 1996, Murdoch decided to enter the cable news market with the Fox News Channel, a 24-hour cable news station. Ratings studies released in 2009 showed that the network was responsible for nine of the top ten programs in the "Cable News" category at that time. Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner (founder and former owner of CNN) are long-standing rivals. In late 2003, Murdoch acquired a 34 percent stake in Hughes Electronics, the operator of the largest American satellite TV system, DirecTV, from General Motors for $6 billion (USD). His Fox movie studio would go on to have global hits with ''Titanic'' and ''Avatar''.

In 2004, Murdoch announced that he was moving News Corporation headquarters from Adelaide, Australia to the United States. Choosing a US domicile was designed to ensure that American fund managers could purchase shares in the company, since many were deciding not to buy shares in non-US companies. Some analysts believed that News Corporation's Australian domicile was leading to the company being undervalued compared with its peers.

On 20 July 2005, News Corporation bought Intermix Media Inc., which held Myspace, Imagine Games Network and other social networking-themed websites, for $580 million USD, making Murdoch a major player in online media concerns. In June 2011, it sold off Myspace for US$35 million. On 11 September 2005, News Corporation announced that it would buy IGN Entertainment for $650 million (USD).

In May 2007, Murdoch made a $5 billion offer to purchase Dow Jones. At the time, the Bancroft family, who had owned the Dow Jones for 105 years and controlled 64% of the shares at the time, firmly declined the offer, opposing Murdoch's much-used strategy of slashing employee numbers and gutting existing systems. Later, the Bancroft family confirmed a willingness to consider a sale. Besides Murdoch, the Associated Press reported that supermarket magnate Ron Burkle and Internet entrepreneur Brad Greenspan were among the other interested parties. In 2007, Murdoch acquired Dow Jones, which gave him such publications as ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''Barron's Magazine'', the ''Far Eastern Economic Review'' (based in Hong Kong) and ''SmartMoney''.

Political activities in the United States[link]

McNight (2010) identifies four characteristics of his media operations: free market ideology; unified positions on matters of public policy; global editorial meetings; and opposition to a perceived liberal bias in other public media.

On 8 May 2006, the ''Financial Times'' reported that Murdoch would be hosting a fund-raiser for Senator Hillary Clinton's (D-New York) Senate re-election campaign. In a 2008 interview with Walt Mossberg, Murdoch was asked whether he had "anything to do with the ''New York Post'''s endorsement of Barack Obama in the democratic primaries." Without hesitating, Murdoch replied, "Yeah. He is a rock star. It's fantastic. I love what he is saying about education. I don't think he will win Florida... but he will win in Ohio and the election. I am anxious to meet him. I want to see if he will walk the walk." Murdoch is a strong supporter of Israel and its domestic policies.

In 2010 News Corporation gave $1 million to the Republican Governors Association and $1 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Murdoch also served on the board of directors of the libertarian Cato Institute. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Murdoch is also a supporter of the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act.

Murdoch is a supporter of more open immigration policies in western nations generally. In the United States, Murdoch and chief executives from several major corporations including Hewlett-Packard, Boeing and Disney joined New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to form the Partnership for a New American Economy to advocate "for immigration reform – including a path to legal status for all undocumented immigrants now in the United States." The coalition, reflecting Murdoch and Bloomberg's own views, also advocates significant increases in legal immigration to the United States as a means of boosting America's sluggish economny and lowering unemployment. The Partnership for a New American Economy's immigration policy prescriptions are notably similar to those favoured by the libertarian Cato Institute and the Chamber of Commerce-both of which Murdoch has supported in the past. The Wall Street Journal Editorial Page as well has long advocated increased legal immigration to the United States both before and after News Corporation's acquisition of the paper in 2007. This contrasts with the staunch anti-immigration stance of Murdoch's British newspaper, ''The Sun''.

On 5 September 2010, Murdoch testified before the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law Membership on the “Role of Immigration in Strengthening America’s Economy.” In his testimony, Murdoch called for ending mass deportations and endorsed a "comprehensive immigration reform" plan that would include a pathway to citizenship for all illegal immigrants.

Activities in Europe[link]

Murdoch owns controlling interest in ''Sky Italia'', a satellite television provider in Italy. Murdoch's business interests in Italy have been a source of contention since they began. In 2010 Murdoch won a media dispute with then Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. A judge ruled the then Prime Minister's media arm Mediaset prevented News Corporation's Italian unit, Sky Italia, from buying advertisements on its television networks.

Activities in Asia[link]

In 1993, Murdoch acquired Star TV, a Hong Kong company founded by Richard Li for $1 billion (Souchou, 2000:28), and subsequently set up offices for it throughout Asia. The deal enables News International to broadcast from Hong Kong to India, China, Japan and over thirty other countries in Asia, becoming one of the biggest satellite TV networks in the east. However, the deal did not work out as Murdoch had planned, because the Chinese government placed restrictions on it that prevented it from reaching most of China.

Family[link]

Marriages[link]

In 1956 Murdoch married Patricia Booker, a former shop assistant and flight attendant from Melbourne and they had their first child, Prudence, in 1958. Rupert and Patricia Murdoch divorced in 1967. In 1967 Murdoch married Anna Maria Torv (Tõrv), a Scottish-born cadet journalist working for his Sydney newspaper ''The Daily Telegraph'' (not to be mistaken for the actress Anna Torv of ''Fringe'' who is the elder Torv's niece). During his marriage to Torv, a Roman Catholic, Murdoch was made a Knight of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great (KSG), a papal honour awarded by Pope John Paul II. Torv and Murdoch had three children: Elisabeth Murdoch (born in Sydney, Australia on 22 August 1968), Lachlan Murdoch (born in London, UK on 8 September 1971), and James Murdoch, (born in London on 13 December 1972). Murdoch's companies published two novels by his then wife: ''Family Business'' (1988) and ''Coming to Terms'' (1991), both widely regarded as vanity publications. They divorced in June 1999. Anna Murdoch received a settlement of US$ 1.2 billion in assets.

On 25 June 1999, 17 days after divorcing his second wife, Murdoch, then aged 68, married Chinese-born Deng Wendi (Wendi Deng). She was 30, a recent Yale School of Management graduate, and a newly appointed vice-president of his STAR TV. Murdoch has two children with her.

Children[link]

Murdoch has six children. His eldest child, Prudence MacLeod, was appointed on 28 January 2011 to the board of Times Newspapers Ltd, part of News International, which publishes ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times''. Murdoch's eldest son Lachlan, formerly the deputy chief operating officer at the News Corporation and the publisher of the ''New York Post'', was Murdoch's heir apparent before resigning from his executive posts at the global media company at the end of July 2005. Lachlan's departure left James Murdoch chief executive of the satellite television service British Sky Broadcasting since November 2003, as the only Murdoch son still directly involved with the company's operations, though Lachlan has agreed to remain on the News Corporation's board.

After graduating from Vassar College and marrying classmate Elkin Kwesi Pianim (the son of Ghanaian financial and political mogul Kwame Pianim) in 1993, Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth, along with her husband, purchased a pair of NBC-affiliate television stations in California, KSBW and KSBY, with a $35 million loan provided by her father. By quickly re-organising and re-selling them at a $12 million profit in 1995, Elisabeth emerged as an unexpected rival to her brothers for the eventual leadership of the publishing dynasty's empire. But after divorcing her first husband in 1998 and quarrelling publicly with her assigned mentor Sam Chisholm at BSkyB, she struck out on her own as a television and film producer in London. She has since enjoyed independent success, in conjunction with her second husband, Matthew Freud, the great-grandson of Sigmund Freud (the founder of psychoanalysis) whom she met in 1997 and married in 2001.

It is not known how long Murdoch will remain as News Corporation's CEO. For a while the American cable television entrepreneur John Malone was the second-largest voting shareholder in News Corporation after Murdoch himself, potentially undermining the family's control. In 2007, the company announced that it would sell certain assets and give cash to Malone's company in exchange for its stock. In 2007, the company issued Murdoch's older children voting stock.

Rupert Murdoch has two children with Wendi Deng: Grace (b. New York, 19 November 2001) and Chloe (b. New York, 17 July 2003). It was revealed in September 2011 that Tony Blair is Grace's godfather. There is reported to be tension between Murdoch and his oldest children over the terms of a trust holding the family's 28.5 percent stake in News Corporation, estimated in 2005 to be worth about $6.1 billion. Under the trust, his children by Wendi Deng share in the proceeds of the stock but have no voting privileges or control of the stock. Voting rights in the stock are divided 50/50 between Murdoch on the one side and his children of his first two marriages. Murdoch's voting privileges are not transferable but will expire upon his death and the stock will then be controlled solely by his children from the prior marriages, although their half-siblings will continue to derive their share of income from it. It is Murdoch's stated desire to have his children by Deng given a measure of control over the stock proportional to their financial interest in it (which would mean, if Murdoch dies while at least one of the children is a minor, that Deng would exercise that control). It does not appear that he has any strong legal grounds to contest the present arrangement, and both ex-wife Anna and their three children are said to be strongly resistant to any such change.

Portrayal on television, in film, books and music[link]

Murdoch and rival newspaper and publishing magnate Robert Maxwell are thinly fictionalised as "Keith Townsend" and "Richard Armstrong" in ''The Fourth Estate'' by British novelist and former MP Jeffrey Archer.

Murdoch has been portrayed by Barry Humphries in the 1991 mini-series ''Selling Hitler'', Hugh Laurie in a parody of ''It's a Wonderful Life'' in the television show ''A Bit of Fry & Laurie'', Ben Mendelsohn in the film ''Black and White'', Paul Elder in ''The Late Shift'' and by himself on ''The Simpsons'', first in "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday" and later in "Judge Me Tender".

It has been speculated that the character of Elliot Carver, the global media magnate and main villain in the 1997 James Bond movie ''Tomorrow Never Dies'', is based on Murdoch. The writer of the film, Bruce Feirstein, has stated that Carver was actually inspired by British press magnate Robert Maxwell, who was one of Murdoch's rivals.

Since both Rupert Murdoch and Robert Maxwell had the same initials they were often confused by the public. This confusion was exploited by the writers of the British situation comedy 'Drop the Dead Donkey' which was set in a TV newsroom who chose to name the fictional proprietor Sir Roysten Merchant (initials RM). The writers state on their DVD commentares that it was "fortunate" for them that the two men shared the same initials.

In the 1997 film ''Fierce Creatures'', the head of Octopus Inc. Rod McCain (initials R.M.) character is likely modelled after Murdoch.

In 1999, the Ted Turner owned TBS aired an original sitcom, ''The Chimp Channel''. This featured an all-simian cast and the role of an Australian TV veteran named Harry Waller. The character is described as "a self-made gazillionaire with business interests in all sorts of fields. He owns newspapers, hotel chains, sports franchises and genetic technologies, as well as everyone's favourite cable TV channel, The Chimp Channel." Waller is thought to be a parody of Murdoch, a long-time rival of Turner's.

In 2004, the movie ''Outfoxed'' included many interviews accusing Fox News of pressuring reporters to report only one side of news stories, in order to influence viewers' political opinions.

In 2012, the satirical show ''Hacks'', broadcast on UK-based Channel 4, made obvious comparisons with Rupert Murdoch using the fictional character 'Stanhope Feast', as well as other central figures in the phone hacking scandal

Influence and wealth[link]

According to the 2011 list of Forbes richest Americans, Murdoch is the 38th richest person in the US and the 106th-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $8.3 billion.

Murdoch has been listed three times in the ''Time'' 100 as among the most influential people in the world. He is ranked 13th most powerful person in the world in the 2010 ''Forbes''' The World's Most Powerful People list.

See also[link]

List of assets owned by News Corporation

References[link]

Notes[link]

Dover, Bruce. ''Rupert's Adventures in China: How Murdoch Lost A Fortune And Found A Wife'' (Mainstream Publishing).

Ellison, Sarah. ''War at the Wall Street Journal: Inside the Struggle To Control an American Business Empire'', Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010. ISBN 9780547152431 (Also published as: ''War at The Wall Street Journal: How Rupert Murdoch Bought an American Icon'', Melbourne, Text Publishing, 2010.)

Evans, Harold. ''Good Times, Bad Times'', London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1983

McKnight, David. "Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation: A Media Institution with A Mission," ''Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television,'' Sept 2010, Vol. 30 Issue 3, pp 303–316

External links[link]

Profile at ''Forbes''

Murdoch, Rupert (1931–) resources from Trove at the National Library of Australia

Bill Moyers on Rupert Murdoch, 29 June 2007

Arsenault, A & Castells, M. (2008) Rupert Murdoch and the Global Business of Media Politics. International Sociology. 23(4)

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Gives Big To GOP – audio report by ''NPR''

Review of Bruce Page's "The Murdoch Archipelago", by Godfrey Hodgson. ''New Statesman''

Category:Living people Category:1931 births Category:Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford Category:American billionaires Category:American mass media owners Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American people of Scottish descent Category:Australian billionaires Category:Australian emigrants to the United States Category:Australian mass media owners Category:Australian newspaper publishers (people) Category:Australian people of English descent Category:Australian people of Irish descent Category:Australian people of Scottish descent Category:Businesspeople from Melbourne Category:Companions of the Order of Australia Category:Company founders Category:Council on Foreign Relations Category:Critics of the European Union Category:Fox Broadcasting Company executives Category:Los Angeles Dodgers owners Category:Major League Baseball executives Category:Major League Baseball owners Category:Murdoch family Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:New York Post people Category:News Corporation people Category:News International phone hacking scandal Category:People educated at Geelong Grammar School Category:People from Adelaide

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