A light flashing approximately once per second

The second (SI unit symbol: s) is the International System of Units (SI) base unit of time^[1] and also a unit of time in other systems (abbreviated s or sec^[2]). Between 1000 (when al-Biruni used seconds) and 1960 the second was defined as 1/86,400 of a mean solar day (that definition still applies in some astronomical and legal contexts).^[3][4] Between 1960 and 1967, it was defined in terms of the period of the Earth's orbit around the Sun in 1900,^[5] but it is now defined more precisely in atomic terms. Seconds may be measured using mechanical, electric or atomic clocks.

However, 19th- and 20th-century astronomical observations revealed that this average time is lengthening and thus the sun–earth motion is no longer considered a suitable basis for definition. With the advent of atomic clocks, it became feasible to define the second based on fundamental properties of nature. Since 1967, the second has been defined to be:

the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium 133 atom.^[1]

SI prefixes are frequently combined with the word second to denote subdivisions of the second, e.g., the millisecond (one thousandth of a second), the microsecond (one millionth of a second), and the nanosecond (one billionth of a second). Though SI prefixes may also be used to form multiples of the second such as kilosecond (one thousand seconds), such units are rarely used in practice. The more common larger non-SI units of time are not formed by powers of ten; instead, the second is multiplied by 60 to form a minute, which is multiplied by 60 to form an hour, which is multiplied by 24 to form a day.

The second is also the base unit of time in the centimetre-gram-second, metre-kilogram-second, metre-tonne-second, and foot-pound-second systems of units.

International second[link]

Under the International System of Units (via the International Committee for Weights and Measures, or CIPM), since 1967 the second has been defined as the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium 133 atom.^[1] In 1997 CIPM added that the periods would be defined for a caesium atom at rest, and approaching the theoretical temperature of absolute zero, and in 1999, it included corrections from ambient radiation.^[1]

This definition refers to a caesium atom at rest at a temperature of 0 K (absolute zero). Absolute zero implies no movement, and therefore zero external radiation effects (i.e., zero local electric and magnetic fields). The second thus defined is consistent with the ephemeris second, which was based on astronomical measurements. (See History below.)

The realization of the standard second is described briefly in a special publication from the National Institute of Standards and Technology,^[6] and in detail by the National Research Council of Canada.^[7]

Equivalence to other units of time[link]

1 international second is equal to:

• 1/60 minute (but see also leap second)
• 1/3,600 hour
• 1/86,400 day (IAU system of units)
• 1/31,557,600 Julian year (IAU system of units)

History[link]

Before mechanical clocks[link]

The Egyptians subdivided daytime and nighttime into twelve hours each since at least 2000 BC, hence the seasonal variation of their hours. The Hellenistic astronomers Hipparchus (c. 150 BC) and Ptolemy (c. AD 150) subdivided the day sexagesimally and also used a mean hour (¹⁄₂₄ day), simple fractions of an hour (¹⁄₄, ²⁄₃, etc.) and time-degrees (¹⁄₃₆₀ day or four modern minutes), but not modern minutes or seconds.^[8]

The day was subdivided sexagesimally, that is by ¹⁄₆₀, by ¹⁄₆₀ of that, by ¹⁄₆₀ of that, etc., to at least six places after the sexagesimal point (a precision of better than 2 microseconds) by the Babylonians after 300 BC. For example, six fractional sexagesimal places of a day was used in their specification of the length of the year, although they were unable to measure such a small fraction of a day in real time. As another example, they specified that the mean synodic month was 29;31,50,8,20 days (four fractional sexagesimal positions), which was repeated by Hipparchus and Ptolemy sexagesimally, and is currently the mean synodic month of the Hebrew calendar, though restated as 29 days 12 hours 793 halakim (where 1 hour = 1080 halakim).^[9] The Babylonians did not use the hour, but did use a double-hour lasting 120 modern minutes, a time-degree lasting four modern minutes, and a barleycorn lasting 3¹⁄₃ modern seconds (the helek of the modern Hebrew calendar),^[10] but did not sexagesimally subdivide these smaller units of time. No sexagesimal unit of the day was ever used as an independent unit of time.

In 1000, the Persian scholar al-Biruni gave the times of the new moons of specific weeks as a number of days, hours, minutes, seconds, thirds, and fourths after noon Sunday.^[4] In 1267, the medieval scientist Roger Bacon stated the times of full moons as a number of hours, minutes, seconds, thirds, and fourths (horae, minuta, secunda, tertia, and quarta) after noon on specified calendar dates.^[11] Although a third for ¹⁄₆₀ of a second remains in some languages, for example Polish (tercja) and Turkish (salise), the modern second is subdivided decimally.

Seconds measured by mechanical clocks[link]

The earliest clocks to display seconds appeared during the last half of the 16th century. The earliest spring-driven timepiece with a second hand which marked seconds is an unsigned clock depicting Orpheus in the Fremersdorf collection, dated between 1560 and 1570.^{[12]:417–418[13]} During the 3rd quarter of the 16th century, Taqi al-Din built a clock with marks every 1/5 minute.^[14] In 1579, Jost Bürgi built a clock for William of Hesse that marked seconds.^[12]:105 In 1581, Tycho Brahe redesigned clocks that displayed minutes at his observatory so they also displayed seconds. However, they were not yet accurate enough for seconds. In 1587, Tycho complained that his four clocks disagreed by plus or minus four seconds.^[12]:104

The second first became accurately measurable with the development of pendulum clocks keeping mean time (as opposed to the apparent time displayed by sundials). In 1644, Marin Mersenne calculated that a pendulum with a length of 39.1 inches (0.994 m) would have a period at standard gravity of precisely two seconds, one second for a swing forward and one second for the return swing, enabling such a pendulum to tick in precise seconds.

In 1670, London clockmaker William Clement added this seconds pendulum to the original pendulum clock of Christian Huygens.^[15] From 1670 to 1680, Clement made many improvements to his clock and introduced the longcase or grandfather clock to the public. This clock used an anchor escapement mechanism with a seconds pendulum to display seconds in a small subdial. This mechanism required less power, caused less friction and was accurate enough to measure seconds reliably as one-sixtieth of a minute than the older verge escapement. Within a few years, most British precision clockmakers were producing longcase clocks and other clockmakers soon followed. Thus the second could now be reliably measured.

Modern measurements[link]

In 1956 the second was defined in terms of the period of revolution of the Earth around the Sun for a particular epoch, because by then it had become recognized that the Earth's rotation on its own axis was not sufficiently uniform as a standard of time. The Earth's motion was described in Newcomb's Tables of the Sun (1895), which provide a formula estimating the motion of the Sun relative to the epoch 1900 based on astronomical observations made between 1750 and 1892.^[5] The second thus defined is

the fraction 1/31,556,925.9747 of the tropical year for 1900 January 0 at 12 hours ephemeris time.^[5]

This definition was ratified by the Eleventh General Conference on Weights and Measures in 1960. The tropical year in the definition was not measured, but calculated from a formula describing a mean tropical year that decreased linearly over time, hence the curious reference to a specific instantaneous tropical year. This definition of the second was in conformity with the ephemeris time scale adopted by the IAU in 1952,^[16] defined as the measure of time that brings the observed positions of the celestial bodies into accord with the Newtonian dynamical theories of their motion (those accepted for use during most of the 20th century being Newcomb's Tables of the Sun, used from 1900 through 1983, and Brown's Tables of the Moon, used from 1923 through 1983).^[5]

With the development of the atomic clock, it was decided to use atomic clocks as the basis of the definition of the second, rather than the revolution of the Earth around the Sun.

Following several years of work, Louis Essen from the National Physical Laboratory (Teddington, England) and William Markowitz from the United States Naval Observatory (USNO) determined the relationship between the hyperfine transition frequency of the caesium atom and the ephemeris second.^[5][17] Using a common-view measurement method based on the received signals from radio station WWV,^[18] they determined the orbital motion of the Moon about the Earth, from which the apparent motion of the Sun could be inferred, in terms of time as measured by an atomic clock. They found that the second of ephemeris time (ET) had the duration of 9,192,631,770 ± 20 cycles of the chosen caesium frequency.^[17] As a result, in 1967 the Thirteenth General Conference on Weights and Measures defined the second of atomic time in the International System of Units as

FOCS 1, a continuous cold caesium fountain atomic clock in Switzerland, started operating in 2004 at an uncertainty of one second in 30 million years.

the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom.^[5]

This SI second, referred to atomic time, was later verified to be in agreement, within 1 part in 10¹⁰, with the second of ephemeris time as determined from lunar observations.^[19] (Nevertheless, this SI second was already, when adopted, a little shorter than the then-current value of the second of mean solar time.^[20][21])

During the 1970s it was realized that gravitational time dilation caused the second produced by each atomic clock to differ depending on its altitude. A uniform second was produced by correcting the output of each atomic clock to mean sea level (the rotating geoid), lengthening the second by about 1×10⁻¹⁰. This correction was applied at the beginning of 1977 and formalized in 1980. In relativistic terms, the SI second is defined as the proper time on the rotating geoid.^[22]

The definition of the second was later refined at the 1997 meeting of the BIPM to include the statement

This definition refers to a caesium atom at rest at a temperature of 0 K.

The revised definition seems to imply that the ideal atomic clock contains a single caesium atom at rest emitting a single frequency. In practice, however, the definition means that high-precision realizations of the second should compensate for the effects of the ambient temperature (black-body radiation) within which atomic clocks operate, and extrapolate accordingly to the value of the second at a temperature of absolute zero.

Today, the atomic clock operating in the microwave region is challenged by atomic clocks operating in the optical region. To quote Ludlow et al.,^[23] “In recent years, optical atomic clocks have become increasingly competitive in performance with their microwave counterparts. The overall accuracy of single trapped ion based optical standards closely approaches that of the state-of-the-art caesium fountain standards. Large ensembles of ultracold alkaline earth atoms have provided impressive clock stability for short averaging times, surpassing that of single-ion based systems. So far, interrogation of neutral atom based optical standards has been carried out primarily in free space, unavoidably including atomic motional effects that typically limit the overall system accuracy. An alternative approach is to explore the ultranarrow optical transitions of atoms held in an optical lattice. The atoms are tightly localized so that Doppler and photon-recoil related effects on the transition frequency are eliminated.”

The NRC attaches a "relative uncertainty" of 2.5×10⁻¹¹ (limited by day-to-day and device-to-device reproducibility) to their atomic clock based upon the ¹²⁷I₂ molecule, and is advocating use of an ⁸⁸Sr ion trap instead (relative uncertainty due to linewidth of 2.2×10⁻¹⁵). See magneto-optical trap and "Trapped ion optical frequency standards". National Physical Laboratory. http://www.npl.co.uk/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.1086.  Such uncertainties rival that of the NIST F-1 caesium atomic clock in the microwave region, estimated as a few parts in 10¹⁶ averaged over a day.^[24][25]

SI multiples[link]

SI prefixes are commonly used to measure time less than a second, but rarely for multiples of a second (which is known as metric time). Instead, the non-SI units minutes, hours, days, Julian years, Julian centuries, and Julian millennia are used.

Other current definitions[link]

For specialized purposes, a second may be used as a unit of time in time scales where the precise length differs slightly from the SI definition. One such time scale is UT1, a form of universal time. McCarthy and Seidelmann refrain from stating that the SI second is the legal standard for timekeeping throughout the world, saying only that "over the years UTC [which ticks SI seconds] has become either the basis for legal time of many countries, or accepted as the de facto basis for standard civil time".^[26]

See also[link]

• Atomic clock
• Becquerel
• Coordinated Universal Time
• Hertz
• International Atomic Time
• International System of Units
• Leap second
• Magneto-optical trap
• Time standard

References[link]

External links[link]

Look up second in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Second

• National Physical Laboratory: Trapped ion optical frequency standards
• High-accuracy strontium ion optical clock; National Physical Laboratory (2005)
• National Research Council of Canada: Optical frequency standard based on a single trapped ion
• NIST: Definition of the second; notice the cesium atom must be in its ground state at 0 K
• Official BIPM definition of the second
• Seconds and leap seconds by the USNO
• The leap second: its history and possible future
• What is a Cesium atom clock?

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Neneh Cherry
Neneh Cherry in June 2008
Background information
Birth name	Neneh Mariann Karlsson
Born	(1964-03-10) 10 March 1964 (age 48) Stockholm, Sweden
Genres	Hip hop, trip hop, alternative hip hop
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, rapper, DJ
Years active	1987—present
Labels	Virgin, Tent Music

Neneh Mariann Cherry (born Neneh Mariann Karlsson; 10 March 1964) is a Swedish singer-songwriter, rapper, and occasional DJ and broadcaster.^[1] Blending hip hop with other influences, Cherry experienced mainstream success with several of her recordings.

Early life and family[link]

Cherry was born in Stockholm to a Sierra Leonean father, drummer Amahdu Jah, and a Swedish mother, painter and textile artist Monica Karlsson, later known as Moki Cherry. Her stepfather Don Cherry, an American jazz musician, helped raise her since birth and she took his surname.^[1] Through her father, she is the half-sister of singer Titiyo and record producer Cherno Jah, and through her mother, she is the half-sister of musician Eagle-Eye Cherry. She has a stepsister, violinist Jan Cherry, and a stepbrother, jazz musician David Ornette Cherry.

During the first years of her life, Cherry lived in a hippie commune just outside the small town of Hässleholm. The family later moved to Pudsey, England, and in the early 1970s, they lived in an apartment on East Ninth Street in New York. At the age of 14, Cherry dropped out of school and moved to London.

Career[link]

Early work[link]

In London, Cherry joined the punk rock band The Cherries. She moved through several bands, including New Age Steppers, Rip Rig + Panic, and Float Up CP. She also DJ'd, playing early rap music on the reggae pirate Dread Broadcasting Corporation.^[2]

[edit] Raw Like Sushi

She began a solo career with "Stop the War", a protest song about the Falkland Islands. She also worked with The The and musician Cameron McVey (a.k.a. Booga Bear), who co-wrote most of her debut album Raw Like Sushi, and whom she would eventually marry.^[1] She was intimately involved in the Bristol Urban Culture scene, working as an arranger on Massive Attack's Blue Lines album and helping out in various other ways in the scene. Both Robert Del Naja and Andrew Vowles of Massive Attack contributed to Raw Like Sushi.

The single "Buffalo Stance" was an international blockbuster. "Buffalo Stance" eventually peaked at number 3 in the UK Singles Chart, and the US Billboard Hot 100,^[1] and number 1 on the US Dance chart. More singles released between 1988 and 1990 included "Manchild," "Kisses on the Wind," "Heart," and "Inna City Mama." She also found success with "I've Got You Under My Skin" (produced by Morris Temple of The Guards fame), a reworking of the Cole Porter song, which appeared on the Red Hot + Blue AIDS fundraising album. The single reached number 25 in the UK.^[1] Cherry was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1990 in the Best New Artist Category; she lost out to Milli Vanilli, who later had their Grammy revoked when it was discovered that they had not performed on their recording. She won a Brit Award in 1990 for Raw Like Sushi.

[edit] Homebrew

Cherry's second album was Homebrew, but it was not as commercially successful as its predecessor.^[1] The album had some success on the dance charts with songs "Buddy X" and "Trout." "Buddy X" was a bigger hit years later in a remix by Dreem Teem and on college radio the "Trout" duet with Michael Stipe was popular. Homebrew included the work of Geoff Barrow (on "Somedays"), who would later become part of Portishead.

[edit] Man

Cherry performing in Vienna in 1996

Her most recent solo album, 1996's Man, was led by the track "Woman", her take on James Brown's 1966 track "It's a Man's Man's Man's World." It featured the worldwide hit single, "7 Seconds", featuring Youssou N'Dour; and "Trouble Man" a cover of a Marvin Gaye track. "7 Seconds" remained at number 1 in France for a record seventeen weeks in 1994. Another track, "Together Now", featured Tricky. Cherry received her second Grammy nomination in 1994 for "7 Seconds". In the MTV Europe Music Awards in 1994, "7 Seconds" won the Best Song title.

Neneh Chérie Remixes, a remix album of Man songs, was released in 1997.

CirKus[link]

In 2006, Cherry announced the formation of a new band, cirKus. In addition to Cherry, cirKus members are Cameron McVey, Lolita Moon (Neneh and Cameron's daughter Tyson) plus Karmil. CirKus has toured Europe, with a single North American performance at the Montreal Jazz Festival in July 2006 plus a few dates in Brazil in 2008. The band's first album, Laylow, was released in France in 2006. A remixed/recorded version was released in 2007. A second CirKus album, Medicine, was released in France in March 2009.

Other collaborations[link]

Although Cherry has only released a handful of albums, she has frequently collaborated with other artists. She performed a duet with Matt Johnson of The The on the track Slow Train To Dawn from The The's 1986 album Infected. Slow Train To Dawn reached #64 in the UK and received sporadic airplay on US alternative radio stations. She rapped on the B-side of the Morgan/McVey single "Looking Good Diving With The Wild Bunch" (1987). Cherry worked with Jon Marsh of The Beloved on a new version of their single "You've Got Me Thinking". Although the track was never officially released, two demo versions were available from The Beloved's website. Cherry also contributed guest vocals on Pulp's UK #1 album This Is Hardcore, singing on the track "Seductive Barry". In 1990, Cherry contributed "I've Got You Under My Skin" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Blue produced by the Red Hot Organization.

Cherry collaborated with Edward Kowalczyk the lead singer of the band Live. They contributed a duet entitled "Walk into this Room" written by Kowalczyk for the soundtrack to the movie Playing by Heart (1998). In 1999 she covered the ESG song "Moody" on Christian Falk's debut Quel Bordel. Also in 1999, "Twisted Mess", a collaboration with Craig Armstrong, was recorded for the soundtrack of the film Best Laid Plans. It was also included on the soundtrack to The Dancer (2000) and released as a promotional single on France's Delabel label. Cherry appeared on Peter Gabriel's 11th album OVO in 2000.

In addition she contributed vocals alongside Speech and Ulali on 1 Giant Leap's 2003 song "Braided Hair". In the 2005 release of Gorillaz's Demon Days, she contributed vocals to the tracks "Kids With Guns". She performed the song in the Demon Days Live concerts in 2006. The same year she appeared with the Swedish rapper Petter on his album P, singing in Swedish. She contributed vocals to the Groove Armada tracks, "The Groove Is On" and "Think Twice", featured on the band's album Love Box. In 2006 she was featured in the song "Yours to Keep", by the Stockholm outfit Teddybears on their album Soft Machine. In 2007 she again duetted with Youssou N'Dour on one track, "Wake Up Africa", released on his 2007 album Rokku Mi Rokka.

In 2006 she was featured in the song "High Drama", by the German DJ Timo Maas on his album Pictures.

In 2008 she appeared on Swedish producer Kleerup's self-titled album, contributing vocals to the track "Forever".

In March 2011 she joined the experimental jazz group The Thing. Their album The Cherry Thing will be released in June 2012.

Other work[link]

Cherry appeared in a non-singing capacity in Big Audio Dynamite's 1986 video for "C'mon Every Beatbox", dancing onstage with others during the band's performance. In early 2004, Cherry presented Neneh Cherry's World of Music, a six-part series broadcast on BBC Radio 2.

In the late 1980s, Cherry helped to bankroll the band Massive Attack.^[3]

In April 2007, Cherry presented a six-part cookery show Neneh and Andi – Dish it Up with her friend Andrea Oliver for BBC Two. The pair would later appear on Gordon Ramsay's The F-Word as part of the amateur brigade.

Personal life[link]

Cherry married The Bank drummer Bruce Smith in 1983 and their daughter Naima was also born that year.^[4][5] They divorced in 1984. Their daughter Naima is a London-based photographer, who in 2004 had son Louis Clyde Flynn Love.^[5][6] In 1987 Cherry met producer Cameron McVey at Heathrow Airport. Cherry and McVey were en route to Japan, as fashion models as part of London designer Ray Petri's Buffalo Posse. Cherry proposed, and the two married in 1990. Together they have daughters Tyson, born in 1989, and Mabel, born in 1996.^[4] Their relationship is also work-related, as McVey produced and co-wrote Raw Like Sushi; together they have supported a variety of British acts; and they are in the group cirKus together. Her stepson Marlon Roudette fronts the British duo Mattafix.

The Cherry-McVeys have lived throughout Europe. In 1993 they moved to Spain. In 1992, they briefly attempted to live in New York. They bought a home in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, New York. Soon after moving in, the couple was held up at gunpoint and robbed by a teenage bandit. The entire family packed up again and headed back to London's Primrose Hill.^[7] They next returned to Cherry's childhood home in Sweden; living in the same schoolhouse turned home (featured in Homebrew album artwork) that Cherry studied in as a child.^[7] For many years they split their time between the UK and Sweden, but made Sweden their permanent base around 2003. They have a country house near Birmingham and Wolverhampton, apartments in London and Stockholm plus the old schoolhouse in Skåne County.

Discography[link]

Solo

• Raw Like Sushi (1989)
• Homebrew (1992)
• Man (1996)

With CirKus

• Laylow (2006)
• Medicine (2009)

See also[link]

• Swedish hip hop
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. dance chart

References[link]

External links[link]

• Neneh Cherry Online

78violet
Alyson and Amanda Michalka performing a concert in July 2007
Background information
Also known as	Aly & AJ (2002–2009)
Origin	Torrance, California, United States
Genres	Pop rock Teen pop Adult alternative Adult contemporary
Instruments	Vocals, guitars, pianos
Years active	2002–present
Labels	Hollywood (2002-2010)
Associated acts	Miley Cyrus Ashley Tisdale
Website	Official website
Members
Alyson Michalka Amanda Michalka

78violet (formerly Aly & AJ)^[1] is a pop rock band consisting of sisters Alyson and Amanda Michalka. They were born in Torrance, California, but spent part of their childhood in Seattle, Washington. They are both actresses, singer-songwriters, and guitarists. They signed a record deal with the Disney-owned label, Hollywood Records in 2004. They released their debut studio album Into the Rush on August 17, 2005. The album debuted at number thirty six in the United States, selling over 24,000 copies in its first week and was later certified Platinum by the RIAA.^[2] Into the Rush earned them the "Contemporary Inspirational Artists of the Year" nomination at the 2006 American Music Awards.^[3] Into the Rush later sold over one million records worldwide.^[4]

Their second studio album Insomniatic debuted at number fifteen in the United States, selling over 39,000 copies in its first week on the Billboard 200; this is their highest debut to date.^[5] Their second album's lead single "Potential Breakup Song" is their most successful single to date, it was certified Platinum by the RIAA for sales over 1,000,000 copies.^[6] The duo said that once they were done filming their separate movies, they plan to get back to working on their third studio album for a release in 2009. On September 30, 2009, 78violet announced their third release date for the upcoming self-titled 78violet album is going to be in early 2010 instead.^[7][8] With many rumors going around of the band changing their name, the duo announced that they will be changing their name to 78violet.^[1][9] The duo have also launched a franchise line which includes a doll series and book series.

On February 19, 2010, 78violet announced on their official Facebook page that they were "no longer a part of Hollywood Records" and that the album they recorded for Hollywood Records probably won't be released. However, they are "continuing to write and record new songs".^[10]

History[link]

[edit] 2005–06: Into the Rush and Acoustic Hearts of Winter

Aly & AJ's debut studio album, Into the Rush, was released on August 16, 2005 and certified Gold by the RIAA in March 2006. One of the album's singles, "No One" was featured in the Walt Disney Pictures feature film, Ice Princess and its soundtrack. The song "Do You Believe In Magic", written and originally recorded by The Lovin' Spoonful, added a rock edge. This cover was used in the soundtrack of the made-for-TV Disney Channel original movie, Now You See It..., in which Aly had a starring role as Allyson Henlen. "Do You Believe in Magic" became their first single to enter the top twenty of the Canadian Hot 100 chart, peaking at #23 and peaked at #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Singles Sales. Into the Rush had sold 808,000 copies by December 2007,^[11] and over 1,000,000 copies worldwide.^[4]

The album received mixed reviews from critics. Fran Grauman from About.com gave the album a 4 star rating, praising Aly and AJ's "ton of talent" and "experience."^[12] Allmusic gave the album a mixed review, saying it "doesn't venture further than offering a few empowering ballads", to hand them 2.5 stars after. AMG does praise them for having a real singing ability, citing "Aly & AJ can actually sing — their vocals have more way personality than prefab Disney hopefuls like Hayden Panettiere or Caleigh Peters — and the arrangements are slick without resorting to flashily empty pap". The review finishes with "Into the Rush is listenable, likeable, and more about being memorable than being Disney product."^[13] The album became the 112th best-selling album in the United States in 2006, earning it a place as #112 on the Billboard 200 end of year chart of 2006.^[14]

They have been involved in various Walt Disney Records projects. The "Aly & AJ Concert" took place on July 24, 2005 at the Henry Fonda theater in Hollywood, California. The aired concert was cut to five songs and interviews. The concert included songs from Into the Rush. The band has also opened for The Cheetah Girls in December 2005 on the girls' Cheetah-licious Christmas Tour. The album was re-released in August 2006 with three new songs, including the hit, "Chemicals React", and two new versions of "Collapsed" and "Something More"; it was also released in the UK. Their first Christmas themed album, Acoustic Hearts of Winter was released on September 26, 2006. On the album, Aly & AJ recorded traditional Christmas songs. In late 2007, the band had recorded three more Christmas originals. Acoustic Hearts of Winter debuted at #78 on the Billboard Hot 100, selling over 19,000 copies in its first week. The album also topped the U.S. Billboard Top Holiday Albums debuting at #14.^[15] The holiday album later sold over 136,000 copies in the United States.^[16]

[edit] 2007–08: Insomniatic

The duo's second studio album, Insomniatic was released on July 10, 2007. The album features a more electropop, electronic rock and dance-pop influenced sound different from their debut with the use of synthesizers, synth-rock guitars, vocoder, and electronic instruments. The album peaked at #15 on the Billboard 200, selling over 39,000 copies in its first week and becoming Aly & AJ's highest debut to date.^[17] By early December 2007, the album had sold over 215,000 copies in the United States.^[16] The album's electropop lead single, "Potential Breakup Song" preceded their second studio album Insomniatic which was written by them, was released on June 25, 2007. "Potential Breakup Song" peaked at number 17 at Billboard's Hot 100, becoming their first top 20 single in the United States.^[18] The single was later also certified Platinum by the RIAA for sales surpassing 1,000,000 copies.

In October 2007, both the single and the album were released in the United Kingdom; "Potential Breakup Song" reached a peak position of #22 in the United Kingdom, and #16 in Ireland. The girls toured for a short while in the UK, opening for McFly twice and performing at several television shows and nightclubs. Time magazine named "Potential Breakup Song" one of the 10 Best Songs of 2007, ranking it at #9. Writer Josh Tyrangiel praised the authenticity of its having been written by the teenage sisters who sing it.^[19][20] The track also went to chart solely on digital download in several countries like the Netherlands, Norway and Canada.

Aly & AJ in concert.

Subsequently after the success of the album's first single, Insomniatic was praised by numerous music critics. The United States publication USA Today wrote "for Insomniatic, the sisters had a hand in writing every song. The single Potential Breakup Song sounds somewhat like Del Shannon's "Runaway" run through a processor, but there's a lot more going musically than on your average teen-pop album."^[11] Hollywood Records general manager Abbey Konowitch said, "they write their material; they play their instruments. They aren't in any way manufactured. That's very important."^[11] Fraser McAlpine of BBC Radio stated, "Aly and AJ's previous album was rock-pop, some of it light and bubbly, some of it bordering on heaviness. Staccato, often angry pop but still definitely pop. Their second offering, 'Insomniatic,' with this as the lead single seems to have kept the staccato and the venom but added more layers of pop, to create something that sounds like My Chemical Romance going through a blender with some soft-hearted Angry Girl Music." adding, "Don't let the tango at the start fool you, even as the synths and the vocoder cut in, this is a rock song playing with electronics. Chirpy keyboards flag up the growl of their voices as they deliver self-conscious lines like 'it took too long, it took too long, it took too long for you to call back and normally I would just forget that, except for the fact it was my birthday, my stupid birthday', kicking a guy to the curb for being a forgetful loser amid a glorious barrage of seething rhythms, clicky noises and general madness, as the Michalka sisters swing between honeyed murmurs and psychosis, making for the most danceable mental breakdown I've heard in quite some time."^[21]

In December 2007, the news revealed that the band would be replacing the Jonas Brothers as the opening act for the extension of the Hannah Montana's Best of Both Worlds Tour from January 11 – January 24. The band also confirmed their second single "Like Whoa", which reached number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100, and charted later in Australia and Canada.^[18] In early January 2008, Aly & AJ performed a cover of KT Tunstall's "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on Yahoo's Pepsi Smash video site.^[22] The cover is also featured on the Japanese re-release of Insomniatic, recorded at Abbey Road. Also, the girls covered the song "We're an American Band" for Randy Jackson's Music Club, Vol. 1, serving as a bonus track.

2009–present: Name change, departure from Hollywood Records, and new music[link]

In early 2008, Billboard confirmed that the girls are working on a third studio album which was due to be released in late 2009.^[23] They mentioned in an interview on Radio Disney on April 23, 2008 that they are going for a rockier sound, and this time they want to sing separately, not harmonizing their voices as they did on their previous albums, to let fans identify who is singing.^[24] On October 7, 2008, the up-to-then-yet-untitled album had been confirmed for a April 2009 release by a Hollywood Records representative,^[25] however, a month later, the duo revealed in an interview that the album had been delayed until the summer of 2009. In later interviews though, the duo mentioned a release date of fall 2009, and lastly, on September 30, 2009, the duo claims an early 2010 release of the record.^[7][8]

The duo wrote a song (later confirmed to be titled "The Next Worst Thing"^[26]) with Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo.^[27] The girls also worked with Chris Lord-Alge (Green Day, AFI, Sum 41) and Rob Cavallo (Green Day, The Goo Goo Dolls, Paramore), both producers in the rock genre.^[28] Throughout 2009, various songtitles were added to the database of Broadcast Music Incorporated, written by the duo, and co-written with Daniel James and Leah Haywood.^{[29][30][31][32]} Rumors of Aly & AJ touring in the summer of 2009 surfaced the internet, but were later denied by Aly Michalka on their official website. They stated that they were finalizing the record and wanted to focus on that at the moment.^[33] They also revealed that they wanted to tour in early 2010 to promote the new album.^[34]

On July 8, 2009, the duo announced that they changed their name to 78violet. A week later, on July 16, 78violet announced that their third album will be self-titled. On February 19, 2010, 78violet announced on their official Facebook page that they had officially parted ways with Hollywood Records, and their new self-titled album, 78violet probably will not be released. However, the duo stated that they are continuing to write and record for a new album.^[10]

On December 1, 2010 78violet's first song under the name of 78violet was released with the Hellcats soundtrack EP. 78violet recorded the theme song to Hellcats entitled "Belong Here". On January 24, 2011 a video of 78violet in the studio was released where a clip of a new song "Suspended" was played.^[35] 78violet tweeted on June 2, 2011 "18 songs deep into the writing for this record. A few more to go and we will officially start production"^[36] Some of the titles being considered for 78violet's third album are 8 Hours and 53rd floor^[37] 78violet posted on their Twitter on October 5, 2011 that they headed to NYC to work on pre-production for the album.^[38] Aly Michlaka confirmed that the album will be released sometime in 2012.^[39] She also mentioned that they are with a production company. New album is more mellow and is more soulful.

Other work[link]

Acting[link]

Aly also had a role in Disney's Phil of the Future. Before acting in films separately, the duo were featured in two made-for-television films; the Disney Channel original movie Cow Belles (2006) and the MTV special Super Sweet 16: The Movie (2007). Before this, Aly Michalka also fulfilled a main role in the 2005 Disney Channel original movie Now You See It..., alongside Johnny Pacar. Aly has made an acting career for herself starring alongside Ashley Tisdale in the new CW hit drama Hellcats, co-starring with Vanessa Hudgens in the movie Bandslam, as well as playing Rhiannon in the movie Easy A - released in 2010. With regard to AJ’s acting career, in 2009 she had a role in The Lovely Bones, a film by Peter Jackson with Mark Wahlberg and Saoirse Ronan, in which AJ played the best friend of the main character Susie Salmon. In 2010 Amanda appeared as Kate Tweedy in Secretariat, a film from a true story about the horse which won the Triple Crown in 1973. Next AJ appeared in the new film by J.J. Abrams, Super 8, which was released on June 10, 2011. AJ has been tapped for a recurring role on Hellcats, where Aly works as one of the principal characters. AJ's first appearance took place on the 18th episode called "Woke Up Dead", of the first season. Her name in the show is Deidre. She plays a girl who works in a music store near the Lancer University, where Aly goes to learn more about her dad. In the 20th episode "Warped Sisters", Deidre and Aly's character, revealed to be half-sisters, sing together.

Merchandise[link]

Huckleberry Toys released Limited Edition Hello Kitty Aly & AJ dolls to selected Target stores.^[40] Toys R Us is currently selling a line of the dolls which have been available since November 15, 2007. On November 20, 2007, The Aly & AJ Adventure game was brought out, for use on the Nintendo DS. In the game, the player plays their assistant, helping them record songs, direct music video etc.

As of June 12, 2008, the duo started releasing their own paperback adventure books, called Aly & AJ's Rock 'n' Roll Mysteries, each part describing Aly & AJ on tour, every book describing a mystery in a different city. The drawings in the books were done by Aly. The first two (First Stop, New York and Mayhem in Miami) were released on June 12, the third installment (Singing in Seattle) on September 2, and the last (Nashville Nights) went to stores on October 4, 2008.

Performance Designed Products released Aly & AJ-designed guitars on November 10, 2008. Aly's guitar features a heart-and-crossbones print in pink (PlayStation 2) and AJ's guitar is in the shape of the Aly & AJ heart logo featuring bright pink and purple zebra print (Wii, PS2). The duo launched the guitars on October 11, 2008 during event at Universal Studios CityWalk in California. The duo also have clothing, accessories, jewelry and cosmetics lines.^[11] According to Forbes and AOL, they are one of Hollywood's highest earning singers under the age of 30.^[41]

Charity work[link]

The duo are the spokeswomen for Samsung's Hope for Education, which provides technology products to needy schools, and are the co-chairpersons for the Children's Advisory Board of the AmberWatch Foundation, and have performed at a benefit concert to raise money for the charity.^[42] The song "I Am One of Them", which was featured in the debut album Into the Rush is dedicated to work with AmberWatch. The duo also walked a fashion show for the Race to Erase MS show in early May 2008, showing their support.

Stalking incidents[link]

On June 26, 2008, an Ohio man named Rex Mettler was arrested for stalking the duo. The Lancaster man "obtained contact information for the acting and singing duo and made threats online, by phone and handwritten notes" as stated by the police.^[43] The duo was scheduled to perform June 27, 2008 in Cincinnati, where the man was present, after which the police couldn't confirm that any of the threats involved the Ohio show. The police later stated that "the charge against Mettler stems from incidents that began Dec. 15 [2007]" and that "Rex displayed a pattern of activity over that time that reflected multiple attempts, if not numerous attempts, at stalking these females."^[44]

Two years later, on June 17, 2010, Caesar Brantley (25), was arrested on suspicion of stalking the duo. He pleaded not guilty.^[45] Aly claimed Brantley is an "obsessed fan" who is determined to marry her "no matter what" in filings for the restraining order.^[46] Another court hearing was scheduled on June 30.^[45]

Religion[link]

Along with making music for the mainstream audience, Aly & AJ, who are both very open about their faith, have become significant in the Christian music rock scene. "Never Far Behind" was only released on Christian rock radio. It went to #1 on Radio & Records (R&R) Christian CHR. Although Aly and AJ are both very open about their Christian faith, they do not want to be labeled as Christian music artists. In an interview with Blender magazine in June 2006, the girls said that their music comes from a Christian perspective. "We don't ever wanna preach or shove anything down people's throats, but we want our music to be inspiring." AJ added, “If we have a Muslim fan or an atheist fan, that’s their thing — I’m gonna love them no matter what.”^[47]

In an interview with Blender magazine, the two expressed their denial of evolution, with the interviewer asking what their thoughts were. When asked if they accepted evolution, AJ responded, "No," and Aly responded, "Are they teaching that in schools now?" When told that it had been taught for the better part of a century, she replied, "I think that's kind of disrespectful, anything that has to do with anybody's beliefs on religion, that should stay out of the classroom. I mean, I think people should be able to pray in school, if people were into that. Everybody should just do their own gig", and AJ added "Evolution is silly. Monkeys? Um, no."^[47]

In 2010, Aly Milchalka stated in an interview with Seventeen magazine, "My faith is definitely a big part of my life, but not part of my career. It is something that guides me. But I feel like when you make a declaration of your religion, people automatically go after you when that purity ring comes off. So I don't want to set myself up for that kind of judgment."^[48]

Discography[link]

• Into the Rush (2005)
• Acoustic Hearts of Winter (2006)
• Insomniatic (2007)
• TBA (2012)

Tours[link]

Main

• 2005: Mini Mall Tour
• 2006: Living Room Tour
• 2006: Holiday Season Tour
• 2008: Insomniatic Tour
• 2008: Mini Summer Tour

Supporting

• 2005: The Cheetah Girls Cheetah-licious Christmas Tour
• 2008: Best of Both Worlds Tour

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Aly & AJ

• Official website