KZZP ("104.7 KISS-FM"), is a Top 40 radio outlet serving the Phoenix, Arizona area. The Clear Channel Communications station broadcasts at 104.7 MHz with an Effective radiated power (ERP) of 100 kW and is licensed in Mesa, Arizona. Due to its 100 kW tower located atop South Mountain, the station can be easily picked up in most parts of Tucson. The station plays a large variety of hip-hop, pop and rock tracks, as well as the flagship station of the Johnjay and Rich in the Morning.

History[link]

104.7 FM originally signed on the air in 1950 as KTYL-FM (calls now used by a station in Tyler, Texas), co-owned with 1310 AM in Mesa. It later became KBUZ-FM with a beautiful music format. In 1976 the station changed its call letters to KIOG and aired a soft rock format. Western Cities Broadcasting purchased KIOG in 1980 and flipped it to a Top 40 format as KZZP, with personalities like Jonathon Brandmeier, Dave Otto, and Steve Goddard.

Brandmeier later made a huge name for himself in Chicago at WLUP. His show on KZZP featured prank phone calls, parody songs which Brandmeier himself usually wrote, sang and recorded, and a cast of regular characters. When Brandmeier went to Chicago's WLUP, Western Cities won an injunction to keep him off the air in the Windy City until his contract with KZZP had officially expired.

KZZP enjoyed a spectacular run from 1985 until early 1990 as one of America's leading Contemporary Hit Radio stations, led by legendary program director Guy Zapoleon. During Zapoleon's era, the station played mass appeal hits along with some adventurous dance and alternative releases. Zapoleon hired morning man and right hand Bruce Kelly from Boston in July 1985 and teamed him with Maggie Brock, former partner of Chicago radio star Steve Dahl, to form the nucleus of the show that would propel KZZP into unheard of Arbitron double digit ratings for almost five years. Kelly and Company would become a household name and included other talents like Rob Izenberg (The Iceman), who would go onto greater fame at Premiere Comedy Network and Mark Davis, now known as parody lounge artist Richard Cheese.

"KZZP 104.7 FM The Number One Hit Music Station" also produced a long list of future stars in the radio business including Kevin Weatherly, Gene Baxter, Kevin Ryder (now Kevin and Bean on KROQ/Los Angeles), Todd Fisher (now GM, KSTP Minneapolis), Clarke Ingram, Nick Sommers (Nick Sommers Productions) Michelle Santosuosso, Jimmy Kimmel, Bill Stewart "Stu" (now PD - KGOT, Anchorage, AK), Carey Edwards(Programmed KHPT, Tucson, and more recently MD, APD/PM Drive at KAMX Austin), Kent Voss (now a news sidekick with Brandmeier on WLUP), William "Bud" LaTour (KZZP's Production Director, weekend on-air personality, currently Production Director at CBS Radio Chicago) who launched an electronic music career under the name LaTour, Mike Elliot, John O'Rourke and Susan Karis (who started in sales at the station in 1981 and now oversees it as a Clear Channel executive vice president).

In December 1989, a new team of Nationwide managers (Zaploeon had been promoted to National PD) signed Kelly to a five year contract, then fired him weeks later. Kelly sued for wrongful termination and won, allowing him to cross the street to longtime CHR competitor Edens' KOY-FM (Y-95). Within three months, KZZP's rating has plunged from # 1 to # 15, while Y-95 skyrocketed from # 15 to # 2.

KZZP dropped the famous call letters in favor of KVRY, but in 1996, returned to KZZP because of strong brand recognition in the Phoenix market. Brandmeier made a brief return, via syndication, in mornings), in 1996, but to no ratings success. Kelly returned in August 1998 for a brief, successful one year run in mornings, then left to become part of the launch team of XM Satellite Radio in Washington, D.C.

In April 2007 he returned to terrestrial radio as morning host of WMXJ, MAJIC 102.7 in Miami-Fort Lauderdale.

The station is now branded on-air as KISS-FM, the KZZP call letters are only used as hourly station identification as required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

On April 20, 2001, KZZP began playing Prince's song Kiss consecutively for three days straight. This was done to promote the new name of the station, KISS-FM.^[1] Now owned by Clear Channel, the station's music moved in a more Rhythmic direction. Although they would broaden up to include mainstream Pop product by 2004, KZZP's playlist still leaned heavily towards Rhythmic, similar to many Top 40 stations in large cities. Through 2007 their playlist is less Rhythmic leaning though they still add more rhythmic tracks than the usual CHR.

Competition-wise, KZZP is also one of three Top 40 stations battling for listeners in the Phoenix market, the other two being Rhythmic rivals KKFR and KZON, as well as new top 40 rival KMVA.

HD Radio[link]

KZZP's HD Radio signal is multiplexed. The main signal is a simulcast of KZZP's Top 40 programming. The second channel carries The Hot Spot, a pop and new music format which is heard on several other Kiss stations across the United States.

References[link]

External links[link]

• 104.7 KISS-FM's website
• "Da Block" 104.7 HD-2
• Query the FCC's FM station database for KZZP
• Radio-Locator information on KZZP
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for KZZP
• 104.7 KISS-FM's Best Prank Call Segment

Coordinates: 33°20′02″N 112°03′36″W / 33.334°N 112.060°W / 33.334; -112.060

George Benson
George Benson performing in Madrid 2009
Background information
Born	(1943-03-22) March 22, 1943 (age 69) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,United States
Genres	Jazz, funk, rhythm and blues, soul
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, archtop guitar
Years active	1954 (as little George Benson)[1][2] 1963–present
Labels	Prestige Records (1964-1965) Columbia Records (1966-1967) Verve Records (1968) A&M Records (1968-1970) CTI Records (1971-1976) Warner Bros. Records (1976-1994) GRP Records (1995-2005) Concord Records (2006-present)
Associated acts	Jack McDuff, Earl Klugh, Al Jarreau, Joe Farrell, Count Basie Orchestra, McCoy Tyner, Joe Sample, Fuse One, Wes Montgomery, Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian
Website	Official website
Notable instruments
Ibanez GB10 Signature Model Ibanez GB200 Signature Model

George Benson (born March 22, 1943)^[3] is a ten time Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist.

Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s playing soul jazz with the likes of Jack McDuff. Benson then launched a successful solo career, alternating between jazz, pop, R&B singing, and scat singing. This one-time child prodigy topped the Billboard 200 in 1976 with the triple-platinum album, Breezin',^[4] He was also a major live attraction in the UK during the 1980s and continues to attract a large following today.^[4] Benson uses a rest-stroke picking technique similar to that of gypsy jazz players such as Django Reinhardt.

Biography[link]

Early career[link]

Benson was born and raised in the Hill District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At the age of 7, Benson first played the ukulele in a corner drug store for which he was paid a few dollars; at the age of 8, he was playing guitar in an unlicensed nightclub on Friday and Saturday nights which was soon closed down by the police. At the age of 10, George recorded his first single record with RCA-Victor in New York, called 'She Makes Me Mad'.^[1]

Benson attended Schenley High School, although he left before graduation. As a youth, instead, he learned how to play straight-ahead instrumental jazz during a relationship performing for several years with organist Jack McDuff. One of his many early guitar heroes was country-jazz guitarist Hank Garland. At the age of 21, he recorded his first album as leader, The New Boss Guitar, featuring McDuff.^[3] Benson's next recording was It's Uptown with the George Benson Quartet including Dr Lonnie Smith on organ and Ronnie Cuber on baritone saxophone.^[3] Benson followed it up with The George Benson Cookbook, also with Lonnie Smith and Ronnie Cuber on baritone and drummer Marion Booker.^[3] Miles Davis employed Benson in the mid 1960s, featuring his guitar on "Paraphernalia" on his 1968 Columbia release, Miles in the Sky before going to Verve Records.

Then, he signed with Creed Taylor's jazz label, CTI Records, where he recorded several albums, with jazz heavyweights guesting, to some success, mainly in the jazz field. His 1974 release, "Bad Benson" climbed to the top spot in the Billboard jazz chart, while the follow-ups, "Good King Bad" (#51 Pop album) and "Benson and Farrell" (with Joe Farrell) both reached the jazz top three sellers. Benson also did a version of The Beatles's 1969 album Abbey Road called The Other Side of Abbey Road, also released in 1969, and a version of "White Rabbit", originally written and recorded by San Francisco rock group Great Society, and made famous by Jefferson Airplane.^[3] He also played on numerous sessions for other CTI artists during this time, including Freddie Hubbard and Stanley Turrentine, notably on the latter's acclaimed album Sugar.

1970s and 1980s[link]

	George Benson "Breezin'" (1976) noicon Title track sample from George Benson's Breezin' album
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

By the mid to late 1970s, as he recorded for Warner Bros. Records, a whole new audience began to discover Benson for the first time. With the 1976 release Breezin', Benson began to put his vocal on tracks such as "This Masquerade." He had used his vocals infrequently on songs earlier in his career, notably his rendition of "Here Comes the Sun" on the Other Side of Abbey Road album. Breezin' was a significant album in terms of popular music history - the first jazz release to go Platinum and the first indication that something new was about to happen, He also recorded in this album many instrumentals and notable is his rendition of the 1975 Jose Feliciano composition "Affirmation". In 1976, Benson toured with soul singer, Minnie Riperton, who had been diagnosed with terminal breast cancer earlier that year. Also in 1976, George Benson appeared as a guitarist and backup vocalist on Stevie Wonder's song "Another Star" from Wonder's album Songs in the Key of Life. "This Masquerade" won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year and the live take of "On Broadway", recorded two years later from the 1978 release Weekend in L.A., also won a Grammy. He has worked with Freddie Hubbard on a number of his albums throughout the '60s, '70s and '80s. He joined Jehovah's witnesses in 1979 where he is still active to date.

The Qwest record label first officially released Benson's breakthrough pop album Give Me The Night. Benson made it into the pop and R&B top ten with the song "Give Me the Night" (produced by Quincy Jones and written by former Heatwave keyboardist Rod Temperton) having previously been almost unknown to the younger audience. More importantly, Quincy Jones encouraged Benson to search his roots for further vocal inspiration, and he re-discovered his love for Nat Cole, Ray Charles and Donny Hathaway in the process, influencing a string of further vocal albums into the '90s. Despite returning to his jazz and guitar playing most recently, this theme was reflected again much later in Benson's 2000 release Absolute Benson featuring a cover of one of Hathaway's most notable songs, The Ghetto. Benson accumulated three other platinum LPs and two gold albums.^[5] He also recorded the original version of "Greatest Love of All" for the 1977 Muhammad Ali bio-pic, The Greatest, which was later recorded as a cover by Whitney Houston.^[5] During this time Benson recorded with the German conductor, Claus Ogerman.^[6]

Later and current career[link]

	George Benson - "This Masquerade" noicon Sample track from George Benson's Breezin' album (1976)
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In 1985 Benson and guitarist Chet Atkins went on the smooth jazz charts with their collaboration "Sunrise", one of two songs from the duo released on Atkins' disc Stay Tuned. In 1992, Benson appeared on Jack McDuff's Colour Me Blue album. Benson toured with Al Jarreau in America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand to promote their 2006 album Givin' It Up. He played during the second Monsoon Cup in Terengganu in 2006 and also Malaysia's 50th Merdeka celebration alongside Jarreau in 2007.^{[citation needed]} In May 2008, for the first time Benson took part in Mawazine Festival in Morocco.^{[citation needed]}

To commemorate the long term relationship between Benson and Ibanez and to celebrate 30 years of collaboration on the GB Signature Models, Ibanez created the GB30TH, a very limited edition model featuring a gold foil finish inspired by the traditional Japanese Garahaku art form.^[7] In 2009, Benson was recognized by the National Endowment of the Arts as a Jazz Master, the nations highest honor in Jazz.^[8] Benson performed at the 49th issue of The Ohrid Summer Festival in Macedonia on July 25, 2009, and his tribute show to Nat King Cole "An Unforgettable Tribute to Nat King Cole" as part of the Istanbul International Jazz Festival in Turkey on July 27. In the fall of 2009, Benson finished recording a new album titled Songs and Stories, with Marcus Miller, producer John Burk,^[9] and session musicians David Paich and Steve Lukather.^[10] As a part of the promotion for his recent Concord Music Group/Monster Music release Songs and Stories, Benson has appeared and/or performed on The Tavis Smiley Show,^[11] Jimmy Kimmel Live^[12] and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.^[13]

Benson has toured throughout 2010 in North America, Europe and the Pacific Rim, including an appearance at the Singapore Sun Festival.^[14] He performed at the Java Jazz Festival March 4–6, 2011.

Discography[link]

Benson in September 2011

Awards[link]

Grammy Awards[link]

List of Grammy Awards received by George Benson^[15]

References[link]

External links[link]

Official website

	Book: George Benson
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: George Benson

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. (May 2010)

Glenn Alan Medeiros (born June 24, 1970, Lihue - Kaua'i, Hawaii) is a Hawaiian singer and rapper who was a teenage star in the 1980s.

Biography[link]

Medeiros began his musical career at the age of 10 when he helped his father entertain guests on his tour bus on the island of Kauai. In 1987, at the age of 17, Medeiros won a local radio talent contest in Hawaii when he performed a cover version of George Benson's "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You" which was subsequently produced into an album by a small local independent label. A visiting radio executive from KZZP in Phoenix, Arizona heard the song and took the record back to Phoenix, where, through word of mouth, it became a national hit. Later, a worldwide hit, it reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent four weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart in July 1988.^[1]

In 1988, he recorded the single "Un Roman d'amitié (Friend You Give Me a Reason)", a successful duet in France with Elsa Lunghini. He also achieved a 1990 United States #1 hit duet with Bobby Brown entitled "She Ain't Worth It".^[2] The same track peaked at #12 in the UK chart.^[1] He had another hit duet with Ray Parker, Jr. titled "All I'm Missing Is You" which peaked at US #32. In 1989 Glenn recorded "Under any Moon" with The Jets.

In 1992 Medeiros recorded a duet with Thomas Anders (of Modern Talking fame) titled "Standing Alone" and shot a video.

Medeiros wrote "Break These Walls" for the New Zealand singer, Sam Verlinden. He also wrote the song "Follow the Sun" for Regine Valasquez which was later recorded by the group Forte. In addition, Glenn wrote the song entitled "These Tears I Cry" for Martin Nivera. Glenn has written nearly two hundred songs, many of which have been recorded by various artists throughout the world.

Today, Medeiros is the host and performer at the Hale Koa Hotel's luau in Waikiki, and is the Vice Principal of Maryknoll Grade School. He has taught grades K, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and high school at various schools throughout Oahu starting in both public and private schools including Mililani Middle School, St. Joseph School in Waipahu, Island Pacific Academy in Kapolei, and Maryknoll High School.

Personal life[link]

Medeiros is of Portuguese ancestry. He attended the University of Hawaii-West Oahu with a BA in History and the University of Phoenix-Hawaii with a MA in Elementary Education. Glenn is currently a doctoral student at the University of Southern California. Glenn married his wife Tammy in 1996, and they have two children, Chord and Lyric.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Glenn Medeiros (1987) US #83
• Not Me (1988) UK #63
• Glenn Medeiros (1990) (1990) US #82
• It's Alright to Love (1993; Europe and Asia only)
• The Glenn Medeiros Christmas Album (1993)
• Sweet Island Music (1995)
• Captured (1999)
• ME (2003)
• With Aloha (2005)
• Aloha from Paradise (2007)

Singles[link]

External links[link]

• Glenn Medeiros & Thomas Anders

References[link]

This article is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (November 2010)

Tokio Hotel
Tokio Hotel, 2010. L-R: Georg Listing, Bill Kaulitz, Tom Kaulitz, and Gustav Schäfer
Background information
Origin	Magdeburg, Germany
Genres	Pop rock,[1][2] alternative rock,[3] emo,[4] glam rock,[5] power pop,[6][7][8][9]
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Universal Music Germany, Cherrytree, Interscope
Website	www.tokiohotel.com
Members
Bill Kaulitz Tom Kaulitz Georg Listing Gustav Schäfer

Tokio Hotel is a rock band from Germany, founded in 2001 by singer Bill Kaulitz, guitarist Tom Kaulitz, drummer Gustav Schäfer and bassist Georg Listing.^[10] The quartet have scored four number one singles and have released three number one albums in their native country, selling nearly 5 million CDs and DVDs there.^[11] After recording an unreleased demo-CD under the name "Devilish" and having their contract with Sony BMG Germany terminated, the band released their first German-language album, Schrei, as Tokio Hotel on Universal Music Germany in 2005. Schrei sold more than half a million copies worldwide^[12] and spawned four top five singles in both Germany and Austria. In 2007, the band released their second German album Zimmer 483 and their first English album Scream which have combined album sales of over one million copies worldwide and helped win the band their first MTV Europe Music Award for Best InterAct. The former, Zimmer 483, spawned three top five singles in Germany while the latter, Scream, spawned two singles that reached the top twenty in new territories such as France, Portugal, Spain and Italy. In September 2008, they won in the US their first MTV Video Music Award (VMA) for Best New Artist. In October 2008, they won four awards including Best International Artist and Song of the year at Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica (MTV Video Music Awards Latin America) held in Mexico. Tokio Hotel became the first German band ever to win an award at the MTV VMAs and also at the MTV Latin America Awards. They also picked up the Headliner award at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008 held in Liverpool on November 6, 2008 and the Award for Best Group on November 5, 2009 at the MTV Europe Music Award (EMA) held in Berlin. They won an Award for Best World Stage Performance on November 7, 2010 at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Madrid. In July 2011, they became the first German band to win an MTV Video Music Awards Japan (VMAJ). And won MTV's 2012 Musical March Madness.

History[link]

[edit] Formation (2001 - 2004)

Tokio Hotel by vocalist Bill Kaulitz and guitarist Tom Kaulitz, who are identical twin brothers, drummer Gustav Schäfer and bass-guitarist Georg Listing. The four met in 2001 after a live show in a Magdeburg-Club, where Listing and Schäfer, who knew each other from music school, watched from the audience while Bill and Tom Kaulitz played on the stage.^[13][14] Under the name Devilish, the band soon began playing in talent shows and small concerts.^[15] After Bill Kaulitz's participation in a children's Star Search in 2003 at age thirteen (which he lost in the quarter-final), he was discovered by music producer Peter Hoffmann. Devilish changed their name to Tokio Hotel: "Tokio", the German spelling of the Japanese city Tokyo, due to a love of the city, and "Hotel" due to their constant touring and living in hotels.^[13] Soon after Sony BMG took them under contract, Hoffmann hired David Jost and Pat Benzner into the team of creators and authors, and had them give the teens instruction on songwriting and instrument playing; most of the songs of the first album were written by Hoffmann, Jost and Benzer (including the singles "Scream" and "Rescue me" which were completely written by them), only the single "Unendlichkeit" was written completely by Tokio Hotel themselves. Shortly before release of their first album, Sony terminated their contract. The band is now one of the biggest modern acts from Germany and the biggest in 20 years.

[edit] Schrei (2005 - 2006)

Bill Kaulitz performing in Hessisch-Lichtenau, Germany in 2006.

In 2005, Universal Music Group took Tokio Hotel under contract and developed a marketing plan. Their first single, "Durch den Monsun" ("Through the Monsoon"), quickly rose in the charts, appearing on the German official Media Control single chart at #15 on August 20, 2005 and eventually reaching #1 on August 26, 2005; it also reached #1 on the Austrian singles chart. Their second single, "Schrei" ("Scream"), climbed to the #5 position in the German charts. These two songs were written by singer Bill Kaulitz together with their group of producers Peter Hoffmann, David Jost, Pat Benzer and Dave Roth. Their debut album, Schrei, was released on September 19, 2005, and was certified triple gold by the BVMI in 2006 for selling over 300,000 copies in Germany.^[16] In 2006, a third and fourth single, "Rette mich" ("Rescue Me") and "Der letzte Tag" ("The Final Day"), were released; both reached #1 as well. "Der letzte Tag" contained a B-side called "Wir schließen uns ein", which was also accompanied by a music video.

[edit] Zimmer 483 (2007 - 2008)

The first single off their second album Zimmer 483 (Room 483), called "Übers Ende der Welt" (later re-released in English under the name "Ready, Set, Go!"), was released on January 26, 2007 and quickly reached #1 in Germany and Austria, and #2 in France. Zimmer 483 was released in Germany on February 23, 2007, along with a deluxe edition of the album containing a DVD. The album's second single, "Spring nicht" ("Don't Jump") was released on April 7. The tour accompanying the release of the album, The Zimmer 483 Tour, was scheduled to start in March 2007, but was delayed by two weeks because the band members wished to have a different stage design. A third single, "An deiner Seite (Ich bin da)" ("By Your Side"), was released on November 16. The single contains the B-side "1000 Meere" ("1000 Oceans"), for which a music video was also produced. On April 28, 2008 Tokio Hotel released their single "Heilig" but no music video for the single was released, because of the tight schedule they had.

[edit] Scream (2007 - 2008)

Tokio Hotel's first English language album, Scream, was released on June 4, 2007 throughout Europe. In Germany, the album was released as Room 483 in order to emphasize the continuity with their last German album Zimmer 483. Scream contains English versions of a selection of songs from their German-language albums Scream and Zimmer 483. "Monsoon", the English-language version of "Durch den Monsun", was the first single from the album. "Ready, Set, Go!" (the translation of "Übers Ende der Welt") was released as the album's second single and "Don't Jump" (the translation of "Spring nicht") as the third single. A video for "Scream", the English-language version of their 2005 hit "Schrei", was also recorded, and was released to the iTunes Store in early March 2008.

Tokio Hotel gave their first concert in the United Kingdom on June 19, 2007. "Ready, Set, Go!" was released in the UK as the band's first single on August 27, 2007. The song reached #77 in the UK Singles Chart.

Tokio Hotel won an MTV Europe Music Award for Best InterAct on November 1, 2007 and were also nominated for Best Band. They performed "Monsoon" at the event.

Tokio Hotel released their first US single, simply called "Tokio Hotel", in late 2007. The single contains the tracks "Scream" and "Ready, Set, Go!", and was available exclusively at Hot Topic stores. Their second US single, "Scream America", was released on December 11, 2007. The single contains the track "Scream" and a remix of "Ready, Set, Go!" by AFI's Jade Puget. In February 2008, the band toured North America for five dates starting in Canada and finishing up in New York.^[17] After appearing and performing live on MuchMusic, while touring in Canada, "Ready, Set, Go!" entered the MuchOnDemand Daily 10, a countdown of videos chosen by viewers. It remained there for over a week, then returned to the top of the MOD Daily 10 chart on April 8. "Scream" was released in Canada on March 25 and in the US on May 6. The "1000 Hotels" European Tour began on March 3, 2008 in Brussels and continued to locations including The Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Scandinavia, and was scheduled to finish on April 9; during the concert in Marseille, France on March 14, Bill started to experience vocal problems.^[18] He let the audience sing more frequently than normal and instead of the original 21 songs that were on the set list, they only played 16 songs. Bill apologized, in German, for his bad singing and explained that he was sick. Two days later, the band canceled Lisbon, Portugal concert minutes before it was supposed to commence. The rest of the "1000 Hotels" Tour and a scheduled North American Tour were cancelled following an announcement in Bild by the band's manager that Bill Kaulitz had to undergo surgery to remove a cyst on his vocal cords.^[19][20]

Bill Kaulitz had been putting strain on his voice after playing 43 concerts in the 1000 Hotels tour without vacation.^[21] He had to undergo Larynx surgery on March 30 to remove a cyst that had formed on his vocal cords.^[22] The cyst was the result of a throat infection that went untreated.^[23] Following his surgery, Bill was unable to speak for twelve days, and had four weeks of vocal rehabilitation.^[24] If Bill had continued singing the rest of the tour, his voice would have eventually been permanently damaged.^[18][25] Tokio Hotel started performing again in May 2008^[26] and after that they embarked on a 2nd part of their 1000 Hotels European Tour adding many Open Air concerts and wrapping up the tour on July 13 in Werchter, Belgium.

[edit] North American Tours and Humanoid (2009 - 2010)

This section is outdated. Please update this section to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (November 2010)

Tokio Hotel embarked on a second tour of North America in August 2008, which included a performance at the Bamboozled festival in New Jersey. The band's music video for "Ready Set Go!" was nominated for Best Pop Video at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards,^[27] where they also won the award for Best New Artist.^[28] They returned to North America again in October 2008 for a month long tour of concerts and record store signings. In December 2008, a behind-the scenes DVD called Tokio Hotel TV – Caught on Camera was released. It contains footage from Tokio Hotel TV and backstage feature stories of the previous year on disc one entitled "History – The very best of Tokio Hotel TV!". A deluxe edition contains a second disc entitled "Future – The road to the new Album!" which features footage of the band on promotion tours and preparing for their third studio album.^[29]

In between the North American tours, the band returned to their record studio in Hamburg to record their third studio album, Humanoid, which, according to their producer David Jost, is currently set for release on October 2 in Germany & October 6, 2009 in the U.S.^[30][31][32] This is despite earlier statements predicting a March/April 2009 release or a May/June 2009 release.^[33][34][35] The album was recorded in both German and English with both versions were released simultaneously worldwide.^[34][35]

On August 10, it was announced on MTV news that the first German single would be "Automatisch" and its English counterpart, "Automatic", would also be released as a first single in the United States. On August 20, MTV Buzzworthy released a video which previewed "Automatic" and Cherrytree Records announced that the English version of the song would be released in the US on September 22.^[36][37] Nevertheless, the video for the single was released on September 3.

On November 2, it was announced on Tom's Blog that the second English single would be "World Behind My Wall" and its German counterpart, "Lass uns laufen", would be the second German single.^[38] The music videos for both versions were released on December 14 and December 15.

On June 24, the live music video for their single, "Dark Side of the Sun" was released on the band website.

On July 20, 2010 they released their second live album Humanoid City Live from Milan, Italy On November 22, 2010, their new song "Hurricanes and Suns," premiered on the Greek radio station Mad Radio. It was included in the bonus track on all versions of "Tokio Hotel: Best Of," a compilation album of their most successful songs. As well as the single for the 'Best of' release. The album will also include "Mädchen aus dem All", the first song the band recorded in a studio.

On December 14, 2010 their 'Best of' was released. December 2 was the World Premiere of the video for "Hurricanes and Suns" on their Official Website. On April 28, 2011 they received the "Fan Army FTW" award at the MTV O Music Awards, the networks first online award show. A clip of Bill and Tom thanking their fans was played after the winner was announced.

Tokio Hotel performed their first concert in Asia (excluding their concert in Israel) at the Audi Showcase in Singapore, followed shortly by the TM Connects With Tokio Hotel event in Malaysia, promoting the sales of their album Humanoid. They concluded the series of mini-concerts with Taiwan. They returned to Malaysia a couple of months later to perform at MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia 2010. They performed in Tokyo on December 15, 2010, after their South American Tour concluded in Distrito Federal, Mexico on December 2, 2010. In February, 2011 Tokio Hotel travelled to Japan to complete a second promo tour. A number of TV appearances and media interviews took place between February 8 and February 11.

On June 24, 2011 Tokio Hotel performed in Japan at “The Next Premium Night Tokio Hotel in Tokyo". The event was presented by Audi A1 and 150 fans were chosen to win tickets to attend the show. The event was the band's first acoustic performance in Japan. On June 25, 2011 the band performed live at the MTV Video Music Aid Japan in Tokyo. The show, which was formerly called the Video Music Awards Japan, was used as a music benefit to raise money for the Japanese Red Cross in order to help those who were affected by the recent earthquake.

Modeling and commercials[link]

This section is outdated. Please update this section to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (January 2010)

On January 19, 2010, lead singer Bill Kaulitz teamed up with twins Dean and Dan Caten of DSquared to walk the runway at a fashion event in Milan.^[39] Kaulitz made two appearances, as he opened and closed DSquared's Menswear Autumn/Winter 2010 show to Tokio Hotel song "Screamin".^[40]

Car maker Audi hired the two frontmen to star in their new advertising campaign to attract the younger generation. They were featured in an episode of Tokio Hotel TV (on Tokio Hotel's website) and also in a commercial.^[41]

On August 4, 2010, Tom Kaulitz got his own Reebok shoe commercial.^[42] Reebok signed the 20-year-old Tokio Hotel guitarist and sneaker addict to model shoes for the company. "At home, I created a little room like a little storage room," he said of his sneakers. He also said that he gets 10 new pairs a week.^[42]

Best Of Tokio Hotel (2010)[link]

At 13th December in Germany and 14th December internationally Tokio Hotel released their first compilation album named "Best Of". It comes in two languages: english and german. It contains the most popular songs from all the previous albums and two new songs: "Hurricanes and Suns" (was recorded for Humanoid but not included in it) and "Mädchen aus dem All" (was recorded for Schrei but not included in it).There is a deluxe edition too which comes with both german and english versions of album and a bonus DVD with all Tokio Hotel's music videos and "making of" scenes.

[edit] New album and duet with Far East Movement (2011 - present)

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After finishing "Welcome To Humanoid City Tour" Bill and Tom with their manager David Jost moved to Los Angeles and still are living there. They said they are working on the new album, which will be released in the late 2012. Paparazzies caught Bill, Tom and Gustav in a shop in Los Angeles. MTV said the new album will be named "Dark Anthem".^[43]. Bill and Tom released an app named "BTK Twins" for iOS (16 January 2012),^[44] and Android(19 December 2011),^[45] for keeping in touch with their fans. Here Bill and Tom post their photos, videos and text messages, and fans can leave messages for posts. Bill and Tom answer to these comments very often. The app costs 2.99$, and if a user wants to leave comments besides watching only he must pay 0.99$ a month. Tokio Hotel launched a service named "VIP Call".^[46] Fans may pay 4.99 Euros for a month or 3.49 Euros for 3 months and Tokio Hotel call them and leave audio messages. Fans can even ask them questions and Tokio Hotel will answer to them. On 18 May 2012 Far East Movement released an album named "Dirty Bass". In it there is a song named "If I Die Tomorrow" which is a duet with Bill. Far East Movement accepted there will be a music video released for "If I Die Tomorrow" soon. Bill Kaulitz will take part in shootings too.

Band members[link]

• Bill Kaulitz - lead vocals
• Tom Kaulitz - guitar, piano, backing vocals
• Georg Listing - bass, keyboards, synthesizers, backing vocals
• Gustav Schäfer - drums, percussion, backing vocals

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Schrei (2005)
• Zimmer 483 (2007)
• Scream (2007)
• Humanoid (2009)
• Best Of (2010)

Awards[link]

Since the release of the "Durch den Monsun" single in 2005, Tokio Hotel have gone on to win 104 awards in various categories and countries.

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

References[link]