Cupcake Wars is a Food Network reality-based competition show hosted by Justin Willman based on creating unique and professional-style cupcakes that began airing in June 2010. The show is similar to its successful Chopped show in that it starts with 4 contestants who are eliminated one by one in 3 rounds. During seasons 1-3, the show's time-slot was Tuesdays at 8 pm, EST, but at the beginning of the season 4, the time-slot changed to Sundays at 8PM EST.^[1] The show also challenges its contestants to create cupcakes with unusual ingredients with the winning team receiving $10,000. Each team consists of a chef and a sous-chef. Cupcake Wars is currently airing its sixth season.

Rounds[link]

In the first round, the contestants must create a cupcake based on taste alone with a theme associated including a twist of ingredient(s) in 45 minutes. For example, a date-night themed cupcake must include various aphrodisiacs, such as oysters, basil, dark chocolate or champagne.

The second round is based on both taste and presentation. In 75 minutes, the contestants must make 3 different cupcakes, each showcasing a different taste with an outstanding presentation.

The third round is hardest, with the remaining 2 teams making 1,000 cupcakes in only 2 hours (originally 4 hours in the first episode). Each team is assisted with the help of a 5-person team consisting of one carpenter and four baking interns to create the showcase for the cupcakes and help make the cupcakes for their corresponding contestants.

Themes[link]

The show invites cupcake bakers from all over the United States to compete in the 3 rounds. Each episode has a theme. Some themes used so far have been a golf tournament, a Seaworld birthday party for an orca, a "match-making" aphrodisiac party, an Ace of Cakes 100th episode celebration, "Survival of the Fittest" theme, an autistic charity event and at a film festival.^[2]

The show features chefs from all backgrounds, including vegan pastry chefs, small business owners and internet companies alike. As a result, the show has had unexpected winners, such as Chloe Coscarelli, a 22 year-old vegan pastry chef who won an episode without using any eggs, butter or milk in any of her cupcakes.^[3][4][5]

Judges[link]

There are 3 judges in the series with 2 of them being permanent judges:

• Candace Nelson, founder of Sprinkles Cupcakes, the world's first cupcake bakery^[6]
• Florian Bellanger, executive French pastry chef^[7]

The third, rotating judge is a special guest and is associated with the event in which that episode's winning cupcakes are to be served.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Food Network show index

Cody Simpson
Simpson on Radio Disney in August 2011.
Background information
Birth name	Cody Robert Simpson
Born	(1997-01-11) 11 January 1997 (age 15) Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Origin	Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Genres	Pop, R&B[1]
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, musician and dancer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar and piano
Years active	2009–present
Labels	Warner Bros. Records/Atlantic (2010–present)
Website	codysimpson.com

Cody Robert Simpson (born 11 January 1997) is an Australian pop singer from Gold Coast, Queensland, who is currently signed to US record label Atlantic Records.^[2]

Early life[link]

Simpson was born to Brad and Angie Simpson. He has two younger siblings, Tom and Alli.^[3] He is also a talented swimmer, winning two gold medals at the Queensland Swimming Championships.^[4] Simpson trained at the Miami Swimming Club under coach Ken Nixon.^[5] Simpson's mother Angie works as a volunteer at the club.^[6]

Simpson began to record songs in his bedroom during the summer of 2009 on YouTube, performing "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz,^[7] "Cry Me a River"^[8] and "Señorita"^[9] by Justin Timberlake, "I Want You Back" by the Jackson 5,^[10] and his own songs, "One"^[11] and "Perfect".^[12] He was subsequently discovered on YouTube by Shawn Campbell,^[13] a Grammy-nominated record producer who has produced for Jay-Z and other artists.

Career[link]

Simpson's rise to recognition was featured on The 7.30 Report in December 2009.^[14] He released his debut single, "iYiYi" (which features American rapper Flo Rida), on 15 May 2010. It was digitally released on 30 May 2010.^[15] The music video for "iYiYi" was released on 30 June 2010.

^[16] The music video for Simpson's second single, "Summertime", was released on 20 September 2010.^[17]

Simpson relocated to Los Angeles in June 2010 with his family to record his songs with Atlantic Records and his producer Shawn Campbell.^[18] His manager is Michael 'Blue' Williams. ^[19] That same month, Simpson appeared on Sunrise.^[20] On 22 June 2010, it was announced that Simpson would participate in the Camplified 2010 Tour, along with other artists, touring across the United States. The tour began on 5 July 2010 and ended on 14 August 2010. It was also Simpson's first public tour.^[21] While on tour, Simpson performed a song called "Love So Strong". In an interview with Popstar Magazine, Simpson stated that his inspiration for the song was "A girl, back home. That's all I can say."^[22]

On 4 December 2010, it was announced on Simpson's official website that an EP entitled 4 U would be released through iTunes on 21 December 2010. The EP includes five tracks in total, four of them being previously unreleased.^[23]

Simpson recorded a remake of the song "I Want Candy" by The Strangeloves as the main theme song for the Easter-themed live-action/CGI-animated film Hop.

On 23 April 2011, Simpson released the single "On My Mind" through his website. It was released on iTunes on 23 May 2011 and the music video was released on 17 June 2011.

Simpson is currently working on tracks for an upcoming EP on Atlantic Records. It will be released on 20 September 2011. Simpson's best friend, Campbell Carsley announced the release date on twitter on 18 July 2011. It will be called Coast To Coast, the same name as his current mall tour. On 22 September, it was announced that Cody Simpson hired Justin Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun as his manager.^[24][25]

In December 2011 The Wish Factory released a Cody Simpson doll in two formats.^[26]

Touring[link]

Simpson in concert at the Crowne Plaza in Cromwell, Connecticut on 5 June 2011

Simpson has been on tour recently promoting his new EP, making stops at various locations in the United States. Most notably, Simpson participated in the "Camplified 2010" tour in June.^[27] Other tours include a middle school tour that took place from October–November 2010 and covered 9 U.S states.^[28]

In May 2011, Simpson was "egged" during a live performance at Miranda Fair in Sydney. Simpson told Australian radio show The Kyle & Jackie O Show that he wasn't in fact hit by the eggs and that he was upset on behalf of his fans because the remainder of his show was cancelled because of security concerns.^[29][30]

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Paradise (2012)

Extended plays

• 4 U (2010)
• Coast to Coast (2011)

Tours[link]

• Waiting 4U Tour
• Coast to Coast Mall Tour
• Welcome to Paradise

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cody Simpson

• Official website
• Cody Simpson at the Internet Movie Database
• Cody Simpson on Twitter
• Cody Simpson's's channel on YouTube

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 2011)

Tommy Roland Shaw (born September 11, 1953) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and performer best known for his work with the rock band, Styx. In between his stints with Styx, he has played with other groups including the Damn Yankees and Shaw Blades and has released several solo albums.

Early life and music career[link]

Tommy Shaw was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and played with many local bands in his early years. He left Montgomery after attending Robert E. Lee High School to join The Smoke Ring and then MSFunk, a Chicago-managed outfit that he played with for 3 years, which gave him a chance to be noticed by Styx during a 2-week club gig in Chicago. After MSFunk disbanded, he went back to Montgomery to join a local group with his childhood friends called Harvest, which performed at the club Keglers Kove, in a bowling alley called Bama Lanes. Following Styx's move to A&M, guitarist and vocalist John Curulewski suddenly left the band shortly before they were to embark on a nationwide tour, and a frantic search to find a last-minute replacement was launched. While playing at the bowling alley bar, as a result of his previous experience with MSFunk in Chicago, Shaw, 23 years old, got the call to audition for Styx and was quickly hired.^[1]

Styx — 1970s[link]

Tommy joined Styx in December 1975. His first album with Styx, Crystal Ball (1976), was titled after his own composition and also includes his songs "Mademoiselle" and "Shooz". Its follow-up, The Grand Illusion (1977), became the group's breakthrough album, which went platinum and also featured a radio hit by Shaw, "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)".

Styx's eighth album, Pieces of Eight, was the breakout album for Shaw's songwriting talent. His rock-oriented contributions "Renegade" and "Blue Collar Man" were the only major hits from this release, reaching #16 and #21 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart, and they became '70s rock-radio staples and perennial Styx concert favorites.^[2][3] Pieces of Eight also featured another minor radio hit in Shaw's tune "Sing for the Day".

1980s — 1990s[link]

Though the '80s eventually brought the decline of Styx, the decade began with Styx riding a wave of commercial success with the #1 pop ballad "Babe" from the ninth Styx album, Cornerstone (1979), which was written by keyboardist Dennis DeYoung. However, tension mounted within the band as Shaw and other band members, preferring the rock direction of the songs written by Shaw and guitarist James Young, expressed dissatisfaction with DeYoung's desire to pull the band into a pop radio and theatrical direction. For this reason, unbeknownst to the public, DeYoung was fired from the group in early 1980 for a brief moment and quickly rehired,^[4] but this conflict would arise again. Shaw's dissatisfaction was exacerbated by the theatrical-themed album Paradise Theatre and brought to a boil by the tour for the next album Kilroy Was Here, which featured a progressive stage show combined with an 11-minute movie intro and theatrical performances by the band.^[5] In 1983, shortly after the tour ended, Shaw left Styx to pursue his solo career.

Shaw released three solo albums in the 1980s: Girls with Guns (1984), What If (1985), and Ambition (1987), scoring a Top 40 hit with the title track from the first album. Shaw's solo band opened concerts for The Kinks in 1984 and for Rush in 1987-88.^[6]

1990s — present[link]

In the early 1990s, Shaw, Ted Nugent, Jack Blades (of Night Ranger), and drummer Michael Cartellone (Shaw's drummer during his 1988 Ambition tour) formed the band Damn Yankees. Their biggest hit, "High Enough", was co-written by Shaw. The band had a strong concert following, and their second album went platinum,^[7] but the band went on hiatus until 2000, when they recorded an album that, because of poor production quality, was never released.^{[citation needed]}

Shaw returned to a reunited Styx in 1995 and embarked on a subsequent tour with them in 1996.^[8] Tommy would later record a fourth solo record in 1998: 7 Deadly Zens. Shaw has also worked with other artists on a Pink Floyd's The Wall tribute album. He also worked on a KISS tribute album, Spin the Bottle, on which he sang "Love Gun". On the Queen tribute album Stone Cold Queen, Shaw sang a stirring rendition of the John Deacon-penned "Spread Your Wings".

Shaw joined up again with Jack Blades in a duo appropriately called Shaw Blades and released an album entitled Hallucination in 1995. The duo also recorded the classic Christmas song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" which was released in 2002 on the album A Classic Rock Christmas, a compilation of classic Christmas songs recorded by various Classic rock artists.^[9] A second collaboration entitled Influence was released in early March 2007 and the duo appeared live on VH1 Classic backed up by famed Nashville songwriter Gary Burr, then did a short tour in spring 2007. Their repertoire included songs from Night Ranger, Styx, Shaw's solo albums and Damn Yankees. The duo also became a highly sought after song-writing team for such artists as Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne, Vince Neil and Cher (to name a few.)

Shaw currently leads a version of Styx along with James "JY" Young, the only remaining members from Styx's heyday. Upon their reformation in 1996, Styx released the live album Return to Paradise. They went on to record the studio albums Brave New World (which became the last release with co-founder Dennis DeYoung), Cyclorama (with new keyboardist Lawrence Gowan), and Big Bang Theory (an album of cover songs of 1960s and 1970s rock classics). The band continues to tour throughout the US and Europe, often with Def Leppard and other classic rock bands.

In the spring of 2007, Shaw Blades went on a small, often sold out tour to promote Influence. The shows were held in smaller venues throughout the US. The shows featured remakes of '60s classics and several top hits from Styx and Night Ranger. At the end of a Styx tour, Shaw Blades added a second tour with new dates through the end of 2007.

On New Year's Eve, 2007, Shaw made a guest appearance with the Trans Siberian Orchestra in Birmingham, Alabama, where they performed such songs as "Blue Collar Man" and "Renegade", as well as TSO originals.

Shaw made his bluegrass debut on at the Grand Ole Opry on March 26, 2011 after the March 22 release of his highly anticipated bluegrass album "The Great Divide."

Hall of Fame[link]

Tommy Shaw was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame on February 22, 2009 at their awards banquet held in Tommy's hometown of Montgomery, Alabama at the new Montgomery Convention Center, which was finished just prior to the ceremony.^[10]

Fascination with Sea of Tranquility[link]

Shaw is associated with a number of references to the Sea of Tranquility (lunar mare and landing site of Apollo 11). Tranquility Base Songs is his publishing company. He called his farm Tranquility Base Farms. A number of his songs mention Tranquility Base or simply "tranquility." Examples include: Boat On The River – “And all roads lead to Tranquility Base” (from the 1979 album Cornerstone), Everything Is Cool – “We are a Sea of Tranquillity” (from the 1999 album Brave New World), and These Are the Times – “We know the end will bring tranquility” (from the 2003 album Cyclorama).

Personal life[link]

Shaw married his second wife, actress Pamela Donnelly, on February 15, 1986. Later, on December 28, 2000, he married Jeanne Mason, to whom he is still married.^{[vague][citation needed]}

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

Gear[link]

This biographical section of an 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. (August 2008)

Shaw mainly uses Fender and Gibson guitars including:

• Gibson Les Paul
• Gibson Explorer
• Fender Stratocaster
• Taylor SolidBody Standard
• Taylor 914ce Acoustic/Electric Guitar

Shaw also plays Hamer guitars, including a Hamer 6/12-string double-neck, from the early to mid-1990s. He was instrumental in the development of Hamer's Duotone guitar. He can be seen playing a Hamer Talladega in the second picture in this article.

For effects he uses:

• Dunlop Crybaby Wah
• Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner
• Boss OD-3 Overdrive
• DigiTech Delay Modeler

Quotation[link]

This section is a candidate to be copied to Wikiquote using the Transwiki process.

You have to be able to survive change and keep your integrity.^[11]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Tommy Shaw's Official Website
• AMG Discography