Roman arena at Arles, inside view. Still in use today, it draws large crowds for bullfighting^[1] as well as plays and concerts in summer.

An amphitheatre (or amphitheater) is an open-air venue used for entertainment and performances. The term derives from the ancient Greek ἀμφιθέατρον (amphitheatron),^[2] from ἀμφί (amphi), meaning "on both sides" or "around"^[3] and θέατρον (théātron), meaning "place for viewing".^[4][5]

Ancient Greek theatres were built to a semicircular plan, with tiered seating above a performance area. Ancient Roman amphitheatres were oval or circular in plan, with seating tiers that surrounded the central performance area, like a modern open-air stadium. Modern usage for "amphitheater" can embrace theatre-style stages with the audience only on one side, theatres in the round, and stadiums. Natural formations shaped like man-made theatres or amphitheatres are sometimes known as natural amphitheatres.

Roman amphitheatres[link]

The Colosseum.

Ancient Roman amphitheatres were major public venues, circular or oval in shape, and used for events such as gladiator combats, chariot races, venationes (animal slayings) and executions. About 230 Roman amphitheatres have been found across the area of the Roman Empire. Their typical shape, functions and name distinguish them from Roman theatres, which are usually semicircular in shape; from the circuses (akin to hippodromes) whose much longer circuits were designed mainly for horse or chariot racing events; and from the smaller stadia, which were primarily designed for athletics and footraces.^[6]

The earliest Roman amphitheatres date from the middle of the first century BC, but most were built under Imperial rule, from the Augustan period (27 BC–14 AD) onwards.^[7] Imperial amphitheatres were built throughout the Roman empire; the largest could accommodate 40,000–60,000 spectators, and the most elaborate featured multi-storeyed, arcaded façades and were elaborately decorated with marble, stucco and statuary.^[8] After the end of gladiatorial games in the 5th century and of animal killings in the sixth, most amphitheatres fell into disrepair, and their materials were mined or recycled. Some were razed, and others converted into fortifications. A few continued as convenient open meeting places; in some of these, churches were sited.^[9]

Contemporary amphitheatres[link]

The Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood, California

A contemporary amphitheatre, the sense in which the word has come to be used now, is a curved, acoustically vibrant performance space, particularly one located outdoors. Contemporary amphitheatres often include standing structures, called bandshells, sometimes curved or bowl-shaped, both behind the stage and behind the audience, creating an area which echoes or amplifies sound, making the amphitheatre ideal for musical or theatrical performances. Most are semicircular in shape, so they should not properly be called amphitheatres. Notable modern amphitheatres include the Shoreline Amphitheatre and the Hollywood Bowl. The term "amphitheatre" is also used (incorrectly) for some indoor venues such as the Gibson Amphitheatre. The largest amphitheatre in the world is Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee, with a seating capacity of 160,000.

Natural amphitheatres[link]

Bryce Canyon Amphitheatre.

A natural amphitheatre is a performance space located in a spot where a steep mountain or a particular rock formation naturally amplifies or echoes sound, making it ideal for musical and theatrical performances. The term amphitheatre can also be used to describe naturally occurring formations which would be ideal for this purpose, even if no theatre has been constructed there. Notable natural amphitheatres include the Drakensberg amphitheatre in Drakensberg, South Africa, Slane Castle in Ireland, the Supernatural Amphitheatre in Victoria, Australia, and Echo amphitheatre, Red Rocks Amphitheatre and The Gorge Amphitheatre in the United States.

See also[link]

• Arena
• Ludus Magnus
• Stadium
• Thingplatz
• List of Roman amphitheatres
• List of contemporary amphitheatres
• List of indoor arenas
• open air, approximately semi-circular, theatres, built of stone or Roman concrete:
  • List of ancient Greek theatres
  • Roman theatre (structure)

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Bomgardner, David Lee (October 2000). The Story of the Roman Amphitheatre. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-16593-8. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Amphitheatre

• article "Amphitheatrum" (Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities)
• Caerleon amphitheatre
• Chester amphitheatre
• Pula amphitheatre
• Rome: Amphitheatrum Castrense
• France : Nimes Antique Arena
• Photos about Roman ruins in Budapest
• Roman amphitheatres
• Aerial photographs of Hungary's Amphitheatre
• Amphitheater in Petra, Jordan

This article may contain wording that merely promotes the subject without imparting verifiable information. Please remove or replace such wording, unless you can cite independent sources that support the characterization. (May 2010)

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. (January 2008)

Paolo Soleri (born June 21, 1919^[1] ) is an Italian architect. He established Arcosanti and the educational Cosanti Foundation. Soleri is a lecturer in the College of Architecture at Arizona State University and a National Design Award recipient in 2006.

Early life[link]

Soleri was born in Turin, Italy. He was awarded his "laurea" (PhD degree with highest honors) in architecture from the Politecnico di Torino in 1946. He visited the United States in December 1946 and spent a year and a half in fellowship with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West in Arizona, and at Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin. During this time, he gained international recognition for a bridge design displayed at the Museum of Modern Art.

Soleri returned to Italy in 1950 where he was commissioned to build a large ceramics factory, "Ceramica Artistica Solimene" in Vietri on the Amalfi coast.^[2] The ceramics industry processes he became familiar with during its construction led to his award-winning designs and production of ceramic and bronze windbells and siltcast architectural structures. For over 40 years, proceeds from sales of the windbells have provided funds for construction to test his theoretical work. Ceramic and bronze bells are still produced and sold at Arcosanti and Cosanti in Arizona.

In 1956 he settled in Scottsdale, Arizona, with his late wife, Colly, and their two daughters. Dr. and Mrs. Soleri made a life-long commitment to research and experimentation in urban planning, establishing the Cosanti Foundation, a non-profit educational foundation. Soleri's philosophy and works have been strongly influenced by the Jesuit paleontologist and philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.

Arcosanti[link]

The Cosanti Foundation's major project is Arcosanti, a community planned for 5,000 people, designed by Soleri; Arcosanti has been in construction since 1970. Located near Cordes Junction, about 70 miles (110 km) north of Phoenix and visible from Interstate I-17 in central Arizona, the project intends to provide a model demonstrating Soleri's concept of "Arcology", architecture coherent with ecology. Arcology is envisioned by Soleri as a hyperdense city, designed to maximize human interaction; it should maximize access to shared, cost-effective infrastructural services, conserve water and reduce sewage; minimize the use of energy, raw materials and land; reduce waste and environmental pollution; and allow interaction with the surrounding natural environment. Arcosanti is a prototype of a desert arcology. Soleri's other arcology designs envisioned sites such as the ocean (Nova Noah), et al. (see: Arcology: City in the Image of Man).

Since 1970, well over 6000 people have participated in Arcosanti's construction. Their international affiliation group is called the Arcosanti Alumni Network. As of 2010, construction is underway to complete Arcosanti's Greenhouse Apron.

Other achievements[link]

The International Architecture Symposium "Mensch und Raum" (Man and Space) at the Vienna University of Technology (Technische Universität Wien) in 1984 received international attention. Paolo Soleri participated, among others: Justus Dahinden, Dennis Sharp, Bruno Zevi, Jorge Glusberg, Otto Kapfinger, Frei Otto, Pierre Vago, Ernst Gisel, Ionel Schein.

Soleri is a distinguished lecturer in the College of Architecture at Arizona State University and a member of the Lindisfarne Association.

In 1966, Paolo Soleri began working on the design for the Paolo Soleri Amphitheater in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was built on the campus of the Santa Fe Indian School using large silt cast forms. The amphitheater is owned by the nineteen Native American Pueblos of New Mexico and is therefore not protected by local or state preservation laws.^[3]

A landmark exhibition, "The Architectural Visions of Paolo Soleri," organized in 1970 by the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, traveled extensively in the U.S. and Canada, breaking records for attendance. "Two Suns Arcology, A Concept for Future Cities" opened in 1976 at the Xerox Square Center in Rochester, New York. In 1989 "Paolo Soleri Habitats: Ecologic Minutiae," and exhibition of arcologies, space habitats and bridges, was presented at the New York Academy of Sciences. More recently, "Soleri's Cities, Architecture for the Planet Earth and Beyond" was featured at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts in Scottsdale, AZ. A Soleri bell appears in the film What the Bleep Do We Know? His work has been exhibited worldwide.

The Paolo Soleri Archives, the collection of all of Soleri's art and letters, is located at Arcosanti. The Soleri Archives is managed by Sue Kiersch under the direction of Cosanti Board Trustee Director of Special Projects Tomiaki Tamura, who resides at Arcosanti.

Soleri was interviewed in the 2007 environmental documentary "The 11th Hour (film)".

December 10, 2010 - Completion of Soleri Bridge and Plaza commissioned by Scottsdale Public Art. The 130-foot (40 m) pedestrian bridge, based on Paolo Soleri's design, is located on the South Bank of the Arizona Canal and connects newly developed retail area Scottsdale Waterfront with Old Town Scottsdale. The bridge is incorporated into a 22,000 sq ft (2,000 m²) plaza including silt cast artwork and a large bell assembly, The Goldwater Bell, also designed by Paolo Soleri.

Awards[link]

Soleri has received fellowships from the Graham Foundation and from the Guggenheim Foundation (1964, Architecture, Planning, & Design^[4]).
He has been awarded three honorary doctorates and several awards from design groups worldwide:

• 1963 - American Institute of Architects Gold Medal for Craftmanship
• 1981 - Gold Medal at the World Bienniale of Architecture held by the International Academy of Architecture in Sofia, Bulgaria
• 1984 - Silver Medal of the Academie d' Architecture in Paris
• 1996 - Honorary Fellow, Royal Institute of British Architects
• 2000 - Leone d'oro at the Mostra di Architettura di Venezia (Venice Architecture Biennale) for his lifelong achievement
• 2006 - Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for lifetime achievement

Writings[link]

He has written six books and numerous essays and monographs. When he is not traveling on the international lecture circuit, Soleri divides his time between Cosanti, the original site for his research located in Scottsdale, and Arcosanti.

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Arcosanti

• Arcology
• Arcosanti
• Yavapai County, Arizona
• Mayer, Arizona
• Cosanti
• List of architects
• List of urban planners
• Paolo Soleri Amphitheater
• Lisa A. Scafuro. Phoenix Home & Garden. March, 2008, Page 270. “Paolo Soleri: The Lifetime Achievements of a Living Legacy”

References[link]

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. (December 2010)

Michael Alden Hedges (December 31, 1953 – December 2, 1997) was an American composer, Acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter.

Background[link]

Hedges attended Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma, studying classical guitar.^{[citation needed]} It was here that he studied under his compositional mentor, E. J. Ulrich. Subsequently, from 1979 til 1982, Hedges was a composition major at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland who applied his classically-trained musical background in combination with various unusual techniques to the steel-string acoustic guitar. He covered a wide range of musical styles and was considered an extremely dynamic performer in concert. Michael made ends meet playing and singing in pubs and restaurants in the Baltimore Metro area during his tenure at Peabody. In 1980, he made plans to move to California to study music at Stanford University. He was discovered in February 1981 by William Ackerman who heard him performing at The Varsity Theater in Palo Alto and immediately signed him to a recording contract on the Windham Hill label.^[1] He was married to flautist Mindy Rosenfeld but the couple divorced in the late 1980s.^[2]

Recordings[link]

Hedges' first two recordings for Windham Hill—Breakfast in the Field and Aerial Boundaries—were milestones for the acoustic guitar.^{[citation needed]} He wrote nearly exclusively in alternate tunings. Some of the techniques he used include slap harmonics (created by slapping the strings over a harmonic node), use of right hand hammer-ons (particularly on bass notes), use of the left hand for melodic or rhythmic hammer-ons and pull offs, percussive slapping on the guitar body, as well as unusual strummings. He also made extensive use of string damping as employed in classical guitar, and was known to insist strongly on the precise duration of sounds and silences in his pieces. He also played guitar-variants like the harp guitar (an instrument with additional bass strings), and the TransTrem Guitar. He was a multi-instrumentalist, playing piano, percussion, tin whistle, harmonica, and flute, among others on his albums. Bassist Michael Manring contributed to nearly all of Hedges' records.

Frustrated that his published work reflected only the instrumental side of his creative output, Hedges convinced Windham Hill to release Watching My Life Go By, a 1985 studio recording of Hedges' vocal originals written over a span of 5 years – songs often performed at his concerts leading up to the album's release.

His fourth album, a live recording called, Live on the Double Planet, was assembled from 40 of his live concerts captured from 1986–1987 recordings. Subsequently, Hedges earned the freedom to release his albums with vocal and instrumental songs alike, something his first album would have contained were it not for the direction of record label initiatives.

Hedges had a very broad range of influences and his output spans many genres. His musical education was largely in modern 20th century composition. He listened to Martin Carthy, John Martyn, and the Beatles, but his approach to composition owed much to Igor Stravinsky, Edgard Varèse, Anton Webern, and Steve Reich, in addition to experimental composers such as Morton Feldman. He saw himself as a composer who played guitar, rather than a guitarist who composed music. He was often categorized as a New Age musician due to his association with the Windham Hill record label. Somewhat in reaction to this, he would describe his music as "Heavy Mental", "New Edge", ""Acoustic Thrash", "Deep Tissue Gladiator Guitar" or "Savage Myth Guitar," amongst other terms.^[3]

Hedges toured briefly as a co-bill with Leo Kottke. These shows included solo performances by Kottke and Hedges and, as a finale, a number of duets including performances of Kottke's "Doodles" with Hedges playing a high-strung parlor guitar.

Guitars[link]

Hedges regularly used the following instruments:^[4]

• 1971 Martin D-28 guitar (nicknamed "Barbara") with a combination of a Sunrise S-1 magnetic pickup and FRAP contact pickup under the treble strings
• custom 1980s Takamine guitars with his name on the headstock
• Lowden L-250 guitars
• Martin J-65M guitars
• 1920s Dyer harp guitar configured with a FRAP/autoharp pickup combo / reconfigured with Sunrise S-1 and two Barcus Berry magnetic pickups for the sub-basses (glued straight to the body)
• Steve Klein electric harp guitar with a TransTrem bridge
• circa 1913 black Knutsen harp guitar (often incorrectly referred to as a Dyer) with a FRAP/autoharp pickup combo—and rattlesnake tail wedged under the sub-basses at headstock

Hedges was left-handed but played right-handed guitars. Hedges would experiment with different pick-ups, effects, and amp combinations to achieve a different and unique sound for every song. Hedges was also able to precisely equalize his instruments for the concert hall in which he was performing. He used state-of-the-art equipment such as Sunrise soundhole pickups, F.R.A.P. and later, Trance Audio soundboard transducers.

Death[link]

In late 1997, Hedges died at the age of 43 in a car accident along State Route 128 in Mendocino County, near Boonville (about 100 miles (160 km) northwest of San Francisco). According to his manager and longtime friend Hilleary Burgess, he was driving home from San Francisco International Airport after a Thanksgiving visit to a girlfriend in Long Island, New York. His car apparently skidded off a rain-slicked S-curve and down a 120-foot (37 m) cliff. Hedges was thrown from his car and appeared to have died nearly instantly. His body was found a few days afterward.^[5] After his death, his record Oracle won the 1998 Grammy Award for Best New Age Album.

Hedges' unfinished last recordings were brought to completion in the album Torched, with the help of his former manager Hilleary Burgess and friends David Crosby and Graham Nash.^[6] Musician Keller Williams recorded a song in tribute to Hedges entitled "Not Of This Earth" and is featured on the CD "Breathe."

A fundraiser to help his children can be found at Nomad Land.

Recognition[link]

• "I feel I can always hear his heart when he plays. He respected my playing too, and that simply thrills me." – Pete Townshend^[7]
• "Michael was unique. His music transcends genre and trend. It's truly musical, fun and enlightening.” – Steve Vai^[7]
• "His playing has a feel and timbre all its own – technically brilliant, but always organic and true." – Joe Satriani^[7]
• "One of the most brilliant musicians in America." – David Crosby^[7]
• "I considered him to be a genius and when he died I lost a great friend." – Graham Nash^[7]
• "There was simply no one like him." – Bonnie Raitt^[7]
• "He was a real musician who remained humble even through stardom. A rare breed indeed." – Alvin Lee^[7]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• Breakfast in the Field (1981)
• Aerial Boundaries (1984)
• Watching My Life Go By (1985)
• Taproot (1990)
• The Road to Return (1994)
• Oracle (1996)
• Torched (1999–posthumous)

Live albums[link]

• Live on the Double Planet (1987)

Compilations (solo)[link]

• Strings of Steel (1993)
• Sounds of Wood and Steel (1998)
• Best of Michael Hedges (2000–posthumous)
• Beyond Boundaries: Guitar Solos (2001–posthumous)
• Platinum & Gold Collection: Michael Hedges (2003–posthumous)
• Pure (2006–posthumous)

Compilations (various artists)[link]

• An Evening with Windham Hill Live (1982)
• A Winter’s Solstice II (1988)
• A Winter’s Solstice III (1990)
• Windham Hill: The First Ten Years (1990)
• Windham Hill Guitar Sampler II (1992)
• Carols of Christmas (1996)
• Summer Solstice (1997)
• A Winter's Solstice VI (1997)
• The Renaissance Album (1998)
• Touch: Windham Hill 25 Years of Guitar (2001)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Nomad Land: The official Michael Hedges site
• Michael Hedges Interview by Anil Prasad
• Michael Hedges guitar tunings
• Peabody Reports Michael's Death
• Guitar International article by Brad Conroy; Guitar Hero Series: Michael Hedges

Julio Iglesias
Julio Iglesias in November 2007.
Background information
Birth name	Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva
Born	(1943-09-23) September 23, 1943 (age 68) Madrid, Spain
Genres	Latin American music, Latin, Latin pop, Dance and Classical
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Years active	1968–present
Labels	Columbia Records and Sony Music Entertainment
Website	www.julioiglesias.com

Julio Iglesias (born Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva; September 23, 1943) is a Spanish singer and songwriter whose romantic image, magnetic stage presence, and expressive music made him one of the best-selling artists of all time. By the early 21st century he had sold hundreds of millions of albums in more than a dozen languages.^[1] He has sold over 300 million records worldwide in 14 languages and released 77 albums.^[2] According to Sony Music Entertainment, he is one of the top 15 best-selling music artists in history.^[3] While Iglesias rose to international prominence in the 1970s and 1980s as a performer of romantic ballads, his success has continued on as he entered new musical endeavors.^[4] He is the father of singer Enrique Iglesias.

Early life[link]

Iglesias was born in Madrid, the eldest son of Dr. Julio Iglesias Puga and María del Rosario de la Cueva y Perignat. Iglesias' father's family was from Galicia, and Iglesias' mother an Andalusian.

In the 1960s, he studied law in Madrid and was a goalkeeper for one of Real Madrid's^[5] football teams. On September 22, 1963, he was involved in a car crash, resulting in an injury to his spinal cord.^[6] He said, "I had a car accident; [a] very, very strange car accident...I lost control of the car and rolled it, resulting in what they call 'paraparexia,' which is not paraplegia. It's a compression in the [spinal] cord, in the sense of the neck...my spinal cord; and I was very, very ill for three years."  His doctors thought he would never walk again; indeed, his legs were left permanently weakened, and they continued to require therapy as of late October 2010. However, slowly, he began recovering his health. To develop and increase the dexterity of his hands, he began playing guitar.^[6] When he recovered from his accident, he resumed academic studies and traveled to the United Kingdom to study the English language, first in Ramsgate, then at Bell Educational Trust's Language School in Cambridge.

In 1971, he married Spanish Filipino^[7] journalist Isabel Preysler and had three children, Chabeli Iglesias, Julio Iglesias, Jr. and Enrique Iglesias. Their marriage was annulled in 1979. In 1981 his father, Julio Iglesias Puga, Sr, was kidnapped by Basque terrorists but found alive two weeks later, prompting Julio Iglesias to move his children to Miami, Florida.^[8]

On August 24, 2010, Julio Iglesias and Miranda Rijnsburger got married after a 20-year relationship. The religious ceremony was celebrated in the Parish of the Virgen del Carmen of Marbella, and was followed by a Mass of thanksgiving in the chapel on the property the couple owns in the same city.^[9] The couple has three sons and twin daughters: Miguel (born September 7, 1997), Rodrigo (born April 3, 1999), Victoria and Cristina (born May 1, 2001) and Guillermo (born May 5, 2007).^[10] After Iglesias was 60 years old, his 89 year old father produced more children: half-brother Jaime born May 18, 2004; and half sister Ruth born July 26, 2006. Julio's half siblings were a product of Dr. Iglesias Puga's second marriage, to Ronna Keitt.^[11]

Career[link]

In 1968, he won the Benidorm International Song Festival, a songwriter's event in Spain, with the song "La vida sigue igual" (meaning "Life Continues Just The Same") which was used in the film La vida sigue igual, about his own life. After his events he signed a deal with Discos Columbia, the Spanish branch of the Columbia Records company. He represented Spain in the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest, earning fourth place, after Northern Irish singer Dana and the Welsh singer Mary Hopkin. His entry was the song "Gwendolyne." Shortly after he had a number one hit in many European countries with "Un Canto A Galicia." That single sold 1 million copies in Germany. In 1975 he found success in the Italian market by recording a song exclusively in Italian called "Se mi lasci non vale" ("If You Leave Me, It Can't Be"). Notable albums from this decade are A Flor de Piel (1974, with the European hit "Manuela"), "El Amor" (1975), and "Soy" (1978). He also sang in French. One of his popular songs is "Je n'ai pas changé".

Following the annulment of his marriage to Preysler in 1979, he moved to Miami, Florida, in the United States and signed a deal with CBS International, and started singing in different languages such as English, French, Portuguese, German and other languages to his music. Iglesias released the album De Niña a Mujer (1981), dedicated to his daughter (that divided the cover photo with him), from it came the first English-language hit, a Spanish cover of "Begin the Beguine" which became number 1 in the United Kingdom, he also released a collection, Julio (1983). In 1984, he released 1100 Bel Air Place, the hit album which gave him publicity in the English-speaking entertainment industry. It sold four million albums in the United States, with the first single "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", a duet with Willie Nelson, earning a fifth place spot in the Billboard Hot 100; it also featured "All of You", with Diana Ross.

Julio Iglesias made a cameo appearance as himself on The Golden Girls as Sophia Petrillo's date on St. Valentine's Day. In 1984 he recorded the duets with Diana Ross and Willie Nelson previously mentioned. Iglesias won a Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album in the 1988 Grammy Awards for the album Un Hombre Solo (A Man Alone). He recorded a duet with Stevie Wonder on "My Love", in his Non Stop album, a crossover success in 1988. In the 1990s, Iglesias returned to his original Spanish melody in Tango (1996), nominated for Best Latin Pop Album at the 1998 Grammy Awards, losing to the Romances album by Mexican singer, Luis Miguel.^[12] Also that year, his youngest son from his first marriage, Enrique Iglesias, also was nominated for the Vivir album.

Julio Iglesias went on to win the World Music Award for Tango in Monaco later that year where he was up against singer Luis Miguel and son Enrique for the second time. Julio performed two "Tangos" to the delight of the audience. In 1995, he appeared as a guest star in the videoclip of Thalía's song "Amandote"; she had starred in the video clip of Iglesias's hit "Baila Morena". Iglesias returned to the headlines in October 2003, when he went to Argentina and kissed show host Susana Giménez three times during a live telecast of her show.

In 2003, he released his album Divorcio (Divorce). In its first day of sales, Divorcio sold a record 350,000 albums in Spain, and reached the number 1 spot on the charts in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, and Russia. In 2003 and 2004, he was featured on a ten month world tour; which took Iglesias, aided by the success his album Divorcio and toured from Europe and Asia to North America, South America and Africa. More than half the shows on the tour sold out within days of going on sale. In December 2004, his Dutch girlfriend Miranda Rijnsburger and Iglesias himself recorded a duet of the Christmas song "Silent Night". The song, which was not officially released, also included a voice message from Iglesias, Rijnsburger and their 4 young children. The song was released online through the singer's official website and a CD was included on their Christmas card as a holiday gift from the Iglesias family to their friends and fans around the world.

In 2008, Iglesias recorded another song as a gift to his fans. The family recorded "The Little Drummer Boy" in Spanish and English and included it in the family's Christmas card. Iglesias also made investments in the Dominican Republic's eastern town of Punta Cana, a major tourist destination, where he spends most of the year when he is not on tour. Iglesias's south Florida mansion on the exclusive private Indian Creek Island property was placed on the market in 2006 for a quoted $28 million, making it one of "Ten Most Expensive Homes in the South" in 2006 according to Forbes Magazine.^[13]

In September 2006, a new English album titled Romantic Classics was released. "I've chosen songs from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s that I believe will come to be regarded as the new standards", Iglesias stated in the album's sleeve notes. The album features the hits "I Want to Know What Love Is", "Careless Whisper", and "Right Here Waiting". Romantic Classics was Iglesias's highest debut on the Billboard charts, entering at number 31 in the United States, 21 in Canada, 10 in Australia, and top spots across Europe and Asia. He returned to the studio to record songs in Filipino and Indonesian for his Asian releases of Romantic Classics which helped propel record sales in the Asian entertainment industry. Iglesias promoted Romantic Classics in 2006 and was seen all over the world on television shows. For example, in the United States, he appeared on Dancing With The Stars (where he sang his hit "I Want To Know What Love Is"), Good Morning America, The View, Fox and Friends, and Martha Stewart.

In 2008, Iglesias promoted his Romantic Classics album worldwide and in 2009-2010, he planned a world tour as a celebration of forty years in the music industry.^{[citation needed]} After his house in Indian Creek did not sell he razed his house to the ground in 2008 and said he planned to build another.^[14]

In 2010, Iglesias continued to travel around the world with his "Starry Night World Tour" to promote his 42 years of career. Julio Iglesias is currently learning Tunisian Sephardic cuisine for which he has developed an incredible passion, the Mloukhia being his best recipe. According to his close friend, Emilio Lopez, Julio is also learning Orthodox Judaism to become a rabbi in Los Angeles and teach French-speaking kids how to pray with a Latino twist.

Julio is frequently seen at the Tunisian restaurant in Paris called Douieb where he orders the Tunisian sandwich.

According to his official site, he has sold over 300 million albums worldwide as of 1 November 2010 (2010 -11-01)^[update].

In March 2011, the artist launched a new studio album called Numero 1.

Iglesias' performance of the song La Mer ("The Sea") is featured in the soundtrack of the 2011 film Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. The performance comes from a live album, currently out-of-print, recorded live at the Olympia theater in Paris in 1976. At the beginning and the end of the recording, Iglesias introduces the song, and his backing musicians, in fluent French.

Discography[link]

Studio, live, remastered and compilation main albums

• 2011: Numero 1
• 2010: The Essential: Julio Iglesias
• 2010: Original album classic
• 2010: Nathalie-The best of Julio Iglesias
• 2007: Quelque Chose De France
• 2006: Romantic Classics (US:#41)
• 2006: Remastered+Bonus Track
• 2006: Remastered (US:#81)
• 2005: L'homme Que Je Suis
• 2003: Divorcio
• 2001: Ao meu Brasil
• 2000: Noche De Cuatro Lunas
• 1996: Tango
• 1995: La Carretera
• 1994: Crazy (US:#30)
• 1992: Calor (US:#186)
• 1990: Starry Night (US:#37)
• 1989: Raíces
• 1988: Non Stop (US:#52)
• 1987: Un Hombre Solo
• 1987: Tutto l'amore che ti manca
• 1985: Libra (US.#92), (US Latin:#1)
• 1984: 1100 Bel Air Place (US:#6) [Singles: "All Of You" US:#19, US R&B:#38, "Moonlight Lady" Adult Contemporary #17, "To All The Girls I've Loved Before" US:#5, US Country:#1]
• 1983: En Concierto
• 1982: Momentos
• 1982: Momenti
• 1982: Et l'amour crea la femme
• 1981: De niña a mujer
• 1981: Fidèle
• 1981: Minhas canções preferidas
• 1981: Zartlichkeiten
• 1980: Hey!
• 1980: Amanti
• 1980: Sentimental
• 1979: A vous les femmes
• 1979: Innamorarsi alla mia eta
• 1979: Emociones
• 1978: Aimer La Vie
• 1978: As Vezes Tu, As Vezes Eu
• 1978: Da "Manuela" A "Pensami"
• 1978: "Quiero" Album (El Amor)
• 1977: A mis 33 años
• 1976: America
• 1976: Ein Weihnachtsabend Mit Julio Iglesias
• 1976: En El Olympia
• 1975: A Mexico
• 1975: El Amor
• 1974: A Flor de Piel
• 1974: Viens M'embrasser
• 1973: Soy
• 1972: Un Canto a Galicia
• 1972: Por una mujer
• 1969: Yo Canto

References[link]

External links[link]

• Interview with Julio Iglesias
• Julio Iglesias at the Internet Movie Database

Kerry King
King performing in 2007
Background information
Born	(1964-06-03) June 3, 1964 (age 48) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Thrash metal, speed metal
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, vocals
Years active	1981–present
Labels	American Recordings, Metal Blade
Associated acts	Slayer, Megadeth, Witchery, Sum 41
Notable instruments
B.C. Rich KKV

Kerry King (born June 3, 1964^[1]) is an American musician, best known as the lead and rhythm guitarist for the American thrash metal band, Slayer. He co-founded the band with Jeff Hanneman in 1981 and has been a member ever since. He has made guest appearances with acts including the Beastie Boys, Marilyn Manson, Pantera, Ice-T, Witchery, Sum 41, Megadeth and Metallica. He is known for playing B.C. Rich guitars with Marshall amplifiers.

Biography[link]

King was born in Los Angeles, California. His father was an aircraft parts inspector, and his mother was an employee of a telephone company. When he was a teenager, Kerry started learning guitar at Calvano's music in South Gate Ca. Russ Dismuke was his teacher. Kerry began his career in a Pat Boone cover band. Kerry moved to Phoenix, Arizona as an adult. He divorced once; his current wife is Ayesha King.^[2] In 1981 King was trying out for the position as a guitarist in a band. After the session was over Jeff Hanneman approached him and the two began playing Iron Maiden and Judas Priest songs with the session drummer. Hanneman mentioned "Why don’t we start our OWN band?” [Laughs] I was like, “… Fuck yeah!"^[3] King's trademark appearance, was praised to such a degree by Blender magazine, who included a tour of his body ink.^[4] King's acronym, KFK, was revealed to mean "Kerry Fuckin' King" in the January 2007 Issue of Guitar World.^[5] King currently resides in Corona, California.^[5]

Guest appearances[link]

In addition to appearing on Slayer's albums, he has also made several guest appearances as lead guitarist. While lending production to 1986’s Reign in Blood, Rick Rubin was also helming production of the Beastie Boys debut album Licensed to Ill. Rubin felt the track "No Sleep till Brooklyn" needed a guitar solo, so he offered King several hundred dollars to lay down the part.^[6] King has since commented that his playing ability "certainly wasn’t that of a virtuoso".^[6] "No Sleep till Brooklyn", whose title was a spoof on Motörhead’s 1981 live album No Sleep 'til Hammersmith, was originally intended to feature King being knocked offstage by a gorilla in its music video though King refused.^[6] King replied, "If there’s gonna be anyone knocking anyone offstage, it’ll be me knocking the gorilla", which is what subsequently happened.^[6] King has reminisced that he thought the Beastie Boys were cool, although never having heard any of their music at the time.^[6] On Licensed to Ill, King also played the guitar solo on the song "Fight For Your Right (To Party)".^[7]

King at Tuska-Festival

King contributed a lead guitar outro part to Pantera’s song "Goddamn Electric", which appeared on the 2000 album Reinventing the Steel.^[8] King’s rig was set up in Pantera’s bathroom backstage just after Ozzfest in Dallas, as the group still didn't have their own dressing room on top of not appearing on the festival bill.^[8] After King had finished the first take, Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell ran in and yelled "DON’T LET HIM DO IT AGAIN!"^[8] King tried again with the hope he would find a superior rendition, though the first take was used.^[8] King has also made several guest appearances in Marilyn Manson's "Rape Of The World" tour, joining the band to play classic tracks such as "Little Horn", "1996" and "Irresponsible Hate Anthem". Many fans noticed elements of King's own style used on these occasions.^[9] On October 21, 2010, the finale date of the Jägermeister Music Tour, King joined Megadeth on stage, at the Gibson Amphitheater in Hollywood, California to perform "Rattlehead" which was the first time in 26 years that King has shared the stage with Megadeth and Inan with his band.^[10]

Feuds[link]

King has had well-publicized disagreements with several of his contemporaries, including a long-standing feud with Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, who attempted to persuade King to leave the "poseurs," "lame spikes," and "eyeliner" of Slayer behind and focus on Megadeth. In GuitarWorld.com's Dear Guitar Hero, King noted that he "admires him to this day" as a guitarist, though he considered Mustaine a "hypocrite."^[11] In 2009 Slayer and Megadeth co-headlined a small, four show Canadian tour.^[12] In January 2010, Dave Mustaine and Kerry King were in a T.G.I. Friday's in Temecula, California, getting to know each other again.^[13] The feud between King and Mustaine was suggested by a Blabbermouth.net interview to have been dropped after a chance meeting at an airport, as King noted that he "just couldn't remember" what the feud was about anymore.^[14]

There was a feud between King and Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn, who claims that King started "talking shit about us out of nowhere."^[15] King labeled Machine Head as “sell-outs” after the release of their 2001 album Supercharger. King continued to criticize the band stating "They're responsible for rap-metal," "they fooled me into thinking they're metal," "'they have no integrity left."^[15] Flynn has since noted that King has "finally squashed the beef."^[16] When King proposed a tour between the "Big Four" thrash metal bands, King suggested that Machine Head be included instead of Anthrax.^[17] King stated in an interview that Machine Head's The Blackening is "kick-ass."^[18]

In 2006, Slayer's producer Rick Rubin lent production to Metallica's then-untitled Death Magnetic album, instead of Slayer for their album Christ Illusion. King deemed this action a "slap in the fucking face,"^[19] labeling Metallica as a "sinking ship."^[20] During an interview on drummers, King said that Soulfly drummer Joe Nunez did not join Slayer because "his mother wouldn't let him," that Adrian Erlandsson "hits his drums like a fag," and that Raymond Herrera "has no hands".^[21] In 2011 Adrian Erlandsson responded by posting a photo on his Lockerz account of a bent bass drum beater along with the caption, "Up yours, Mr. King, soft hitters don't bend bass drum beaters!"^[22]

Style and influence[link]

Kerry King's first experience with a guitar was when he was a child.^[23] Early albums, such as Hell Awaits and Reign in Blood, featured a "wailing style" and "demented soloing often mimicking the screams of the song's victims."^[24] Steve Huey of Allmusic described his and Jeff Hannemans guitar solos as "wildly chaotic,"^[25] and Thom Jurek, also of Allmusic, described his work on 2006's Christ Illusion as "create an intensely harrowing and angular riff that changes from verse to verse, through the refrain and bridge, and comes back again."^[26]

Equipment[link]

Discography[link]

References[link]