Look up wise in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wise or WISE may refer to:

People[link]

• Audrey Wise (1935–2000), United Kingdom politician
• Bob Wise (born 1948), American politician
• Brownie Wise (1913–1992), American saleswoman who developed "party plan" marketing
• Christopher Wise (born 1961), American author
• David Wise (composer), British video game music composer
• Dennis Wise (born 1966), English footballer
• Ernie Wise (1925–1999), British comedian
• George D. Wise (1831–1908), American politician and Confederate army captain
• George D. Wise (Union) (1816–1881), American Union brevet brigadier general
• Glenn M. Wise American politician
• Henry A. Wise (1806–1876), American politician
• Isaac Mayer Wise (1819–1900), American Reform rabbi and author
• John Wise (clergyman) (1652–1725)
• John Wise (Canadian politician) (born 1935)
• John Wise (balloonist) (1808–1879)
• John Sergeant Wise (1846–1913), American Congressman
• Josh Wise (born 1983), NASCAR driver
• Mark B. Wise (born 1953), physicist
• Matt Wise (born 1975), baseball player
• Michael Wise (1648–1687), English composer
• Michael John Wise (born 1918), Emeritus Professor of Geography in the University of London
• Ray Wise (born 1947), American actor
• Rick Wise (born 1945), baseball player
• Robert Wise (1914–2005), American film producer and director
• Stephen Samuel Wise (1862–1949), American rabbi and Zionist
• Steven M. Wise, author
• Tim Wise, American anti-racist activist
• Tom Wise (born 1948), Member of the European Parliament
• Wise (rapper) (born 1979), Japanese hip hop artist
• Wise (Stetsasonic), real name Leonardo Roman, a hip hop artist known as 'Wise' from the group 'Stetsasonic'
• Wise (composer), also known as Wise da' Gangsta, a reggaeton producer/songwriter

People known as "the Wise"[link]

• Ailerán (died 664 or 665), Irish saint and scholar
• Alfonso X of Castile (1221-1284), King of Castile, León and Galicia
• Ari Þorgilsson (1067–1148 AD), Icelandic medieval chronicler
• Berengar the Wise (died 835), Count (or Duke) of Toulouse, Duke (or Margrave) of Septimania, and Count of Barcelona
• Charles V of France (1338-1380), King of France
• Epiphanius the Wise (died 1420), monk and Eastern Orthodox saint
• Gildas (c. 500–570), British cleric
• Leo VI the Wise (866-912), Byzantine Emperor
• Ludwik I the Fair (c. 1321-1398), Duke and regent of Legnica, Duke of Brzeg
• Marcus Aurelius (121-180), Roman Emperor
• Robert, King of Naples (1277-1343)
• Rognvald Eysteinsson (fl. 9th century), founder of the Earldom of Orkney in the Norse Sagas
• Yaroslav I the Wise (c. 978–1054), thrice Grand Prince of Novgorod and Kiev

Mythical or fictional characters[link]

• Dag the Wise, mythological Swedish king
• Little Miss Wise, a character in the Little Miss series
• Alhamazad the Wise, see List of Greyhawk characters
• Ansem the Wise, one the Characters of Kingdom Hearts
• Nathan, title character of the play Nathan the Wise
• Russano the Wise, character from several Redwall novels
• Vasilisa the Wise, variant name in The Frog Princess

Places[link]

• Wise County, Texas
• Wise County, Virginia
• Wise River, Montana
• Wise Township, Michigan
• Wise, Virginia
• Wana, West Virginia, also known as Wise

Businesses[link]

• Wise Foods, Inc., a snack food manufacturer
• Wise Group, a Swedish human resources company
• Wise Solutions, Inc., an American software company that made the Wise software installation package
• Wise Stores, a Canadian department store, mainly in Quebec
• WISE (AM), a radio station licensed to Asheville, North Carolina
• WISE-FM, a radio station licensed to Wise, Virginia
• WISE-TV, a television station licensed to Fort Wayne, Indiana

Organizations[link]

• Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation, a research institute at University of Hull
• Wind Science and Engineering Research Center at Texas Tech University
• The WISE Campaign, Women into Science, Engineering and Construction
• World Information Service on Energy, an international anti-nuclear network based in Amsterdam
• World Innovation Summit for Education, a global forum based in Doha, Qatar
• World Institute of Scientology Enterprises, an organization affiliated with the Church of Scientology

Others[link]

• Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE mission), a NASA-funded infrared-wavelength astronomical space telescope
• Web-based Inquiry Science Environment
• Ground effect vehicle, also known as a Wing-In-Surface-Effect ship (WISE)
• Wise Solutions (disambiguation), multiple items
• Windows Interface Source Environment - a 1994 method of emulating Microsoft Windows applications on Unix and Macintosh hosts
• work integration social enterprise
• Work improvement in small enterprises (WISE), a progamme for improvement of occupational health-and-safety conditions

See also[link]

• Weis (disambiguation)
• Weiss (disambiguation)
• Weisz
• Weiz
• Wiseman (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2010)

Kana Nishino (西野 カナ, Nishino Kana^?, born March 18, 1989 in Matsusaka, Mie, Japan) is a J-Pop singer and lyricist signed with SME Records' Newcome Inc. She debuted on February 20, 2008, with the single "I". CNN said that she was the favorite singer of teenage girls in Shibuya, Tokyo, signalling Sony's jump on the bandwagon effect started by Avex.^[1]

Life and career[link]

Nishino studied English from an early age, and went to America twice. She became interested in various genres of music, including hip-hop, R&B and reggae, but she also enjoyed Japanese literature, and started singing Japanese folk songs. Her dream of becoming a singer started in junior high school. When she was 16, her mother secretly sent a demo tape of hers to the Miss Phoenix Audition, and she was rated the top singer entrant out of approximately 40,000 applicants. A year later in 2006, she was signed to SME Records.

In 2007 while preparing to be a singer, she was also studying English literature at college. At the time she met Australian duo Nervo, who offered Nishino a song called "I Don't Wanna Know" for use in her music project. Nishino rewrote the song's lyrics into Japanese herself, and re-titled it "I". Since her debut, she had done most of the lyrics herself. She had no experience of writing lyrics before until her debut, debut single "I" Coupling "Just a friend" was the first lyricist to work. Her writings are mostly from experiences or heard from friends, and deliberation rewritten many times. Every time after hearing some songs, the listenings will become visible color which is like color, the movie phrase​​, and have finally turn into script and act like filmmaking.

In December 2007 her official site opened, and from that time onwards "*I* ~Merry Christmas ver.~" was available as a digital download from several Japanese sites, including Mora. Interestingly, the original version of the song "I Don't Wanna Know" was available as a digital download on the American iTunes site from New Year's Day onwards. The physical version was released two months later, on February 20, 2008.

Nishino's second single was called "Glowly Days". Her third single "Style" was used as the second ending theme song for the anime series Soul Eater and her fourth single "Make Up" is used in the ONA Chocolate Underground from UK's miniseries Bootleg with one of its b-sides, "Kirari", as an insert song.

After her first four singles, her music took a more R&B feel to it. Her fifth single "Tōkutemo feat. Wise" was released as a full-track digital song (Chaku Uta Full) on March 11, 2009. The physical CD was released on March 18, 2009. It is her first physical single to enter the top 50 in the Japanese Oricon single charts. Wise's digital single "Aenakutemo feat. Kana Nishino" debuted at number 9 on the RIAJ Digital Track Chart.^[2]

Nishino released her sixth single "Kimi ni Aitaku Naru Kara" on June 3, 2009. The single hit number 14 on the Oricon weekly single charting, being her best single release of the six. The digital version of the single debuted at number 5 on the RIAJ Digital Track Chart.^[3]

Her album Love One. was released on June 24, 2009, and features all six singles, a b-side, "Celtic", a pro and epilogue (featuring "kirari"), along with five completely unreleased songs: "doll" (track 3), "Girlfriend" (track 4), "Kimi no Koe o feat. Verbal (M-Flo)" (track 5), "Life goes on..." (track 7), and "candy" (track 9). "Kimi no Koe o" reached number 5 on RIAJ's digital track charts.

Nishino released her seventh single "Motto...". The full-track ringtone digital download of the song began on October 14 and the physical CD was released on October 21, 2009. The song debuted at the number 1 spot on the RIAJ Digital Track Chart.^[4] She released the double A-side single "Dear.../Maybe" on December 2, 2009. After releasing two more singles "Best Friend" and "Aitakute Aitakute", she released her second album To Love on June 23, 2010.

On August 4, 2010, Kana Nishino released her eleventh single, "If." This song was used as the theme and ending song of the movie "Naruto Shippuden 4: The Lost Tower".The single reached number 5 on the Oricon charts and sold over 85,000 copies. Her 12th single, "Kimi tte", was released on November 3, 2010.

Kana competed in the 61st Kohaku Uta Gassen, which took place on December 31, 2010, with "Best Friend." On February 9, 2011, the single "Distance" was released. She also collaborated with Wise on the single "By your side" which was released on March 16, 2011.^{[citation needed]}. Two months later on May 18, 2011 her new single 'Esperanza' was released.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

* established April 2009.

Other charted songs[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Official blog

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2010)

Alan Parsons
Alan Parsons in 2006
Background information
Born	(1948-12-20) 20 December 1948 (age 63) London, England
Genres	Rock, progressive rock
Occupations	Audio engineer, composer, musician, record producer, director
Years active	1967–present
Labels	Legacy, Arista, Fox, Mercury, Frontiers[citation needed]
Associated acts	The Alan Parsons Project
Website	Alan Parsons Music

Alan Parsons (born 20 December 1948^[1]) is a British audio engineer, musician, and record producer. He was involved with the production of several significant albums, including The Beatles' Abbey Road and Let It Be, as well as Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon for which Pink Floyd credit him as an important contributor. Parsons' own group, The Alan Parsons Project, as well as his subsequent solo recordings, have also been successful commercially.

Career[link]

In October 1967, at age 18, Parsons went to work as an assistant engineer at Abbey Road Studios, where he earned his first credit on the LP Abbey Road. He became a regular there, engineering such projects as Paul McCartney's Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway, five albums by The Hollies, and Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, for which he received his first Grammy Award nomination. He was known for doing more than what would normally be considered the scope of a recording engineer’s duties.^{[citation needed]}He considered himself to be a recording director, likening his contribution to recordings to what Stanley Kubrick contributed to film.^{[citation needed]} This is apparent in his work with Al Stewart's "Year of the Cat", where Parsons added the saxophone part and transformed the original folk concept into the jazz-influenced ballad that put Al Stewart onto the charts.^{[citation needed]} It is also heard in Parsons' influence on the Hollies' "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" and "The Air That I Breathe", sharp departures from their popular 1960s hits "Stay", "Just One Look", "Stop! Stop! Stop!" or "Bus Stop".^{[citation needed]} Parsons was also known to have swapped shifts during the engineering of The Dark Side of the Moon so he could work entirely on the project.^{[citation needed]}

Parsons also produced three albums by Pilot, a Scottish pop rock band consisting of Ian Bairnson on guitar, Stuart Tosh on drums, and David Paton on lead vocals, guitars,bass and William (Billy) Lyall, on piano and keys. Their hits included "January" and "Magic".

He also mixed the debut album by the American band Ambrosia and produced their second album Somewhere I've Never Travelled. Alan was nominated for grammys for both of these albums. ^[2]

In 1975, he declined Pink Floyd's invitation to come back and work on the follow-up for "Dark Side," Wish You Were Here, and instead initiated The Alan Parsons Project with producer and songwriter (and occasional singer) Eric Woolfson, whom he had met at Abbey Road. The Project consisted of a revolving group of studio musicians and vocalists, most notably the members of Pilot and (on the first album) the members of Ambrosia. Unlike most rock groups, The Alan Parsons Project never performed live during its heyday, although it did release several music videos. Its only live performance during its original incarnation was in 1990, with Woolfson present but behind the scenes. After releasing ten albums, the last in 1987, the Project terminated in 1990 after Parsons and Woolfson split, with the Project's intended 11th album released that year as a Woolfson solo album. Parsons continued to release work in his own name and in collaboration with other musicians. Parsons and his band now regularly tour many parts of the world.

Although an accomplished vocalist, keyboardist, bassist, guitarist and flautist, Parsons only sang infrequent and incidental parts on his albums. While his keyboard playing was very audible on the Alan Parsons Project albums, very few recordings feature his flute. During the late 1990s, Parsons' career travelled an interesting full circle. Having started out in the music industry at the Abbey Road Studios in London as an assistant engineer in the late 1960s, he briefly returned to run the studio in its entirety. He reportedly managed to combine this role with the demands of a hectic performing and recording schedule. Parsons also continued with his selective production work for other bands.

Of all his collaborations, guitarist Ian Bairnson worked with Parsons the longest, including Parsons' post-Woolfson albums, Try Anything Once, On Air, and The Time Machine.

As well as receiving gold and platinum awards from many nations, Parsons has received ten Grammy Award nominations for engineering and production. In 2007 he received a nomination for Best Surround Sound Album for A Valid Path.

In May 2005, Parsons appeared at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, California, to mix front-of-house sound for Southern California-based Pink Floyd tribute band Which One’s Pink? and their performance of The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety.^[3]

Since 2003 he has toured under a revised name, The Alan Parsons Live Project (with Woolfson’s permission). The globe-trotting band features guitarist Godfrey Townsend, drummer Steve Murphy, keyboardist Manny Focarazzo, and bass guitarist John Montagna. The 2004–2005 shows offered vocalist P. J. Olsson's track "More Lost Without You", while the later 2006 shows presented The Crystal Method-featured "We Play the Game" and opened with "Return to Tunguska" along with successes spanning the Project years.

Beginning in 2001 and extending for four years, Parsons conceived and led a Beatles tribute show called A Walk Down Abbey Road featuring a group of headlining performers such as Todd Rundgren, Ann Wilson of Heart, John Entwistle of The Who, and Jack Bruce of Cream. The show structure included a first set where all musicians assembled to perform each others' hits, and a second set featuring all Beatles songs.

In 2010, Alan Parsons released his single "All Our Yesterdays" through Authentik Artists.^[4] Parsons also launched a DVD educational series in 2010 titled The Art and Science of Sound Recording ("ASSR") on music production and the complete audio recording process. The single "All Our Yesterdays" was written and recorded during the making of ASSR. The series, narrated by Billy Bob Thornton,^[5] gives detailed tutorials on virtually every aspect of the sound recording process. Individual sections of the series are also being released in batches and are available to stream or download at www.artandscienceofsound.com.^[5]

During 2010, several media reports,^[6][7] one of which included a quote from a representative of Parsons,^[8] alleged that the song "Need You Now" by country music group Lady Antebellum possessed the melody and arrangement of "Eye in the Sky."

In 2011 it was announced that Parsons was creating and producing a new group called the Subclones. Parsons said: "I feel that the public deserves some genuinely innovative music and It's been a long time since I've heard some that truly excites me – it made me want to get back into the studio and do another 'Dark Side'." Parsons jokingly refers to one of the biggest-selling and most popular albums in history.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life[link]

Parsons was born in London. He resides in Santa Barbara, California with his wife and her two daughters, as well as numerous pets.^[1]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• with The Alan Parsons Project:
  • Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1976)
  • I Robot (1977)
  • Pyramid (1978)
  • Eve (1979)
  • The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980)
  • Eye in the Sky (1982)
  • Ammonia Avenue (1984)
  • Vulture Culture (1985)
  • Stereotomy (1985)
  • Gaudi (1987)
• as a solo artist:
  • Try Anything Once (1993)
  • On Air (1996)
  • The Time Machine (1999)
  • A Valid Path (2004)

Full discography[link]

[edit] Billboard Top 40 hit singles (U.S.)

No. 37 – "(The System Of) Doctor Tarr And Professor Fether" (1976)

No. 36 – "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" (1977)

No. 27 – "Damned if I Do" (1979)

No. 16 – "Games People Play" (1980)

No. 15 – "Time" (1981)

No. 3 – "Eye in the Sky" (1982)

No. 15 – "Don't Answer Me" (1984)

Canadian singles[link]

No. 62 – "(The System Of) Doctor Tarr And Professor Fether" (1976)

No. 22 – "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" (1977)

No. 16 – "Damned if I Do" (1980)

No. 9 – "Games People Play" (1981)

No. 30 – "Time" (1981)

No. 1 – "Eye in the Sky" (1982)

No. 43 – "You Don't Believe" (1983)

No. 20 – "Don't Answer Me" (1984)

No. 89 – "Let's Talk About Me" (1985)

Awards and nominations[link]

Nominations[link]

• 1973 – Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon – Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
• 1976 – Ambrosia – Somewhere I've Never Travelled – Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
• 1976 – The Alan Parsons Project – Tales of Mystery and Imagination – Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
• 1978 – The Alan Parsons Project – Pyramid – Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
• 1979 – Ice Castles – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media
• 1979 – The Alan Parsons Project – Eve – Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
• 1981 – The Alan Parsons Project – The Turn of a Friendly Card – Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
• 1982 – The Alan Parsons Project – Eye in the Sky – Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
• 1986 – The Alan Parsons Project – "Where's The Walrus?" – Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance
• 2007 – Alan Parsons – A Valid Path – Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album

References[link]

• Official website of the Alan Parsons Project
• The Avenue, The Official Alan Parsons Fan Club

External links[link]

• Alan Parsons at Allmusic
• Alan Parsons Music Official Site
• Alan Parsons Project Official Site
• Alan Parsons in the Internet Movie Data Base
• Crawdaddy! "Parsons Knows: The Tale of Alan Parsons and Edgar Allan Poe"
• The Subclones, Parsons new group

Sippie Wallace (born as Beulah Thomas, November 1, 1898 – November 1, 1986) was an American singer-songwriter. Her early career in local tent shows gained her the billing "The Texas Nightingale". Between 1923 and 1927, she recorded over 40 songs for Okeh Records, many written by herself or her brothers, George and Hersal Thomas.^[1] Her accompanists included Louis Armstrong, Johnny Dodds, Sidney Bechet, King Oliver, and Clarence Williams. Among the top female blues vocalists of her era, Wallace ranked with Ma Rainey, Ida Cox, Alberta Hunter, and Bessie Smith.

In the 1930s, she left show business to become a church organist, singer, and choir director in Detroit, and performed secular music only sporadically until the 1960s, when she resumed her career. Wallace was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1982, and was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1993.^[2]

Biography[link]

Wallace was born in Houston, Texas, one of 13 children.^[3] In her youth Wallace sang and played the piano in Shiloh Baptist Church, where her father was a deacon, but in the evenings the children took to sneaking out to tent shows. By her mid-teens, they were playing in those tent shows. By performing in the various Texas shows, she built a solid following as a spirited blues singer.^{[citation needed]}

Wallace came from a musical family: her brother George W. Thomas became a notable pianist, bandleader, composer, and music publisher; her other brother Hersal Thomas was a pianist and composer; and her niece (George's daughter) Hociel Thomas was a pianist and composer.^{[citation needed]}

Marriage[link]

In 1915 Wallace moved to New Orleans, Louisiana with brother Hersal; two years later she married Matt Wallace, and changed her name.

Career[link]

After following her brothers to Chicago in 1923, Wallace worked her way into the city's bustling jazz scene. Her reputation led to a recording contract with Okeh Records in 1923. Wallace's first recorded songs, "Shorty George" and "Up the Country Blues", the former written with her brother George, sold well enough to make Wallace a blues star in the early 1920s.^[4] Other successful recordings followed, including "Special Delivery Blues" (with Louis Armstrong), "Bedroom Blues" (written by George and Hersal Thomas), and "I'm a Mighty Tight Woman". Her younger brother Hersal died of food poisoning in 1926 at age 16.

Wallace moved to Detroit in 1929. Her husband Matt and brother George both died in 1936. Wallace for some 40 years was a singer and organ player at the Leland Baptist Church in Detroit. Mercury Records reissued "Bedroom Blues" in 1945. Aside from an occasional performance or recording date, Wallace did little in the blues until she launched a comeback in 1966 after her longtime friend Victoria Spivey coaxed her out of retirement and on the folk and blues festival circuit.

In 1966 Wallace recorded an album on Halloween night, Copenhagen, Denmark, Women Be Wise, with Roosevelt Sykes and Little Brother Montgomery sharing the piano stool.^[5] Another 1966 album Sings the Blues, on the latter song, Wallace accompanied herself on piano; otherwise she is backed by either Roosevelt Sykes or Little Brother Montgomery on piano. Includes Wallace's signature song, "Women Be Wise", "Don't Advertise Your Man". The album helped inspire blues-pop singer Bonnie Raitt to take up the blues in the late 1960.^[6] In 1971 Raitt recorded a rendition of Sippie Wallace's "Women Be Wise" on her self-titled album Bonnie Raitt. Wallace toured and recorded with Raitt in the 1970s and 1980s, while continuing to perform on her own.^[7] The bond between Wallace and Raitt helped bridge the gap between two generations of blues queens.

Wallace recorded on Louis Armstrong album, Louis Armstrong and the Blues Singers (1966), singing "A Jealous Woman Like Me", "Special Delivery Blues", "Jack O'Diamond Blues", "The Mail Train Blues" and "I Feel Good". Wallace also recorded an album of old blues standards with her friend Victoria Spivey, called Sippie Wallace and Victoria Spivey, which came out in 1970 on Spivey's own self-named label. In 1981, Wallace recorded an album Sippie for Atlantic Records, which earned a her a 1983 Grammy nomination,^[8] and also won the 1982 W. C. Handy Award for Best Blues Album of the Year.^[9] Wallace's backup group on were pianist Jim Dapogny's Chicago Jazz Band, consisting of cornetist Paul Klinger, trombonist Bob Smith and Russ Whitman and Peter Ferran on reeds.

In 1966 and 1967 she appeared at the Newport Folk Festival, toured Europe with the American Folk Blues Festival, e.g. Copenhagen, Denmark in 1966, the Chicago Blues Festival, 1967, the Ann Arbor Blues Festival, 1972, and appeared at Lincoln Center in New York, 1977. She played herself in the documentary Jammin' with the Blues Greats (1982).^[10]

On July 22, 1982 at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Sippie shared the stage with the King of the Blues, B.B. King, which was filmed and later broadcast.

Then in Ann Arbor, Michigan she got together with German boogie woogie pianist Axel Zwingenberger, with whom she recorded a studio album in 1983. Wallace included many of her own groundbreaking compositions as well as other classic blues songs, on his album, And the Friends of Boogie, Vol. 1: Sippie Wallace, released in 1984. In 1984 she traveled to Germany to tour with Zwingenberger, where they also recorded the only complete live album she ever did: An Evening With Sippie Wallace for Vagabond Records.

Death[link]

In March 1986, following a concert in Germany at Burghausen Jazz Festival, she suffered a severe stroke, was hospitalized, returned to the US, and died on her 88th birthday at Sinai Hospital in Detroit, Michigan.^[11] She is buried at Trinity Cemetery, Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan.^[12]

Documentary[link]

In 1986, Rhapsody Films and producer Roberta Grossman released Sippie Wallace: Blues Singer and Song Writer, a documentary about Sippie Wallace, who is represented in this film portrait by means of concert footage, interviews, historic rare recordings and photographs.^[13]

Selective discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Sippie Wallace on RedHotJazz - Biography with audio files of some of her early recordings.
• Handbook of Texas online biography
• Videos on YouTube

Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann in concert on October 15, 2005.
Background information
Born	(1960-09-08) September 8, 1960 (age 51)
Origin	Richmond, Virginia, United States
Genres	Rock, folk
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, bass guitar, hi-hat
Years active	1982–present
Labels	SuperEgo
Associated acts	'Til Tuesday
Website	www.aimeemann.com

Aimee Mann (born September 8, 1960)^[1] is an American rock singer-songwriter, guitarist and bassist.^[2]

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Aimee Mann grew up in Bon Air, Virginia, graduated from Open High School (Richmond, Virginia) in 1978^[3] and attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but dropped out to sing with her first punk rock band, the Young Snakes.^{[citation needed]} The band released the EP Bark Along with the Young Snakes in 1982, and a compilation album was issued in 2004.

In 1983, she co-founded with Berklee classmate and boyfriend Michael Hausman the new wave band 'Til Tuesday, which achieved success in 1985 with its first album, Voices Carry. The title song is said to be inspired by Hausman and Mann's breakup.^[2] The video became an MTV staple, winning the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist. Mann was featured on the Rush song "Time Stand Still" (from Hold Your Fire, 1987) which hit #3 on the American rock charts and became a minor UK hit, singing backup vocals and appearing in the music video.^[2] Her laughter is also heard at the start of "Force Ten," from the same album. With Mann playing an increasingly important role in songwriting, 'Til Tuesday released two more albums, Welcome Home and Everything's Different Now. Shortly after the release of Welcome Home, Mann told a writer for Nine-O-One Network Magazine that she was much more pleased with it than "Voices Carry", primarily because she felt it made more of a personal statement about her life.^[4] On their final tour, musician Jon Brion joined the band, which broke up in 1990 when Mann left to start her solo career.^[2]

Around the time of the first album's release, Mann began a romantic relationship with Jules Shear;^{[citation needed]} they broke up before the final 'Til Tuesday album, which contained the song "J For Jules." Professional relationships from the band would continue: Hausman later became Mann's manager, and Brion produced her first two solo albums, along with the Magnolia soundtrack.

Early solo career[link]

In 1993, Mann released Whatever, her first solo album. Promotion suffered due to the collapse of her label, Imago. The album sold modestly and met with critical praise, paving the way for her next release, 1995's I'm with Stupid, through Geffen Records.^[5] Again, reviews were positive, but sales were weak.

Mann met songwriter Michael Penn in the course of work on I'm with Stupid, and the two began dating. They were married in December 1997.

Mann recorded Bachelor No. 2, but Geffen saw no hit singles in the material and ordered her back to the studio. The album languished while Mann and the label fought.^[2]

In 1997 Mann recorded "Nobody Does It Better" on the album Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project.

Meanwhile, Mann became friends with film director Paul Thomas Anderson. This developed as her husband, Michael Penn, and Brion composed the soundtrack for Anderson's movie Hard Eight. Mann gained greater public recognition in 1999 — indeed, more than for anything else since "Voices Carry" — when she contributed eight songs to the soundtrack of Anderson's Magnolia, including the Academy Award and Grammy-nominated song, "Save Me". Anderson deliberately worked from Mann's lyrics to create the film's characters and situations. Mann soon became sought-after as a soundtrack contributor.^[who?] Her song "Amateur" appeared prominently in the 1998 movie Sliding Doors.

Independence[link]

Disillusioned with both the ineffectual promotion and artistic meddling by her record label, an experience documented in songs such as "Calling It Quits" and "Nothing Is Good Enough", she struck out on her own and founded SuperEgo Records in 1999. Mann self-released Bachelor No. 2 in 2000, having negotiated a contract release from David Geffen, and though initially only sold at concerts and via her website, the album became successful, allowing her to secure retail distribution through SuperEgo. The album, which included some songs from Magnolia and new material, was widely admired and Mann's "more indie than indie" success was carefully noted by other musicians.

Mann, Penn, Brion, Fiona Apple, Grant Lee Phillips of Grant Lee Buffalo, and other musicians had by this time developed a subculture around the Largo nightclub in L.A. Penn and Mann formed a concept called Acoustic Vaudeville to recreate it on tour in California and eventually on an irregular, ongoing national tour. The Acoustic Vaudeville shows intermix music and stand-up comedy; among the comedians joining them for individual shows were Janeane Garofalo, Patton Oswalt, and David Cross.

[edit] Lost in Space: 2002–2004

Mann continued her solo career with Lost in Space (2002), a somewhat more somber album in the same vein as Bachelor No. 2, featuring art by Seth. In 2003 her website released the Lost in Space Special Edition, which featured a second disc containing six live recordings (including a version of Coldplay's "The Scientist"), as well two B-sides and two previously unreleased songs. In November 2004, Live at St. Ann's Warehouse, a live album and DVD recorded at a series of June 2004 shows in Brooklyn, came out; the two discs were sold packaged together in either a CD jewel case or a DVD case. Mann and her band also played two songs from Lost in Space in an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[edit] The Forgotten Arm and One More Drifter in the Snow: 2005–2006

Mann described her next album, The Forgotten Arm (2005), as a concept album set in the 1970s about two lovers who meet at the Virginia State Fair and go on the run. The Joe Henry-produced album, which was recorded mostly live with few overdubs, was released May 3, 2005. The album's illustrations and title reflect Mann's interest in boxing, having trained with the boxing trainer Freddie Roach.^[6] In 2006, Mann received her one Grammy Award to date for "Best Recording Package" for art direction work related to The Forgotten Arm (shared with Gail Marowitz). The album title derives from a boxing move in which one arm is used to hit the opponent, causing him to "forget" about the other arm, which is then used to deliver a harsher blow. The album received weaker reviews overall, with critics impressed at the totality but unimpressed with any individual songs.

Mann also released an EP for Christmas in 2005 as a cover single of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" for sale through her website and iTunes. It also included "Christmastime", the 1996 duet she recorded with Penn for the Hard Eight soundtrack, and a cover of "The Christmas Song". The iTunes version replaced "Christmastime" with a cover of Joni Mitchell's "River" and "Clean Up for Christmas" from The Forgotten Arm.

Mann's independence from the industry led to more overt political stances. She joined Artists Against Piracy, a group formed to act against the illegal downloading and file sharing of copyrighted music from the Internet. Mann, Penn and Hausman took their experience with SuperEgo to found the independent music collective United Musicians, which is based on the principle that every artist should be able to retain copyright ownership of the work he or she has created, in contrast to normal music industry contracts.

In July 2006, Mann announced that she would be releasing One More Drifter in the Snow, a full-length Christmas album. The album featured primarily covers of Christmas standards, as well as a new version of Christmastime and an original song, called "Calling On Mary", written by Mann and bassist Paul Bryan, who produced the record. It was released on October 31 in the US, and late November 2006 in the UK. An updated version of the CD was released in 2008 incorporating the Joni Mitchell song "River".

2007–present[link]

On July 31, 2007 the soundtrack for the motion picture Arctic Tale was released, featuring two new Mann songs, "The Great Beyond" and "At the Edge of the World".

July 2007 also saw the premiere of the music video for a song entitled "31 Today" (which featured comedienne Morgan Murphy alongside Mann and Bobcat Goldthwait as director) on YouTube.^[7] The song appears on Mann's seventh studio album, @#%&*! Smilers, released on June 3, 2008 featuring cover and inside art by Gary Taxali which was nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award for Best Art Package (art directed/designed by Gail Marowitz). The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at Number 32 (one of Mann's highest positions to date), and on the Top Independent Albums chart at Number 2.^[8] @#%&*! Smilers was met with mostly praise, with Billboard stating that it "pops with color, something that gives it an immediacy that's rare for an artist known for songs that subtly worm their way into the subconscious... Smilers grabs a listener, never making him or her work at learning the record, as there are both big pop hooks and a rich sonic sheen."^[9]

Mann joined the 9th annual Independent Music Awards judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers.^[10][11][12] She was also an inaugural member of the IMAs in 2002.^[13] In a September 2009 interview with Los Angeles blog LA Snark, Mann mentioned that she was beginning work on a musical based on her album The Forgotten Arm.^[14]

Mann's song "Wise Up" is being used for the organ donor campaign in Ontario, Canada and can be seen on the video within their site beadonor.ca

On her 2010 fall tour, Aimee talked about "The Forgotten Arm" musical, including playing four new songs written specifically for it: "You've Got To Be Willing To Hurt The One You Love", "Conflicted", "Easy to Die", and "Eiffel Tower". Two of these songs feature a new character from the musical, a boxing trainer named Ollie. In 2011, Aimee stated that the musical was put on hold indefinitely, due to similarities to The Fighter. However, she did post on her Facebook page that she has just finished recording a new album on December 2, 2011. On Episode 273 of WTF with Marc Maron, James Mercer of the The Shins stated that he had recorded a duet with Mann, which he expected to appear on her forthcoming album.

She can be heard contributing vocals on the song "Two Horses" in Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie.

Discography[link]

• 1993 – Whatever
• 1995 – I'm with Stupid
• 2000 – Bachelor No. 2 or, the Last Remains of the Dodo
• 2002 – Lost in Space
• 2005 – The Forgotten Arm
• 2006 – One More Drifter in the Snow
• 2008 – @#%&*! Smilers