S. E. Cupp
Born	Sarah Elizabeth Cupp (1979-02-23) February 23, 1979 (age 33) Carlsbad, California, USA
Alma mater	B.A., Cornell University M.A., New York University
Occupation	Author, political commentator
Website
redsecupp.com

Sarah Elizabeth "S. E." Cupp (born February 23, 1979) is an American conservative political commentator and writer. She is a co-author of Why You're Wrong About the Right, with Brett Joshpe, and the sole author of Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media's Attack on Christianity.

Background[link]

Cupp was born in Carlsbad, California, and raised in Andover, Massachusetts.^[1] In 2000, She graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts in Art History. While attending Cornell, she worked for The Cornell Daily Sun. In 2010, she earned a Master of Arts from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University with a concentration in Religious Studies.^[2]

She is a classically trained ballet dancer and, over a period of ten years, danced with the Ellicott City Ballet, the Washington Ballet, and the Boston Ballet. Cupp describes herself as an atheist^[1][3] who "really aspires to be a person of faith some day."^[4][5] She is an Italian-American^[6] and a hunter.^[1] She currently lives in New York City.^[1]

Journalist and commentator[link]

In 2002, she was hired by The New York Times to write and edit for the Index Department. She is a contributor to Politico.com's The Arena as well as a frequent guest of CNN, Fox's Hannity, Fox & Friends, America Live with Megyn Kelly, Strategy Room and Red Eye w/Greg Gutfeld, and MSNBC's Now with Alex Wagner, Morning Joe and Martin Bashir.

Her writings have appeared at The Washington Post, New York Daily News, Foxnews.com, The American Spectator, Townhall, Newsmax, Human Events, Slate, Maxim, The Daily Caller, SI.com, and CNN.com.

In 2009, she was hired as a columnist at the Daily News.

In 2011, she was hired as a writer and commentator for Mercury Radio Arts,^[7] the organization owned and operated by Glenn Beck. Shortly after being hired by Beck, she was given her own show, "S.E. Cupp" on the Insider Extreme broadcast found on Glennbeck.com.^[8] That show has since moved to GBTV.

Bibliography[link]

• Cupp, S. E.; Brett Joshpe (2008). Why You're Wrong about the Right: Behind the Myths. New York: Threshold Editions. ISBN 1-4165-6282-6. 
• Cupp, S. E. (2010). Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media's Attack on Christianity. New York: Threshold Editions. ISBN 1-4391-7316-8. 

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• S. E. Cupp at the Internet Movie Database
• The Arena Profile
• Daily News Online column
• C-SPAN Q&A interview with Cupp, October 18, 2009

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2011)

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (November 2011)

Naomi Wolf
Wolf at the 2008 Brooklyn Book Festival
Born	Naomi Wolf (1962-11-12) November 12, 1962 (age 49) San Francisco, California
Occupation	Author
Nationality	American
Period	1990s-present
Notable work(s)	The Beauty Myth; The End of America

Naomi Wolf (born November 12, 1962) is an American author and political consultant. With the publication of The Beauty Myth, she became a leading spokesperson of what was later described as the third wave of the feminist movement.

Childhood, education and personal life[link]

Wolf was born in San Francisco in 1962 of Jewish descent.^[1][2] Her mother is Deborah Goleman, an anthropologist and the author of The Lesbian Community.^[3] Her father is the Romanian-born horror scholar Leonard Wolf. She attended Lowell High School and debated in regional speech tournaments as a member of the Lowell Forensic Society. She attended Yale University, where she received in 1984 her Bachelor of Arts in English literature; she was a Rhodes Scholar at New College, Oxford from 1985 to 1987.^[4]

Wolf was married to the former Clinton speechwriter David Shipley. They had two children, Rosa (b. 1995) and Joseph (b. 2000). Wolf and Shipley divorced in 2005.^[5]

Works[link]

Naomi Wolf speaking at Brooklyn Law School, January 29, 2009

[edit] The Beauty Myth

In the early 1990s, Wolf garnered international fame as a spokesperson of third-wave feminism^[6][7] as a result of the success of her first book The Beauty Myth, which became an international bestseller.^[4] In the book, she argues that "beauty" as a normative value is entirely socially constructed, and that the patriarchy determines the content of that construction with the goal of reproducing its own hegemony.

Wolf posits the idea of an "iron-maiden," an intrinsically unattainable standard that is then used to punish women physically and psychologically for their failure to achieve and conform to it. Wolf criticized the fashion and beauty industries as exploitative of women, but claimed the beauty myth extended into all areas of human functioning. Wolf writes that women should have "the choice to do whatever we want with our faces and bodies without being punished by an ideology that is using attitudes, economic pressure, and even legal judgments regarding women's appearance to undermine us psychologically and politically". Wolf argues that women were under assault by the "beauty myth" in five areas: work, religion, sex, violence, and hunger. Ultimately, Wolf argues for a relaxation of normative standards of beauty.^[8] In her introduction, Wolf positioned her argument against the concerns of second-wave feminists and offered the following analysis:

Wolf's book was a bestseller, receiving polarized responses from the public and mainstream media, but winning praise from most feminists. Second-wave feminist Germaine Greer wrote that The Beauty Myth was "the most important feminist publication since The Female Eunuch, and Gloria Steinem wrote, "The Beauty Myth is a smart, angry, insightful book, and a clarion call to freedom. Every woman should read it."^[10] British novelist Fay Weldon called the book "essential reading for the New Woman".^[11] Betty Friedan wrote in Allure magazine that "'The Beauty Myth' and the controversy it is eliciting could be a hopeful sign of a new surge of feminist consciousness."

However, Camille Paglia, whose Sexual Personae was published the same year as The Beauty Myth, derided Wolf as unable to perform "historical analysis", and called her education "completely removed from reality".^[12] Her comments touched off a series of contentious debates between Wolf and Paglia in the pages of The New Republic.^[13][14][15]

Likewise, Christina Hoff Sommers criticized Wolf for publishing the claim that 150,000 women were dying every year from anorexia. Sommers wrote that the actual number is closer to 100, a figure which others, such as Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, claimed to be much too low. In the same interview, Sommers stated that Wolf had retracted the figure.^[16]

In the mainstream press, The New York Times published a harshly critical assessment of Wolf's work: Caryn James lambasted the book as a "sloppily researched polemic as dismissible as a hackneyed adventure film...Even by the standards of pop-cultural feminist studies, 'The Beauty Myth' is a mess."^[17] In a comparatively positive review, The Washington Post called the book "persuasive" and praised its "accumulated evidence."^[18]

[edit] Promiscuities

Promiscuities reports on and analyzes the shifting patterns of contemporary adolescent sexuality. Wolf claims that literature is rife with examples of male coming-of-age stories, covered autobiographically by D. H. Lawrence, Tobias Wolff, J. D. Salinger, and Ernest Hemingway, and covered misogynistically by Henry Miller, Philip Roth, and Norman Mailer. Wolf insists, however, that female accounts of adolescent sexuality have been systematically suppressed. She adduces cross-cultural material to demonstrate that women have, across history, been celebrated as more carnal than men. Wolf also argues that women must reclaim the legitimacy of their own sexuality by shattering the polarization of women between virgin and whore.^[19]

Promiscuities received, in general, negative reviews. The New York Times published a review that characterized Wolf as a "frustratingly inept messenger: a sloppy thinker and incompetent writer. She tries in vain to pass off tired observations as radical aperçus, subjective musings as generational truths, sappy suggestions as useful ideas".^[20] Two days earlier, however, a different Times reviewer praised the book, writing, "Anyone--particularly anyone who, like Ms. Wolf, was born in the 1960s--will have a very hard time putting down 'Promiscuities'. Told through a series of confessions, her book is a searing and thoroughly fascinating exploration of the complex wildlife of female sexuality and desire."^[21] In contrast, The Library Journal excoriated the work, writing, "Overgeneralization abounds as she attempts to apply the microcosmic events of this mostly white, middle-class, liberal milieu to a whole generation....There is a desperate defensiveness in the tone of this book which diminishes the force of her argument."^[22]

[edit] Misconceptions

Misconceptions examines modern assumptions surrounding pregnancy and childbirth. Most of the book is told through the prism of Wolf's personal experience of her first pregnancy. She describes the "vacuous impassivity" of the ultrasound technician who gives her the first glimpse of her new baby. Wolf both laments her C-section and examines why the procedure is commonplace in the United States, and advocates a return to more personal approaches to childbirth such as midwifery. The second half of the book catalogs a series of anecdotes about life after giving birth, focusing in particular on inequalities that arise in men and women's approaches and adjustments to child care.^[23]

[edit] The End of America

In The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot, Wolf takes a historical look at the rise of fascism, outlining the 10 steps necessary for a fascist group (or government) to destroy the democratic character of a nation-state and subvert the social/political liberty previously exercised by its citizens:

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
2. Create secret prisons where torture takes place
3. Develop a thug caste or paramilitary force not answerable to citizens
4. Set up an internal surveillance system
5. Harass citizens' groups
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
7. Target key individuals
8. Control the press
9. Treat all political dissidents as traitors
10. Suspend the rule of law^[24]

The book details how this pattern was implemented in Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and elsewhere, and analyzes its emergence and application in American political affairs since the September 11 attacks.^[25][26]

The End of America was adapted for the screen as a documentary by filmmakers Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern, best known for The Devil Came on Horseback and The Trials of Darryl Hunt. It had its worldwide premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival on October 17, 2008. It has since been screened at Sheffield DocFest in the UK, as well as in limited release at New York City's IFC Center. The film became available online on October 21, 2008 at SnagFilms.com. End of America was favorably reviewed in the New York Times by Stephen Holden^[27] as well as in Variety Magazine.^[28]

[edit] Give Me Liberty

Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries was written as a sequel to The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot.

In the book, Wolf looks at times and places in history where citizens were faced with the closing of an open society and successfully fought back, and looks back at the ordinary people of the Founding Fathers of the United States' generation, the ones not named by history, all of whom had this "vision of liberty" and moved it forward by putting their lives on the line to make the vision real. She is an outspoken advocate for citizenship and wonders whether younger Americans have the skills and commitment to act as true citizens.^[29] She wrote in 2007:

Other writings[link]

Wolf's other books include Fire with Fire on politics, female empowerment and women's sexual liberation.^[31] The New York Times assailed the work for its "dubious oversimplifications and highly debatable assertions" and its "disconcerting penchant for inflationary prose," nonetheless noting Wolf's "efforts to articulate an accessible, pragmatic feminism, ...helping to replace strident dogma with common sense."^[32] The Time magazine reviewer dismissed the book as "flawed," noting however that Wolf was "an engaging raconteur" who was also "savvy about the role of TV -- especially the Thomas-Hill hearings and daytime talk shows -- in radicalizing women, including homemakers." The reviewer characterized the book as advocating an inclusive strain of feminism that welcomed abortion opponents.^[33]

In 2005, Wolf published The Treehouse: Eccentric Wisdom from my Father on How to Live, Love, and See, which chronicled her midlife crisis attempt to reclaim her creative and poetic vision and revalue her father's love, and her father's force as an artist and a teacher.

Feminist positions[link]

Wolf considers herself a liberal feminist.^{[citation needed]}

Abortion

In publishing an article in The New Republic that criticized contemporary pro-choice positions, Wolf argued that the movement had "developed a lexicon of dehumanization" and urged feminists to accept abortion as a form of homicide and defend the procedure within the ambiguity of this moral conundrum. She continues, "Abortion should be legal; it is sometimes even necessary. Sometimes the mother must be able to decide that the fetus, in its full humanity, must die."^[34]

Wolf concluded by speculating that in a world of "real gender equality," passionate feminists "might well hold candlelight vigils at abortion clinics, standing shoulder to shoulder with the doctors who work there, commemorating and saying goodbye to the dead."^[34] More recently, in an article on the subtle manipulation of George W. Bush's image among women, Wolf wrote "Abortion is an issue not of Ms. Magazine-style fanaticism or suicidal Republican religious reaction, but a complex issue."^[35]

Pro-life commentators said Wolf "fails to carry through fully in her analysis...this simply is not, or should not be, the unqualified response of our society to the destruction of innocent life."^[36]

Pornography

Wolf suggested in 2003 that the ubiquity of Internet pornography tends to enervate the sexual attraction of men toward typical real women. She writes, "The onslaught of porn is responsible for deadening male libido in relation to real women, and leading men to see fewer and fewer women as 'porn-worthy.' Far from having to fend off porn-crazed young men, young women are worrying that as mere flesh and blood, they can scarcely get, let alone hold, their attention." Wolf advocates abstaining from porn not on moral grounds, but because "greater supply of the stimulant equals diminished capacity."^[37]

Sexual advances at Yale

In 2004 Wolf wrote an article for New York Magazine^[38] accusing acclaimed literary scholar Harold Bloom of a sexual "encroachment" more than two decades earlier, by touching her thigh. She said that what she alleged Bloom did was not harassment, either legally or emotionally, and she did not think herself a "victim", but she claimed to have harbored this secret for 21 years. Explaining why she had finally gone public with the charges, Wolf wrote, "I began, nearly a year ago, to try--privately--to start a conversation with my alma mater that would reassure me that steps had been taken in the ensuing years to ensure that unwanted sexual advances of this sort weren't still occurring. I expected Yale to be responsive. After nine months and many calls and e-mails, I was shocked to conclude that the atmosphere of collusion that had helped to keep me quiet twenty years ago was still intact--as secretive as a Masonic lodge."^{[citation needed]}

Reflecting on Yale University's sexual harassment guidelines, Wolf writes, "Sexual encroachment in an educational context or a workplace is, most seriously, a corruption of meritocracy; it is in this sense parallel to bribery. I was not traumatized personally, but my educational experience was corrupted. If we rephrase sexual transgression in school and work as a civil-rights and civil-society issue, everything becomes less emotional, less personal. If we see this as a systemic corruption issue, then when people bring allegations, the focus will be on whether the institution has been damaged in its larger mission."^[38]

A federal investigation of Yale University began in March 2011 in response to complaints that it has a sexually hostile environment. A formal complaint had been filed with the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights on March 15, 2011, by 16 current and former Yale students describing a sexually hostile environment at Yale.^{[citation needed]}

Women in Islamic countries

Wolf has spoken about the dress required of women living in Muslim countries:

The West interprets veiling as repression of women and suppression of their sexuality. But when I traveled in Muslim countries and was invited to join a discussion in women-only settings within Muslim homes, I learned that Muslim attitudes toward women's appearance and sexuality are not rooted in repression, but in a strong sense of public versus private, of what is due to God and what is due to one's husband. It is not that Islam suppresses sexuality, but that it embodies a strongly developed sense of its appropriate channeling - toward marriage, the bonds that sustain family life, and the attachment that secures a home.^[39]

Defence of Julian Assange

The December 20, 2010 airing of Democracy Now! featured a segment titled "Naomi Wolf vs. Jaclyn Friedman: Feminists Debate the Sexual Allegations Against Julian Assange" in which Jaclyn Friedman argues the sexual assault allegations against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange shouldn't be dismissed just because they may be politically motivated. Wolf argues that the alleged victims should have said no, that they consented to having sex with Assange, that the charges are politically motivated and demean the cause of legitimate rape victims. The discussion took place shortly after the leaking of the Swedish police report on the incident.^[40]

Political consultant[link]

Wolf was involved in Bill Clinton's 1996 re-election bid, brainstorming with the president's team about ways to reach female voters.^[41] During Al Gore's unsuccessful bid for the presidency in the 2000 election, Wolf was hired as a consultant to target female voters, reprising her role in the Clinton campaign. Wolf's ideas and participation in the Gore campaign generated considerable media coverage and criticism.^[42] According to a report by Michael Duffy in Time, Wolf was paid a monthly salary of $15,000 "in exchange for advice on everything from how to win the women's vote to shirt-and-tie combinations." This article was the original source of the widely reported claim that Wolf was responsible for Gore's "three-buttoned, earth-toned look."^[41][43]

In an interview with Melinda Henneberger in the New York Times, Wolf denied ever advising Gore on his wardrobe. Wolf herself claimed she mentioned the term "alpha male" only once in passing and that "[it] was just a truism, something the pundits had been saying for months, that the vice president is in a supportive role and the President is in an initiatory role... I used those terms as shorthand in talking about the difference in their job descriptions".^[44]

2011[link]

2011 arrest[link]

On October 20, 2011 Wolf was arrested in New York during the Occupy Wall Street protests. She was held in custody for an hour.^[45]

Subsequent Articles[link]

A month later, Naomi Wolf wrote an article that claimed that attacks on the Occupy movement were a coordinated plot, orchestrated by federal law enforcement agencies and implemented by American mayors^[46]. The response to this article ranged from praise to criticism of Wolf for being overly speculative and creating a "conspiracy theory" ^[47]. Wolf responded that there is ample evidence for her argument, and proceeded to review the information available to her at the time of the article, and new evidence since that time^[48]. On February 28, 2012, several news organizations published articles on information originally obtained by WikiLeaks and published by Rolling Stone^[49][50], the most significant of which was an October 2011 Department of Homeland Security internal document^[51] that concluded that

"The growing support for the OWS movement has expanded the protests’ impact and increased the potential for violence. While the peaceful nature of the protests has served so far to mitigate their impact, larger numbers and support from groups such as Anonymous substantially increase the risk for potential incidents and enhance the potential security risk to critical infrastructure (CI). The continued expansion of these protests also places an increasingly heavy burden on law enforcement and movement organizers to control protesters. As the primary target of the demonstrations, financial services stands the sector most impacted by the OWS protests. Due to the location of the protests in major metropolitan areas, heightened and continuous situational awareness for security personnel across all CI sectors is encouraged."

Writing in the magazine In These Times, Allison Kilkenny relates this to the ongoing Stratfor scandal and concludes that "the DHS document appears to be more concerned with protecting the mechanisms of the financial sector than in ensuring the safety of citizens who are exercising their First Amendment rights"^[52].

Selected books[link]

• The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women (1990) ISBN 0-06-051218-0, OCLC 22510801
• Fire with Fire (1994) ISBN 0-449-90951-4, OCLC 28420926
• Promiscuities: The Secret Struggle for Womanhood (or a Secret History of Female Desire) (1998) ISBN 0-449-90764-3 ISBN 0099205912 ISBN 0-517-45447-5, OCLC 36225757
• Misconceptions (2001) OCLC 46785027
• The Treehouse (2005) OCLC 225532631
• The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot (2007) ISBN 978-1-933392-79-0, OCLC 144769760
• Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries (2008) ISBN 978-1-4165-9056-9, OCLC 191933856

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (October 2011)

• Column archive at Project Syndicate
• Column archive at The Guardian
• Naomi Wolf's blog at The Huffington Post
• American Freedom Campaign Naomi Wolf's pro-democracy website
• The Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership Women's leadership organization co-founded by Naomi Wolf
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Naomi Wolf on Charlie Rose
• Naomi Wolf at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Naomi Wolf in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Naomi Wolf collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Critical Resources: Naomi Wolf
• FORA.tv - Wolf talks about "The End of America", October 9, 2007
• Interview by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!, November 28, 2007 (video & audio links, and print transcript)
• 2007 Feature Interview with Naomi Wolf ('The End of America') on The Alcove with Mark Molaro
• Half-hour interview about the U.S. coup d'etat on YouTube, October 4, 2008
• "America's Slow-Motion Fascist Coup" 50-minute conversation between Naomi Wolf and Lew Rockwell, October 30, 2008
• Wheeler Centre interview - Naomi Wolf discusses what has changed since "The Beauty Myth" and her essay "The Silent Treatment"

Joy Behar
Behar attending the 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards, March 13, 2010
Born	Josephina Victoria Occhiuto (1942-10-07) October 7, 1942 (age 69) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress Comedian Writer Co-host on The View Host on The Joy Behar Show
Years active	1984–present
Religion	None (agnostic)
Spouse	Joe Behar (1965–1981) Steve Janowitz (2011–present)

Joy Behar (born Josephina Victoria Occhiuto; born October 7, 1942)^[1] is an American comedian, writer, actress, and a co-host of the talk show The View. Behar had a commentary program, entitled The Joy Behar Show, on CNN's sister network, HLN.^[2] It was cancelled on November 17, 2011.^[3]

Early life[link]

Behar, an Italian-American, was born Josephina Victoria Occhiuto in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on October 7, 1942. Her mother, Rose (née Carbone), was a seamstress, and her father, Gino Occhiuto, was a truck driver for Coca-Cola.^[4][5] Her grandfather was Giuseppe Occhiuto born in Fagnano Castello, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy.^[6] She started off her career as a teacher at Lindenhurst High School. There she taught English class.^[7]

Career[link]

[edit] The early years & The View

Joy Behar got her start in show business in the early 1980s as a stand up comedian, including appearances on ABC's Good Morning America, and The New Show, a short lived Lorne Michaels NBC project. In 1987 she had a talk show on Lifetime Television called 'Way Off Broadway'. From there she continued to work the comedy club circuit, was a regular on NBC's Baby Boom, and had minor film rolls including Cookie, This Is My Life, and Manhattan Murder Mystery. She also was a WABC (AM) radio talk show host, and made appearances on HBO Comedy Specials 'One Night Stand' and 'Women Of The Night 2',

In 1997 Behar became one of the original cast members of Barbara Walters's ABC television creation, The View. Originally, Behar appeared only on the days when Walters was away from the show; ultimately, Behar became a regular co-host, with the panel expanding to five when Walters rejoined. Behar often hosts a segment called "Joy's Comedy Corner" in which she presents up-and-coming comedians.

Star Jones, former co-host on The View, and Behar had well-publicized disputes. On March 27, 2006, Star Jones called in to the show to discuss a recent operation that she had undergone. After talking with the show's co-hosts, Behar abruptly stated to Jones, "OK, Star. That's enough about you. On to us. Bye. Keep your [breasts] perky!"^[8] Jones then responded, "Even today, you [Behar] are still a bitch."^[8]

In August 2009 Behar, alongside her co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Shepherd, Barbara Walters and Elisabeth Hasselbeck, won the 36th Annual Daytime Emmy award for Outstanding Talk Show Host. It follows over a decade of nominations for The View. None of the co-hosts of the show traveled from New York to Los Angeles to attend the ceremony, however.^[9]

Other work[link]

Behar has also made theater appearances in The Food Chain and The Vagina Monologues. Behar wrote a book of humorous essays and stories called Joy Shtick — Or What is the Existential Vacuum and Does It Come with Attachments?, published in 1999. She has also written a children's book called Sheetzucacapoopoo: My Kind of Dog, published in 2006.

Behar frequently incorporates her Italian-American culture into her comedy and once told Charlie Rose on his PBS program that her grandmother kept a picture of Mussolini in her home.

She appeared on the eighth season of Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown and finished in fourth place, behind Robin Tunney, Christopher Meloni and Macy Gray, but ahead of Andy Dick. She played for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

Beginning in 2007, she has occasionally filled in as a guest host on Larry King Live. On June 11, 2009, Behar announced that she would be hosting her own news/talk program on CNN's HLN beginning in the fall of 2009, titled The Joy Behar Show. She did not leave The View, but worked on both shows simultaneously.^[2] The final broadcast of the The Joy Behar Show was on December 15, 2011.

Behar played the part of "Dr. Lucy" in the 2011 comedy film Hall Pass.^[10]

Personal life[link]

Occhiuto married Joe Behar in January 1965; they divorced in 1981. They have one daughter, Eve (b. 1970).^[11] Joy Behar has been in a relationship with Steve Janowitz since July 10, 1982, whom she called her 'spousal equivalent'. On March 17, 2009, Behar announced on The View that she might eventually marry Janowitz.^[12] Behar called off the engagement three months later^[13] because she wanted people to stop talking about it. On August 11, 2011, Behar married Janowitz.^[14]

Behar holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from Queens College (class of 1964), and a Master of Arts degree in English education from the State University of New York at Stony Brook (class of 1966). She taught English in the late 1960s and early 1970s at Lindenhurst High School on Long Island, New York. She has identified herself as agnostic.^[15] She resides in Manhattan. Behar became a grandmother on February 28, 2011 when her daughter had a son, Luca.^[16] Behar is a member of the Delta Zeta sorority.^[17]

Filmography[link]

• Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) ... Eunice (post-production)
• Hall Pass (2011) ... Dr. Lucy
• Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2001) ... 42 (1 episode)
• Love Is All There Is (1996) ... Mary
• Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist (1996) ... Joy (2 episode)
• 'M' Word (1996) ... Carol
• Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) ... Marilyn
• This Is My Life (1992) ... Rudy
• It's Gary Shandling's Show (1989–1990) ... Joy Mull/Joy Smith
• Baby Boom (1988–1989) ... Helga Von Haput (13 episodes)
• Cookie (film) (1989) ... Dottie
• Hiding Out (1987) ... Gertrude

Awards and nominations[link]

GLAAD Media Award

• 2010 Excellence in Media Award

Daytime Emmy Award

• 1998 Nomination for Outstanding Talk Show (The View)
• 1999 Nomination for Outstanding Talk Show (The View)
• 2000 Nomination for Outstanding Talk Show (The View)
• 2001 Nomination for Outstanding Talk Show (The View)
• 2002 Nomination for Outstanding Talk Show (The View)
• 2003 Nomination for Outstanding Talk Show (The View)
• 2003 Award for Best Talk Show (The View)
• 2004 Nomination for Outstanding Talk Show (The View)
• 2005 Nomination for Outstanding Talk Show (The View)
• 2006 Nomination for Outstanding Talk Show (The View)
• 2007 Nomination for Outstanding Talk Show (The View)
• 2008 Nomination for Outstanding Talk Show (The View)
• 2009 Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host(s) (The View)
• 2010 Nomination for Outstanding Talk Show Host(s) (The View)

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Rozen, Leah (July 9, 2010). "After Work With Joy Behar:Stand Up; Sit Down; Talk, Talk, Talk". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/fashion/11WITH.html. 
• Mitchell, Russ (March 28, 2010). "Joy Behar: Left Front Center". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/28/sunday/main6341367.shtml. 

External links[link]

• Joy Behar at the Internet Movie Database
• Joy Behar at AllRovi
• The Joy Behar Show
• The View Official Profile

Roseanne Barr
Barr in Maui at the Hard Rock Cafe in January 2010
Born	Roseanne Cherrie Barr (1952-11-03) November 3, 1952 (age 59) Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
Residence	Big Island, Hawaii, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, comedian, writer, producer, director
Years active	1985–present
Spouse	Bill Pentland (m. 1974–1990) «start: (1974)–end+1: (1991)»"Marriage: Bill Pentland to Roseanne Barr" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.db.wn.com/index.php/Roseanne_Barr) Tom Arnold (m. 1990–1994) «start: (1990)–end+1: (1995)»"Marriage: Tom Arnold to Roseanne Barr" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.db.wn.com/index.php/Roseanne_Barr) Ben Thomas (m. 1995–2002) «start: (1995)–end+1: (2003)»"Marriage: Ben Thomas to Roseanne Barr" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.db.wn.com/index.php/Roseanne_Barr)
Partner	Johnny Argent (2003–present)
Children	3 daughters, 2 sons
Website
www.roseanneworld.com

Roseanne Cherrie Barr (born November 3, 1952) is an American actress, comedian, writer, television producer, director and candidate for President of the United States with the Green Party of the United States. Barr began her career in stand-up comedy at clubs before gaining fame for her role in the sitcom Roseanne. The show was a hit and lasted nine seasons, from 1988 to 1997. She won both an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her work on the show. Barr had crafted a "fierce working-class domestic goddess" persona in the eight years preceding her sitcom and wanted to do a realistic show about a strong mother who was not a victim of patriarchal consumerism.^[1]

The granddaughter of immigrants from Europe and Russia, Barr was the oldest of four children in a working-class Jewish Salt Lake City family; she was also active in the LDS Church. In 1974 she married Bill Pentland, with whom she had three children, before divorcing in 1990 and marrying comedian Tom Arnold for four years. Controversy arose when she sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" off-key at a 1990 nationally aired baseball game, followed by spitting and grabbing her crotch.

After her sitcom ended, she launched her own talk show, The Roseanne Show, which aired from 1998 to 2000. In 2005, she returned to stand-up comedy with a world tour. In 2011, she began starring in an unscripted TV show, Roseanne's Nuts, about her life on a Hawaiian farm.

In early 2012, Barr announced her candidacy for the Presidential nomination of the Green Party of the United States.^[2]

Early life[link]

The oldest of four children, Barr was born in Salt Lake City to a working-class Jewish family. Her mother, Helen (née Davis), was a bookkeeper and cashier. Her father, Jerome Hershel "Jerry" Barr,^[3] worked as a salesman.^[4] Barr's grandparents and great-grandparents were immigrants from Ukraine, Russia, Lithuania and Austria-Hungary, and her paternal grandfather changed his surname from "Borisofsky" to "Barr" upon entering the United States.^[3][4]

Her Jewish upbringing was influenced by her devoutly Orthodox Jewish maternal grandmother.^[4] Barr's parents kept their Jewish heritage secret from their neighbors and were partially involved in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.^[4] Barr has stated, "Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning I was a Jew; Sunday afternoon, Tuesday afternoon, and Wednesday afternoon we were Mormons".^[5] When Barr was three years old, she got Bell's palsy on the left side of her face. Barr said, "[so] my mother called in a rabbi to pray for me, but nothing happened. Then my mother got a Mormon preacher, he prayed, and I was miraculously cured". Years later Barr learned that Bell's palsy was usually temporary and that the Mormon preacher came "exactly at the right time".^[4] At six years old, Barr discovered her first public stage by lecturing LDS churches around Utah and even was elected president of a Mormon youth group.^[4]

At 16, Barr was hit by a car that left her with a traumatic brain injury.^[4] Her behavior changed so radically that she was institutionalized for eight months at Utah State Hospital.^[6] In 1970 at age 18, Barr left home by telling her parents she was going to visit a friend in Colorado for two weeks, but never returned.^[6]

Career[link]

Stand-up comedian success: 1980–1986[link]

While in Colorado, Barr did stand-up gigs in Denver and other Colorado clubs. She later tried out at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles and went on to appear on The Tonight Show in 1985.^[6] In 1986, she performed on Late Night With David Letterman and the following year had her own HBO special called The Roseanne Barr Show, which earned her an American Comedy Award for the funniest female performer in a television special.^[7] Barr was offered the role of Peg Bundy in Married... with Children but turned it down.^[8] In her routine she popularized the phrase, "domestic goddess," to refer to a homemaker or housewife. The success of her act led to her own series on ABC, called Roseanne.

[edit] Roseanne sitcom, film, books, and talk show: 1987–2004

In 1987, The Cosby Show executive producers Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner wanted to bring a "no-perks family comedy" to television. They hired Cosby writer Matt Williams to write a script about factory workers and signed Barr to play Roseanne Conner.^[9] The show premiered on October 18, 1988 and was watched by 21.4 million households, making it the highest-rated debut of that season.^[10]

Barr became outraged when she watched the first episode of Roseanne and noticed that in the credits, Williams was listed as creator.^[10] She told Tanner Stransky of Entertainment Weekly, "We built the show around my actual life and my kids. The 'domestic goddess', the whole thing".^[10] In the same interview, Werner said, "I don't think Roseanne, to this day, understands that this is something legislated by the Writers Guild, and it's part of what every show has to deal with. They're the final arbiters."^[10] During the first season, Barr sought more creative control over the show opposing Williams' authority. Barr refused to say certain lines and eventually walked off set. She threatened to quit the show if Williams did not leave. ABC let Williams go after the thirteenth episode.^[10]

Roseanne ran for nine seasons from 1988 to 1997. Barr won an Emmy, a Golden Globe, a Kids Choice Award, and three American Comedy Awards for her part in the show. For the final two seasons, Barr earned $40 million, making her the second-highest-paid woman in show business at the time, after Oprah Winfrey.^[11]

Barr attending the 1992 Emmy Awards

Barbara Ehrenreich called Barr a working-class spokesperson representing "the hopeless underclass of the female sex: polyester-clad, overweight occupants of the slow track; fast-food waitresses, factory workers, housewives, members of the invisible pink-collar army; the despised, the jilted, the underpaid,"^[12] but a master of "the kind of class-militant populism that the Democrats, most of them anyway, never seem to get right."^[13] Barr refuses to use the term "blue collar" because it masks the issue of class.^[14]

During Roseanne's final season, Barr was in negotiations between Carsey-Werner Productions and ABC executives on continuing to play Roseanne Conner in a spin-off.^[15] However, after failed discussions with ABC, and later CBS and Fox, Carsey-Werner and Barr agreed not to go on with the negotiations.^[16]

Barr gave Joss Whedon and Judd Apatow their first writing jobs on Roseanne and HBO Comedy Hour: Roseanne Arnold, respectively.^[1][17] She released her autobiography in 1989, titled Roseanne—My Life As a Woman.^[18] That same year, she made her film debut in She-Devil playing Ruth. Film critic Roger Ebert gave her a positive review saying, "Barr could have made an easy, predictable and dumb comedy at any point in the last couple of years. Instead, she took her chances with an ambitious project – a real movie. It pays off, in that Barr demonstrates that there is a core of reality inside her TV persona, a core of identifiable human feelings like jealousy and pride, and they provide a sound foundation for her comic acting".^[19]

On July 25, 1990, Barr performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" before a baseball game between the San Diego Padres and Cincinnati Reds at Jack Murphy Stadium. As she later claimed, she was initially having trouble hearing herself over the public-address system, so she was singing as loudly as possible, and her rendition of the song sounded "screechy". Following her rendition, she mimicked the often-seen actions of players by spitting and grabbing her crotch as if adjusting a protective cup. Barr claimed she had been encouraged by baseball officials to "bring humor to the song". The song and the closing routine received heavy media attention and offended many, including President George H. W. Bush, who called her rendition "disgraceful."^[20]

In 1991, she voiced the baby, Julie, in Look Who's Talking Too. She was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress.^[21] She appeared three times on Saturday Night Live from 1991 to 1994, co-hosting with then-husband Tom Arnold in 1992. In 1994, she released a second book title, My Lives.^[18] That same year, Barr became the first female comedian to host the MTV Video Music Awards on her own. She remained the only to have done so until comedian Chelsea Handler hosted in 2010.^[22] In 1997, she made guest appearances on 3rd Rock from the Sun and The Nanny.

In 1998, she portrayed the Wicked Witch of the West in a production of The Wizard of Oz at Madison Square Garden.^[23] That same year, Barr hosted her own talk show, The Roseanne Show, which ran for two years before it was canceled in 2000. In the summer of 2003, she took on the dual role of hosting a cooking show called Domestic Goddess and starring in a reality show called The Real Roseanne Show about hosting a cooking show. Although 13 episodes were in production; a hysterectomy brought a premature end to both projects.^[24] In 2004, she voiced Maggie, one of the main characters in the animated film Home on the Range.

Return to stand-up, television guest appearances, and radio: 2005–2010[link]

In 2005, she returned to stand-up comedy with a world tour.^[25] In February 2006, Barr performed her first-ever live dates in Europe as part of the Leicester Comedy Festival in Leicester, England. The shows took place at De Montfort Hall.^[26] She released her first children's DVD, Rockin' with Roseanne: Calling All Kids, that month. Roseanne's return to the stage culminated in an HBO Comedy Special Roseanne Barr: Blonde N Bitchin', which aired November 4, 2006, on HBO. Two nights earlier, Roseanne returned to prime-time network TV with a guest spot on NBC's My Name Is Earl, playing a crazy trailer park manager. In April 2007 Barr hosted season three of The Search for the Funniest Mom in America on Nick at Nite.^[27]

Barr giving an interview in the 2010 documentary, I Am Comic

In March 2008, she headlined in act at the Sahara Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.^[26] From 2009 to 2010, she hosted a politically-themed radio show on KPFK.^[28] Since 2008 she and partner Johnny Argent have hosted a weekly radio show Sundays on KCAA in the Los Angeles area called "The Roseanne and Johnny Show".^[29] On March 23, 2009 it was announced that Barr would be returning to primetime with a new sitcom, where she would once again play the matriarch. Jim Vallely of Arrested Development had been tapped to pen the series.^[30] She later stated on her website that the project had been canceled.

On April 15, 2009 Barr made an appearance on Bravo's 2nd Annual A-List Awards in the opening scenes. She played Kathy Griffin's fairy godmother, granting her wish to be on the A-List for one night only. Barr headlined the inaugural Traverse City Comedy Arts Festival in February 2010, a project of the Traverse City Film Festival, founded by filmmaker Michael Moore.^[31] Moore developed the comedy fest with comedian Jeff Garlin.^[31] In 2010, Barr appeared in Jordan Brady's documentary about stand-up comedy, I Am Comic.

Reality television, new sitcom and politics: 2011–present[link]

On January 4, 2011, Barr released her third book, titled Roseannearchy: Dispatches from the Nut Farm.^[32] Barr appeared in 2011 on a Super Bowl XLV commercial for Snickers along with comedian Richard Lewis. It was the most popular ad based on the number of TiVo users rewinding and watching it over.^[33] On February 14, 2011, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Lifetime Television had ordered 16 half-hour episodes featuring Barr, boyfriend Johnny Argent and son Jake as they run a macadamia nut and live stock farm in Big Island, Hawaii. The reality show, titled Roseanne's Nuts, was produced by 3 Ball Productions/Eyeworks USA (The Biggest Loser) and premiered on July 13, 2011.^[34][35] On September 21, 2011 Lifetime cancelled Roseanne's Nuts.^[36]

On August 11, 2011 it was reported that Barr was working on a new sitcom with 20th Century Fox Television tentatively titled Downwardly Mobile. Steven Greener, who also executive produced her reality show Roseanne's Nuts, will also executive produce the sitcom.^[37] Eric Gilliland is attached as co-creator, writer and executive producer; Gilliland was also a writer on Barr's previous sitcom Roseanne. The show will be set in a mobile home community and use a multiple-camera setup. In October 2011, NBC picked up the show.^[38]

2012 Presidential campaign[link]

On August 5, 2011 Barr appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and announced her candidacy for president in the 2012 presidential election, running on the "Green Tea Party" ticket.^[39][40] Her candidacy mixes attention to economics, personal health and meditation.^[41] She also said that she is running for Prime Minister of Israel. In an interview with the The Forward she invoked tikkun olam in her support of bringing women into politics and religion.^[41] On September 19, 2011 she appeared at the Occupy Wall Street protests and spoke in support of the protestors.^[42] She further stated that any "guilty" Wall Street bankers should be forced to give up any income over $100 million, be sent to re-education camps, or be executed by beheading if they resisted.^[43]

Barr filed with the Federal Election Commission as a Green Party presidential candidate in January 2012. She formally announced her candidacy for the party's 2012 presidential nomination on February 2, 2012.^{[44][45][46][47]}

Personal life[link]

In 1970, when she was 17, Barr had a child that she placed for adoption; they were later reunited.^[48][4] On February 4, 1974 Barr married Bill Pentland, a motel clerk she met while in Colorado. They had three children: Jessica, Jennifer, and Jake.^[48] Pentland and Barr divorced on January 16, 1990.^[49] Four days later on January 20, 1990, Barr married fellow comedian Tom Arnold, and became known as Roseanne Arnold during the marriage. Barr had met Arnold in 1983 in Minneapolis where he opened for her stand-up comedy act. In 1988, Barr brought Arnold onto her sitcom, Roseanne, as a writer.^[50]

Barr has a lesbian sister, Geraldine Barr,^[51][52] and a gay brother, Ben Barr,^[51][52] both of whom inspired her to introduce gay characters into her sitcom.^[53] Barr has stated that she supports gay marriage.^[51] Geraldine was also Barr's manager while performing in comedy clubs and at the start of her sitcom. Geraldine claimed that Arnold tried to dominate Barr "for his own reasons".^[54] After being fired by Roseanne, Geraldine filed a $70.3 million breach of contract lawsuit in Superior Court of Los Angeles County on December 18, 1991. She said Barr promised her half the earnings from the Roseanne show for helping invent the "domestic goddess" character in 1981, serving as "writer, organizer, accountant, bookkeeper and confidante".^[55] Since it was six months past the statute of limitations, the suit was thrown out.^[54]

In a 1991 interview with People, Roseanne revealed herself to be an "incest survivor", accusing both of her parents of physical and sexual abuse,^[56] claims which they and Geraldine publicly denied.^[57] Melvin Belli, her parents' lawyer, said that they had passed a lie detector test "with flying colors".^[57] Barr was even part of an incest recovery group, something she said her parents knew about but for which they were "in denial".^[57] On February 14, 2011, Barr and Geraldine appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show where Barr admitted that the word "incest" could have been the wrong word to use and should have waited until her therapy was over before revealing the "darkest time" in her life.^[58] She told Oprah, "I was in a very unhappy relationship and I was prescribed numerous psychiatric drugs... to deal with the fact that I had some mental illness... I totally lost touch with reality... (and) I didn’t know what the truth was... I just wanted to drop a bomb on my family".^[58] She added that not everything was "made up", saying, "Nobody accuses their parents of abusing them without justification".^[58] Geraldine said they did not speak for 12 years, but had recently reconciled.^[58]

Barr filed for divorce from Tom Arnold on April 18, 1994 in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, citing irreconcilable differences.^[50] Their efforts to have children were unsuccessful.^[59] On February 14, 1995, Barr married Ben Thomas, her one-time personal security guard, at Caesars Tahoe with a reception at Planet Hollywood. In November 1994, she become pregnant through in-vitro fertilization^[59] and they have a son named Buck.^[60] The couple stayed together until 2002.^[61]

In the mid-1990s Barr had multiple cosmetic surgeries performed, such as a breast reduction, tummy tuck, and a nose job.^[62] During the late 1990s she had gastric bypass surgery.^[25]

In 2002, Barr met Johnny Argent online after running a writing competition on her blog and began dating him in 2003, after a year of phone conversations.^[62][61] They live on a 46-acre macadamia nut farm located on the Big Island of Hawaii. Barr purchased the property in 2007 for $1.78 million.^[63] Barr has studied Kabbalah at the Kabbalah Centre and frequently comments on the discipline.^[64]

Filmography[link]

Awards[link]

Roseanne Barr has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on the north side of the 6700 block of Hollywood Blvd.^[65]

Bibliography[link]

• Roseanne: My Life As a Woman. Harper & Row. October 1989. ISBN 0-06-015957-X. 
• My Lives. Ballantine Books. February 9, 1994. ISBN 0-345-37815-6. 
• Roseannearchy: Dispatches from the Nut Farm. Gallery Books. January 4, 2011. ISBN 1-4391-5482-1. 

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikinews has related news: Sitcom star Roseanne Barr announces run for U.S. president

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Roseanne Barr

• Official website
• Roseanne Barr at the Internet Movie Database
• Roseanne at AllRovi

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Larry Gatlin
Background information
Birth name	Larry Wayne Gatlin
Born	(1948-05-02) May 2, 1948 (age 64) Seminole, Texas, United States
Genres	Country, countrypolitan
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, actor
Years active	1973–present
Labels	Monument, Columbia, Universal, Capitol, Curb
Associated acts	The Imperials, Dottie West, Kris Kristofferson, Janie Fricke, Kenny Rogers
Website	Larry Gatlin & Gatlin Brothers Official Site

Larry Wayne Gatlin (born May 2, 1948) is an American country music singer/songwriter. He is perhaps best known for teaming up with his brothers Steve and Rudy in the late 1970s, becoming one of country music's most successful acts of the 1970s and 1980s. Gatlin has had a total of 33 Top 40 singles (combining his solo recordings and those with his brothers). As their fame grew, the band became known as Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers.

Their popularity lasted throughout much of the 1980s. Their biggest hits together include, "Broken Lady", "All the Gold in California", "Houston (Means I'm One Day Closer to You)", "She Used to Be Somebody's Baby", and "Talkin' to the Moon". Larry Gatlin is known for his rich tenor voice and for the string of pop-inflected hit songs he wrote and recorded throughout the 1970s and 80s. During this time, country music trended heavily towards polished pop music arrangements in a style that came to be known as Countrypolitan. Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers came to prominence and enjoyed their greatest success during this period with hit singles that showcased the brothers' powerful three-part harmonies and Larry's evocative falsetto voice.

Biography[link]

Larry Gatlin was born in Seminole, Texas. He was raised listening to country and gospel music. Even since childhood, he and his brothers, Steve and Rudy have always sung and performed together. When they were younger, they often sang in their local church. They sometimes performed on local radio stations, and occasionally on television shows. They also recorded a gospel music album for the Gospel label Sword and Shield. The brothers even managed to beat out the legendary Roy Orbison in a local talent contest around this same time. After graduating from Odessa High School in 1966, Gatlin attended college at the University of Houston. A wide receiver on the football team, he caught a touchdown pass in a game in which the University of Houston scored 100 points.

He later auditioned for, and joined the gospel music group, the Imperials.^[1][2] The Imperials went on to perform in Las Vegas, Nevada in January 1971 at Jimmy Dean's Las Vegas Revue. While walking through the showroom, he caught legendary country singer Dottie West's attention when she thought he looked like Mickey Newbury.

West soon met Gatlin and was impressed with his songwriting skills. She was so impressed, in fact, that she recorded two of Gatlin's compositions, "You're the Other Half of Me" and "Once You Were Mine." West also passed one of Gatlin's demo tapes around Nashville, Tennessee, and even arranged for him to relocate there, purchasing a plane ticket for him—a story he related on the 11/12/09 episode of "Larry's Country Diner" on RFD-TV. West later recorded other compositions by Gatlin that would later become hits for him, including "Broken Lady", which was put on West's 1978 album, Dottie.

Work as a solo artist[link]

With West's help, Gatlin found work in Nashville as a background singer for Kris Kristofferson. In 1973, Gatlin finally landed a solo recording contract with Monument Records.

In 1973, Gatlin released his first album, The Pilgrim. Two singles were released from the album: "Sweet Becky Walker" and "Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall"; however, both singles failed. One stand-out composition called "Bitter They Are" was eventually recorded by Elvis Presley (who also later recorded Gatlin's Help Me). In 1974 came the release of a new album (Rain/Rainbow) and a new song ("Delta Dirt"). The album and single proved more successful. "Delta Dirt" was a Top 20 Country hit, peaking at No. 14. The song was also Gatlin's only entry on the Pop charts, when it reached No. 84. In 1975, Gatlin had his first major hit with his composition, "Broken Lady", which reached No. 5 on the Hot Country Songs chart in 1976. The song was so successful that Gatlin won a Grammy award for the song in 1977 for Best Country Song. A new album, High Time, was released in 1976.

Brothers Steve and Rudy made their first appearance on Larry's 1976 album Larry Gatlin with Family & Friends. They were featured on some of Gatlin's other hits he had during the late 1970s, notably "I Don't Wanna Cry", "Love Is Just a Game", and "Statues Without Hearts". In 1978, Gatlin gained his first number one hit with "I Just Wish You Were Someone I Love." Gatlin continued his music success as a solo act up until 1978, when he released his last solo album, Oh Brother, which featured the top 10 hits "I've Done Enough Dyin' Today" and "Night Time Magic", the latter of which also made an entry into the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. Both songs spotlighted Gatlin's soaring falsetto that became a trademark of his vocal style. Soon it became quite obvious that his brothers wanted to become country performers as well, and Gatlin decided to have his brothers as part of his band.

The Gatlin Brothers[link]

In 1979, when Gatlin signed with Columbia Records, he decided to officially have his brothers billed on his singles and on his albums. That year, their name was officially "Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers". In October, they released the album, Straight Ahead. It spawned the classic single "All the Gold in California", which became their biggest hit together, taking the No. 1 spot on the Hot Country Songs list. This was Larry Gatlin's second number one hit, and led to his being awarded "Top Male Vocalist of the Year" by the Academy of Country Music that year. On June 06, 1980, Straight Ahead was certified gold.

The group's next big hit came in early 1980, with "Take Me To Your Lovin' Place", which peaked at No. 5 in 1981; they followed up with "What Are We Doin' Lonesome", which peaked at No. 4 later in the year. They continued their hit success, garnering top 10 and top 20 hits, with "In Like With Each Other" (1982), "She Used to Sing on Sunday" (1982), "Sure Feels Like Love" (1982), "Almost Called Her Baby By Mistake" (1983), and "Denver" (1984). In 1983, the group had their third (and last) No. 1 hit, "Houston (Means I'm One Day Closer to You)". On January 19, 1985, the Gatlin Brothers sang "All the Gold in California" at the nationally-televised 50th Inaugural Gala, the day before the second inauguration of Ronald Reagan. Even though the group never achieved another No. 1 hit, they had hits that came close, like the jaunty release in 1986, "She Used to Be Somebody's Baby" (which peaked at No. 2), as well as 1987's "Talkin' to the Moon", and 1988's "Love of a Lifetime" (both of which peaked at No. 4).

The Gatlin Brothers were also one of the first country groups to have music videos, like 1984's "The Lady Takes the Cowboy Everytime". In 1985, Gatlin wrote the song "Indian Summer" with Barry Gibb, which he recorded as a duet with Roy Orbison. In 1989, the Gatlin Brothers sang National Anthem before game three of the 1989 World Series, played at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California.

Later work[link]

When the "Neotraditional country" singers entered Nashville in 1986 with singers like Dwight Yoakam and Randy Travis pushing Gatlin and other Country-Pop-styled vocalists off the Top 10 list, Gatlin's chart success declined greatly. He had a duet recording in 1987 with another Country-Pop styled vocalist, Janie Fricke.^[3] However, their duet only reached No. 21. He briefly signed with Universal Records in 1989, where he recorded his last singles. His last charted single came in 1989, called "Number One Heartache Place". Gatlin underwent surgery on his vocal cords in 1991 after the years of wear and tear on his voice. In concert, he had begun to struggle with the high falsetto notes that were featured prominently in most of his songs. After recovery, Gatlin worked briefly with an opera coach and his vocals took on a powerful operatic style in the early 1990s.

Gatlin (left) playing cards with Seabees in Croatia after a performance in 1995.

After more than a decade of singing together, in December 1992, the Gatlin Brothers embarked on a farewell tour before retiring to their own theater in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Larry Gatlin went on to star in the Broadway production of The Will Rogers Follies. In 1994, Gatlin and his brothers opened a 2,000-seat theater in Myrtle Beach. In 1995, he played himself in the TV-movie about Dottie West's life, Big Dreams & Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story. West had died four years before in a major car accident.

Larry Gatlin co-wrote with celebrity biographer Jeff Lenburg a memoir called All the Gold in California that was published in 1998. In 1999 Larry toured and entertained troops of the 1st CAV division in Bosnia.

Since 2010, Larry Gatlin has contributed to Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network as a political and social commentator. In the summer of 2010, Gatlin acted as substitute host for Don Imus on Imus in the Morning ^[4] and Fox Across America with Spencer Hughes on March 16, 2011.

Discography[link]

References[link]

• Wood, Gerry. (1998). "The Gatlin Brothers". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 195–6.

External links[link]

• Larry Gatlin and Gatlin Brothers Official Website