Thunderstorm near Garajau, Madeira

Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy.^[1] Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere,^[2][3] just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate is the term for the average atmospheric conditions over longer periods of time.^[4] When used without qualification, "weather" is understood to be the weather of Earth.

Weather is driven by density (temperature and moisture) differences between one place and another. These differences can occur due to the sun angle at any particular spot, which varies by latitude from the tropics. The strong temperature contrast between polar and tropical air gives rise to the jet stream. Weather systems in the mid-latitudes, such as extratropical cyclones, are caused by instabilities of the jet stream flow. Because the Earth's axis is tilted relative to its orbital plane, sunlight is incident at different angles at different times of the year. On Earth's surface, temperatures usually range ±40 °C (100 °F to −40 °F) annually. Over thousands of years, changes in Earth's orbit affect the amount and distribution of solar energy received by the Earth and influence long-term climate and global climate change.

Surface temperature differences in turn cause pressure differences. Higher altitudes are cooler than lower altitudes due to differences in compressional heating. Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a future time and a given location. The atmosphere is a chaotic system, so small changes to one part of the system can grow to have large effects on the system as a whole. Human attempts to control the weather have occurred throughout human history, and there is evidence that human activity such as agriculture and industry has inadvertently modified weather patterns.

Studying how the weather works on other planets has been helpful in understanding how weather works on Earth. A famous landmark in the Solar System, Jupiter's Great Red Spot, is an anticyclonic storm known to have existed for at least 300 years. However, weather is not limited to planetary bodies. A star's corona is constantly being lost to space, creating what is essentially a very thin atmosphere throughout the Solar System. The movement of mass ejected from the Sun is known as the solar wind.

Cause[link]

Stratocumulus perlucidus clouds

On Earth,such as selena common weather phenomena include wind, cloud, rain, snow, fog and dust storms. Less common events include natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons and ice storms. Almost all familiar weather phenomena occur in the troposphere (the lower part of the atmosphere).^[3] Weather does occur in the stratosphere and can affect weather lower down in the troposphere, but the exact mechanisms are poorly understood.^[5]

Weather occurs primarily due to density (temperature and moisture) differences between one place to another. These differences can occur due to the sun angle at any particular spot, which varies by latitude from the tropics. In other words, the farther from the tropics you lie, the lower the sun angle is, which causes those locations to be cooler due to the indirect sunlight.^[6] The strong temperature contrast between polar and tropical air gives rise to the jet stream.^[7] Weather systems in the mid-latitudes, such as extratropical cyclones, are caused by instabilities of the jet stream flow (see baroclinity).^[8] Weather systems in the tropics, such as monsoons or organized thunderstorm systems, are caused by different processes.

Because the Earth's axis is tilted relative to its orbital plane, sunlight is incident at different angles at different times of the year. In June the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towards the sun, so at any given Northern Hemisphere latitude sunlight falls more directly on that spot than in December (see Effect of sun angle on climate).^[9] This effect causes seasons. Over thousands to hundreds of thousands of years, changes in Earth's orbital parameters affect the amount and distribution of solar energy received by the Earth and influence long-term climate. (see Milankovitch cycles).^[10]

The uneven solar heating (the formation of zones of temperature and moisture gradients, or frontogenesis) can also be due to the weather itself in the form of cloudiness and precipitation.^[11] Higher altitudes are cooler than lower altitudes, which is explained by the lapse rate.^[12][13] On local scales, temperature differences can occur because different surfaces (such as oceans, forests, ice sheets, or man-made objects) have differing physical characteristics such as reflectivity, roughness, or moisture content.

Surface temperature differences in turn cause pressure differences. A hot surface heats the air above it and the air expands, lowering the air pressure and its density.^[14] The resulting horizontal pressure gradient accelerates the air from high to low pressure, creating wind, and Earth's rotation then causes curvature of the flow via the Coriolis effect.^[15] The simple systems thus formed can then display emergent behaviour to produce more complex systems and thus other weather phenomena. Large scale examples include the Hadley cell while a smaller scale example would be coastal breezes.

The atmosphere is a chaotic system, so small changes to one part of the system can grow to have large effects on the system as a whole.^[16] This makes it difficult to accurately predict weather more than a few days in advance, though weather forecasters are continually working to extend this limit through the scientific study of weather, meteorology. It is theoretically impossible to make useful day-to-day predictions more than about two weeks ahead, imposing an upper limit to potential for improved prediction skill.^[17]

Shaping the planet Earth[link]

Weather is one of the fundamental processes that shape the Earth. The process of weathering breaks down the rocks and soils into smaller fragments and then into their constituent substances.^[18] These are then free to take part in chemical reactions that can affect the surface further (such as acid rain) or are reformed into other rocks and soils. In this way, weather plays a major role in erosion of the surface.^[19]

Effect on humans[link]

Effects on populations[link]

New Orleans, Louisiana, after being struck by Hurricane Katrina. Katrina was a Category 3 hurricane when it struck although it had been a category 5 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico.

Weather has played a large and sometimes direct part in human history. Aside from climatic changes that have caused the gradual drift of populations (for example the desertification of the Middle East, and the formation of land bridges during glacial periods), extreme weather events have caused smaller scale population movements and intruded directly in historical events. One such event is the saving of Japan from invasion by the Mongol fleet of Kublai Khan by the Kamikaze winds in 1281.^[20] French claims to Florida came to an end in 1565 when a hurricane destroyed the French fleet, allowing Spain to conquer Fort Caroline.^[21] More recently, Hurricane Katrina redistributed over one million people from the central Gulf coast elsewhere across the United States, becoming the largest diaspora in the history of the United States.^[22]

The Little Ice Age caused crop failures and famines in Europe. The 1690s saw the worst famine in France since the Middle Ages. Finland suffered a severe famine in 1696–1697, during which about one-third of the Finnish population died.^[23]

Effects on individuals[link]

The human body is negatively affected by extremes in temperature, humidity, and wind.^[24]

Forecasting[link]

Forecast of surface pressures five days into the future for the north Pacific, North America, and north Atlantic ocean as on 9 June 2008

Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a future time and a given location. Human beings have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia, and formally since at least the nineteenth century.^[25][26] Weather forecasts are made by collecting quantitative data about the current state of the atmosphere and using scientific understanding of atmospheric processes to project how the atmosphere will evolve.^[27]

Once an all-human endeavor based mainly upon changes in barometric pressure, current weather conditions, and sky condition,^[28][29] forecast models are now used to determine future conditions. Human input is still required to pick the best possible forecast model to base the forecast upon, which involves pattern recognition skills, teleconnections, knowledge of model performance, and knowledge of model biases. The chaotic nature of the atmosphere, the massive computational power required to solve the equations that describe the atmosphere, error involved in measuring the initial conditions, and an incomplete understanding of atmospheric processes mean that forecasts become less accurate as the difference in current time and the time for which the forecast is being made (the range of the forecast) increases. The use of ensembles and model consensus helps to narrow the error and pick the most likely outcome.^[30][31][32]

There are a variety of end users to weather forecasts. Weather warnings are important forecasts because they are used to protect life and property.^[33][34] Forecasts based on temperature and precipitation are important to agriculture,^{[35][36][37][38]} and therefore to commodity traders within stock markets. Temperature forecasts are used by utility companies to estimate demand over coming days.^[39][40][41] On an everyday basis, people use weather forecasts to determine what to wear on a given day. Since outdoor activities are severely curtailed by heavy rain, snow and the wind chill, forecasts can be used to plan activities around these events, and to plan ahead and survive them.

Modification[link]

The aspiration to control the weather is evident throughout human history: from ancient rituals intended to bring rain for crops to the U.S. Military Operation Popeye, an attempt to disrupt supply lines by lengthening the North Vietnamese monsoon. The most successful attempts at influencing weather involve cloud seeding; they include the fog- and low stratus dispersion techniques employed by major airports, techniques used to increase winter precipitation over mountains, and techniques to suppress hail.^[42] A recent example of weather control was China's preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. China shot 1,104 rain dispersal rockets from 21 sites in the city of Beijing in an effort to keep rain away from the opening ceremony of the games on 8 August 2008. Guo Hu, head of the Beijing Municipal Meteorological Bureau (BMB), confirmed the success of the operation with 100 millimeters falling in Baoding City of Hebei Province, to the southwest and Beijing's Fangshan District recording a rainfall of 25 millimeters.^[43]

Whereas there is inconclusive evidence for these techniques' efficacy, there is extensive evidence that human activity such as agriculture and industry results in inadvertent weather modification:^[42]

• Acid rain, caused by industrial emission of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere, adversely affects freshwater lakes, vegetation, and structures.
• Anthropogenic pollutants reduce air quality and visibility.
• Climate change caused by human activities that emit greenhouse gases into the air is expected to affect the frequency of extreme weather events such as drought, extreme temperatures, flooding, high winds, and severe storms.^[44]

The effects of inadvertent weather modification may pose serious threats to many aspects of civilization, including ecosystems, natural resources, food and fiber production, economic development, and human health.^[45]

Extremes on Earth[link]

Early morning sunshine over Bratislava, Slovakia.

On Earth, temperatures usually range ±40 °C (100 °F to −40 °F) annually. The range of climates and latitudes across the planet can offer extremes of temperature outside this range. The coldest air temperature ever recorded on Earth is −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F), at Vostok Station, Antarctica on 21 July 1983. The hottest air temperature ever recorded was 57.7 °C (135.9 °F) at 'Aziziya, Libya, on 13 September 1922,^[46] but that reading is queried. The highest recorded average annual temperature was 34.4 °C (93.9 °F) at Dallol, Ethiopia.^[47] The coldest recorded average annual temperature was −55.1 °C (−67.2 °F) at Vostok Station, Antarctica.^[48] The coldest average annual temperature in a permanently inhabited location is at Eureka, Nunavut, in Canada, where the annual average temperature is −19.7 °C (−3.5 °F).^[49]

Extraterrestrial within the Solar System[link]

Jupiter's Great Red Spot in 1979.

Studying how the weather works on other planets has been seen as helpful in understanding how it works on Earth.^[50] Weather on other planets follows many of the same physical principles as weather on Earth, but occurs on different scales and in atmospheres having different chemical composition. The Cassini–Huygens mission to Titan discovered clouds formed from methane or ethane which deposit rain composed of liquid methane and other organic compounds.^[51] Earth's atmosphere includes six latitudinal circulation zones, three in each hemisphere.^[52] In contrast, Jupiter's banded appearance shows many such zones,^[53] Titan has a single jet stream near the 50th parallel north latitude,^[54] and Venus has a single jet near the equator.^[55]

One of the most famous landmarks in the Solar System, Jupiter's Great Red Spot, is an anticyclonic storm known to have existed for at least 300 years.^[56] On other gas giants, the lack of a surface allows the wind to reach enormous speeds: gusts of up to 600 metres per second (about 2,100 km/h or 1,300 mph) have been measured on the planet Neptune.^[57] This has created a puzzle for planetary scientists. The weather is ultimately created by solar energy and the amount of energy received by Neptune is only about ¹⁄₉₀₀ of that received by Earth, yet the intensity of weather phenomena on Neptune is far greater than on Earth.^[58] The strongest planetary winds discovered so far are on the extrasolar planet HD 189733 b, which is thought to have easterly winds moving at more than 9,600 kilometres per hour (6,000 mph).^[59]

Space weather[link]

Aurora Borealis

Weather is not limited to planetary bodies. Like all stars, the sun's corona is constantly being lost to space, creating what is essentially a very thin atmosphere throughout the Solar System. The movement of mass ejected from the Sun is known as the solar wind. Inconsistencies in this wind and larger events on the surface of the star, such as coronal mass ejections, form a system that has features analogous to conventional weather systems (such as pressure and wind) and is generally known as space weather. Coronal mass ejections have been tracked as far out in the solar system as Saturn.^[60] The activity of this system can affect planetary atmospheres and occasionally surfaces. The interaction of the solar wind with the terrestrial atmosphere can produce spectacular aurorae,^[61] and can play havoc with electrically sensitive systems such as electricity grids and radio signals.^[62]

See also[link]

• Weather station
• Personal weather station
• Climate
• Outline of meteorology

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Weather

• Climate and Weather from UCB Libraries GovPubs
• The Economics of Extreme Weather Events on Society NOAA Economics
• RainRadar: Worldwide radar directory
• National Weather Service

Cab Calloway
Photographed by William Gottlieb, 1947
Background information
Birth name	Cabell Calloway III
Born	(1907-12-25)December 25, 1907 Rochester, New York, US
Died	November 18, 1994(1994-11-18) (aged 86) Hockessin, Delaware, US
Genres	Jazz, blues
Occupations	Bandleader, singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1930–1994
Associated acts	The Cab Calloway Orchestra
Website	www.cabcalloway.com

Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer.

Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States' most popular African American big bands from the start of the 1930s through the late 1940s. Calloway's band featured performers including trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, New Orleans guitar ace Danny Barker, and bassist Milt Hinton. Calloway continued to perform until his death in 1994 at the age of 86.

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Cab Calloway was born in a middle-class family in Rochester, New York, on Christmas Day in 1907. He lived there until moving to Baltimore, Maryland in 1918. His father, Cabell Calloway II, was a lawyer and his mother, Martha Eulalia Reed, was a teacher and church organist. When Cab was young, he enjoyed singing in church.^[1] His parents recognized their son's musical talent and he began private voice lessons in 1922. He continued to study music and voice throughout his formal schooling. Despite his parents' and vocal teachers' disapproval of jazz, Calloway began frequenting and eventually performing in many of Baltimore's jazz clubs, where he was mentored by drummer Chick Webb and pianist Johnny Jones.

After graduating from Frederick Douglass High School Calloway joined his older sister, Blanche, in a touring production of the popular black musical revue Plantation Days. (Blanche Calloway herself would become an accomplished bandleader before her brother, and he would often credit her as his inspiration for entering show business.) Calloway attended Lincoln University (a historically black university) in Pennsylvania, but left in 1930 without graduating.

When the tour ended in Chicago in the fall, Calloway decided to remain in Chicago with his sister, who had an established career as a jazz singer in that city. His parents had hopes of their son becoming a lawyer like his father, so Calloway enrolled in Crane College. His main interest, however, was in singing and entertaining, and he spent most of his nights at the Dreamland Ballroom, the Sunset Cafe, and the Club Berlin, performing as a drummer, singer and MC.

At the Sunset Cafe he met and performed with Louis Armstrong who taught him to sing in the "scat" style.

Success[link]

The Cotton Club was the premier jazz venue in the country, and Calloway and his orchestra (he had taken over a brilliant but failing band called "The Missourians" in 1930) were hired as a replacement for the Duke Ellington Orchestra while they were touring. Calloway quickly proved so popular that his band became the "co-house" band with Ellington's, and his group began touring nationwide when not playing the Cotton Club. Their popularity was greatly enhanced by the twice-weekly live national radio broadcasts on NBC at the Cotton Club. Calloway also appeared on Walter Winchell's radio program and with Bing Crosby in his show at New York's Paramount Theatre. As a result of these appearances, Calloway, together with Ellington, broke the major broadcast network color barrier.^{[citation needed]}

Like other bands fronted by a singing bandleader, Calloway initially gave ample soloist space to its lead members and, through the varied arrangements of Walter 'Foots' Thomas, provided much more in the way of musical interest. Many of his records were "vocal specialities" with Calloway's vocal taking up the majority of the record.

In 1931 he recorded his most famous song, "Minnie the Moocher". That song, along with "St. James Infirmary Blues" and "The Old Man Of The Mountain," were performed for the Betty Boop animated shorts Minnie the Moocher, Snow White and The Old Man of the Mountain, respectively. Through rotoscoping, Calloway not only gave his voice to these cartoons, but his dance steps as well. He took advantage of this and timed his concerts in some communities with the release of the films in order to make the most of the attention. As a result of the success of "Minnie the Moocher," he became identified with its chorus, gaining the nickname "The Hi De Ho Man". He also performed in a series of short films for Paramount in the 1930s. (Calloway and Ellington were featured on film more than any other jazz orchestras of the era.) In these films, Calloway can be seen performing a gliding backstep dance move, the precursor to Michael Jackson's "moonwalk"—Calloway said fifty years later, "it was called The Buzz back then."^[2] The 1933 film, International House featured Calloway performing his classic song, "Reefer Man," a tune about a man who favors marijuana cigarettes.^[3]

Calloway made his "first proper Hollywood movie appearance" opposite Al Jolson in The Singing Kid in 1936. He sang a number of duets with Jolson, and the film included Calloway's band and cast of twenty-two Cotton Club dancers from New York.^[4] According to music historian Arthur Knight, the film aimed in part "to both erase and celebrate boundaries and differences, including most emphatically the color line." He also notes that "when Calloway begins singing in his characteristic style – in which the words are tools for exploring rhythm and stretching melody – it becomes clear that American culture is changing around Jolson and with (and through) Calloway. . ."^[5][6]:watch

Calloway's was one of the most popular American jazz bands of the 1930s, recording prolifically for Brunswick and the ARC dime store labels (Banner, Cameo, Conqueror, Perfect, Melotone, Banner, Oriole, etc.) from 1930–1932, when he signed with Victor for a year. He was back on Brunswick in late 1934 through 1936, when he signed with manager Irving Mills's short-lived Variety in 1937, and stayed with Mills when the label collapsed and the sessions were continued on Vocalion through 1939, and then OKeh through 1942. After the recording ban due to the 1942-44 musicians' strike ended, he continued to record prolifically.

Calloway's vocal style is a blend of hot scat singing and improvisation coupled with a very traditional vaudeville-like singing style. Many of his ballads are devoid of tone bending jazz styling.

In 1941 Calloway fired Dizzy Gillespie from his orchestra after an onstage fracas erupted when Calloway was hit with spitballs. He wrongly accused Gillespie, who stabbed Calloway in the leg with a small knife.^[7]

In 1943 Calloway appeared in the high-profile 20th Century Fox musical film, Stormy Weather.

In 1944 The New Cab Calloway's Hepsters Dictionary: Language of Jive was published, an update of an earlier book in which Calloway set about translating jive for fans who might not know, for example, that "kicking the gong around" was a reference to smoking opium.

Calloway and his band starred in "Hi De Ho," an all-black full-length film directed by Josh Binney.

In the late 1940's, Calloway wrote a regular humorous pseudo gossip column called "Coastin' With Cab" for Song Hits Magazine. It was a collection of celebrity snippets such as this one, in the May 1946 issue: "Benny Goodman was dining at Ciro's steak house in New York when a very homely girl entered. 'If her face is her fortune,' Benny quipped, 'she'd be tax-free'."

Later years[link]

In the 1950s Calloway moved his family from Long Island, New York to Greenburgh, New York, to raise the three youngest of his five daughters.

In his later career Calloway appeared in a number of films and stage productions that utilized both his acting and singing talents. In 1952 he played the prominent role of "Sportin' Life" in a production of the Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess with William Warfield and Leontyne Price as the title characters. Another notable role was "Yeller" in The Cincinnati Kid (1965), with Steve McQueen, Ann-Margret and Edward G. Robinson.

One of Cab Calloway's zoot suits on display in Baltimore's City Hall, October 2007

Calloway appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show on March 19, 1967 with Chris Calloway. In 1967, Calloway co-starred opposite Pearl Bailey as Horace Vandergelder in an all-black cast change of Hello, Dolly! on Broadway during its original run. It revived flagging business for the show^[8] and RCA released a new cast recording, rare for the time. In 1973–1974, Calloway was featured in an unsuccessful Broadway revival of The Pajama Game alongside Hal Linden and Barbara McNair.

1976 saw the release of his autobiography, Of Minnie The Moocher And Me (Crowell). It included his complete Hepsters Dictionary as an appendix.

Calloway attracted renewed interest in 1980 when he appeared as a supporting character in the film The Blues Brothers, performing "Minnie the Moocher", and again when he sang "The Jumpin' Jive" with the Two-Headed Monster on Sesame Street.^[9] This was also the year the cult movie Forbidden Zone was released, which included rearrangements of, and homages to, Calloway songs written by Danny Elfman, a Calloway fan.

Calloway helped establish the Cab Calloway Museum at Coppin State College (Baltimore, Maryland) in the 1980s, and Bill Cosby helped establish a scholarship in Calloway's name at the New School for Social Research New York City. In 1994, a creative and performing arts school, the Cab Calloway School of the Arts, was dedicated in his name in Wilmington, Delaware.

In 1986, Calloway appeared at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s WrestleMania 2 as a guest judge for a boxing match between Rowdy Roddy Piper and Mr. T that took place at the Nassau Coliseum. Also in 1986, he headlined to great success a gala ball for 4,000 celebrating the grand opening of one of the top hotels in the US at the time, the Dallas-based Rosewood Hotel Co.'s Hotel Crescent Court in Dallas, Texas. In 1990, he was the focus of Janet Jackson's 1930s-themed music video "Alright", appearing as himself at the end. In the United Kingdom, he also appeared in several commercials for the Hula Hoops snack, both as himself and as a voice for a cartoon (in one of these commercials he sang his hit "Minnie The Moocher"). He also made an appearance at the Apollo Theatre.

In May 1994, Calloway suffered a stroke. He died six months later on November 18, 1994. His body was cremated and his ashes were given to his family. Upon the death of his wife Zulme "Nuffie" Calloway on October 13, 2008, his ashes were interred next to her at Ferncliffe Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.

A profile of Calloway Cab Calloway: Sketches aired on the PBS program American Masters in February 2012.

Honors[link]

• In 1993, the University of Rochester presented Calloway with the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts.
• In 1993, he was presented with the National Medal of Arts.^[10]
• In 1998, The Cab Calloway Orchestra (directed by Calloway's grandson C. "CB" Calloway Brooks) ^[11] was formed to honor his legacy on the national and international levels.

Selected awards and recognitions[link]

Grammy history[link]

Other honors[link]

Discography[link]

This section is empty. You can help by adding to it.

Stage appearances[link]

• Porgy and Bess (1953)
• Hello, Dolly! (replacement in 1967)
• The Pajama Game (1973)
• Bubbling Brown Sugar (1976)
• Uptown...It's Hot! (1986)

Filmography[link]

References[link]

Song Hits Magazine "A song lyrics publication" Vol 9 No. 12 p. 22 copyright May 1946 (and other issues)

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cab Calloway

• Cab Calloway at Notable Names Database
• Cab Calloway at the Internet Movie Database
• Cab Calloway at the Internet Broadway Database
• Cab Calloway at This Joint Is Jumpin'
• Cab Calloway complete discography (CD albums, post 1989 only)
• The Official Homepage of The Cab Calloway Orchestra, directed by Christopher Brooks (including a partial list of recordings)
• The Dreamland Ballroom Website
• The Hi de Ho Blog, French website dedicated to Cab, his musicians and the Swing era
• YouTube video: Cab Calloway - Reefer Man.
• Jazz, the Rough Guide by Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather and Brian Priestly; Penguin Books, 1995; pp. 96–97; ISBN 1-85828-137-7
• NPR's "Jazz profiles"
• Cab Calloway: 'A Hi De Ho Centennial' another program in NPR's "Jazz Profiles" series
• "Cab Calloway: Original Rapper", PopMatters column (November 2005)
• 1931 German broadcast recording of a live performance in Cotton Club, New York City
• Music from Internet Archive
• "Cab Calloway". Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=19905. Retrieved August 10, 2010. 

The Weather Girls, also known as Two Tons o' Fun (especially during the early portion of their career), are an American duo comprising two African-American women. The girl group has charted several dance hits over the course of its career, with its peak in popularity having occurred in 1982, when the group released the hit song "It's Raining Men." The group currently comprises Ingrid Arthur and Dynelle Rhodes, the daughters of founding member Izora Armstead, who died in 2004.

Known career[link]

The original Two Tons were Martha Wash and Izora Armstead. Though the mainstream pop market considers the team a one-hit wonder for "It's Raining Men" (even though the group technically does not qualify for the title, since the song did not make the Top 40, peaking at #46 on the Billboard Hot 100), they recorded three songs which peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart under the "Two Tons o' Fun" name: "Earth Can Be Just Like Heaven" (1980); "Just Us" (1980 and also made #29 on the US R&B chart); and the Hi-NRG song "I Got the Feeling" in 1981. They were brought together by Sylvester as his backing group (from 1977 to 1981), who also gave them the name 'Two Tons O' Fun.' They also backed Aretha Franklin (on "Freeway of Love"), and Bob Seger (1986). They are best known for their 1982 #1 club and pop hit, "It's Raining Men", the recording of which music producer Paul Jabara supervised and from which the name "The Weather Girls" was derived. After the success of "It's Raining Men", other hits with the original line-up (which adopted the Weather Girls moniker permanently after the hit) included "Dear Santa (Bring Me a Man this Christmas)", for which, as with "It's Raining Men", an accompanying music video was made, and "No One Can Love You More Than Me." The group disbanded in 1985, while Wash moved on to a solo career, one that continues into the present day.

In the 1990s, Izora Armstead moved to Germany, where she and her daughter Dynelle Rhodes re-formed the group for touring in Europe, and in 2002 they joined the "Disco Brothers" for a participation in the German National Final for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Get Up". In the end, the group only managed a 13th place out of 15. The current members of the group are sisters Dynelle Rhodes and Ingrid Arthur, who are the daughters of Armstead, who died in 2004. They released a new Weather Girls album, Totally Wild, in late 2005. It scored an underground club hit with "Wild Thang." Like the original Weather Girls, the duo has proven very successful with its gay male core audience.

In 2008, the Weather Girls were listed as featured artists on the song, "Break You" by Ralph Falcon of the bands Murk and Funky Green Dogs. This song spent one week at #1 on the American dance chart in May 2008. [1]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Partial singles chart success[link]

Other singles by the Weather Girls[link]

• "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair"
• "Success"
• "Dear Santa (Bring Me a Man This Christmas)"
• "Big Girls Don't Cry"
• "Love You Like a Train"
• "Land of the Believer"
• "Laughter in the Rain"
• "Sounds of Sex"
• "Wild Thang"
• "Girl You And Me"
• "We Shall All Be Free"
• "Party"
• "Star (feat. Jimmy Somerville)"

See also[link]

• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

External links[link]

• The Weather Girls at Allmusic

Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown performing at Detroit Hoedown 2010
Background information
Origin	Dahlonega, Georgia, U.S.
Genres	Country Folk rock[1] Jam band[2] Southern rock[3]
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Bigger Picture Southern Ground Atlantic
Associated acts	Blackberry Smoke, Keith Stegall, The Lost Trailers, Jimmy Buffett, Alan Jackson
Website	zacbrownband.com
Members
Coy Bowles Zac Brown Clay Cook Daniel de los Reyes Jimmy De Martini Chris Fryar John Driskell Hopkins

Zac Brown Band is an American country, Southern rock, bluegrass, reggae and folk band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy De Martini (fiddle, vocals), John Driskell Hopkins (bass guitar, vocals), Coy Bowles (guitar, keyboards), Chris Fryar (drums), Clay Cook (guitar, keyboards, mandolin, steel guitar, vocals), and Daniel de los Reyes (percussion). The band has toured throughout the United States, including a slot on the 2009 and 2010 Bonnaroo Music Festival. They have also recorded four studio albums, and charted eight Number One singles on the Billboard country charts: "Chicken Fried", "Toes", "Highway 20 Ride", "Free", "As She's Walking Away", "Colder Weather", "Knee Deep" and "Keep Me In Mind", in addition to the single "Whatever It Is," which peaked at number 2 on the same chart.

Early life[link]

Zac Brown was born July 31, 1978 in Cumming, Georgia. He was raised by his mom and step-dad, a dentist on Lake Lanier. The 11th of 12 children, Brown attended Mashburn Elementary School in Cumming, Georgia, Lakeview Academy in Gainesville, Georgia, and South Forsyth High School in Cumming. He later moved to Dahlonega, Georgia, where he graduated from Lumpkin County High School. He learned to play classical guitar at the age of 6. As a teenager, he played solo gigs in local venues, performing country and pop cover songs. “Most of my brothers and sisters are older—the oldest is 21 years older than me—so a lot of them were in college or had families of their own by the time I was growing up," said Zac Brown in a interview, but that left him time to bond with his family. Because of this, he was able to learn many things as a child growing up, such as shotgun shooting and playing instruments.

College[link]

Brown attended the University of West Georgia, where he was a member of the Zeta Kappa chapter of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity. He was also a camp counselor at Camp Mikell in Toccoa, Ga. & Camp Glisson, a United Methodist summer camp located in Dahlonega, GA.^[4] While in college, he started a band and played dates in local restaurants with the band, and solo as well, to earn money to pay for school.

During this time, the band recorded an album to sell at their gigs, but disbanded during recording sessions. On September 11, 2001, after the terrorist attacks occurred, Brown decided that life was too short doing something that he did not enjoy, so he withdrew from school that day and decided to pursue music full-time.^[5]

Formation[link]

In 2002, the Zac Brown Band was formed and they began traveling with a heavy tour schedule of approximately 200 dates a year. The initial Zac Brown Band lineup consisted of Brown, on acoustic guitar and lead vocals, backed by a drummer and a bass guitarist. In 2003, Brown started his own label, called Home Grown (today, it is called Southern Ground for legal reasons).

In 2004, Brown opened a music club and restaurant with his father in the Lake Oconee area of Georgia called "Zac's Place" where the fare was southern-style cooking. A developer bought the restaurant and, in turn, the Zac Brown Band bought a tour bus and began touring full-time, playing rock and country clubs as well as folk and jam band festivals. 2004 also saw the release of the Zac Brown Band's first independent album, Far from Einstyne.

It was also in 2004 when Brown added violinist/fiddler and tenor vocalist Jimmy De Martini to the Zac Brown Band, thus beginning Brown's five-year quest to develop the band's current lineup. According to an interview with De Martini, he explained that Wyatt Durette, Brown's frequent songwriting collaborator, was working as a bartender at Sidelines Sports Bar in Kennesaw, Georgia at the time, where the Zac Brown Band frequently performed. Durette suggested De Martini to Brown, who was wanting a "lead instrument" in his band, as well as a harmony singer. After doing several performances with the band at the club, Brown asked De Martini to become a full-time member, to which he gladly obliged.^[6]

In 2005, the Zac Brown Band released its second independent album, Home Grown. That same year, John Driskell Hopkins joined the band as its bass guitarist and baritone vocalist. Hopkins, who was well known in the Atlanta area as the leader of the band Brighter Shade, first met Brown in 1998 at an open mic event hosted by Hopkins and they remained friends since. Additionally, Hopkins also co-produced the Zac Brown Band's Home Grown album.^[7]

In 2006, the Zac Brown Band recorded The Foundation with producer Keith Stegall. It was also in 2006 when Coy Bowles joined the band alternating on guitar and keyboards. Bowles and Brown first met in the late 1990s when they were both students at the University of West Georgia, where Bowles was studying biology. Bowles also vividly remembers seeing Brown perform for the first time. He explains, "I walked into a restaurant and Zac was singing and playing guitar. I heard a couple tunes and turned to my buddy and said, 'That dude might have the richest and loudest voice I ever heard!' I don’t even think Zac had a microphone and you could hear him all across the bar.”

Bowles then transferred to Atlanta's Georgia State University to study music. He subsequently became involved in Atlanta's various music scenes, and eventually formed Coy Bowles and the Fellowship in 2004. Two years later, Bowles decided to reconnect with Brown. Through mutual friends, he learned that the Zac Brown Band was scheduled to perform in Atlanta one evening. Bowles and Brown spent the afternoon prior to the performance reacquainting with each other, which ended with Brown inviting Bowles to sit in with the Zac Brown Band at that night's performance, which Bowles gladly accepted. To return the favor, Bowles invited the band to attend his own gig with the Fellowship a couple of months later, which in turn resulted in Brown and his band sitting in at that gig.

This turn of events continued for eight months until Bowles concluded that it was too overwhelming to balance his time with Brown's band and his own band and other activities, thus making a difficult decision to put the Fellowship on an indefinite hiatus and become a full-time member of the Zac Brown Band, as that was what he enjoyed the most.^[8][9]

In 2008, the Zac Brown Band signed to Live Nation Artists Records (in association with Brown's own Home Grown label), but not before Chris Fryar became yet another addition to the band. An Alabama native, Fryar attended North Texas State University and the Mississippi University for Women and made a name for himself in the Birmingham music scene.^[10] According to Fryar, a mutual friend recommended him to Brown, who was in need of a new drummer for the band. Fryar, who in turn had just finished a stint with a previous band, subsequently auditioned and shortly afterward became the Zac Brown Band's newest member.^[11]

Commercial success[link]

The Zac Brown Band's debut single, "Chicken Fried", was originally recorded in 2003 and included on the Home Grown album, but later re-recorded and released to country radio in 2008. This song was also recorded by The Lost Trailers, whose 2006 recording was released as a single but withdrawn after Brown decided that he wanted to release it himself.^[12] Brown also co-wrote "Simple Life", a song recorded by The Lost Trailers on their 2006 self-titled album.

In October 2008, Atlantic Records took over distribution of "Chicken Fried" after Live Nation Artists closed. The band's album The Foundation was released under Atlantic Records' newly re-established country division in association with the Home Grown/Big Picture label on November 18 of that year.^[13] "Chicken Fried" reached #1 on the country charts that same month, making them the first country band to reach #1 with a debut single since Heartland did so in 2006 with "I Loved Her First."^[14]

Inclusion of Clay Cook[link]

In January 2009, two months after "Chicken Fried" went to #1, Atlanta native Clay Cook joined the Zac Brown Band as its multi-instrumentalist and high tenor vocalist, thus completing the band's lineup. Cook had previously collaborated with John Mayer and Shawn Mullins, and was also a member of the Marshall Tucker Band for two years prior to joining the Zac Brown Band. According to Cook, he and Brown actually both attended and graduated from high school together, but were never acquainted with each other during that period. He explains how he first met Brown:

Brown himself admits his strong desire to add Cook to the lineup, for he believed Cook's musicianship would enhance the Zac Brown Band's overall musical style:

Cook also explained his intention to leave the Marshall Tucker Band in order to join the Zac Brown Band:

With the final Zac Brown Band lineup completed, the band released its second single, "Whatever It Is," which went to #2. In October 2009, a third single, "Toes," became the band's second Number One. The album's fourth single, and third #1, was "Highway 20 Ride". "Free" was the album's fifth single and on the week of August 21, 2010, it also peaked at Number One.

Inclusion of Daniel de los Reyes[link]

On April 25, 2012, it was announced via the Zac Brown Band's website that percussionist Daniel de los Reyes had joined the band on a permanent basis. De los Reyes had previously performed with the band as a touring musician and participated in the recording of their upcoming album Uncaged. De los Reyes has also performed with artists and groups such as Earth, Wind and Fire, Jennifer Lopez and Sting.^[18]

Awards[link]

Zac Brown Band has earned more than 50 GRAMMY, ACM, AMA, CMA, and CMT award nominations since 2009.^[19]

They have received four nominations for the 2009 CMA Awards: New Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, Single of the Year, and Music Video of the Year for their #1 single, "Chicken Fried". That same year, they received three Grammy nominations for Best Country Album, Best Country Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocals and Best New Artist. On January 31, 2010, the band won the Grammy award for Best New Artist.

The group was also nominated in 2009 for three ACM awards, "Album of the Year", "Top Vocal Group", and was one of eight contenders for "Entertainer of the Year".^{[citation needed]}

The Zac Brown Band led the nominees for the 46th annual Academy of Country Music Awards 2011, with a total of nine nominations including: Top Vocal Group of the Year, Album of the Year, Single Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Vocal Event of the Year.^[20]

Collaborations and appearances[link]

The band is known to cover songs by their major musical influences in concert, with notable songs including Come Pick Me Up by Ryan Adams, The Devil Went Down To Georgia by Charlie Daniels, I Shall Be Released by Bob Dylan, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down by The Band, Blackbird by The Beatles, Into The Mystic by Van Morrison, One Love by Bob Marley, Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine and Can't You See by The Marshall Tucker Band. On their 2010 Live benefit album Pass the Jar, these songs were included in their setlist.