The Gay Head cliffs in Martha's Vineyard consist almost entirely of clay.

Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter.^[1] Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.

Formation[link]

Deforestation for clay extraction in Rio de Janeiro city - Brazil. The picture is of Morro da Covanca - Jacarepaguá.

Clay minerals are typically formed over long periods of time by the gradual chemical weathering of rocks, usually silicate-bearing, by low concentrations of carbonic acid and other diluted solvents. These solvents, usually acidic, migrate through the weathering rock after leaching through upper weathered layers. In addition to the weathering process, some clay minerals are formed by hydrothermal activity. Clay deposits may be formed in place as residual deposits in soil, but thick deposits usually are formed as the result of a secondary sedimentary deposition process after they have been eroded and transported from their original location of formation. Clay deposits are typically associated with very low energy depositional environments such as large lakes and marine basins.

Primary clays, also known as kaolins, are located at the site of formation. Secondary clay deposits have been moved by erosion and water from their primary location.^[2]

Definition[link]

electron microscope photograph of smectite clay - magnification 23,500

Clays are distinguished from other fine-grained soils by differences in size and mineralogy. Silts, which are fine-grained soils that do not include clay minerals, tend to have larger particle sizes than clays, but there is some overlap in both particle size and other physical properties, and there are many naturally occurring deposits which include silts and also clay. The distinction between silt and clay varies by discipline. Geologists and soil scientists usually consider the separation to occur at a particle size of 2 µm (clays being finer than silts), sedimentologists often use 4-5 μm, and colloid chemists use 1 μm.^[1] Geotechnical engineers distinguish between silts and clays based on the plasticity properties of the soil, as measured by the soils' Atterberg Limits. ISO 14688 grades clay particles as being smaller than 2 μm and silts larger.

Quaternary clay in Estonia.

Grouping[link]

Depending on the academic source, there are three or four main groups of clays: kaolinite, montmorillonite-smectite, illite, and chlorite. Chlorites are not always considered a clay, sometimes being classified as a separate group within the phyllosilicates. There are approximately 30 different types of "pure" clays in these categories, but most "natural" clays are mixtures of these different types, along with other weathered minerals.

Varve (or varved clay) is clay with visible annual layers, formed by seasonal differences in erosion and organic content. This type of deposit is common in former glacial lakes. When glacial lakes are formed there is very little movement of the water that makes the lake, and these eroded soils settle on the lake bed. This allows such an even distribution on the different layers of clay.^[2]

Quick clay is a unique type of marine clay indigenous to the glaciated terrains of Norway, Canada, Northern Ireland, and Sweden. It is a highly sensitive clay, prone to liquefaction, which has been involved in several deadly landslides.

Historical and modern uses[link]

Clay layers in a construction site. Dry clay is normally much more stable than sand with regard to excavations.

Clays exhibit plasticity when mixed with water in certain proportions. When dry, clay becomes firm and when fired in a kiln, permanent physical and chemical changes occur. These reactions, among other changes, cause the clay to be converted into a ceramic material. Because of these properties, clay is used for making pottery items, both utilitarian and decorative. Different types of clay, when used with different minerals and firing conditions, are used to produce earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain. Prehistoric humans discovered the useful properties of clay, and one of the earliest artifacts ever uncovered is a drinking vessel made of sun-dried clay.^{[citation needed]} Depending on the content of the soil, clay can appear in various colors, from a dull gray to a deep orange-red.

Clay tablets were used as the first known writing medium, inscribed with cuneiform script through the use of a blunt reed called a stylus.

Clays sintered in fire were the first form of ceramic. Bricks, cooking pots, art objects, dishware, and even musical instruments such as the ocarina can all be shaped from clay before being fired. Clay is also used in many industrial processes, such as paper making, cement production, and chemical filtering. Clay is also often used in the manufacture of pipes for smoking tobacco. Until the late 20th century bentonite clay was widely used as a mold binder in the manufacture of sand castings.

Clay, being relatively impermeable to water, is also used where natural seals are needed, such as in the cores of dams, or as a barrier in landfills against toxic seepage (lining the landfill, preferably in combination with geotextiles).^[3]

Recent^[when?] studies have investigated clay's absorption capacities in various applications, such as the removal of heavy metals from waste water and air purification.

Medical and agricultural uses[link]

Recent research indicates that various animals visit clay licks periodically to eat from them, apparently because either the clay contains one or more antidotes for the various poisons in plants and seeds the animals eat, or because the clay coats the animals' guts to protect them from those substances.^{[citation needed]}

A traditional use of clay as medicine goes back to prehistoric times. An example is Armenian bole, which is used to soothe an upset stomach, similar to the way parrots (and later, humans) in South America originally used it.^[4] Kaolin clay and attapulgite have been used as anti-diarrheal medicines.

Clay as a building material[link]

Clay is one of the oldest building materials on Earth, among other ancient, naturally-occurring geologic materials such as stone and organic materials like wood. Between one-half and two-thirds of the world's population, in traditional societies as well as developed countries, still live or work in a building made with clay as an essential part of its load-bearing structure. Also a primary ingredient in many natural building techniques, clay is used to create adobe, cob, cordwood, and rammed earth structures and building elements such as wattle and daub, clay plaster, clay render case, clay floors and clay paints.

See also[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Clay

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Guggenheim, Stephen; Martin, R. T. (1995), "Definition of clay and clay mineral: Journal report of the AIPEA nomenclature and CMS nomenclature committees", Clays and Clay Minerals 43 (2): 255–256, DOI:10.1346/CCMN.1995.0430213, http://www.clays.org/journal/archive/volume%2043/43-2-255.pdf 
• Clay mineral nomenclature American Mineralogist.

• Ehlers, Ernest G. and Blatt, Harvey (1982). 'Petrology, Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic' San Francisco: W.H. Freeman and Company. ISBN 0-7167-1279-2.

• Hillier S. (2003) Clay Mineralogy. pp 139–142 In: Middleton G.V., Church M.J., Coniglio M., Hardie L.A. and Longstaffe F.J.(Editors) Encyclopedia of sediments and sedimentary rocks. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.

External links[link]

Look up clay in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Clay

• Building the Phyllosilicates University of New Hampshire
• The Clay Minerals Group of the Mineralogical Society
• Clay Whistles
• Information about clays used in the UK pottery industry
• The Clay Minerals Society
• Plasticity of clay
• Organic Matter in Clays

Clay Shirky
Clay Shirky at the 2006 O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference
Born	1964 (age 47–48) Columbia, Missouri
Occupation	Writer, consultant, lecturer[1]
Known for	Writing

Clay Shirky (born 1964^[2]) is an American writer, consultant and teacher on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies. He has a joint appointment at New York University (NYU) as a Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and Assistant Arts Professor in the New Media focused graduate Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP).^[3] His courses address, among other things, the interrelated effects of the topology of social networks and technological networks, how our networks shape culture and vice-versa.^[4]

He has written and been interviewed extensively about the Internet since 1996. His columns and writings have appeared in Business 2.0, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Business Review and Wired.

Shirky divides his time between consulting, teaching, and writing on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies. His consulting practice is focused on the rise of decentralized technologies such as peer-to-peer, web services, and wireless networks that provide alternatives to the wired client–server infrastructure that characterizes the World Wide Web. He is a member of the Wikimedia Foundation's Advisory Board.

In The Long Tail, Chris Anderson calls Shirky "a prominent thinker on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies."^[5]

Education and career[link]

Photograph of Shirky taken by Creative Commons chairman and MIT Media Laboratory director Joi Ito.

After graduating from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in fine art in 1986, he moved to New York.^[6] In the 1990s he founded the Hard Place Theater, a theatre company that produced non-fiction theater using only found materials such as government documents, transcripts and cultural records.^[6] and also worked as a lighting designer for other theater and dance companies, including the Wooster Group, Elevator Repair Service and Dana Reitz.^[7] During this time, Shirky was vice-president of the New York chapter of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and wrote technology guides for Ziff Davis. He appeared as an expert witness on cyberculture in Shea v. Reno, a case cited in the U. S. Supreme Court's decision to strike down the Communications Decency Act in 1996.

Shirky was the first Professor of New Media in the Media Studies department at Hunter College, where he was key in developing the MFA in Integrated Media Arts program.

In the fall of 2010, Shirky was as a visiting Morrow Lecturer at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government^[8] instructing a course titled: "New Media and Public Action".^[9]

Views[link]

In his book Here Comes Everybody Shirky explains how he has long spoken in favor of crowdsourcing and collaborative efforts online. He uses the phrase "the Internet runs on love" to describe the nature of such collaborations.^[10] In the book, he discusses the ways in which the action of a group adds up to something more than just aggregated individual action.

He points to four key steps. The first is sharing, a sort of “me-first collaboration” in which the social effects are aggregated after the fact; people share links, URLs, tags, and eventually come together around a type. This type of sharing is a reverse of the so-called old order of sharing, where participants congregate first and then share (examples include Flickr, and Delicious). The second is conversation, that is, the synchronization of people with each other and the coming together to learn more about something and to get better at it. The third is collaboration, in which a group forms under the purpose of some common effort. It requires a division of labor, and teamwork. It can often be characterized by people wanting to fix a market failure, and is motivated by increasing accessibility.

The fourth and final step is collective action, which Shirky says is “mainly still in the future.” The key point about collective action is that the fate of the group as a whole becomes important. In a presentation called "Gin, Television, and Social Surplus",^[11] Shirky popularized the concept of cognitive surplus, the time freed from watching television which can be enormously productive when applied to other social endeavors. He also notes that we are experiencing an era where people like to produce and share just as much, if not more than they like to consume. Since technology has made the producing and sharing possible, he argues that we will see a new era of participation that will lead to big change. In 2010 Shirky published Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age.

Shirky has also written about "algorithmic authority," which describes the process through which unverified information is vetted for its trustworthiness through multiple sources.^{[12] [13]}

The Shirky Principle[link]

In April 2010, Kevin Kelly cited the phrase "Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution," and called it the "Shirky Principle", as the phrasing reminded him of the clarity of the Peter Principle.^[14][15][16]

Response to Evgeny Morozov[link]

In March 2011, Shirky responded to questions raised by Evgeny Morozov about consulting he had done for the Libyan government. Shirky explained that he had been invited in 2007 to speak in Boston to Libya's IT Minister.^[17] Shirky stated that the talk was "about using social software to improve citizen engagement in coastal towns. The idea was that those cities would be more economically successful if local policies related to the tourist trade were designed by the locals themselves." Shirky added that nothing came of the project beyond his initial talk. He defended his underlying desire to expand representative government in Libya and concluded that "the best reason to believe that social media can aid citizens in their struggle to make government more responsive is that both citizens and governments believe that."

Bibliography[link]

• The Internet by E-Mail (1994) - ISBN 1-56276-240-0
• Voices from the Net (1995) - ISBN 1-56276-303-2
• P2P Networking Overview (2001) - ISBN 0-596-00185-1
• Planning for Web Services: Obstacles and Opportunities (2003) - ISBN 0-596-00364-1
• Selected Articles in The Best Software Writing I, Joel Spolsky ed. (2005) - ISBN 1-59059-500-9
  • A Group is its Own Worst Enemy by Clay Shirky
  • Group as User: Flaming and the Design of Social Software by Clay Shirky
• Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations (2008) - ISBN 978-1-59420-153-0
• Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age (2010) - ISBN 978-1-59420-253-7

See also[link]

• Collective action

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Shirky, Clay (2003). "Power Laws, Weblogs, and Inequality". Writings About the Internet. http://shirky.com/writings/powerlaw_weblog.html. Retrieved 2006-02-16. 
• MacLeod, Hugh (2006). "Shirky's Law: "Equality. Fairness. Opportunity. Pick Two."". gapingvoid. http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/002238.html. Retrieved 2006-02-16. 
• Clay Shirky's Bio
• Gillette, Felix (2010-06-08). "Feats of Clay". The New York Observer. http://www.observer.com/2010/media/feats-clay. Retrieved 2010-06-09. 

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Clay Shirky

• Clay Shirky's homepage
• Clay Shirky on Twitter
• Clay Shirky’s writings on the O'Reilly Network
• Profile and videos at TED.com
• Profile and talks at Fora.tv
• Socially Intelligent Computing A Dialogue with Daniel Goleman
• Ontology is Overrated: Links, Tags, and Post-hoc Metadata - a presentation (mp3) from the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference held in San Diego, California, March 14–17, 2005.
• Futures of the Internet (Flash,mp4,RealVideo,3gp,mp3). Internet Society - NY Chapter. 2008-04-16. http://www.isoc-ny.org/?p=214. Retrieved 2008-04-27.  - Colloquium @ NYU.
• Clay Shirky at Web 2.0 Expo SF 2008
• "It's Not Information Overload. It's Filter Failure." Video, Clay Shirky at Web 2.0 Expo NY, Sept. 16-19, 2008.
• Video (and audio) of interview/discussion with Clay Shirky by Will Wilkinson on Bloggingheads.tv
• Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom A talk about journalism and pay walls.

Andrew Dice Clay (born Andrew Clay Silverstein; September 29, 1957) is an American comedian and actor^[1] who played the lead role in the film The Adventures of Ford Fairlane.^[2]

Clay has been in several movies and has released a number of stand-up albums. He is the only comedian in history to sell out Madison Square Garden two nights in a row, a feat he accomplished in 1990.^[3][4][5]

Early life[link]

Clay was born in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, the son of Doris and Fred Silverstein, who worked in real estate sales.^[6] Clay is of Jewish heritage.^[7][8][9] Clay was doing impressions and entertaining his family in the living room by the time he was 5. He was a fairly proficient drummer at James Madison High School, and played bar mitzvahs and casual dates as "Clay Silvers."

Career[link]

In 1978, he auditioned at Pips, a local comedy club in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, doing comedic impressions, then headlined there the following week as "Andrew Clay." His act at the time included an impression of John Travolta in Grease and Jerry Lewis as The Nutty Professor. Clay graduated to the major Manhattan comedy clubs, including Budd Friedman's The Improv, Catch a Rising Star and Dangerfield's. His move to Los Angeles came in 1980. He was "adopted" there by Mitzi Shore, owner of the famed Comedy Store. His work at the Store led to sitcom appearances on M*A*S*H and Diff'rent Strokes. He later landed roles in movies such as Making the Grade (1984) and Pretty in Pink (1986).^[10]

He had a regular role on Crime Story from 1986 – 1988.^[11] He eventually turned from acting to pursue a career in stand-up comedy, focusing on the character "Dice" from Making the Grade. His big break came in 1988 when he did a seven-minute set at Dangerfield's during the Rodney Dangerfield special "Nothing Goes Right." It was there that he met his agent Dennis Arfa and later got his first HBO special.^[12]

Later works[link]

Clay retreated from the media spotlight for several years. For several years he ran a fitness gym in Brooklyn. 1995 saw him try to reclaim his fame with the broadcast of the HBO special Assume the Position. The special failed to reignite Clay's career.

In 1998, Clay released the triple-live album "Filth" via the Internet. Soon afterward, Clay aligned himself with New York City-based talk program The Opie and Anthony Show.

To coincide with the release of 2000's "Face Down, Ass Up," Opie and Anthony teamed up with Clay to allow him to perform at Madison Square Garden.

In 2005, Clay signed a deal with Sirius to produce and broadcast his own show, Out of the Cage.

In 2007, he attempted a comeback with the reality TV series Dice: Undisputed on VH1, which lasted seven episodes.^[13]

He appeared as a part of NBC's The Celebrity Apprentice 2 and was the first celebrity to be fired, after he openly entertained the idea of quitting while in Donald Trump's presence. On The Howard Stern Show, Clay stated that the show was edited to exclude situations where Trump treated Clay poorly based on his comic treatment of women rather than his accomplishments.^[14] Clay deserves credit for goading Trump into bringing snacks into the War Room. Throughout the season, each celebrity was raising money for a charity of their choice; Clay had selected StandUp For Kids.^[15]

In July 2011, Clay was featured in the eighth and final season of Entourage as Johnny Drama's co-star in the fictional program Johnny's Bananas.^[16] He also appeared in an episode of Raising Hope as himself which aired on November 29, 2011

In May of 2012, Clay appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

Controversy[link]

Clay is known for a style of comedy that has sparked controversy and much media coverage. He is loved by some and reviled by others, who feel that his act is crude, misogynistic, racist, homophobic and degrading. Clay has been widely opposed by women's rights groups and he has been banned from many radio and television shows for his explicit language and socially and politically charged humor. MTV banned him for life in 1989 for reciting what he called "adult nursery rhymes" during the annual Video Music Awards ceremony (September 6, 1989).^[17] In 2011, he was unbanned by MTV. The Biography Channel refuses to produce a biography of him.^[18]

In 1990, Clay was invited to guest host the weekly comedy TV show, Saturday Night Live. Cast member Nora Dunn declared her refusal to ever appear on the same broadcast as Clay and did not participate in the episode of his guest appearance (May 12). Invited musical guest Sinéad O'Connor also boycotted Clay's appearance.^[19]

Personal life[link]

In 2002, he divorced his wife and focused in part on raising his two sons.^[20] One of his sons, Max, has since followed his father into stand-up comedy,^[21] and occasionally opens for him on tour.^[22]

Discography[link]

• ADC: The Mixtape That Hates You, 1988
• Dice, 1990
• The Day the Laughter Died, 1990
• Dice Rules, 1991
• 40 Too Long, 1992
• The Day the Laughter Died, Part II, 1993
• No Apologies (Video), 1993^[23]
• Filth, 1999
• Face Down, Ass Up, 2000

Filmography[link]

• M*A*S*H, Cpl. Hrabosky in "Trick or Treatment" Episode (1982)
• Diff'rent Strokes, recurring character, named Larry, in Willis and Kimberly's high school (1982–83)
• Wacko (1982)
• Night Patrol (1984)
• Making the Grade (1984)
• Private Resort (1985)
• Pretty in Pink (1986)
• Amazon Women on the Moon (1987)
• Casual Sex? (1988)
• Crime Story (1986–1988)
• The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990)
• Dice Rules (1991)
• Brainsmasher... A Love Story (1993)
• No Contest (1994)
• Bless This House (1995)
• National Lampoon's Favorite Deadly Sins (1995)
• Hitz (1997)
• Foolish (1999)
• My 5 Wives (2000)
• One Night at McCool's (2001)
• Dice Undisputed (2007)
• Entourage (2011)
• Raising Hope (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Andrew Dice Clay

• Official website
• Andrew Dice Clay at the Internet Movie Database
• Andrew Dice Clay at AllRovi
• Andrew Dice Clay on Myspace
• Rotten.com: Andrew Dice Clay biography
• Vegas Video Network: Awkward Silence 2.1 Interview with Andrew Dice Clay

Josh Kelley
Kelley performing in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Joshua Bishop Kelley
Born	(1980-01-30) January 30, 1980 (age 32)
Origin	Evans, Georgia, U.S.
Genres	Pop rock, blues rock, country
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, keyboards
Years active	2001–present
Labels	DNK Records, Hollywood Records, Threshold, MCA Nashville
Associated acts	Lady Antebellum
Website	JoshKelley.com

Joshua Bishop "Josh" Kelley^[1] (born January 30, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Kelley has recorded for Hollywood Records, Threshold Records and DNK Records as a pop rock artist, and has had four hit singles on the Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks chart. His songs "Amazing" and "Only You" made top ten on that chart.

In 2010, Kelley signed to MCA Nashville and began a country music career.^[2] His debut single on the format, "Georgia Clay", became a Top 20 hit on the Hot Country Songs charts. Kelley is the brother of Lady Antebellum member Charles Kelley. Kelley is married to actress Katherine Heigl.

Early life[link]

Kelley was born in Augusta, Georgia, the son of Gayle and Dr. John W. Kelley, a cardiologist.^[3] Kelley began his musical career at the age of 11. His younger brother, Charles Kelley, is also a musician and singer in the country trio Lady Antebellum.^[4] Kelley started at 11 with his guitar. While he was a teenager, he and his brother Charles formed a band called Inside Blue. By the time he was 14, the band released a CD with five songs in it, which led to a meeting with James Brown. Kelley played the guitar in the high school jazz band alongside his brother Charles (drums) and Dave Haywood (guitar) from Lady Antebellum.

Kelley attended the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi, and is a member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity.

Music career[link]

Kelley released his independent album, Changing Faces, in 2001 and signed with Hollywood Records in 2002. Working with John Alagia as his producer, Kelley released the album, For the Ride Home, on June 3, 2003. The album featured his hit song "Amazing," which most people know him by. He also made an appearance at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in 2003.

Even though Kelley has stated that the lyrics from his song "Angeles" were fabricated, he moved to Los Angeles from Georgia and recorded the majority of his second album, Almost Honest, in the studio of his home. Almost Honest was released on August 23, 2005, and featured the hit single, "Only You."

After asking to be released from his contract with Hollywood Records, Kelley released his third album, Just Say The Word under his own label named Threshold. The digital version of the album was released through iTunes on June 6, 2006, while the physical album was released in stores in the United States on July 25, 2006. "The Pop Game" was the first single from his self-produced album and was accompanied by a cartoon video.

Kelley's next album, Special Company, was released in the United States on January 14, 2008. His label, Threshold, was renamed DNK Records so as to avoid confusion with another record label by the same name. Kelley also released a digital album that summer titled Backwoods on July 7. Later that year, Kelley released his latest album, To Remember, on September 23 exclusively through Target stores. The title track was also included on the AT&T Team USA Soundtrack.

Kelley has toured with many artists including Rod Stewart, Third Eye Blind, Toby Lightman, Counting Crows, and Ryan Cabrera.

Kelley remains a supporter of file sharing applications for independent artists who have a difficult time receiving an audience. In fact, Kelley was "found" after targeting Eric Clinger at Hollywood Records with private spam, "If you like James Taylor, Try Josh Kelley," messages using the Napster program.

In November 2009, Kelley signed with MCA Nashville and began recording his first country album in 2010.^[5] The album's first single, "Georgia Clay", was released to country radio in August 2010. The single became a Top 20 hit on the Hot Country Songs chart. The album, also titled Georgia Clay, was released in March 2011.

Personal life[link]

Kelley majored in Art at the University of Mississippi and was a member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity. He is an avid golfer and attended college on a golf scholarship.

Kelley met actress Katherine Heigl in spring 2005 when she appeared in his music video Only You. One year later in June 2006 they became engaged.^[6] For Heigl he wrote the song Hey Katie. The Heigl-Kelley wedding took place at the Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, Utah. Heigl's Grey's Anatomy co-stars T.R. Knight, Sandra Oh, Ellen Pompeo and Justin Chambers attended the ceremony, as well as Grey's Anatomy spinoff series Private Practice star Kate Walsh. The ceremony was officiated by Unitarian minister Tom Goldsmith. Heigl walked down the aisle to an acoustic song written by Kelley and performed by a cello and guitar players. The couple wrote their own vows. The bridesmaids wore red. During a taping of Live With Regis and Kelly, Heigl stated that she and Kelley chose not to live together before they were married, saying, "I think I just wanted to save something for the actual marriage... I wanted there to be something to make the actual marriage different than the dating or the courtship."^[7]

On September 9, 2009, Heigl's representative said the couple had started the process of adopting a baby girl from South Korea.^[8] Later that month, the couple adopted a special needs baby girl they named Nancy Leigh (after Heigl's mother and sister, respectively), nicknamed Naleigh. Heigl's sister is Korean-born and was adopted before Heigl was born.^[9] The baby had had a congenital heart defect repaired with open heart surgery before she had left Korea.^[10] Kelley and Heigl adopted a second daughter, Adalaide Marie Hope, in April 2012.^[11][12]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Extended plays[link]

Singles[link]

Other contributions[link]

Music videos[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• The Official Josh Kelley Street Team
• Official Josh Kelley Store
• Aug. 2006 New York TV interview
• Josh Kelley at the Internet Movie Database
• Josh Kelley collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
• "The Prince & Me" movie
• / Billboard Song Chart History

Clay Walker
Clay Walker performing in Dallas, Texas
Background information
Birth name	Ernest Clayton Walker Jr.[1][2]
Born	(1969-08-19) August 19, 1969 (age 42)
Origin	Vidor, Texas, U.S.[3]
Genres	Country
Occupations	Singer
Years active	1993–present
Labels	Giant, Warner Bros., RCA, Asylum-Curb
Associated acts	Doug Johnson Keith Stegall James Stroud Chely Wright
Website	http://www.claywalker.com

Ernest Clayton "Clay" Walker, Jr. (born August 19, 1969) is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 1993 with the single "What's It to You," which reached Number One on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts, as did its follow-up, 1994's "Live Until I Die." Both singles were included on Walker's self-titled debut album, also released in 1993 via Giant Records. He stayed with the label until its 2001 closure, later recording for Warner Bros. Records and RCA Records before joining his current label, Asylum-Curb Records, in 2007.

Walker has released a total of 11 albums, including a greatest hits package and an album of Christmas music. His first four studio albums all achieved platinum certification in the United States, and his greatest hits collection and fifth studio album were each certified gold. In addition, he has charted 30 singles on the country charts, including four more Number One hits for a total of six: "Dreaming with My Eyes Open," "If I Could Make a Living," "This Woman and This Man" and "Rumor Has It." His most recent album, She Won't Be Lonely Long, was released in mid-2010.

Biography[link]

Ernest Clayton Walker Jr. was born on August 19, 1969 in Beaumont, Texas to Ernest and Danna Walker.^[4] The oldest of five children, Walker lived in Vidor with his father, who gave him a guitar when he was nine years old.^[3] Walker began entering talent competitions at age fifteen. After leaving his shift as nighttime desk clerk at a Super 8 Motel in his teenage years, Walker stopped at a local radio station to deliver a tape of a song that he had written. Although the morning disc jockey told him that the station's policies prohibited playing self-submitted tapes, he played Walker's song and said that it was "too good to pass up."^[5]

After graduating from Vidor High School in 1987,^[6] Walker began working at a Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company plant.^[4] At age nineteen, he also began touring as a musician in the state of Texas, playing at various local clubs and eventually finding work as the house singer at a bar in Beaumont called the Neon Armadillo.^[3] In November 1992,^[4] Walker was discovered by James Stroud, a record producer who was also the president of Warner Music Group subsidiary Giant Records.^[3] Walker signed to Giant late in the year.

Musical career[link]

Walker released his self-titled debut album in 1993 under Stroud's production. Its first single was "What's It to You;" written by Robert Ellis Orrall and Curtis Wright, this song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts and number 73 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[1] Its followup "Live Until I Die" (which Walker wrote), was released late in the year and became his second consecutive No. 1 in early 1994.^[3] After those two singles came the number 11 "Where Do I Fit in the Picture", which was originally the B-side of "What's It to You."^[1] The album accounted for a third No. 1 hit in "Dreaming with My Eyes Open", a song that was also featured on the soundtrack to the 1994 film The Thing Called Love.^[7] An additional cut from the album, "White Palace," charted at number 67 on the country charts without being released as a single.^[1]

Clay Walker was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of one million copies.^[8] It peaked at number 8 on Top Country Albums, number 2 on Top Heatseekers and number 52 on the Billboard 200.^[9] Larry Powell of Allmusic gave the album a four-and-a-half star rating, saying that Walker had a "high-energy" voice reminiscent of Conway Twitty.^[10] Walker also received two award nominations in 1994: Star of Tomorrow award from TNN/Music City News and Top New Male Vocalist from the Academy of Country Music.^[11]

[edit] 1994–96: If I Could Make a Living and Hypnotize the Moon

If I Could Make a Living was the title of Walker's second album, released in 1994.^[3] It produced two more No. 1 singles in the title track (co-written by Alan Jackson, Keith Stegall and Roger Murrah^[12]) and 1995's "This Woman and This Man." This latter song spent two weeks at No. 1, accounting for his first multi-week No. 1 hit.^[1] After these two singles came the number 16 "My Heart Will Never Know".^[1] If I Could Make a Living went platinum in May 1995,^[8] reaching number 2 on the country albums charts.^[9] Gordon Ely of the Richmond Times-Dispatch gave a favorable review, saying that "Walker has broken loose from Nashville's most recent crop of carefully crafted cowboys."^[13] Walker also began touring in 1995 as a headlining act, in support of this album.^[14]

Late in 1995, Walker released his third studio album, titled Hypnotize the Moon. Although none of its singles reached No. 1, Hypnotize the Moon produced two consecutive number 2 hits in "Who Needs You Baby" (which Walker co-wrote) and the title track, followed by the number 5 "Only on Days That End in 'Y'" and number 18 "Bury the Shovel".^[1] Hypnotize the Moon was certified platinum in 1996, making for Walker's third consecutive platinum album.^[8] This album received a four-star rating from Stephen Thomas Erlewine, who said that it was his "most assured, cohesive album to date" and that he gave a "consistently excellent performance."^[15] Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly thought that Walker did not show a distinct musical personality, but considered the song selection strong and gave it a "B+."^[16] Richard McVey II of Country Standard Time considered it a "throwback" in sound to Walker's debut,^[17] while USA Today said that it lacked the "verve" of that album.^[18]