Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Enrique Martín Morales
Alias	Ricky Martin
Born	December 24, 1971
Origin	San Juan, Puerto Rico
Voice type	Tenor
Genre	Pop, Latin pop, dance-pop, world, reggae, Urban pop
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, actor
Years active	1984–present
Label	Columbia (1999–present)Sony Music Latin(2003–present)Sony Discos (1995–2003)Sony Music Mexico(1991–1995)
Associated acts	Menudo
Url

Ricky Martin (born Enrique Martín Morales on December 24, 1971) is a Puerto Rican pop singer and actor who achieved prominence, first as a member of the Latin boyband Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.

During his career he has sold more than 60 million albums worldwide. He is the founder of Ricky Martín Foundation (in Spanish Fundación Ricky Martin), a non-profit charity organization. Ricky Martin's exuberant 1999 single "Livin' la Vida Loca" made him a prominent figure of Latin dance-pop. Martin got his start with the all-boy pop group Menudo; after five years with the group, he released his Spanish-language solo album, Ricky Martin, in 1991. He also acted on stage and on TV in Mexico, becoming a modest star there. In 1994 he starred on the American TV soap opera General Hospital, playing a Puerto Rican singer. In 1999, after several albums in Spanish, he released his first English-language album (also titled Ricky Martin), which included the salsa-style "Livin' la Vida Loca". The album sold 17 million copies and brought Martin international fame. His other albums include A Medio Vivir (1995), Vuelve (1998), Sound Loaded (2000, with the hit "She Bangs"), Life (2005), and the compilation album Ricky Martin 17 (2008). In 2010 Martin announced that he was a "fortunate homosexual man", ending years of fan speculation on the topic.

On the edge of the new millennium, Martin—almost by himself—gave Latino music an international face. An acclaimed performance at the 1999 Grammy Awards launched Martin into worldwide super-stardom. As Entertainment Weekly's Andrew Essex reported, "his leather-pants, electro-pelvis version of 'La Copa de la Vida' single-handedly goosed a very dull [Grammy] telecast, earning him a standing ovation."

Martin's twin sons, Matteo and Valentino, were born via a surrogate mother in 2008. Martin also co-owns a Miami restaurant, Casa Salsa, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007.

Early life

Martin was born on December 24, 1971, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the son of Nereida Morales, an accountant, and Enrique Martín Negroni, a psychologist. His parents divorced when he was two; his father remarried. Martin has two maternal half-brothers, Fernando and Ángel Fernández, and two paternal half-brothers, Eric and Daniel Martín, and a paternal half-sister Vanessa Martín. Martin grew up in a Roman Catholic home and was an altar boy until he joined Menudo. Martin has some Corsican and Catalan ancestry as his paternal fourth great-grandfathers were born in Rogliano, Cap Corse, Corsica, and Vilanova i la Geltrú, Catalonia.

Career

Early solo work

After completing high school, Martin left San Juan and moved to New York City. Later, Martin moved to Mexico City where he started acting. He started in a musical-theater in 1989 named Mis Tennis Rojos (My red tennis shoes) next to Angelica Vale and then followed another theater productions Mama Ama el Rock (Mom Loves Rock). He then participated in a telenovela (soap opera) titled Alcanzar Una Estrella II (Reach for a Star 2) next to Sasha Sökol. Out of this soap opera a musical group was formed named Muñecos de Papel in which he was one of the 6 members; they toured several cities in Mexico and recorded 2 albums. His main single was Juego de Ajedrez. A film based on the tv-series was also produced in which Martin played Pablo, earning a Heraldo Award in 1993.

While acting in Mexico, Martin was signed to Sony Discos, the company's Latin imprint, in 1990. He released his first solo album, the Spanish-language Ricky Martin, in 1991, which included the single "Fuego Contra Fuego". The hit release earned Gold records in Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Puerto Rico, and he performed a string of sold-out concert dates across South America.

In 1993, Martin released his second solo album, Me Amarás, which featured a Spanish-language cover of the Laura Branigan hit "Self Control", as "Que Día Es Hoy", and sold more than a million copies worldwide.

Martin moved to Los Angeles, California in 1994 and landed a role as bartender and singer Miguel Morez in the American soap opera General Hospital.

Breakthrough

In 1995, Martin refocused on his music career, and his third album, A Medio Vivir, would be a major international breakthrough. With this album, Martin made a shift from formulaic hit ballads to a more risky fusion of music centered around traditional Latin sounds, epitomized by the hit "Maria". "Maria" broke Martin into Europe via Spain. The single went to number one and became one of the biggest hits of the year in France and Belgium, hitting the Top 10 throughout Europe and even making its way into the lower reaches of the U.S. Hot 100. With the ballad "Te Extraño, Te Olvido, Te Amo", Martin furthered his expansion from Latin American and Spanish-speaking audiences to the European and Asian markets, and several other tracks hit the Latin Pop Airplay charts. The album went Gold in the U.S., Switzerland and Finland, Platinum in France, and 4X Platinum in Spain.

After the conclusion of a worldwide tour, Martin returned to New York to appear in a Broadway theatre production for the first time, joining the cast of the hit musical Les Misérables to play the romantic lead, Marius Pontmercy.

While on Broadway, Martin returned to the studio and recorded his fourth album, Vuelve. The title track and the ballad "Perdido Sin Ti" both hit number one on the Hot Latin Tracks and Latin Pop Airplay charts, with further hits including "La Bomba" and "Corazonado". The album's pinnacle, however, was "La Copa de la Vida", which Martin made a major hit in an English version when he was chosen to sing the anthem of the 1998 FIFA World Cup. "The Cup of Life"/"La Copa de la Vida" reached number one on the charts in various countries. The song went Platinum in France, Sweden and in Australia, where it ultimately became the number one single of the year. The song was awarded "Pop Song of the Year" at the 1999 Premio Lo Nuestro awards. Martin was nominated for a Grammy Award for the album, and was booked to sing on the show's live TV broadcast. He locally enjoyed seminal fame early on as a Paul Reiser impersonator. The now-legendary performance of "The Cup of Life" stopped the show, earning Martin an unexpected standing ovation and introducing the star to the mainstream American audience. Martin capped off the evening by winning the award for Best Latin Pop Performance. Vuelve became Martin's first Top 40 album on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart in the U.S., where it was certified Platinum by the RIAA. Air Supply mentioned Ricky Martin recently as the "most respected and most talented artist of a new generation". The album notably went to #1 in Norway for three weeks, going on to sell eight million copies worldwide.

Crossover to English

After several years as a major star in Spanish-speaking countries, Martin prepared his first English album in 1999. The self-titled album contained material by producers such as Desmond Child, Diane Warren, William Orbit, George Noriega and his longtime childhood friend (producer/singer) Robi Draco Rosa. John Tesh taught Ricky Martin English in '98 and by '02 Martin was perfecting Tesh's english skills. The album also featured special guests Madonna (on the Spanish-English duet "Be Careful (Cuidado con mi Corazón)") and Meja (Private Emotion). As Turkey was one of the countries where Martin's popularity was at its peak, he sang the song with Sertab Erener, Turkish winner of the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest, instead of Meja in Turkish versions of the album.

The first and most prominent single was "Livin' la Vida Loca", which reached number one in many countries around the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, France, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Guatemala, Mexico, Russia, Turkey and South Africa. He followed up with the hit "She's All I Ever Had" which peaked at #2 on The Billboard Hot 100. This album became one of the top-selling albums of 1999, and was certified 7 times platinum, selling over 22 million copies worldwide to date.

After the success of Ricky Martin, a new English-language album, Sound Loaded, was released in November 2000. Though the album did debut in the top ten (number four), it failed to reach number one. Three singles were released from Sound Loaded: the first was "She Bangs", which was followed by a duet with Christina Aguilera called "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely". Unlike the first two singles released from Ricky Martin, neither of the first two singles from this album reached the U.S. Top Ten on Billboard's Hot 100; they reached twelve and thirteen respectively. The third single, "Loaded" reached ninety-seven on Billboard's Hot 100. Sound Loaded eventually sold two million copies in the U.S.

In 2001, Martin released a Spanish Greatest Hits album entitled La Historia, which went to number one in the Latin Charts and stayed there for five weeks. The album contained reworkings of two of his early songs Fuego contra fuego and El amor de mi vida. In the same year, he released his English greatest hits album, The Best of Ricky Martin, which went on to sell over one million copies. The album contained no new material save for two remixes of the track Amor. Both remixes were released to radio in some European countries and a single was also released.

In 2003, Martin released a new Spanish album "Almas del Silencio" ("Souls of Silence"). The first single, "Tal Vez", went to number one on the Latin Charts and stayed there for twelve weeks. He said of the new album: "I really needed to go back to focus, to my center, to the beginning. I had the need to search within, and really dig deep, and find those emotions that, because of the adrenaline and the euphoria that I lived for a couple of years, were probably sabotaged." Almas del Silencio debuted at number twelve on the Billboard 200, reached number one on the Latin Albums charts and stayed there for six weeks. The next singles, "Jaleo" and "Y Todo Queda en Nada", reached number one on the Latin Charts, and the album sold more than 1 million copies worldwide.

On October 11, 2005, Martin released his first English language album since 2000's Sound Loaded and the tenth album of his career. Most of the songs on the album, called Life, were co-written by Martin. He commented on the album: "I was really in touch with my emotions. I think this album is very multi-layered, just like life is. It's about feeling anger. It's about feeling joy. It's about feeling uncertainty. It's about feeling. And all my emotions are part of this production." The album debuted at number six on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. The first single from the album was "I Don't Care"/"Qué Más Da", featuring guest appearances by Fat Joe, Amerie and drummer Joseph Quevedo "Joey Q".

Another single was released "Drop It on Me", which did not chart. Soon after, Martin announced his Latin American tour called Una Noche con Ricky Martin/One Night Only, promoting his latest album Life. Starting in Latin America, the tour premiered on November 15 in Mexico City. After finishing the first leg of the tour (which included Latin America and the U.S.), he released his next single, "It's Alright" (Spanish version: "Déjate Llevar"). A different version appeared in France, which included additional vocals by French R&B; singer M. Pokora. The song went to number 4 in France.

Martin performed at the 2006 Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony in Turin. A few days later, he announced the second leg of his world tour (which included Europe and Africa) called One Night Only/Una Noche Con Ricky Martin World Tour. The second leg started on April 21 in Manchester, UK, and ended on June 3 in Tel Aviv, Israel, including shows that sold-out in two hours (Italy and Finland). In addition, he performed at the World Cup Fan Party in Berlin (Brandenburger Tor) on June 7, 2006, and at Lebanon's Beiteddine Festival on May 27 at the BIEL seafront hall in Beirut and on May 28 in Egypt, his first concerts in the Arab world following a promise to Queen Noor on his 2005 visit to the Arab Conference in Jordan. During this visit, he recorded an Arabic/Spanglish version of "Drop It on Me" and "Enta Omri" with Arabic pop star Cheb Mami. An anticipated 8-month tour ended early due to a lack of advertising.

In 2007, Martin began an international promotional tour titled Blanco y Negro

Ricky Martin announced the new singles from his upcoming 2011 album via his Twitter account.

Martin's first Spanish language single is "Lo Mejor De Mi Vida Eres Tú", a duet with Spanish singer Natalia Jimenez. An English version of the track, titled "The Best Thing About Me Is You", features Joss Stone. Both tracks go to radio on November 2.

Martin's bilingual album is set for release on February 1, 2011 titled "Música+Alma+Sexo" and english version "Music+Soul+Sex" on Sony Music.

MTV Diary and MTV Unplugged

MTV aired "MTV Diary: Ricky Martin" in November 2006, showcasing scenes from the "One Night Only" tour, on the road and onstage. MTV Latin America and MTV Tr3́s co-produced the "Ricky Martin MTV Unplugged" show to be taped in Miami on August 17, 2006 and premiered on MTV Latin America, MTV Tr3́s and MTV Puerto Rico in October 2006.

"Ricky Martin MTV Unplugged" was released by Sony BMG on November 7, 2006 in both separate CD and DVD formats, and in May 2007, was re-released together in a CD/DVD combo-package. Available exclusively at Wal-Mart with the original CD purchase is a separate Ricky Martin DVD titled "Making of Ricky Martin MTV Unplugged", which includes a 40 minute behind the scenes documentary and the music video to "Tu Recuerdo". (It should be noted the music video for "Tu Recuerdo" is just an extracted live performance of the song from MTV Unplugged.)

The first single of the album, "Tu Recuerdo", featuring La Mari from Chambao, reached number one on the U.S. Latin Charts. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Latin Charts and number thirty-eight on Billboard 200.

This album includes Puerto Rican influences, particularly "Tu Recuerdo" (based mainly on a Puerto Rican "aguinaldo jíbaro", and finishing with an "aguinaldo orocoveño") and "Pégate", a Puerto Rican plena. Christian Nieves plays the Puerto Rican cuatro on both tracks. Viento de agua and Joseph Quevedo played the plena drums in "Pégate".

Personal life

in New York City]] In the past Martin stated he was in love with Mexican TV host Rebecca de Alba, with whom he had an off-and-on-again relationship for over 14 years. They even talked of starting a family together, and at one point Martin planned on proposing. However with the release of Life, Martin confirmed he and De Alba had parted ways.

In August 2008, Martin became the father of twin boys, Matteo and Valentino. The babies were birthed by a surrogate mother.

After the success of Livin' la Vida Loca, Martin's personal life became a subject of interest due to his large gay following, and he was questioned about his sexual orientation. In a December 2000 interview with The Mirror, Martin was asked to comment on the rumors surrounding his sexuality. He replied that "I don't think I should have to tell anyone if I am gay or not, or who I've slept with or not." Along with this, Martin reportedly stated in an interview with Plus 7 Days magazine, "If I were gay, why not admit it? I am a normal man. I love women and sex. I am a real hot-blooded Puerto Rican, but I have never been attracted by sex with a man."

On March 29, 2010, Martin publicly acknowledged his homosexuality in a post on his official web site by stating, "I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am." Martin said that "these years in silence and reflection made me stronger and reminded me that acceptance has to come from within, and that this kind of truth gives me the power to conquer emotions I didn't even know existed." In 2010, prior to Martin coming out, Barbara Walters expressed some regret for pushing Martin in a 2000 interview to admit if he was gay. The Toronto Star quoted her as saying, "When I think back on it now, I feel it was an inappropriate question."

Martin announced on The Oprah Winfrey Show that he is in a relationship though he has chosen to shield his boyfriend from the spotlight, believing that he might find the attention "overwhelming". Martin has also expressed support for same-sex marriage in an interview on Larry King Live, and commented on his experience of being closeted and coming out. "[E]verything about saying [that I am gay] feels right...", Martin stated, adding "if I’d know how good it was going to feel, I would have done it ten years ago." debuting at #5 on the Hardcover Nonfiction list. A Spanish-language edition entitled Yo was published simultaneously.

Humanitarian work

Martin is the founder of Fundación Ricky Martin (), a non-profit organization. Among the events promoted by the foundation was a summer camp, which included Martin's personal participation.

Martin has been honored with many accolades for his humanitarian efforts including:

The Leadership in the Arts Award

Billboard's Spirit of Hope Award

The Alma Award

Vanguard Award

International Humanitarian Award by the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.

Hispanic Heritage Award for his humanitarian work through the Sabera Foundation in rescuing three orphan girls from the streets of Calcutta (September 2002)

Martin has also collaborated with the International Organization for Migration on the "Llama y Vive" (Call and Live), a campaign which is aimed to facilitate prevention of human trafficking, protection of the youngest victims of child trafficking, and prosecution of the traffickers. For his work against human trafficking, the U.S. State Department named Martin one of its "Heroes in Ending Modern-Day Slavery" in 2005.

Politics

(far left) and Tom Lantos.]] Martin was a headliner in the 2001 inauguration ball for President George W. Bush; he even invited the newly elected president to join him on stage to dance. This image was captured by photographers and broadcast in various media throughout the world. Martin referred to it in a later song, Asignatura Pendiente.

Martin has since changed his position on the former President. In a concert in Puerto Rico during the song Asignatura Pendiente Martin thrust his middle finger disapprovingly in the air while singing the line "photo with Bush". The gesture met with audience approval but caused a minor controversy with the media. Martin said in an e-mail statement sent to the Associated Press via a spokesman: "My convictions of peace and life go beyond any government and political agenda and as long as I have a voice onstage and offstage, I will always condemn war and those who promulgate it".

Martin supported Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama in the landslide Clinton victory in the Puerto Rican Democratic primary on June 3, 2008.

Discography

Studio albums

Ricky Martin (1991)

Me Amarás (1993)

A Medio Vivir (1995)

Vuelve (1998)

Ricky Martin (the debut English breakthrough studio album) (1999)

Sound Loaded (2000)

Almas del Silencio (2003)

Life (2005)

Music + Soul + Sex (2011)

; Live albums

MTV Unplugged (2006)

(2007)

; Compilation albums

La Historia (2001)

The Best of Ricky Martin (2001)

Ricky Martin 17 (2008)

Filmography

1987 : Por siempre amigos (TV series) as Ricky

1990 : Alcanzar una estrella (TV series) as Pablo Loredo

1991 : Alcanzar una estrella II (TV series) as Pablo Loredo

1992 : Más que alcanzar una estrella as Enrique

1993 : Getting By (TV series) as Martin

1993 : General Hospital (TV series) as Miguel Morez (unknown episodes 1994–2005)

1996 : Barefoot in Paradise (TV series) as Sandoval

2002 : Les Diables as Brian Rodriquez

2003 : Ricky Martin: En la intimidad (TV) as a guest star

;Television appearances

Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd (2003) – as himself (guest appearance in season 6)

General Hospital (1995) (television series) – Miguel Morez (unknown episodes, 1994–95)

Alcanzar una estrella (1991) (television series)

"The Oprah Winfrey Show (2011) - as himself (guest appearance in season 25)

Theatre

Les Misérables (1996), Broadway – Marius

Evita, (2012), Broadway - scheduled

Tours

{| |- ! width="350"| ! width="350"| |- ||Ricky Martin Tour || (1992) |- ||Me Amaras Tour || (1993–1994) |- ||A Medio Vivir Tour || (1995–1997) |- ||Vuelve World Tour || (1998) |- ||Livin' la Vida Loca World Tour || (1999–2000) |- ||Una Noche Con Ricky Martin World Tour || (2005–2006) |- ||Black & White Tour || (2007) |- ||Music+Soul+Sex Tour || (2011) |}

Records and achievements

Martin was chosen along with Félix Trinidad in 1999, to lead Puerto Rico's worldwide tourism campaign, both exemplifying Puerto Rico's youthfulness, enthusiasm and indefatigable character.

In February 2004, Martin received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Lo Nuestro Awards in Miami, Florida.

Martin was honored as the 2006 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year by the Latin Recording Academy on November 1, 2006. He was chosen for his accomplishments as a world renowned entertainer, consummate performer and passionate humanitarian. A portion of the proceeds from the evening's tribute dinner was used for benefitting Ricky Martin's charitable efforts.

On October 16, 2007, Martin received the 2351st Hollywood Walk of Fame star, shortly after receiving the key to the city of Miami Beach, Florida on October 11. The star is located besides the Hollywood and Highland complex. Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Rita Moreno were invited to the unveiling ceremony.

In addition to the numerous awards received throughout his musical career, Martin has also been honored with many accolades for his humanitarian efforts. |- style="background:#ddd;" | colspan="5" style="text-align:center;"| Grammy |- style="background:#ddd;" | colspan="5" style="text-align:center;"| Latin Grammy

See also

List of best-selling music artists

List of Puerto Ricans

Honorific nicknames in popular music

White Latin American

Notes

External links

Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:20th-century actors Category:American humanitarians Category:American philanthropists Category:English-language singers Category:Gay actors Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Latin Grammy Award winners Category:Latin pop singers Category:LGBT Christians Category:LGBT parents Category:LGBT people from Puerto Rico Category:LGBT television personalities Category:Menudo members Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:People from San Juan, Puerto Rico Category:Puerto Rican male singers Category:Puerto Rican people of Catalonian descent Category:Puerto Rican people of Corsican descent Category:Puerto Rican people of Spanish descent Category:Puerto Rican pop singers Category:Puerto Rican Roman Catholics Category:Puerto Rican soap opera actors Category:Puerto Rican stage actors Category:Ricky Martin Category:Spanish-language singers Category:World Music Awards winners

Name	Larry King
Caption	King in September 2010
Birth name	Lawrence Harvey Zeiger
Birth date	November 19, 1933
Birth place	Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Television/Radio personality
Years active	1957–2010| spouse = Freda Miller (1952–1953)Annette Kaye (1961)Alene Akins (1961–1963)Mickey Sutphin (1963–1967)Alene Akins (1967–1972)Sharon Lepore (1976–1983)Julie Alexander (1989–1992)Shawn Southwick (1997–present)

Lawrence Harvey "Larry" King (born November 19, 1933) is an American television and radio host.

He is recognized in the United States as one of the premier broadcast interviewers. He has won an Emmy Award, two Peabody Awards, and ten Cable ACE Awards.

King began as a local Florida journalist and radio interviewer in the 1950s and 1960s. He became prominent as an all-night national radio broadcaster starting in 1978, and then, in 1985, began hosting the nightly interview TV program Larry King Live on CNN.

On June 29, 2010, it was announced that he would step down as host of the show but would continue to host specials for CNN. In early September, CNN confirmed that he would be replaced by Piers Morgan. King's last show aired on December 16, 2010.

Early life

King was born in Brooklyn, New York City, to Edward Zeiger, a restaurant owner and defense plant worker, and his wife Jennie Gitlitz, a garment worker, who emigrated from Belarus. King grew up in a religious and observant Jewish home, but in adulthood became an agnostic. King's father died at 44 of heart disease, and his mother had to go on welfare to support her two sons. His father's death greatly affected King, and he lost interest in school. After graduating from high school, he worked to help support his mother. From an early age, however, he had wanted to go into radio.

Career

Miami radio and television

A CBS staff announcer, whom King met by chance, told him to go to Florida, a growing media market where openings still existed for inexperienced broadcasters. King rode a bus to Miami. After initial setbacks, King persisted and got his first job in radio. The manager of a small station, WAHR (now WMBM) in Miami Beach, hired him to clean up and perform miscellaneous tasks. When one of their announcers quit, they put King on the air. His first broadcast was on May 1, 1957, when he worked as the disc jockey from 9 a.m. to noon. He also did two afternoon newscasts and a sportscast. He was paid $55 a week. He acquired the name Larry King when the general manager Martial Cemen said that Zeiger was too ethnic and difficult to remember, so Larry chose the surname King, which he got from an ad in The Miami Herald for King's Wholesale Liquor, minutes before air. He started interviewing on a midmorning show for WIOD, at Pumpernik's Restaurant in Miami Beach. He would interview anyone who walked in. His first interview was with a waiter at the restaurant. Two days later, singer Bobby Darin, in Miami for a concert later that day, walked into Pumpernick's as a result of coming across King's show on his radio; Darin became King's first celebrity interview guest.

His Miami radio show launched him to local stardom. A few years later, in May 1960, he hosted Miami Undercover, airing Sunday nights at 11:30 p.m. on WPST-TV Channel 10 (now WPLG). On the show, he moderated debates on important issues of the time. King credits his success on local TV to the assistance of another showbiz legend, comedian Jackie Gleason, whose national TV variety show was being filmed in Miami Beach during this period. "That show really took off because Gleason came to Miami," King said in a 1996 interview he gave when inducted into the Broadcasters' Hall of Fame. "He did that show and stayed all night with me. We stayed till five in the morning. He didn't like the set, so we broke into the general manager's office and changed the set. Gleason changed the set, he changed the lighting, and he became like a mentor of mine." Jackie Gleason was instrumental in getting Larry a hard-to-get on air interview with Frank Sinatra during this time.

During this period, WIOD gave King further exposure as a color commentator for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League, during their 1970 season and most of their 1971 season. However, he was dismissed by both WIOD and television station WTVJ as a late-night radio host and sports commentator as of December 20, 1971, when he was arrested after being accused of grand larceny by a former business partner. Other staffers covered the Dolphins' games into their 24–3 loss to Dallas in Super Bowl VI. King also lost his weekly column at the Miami Beach Sun newspaper. The charges were dropped on March 10, 1972, and King spent the next several years in reviving his career, including a stint as the color announcer in Louisiana for the Shreveport Steamer of the World Football League in 1974–75. For several years during the 1970s in South Florida, he hosted a sports talk-show called "Sports-a-la-King" that featured guests and callers.

King managed to get back into radio by becoming the color commentator for broadcasts of the Shreveport Steamer of the World Football League on KWKH. Eventually, King was rehired by WIOD in Miami.

National radio

In 1978, he went national, inheriting the nightly talk show slot on the Mutual Broadcasting System, broadcast coast-to-coast, that had been "Long John" Nebel's until his death, and had been pioneered by Herb Jepko. One reason King got the Mutual job is that he had once been an announcer at WGMA-AM in Hollywood, Florida, which was then owned by C. Edward Little. Little went on to become president of Mutual and was the one who hired King when Nebel died. King's Mutual show developed a devoted audience.

It was broadcast live Monday through Friday from midnight to 5:30 a.m. Eastern Time. King would interview a guest for the first 90 minutes, with callers asking questions that continued the interview for another 90 minutes. At 3 a.m., he would allow callers to discuss any topic they pleased with him, until the end of the program, when he expressed his own political opinions. That segment was called "Open Phone America". Some of the regular callers used the pseudonyms "The Portland Laugher", "The Miami Derelict", "The Todd Cruz Caller", "The Scandal Scooper", "Mr. Radio" and "The Water Is Warm Caller". "Mr. Radio" made over 200 calls to King during Open Phone America. The show was successful, starting with relatively few affiliates and eventually growing to more than 500. It ran until 1994.

For its final year, the show was moved to afternoons, but, because most talk radio stations at the time had an established policy of local origination in the time-slot (3 to 6 p.m. Eastern Time) that Mutual offered the show, a very low percentage of King's overnight affiliates agreed to carry his daytime show and it was unable to generate the same audience size. The afternoon show was eventually given to David Brenner and radio affiliates were given the option of carrying the audio of King's new CNN evening television program. The Westwood One radio simulcast of the CNN show continues.

CNN

He started his Larry King Live CNN show in June 1985, hosting a broad range of guests from controversial figures of UFO conspiracy theories and alleged psychics, to prominent politicians and leading figures in the entertainment industry, often doing their first or only interview on breaking news stories on his show.

program at the Pentagon in Arlington, VA in 2006]]

Unlike many interviewers, King has a direct, non-confrontational approach. His reputation for asking easy, open-ended questions has made him attractive to important figures who want to state their position while avoiding being challenged on contentious topics. His interview style is characteristically frank, but with occasional bursts of irreverence and humor. His approach attracts some guests who would not otherwise appear. King, who is known for his general lack of pre-interview preparation, once bragged that he never read the books of authors before making an appearance on his program.

In a show dedicated to the surviving Beatles, King asked George Harrison's widow about the song "Something", which was written about George Harrison's first wife. He seemed surprised when she did not know very much about the song.

Throughout his career King has interviewed many of the leading figures of his time. CNN claimed during his final episode that he had performed 60,000 interviews in his career.

King also wrote a regular newspaper column in USA Today for almost 20 years, from shortly after that newspaper's origin in 1982 until September 2001. The column consisted of short "plugs, superlatives and dropped names" but was dropped when the newspaper redesigned its "Life" section. The column was resurrected in blog form in November 2008 and on Twitter in April 2009.

Departure

On June 29, 2010, King announced that after 25 years, he would be stepping down from his nightly job hosting Larry King Live. However, he stated that he would remain with CNN to host occasional specials.

On September 8, 2010, CNN confirmed that Morgan would occupy King's 9:00 pm timeslot from January 2011 onward.

The final edition of Larry King Live aired on December 16, 2010.

Heart disease

On February 24, 1987, King suffered a major heart attack and then had quintuple-bypass surgery. King has written two books about living with heart disease. Mr. King, You're Having a Heart Attack: How a Heart Attack and Bypass Surgery Changed My Life (1989, ISBN 0-440-50039-7) was written with New York's Newsday science editor B. D. Colen. Taking On Heart Disease: Famous Personalities Recall How They Triumphed over the Nation's #1 Killer and How You Can, Too (2004, ISBN 1-57954-820-2) features the experience of various celebrities with cardiovascular disease including Peggy Fleming and Regis Philbin.

On February 12, 2010, Larry King revealed that he had undergone surgery 5 weeks earlier to place stents in his coronary artery to remove plaque from his heart. During the segment on Larry King Live which discussed Bill Clinton's similar procedure, King said he was "feeling great" and had been in hospital for just one day.

Charitable works

As a result of heart attacks, he established the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, an organization to which David Letterman, through his American Foundation for Courtesy and Grooming, has also contributed. King gave $1 million to George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs for scholarships to students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

On September 3, 2005, following the devastation to the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina, King aired "How You Can Help", a three-hour special designed to provide a forum and information clearinghouse for viewers to understand and join nationwide and global relief efforts. Guest Richard Simmons, a native of New Orleans, told him, "Larry, you don't even know how much money you raised tonight. When we rebuild the city of New Orleans, we're going to name something big after you."

On January 18, 2010, in the wake of the devastation caused by the 2010 Haiti earthquake, King aired "Haiti: How You Can Help", a special two-hour edition designed to show viewers how to take action and be a part of the global outreach.

King serves as a member of the Board of Directors on the Police Athletic League of New York City, a nonprofit youth development agency serving inner-city children and teenagers.

On August 30, 2010, King served as the host of Chabad's 30th annual "To Life" telethon, in Los Angeles.

Controversial positions

On September 10, 1990, while on The Joan Rivers Show, Rivers asked King which contestant in the Miss America pageant was "the ugliest". King responded, "Miss Pennsylvania. She was one of the 10 finalists and she did a great ventriloquist bit [...] The dummy was prettier." King was a judge for the September 8, 1990 pageant. King later sent Miss Pennsylvania, Marla Wynne, a dozen long-stemmed roses and a telegram apologizing for saying she was the ugliest contestant in the pageant that year.

In 1997, King was one of 34 celebrities to sign an open letter to then-German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, published as a newspaper advertisement in the International Herald Tribune, which protested the treatment of Scientologists in Germany, comparing it to the Nazis' oppression of Jews in the 1930s. Other signatories included Dustin Hoffman and Goldie Hawn. He married high-school sweetheart Freda Miller in 1951 at age 18. King was later briefly married to Annette Kaye Larry Jr. and his wife, Shannon, have three children.

King met businesswoman Julie Alexander in summer 1989, and proposed to her on the couple's first date, on August 1, 1989. Alexander became King's sixth wife on October 7, 1989, when the two were married in Washington, D.C. The couple lived in different cities, however, with Alexander in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and King in Washington, D.C., where he worked. The couple separated in 1990 and divorced in 1992.

He married his seventh wife, Shawn Southwick, born in 1959 a former singer and TV host, in King's Los Angeles, California, hospital room three days before King underwent heart surgery to clear a clogged blood vessel. The couple has two children: Chance, born March 1999, and Cannon, born May 2000. He is stepfather to Danny Southwick. On King and Southwick's 10th anniversary in September 2007, Southwick boasted she was "the only [wife] to have lasted into the two digits". but have since stopped the proceedings, claiming "We love our children, we love each other, we love being a family. That is all that matters to us".

Shawn attempted suicide in May 2010 when she overdosed on prescription pills.

In July 2009, King appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, where he told host O'Brien about his wishes to be cryogenically preserved upon death, as he had revealed in his book My Remarkable Journey.

Awards

King has received many broadcasting awards. He won the Peabody Award for Excellence in broadcasting for both his radio (1982) and television (1992) shows. He has also won 10 CableACE awards for Best Interviewer and for Best Talk Show Series.

In 1989, King was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame, and in 1996 to the Broadcasters' Hall of Fame.

in June 1998, King received an Honorary Degree from Brooklyn College, City University of New York, for his life achievements.

King was given the Golden Mike Award for Lifetime Achievement in January 2009, by the Radio & Television News Association of Southern California.

King is an honorary member of the Rotary Club of Beverly Hills. He is also a recipient of the President's Award honoring his impact on media from the Los Angeles Press Club in 2006.

King is the first recipient of the Arizona State University Hugh Downs Award for Communication Excellence, presented April 11, 2007, via satellite by Downs himself. Downs sported red suspenders for the event and turned the tables on King by asking "very tough questions" about King's best, worst and most influential interviews during King's 50 years in broadcasting.

References

External links

CNN profile

Larry King Cardiac Foundation - Foundation to fund treatments cardiac patients with little or no insurance

Clark lawsuit

Larry King Live - Transcripts of all interviews since 2000

Larry King interviewed by Gianluca D'Agostino

Larry King Archive of American Television video interview

Category:1933 births Category:Living people Category:American actors Category:American agnostics Category:American Jews Category:American talk radio hosts Category:American television talk show hosts Category:American people of Belarusian-Jewish descent Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish agnostics Category:Miami Dolphins broadcasters Category:National Football League announcers Category:People from Brooklyn Category:World Football League announcers

Name	Joss Stone
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Joscelyn Eve Stoker
Born	April 11, 1987Dover, Kent, England
Genre	Soul, R&B;, blues
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, actress
Years active	2003–present
Label	Relentless, S-Curve, Virgin, Stone'd
Url

Joss Stone (born Joscelyn Eve Stoker; 11 April 1987) is an English soul singer-songwriter and actress. Stone emerged to fame in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album, The Soul Sessions, which made the 2004 Mercury Prize shortlist. Her second album, the equally multiplatinum Mind Body & Soul, topped the UK Albums Chart for one week and spawned the top ten hit "You Had Me", Stone's most successful single on the UK Singles Chart to date. Both album and single each received one nomination at the 2005 Grammy Awards, while Stone herself was nominated for Best New Artist, and in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2004 was ranked fifth as a predicted breakthrough act of 2004.

Early life

Stone was born at Buckland Hospital in Dover, Kent and spent her teenage years in Ashill, a small village near Cullompton in Devon. She is the third of four children born to Richard and Wendy Stoker. Her father owns a fruit and nut import/export business; her mother worked as Stone's manager until October 2004. Stone made her first public appearance at the Uffculme Comprehensive School—which she attended—in Uffculme, Devon, with a cover version of Jackie Wilson's 1957 song "Reet Petite". Stone blames her dyslexia for the fact that she left school at age sixteen with only three GCSE qualifications. "It wasn't that I was stupid. I'm just a little bit dyslexic and I wasn't very academic. I'm more artistic", she says.

Stone grew up listening to a wide variety of music including 1960s and 1970s American R&B; and soul music performed by such artists as Dusty Springfield and Aretha Franklin. As a result, she developed a soulful style of singing like her idols. "My first CD that I owned was Aretha Franklin: Greatest Hits. And I saw the advert on TV and it was just like little clips of her songs. I had no idea who she was—I was only like 10 so. I said, 'Oh yeah, that looks really good', so I wrote it down and I said to my mum, 'Can I have that for Christmas?' So she told my friend Dennis, who always gets me good music anyway, and he got that for me. So that was one of my first albums that I loved." She would later tell MTV News: "I kind of clicked into soul music more than anything else because of the vocals. You've got to have good vocals to sing soul music and I always liked it ever since I was little."

Music career

2001–2004: Career music development

In 2001, at the age of thirteen, Stone auditioned for the BBC Television talent show Star for a Night in London singing Franklin's 1968 Goffin-King hit "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" and Whitney Houston's 1998 "It's Not Right but It's Okay". In early 2002, Greenberg flew Stone to New York City for an audition, in which she sang to backing tracks of classic soul songs: Otis Redding's 1968 "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay", Gladys Knight & the Pips' 1973 "Midnight Train to Georgia", and Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman"; Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, Solomon Burke, Robbie Williams, Melissa Etheridge, Rob Thomas, Rod Stewart, John Mayer and Blondie. She is well-known for her trademark barefoot performances.

After being signed by S-Curve Records, her U.S. market album came out by the label S-Curve Records and in the international market her album came out by the label EMI Music. Stone flew to Miami and Philadelphia to start work on her debut album, The Soul Sessions, released on 16 September 2003. She collaborated with people with solid credentials in the Miami soul scene such as Betty Wright, Benny Latimore, Timmy Thomas, and Little Beaver as well as contemporary acts Angie Stone and The Roots. The album consists of little-known soul tracks by Wright, Franklin, Laura Lee, Bettye Swann, and others. Released in late 2003, it reached the top five on the UK Albums Chart as well as the top forty of the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. The lead single, "Fell in Love with a Boy", a reworking of The White Stripes' 2001 "Fell in Love with a Girl", reached the top twenty of the UK Singles Chart, as did the second single, a cover version of Sugar Billy's 1974 song "Super Duper Love (Are You Diggin' on Me)". The album eventually went triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry in mid-April 2005 and gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in late March 2004.

2004–2006: Commercial success and debut as a songwriter

After achieving critical acclaim with The Soul Sessions, Stone recorded her second album—this time with new material—Mind Body & Soul, released on 28 September 2004. She was quoted to say this was her real debut. "I think my singing is so much better on this album", she says. It proved to be an even bigger success than her previous album, as it debuted at number one in the UK (breaking the record for the youngest female ever to top the UK Albums Chart, a record previously held by Avril Lavigne) and just missed the top ten of the U.S. Billboard 200, after peaking at number eleven. The lead single, "You Had Me", became her biggest hit to date when it rose to number nine in the UK. Follow-up singles "Right to Be Wrong" and "Spoiled" both made the top forty, and "Don't Cha Wanna Ride", the top twenty. "Spoiled" landed just outside the top fifty of U.S. Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs, peaking at number fifty-four. In early September 2005, Mind, Body & Soul was certified triple platinum by the BPI and platinum by the RIAA. She performed "Angels" with Robbie Williams during the ceremony, as well as three nominations for the 2005 Grammy Awards—Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "You Had Me", and Best Pop Vocal Album for Mind Body & Soul In 2006, Stone performed on the song Erica with Dead Celebrity Status from their debut album Blood Music.

2007–2008: Affirmation on music career

Stone began work on her third studio album, Introducing Joss Stone, at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, in May 2006. Released on 12 March 2007, the album was coordinated by A&R; Chris Anokute, produced by Raphael Saadiq, and included collaborations with Lauryn Hill, Common, and Joi. Virgin Records describes the album as "an electrifying mix of warm vintage soul, '70s-style R&B;, Motown girl-group harmonies, and hip-hop grooves". Stone herself describes it as "truly me. That's why I'm calling it Introducing Joss Stone. These are my words, and this is who I am as an artist."

The album debuted and peaked at number twelve on the UK Albums Chart, not managing to match the success of Stone's two previous albums. It nevertheless debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 selling 118,000 copies in its first week, becoming the highest debut for a British solo female artist on the U.S. chart, surpassing the record previously held by Amy Winehouse with Back to Black (which in turn would later be outdone by Leona Lewis, whose album Spirit debuted at number one the week of 26 April 2008). Stone was nominated for the MOBO Award for Best UK Female in September 2007, but lost out to Winehouse.

.]] "Tell Me 'Bout It", the album's lead single, debuted and peaked at number twenty-eight on the UK Singles Chart—where it stayed for three weeks only—, and peaked at number eighty-three on the U.S Billboard Hot 100. The second single, "Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now", a collaboration with rapper Common, failed to chart inside the UK top seventy-five, but made the top sixty-five of the U.S. Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs. "Baby Baby Baby" was released digitally in December 2007 and physically in January 2008 as the third single. With their three albums, she came to the balance of 10 million copies sold worldwide and being, the biggest selling female singers in the decade of 2000s.

Joss elaunched the MTV Unplugged series with a four song acoustic set, but never received commercial release to DVD and CD.

In support of the album, Stone embarked on a North American tour which began on 27 April at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut and ended on 13 June at the Filene Center in Vienna, Virginia, visiting sixteen cities in total including Philadelphia, San Francisco, Vancouver, Chicago, Toronto, New York City, and Boston. Two months later, she went on a North American late-summer tour which kicked off on 27 August at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, California and ended on 29 September at the Crossroads in Kansas City, Missouri, covering twelve cities—this time including Mexico City.

At the 2007 Grammy Awards, Stone shared the award for Best R&B; Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for her collaboration with John Legend and Van Hunt on their 2005 cover of Sly & the Family Stone's 1971 chart-topper "Family Affair".

On 21 April 2008, Starpulse reported that Stone is going to launch a legal battle in a bid to leave her record label, EMI, and free her of her current three-album deal with the record label. She says, "I'm not happy at all with EMI. I've spoken to my lawyers and am seeing what my options are. The industry is in a state and EMI are in a state, so I would rather work on other things."

2008–present: New image, independence and new record company, Super Duper Hits: The Best Of Joss Stone

Stone revealed to Billboard magazine that her fourth studio album was written and recorded in about a week in Devon in early 2008. "I kind of woke up one morning and wanted to make an album", she says. "It's very, very raw. It's a bunch of musicians, writers and myself, and we're just jamming, basically." In promotion of the album, entitled Colour Me Free!, Stone played concerts throughout the United Kingdom in February and March. Originally scheduled for release in April 2009, Colour Me Free! was finally released on 20 October 2009, as EMI delayed the album's release. When she appeared on Chelsea Lately, Joss revealed that her record company also fought her about the original cover of her new album, calling it "offensive". It was changed to simple text and no picture of the singer on the American edition, the original cover was used on the other editions worldwide. The album was 're-released' in America in April 2010, this time with the original cover, two new tracks and it was also made available to other retailers than iTunes and Target.

In late August 2010, it was reported that Stone has left EMI. Soon after, she added on her Facebook account that her new record company is Stone'd Records. On 31 August 2010, it was confirmed by her official website that Stone'd Records is coming up as a real record company while its website is coming soon. On Stone'd Record's Facebook page it was announced that they'll release their first single this December. On October 10, 2010, Stone performed in Brazil at the SWU Music Festival to an audience of 58,000 people, her biggest audience in Brazil up to now.

Stone announced in late December 2010 that she would be releasing a greatest hits album. The compilation, titled Super Duper Hits: The Best Of Joss Stone is expected for release in February 2011.

Other works

In July 2005, Stone lent her voice to the Fantastic Four soundtrack, singing the title song "What Ever Happened to the Heroes", written by Pink, Billy Mann, and Christopher Rojas and produced by Beau Dozier shortly before their break-up in November 2005.

Stone performed a medley of "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" and "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" with funk legend James Brown on BBC One's chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on 1 July 2005, She also collaborated with Lemar in 2006 on his third studio album, The Truth About Love, on the track "Anniversary".

On 28 June 2007, Stone asked Queen guitarist Brian May to perform "Under Pressure" with her at the Concert for Diana, held at Wembley Stadium, London, on 1 July 2007. Although May had initially accepted, he eventually declined as he realised how different the arrangement was from the original, stating that "he was not going to be able to do it justice". Stone went on to perform the song solo as well as her hit "You Had Me" and a cover of Homer Banks's 1966 "Ain't That a Lot of Love" with Tom Jones. Both songs were made available on iTunes, the former on 18 September 2007 and the latter on 18 December 2007.

In 2007, Stone collaborated with Beninese singer Angélique Kidjo on a cover of The Rolling Stones' 1969 song "Gimme Shelter" for Kidjo's album Djin Djin, and made a cameo appearance in Mexican singer Aleks Syntek's music video "Historias de Danzón y de Arrabal". The following year, Stone appeared on Randy Jackson's compilation album Randy Jackson's Music Club, Vol. 1 with the song "Just Walk on By", which contains a sample from Dionne Warwick's 1964 song "Walk On By". The song was originally supposed to feature Three 6 Mafia in addition to Stone, but the rap group did not make the cut for unknown reasons.

On 29 November 2007, Stone joined Jeff Beck on a duet of The Impressions's 1965 song "People Get Ready" as part of his series of concerts at London's Ronnie Scott's, documented on the DVD Performing This Week: Live at Ronnie Scott's.

On 7 December 2007, Stone performed live with LeAnn Rimes on the television show CMT Crossroads, which pairs country artists with artists from other music genres. The repertoire included Stone's "Super Duper Love", "Fell in Love with a Boy", and "Tell Me 'bout It", and Rimes's "Nothin' Better to Do", "Good Friend and a Glass of Wine", and "How Do I Live", as well as the jazz standard "Summertime". Their performance of "Tell Me 'bout It" was announced on 5 February 2008 as one of the first-round nominees for Performance of the Year at the 2008 CMT Music Awards.

Stone contributed to the to the 2008 film adaptation of Sex and the City with overdubbed vocals on Al Green's 1972 classic "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart", reinvented as a duet.

Stone recorded a new version of the song "Unchained Melody" (first recorded by Todd Duncan in 1955) with French singer Johnny Hallyday on his 2008 album Ça ne finira jamais, on which Stone sings the original English lyrics while Hallyday sings the lyrics to Les Chaussettes Noires' 1962 French-language version "Les enchaînés".

On 26 October 2008, Stone sang the British national anthem, God Save the Queen, before the NFL match between the San Diego Chargers and the New Orleans Saints, held at Wembley Stadium, London.

On 7 December 2008, Stone performed The Who's 1965 song "My Generation" on CBS's Kennedy Center Honors TV special at the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C., honouring Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey.

On 27 December 2008, Stone released the song "The Anti-Christmas Carol" and its video on her website as the 2008 Christmas gift. In contrast to most Christmas songs, which state that Christmas is the most delightful time of the year, in "The Anti-Christmas Carol" Stone states that she is happy that Christmas only occurs once a year, because of all the stress she experienced during her family dinner.

Stone performed a duet with Yolanda Adams on Adams's 1991 song "Just a Prayer Away" in honour of film director Tyler Perry at the 2009 BET Honors, held at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C. on 17 January.

Stone appeared on American Idol on 26 March 2009 singing a duet with Motown artist Smokey Robinson entitled "You're the One for Me", from his upcoming album Time Flies When You're Having Fun.

In April, 2009, Stone was in Glenwood Studios, Los Angeles with composer/writer/director Mark Warford working on tracks for the up-coming stage show 'Cry, Desert'. The pair, along with Eurythmics' Dave Stewart worked on demos 'LoverEarth' and 'Never Gonna Be The Same'.

Also in April, Stone was featured in two songs on Tower of Power's most recent album, "Great American Soul Book." Stone sings on "It Takes Two" and "Your Precious Love" with the legendary R&B;, funk, and soul group.

In 2009, Stone, along with Buick Audra, recorded a version of the 1920s gospel children's song "This Little Light of Mine" for the EMI Gospel/Vector Recordings compilation album .

In 2010, Stone appeared on Ringo Starr's album, "Y Not" on the song "Who's Your Daddy" in which she sang and co-wrote with the ex-Beatle.

In 2010, Stone appeared on Jeff Beck's album, "Emotion and Commotion" on the songs "I Put A Spell On You" and "There's No Other Me".

In the mid of 2010 it was revealed that she was chosen to be a James Bond girl in the video game . She also wrote the new theme of the game titled "I'll Take It All".

Screen career

Stone made her film debut in the fantasy adventure film Eragon (based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Christopher Paolini), directed by Stefen Fangmeier and released on 15 December 2006, playing the fortune teller Angela. Of the experience, Stone said, "I was like, 'Why do you want me? I'm a singer, for Christ's sake.' I don't know why [Fangmeier] wanted me, but he did. I'm always getting approached for films—maybe they see me onstage and see the way I get all emotional. But I was like, 'Hey, let's do it.' I never really take anything seriously until I have to, and acting is fun. I never thought I'd do it, but hey, why not, man?"

In March 2008, Stone signed up for the role of a lesbian named Stephanie in the upcoming British romantic comedy Snappers. "I just wanted to challenge myself. There are things in the film that are going to really push the boundaries, and that excites me! I can also confirm there will be a long lingering French kiss, but it won't be with a male!", Stone said. In addition to acting, she will produce the film's soundtrack. The film, which will also star Chloe Howman, Caroline Quentin, and Bruce Jones, will premiere at the English Riviera Comedy Film Festival in September 2008.

Stone made her television debut portraying Henry VIII's fourth wife Anne of Cleves in the third season of Showtime's series The Tudors, appearing in two episodes.

Media attention and endorsements

presenter Chris Evans.]] In March 2005, Stone was named the spokesperson for the Gap clothing company, replacing the actress Sarah Jessica Parker. Stone has dispelled rumors that Parker was upset by the change. She appeared in a television advertisement for that store chain singing a cover of Ray Charles's 1958 song "Night Time Is the Right Time" (retitled "The Right Time"). "All those bum shots? They're not mine", The Sun quoted her as saying. "They're other girls. That's not my bum, I promise." Stone also appeared in one of Gap's Fall 2005 "Favorites" commercials, singing The Beach Boys' 1966 song "God Only Knows". By that time, rumours circulated about her being dropped from the campaign because she was living with then-twenty-five-year-old songwriter and producer Beau Dozier (son of Motown producer and composer Lamont Dozier) in Los Angeles while she was only seventeen. However, Gap later denied the rumours, stating that they were very happy with Stone and telling BBC Radio 1 that the claims were "absolute tosh" and "a complete fabrication".

Stone caused major controversy at the 2007 BRIT Awards ceremony on 14 February 2007 while presenting the award for British Male Solo Artist (won by James Morrison). Speaking with what press reports described as an American accent, she gave a speech about Robbie Williams, who had been the target of earlier jokes made by host Russell Brand. Williams had been reported as going into rehabilitation that same week. As her speech continued, she made remarks about Brand, implying that he was heading for rehabilitation himself (while singing a passage of Amy Winehouse's hit "Rehab"). In response to the British media's reaction, Stone said, "At the end of the day, I don't give a fuck if people have a problem with my accent. That's all I can say about it. The words I say do not change. If the way that it sounds is skew-wiff and you don't like it, don't listen. I'm not being a cruel person by sounding a different way. And I can't help it. I've been [in America working] since I was, like, 14."

In March 2007, Stone joined the Campaign for Little Britain, which is petitioning New York City—known for its ethnic enclaves such as Little Italy, Spanish Harlem, and Chinatown—to formally recognise Little Britain as a new neighbourhood in Manhattan. "Britain is a wicked place full of culture and great people", she said, adding: "We can all blend and become one, then the world will be a happier place in the great scheme of things."

In mid-December 2007, Stone was named the new Flake girl to star in a series of television adverts for the Cadbury Schweppes product in the spring of 2008. According to the company, she is the first non-model to take the role.

It was rumoured that Stone was asked personally by Barack Obama to write and record a song for his presidential campaign, reportedly due to the fact that she appeals across racial boundaries. This claim was refuted during her interview with Carson Daily, where Stone explained that she initially wrote the song about the British government. The song, entitled "Governmentalist", was performed at HeadCount's "Get Out the Vote Party" at the Highline Ballroom in New York City on 3 November 2008. The media gleefully reported that she repeatedly referred to him as Bob Gandalf. Despite some criticism, the single became the UK's biggest-selling single of 2004 as well as the 2004 Christmas number-one single.

On 11 April 2005, Stone performed "Spoiled", Rufus' 1974 song "Tell Me Something Good" with John Legend, Otis Redding's 1966 song "Try a Little Tenderness" with Donna Summer, and 1977's "Hot Legs" with Rod Stewart at "Save the Music: A Concert to Benefit the VH1 Save the Music Foundation", in benefit of VH1's Save the Music Foundation. She owns two female dogs: Missy (named for rapper Missy Elliott), a Rottweiler, and Dusty (named for Dusty Springfield, one of her major influences), a Poodle. That same year, she was voted the World's Sexiest Vegetarian by peta2, alongside Chris Martin. Stone, a vegetarian since birth—having been brought up as one by her parents—, was photographed by Justin Borucki posing with a chicken in an advert for PETA in March 2007, whose tagline states, "I am Joss Stone and I am a vegetarian". She was also one of the entertainers appearing in Curt Johnson's 2007 documentary film Your Mommy Kills Animals.

Among other musicians such as Rod Stewart, Amy Winehouse, Lindsay Lohan, Dionne Warwick, and Plácido Domingo, Stone was photographed by Canadian singer-guitarist and photographer Bryan Adams for Phonak's Hear the World initiative, whose main goal is to raise global awareness for the topic of hearing and hearing loss. "Being able to hear means that you can enjoy all the sounds of the world", she said.

Following the release of "Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now" in mid-2007, Stone and Common turned the single's music video into a Product Red, reverting 100% of the gains from copies of the video purchased from iTunes to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Stone is the first Product Red artist to do so.

On 7 July 2007, Stone performed at the South African leg of the Live Earth concerts at the Coca Cola Dome in Johannesburg, to promote awareness of global warming. She sang the Introducing Joss Stone tracks "Girl They Won't Believe It", "Headturner", "Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now", "Music", and "Tell Me 'bout It", as well as Mind, Body & Soul's "Right to Be Wrong" and "Gimme Shelter", the latter with Angélique Kidjo.

In order to raise the awareness of AIDS, Annie Lennox joined forces with twenty-three female acts (including Stone) and recorded the song "Sing", which was released on World AIDS Day on 1 December 2007, when Lennox performed at one of Nelson Mandela's 46664 concerts at Johannesburg's Ellis Park Stadium. The song appears on Lennox's fourth studio album, Songs of Mass Destruction.

In support of the gay community, Stone performed at the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on 26 April 2008. She also performed "Right to Be Wrong" at the LA PRIDE 2008—produced by Christopher Street West, a non-profit organisation—in West Hollywood, California, on 7 June 2008.

Personal life

Stone began dating Beau Dozier—with whom she co-wrote the song "Spoiled"—, son of Motown producer Lamont Dozier (from the Holland-Dozier-Holland fame), in 2004. She moved from her native England into Dozier's villa in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Encino the following year. The two split up in November 2005.

Stone was the youngest woman on the 2006 Sunday Times Rich List—an annual list of the UK's wealthiest people—with £6 million, and was also ranked number seventy-eight on Maxim's 2007 Hot 100.

Discography

The Soul Sessions (2003)

Mind Body & Soul (2004)

Introducing Joss Stone (2007)

Colour Me Free! (2009)

(2011)

Filmography

Awards

Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Stone has received one award from five nominations.

|- | style="text-align:center;" rowspan="3"| 2005 || Joss Stone || Best New Artist || |- | "You Had Me" || Best Female Pop Vocal Performance || |- | Mind Body & Soul || Best Pop Vocal Album || |- | style="text-align:center;"| 2007 ||"Family Affair" (with John Legend and Van Hunt) || Best R&B; Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals || |- | style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"| 2011 ||"I Put a Spell on You" (with Jeff Beck) || Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal || |-

Other awards and nominations

References

External links

Official website

Category:1987 births Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Blue-eyed soul singers Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Animal rights advocates Category:English blues singers Category:English child singers Category:English female singers Category:English film actors Category:English rhythm and blues singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English soul singers Category:English television actors Category:English vegetarians Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Neo soul singers Category:People from Dover Category:People from Mid Devon (district) Category:Virgin Records artists

Name	José Feliciano
|img capt	Feliciano in 2007
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	José Montserrate Feliciano García
Born	September 10, 1945
Origin	Lares, Puerto Rico
Genre	Soft rock, Latin Pop, Bolero, Acoustic
Years active	1964–present
Label	RCA RecordsOptimism Records
Url	www.josefeliciano.com

José Montserrate Feliciano García (born September 10, 1945) is a blind Puerto Rican singer, virtuoso guitarist and composer, known for many international hits including the 1970 holiday single "Feliz Navidad".

Childhood

Feliciano was born in Lares, Puerto Rico, one of twelve children. He is blind because of congenital glaucoma. He was first exposed to music at age three. He would play a tin cracker can while accompanying his uncle who played the Cuatro (Puerto Rico). When he was five, his family moved to Spanish Harlem, New York City and, at age nine, he played on the Teatro Puerto Rico. He started his musical life playing accordion until his grandfather gave him a guitar. He reportedly sat by himself in his room for up to 14 hours a day to listen to 1950s rock albums, classical guitarists such as Andrés Segovia, and jazz players such as Wes Montgomery. He later had classical lessons with Harold Morris who earlier had been a student with Segovia.

At 17, he quit school to play in clubs, having his first professional, contracted performance in Detroit.

1960s

In 1963, after some live performances in pubs and clubs around the USA and Canada, especially in Greenwich Village, NY and Vancouver, BC, where he played at the same time as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, he was signed at RCA Victor. In 1964, he released his first single "Everybody Do the Click" (which become a hit in Philippines, at nr2 and stayed for 14 weeks in TopTen Hit parade) . Later, in 1965 and 1966, he also released his first albums The Voice and Guitar of Jose Feliciano and A Bag Full of Soul, two folk-pop-soul albums that showcased his talent on radio across the USA, where he was described as a "10 finger wizard". He also was invited to the Newport Jazz festival in 1964.

In 1966, he went to Mar del Plata, Argentina, to perform at the Festival de Mar del Plata. There, he impressed RCA Victor officials who told him to stay there to record an album in Spanish. They were not sure what they wanted to record, but Feliciano suggested they record bolero music. The result was two smash hits with the singles "Poquita Fe" ("Little Faith", a.k.a. "Sin Fe", or "Without Faith"), a song written by fellow Puerto Rican Bobby Capó, and "Usted" (the formal way to say "you" in Spanish).

A year later, Feliciano was due to perform in the United Kingdom, but the authorities would not allow his guide dog into the country unless it was in quarantine for six months. The stringent quarantine measures of those days were intended to prevent the spread of rabies. Feliciano later wrote a song entitled "No Dogs Allowed", which told the story of his first visit to London.

During his British visit, on July 16, 1967, Feliciano gave a live performance on the pirate radio stations Radio 227 and Radio 355, on board the MV Laissez Faire off the British coast, less than a month before the stations were due to be closed by the UK's Marine Broadcasting Offences Act.

After two more successful albums, Feliciano, now a household name all over Latin America, moved to Los Angeles. He got together with Rick Jarrard who was, at the time, also producing Nilsson and Jefferson Airplane. They recorded The Doors' song "Light My Fire" in a Latin style and when released as a single, it reached #3 on the US pop charts in late summer, 1968. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Many subsequent recordings of "Light My Fire" by a multitude of artists took the arrangement from the Feliciano recording. He immediately became a sensation all across North America, selling millions of albums and followed up his success with another top 20 hit in the US with his version of "Hi-Heel Sneakers", again recorded with a Latin feel. On the strength of this success he won two Grammy Awards for Best New Artist Of The Year and for Best Pop Song Of The Year in 1969.

In October 1968, at the height of protests against the Vietnam War, Feliciano was given the opportunity by Detroit Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell to perform "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Tiger Stadium in Detroit during Game 5 pregame ceremonies of the 1968 World Series. His highly personalized, slow, latin jazz performance proved highly controversial. As a result of his unusual delivery, many radio stations refused to play his songs, and his career was stalled for almost three years. Even so, in an October, 2006 NPR broadcast, he expressed pride for opening the door for later reinterpretations of the national anthem. His World Series rendition, which features him accompanying himself on an acoustic guitar, was released as a single which charted for 5 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #50.

On May 10, 2010, Feliciano performed his rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" again at Comerica Park in Detroit. This was part of the remembrance of Detroit Tigers radio announcer Ernie Harwell, who had died the Tuesday before. He played it similarly to how he did in 1968; with his acoustic guitar and in his slow tempo-ed, latin jazz style.

1970s

In 1970, he wrote and released an album of Christmas music, Feliz Navidad, which may be deemed to be his most famous recording. The title song has been covered by many artists and is now a traditional part of the musical landscape in the U.S, Canada and Latin America around Christmas time. Each year during the Christmas season, "Feliz Navidad" returns to US airwaves, one of the most-played and most-downloaded radio songs and downloaded songs of the season. "Feliz Navidad" is also recognized by ASCAP as one of the 25 all-time most-played Christmas songs in the world.

In 1971, he traveled to Italy to participate in the Sanremo Music Festival, singing the song "Che sarà" in Italian, earning second place in that contest as well as a standing ovation by the Italian public. He later recorded the song, which became a well-known act in Italy, a great hit in half of Europe, including the Iron Curtain countries, as well as in Asia. Feliciano later recorded it in Spanish as "Qué Será", becoming a hit in all of Central and South America, and in English as "Shake a Hand", a big hit in Scandinavian countries.

He wrote and performed the theme song to the 1970s comedy series Chico and the Man, and played a guest role on that series as the cousin of Chico (Freddie Prinze), singer Pepe Fernando. In the 1970s, he acted and composed for TV series and movies including McMillan & Wife, Kung Fu episodes, the soundtrack of the movie Aaron Loves Angela in 1976, and Mackenna's Gold with Quincy Jones. He has guested on many albums by other artists, including Bill Withers's +'Justments, John Lennon's Rock 'n' Roll, Joni Mitchell's Court and Spark, Michael Nesmith's Tantamount to Treason, Natalie Cole's Everlasting and Gloria Estefan's Alma Caribena.

1980s to present

Feliciano holds the distinction of being one of the few singers to have enjoyed success both in Spanish language music and in English language rock and roll. He won five consecutive awards for best pop guitarist from Guitar Player magazine and was voted in jazz, classic and rock fields.

He received a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1987, and continued as a very popular singer during the 1980s. He had his hands cast on the famous Madame Tussauds Museum's Wall of Fame, and has a star in the Walk of Fame of his native Puerto Rico. He also had a great hit in 1987 in Austria with the song "The Sound of Vienna", number 1 for four weeks and recorded with the famous Vienna Symphony Orchestra. The Orchestra also performed with him live on national television at Danube Park in Vienna before more than 60,000 people. During the 1980s, record companies gave him space made only for the Latin market, and he recorded an impressive number of albums for that market, including the Motown albums Escenas de Amor and Me Enamoré, as well as others from RCA, EMI, and Capitol which added four more Grammys for best Latin performer. He recorded a duet called "Por ella" with the most popular Mexican singer at the time: José José.

In 1994, Feliciano recorded a dance record in English entitled "Goin' Krazy" (MJM Records) under the pseudonym JR. Latino DJ's around the world supported the record helping the 12" dance record chart on Billboard and earning him new and younger fans.

In 1995, Feliciano was honored by the City of New York, which re-named Public School 155 the Jose Feliciano Performing Arts School. In 1996, he had a short cameo role in the film Fargo.

Feliciano was also an inaugural member of the Independent Music Awards' judging panel to support independent artists.

Feliciano performed the theme song, "Behind the Mask," for the TV series Queen of Swords in 2000. A promotional video sung in Spanish but never published is on youtube , and the full English version, never published, sung by Feliciano and the composers Spencer Proffer and Steve Plunkett is also on youtube .

In 2003 Guitarra Mía, a special tribute to Feliciano, was produced by the Banco Popular de Puerto Rico and aired in Puerto Rico and in cities with large Puerto Rican population in the United States. This television special (and its soundtrack) featured Feliciano and many Puerto Rican and international stars singing some of his most famous songs, along with his personal favorites from other artists. It was first aired in December 2003, just two days after his mother died unexpectedly from a heart attack; in an eerie coincidence, the special's last scenes featured her giving her son a standing ovation, recorded for the occasion a month before.

On December 6, 2006, Feliciano's new Spanish album, José Feliciano y amigos was released by Universal Records, featuring Feliciano joined in duets with many other Latin American stars including Luis Fonsi, Lupillo Rivera, Luciano Pereyra, Rudy Pérez, Cristian Castro, Marc Anthony, Ramón Ayala, Alicia Villarreal, Ricardo Montaner, and Raúl di Blasio. A special edition was later released and featured Ana Gabriel and Gloria Estefan.

In 2007, Feliciano released an album called Soundtrack of My Life, the first English-language album composed and written by him.

In 2009, after winning his 8th Grammy for the album Senor Bolero, he left Siente music and released two new English-language albums for digital download only from his personal websites, one dedicated to American Classics, including songs made famous by Frank Sinatra, and the other dedicated to an instrumental album in homage to jazz guitar legend Django Reinhardt who inspired Feliciano, and features Feliciano's song "Djangoisms." A single from the Kumbia All Starz features him and the internationally famous Tejano band, Los Dinos, which was released April 28, 2010.

On December 15, 2010, Feliciano appeared as the featured guest on the 37th wepisode of Daryl Hall's Webbie-Award winning webcast, Live From Daryl's House, www.livefromdarylshouse.com. Feliciano and Hall took turns on several numbers, including Felicano's verison of "Light My Fire."

Family

Feliciano and his wife Susan have three children: daughter Melissa and sons Jonathan and Michael. Susan was raised in Detroit and met Ernie Harwell during the controversy over Feliciano's rendition of the national anthem in 1968. Harwell later introduced her to Feliciano.

Sense of humor

Besides his musical skills, Feliciano is known for his strong sense of humor. He constantly makes fun of people's reactions to his blindness, and has even played practical jokes on friends and family based on this. Once his then bass player, Ted Arnold, contrived to allow Feliciano to appear to be driving down a busy street, fooling the passing police. During a show he once said, "I was going to dedicate this next song [Zorba The Greek] to Howard Hughes but I can't see him!" He then dedicated it to Jacqueline Onassis.

He has performed comedy sketches alongside Freddie Prinze, Sunshine Logroño, and the staff of Despierta América and Verónica Castro, among others. He has also parodied fellow artists in his concerts, including Julio Iglesias, Raphael, Rocío Jurado and Isabel Pantoja. An occasional song at his Spanish concerts is a parody of Bobby Capó's song "El Bardo". While the Right Said Fred song "I'm Too Sexy" was popular in the early 1990s, Feliciano closed his English concerts with a parody of it.

His performance of "Old Turkey Buzzard" became a recurring bit on The Late Show with David Letterman in 2007, until Feliciano himself appeared on the show on October 16 of that year to perform a live rendition of the song.

In December 2009 a parody of Feliz Navidad entitled "The Illegal Alien Christmas Song" was created by radio producers Matt Fox and A.J. Rice and posted on the website for Human Events, a Washington-based conservative weekly publication. The parody, sung in English, played on the stereotype of Latino immigrants as heavy drinkers and that undocumented immigrants were going to "spread bubonic plague".

Feliciano released a statement on December 23 on his official website:

"This song has always been a bridge to the cultures that are so dear to me, never as a vehicle for a political platform of racism and hate. It’s disgusting and my only wish that my song and I are distanced from the whole affair as soon as possible."

In a statement to the Associated Press the same day, Jed Babbin, Human Events' site editor, apologized for "any offense that Mr. Feliciano may have taken from this parody" and removed it from the site.

Discography

English / international

1964 - ''The Voice and Guitar of Jose Feliciano

1966 - ''A Bag Full of Soul

1966 - ''Fantastic Feliciano

1968 - ''Feliciano!

1968 - Souled

1969 - ''Feliciano / 10 To 23

1969 - ''Alive Alive O!

1970 - ''Fireworks

1970 - ''Feliz Navidad

1971 - ''Encore!

1971 - ''Che sarà

1971 - ''That the Spirit Needs

1971 - ''Another Record

1972 - ''Sings

1972 - ''Memphis Menu

1973 - ''Compartments

1973 - ''Peter Stuyvesant presents José Feliciano in concert with the London Symphony Orchestra

1974 - ''For My Love, Mother Music

1974 - ''And The Feeling's Good

1975 - ''Affirmation

1975 - ''Just Wanna Rock and Roll

1976 - ''Angela

1977 - ''Sweet Soul Music

1981 - ''José Feliciano

1983 - ''Romance In The Night

1989 - ''I'm Never Gonna Change

1990 - ''Steppin' Out (Optimism Records)

1994 - ''Goin' Krazy' (MJM Records) (12" Dance Remix Single recorded under the pseudonym JR)

1996 - ''Present Tense

1996 - ''On Second Thought

2006 - Six-String Lady (the instrumental album)

2007 - Soundtrax of My Life

2009 - The Paris Concert (live)

2009 - American Classics (only for digital download)

2009 - Djangoisms (only for digital download)

Hit singles: United States, United Kingdom and Australia

Hit albums: United States, United Kingdom and Australia

English / international

1964 - ''The Voice and Guitar of Jose Feliciano

1966 - ''A Bag Full of Soul

1966 - ''Fantastic Feliciano

1968 - ''Feliciano!

1968 - Souled

1969 - ''Feliciano / 10 To 23

1969 - ''Alive Alive O!

1970 - ''Fireworks

1970 - ''Felíz Navidad

1971 - ''Encore!

1971 - ''Che sarà

1971 - ''That the Spirit Needs

1971 - ''Another Record

1972 - ''Sings

1972 - ''Memphis Menu

1973 - ''Compartments

1973 - ''Peter Stuyvesant presents José Feliciano in concert with the London Symphony Orchestra

1974 - ''For My Love, Mother Music

1974 - ''And The Feeling's Good

1975 - ''Affirmation

1975 - ''Just Wanna Rock and Roll

1976 - ''Angela

1977 - ''Sweet Soul Music

1981 - ''José Feliciano

1983 - ''Romance In The Night

1989 - ''I'm Never Gonna Change

1990 - ''Steppin' Out (Optimism Records)

1994 - ''Goin' Krazy' (MJM Records) (12" Dance Remix Single recorded under the pseudonym JR)

1996 - ''Present Tense

1996 - ''On Second Thought

2006 - Six-String Lady (the instrumental album)

2007 - Soundtrax of My Life

2009 - The Paris Concert (live)

2009 - American Classics (only for digital download)

2009 - Djangoisms (only for digital download)

See also

List of Famous Puerto Ricans

List of Puerto Rican songwriters

References

2010: The Genius of Jose Feliciano - Newest album release!

External links

Jose Feliciano Official Website

Category:1945 births Category:Blind musicians Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Latin Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Latin pop singers Category:Puerto Rican composers Category:Puerto Rican guitarists Category:Puerto Rican male singers Category:Puerto Rican musicians Category:Puerto Rican singers Category:Puerto Rican singer-songwriters Category:Spanish-language singers Category:English-language singers Category:Italian-language singers Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Optimism Records artists Category:American people of Puerto Rican descent Category:People from New York City

Name	Carlos Santana
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Carlos Augusto Alves Santana
Born	July 20, 1947Autlán de Navarro, JaliscoMexico
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, percussion
Genre	Rock, latin rock, blues rock, funk, jazz fusion
Occupation	Musician, songwriter
Years active	1966–present
Label	Arista, Polydor, Columbia, Polygram
Associated acts	Santana, Los Lonely Boys
Notable instruments	PRS Santana II Yamaha SG175 Gibson SG
Url	Santana.com

Carlos Augusto Alves Santana (born July 20, 1947) is a Mexican American rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion. The band's sound featured his melodic, blues-based guitar lines set against Latin and African rhythms featuring percussion instruments such as timbales and congas not generally heard in rock music. Santana continued to work in these forms over the following decades. He experienced a resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim in the late 1990s. Rolling Stone named Santana number 15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time in 2003. He has won 10 Grammy Awards and 3 Latin Grammy Awards.

Biography

Early life

Santana was born in Autlán de Navarro, Jalisco, Mexico. His father was a mariachi violinist, and Carlos learned to play the violin at age five and the guitar at age eight. His younger brother, Jorge Santana, would also become a professional guitarist. Young Carlos was heavily influenced by Ritchie Valens at a time when there were very few Latinos in American rock and pop music. The family moved from Autlán de Navarro to Tijuana, the city on Mexico's border with California, and then San Francisco. Carlos stayed in Tijuana but joined his family in San Francisco later and graduated from James Lick Middle School and Mission High School there. He graduated from Mission High in 1965. Javier Bátiz, a famous guitarist from Tijuana, said to have been Carlos's guitar teacher who taught him to play a different style of guitar soloing. After learning Batiz's techniques, Santana would make them his own as well.

In San Francisco, he got the chance to see his idols, most notably B.B. King, perform live. He was also introduced to a variety of new musical influences, including jazz and folk music, and witnessed the growing hippie movement centered in San Francisco in the 1960s. After several years spent working as a dishwasher in a diner and busking for spare change, Santana decided to become a full-time musician. In 1966, he gained prominence by a series of accidental events all happening on the same day. Santana was a frequent spectator at Bill Graham's Fillmore West. During a Sunday matinee show, Paul Butterfield was slated to perform there but was unable to do so as a result of being intoxicated. Bill Graham assembled an impromptu band of musicians he knew primarily through his connections with the Grateful Dead, Butterfield's own band and Jefferson Airplane, but he had not yet picked all of the guitarists at the time. Santana's manager, Stan Marcum, immediately suggested to Graham that Santana join the impromptu band and Graham assented. During the jam session, Santana's guitar playing and solo gained the notice of both the audience and Graham. During the same year, Santana formed the Santana Blues Band, with fellow street musicians, David Brown and Gregg Rolie (bassist and keyboard player, respectively).

In 2005, Herbie Hancock approached Santana to collaborate on an album again using the Supernatural formula. Possibilities was released on August 30, 2005, featuring Carlos Santana and Angélique Kidjo on "Safiatou". Also, in 2005, fellow Latin star Shakira invited Santana to play the soft rock guitar ballad "Illegal" on her second English-language studio album Oral Fixation Vol. 2.

Santana's 2005 album All That I Am consists primarily of collaborations with other artists; the first single, the peppy "I'm Feeling You", was again with Michelle Branch and The Wreckers. Other musicians joining the mix this time included Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Kirk Hammett from Metallica, hip-hop/reggae star Sean Paul and R&B; singer Joss Stone. In April and May 2006, Santana toured Europe, where he promoted his son Salvador Santana's band as his opening act.

In 2007, Santana appeared, along with Sheila E. and José Feliciano, on Gloria Estefan's album 90 Millas, on the single "No Llores". He also teamed again with Chad Kroeger for the hit single "Into the Night".

In 2008, Santana started working with his long-time friend, Marcelo Vieira, on his solo album Marcelo Vieira's Acoustic Sounds, which is due to be released at the end of the year. It features tracks such as "For Flavia" and "Across the Grave", the latter featuring heavy melodic riffs by Santana.

Carlos Santana performed at the 2009 American Idol Finale with the top 13 finalists, which starred many acts such as KISS, Queen and Rod Stewart. On July 8, 2009, Carlos Santana appeared at the Athens Olympic Stadium in Athens with his 10-member all-star band as part of his "Supernatural Santana – A Trip through the Hits" European tour. On July 10, 2009, he also appeared at Philip II Stadium in Skopje. With 2.5 hours concert and 20 000 people, Santana appeared for the first time in that region. "Supernatural Santana – A Trip through the Hits" is currently playing at The Hard Rock hotel in Las Vegas, where it will play through 2011.

Santana is featured as a playable character in the music video game Guitar Hero 5. A live recording of his song "No One To Depend On" is included in game, which was released on September 1, 2009.

Carlos recently opened a chain of upscale Mexican restaurants called "Maria Maria". It is a combined effort with Chef Roberto Santibañez. They are located in Tempe, Arizona, Mill Valley (now closed), Walnut Creek and Danville, California, Austin, Texas, and Boca Raton, Florida.

Influences

Around the age of 8, Santana "fell under the influence" of blues performers like B.B. King and John Lee Hooker. He also credits Jimi Hendrix, Mike Bloomfield and Peter Green as important influences; he considered Bloomfield a direct mentor, writing of a key meeting with Bloomfield in San Francisco in the foreword he wrote to a biography of Bloomfield, Michael Bloomfield: If You Love These Blues-An Oral History in 2000.

Equipment

Guitars and effects

Santana played a red Gibson SG Special with P-90 pickups at the Woodstock festival. From 1976 until 1982, his main guitar was a Yamaha SG 175B and sometimes a white Gibson SG Custom with 3 open coil pick-ups. In 1982 he started to use a custom made PRS guitar, which became his main instrument around 1988. Santana currently uses a Santana II model guitar using PRS Santana III pickups with nickel covers and a tremolo, with .009-.042 gauge D'Addario strings. Santana's guitar necks and fretboards are constructed out of a single solid piece of Brazilian Rosewood; this helps create the smooth, singing, glass-like tone that he is famous for.

Carlos Santana also uses a classical guitar, the Alvarez Yairi CY127CE with Alvarez tension nylon strings.

Santana does not use many effects pedals. His PRS guitar is connected to a Mu-Tron wah wah pedal (or, more recently, a Dunlop 535Q wah) and a T-Rex Replica delay pedal, then through a customized Jim Dunlop amp switcher which in turn is connected to the different amps or cabinets.

Previous setups include an Ibanez Tube Screamer right after the guitar.

In the song "Stand Up" from the album Marathon, Santana uses a Heil talk box in the guitar solo.

Amplifiers

The Santana lead guitar tone is produced by a humbucker equipped guitar (Gibson/Yamaha/PRS) into a small but effective preamp (consisting of Gain & Master Volume controls) for the Mesa Boogie [ref. as above]. He also literally put the Boogie in Mesa Boogie: 'Santana exclaimed to Smith, "Shit, man. That little thing really Boogies!" It was this statement that brought the Boogie name to fruition.'

Specifically, Santana combines a Mesa/Boogie Mark I head running through a Boogie cabinet with Altec 417-8H (or recently JBL E120s) speakers, and a Dumble Overdrive Reverb and/or a Dumble Overdrive Special running through a Brown or Marshall 4x12 cabinet with Celestion G12M "Greenback" speakers, depending on the desired sound. Shure KSM-32 microphones are used to pick up the sound, going to the PA. Additionally, a Fender Cyber-Twin Amp is mostly used at home.

Personal life

Carlos Santana became a naturalized American citizen in 1965.

Discography

Awards and nominations

References

Sources

Soul Sacrifice; The Carlos Santana Story Simon Leng 2000

Space Between The Stars Deborah Santana 2004

Rolling Stone "The Resurrection of Carlos Santana" Ben Fong Torres 1972

New Musical Express "Spirit of Santana" Chris Charlesworth November 1973

Guitar Player Magazine 1978

Rolling Stone "The Epic Life of Carlos Santana" 2000

Santana I – Sony Legacy Edition: liner notes

Abraxas – Sony Legacy Edition: liner notes

Santana III – Sony Legacy edition: liner notes

Viva Santana – CBS CD release 1988; liner notes

Power, Passion and Beauty – The Story of the Legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra Walter Kolosky 2006

Best of Carlos Santana – Wolf Marshall 1996; introduction and interview

Further reading

Chipley Slavicek, Louise. Carlos Santana, Chelsea House Publications or Facts on File, 2006, 119 p., ISBN 0-7910-8844-8

Leng, Simon. Soul Sacrifice: The Santana Story, Firefly-S.A.F. Publishing, 2000, 224 p., ISBN 0-946719-29-2. Republ. as Santana, Catedra, 2002, ISBN 84-376-1947-5

McCarthy, Jim; Ron Sansoe, Ron, foreword by Carlos Santana. Voices of Latin Rock: The People and Events That Created This Sound, Omnibus Press, 2004 and Hal Leonard Publishing, 2005, 316 p., ISBN 0-634-08061-X

Miller, Hal; Santana Debbie; Faulkner, John (ed.), w/ a foreword by Bill Graham. Santana: A Retrospective of the Santana Band's Twenty Years in Music, San Francisco Mission Cultural Center, 1987 or 1988, 50p., no ISBN. Includes a 4-p genealogical tree w/ the members's name for every Santana band from 1966.

Molenda, Michael (ed.). Guitar Player Presents Carlos Santana, Backbeat Books, 2010, 124 p., ISBN 978-0-87930-976-3

Remstein, Henna. Carlos Santana (Latinos in the Limelight), Chelsea House Publications, 2001, 64 p., ISBN 0-7910-6473-5

Shapiro, Marc. Carlos Santana: Back on Top, St-Martin's Press, 2000 and 2002, 288 p., ISBN 0-312-28852-2

Sumsion, Michael. Maximum Santana: The Unauthorized Biography of Santana, Chrome Dreams, 2003, ISBN 1-84240-107-6. A CD-audio biog

Weinstein, Norman. Carlos Santana: A Biography, Greenwood Press, 2009, 152 p., ISBN 978-0313354205

Woog, Adam. Carlos Santana: Legendary Guitarist, Lucent Books, 2006, 104 p., ISBN 1-59018-972-8

External links

Official website

Milagro Foundation

2006 Carlos Santana Interview

Concerts online at Wolfgang's Vault

Santana's Gear

Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:American Christians Category:American musicians of Mexican descent Category:American rock guitarists Category:Arista Records artists Category:Blues-rock musicians Category:Columbia Records artists

Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Latin Grammy Award winners Category:Lead guitarists Category:Mexican Christians Category:Mexican immigrants to the United States Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:People from Autlán, Jalisco Category:People from Tijuana Category:San Francisco Bay Area musicians Category:Santana (band) members Category:World music musicians Category:World Music Awards winners *